Lone Wolf Development Forums  

Go Back   Lone Wolf Development Forums > Hero Lab Forums > Hero Lab Discussion

Notices

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Duggan
Senior Member
Volunteer Data File Contributor
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 1,502

Old August 11th, 2020, 05:21 AM
Hmm... I guess that makes sense too. Sorry, I misread you. We often get angry rants on the board (usually after someone has had an issue with their license right before a weekend game) on how Lone Wolf needs to ditch licenses and just trust the users, but historically, they introduced the licenses because there was some pretty blatant piracy, sometimes discussed right in front of Rob.
Duggan is offline   #11 Reply With Quote
Azhrei
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 435

Old August 11th, 2020, 10:40 AM
Heh, no problem! I've done my fair share of thinking I understood what someone said when I didn't. "I know you think you understand what you thought I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard was not what I meant."

Anyway, moving the licensing to the desktop seems the best approach. But HL on desktop is dead anyway, now that HLO is up and running, so I won't hold my breath waiting (or even hoping) for any progress. The future is PF2e...
Azhrei is offline   #12 Reply With Quote
Farling
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Greater London, UK
Posts: 2,623

Old August 11th, 2020, 10:59 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Azhrei View Post
My suggestion was to remove the license key requirement from the app and move it to the desktop program instead. So the user must install the desktop version and "unlock" the files there, then copy them to the iPad. If the only way to get the files onto the iPad is via the desktop program, then LW still has control, but there's no license key and thus nothing for Apple to complain about.
The problem with this approach is that once the files are unlocked on the PC then you would be able to copy them to ANY iPad - thus piracy would happen.

Requiring a program to run on the PC or MAC (2 platforms) to copy files to an iPad would be a lot more work - and I'm sure circumventable.

Farling

Author of the Realm Works Import tool, Realm Works Output tool and Realm Works to Foundry module

Donations gratefully received via Patreon, Ko-Fi or Paypal
Farling is offline   #13 Reply With Quote
Azhrei
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 435

Old August 12th, 2020, 11:41 AM
My goal was (and still is) simply to encourage LW to support its customers in making their voice known to the App Store management. The interface on the iPad is so much better than the desktop version that it's a shame to see it languish as it has.

If you really want to discuss the technical merits of DRM, we should take this to PM.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Farling View Post
The problem with this approach is that once the files are unlocked on the PC then you would be able to copy them to ANY iPad - thus piracy would happen.
Why?

Each iPad is assigned a unique number by Apple. The desktop code can retrieve this number from the iPad and uses it to encrypt the files. Now only that iPad can access them. (If it were me, I would use a public/private key pair.)

Or more simply, since the files on the iPad are already "locked" by the license in the current code base, just take the data entry of the license key out of the app and make it something that the user has to provide via the desktop. Then Apple doesn't have any indication that there even is anything more than just what's available in "demo mode".

Quote:
Requiring a program to run on the PC or MAC (2 platforms) to copy files to an iPad would be a lot more work
When the DropBox API changed and LW hadn't updated the app to the new API yet, we had to email portfolios back and forth from the app. Major PITN. Eventually, the app switched to using the FileProvider API on iOS, which was a more general approach anyway and can work with any FileProvider service. The iPad app could "import" a license key via an email attachment or via browsing the FileProvider interface...

Quote:
- and I'm sure circumventable.
Haha, everything is circumventable with enough time and the right tools!
Azhrei is offline   #14 Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -8. The time now is 02:55 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® - Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
wolflair.com copyright ©1998-2016 Lone Wolf Development, Inc. View our Privacy Policy here.