Hackproof Arcade

[Ophelius]

I'm creating an arcade cabinet using my own game which I plan to sell, but would like to make the game unplayable unless it's played on the arcade itself. Since it's PC based, anyone can simply connect the hard drive to their own computer, find the files and distribute the game. Here's what I thought would work:

-Every arcade cabinet has a hidden file. In the file there's the motherboard serial number which is encrypted.
-The game when launched would decrypt the file and compare the machine's serial number it's being played on with the file's serial number.
-If they match, run the game.

Any way to hack this you think?

[SlayerAlex]

Yes

[DJ_Izumi]

They'd just have to search the machine to find that hidden file and then distribute it with the rest of the software.

How many units do you expect to sell?  Cause if you have any professional arcade publishers they'd be doing the security for you.  ARe you just gonna hand build original machines to sell your game and sell them directly yourself?  In that case you have a great security feature: Complete Obscurity

[Ophelius]

They'd just have to search the machine to find that hidden file and then distribute it with the rest of the software.

No, because every computer's machine number is different and won't match the file if it's different from the original machine.

ARe you just gonna hand build original machines to sell your game and sell them directly yourself?

I'll be building and selling them directly myself. I won't be building the arcade shell. That I'll be buying pre-built to save me time.

In that case you have a great security feature: Complete Obscurity

Not sure I understand what you mean here.

[DJ_Izumi]

No, because every computer's machine number is different and won't match the file if it's different from the original machine.

You didn't say ANYTHING about the software polling the motherboard to actually check to see if the serial number remained the same.

Either way, serial numbers can be spoofed so the motherboard will start reporting the serial to match the machine it was pirated from.

Also, that part of your code could just be removed.  That's how No CD cracks for games work afterall.  They just remove the part of the executable that checks and alters it so it always gets a false positive.

Let's be honest here.  You're running on off the shelf PC parts with no additional security hardware.  It's not gonna happen.  If major corporations can't make games that can't be pirated without them forcing them to dial home across the internet for verification, one guy sure as heck isn't going to succeed where they failed.

Considdering the costs of say, security dongles to make the software work, like what major flight simulation companies use and such, what you really need to do is ask if the costs of security outweigh potential losses to piracy.

[Dannymh]

Could you not do something with the MAC address etc? You should be able to get enough information to uniquely identify the system.

I know some machines have a security dongle that has to be attached.

Also if the machines are hooked up to a phoneline or to the internet you could always do a call home script to make sure the machine details match.

There are plenty of ways to handle licensing and none are really completely hack proof though

[spauldingd]

Anything can be hacked.  Spend your time worrying more about the quality of the game and less about making it difficult to steal.  I certainly don't mean to sound harsh, but anyone with a good hex editor and an understanding of assembly could circumvent anything you try to implement in software.  Even hardware dongle type things can be beaten but are usually more effective.

Dave in Des Moines

[Ophelius]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

Spend your time worrying more about the quality of the game and less about making it difficult to steal.

I'm spending lots of time designing a quality game.  My whole philosophy in game design is make it fun first before worrying about anything else like graphics etc.

You should be able to get enough information to uniquely identify the system.

That's what I hope for. But if people say even the machine's identification numbers can be changed, then there really is no way.

I know there's always a way in, even with security dongles and net verification, but at least it deters most people who can't use hex editors. At least I'll try my best.

[Ophelius]

Considering the costs of say, security dongles to make the software work, like what major flight simulation companies use and such, what you really need to do is ask if the costs of security outweigh potential losses to piracy.

A decent dongle can cost me around 20-30$. That's not so bad. Sure I can spend hundreds, but it's not worth it. I mean, with my identification checking code along with a decent security dongle, of the handful of people who might even buy my machine, what are the odds that of those people someone will want to disconnect their machine to try to distribute it, and of all those people, how many will be able to break the security. I'm not worried.

[Gatt]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

Spend your time worrying more about the quality of the game and less about making it difficult to steal.

I'm spending lots of time designing a quality game.  My whole philosophy in game design is make it fun first before worrying about anything else like graphics etc.

You should be able to get enough information to uniquely identify the system.

That's what I hope for. But if people say even the machine's identification numbers can be changed, then there really is no way.

I know there's always a way in, even with security dongles and net verification, but at least it deters most people who can't use hex editors. At least I'll try my best.

