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Full Version: Say, Has Anyone Else Noticed...
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...that with one of the latest Issues/patches, your roster of heroes is now stored locally on your machine? On Windows, the path is Program FilesCity Of Heroes(User name), and in that directory is a file called playerslot.txt, which has content along the lines of:

"Schroeck" "Virtue" "Nameless Terror" "7"
"Schroeck" "Virtue" "Evangelia" "0"
"Schroeck" "Justice" "Robobringer" "11"
"Schroeck" "Justice" "Hooded Crow" "10"


Those numbers, btw, are the position in the server character list they hold. Which reminds me, I discovered a couple nights ago that you can reorder the characters now. Unfortunately, they seem to be subject to random reordering at times, too.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
news to me, but neat none the less.
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy
Just one of the many QoL improvements brought out in I12. Unfortunately, I have heard that this file can get corrupted and lead to the server/character select
screen crashes reported by some players.
You will also find that that particular directory will fill up with player notes. messages (if you log them), and ratings if you track them. Its a great way to
find out someone's user name even if they are hidden. It one of those directories they really don't want you knowing about... a bit like the /data
directory, but on the other hand, they don't want anything to muck up there as Honorbridge indicated. What where you doing there exactly?
I was going in to retrieve some screenshots and I noticed a directory with my name. I figured, my machine, my name, I have a right to look at it.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
Wonder if that's related to the strange thing I just saw. Was trying to log in on Shia Arisa Plenilune, but got disconnected. And when I logged back in, it
said she was 49710 days inactive...

That's longer than the game's even been around. o.O

As far as the "don't want you knowing about" thing goes, my belief is that if I'm not supposed to see a file, then that file doesn't
belong on my computer. Because, as implied by the phrase "my computer", it's mine and not theirs. So I decide who's allowed to look at what,
not them.

-Morgan.
As a developer myself, I understand the need for Things Users Aren't Meant To Know.

As a user, I get the My Machine, Dammit philosophy, too.

Personally, the way I figure it (and the way I've pitched it when Bad Things have happened in the past), is this: there is stuff you shouldn't mess
with. If you do choose to mess with it, on your head be the results. [Image: smile.gif]

--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs
Quote: Sofaspud wrote:

As a developer myself, I understand the need for Things Users Aren't Meant To Know.




As a user, I get the My Machine, Dammit philosophy, too.




Personally, the way I figure it (and the way I've pitched it when Bad Things have happened in the past), is this: there is stuff you shouldn't mess
with. If you do choose to mess with it, on your head be the results. [Image: smile.gif]
So the Look, Don't Touch philosophy? [Image: laugh.gif]
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."
I'll ditto spuds response. In my line of work a simple application of crypto (even something as basic as ROT13) is enough to deter 98% of the users. If it
is 'Something The User Isn't Meant To Know', don't make it plainly visible.

Sure there will always be people that will crack the decryption and look at the data, but if they decide to screw with things it's on their own head. They
had to go through the effort to decrypt it, and hopefully that will instill some sense of 'don't fuck with this, it's important' into them.
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy
Umm, the Devs don't care if you know about that. Support has asked for files from that directory before, and I've seen guides on how to hack that file
on the boards.
Plus, it's a plain text file. If it was really secret, the least they could do is put a .DAT extension on it to scare off the timid.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
From memory it goes something along these lines... (bear in mind I haven't had much sleep and just swallowed a chapter on TCP/IP Internetworking from a
security standpoint)

There's really only one thing you can't do... talk about the stuff in the /piggs directory on the official forums and well if your system/game mucks up
because of something you put into one of the other directories, like the /data directory, then they can't be blamed.

Or something like that... but I agree if its sensitive it should be protected, yet at the same time, half the fun is 'knowing how it ticks'. Explore as
much as you want, just tread carefully.

Shader.

(who hereby wants to state that they do not recommend that anyone goes 'pigg diving' as it breaks the EULA, nor was the above post meant
to imply that I have engaged in said practice, just that I am aware of said practice... nothing to see here folks, move along.)
What I said is really my attitude as a developer too. (Albeit as a developer of small, weird programs for a small, weird audience.)

As long as someone takes responsibility for their own actions, and doesn't come crying to the developer for help (which they are not obligated to and
likely will not want to give), they have a right to poke around at things, and even change them if they feel it necessary. Just don't come crying to the
original programmer if your computer explodes in a massive fireball...

I once worked on a project for a person who insisted that the data files the program used be hidden from the user.

I hated it. It made no sense. A person who wanted to could extract everything of value from it just by using the program itself, and a simple utility program.
(Which I'd posted online before the start of the project.) But what really made it bad was that I program in an interpreted language which has no tools
available for hiding your code, so any obfuscating attempts I made would be futile...

Interestingly, neither that new directory (which they don't seem to want to hide), nor the piggs directory (which they do) are set with the hidden
attribute. Which would probably keep them from the eyes of a signficant number of people.

As far as "pigg diving" being prohibited by the EULA, I find it morally questionable to assign validity to a part of a contract that takes away
legally protected rights of the user. But then, I'm also not interested in pigg diving.

-Morgan.
Quote:I find it morally questionable to assign validity to a part of a contract that takes away legally protected rights of the user.
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies
Generally the CoH devs and community folks seem pretty relaxed about certain game 'hacks' - information on how to disable specific game sounds is available on the forums, f'instance, as is how to change in-game fonts and that sort of thing. Probably because it's useful.

With regards to the former, though...note that the only reliable way to figure out which sound file (and directory path) you need to replace for a given sound effect...is to look at the piggs. The NC community folks do sometimes answer PMs asking asking for the paths. Otherwise people post on the boards, and generally someone else eventually replies with the information. The person supplying the answer just, y'know, isn't supposed to say how they got that answer.

Don't ask, don't tell.

So to me, it's pretty clear that while in general principle they don't want us delving into some things in the game files, they're willing to totally brush off or turn a blind eye to other stuff. What the EULA says is one thing...the folks at NC seem willing to ignore the letter of the law when it comes to certain matters. Now, that's not entirely consistent or fair, but it is understandable.
-- Acyl