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[Urist McScoopbeard]

Pretty much this. Also, he flat out said he didn't care that Steve asked not to mod the game. So... kind of a dick move lol.

Basically, it's a huge hassle to Steve, and pretty disrespectful considering the personal nature of the development.

[da_nang]

To be fair, the bug reporting system is already operating on the honor system. Nothing prevents a user from reporting a bug from an older version. Nothing prevents a user from completely fabricating a bug report, including images and error messages.

So if someone wanted to waste Steve's time, they could.

If anything, it points to a lack of version or file integrity checking in the bug reports which would weed out all but the more malicious, competent users. For instance, generate a hash of the files he cares about on startup/on error detection, run it through a Feistel cipher with a random seed, and encrypt the scrambled hash with a public key that Steve provides. This signed hash is posted alongside the bug report. Steve then decrypts it with his private key, runs it through a Feistel cipher and then checks the hash. If it matches, it's the correct version. This can be automated; false positives would be rare.

To break that, you would need to know the exact hashing algorithm, the exact number of iterations in the Feistel cipher, and to be able dig out the public key.

A competent user could probably do this by trying to reverse engineer the code, match code patterns, and timing attacks on the cipher.

Your average run-of-the-mill mod user wouldn't know how to do it.

Your average modder, who would need to know some reverse engineering skill ATM, wouldn't have a reason for wasting their time on it.

So the threat would be a malicious user/modder with the know-how and determination, of which I imagine there aren't that many.

[Ozyton]

I do wish that changing the colors for the windows and text was simply coded into the game as a setting somewhere. That night mode mod looks like it'd be a good first step except that it's a mod and the window borders are still white.

I seem to remember VB6 allowing you to at least customize the text and highlight color for various events in the event window. Changing them to colors that don't have 100% saturation immediately made it less harsh to look at.

[forsaken1111]

I'm sure QoL changes like that will come in due course, he sacrificed some features in order to hit his promised date

[Ozyton]

I know that he left out things like the event log in tactical view, but the color scheme for the entire game? I suspect he has it just the way he wants and isn't going to put in anything that lets you change it.

[Lord Shonus]

Color schemes are explicitly a promised feature - he's already posted some screenshots (back in 16) showing different colors, so he knows how to do it and explicitly doesn't object. He just sacrificed that for release and is putting it on hold until the first feature update.


The "you WILL allow mods, you do NOT have a choice" folks are fundamentally the same as the "You WILL release the source code publicly, or we WILL release it for you - closed source IS NOT PERMISSIBLE" people that delayed the release while he obfuscated his code.

[Eschar]

The "you WILL allow mods, you do NOT have a choice" folks are fundamentally the same as the "You WILL release the source code publicly, or we WILL release it for you - closed source IS NOT PERMISSIBLE" people that delayed the release while he obfuscated his code.

They what.

It's his game, people! He made it! You aren't entitled to it! Plus with lone-developer closed-source there's no C:DDA-style dev drama.

[Urist McScoopbeard]

Big agreeance. If you REALLY want mods just wait for Quasar 4X, which is a Aurora clone explicitly given Steve's blessing made in a different engine and considerably more modular (and with built in modding support).

[Ozyton]

Color schemes are explicitly a promised feature - he's already posted some screenshots (back in 16) showing different colors, so he knows how to do it and explicitly doesn't object. He just sacrificed that for release and is putting it on hold until the first feature update.

That is a huge relief. I don't know why but any game that allows you to mess with color schemes, whether it be the HUD, user interface, the color of your armor, etc. gets huge bonus points from me.

In regards to mods: I do think that Steve should allow them, but since it's his project he has every right to say 'no,' especially since it's a hobby project that he's generously sharing with the rest of us.

[Soadreqm]

the "You WILL release the source code publicly, or we WILL release it for you - closed source IS NOT PERMISSIBLE" people that delayed the release while he obfuscated his code.

The what now?
As I recall, it was one guy asking something about making a modding API, and Steve spending a day or two figuring out how to run the obfuscator. No one asked him to release the source, they just pointed out that the way he was originally going to do the release, the source would have been released as a side effect.
Really, the only reason to be upset about it is if you wanted the source for yourself, and didn't want anyone to warn Steve beforehand.