Changing any of the security ID's isn't that difficult(The MAC address is *really* easy to change).  Regardless,  as someone noted above,  all one would have to do is reverse engineer the code and take out the security check.  There's people who compete to see who can do that faster.

[Ophelius]

I think a good way to make it more difficult to crack is by making the software not give out clues that it's doing a security check. If the software detects that it's not running on a valid system, then just make the software give out a false error message and exit, like "Video Segment Error! Exiting Program". Then how can someone suspect there really is no error, but it really failed at a security check? If you make the program give out a "Invalid Authentication Code!" message, then it would be obvious where to look to break it.

[DJ_Izumi]

I think a good way to make it more difficult to crack is by making the software not give out clues that it's doing a security check. If the software detects that it's not running on a valid system, then just make the software give out a false error message and exit, like "Video Segment Error! Exiting Program". Then how can someone suspect there really is no error, but it really failed at a security check? If you make the program give out a "Invalid Authentication Code!" message, then it would be obvious where to look to break it.

You know, any would be pirate who could remove your security code, PROBABLY is more than smart enough to notice the bug only exists when the software is used on a different hardware platform.

More over, what happens if something happens to a ligit piece of hardware and they get that message?  Maybe a cap blew on the mobo and they replaced it themselves?

[Malenko]

look at it a different way, make the game affordable so its not worth the effort to pirate. While its great that you wanna pick up where Midway left off making dedicated cabs I think you'll make more money selling US a game that will run in our MAME cabs. While the profit margin might not be as high, neither is the overhead. Also multi million/billion dollar companies are coming up with software protection and it takes them months to come up with it and hacker days to defeat it.

[Ophelius]

look at it a different way, make the game affordable so its not worth the effort to pirate. While its great that you wanna pick up where Midway left off making dedicated cabs I think you'll make more money selling US a game that will run in our MAME cabs. While the profit margin might not be as high, neither is the overhead. Also multi million/billion dollar companies are coming up with software protection and it takes them months to come up with it and hacker days to defeat it.

Aren't dedicated cabs still being made today by game companies? Anyways I wouldn't feel right charging just for software. What I'm charging is for an authentic arcade, and I want this game to be unique only to those who own one making it some kind of collectors item. Even if I sell only 1 and made no money, that would still be great. I'm not trying to start my own company or anything or make lots of money. But in the end I probably will distribute a PC version for Mame arcades

[Malenko]

dedicated cabs..... yeah for racing and shooting games.

[XCVG]

Forget about it. Pretty much anything can be hacked. Although not really in this case, DRM usually just pisses people off and does nothing to stop piracy. Unless your game is really good and gets extremely popular, there probably won't be a lot of interest in pirating it anyway.

Maybe use a physical method of keeping people from transferring the games off? Put the computer in a case secured with odd screws that are impossible to find drivers for. And use a nonstandard connector for the HDD, too. Maybe if you wanted to go excessive, put some chip smashers in.

Not trying to come off as a jerk, just saying it the way I see it. I can totally understand where you are coming from.

[Gorotsuki]

Personally I'm more interested in this game
that needs protection.
Give us a taste.

[Gatt]

Forget about it. Pretty much anything can be hacked. Although not really in this case, DRM usually just pisses people off and does nothing to stop piracy. Unless your game is really good and gets extremely popular, there probably won't be a lot of interest in pirating it anyway.

Maybe use a physical method of keeping people from transferring the games off? Put the computer in a case secured with odd screws that are impossible to find drivers for. And use a nonstandard connector for the HDD, too. Maybe if you wanted to go excessive, put some chip smashers in.

Not trying to come off as a jerk, just saying it the way I see it. I can totally understand where you are coming from.

Sadly...

The case with odd screws wouldn't slow anything down,  doesn't matter if the case is intact,  hacksaw it and pull the HDD.  A nonstandard HDD Cable would be exorboriant,  you'd have to contract with one of the drive manufacturers,  and they'd require a significant order.  Chip smashers wouldn't make any difference either,  what you want is the drive,  the chips are irrelevant as they'd be fairly standard x86,  so no mysteries there.

About the only option is something that'd trigger a thermite reaction on the HDD if the case were opened.  Even that would only slow things down,  as they'd either find a way to hack the OS or hack through the networking ports.  Of course,  if the thermite reaction gets out of control,  could lead to some interesting lawsuits too...

