Launcher

Hello everyone,
as discussed earlier at this thread I'm working on a launcher that downloads from the server the client.exe, launch it and delete on close.
That can be usefull, all the little kids with the god mode hacks etc.. won't be able to get your exe.
The launcher also will check the files in the folder and if there is a file that shouldn't be there the game won't start and print an error to the user.
"shouldn't be there"? in the server you'll have a txt file that specify the allowed files names.

Now, I will appriciate if someone would mind to designe the launcher cause the default layout is :thumbdown::thumbdown::thumbdown:

And if you have any suggestions I would like to hear.

ehhh? your launcher is gonna download a 4mb file from an internet server EVERY time your users want to play it? What about those with slower internet connections?

Or even as Sheen said, what if the users copy the client during run time?


You should modify your list of allowed files to allowed process id's or possibly process names. Hack tools do not have to be run from within the client folder, The ptapocalypse hack tool for example was released where it was neccesary for it to be run from the client folder, but Shard released the source code for it anyways so a user with knowledge of C++ could easily change the start directory to allow external use.

Every launcher want a lot of innovation in any stage so we will remind all perspective and never deny any thing importance for best resources so be happy for best role.

Quote:

---

What about those with slower internet connections?

---

It takes less then 20 seconds to download a 3mb file.
Those with the slow internet connections are those who lag the server which truthly I don't want in my server, but they still got the option to play.
From the second you click the game.exe till the second you are in game something like 2-3 min are passed.
And for those who has slow internet connection it takes aroud 5 min.. so the diffrence between 5 min to 5.5 min worth all those security features.at least for me.

Quote:

---

Or even as Sheen said, what if the users copy the client during run time?

---

Then when they will try to log in again the launcher will print an error cause the exe isn't in the allowed files, another advantage for that list.

Quote:

---

so a user with knowledge of C++ could easily change the start directory to allow external use.

---

He can't since there is not any exe in the folder.

There might be few ways to bypass that system but it will requires high programming skills, and these little kids know nothing.
This will definitely reduce the amount of hackers in the server.

The best of programs created and marketed by multi billion dollar companies have been hacked.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tnrh1

It takes less then 20 seconds to download a 3mb file.

---

It will take even less time if you compress it :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tnrh1

Those with the slow internet connections are those who lag the server which truthly I don't want in my server, but they still got the option to play.

---

Actually most important thing is "quality" of connection, when you stream or play online games you would like to see good ping.
Someone with 5 Mbps can generate less lag then someone that have 100.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tnrh1

From the second you click the game.exe till the second you are in game something like 2-3 min are passed.

---

If this "operation" is not faster than 10 sec then it will annoy anyone who need to relog to game.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tnrh1

And for those who has slow internet connection it takes aroud 5 min.. so the diffrence between 5 min to 5.5 min worth all those security features.at least for me.

---

5 min O___o are we running game here or turning on a car with weak battery?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tnrh1

There might be few ways to bypass that system but it will requires high programming skills, and these little kids know nothing.
This will definitely reduce the amount of hackers in the server.

---

It will also reduce players who don't make coffee after pressing Launcher.exe :)

I think it would be better if you leave hackers alone and concentrate on detecting those hacks. If every hack that they are using is generating error than PT Protector will take care of the rest.

but, if the exe isnt in the allowed files list by the "launcher" all you will have to do is run the client exe without running launcher, unless you do as bobsobol said and have the launcher hard coded to the game as a dll that refferences it at game start. In which case there would be no point in downloading the full client. Just simply do that. But even still i could just remove the calls to the dll and then reallocate the start point offset....I guess the best way to do it is gonna be to have the launcher inject the exe header into the game so it cant start without it, if it has a custom header then no one is gonna know it, unless of course, again, they copy the file during run time.... its a tricky one =/

Program the client to quit if the launcher isn't present in memory, the launching application and having a matching checksum. ^_^

XTrap slows the game down to the point I don't want to play it any more. 5 mins to log in I would have called up task manager and killed it thinking it was broken.