Also, he literally doesn't have a choice as to whether people will mod his game. He can make it more difficult, and has already done so, but a sufficiently motivated hacker can eventually overcome any anti-tampering measure. I guess he could start using Denuvo or something, but even that is only a deterrent.

In regards to mods: I do think that Steve should allow them, but since it's his project he has every right to say 'no,' especially since it's a hobby project that he's generously sharing with the rest of us.

I actually don't think he does. When you obtain software through legal means, it becomes your legal property, and you are fully within your rights to modify it in whatever way you choose. Copyright restricts distributing copies of the software, but that's usually not necessary for game mods. Software EULAs try to restrict these rights, but they haven't been tested in court - specifically because the companies writing the EULAs know that they aren't legally binding and cannot be enforced. Steve can make it more difficult to mod his game, by obfuscating the code and using other anti-tamper measures, but he has no legal or moral right to stop people from trying.

[Urist McScoopbeard]

Yea legality really isn't the point. Disrespecting an incredibly niche and longtime single man indie developer's wishes is the point.

[Lord Shonus]

the "You WILL release the source code publicly, or we WILL release it for you - closed source IS NOT PERMISSIBLE" people that delayed the release while he obfuscated his code.

The what now?
As I recall, it was one guy asking something about making a modding API, and Steve spending a day or two figuring out how to run the obfuscator. No one asked him to release the source, they just pointed out that the way he was originally going to do the release, the source would have been released as a side effect.
Really, the only reason to be upset about it is if you wanted the source for yourself, and didn't want anyone to warn Steve beforehand.

According to people on the Aurora discord, it was an explicit "We will have that source code. You might as well release it if you know what's good for you." ultimatim, and obfuscation added almost 2 or 3 weeks according to Steve.

[forsaken1111]

Yea legality really isn't the point. Disrespecting an incredibly niche and longtime single man indie developer's wishes is the point.

Yeah, when speaking of 'rights' people aren't always referring to legal rights. A right can be an ethical or social standard in english as often as a legal one. He may not have the legal right to enforce a modding ban but he has every right to request one, and people should follow that request within reason if they appreciate his entertainment which he provides for free.

[Eschar]

Yea legality really isn't the point. Disrespecting an incredibly niche and longtime single man indie developer's wishes is the point.

Yeah, when speaking of 'rights' people aren't always referring to legal rights. A right can be an ethical or social standard in english as often as a legal one. He may not have the legal right to enforce a modding ban but he has every right to request one, and people should follow that request within reason if they appreciate his entertainment which he provides for free.

If I could upvote this I would

[Soadreqm]

According to people on the Aurora discord, it was an explicit "We will have that source code. You might as well release it if you know what's good for you." ultimatim, and obfuscation added almost 2 or 3 weeks according to Steve.

You got an actual quote of that ultimatum? Because the bit that Steve posted on his forums here was entirely polite in tone.
Also, I'm pretty sure the time between Steve posting that he was starting work on obfuscation and releasing the game was less than two weeks.
Yeah, looked it up, he posted saying he started work on obfuscation on April 6th, and that it was working on April 8th.
EDIT: I feel I should also emphasize that the time added by obfuscation isn't really a result of any threats Steve may have gotten. He was going to have to do that anyway. If he hadn't, that would have meant a released game in unobfuscated C#, which anyone could have decompiled, which is something he did not want.

Yeah, when speaking of 'rights' people aren't always referring to legal rights. A right can be an ethical or social standard in english as often as a legal one. He may not have the legal right to enforce a modding ban but he has every right to request one, and people should follow that request within reason if they appreciate his entertainment which he provides for free.

I said "legal or moral" rights, and I meant it. I don't think Steve has any right to dictate what others are allowed to do with software running on their own computers.
Virtually all developers writing closed-source software would rather prefer if no one tampered with their code - that's the primary reason not to publish the source, after all - but besides what countermeasures they can build into the software itself, that's simply none of their business. When you give someone a copy of the software, that copy is theirs, and they can mangle it however they wish.
If you personally want to respect Steve's wishes and play the game vanilla only, you're obviously free to do so, but if others want to mod it, that's their own choice.