[SavannahLion]

Why bother? The only things I've seen that are even remotely effective either A: ---fudgesicle--- up the computer in question and piss people off enough to make them want to hack it or not buy the game at all. eg Starforce. I generally refuse to buy any game that employs something like Starforce, even if it's meant to run on dedicated hardware. The other reasonably effective technique is a game that requires some online component to be activated or function, even if the game itself doesn't actually use any online component for gameplay.

I think a good way to make it more difficult to crack is by making the software not give out clues that it's doing a security check. If the software detects that it's not running on a valid system, then just make the software give out a false error message and exit, like "Video Segment Error! Exiting Program". Then how can someone suspect there really is no error, but it really failed at a security check? If you make the program give out a "Invalid Authentication Code!" message, then it would be obvious where to look to break it.

Doesn't work and actually serves to drive the cracker even more. False messages is an old trick and one of the first things crackers learn about.

[Ophelius]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. Cryptology has always fascinated me and I've learned that even the most thought out ways to get someone to stay out will always have a weakness(Troy). I'll most likely distribute the software freely and if someone really likes the game and wants a collectors item for their collection, they can buy my arcade. The game should be finished soon, so I'll post it when it's released.

[gaffner]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. Cryptology has always fascinated me and I've learned that even the most thought out ways to get someone to stay out will always have a weakness(Troy). I'll most likely distribute the software freely and if someone really likes the game and wants a collectors item for their collection, they can buy my arcade. The game should be finished soon, so I'll post it when it's released.

Seems like the best way to go... if your game is all that and a bag of chips, people will want more, and you can charge them for the new and improved second one (because really, who would want the first one if there is an even cooler sequel).

[Malenko]

I toss 5 dollars out to indie game makers all the time to support their projects, Im sure if your game is good (and or if my nephews like it) I would do it again.

[XCVG]

Forget about it. Pretty much anything can be hacked. Although not really in this case, DRM usually just pisses people off and does nothing to stop piracy. Unless your game is really good and gets extremely popular, there probably won't be a lot of interest in pirating it anyway.

Maybe use a physical method of keeping people from transferring the games off? Put the computer in a case secured with odd screws that are impossible to find drivers for. And use a nonstandard connector for the HDD, too. Maybe if you wanted to go excessive, put some chip smashers in.

Not trying to come off as a jerk, just saying it the way I see it. I can totally understand where you are coming from.

Sadly...

The case with odd screws wouldn't slow anything down,  doesn't matter if the case is intact,  hacksaw it and pull the HDD.  A nonstandard HDD Cable would be exorboriant,  you'd have to contract with one of the drive manufacturers,  and they'd require a significant order.  Chip smashers wouldn't make any difference either,  what you want is the drive,  the chips are irrelevant as they'd be fairly standard x86,  so no mysteries there.

About the only option is something that'd trigger a thermite reaction on the HDD if the case were opened.  Even that would only slow things down,  as they'd either find a way to hack the OS or hack through the networking ports.  Of course,  if the thermite reaction gets out of control,  could lead to some interesting lawsuits too...

HDD Cable: Desolder the old connector, put on your own and CHANGE THE PINOUT! Recase. Or maybe mod one of those little IDE flash things?
Chip Smashers: Maybe a giant magnet that wipes the HDD would be a better shoice.
Thermite: I like that idea

Now I really want this game

[CheffoJeffo]

While I certainly understand the desire to protect your IP (I have had mine stolen, with attempts to resell, twice in the past), many of the proposed measures, if implemented, would result in me (and I suspect the majority of collectors) having no interest in buying your cabinets.

How could I possibly invest that kind of money in a game sold by "some guy on the Innertubes" when he has specifically chosen an architecture and security measures that would prevent me from fixing it when it fails.

Am I just supposed to trust that you will be around to provide support and replacement parts ?

There are a number of security measures already used by arcade machine vendors that are trusted AND supported (so look into those), but the simple fact is that I don't see any opportunity for you to make money buying prebuilt cabs and then assembling the components by hand.

OTOH, if you make a great game that is affordable, PC-based and cab-friendly, I see a decent opportunity for you to make some coin.


EDIT: Is this for your version of Astrosmash ? And you are looking for ways to protect that IP from, say, being copied by someone else and then sold for a profit ? 

[Epyx]

I know there's always a way in, even with security dongles and net verification, but at least it deters most people who can't use hex editors.

The problem is the people who are going to be spending the time hacking/copying/distributing are not your customer base anyways...the harder you make it for those people the more you piss off the real customers. In my opinion, take a page from Stardock games...no protection and therefore no challenge for hackers...yet they have a loyal and large customer base and due to their business model are one of the most profitable publishers out there.

[DJ_Izumi]

If you could actually make a great indie arcade game, you might want to actually look at selling it on Microsoft's Xbox 360 Indie game realm through XNA.  MS gives indie devs 70% of the income off Indie games and you could reach an entire continent of Xbox 360's.  Not to mention they'll handle the DRM for you

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_XNA

[Ophelius]

How could I possibly invest that kind of money in a game sold by "some guy on the Innertubes" when he has specifically chosen an architecture and security measures that would prevent me from fixing it when it fails.

The security would only make it not possible to be run on other machines. The buyer would have complete access to everything. 

I don't see any opportunity for you to make money buying prebuilt cabs and then assembling the components by hand.

Like I said, even if I just sell one, I'm happy with that. I will be distributing the game online.

EDIT: Is this for your version of Astrosmash ? And you are looking for ways to protect that IP from, say, being copied by someone else and then sold for a profit ? 

Yes, but because of possible lawsuits from Intellivision, I'm remaking it into something new. New title, different graphics, lots of new features, etc. It won't be Astrosmash when I'm done.

[/quote]

[massive88]

Imo, for something like this the most effective is the least worrysome.

Something like a serial number based on a MAC address, call home once after install to verify, or over the phone to go through the process.

Can it be hacked?  Sure.

But its enough that people cant just pass a CD to their friend, and its easy enough that you dont piss off the consumer.

I agree that its the pricing of games, and the annoyance of DRM that drives piracy.  People feel justified if something costs more than they feel its worth, or if they get screwed over by some overly complicated mechanisms.  If the game is cheap enough, you have human mentality working for you instead.  People want to be righteous and legal, make it easy for them and no one will care about pirating.

[MonMotha]

DRM is a fundamentally unsolvable problem using cryptography.  You can't have Bob and Eve be the same person.  Your copy protection WILL be hacked if anybody cares enough to do it.  Patching out simple checks like you describe is actually rather easy, especially on an architecture as well understood and with as many development and reverse engineering tools as a PC running (probably) Windows.  What you describe would take someone who knows what they're doing maybe an hour or two to bypass.

My suggestion is to simply put some minimal check in to "keep the honest people honest".  It'll get broken.  You know that.  Chances are, these people either weren't going to be paying customers, anyway, or they have some unusual need and are bypassing the security on a legitimately purchased product.  You just need enough to remind people that they shouldn't be sharing.  Don't prohibit resale; don't prohibit multiple installations by the same purchaser, etc.  Just nudge them enough that they won't share it with the world.

I'd suggest a simple "license file" that you email people upon purchase or include on separate media in the box.  People know that it's serialized and traceable to them, so they won't share it.  It's easy to back up and copy around for legitimate reinstallation, and it can be transferred upon legitimate sale by simply including it.  Users are "on their honor" to not keep a copy.  You may laugh, but I know of a several thousand dollar CAD application that uses this exact system.

The pirates will probably just make a "fake" license file and pass it around or simply patch out the checks for said file.  If you start putting out updates or patches, you can mess with the people using the common hacks.  It's fun stuff   Make them lose constantly and in usual ways.  They'll patch around that as well, sure, but at least you've had some fun in the process.

[KKB]

The simplest is often the better, especially because time is money :  each day of work spent about the security/piracy will increase your devellopement costs.
So,, may be you should simply code a basic protection, as costless as possible , to prevent obvious copying by your customer. Then, use the saved time to concentrate your efforts on the quality of your product ,your business plan, your marketing strategy...
Everything can be hacked, that's an obvious evidence. But why to care about piracy if the product isn't great, perfect, innovant ? because to not sell your games is the major risk... If your game is great, then you'll probably sell it enough to not loose money. The biggest risk is a flop , disapointment. Piracy is really a minor detail IMHO...