Sorry, but if you quote actual times that's waaaaaaaaaaaay too long.

No... apo doesn't care where game.exe is, or what it's called any more than Olly does. Because you have the source you can name the process and set the PID to anything you like, even replace Windows explorer.exe with it. :wink: Do you want to force players to close down their desktop and start bar in order to play?

Scan memory for signatures... that's the only way. :wink:

Quote:

---

It will take even less time if you compress it :)

---

Quote:

---

5 min O___o are we running game here or turning on a car with weak battery?

---

You justify the use of the launcher..

Quote:

---

It will also reduce players who don't make coffee after pressing Launcher.exe :)

---

It won't since in the wrost case that would take 20 seconds(you even said that it would be faster).

Quote:

---

if the exe isnt in the allowed files list by the "launcher" all you will have to do is run the client exe without running launcher

---

That's the only part I got left to work on, and looks like bobsbol offered a nice solution, now I need to implement that.

Quote:

---

Program the client to quit if the launcher isn't present in memory

---

Number all your updates.
update 1: test.trar
update 2: ric.rar

At the end of each update create a 1.dat 2.dat file in some folder.
Make a list of ALL updates.

When u open the launcher, download THE list. Check the numbers. if you dont have that number, you donwload that update.

update list example:

upd number;upd name;upd address (http/bla.com/file.rar)

just loop through all lines and split it in ;

clear as mud?

When I think about it, "Program the client to quit if the launcher isn't present in memory" will be enough so the exe download isn't needed.
So the only connection between the client & server will be for updates and list of allowed files.
I'll work on that and update you.

I think I agree with that last post Imri. As to the update list, I'd add lines to an update log, and add each line to a linked list / array to be compared with elements in a similarly processed file from the server. As opposed to creating a new file for each update.

But I would also be concerned about "modified assets" in the updates. I'd want something to check that none of the assets distributed in any update had changed in the installation. That may make me want to keep separate files for each update, containing SFV information for each file.

I'm still leaning towards PAR2. ^_^ As an alternative to RAR archives they are broken down into multiple files of ever decreasing size. Every file in the archive is data linked to every other file like RAID drives. Any alteration will require "part" of the original archive to fix, but the smaller the modification, the less, and smaller the parts which need to be re-fetched. :wink:

New LL client is using something like this. You need to start Player.exe that will launch client.exe. You can RE that and implement it in PT.

I'll re-share a simple idea from Sandurr. One of his launchers passed a parameter "PLAYER" or "ADMIN" to game.exe. If neither was passed it just quit. (there was more complex stuff on "ADMIN" but you don't need to worry about that)

The client won't check only if the launcher is on the memory.
It will also check if the ollydbg is on the memory or any kind of editor so it won't be editable by any kind of program.
I might even add some hacking tools name to this blacklist.
I'm on a testing process and it seems to be fine, I will release it when it done.

It can detect stealth Olly and SoftIce? Wow! You have done what no other security team has ever managed 100% to achieve! That's incredible. In fact, it's so unbelievable, I wish to reserve all that praise until I can actually see it do so. :wink: If, and when you do, this will be waaaay bigger than PT, or RaGEZONE. It will blow every corner of anything computer exploit related. You will have your pick of jobs in Symantec, Trend, Arivira ... etc etc.

I have a strong suspicion that it still only detects known versions of Olly, unmodified without *any* of the many stealth addons and mods, and cannot detect Ring-0 debuggers at all. Let alone VMs and VM debuggers, unpackers and sandboxes. :wink:

Fair play to your attempt, I just think the task you set yourself is far larger than you suspect.

--- EDIT ---
No, even that is too harsh. I think you do suspect how hard it would be to detect custom modified tools, but your last post is ineloquently worded to suggest otherwise. :wink: