[RMVX ACE] RELEASING YOUR GAME, EXE VS ZIP

If someone is determined to crack your game open, they will do it. It doesn't matter how strong your encryption is. It will happen. Encrypting your game would probably be enough of a safeguard to some casuals who don't know/care enough to search for a method to break in, but for those that really know what they're doing and want in, they're getting in.

I honestly didn't know the extractor didn't jive with some operating systems. I guess any game I release unencrypted should probably stick with ZIP from now on. But if encrypting is requested in the Terms of Use for any assets I end up using, then EXE it is.

For the record, I sometimes won't play a game if it's an exe. I shouldn't have to do a full install just to play a game that can work fine standalone. I don't want something I'm going to play for a short period of time shitting up my computer and registry.

So, good choice.

author=Liberty
Just to point out that you DO, legally, have to encrypt your game if it has certain resource packs used (it's part of the TOS). However, the old "Exe then zip" works well in that case.

Personally I prefer unencrypted, zipped projects just in case I need to change eventing or, yes, even cheat. ;p

I hope you mean exe to encrypt, extract the package, and THEN zip. Because zipping the exe does nothing except add an extra step.

As someone who has always had issues with false positives on the exes, I am a great fan of zips.

You could always just release it both ways.

The main problem with zip files is that players are dummies and try to just run the game from within the zip file without extracting it, because they don't know what a zip file is. So I usually make a self-extracting EXE as the main download and then make a zip file as an alternate download. That way the kinds of people who don't know what they're doing are more likely to automatically get the version that solves their problem. People who have antivirus-false-positive problems may or may not have the technical knowledge to come back to the site and get the other version, but people who have don't-understand-zip-files problems DEFINITELY don't have the technical knowledge to come back to the site and get the other version, so I feel like the main big download button should cater to them.

Also, if an artist is demanding that you encrypt their resources, don't use their resources. Simple solution. Whatever their reasoning is for demanding that, it's not worth making players unable to play your game.

No, like the OP said, the problem is that if you encrypt your game, a lot of computers can't play it. So either don't use those resources, or convince the artist to let you release your game unencrypted. Encrypting the game isn't a valid option because it keeps people from playing it.

No, what? I'm just saying that RPG Maker has technical limitations that make it impossible to comply with encryption requests. So if an artist requires that their base resources be encrypted, then you just can't use those resources in RPG Maker. You'll have to use some other engine if you really want them.

Huh. I assumed that it was the encryption that was triggering the Windows Defender heuristics. Antivirus software, quite understandably, doesn't like it when a program tries to hide what files are being run, since that's a way that people hide viruses. I know that's been the case in the past with third-party antivirus software, and the only solution back then was to decrypt the game, but that was years ago.

If I'm wrong and it's a different problem this time, then that's wonderful. Anyone who's actually had the problem know for sure and wanna chime in?