[Sir Headless VII]

Do something simple (like what MonMotha described) and be happy with that. If the game cracking community wants to crack your game they will, but realistically that seems unlikely. The internet community at large isn't that interested in indie clones of 29 year old games (it sounds like something this community might like however). Also if you are selling a cabinet losing the software alone isn't really going to be that big a blow since your product is more of an arcade experience than a piece of software.

[Gatt]

I know there's always a way in, even with security dongles and net verification, but at least it deters most people who can't use hex editors.

The problem is the people who are going to be spending the time hacking/copying/distributing are not your customer base anyways...the harder you make it for those people the more you piss off the real customers. In my opinion, take a page from Stardock games...no protection and therefore no challenge for hackers...yet they have a loyal and large customer base and due to their business model are one of the most profitable publishers out there.

I thought that to be true as well,  until I recently read an article on piracy.

The section on Stardock described how on the day of Demigod's release,  Stardocks servers were completely crushed by a little over 100,000 players.  When they went and looked,  they discovered they'd sold only ~20,000 units.

So sadly,  not only did Stardock not sell as many units as they could have,  but the people who paid suffered an inability to play because of the large influx of people who didn't.

Here's a link..


http://forums.stardock.com/372773/page/2/#replies

(Niz's post)

From Joystick.com

"Demigod appears to have been a pirates' cove at launch, as Stardock CEO Brad Wardell explained on his blog a couple days ago: Out of the 120,000 connections on launch day, only 18,000 were legitimate customers (that's not sales, merely "concurrent users"). Obviously, this situation put quite a strain on the servers. He explained that Stardock stress tested for 50,000 players at peak times and wasn't expecting to hit those numbers for weeks.


A letter from Stardock this morning notes that "most" launch day issues were resolved yesterday afternoon. A "doppleganger" of the network was created, along with an update for legitimate players, which now directs them to the clean servers. It's a pretty nasty situation for Stardock, which has actually put faith in gamers by not placing copy protection on its games. "

[mlalena]

Require that the PC have IE6 installed. No one would do that voluntarily on their own computer.

On a serious note, I wouldn't bother much with security. Probably just a simple hardware ID check. The thieves are going to spend more time hacking the well known games by big publishers.

The only "arcade" game I've ever considered building commercially were Megatouch style systems. You know you have an audience at bars where most arcades are gone. You could do a 50-50 split on the profits with the bar or sell them the system outright for thousands less than Merit.

Even this isn't worth the effort. Good solid case (drunk people punch it when mad) + Touch screen + computer + bill changer + coin slot + warranty support... and the price adds up quick. You can find Metatough systems on ebay used for under $1000, so I figured it wasn't worth it. Still didn't stop me from writing the games and posting them online - almost 15 years since I wrote those games.

[DashRendar]

Even if I sell only 1 and made no money, that would still be great.

If this is true, then why would you care about people copying the game?   

[Thenasty]

use the JOSHUA OS. I have not seen any pirated Ultracade yet (DF is watching).

[Ophelius]

Even if I sell only 1 and made no money, that would still be great.

If this is true, then why would you care about people copying the game?   

Because I wanted to make the buyer feel like he owns a one of kind collectors item that no one else has played before.

[mphuie]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. Cryptology has always fascinated me and I've learned that even the most thought out ways to get someone to stay out will always have a weakness(Troy). I'll most likely distribute the software freely and if someone really likes the game and wants a collectors item for their collection, they can buy my arcade. The game should be finished soon, so I'll post it when it's released.

Your game has to be decrypted sometime for it to be run.  Won't make a difference.  If you look at BlazBlue: Continuum Shift, it runs on Taito X2 which is Windows based - the game is encrypted and has dongle protection.  It was hacked and distributed within a few months.  If you really want to deter piracy, build and distribute your cab on OS and/or hardware platform that most people don't own - ie. X86/Windows.

[DantheApe]

"Because I wanted to make the buyer feel like he owns a one of kind collectors item that no one else has played before."

What is your target? This statement has me really confused.  You have mentioned that you are distributing this online; is this some sort of Collector's Edition for your game?  Is this going to be targeted at the Dave and Busters crowd? I think I'm missing something here. 

I really doubt you will get a serious arcade owner who will look at this game as a "one of a kind collector's item" and then turn around and wonder "how can i pirate this?" If someone wants to crack copy protection, they will.  You are asking for a solution for a problem that has existed since the days of bbs systems before the internet.  There will always be software piracy. 

I hate to break it to ya, but i think one of the earlier posters had it right. Methinks your biggest protection is that there just won't be many, if any, of these cabinets.  If there aren't any out there, there won't be any to pirate off of.

[Haze]

I'm creating an arcade cabinet using my own game which I plan to sell, but would like to make the game unplayable unless it's played on the arcade itself. Since it's PC based, anyone can simply connect the hard drive to their own computer, find the files and distribute the game. Here's what I thought would work:

-Every arcade cabinet has a hidden file. In the file there's the motherboard serial number which is encrypted.
-The game when launched would decrypt the file and compare the machine's serial number it's being played on with the file's serial number.
-If they match, run the game.

Any way to hack this you think?

If it runs on a PC based platform then it can be hacked.  Actually, if it runs on any platform without a specialist security chip and very clever programming which obscure the purpose of the protection but integrate it's functionality into every step of the game then it can be hacked, easily.

The only thing that stands between you and a hacked copy of your game being distributed is if somebody cares enough to hack it.

You can put extra security measures in, but if they inconvenience your legitimate customers then you'll just get more complaints, and the pirates will still pirate your games.

I find it amazing that the games industry haven't realised this yet, even the music industry have caught onto the fact that trying to add protection to their music, be it on CD or on downloads dosen't actually STOP anybody copying it, and if anything encourages more people to copy it because they have so many problems with the original.

These are simple facts, the only thing you can do to encourage legitimate sales is by providing additional bonuses to people who actually pay for it, such as after-sales support, giving them quick access to updates / patches etc.  Providing them with previews / location tests of new games / products.  Actually make them feel GOOD for being a legitimate customer.  This is something the games industry is getting very, very wrong lately (and the reason I stopped buying PC games, and have now decided to get rid of my PS3)

On a PC I can't think of a single security measure that I've encountered that been worth the development cost, and at an Arcade level I can only think of a handful which have been effective.  Even amongst the emulated games most of the tough ones could be cracked by copying the protection chips (which the professionals will do for a reasonable charge if you're planning on making money out of it, which MAME isn't)  There are a tiny, tiny number of protection schemes which are actually effective against people trying to crack them, and all those fall into the 'tightly integrated into the game logic, entirely custom solutions' category.

Recent PC solutions include running things on a remote server, but this requires an 'always-on' connection (which many arcades won't have) and also introduces reliability issues.  For things like Poker machines it makes sense, central management of the entire business online; some of the recent ones are just flash based clients which connect to a secure server.  For real games this doesn't work unless you're doing something like World of Warcraft, which inherently can't really be pirated and still give a genuine experience.  Not everybody wants that kind of game tho.

If you had a huge budget dedicated to this sort of thing, and designed each system to run one very specific game, then you could probably come up with something.  As of yet not even the likes of Sega and Taito have made that kind of investment in security for their PC based systems (I suspect they will if people continue to crack them) but you have to consider that something of that magnitude might actually cost just as much to develop as your entire game, and there is still a risk of it being cracked.  At which point do you just decide to take your chances, and go the 'good support for legitimate customers' route?

For mainstream arcades the biggest 'current' protection systems are custom cabs.  Who wants to bootleg an entire custom cabinet, with very specific controls, that can't really be swapped into a generic cabinet, or one from another game even if it was bootlegged?  Aside from giving people a different experience to a home system it's also a great anti-piracy measure, and one that actually does fall under the 'reward legitimate customers' roof.  Obviously for smaller, more regular type games this isn't an option.

Bottom line is, if your game is popular enough then people will pirate it.  In some cases you might even have a ratio of 99% pirates to 1% buyers (this has been seen on some iPhone apps..)  but the reality is, even if you had a perfect protection system you might only see a small increase to your sales, and a decrease in your exposure, not the hypothetical 100x increase in sales, and besides, such systems don't exist.

[DashRendar]

You could set it up where the software establishes a terminal session to a remote server that actually plays the game.  This would be on a share that paid users have access to only run the application, but cannot list the contents of any directories or modify any files.

Even after all that sillyness, I predict it would allow your software to go unpirated for an extra week...before someone gets pissed and just hacks your server to get access to the files.