Razor = Open Source

[PrinceArda]

Just wondering, wouldnt it be nice if Razor was an open source program? Seems to me that such a wonderful program could be a lot better if it was possible to customize it.

Does anybody know why they didnt release the source code for Razor?

[Lord_Greywolf]

it has been answered many time in here - do a search for open source and you shall find

but basicaly because this program could be used to exploit if the code got into the wrong hands

just like what happened with easyuo - copies of it modified have made it a major exploitation program

[CEO]

Originally Posted by Lord_Greywolf

just like what happened with easyuo - copies of it modified have made it a major exploitation program

Dude, I don't know where you get your information from, but the code for easyuo has never been released to the public. Please don't spread baseless rumors like this that you have no idea what you're talking about. Cheffe and I are the only ones that have the source code.

[Zippy]

Maybe he's thinking of Injection... which was a open source C language Razor-like program. It always had a bunch of various cheats/hacks.

[Lord_Greywolf]

sorry - maybe it was injection - i apologize to the creaters of easy uo then

But i know that it was not the program itself that was the problem (origional author did a great job), but the "copies" of mutated coded ones that caused the problems

[HellRazor]

No, the original version of Injection was solely intended as a UO cheat tool too.

[Lord_Greywolf]

i found out - it was easy uo -- there was some versions (i guess reversed engineered copies then since source was never released) out there that where modified, that still called them selves easyuo, and they allowed a lot of exploits to be done

but in any case - he does not want the source released for Razor, so he is not going to release it

it is his program and his choice

[CEO]

Maybe you're thinking UOE? It was often confused with EUO. Like I said the source has never been released. Anyone can reverse engineer something to machine code, no way to prevent that, but you have to be pretty good at it. I guess it's possible... I had thought most of these 3rd party apps started thanks to the client source being accidentally released along time ago. Although I know for a fact Cheffe couldn't care less about that, he knows the client better then most of the devs (read: turnover) and understands the machine code like it was vbasic!

Razor left UoAssist behind ages ago. I don't know why anyone would use UOA, except for the fuzzy warm feeling that it's legal, and that's really just because they pay for it and EA gets a piece. I 'donated' money to the guy long before it was allowed and he would respond to my emails and even implement changes I suggested. Now you couldn't get him to fart in your general direction due to EA restraints and probably lack of interest. I can't remember any significant feature being added to UOA in years.

If EA really wanted to 'save' their game they'd allow more of the most used 3rd party apps into their precious 'legal' status. I remember everyone bitching and moaning on stratics about UOAssist and how it was wrecking the game, then lo and behold it becomes legal and those whiners were the first to jump on it. Many of their moderators, while they won't admit it, use Razor and EasyUO regularly. This is a fact they can't deny. Cheffe and I had a dialog going with Wilki for a while and it looked like we were going to work with him/EA to allow some internal controls/restraints/options they could control in EasyUO to make it acceptable, but then with KoR (Oh and that punkbuster silliness) he completely stopped responding to my emails, not even a "sorry, we've changed our mind". Maybe I'm on their spam filter. lol. I think some at EA wouldn't mind working with us, but their are others that are adamantly against ANY co-operation. Oh well, the offer still stands. We could easily release a KoR version, and maybe when 2D is phased out Cheffe will.

[HellRazor]

Honestly there are plenty of open source tools out there that will allow just about anyone with a little programming knowledge to make basic cheat utilities for UO. This information has all been publically available for quite some time. You can't open Pandora's Box when it is already open. How do you think most of the emulators and third party utilities got started to begin with? They all had a wealth of information to build on.

There will always be cheat programs and UO will always be vulnerable to certain types of cheats and exploits, unless they totally redesign the way UO functions and the way the server and client work. And UO isn't alone. EQ has cheats, WoW has cheats, Diablo has cheats, I bet even Asheron's Call has cheats. There are very few games that are cheat proof. UO alone has had Injection, which morphed into UOE and its various incarnations, as well as Speedhack, IRW, UOCH, EasyUO, and many others. You can do all kinds of tricks that are undetectable server side, like those patches that make trees and and blocking obstacles easier to evade by using a statics file that removes leaves and house walls and roofs. This doesn't even include utilities that aren't UO specific, like mouse and key macroing programs. Some people consider UOAssist and Razor to be cheat programs.

But I think most people don't want to cheat, and especially on a small server like most of us have, cheaters are pretty easy to find and weed out. Just do some profiling of your server through reports (like tracking player wealth and numbers and types of items) and random observation of your members. Most people who cheat are pretty greedy and stupid about it.

P.S. But back to the topic at hand - regardless of the reasoning, its up to the program's author to decide if he/she wants to release the source. Respect their wishes and be glad we have the utility in the first place.