Unique hardware id

[Ron]

Anyone know if there is a way to pull any sort of unique number from computers. I want to encode save game data (winnings stats, earned upgrades,...). Encoding will prevent players from directly editing their savegame file, but it still does not prevent them from sending the file to other users.

I know I could pull a unique number from the ip address, but would prefer to do it another way if possible.

[acocq]

Ron,
there are several ways one could compute a unique hardware ID (e.g. the harddisk ID, which CAN be faked, but normally is unique enough ...) ... but you always run into the issue of it changing due to hardware being swapped / replaced ...

Image someone playing your game and the data being encoded / encrypted using the hardware ID and then the user changes something on their PC ... and WHAMM ... no more access to their saved game data ?  And trust me ... when a user upgrades his PC, the last thing he will (want) to think about is how to make sure his saved game data will be accessible after the upgrade. Or is it just that you want them not to be able to change it ?  Then you do not need a unique hardware ID ... just devise you own "key" for encrypting it...

BTW, the IP address itself is NOT a reliable ID ... you could use the MAC, that will remain fixed (until the next PC upgrade  )

But maybe there are other ways of accomplishing what you are aiming for ... I'm not sure that I really understand what the goal is 

Cheers,
Andreas

[Ron]

I'm not sure how to go about it. Say for example you earn $10,000 game dollars that you can use for player upgrades. I can write script to encode 10,000 so players cannot just go into their save game file and set any amount of dollars they want.

Potential problem could be is if someone sends their save game data to someone else so that other person would have the same amount of dollars as them. If 10,000 = 7f3&4s encoded, anyone could put that code in their game and get the same amount of money 

[acocq]

Encode it with the player ID in addition to your unique key ... that way they could send off the file, but the player would need to use the same player ID ... and that's OK, I think ... it just means that your game would "think" that the player is continuing to play .... no matter what PC is being used.

This would discourage most people, I think ... no point in gathering up points for someone else ...

Cheers,
Andreas

[gekido]

savegame files in 2.0.5 or newer are encrypted by default when exported to prevent hacking / manual editing. 

You can get around some of the other issues you mention through the GameCore account / master server system, but we're still putting the finishing touches on the developer interface for that so it's not usable at the moment publically. 

If you want to contact me offline I can put you in touch with the programmer in charge of the master server stuff and we can get you setup for the time being.  There will be a fancy web-based interface for managing the user accounts for your game and leaderboards etc, but it's still being developed at the moment.