Lithuanian Webmaster Re-Distributes Mods

[Renegade]

I am posting this thread on behalf of DCoder, as he had no time to do it himself.

Yesterday, I was informed by him about a Lithuanian website offering a wide range of mod and tool downloads from the community. These downloads are

• unauthorized
  
• outdated
  
• and mostly virus-infected.
  

Even if you don't care whether somebody else distributes your mod, you should always remember that people will blame you if their computer gets infected through your mod, and that an innocent user's computer will be fucked using your files as a vehicle.
Not to mention that some of us would rather have users download the latest versions of the mods, not some years-old one. (The TD version up there is a RA2-version from 2002...any questions?)

As a reaction, DCoder will contact his host by e-mail, requesting the site to be taken down. He will write a Lithuanian intro, and each of the affected developement teams is invited to leave a personal note stating their wish for action in this or the Revora thread, to be included in the mail as well. The more of us demand action, the higher our chances are to get the ripper taken down.

List of downloadable software:
Red Alert 2 Map editor
Red Alert 2 TibЕd

Allied Generals Mod 2004
Blackmissile
Destruction Mod
Kaiser Revolution
Aftermath
Eradwars
Hellfire
Mooman 12
Deezire
Real RA2
Xtreeme Forses
Animalz Mod
Demolishanv
Des
Firststrike2
Lion Mod
New Weapons
Ra2 AI
Ra2 EX
Shadowpatch
The Wars Rage
Overkill

Yuris Revenge 1,001 patch
Yuris Revenge Rock patch

Armageddon
Devastation
C&C Reloaded
C&C Nucled Mod
Code Red
Crazy Rules
Eaglered Assian Assault
Eaglered Yuris Assault
Mental Omega
MJ's Mod
Robot Storm
ROTC Mod
Savage War
Third War
Purple mod
Yuri Supernova
Ra2 Mixup

...these are the actual, copy-pasted download-designations from the site; if your mod's name is fucked up, welcome to the club.
If your mod is on there and you want the page taken down, reply with a formal request to the host either here or at Revora.

Statement for inclusion by Renegade:

Dear executives at meka.lt,

while I do support the distribution of my work outside my personal webspace, the version downloadable at http://www.jaguar.meka.lt/redalert2/ is not only vastly outdated and obsolete, but also labeled wrong - this provides a twofold attack on my personal honor and my intellectual property, as the version downloadable is either
a) _not_ recognized as mine, due to the wrong name, making it essentially a plagiarism, or
b) it _is_ recognized as mine, but, through the fact that it's old and obsolete, creates an image of bad quality in my work, turning this into a case of libel against me.
Neither is acceptable.

In addition, even though I, personally, would have had no problem with the user responsible distributing a correctly labeled, current version of the mod, I nevertheless doubt other Mod Leaders have taken a similar stance toward their distribution channels. As such, the actions of this user can only be seen as large-scale software piracy and violation of intellectual property rights.

I hereby firmly request the immediate suspension of the account in question, until I and the other rights holders have reached an agreement with the webmaster about the terms of further distribution of our software.

Sincerly,
Charly "Renegade" Kiendl
Creator of Total Destruction
Renegade@DestructionMod.com

Links:
http://www.ra2.mums.lt/ - short address for the page
http://www.jaguar.meka.lt/redalert2/ - actual address of the page
It loads slow as hell, if at all, but if you get through, simply click on "mods" and you get the list.

Some quotes from my talks with DCoder:

DCoder - Certified HTML/CSS/PHP/JS Master! http://www.brainbench.com/xml/default/tr...id=4284069: aaaaaaah
DCoder - Certified HTML/CSS/PHP/JS Master! http://www.brainbench.com/xml/default/tr...id=4284069: AVG bitching babout viruses in their mirror of Allied General's Mod 2004
Renegade - Scientists Search Deep Sea Reefs for Wonder Drugs: e-heh
DCoder - Certified HTML/CSS/PHP/JS Master! http://www.brainbench.com/xml/default/tr...id=4284069: Virus identified: Win32/Hidrag.A

DCoder - Certified HTML/CSS/PHP/JS Master! http://www.brainbench.com/xml/default/tr...id=4284069: same shit in their "YURI-1001-English.exe"

Renegade - Scientists Search Deep Sea Reefs for Wonder Drugs: Well, then the mirror should be taken down, if only to protect the downloadees
DCoder - Certified HTML/CSS/PHP/JS Master! http://www.brainbench.com/xml/default/tr...id=4284069: yeah, last time people compained about viruses, that guy replied "your own damn fault for not scanning them"

Renegade - Scientists Search Deep Sea Reefs for Wonder Drugs: there's a whole lot more known mods on there
DCoder - Certified HTML/CSS/PHP/JS Master! http://www.brainbench.com/xml/default/tr...id=4284069: I know
DCoder - Certified HTML/CSS/PHP/JS Master! http://www.brainbench.com/xml/default/tr...id=4284069: I just thought I would ask the webmaster himself nicely first. Since he has told me to basically "shoe it up my ass", I guess I should tell the others now.
DCoder - Certified HTML/CSS/PHP/JS Master! http://www.brainbench.com/xml/default/tr...id=4284069: shove*

Update 1: Fixed one "r", one newline.
Update 2: Fixed spacing in update 1, uploaded screenshot in case people can't reach the site.

[Bobingabout]

ROTC mod... the proper name is "Revolution: Retaliation of the Civilians" or Revolution:ROTC or R:ROTC for short.

the file labeled ROTC.zip is an old filename version or has been re-named, so, since we can't seem to actually download the file, but estimating by the filesize, it is atleast 1 year old, and out of date.

if it has been re-packed, it won't work, because R:ROTC unlike most mods uses a costomised mod installation script that depending on your options, can automaticly extract and re-encode files to save on download time, this costom script also allows file splitting, and as a result the mod comes in 3 versions, unified EXE installation, a ZIP containing 1.38Mb floppy disk sized chunks, or the chunks seperatly.
we did not authorise a download mirror, we recommend links to our site, which helps maintain continuity between versions
we also do not like the 3 types of download to be seperated.

Sincerly,
Robert Agius AKA Bobing About AKA Colonal Kraven (head coder)
Steven Hunt AKA Hunt7s AKA The Director (webmaster+graphics)

[Nighthawk]

Third War, it needs a 'The' in it for it to sound right.

That is most likely an old test version of the mod that I had up for download on the site as I haven't released any up to date proper versions. So in any case, what you have in that file is nothing more than YR with a few Rock Patch things in it which are able to be easily duplicated even by most n00b modders. So what you have there is mostly worthless. However, I have still worked to get some coding correct, as well as had to sit here typing it all in, and I haven't authorised any offsite downloads of it. You can link to the site if you want but you must not under any circumstances post file(s) containing the mod, especially your virus-ridden file. It doesn't show credibility toward myself or my hosts (Revora), so I would request immediate indefinite suspension and/or deletion of the web account in question for both distributing without authorisation others' work without credit, and for corrupting that work with malicious software and other programs.

Yours Sincerely,

Karl H. (aka Nighthawk200)
Mod Leader

[AlliedG]

Well AG Mod 2004 is a RA2 mod which is no longer worked on but it should only be avaliable from Revora Network.

You should not post my work or use it to hide viruses for anti-social behaviour or illegal purposes.

I would strongly recommend suspension/deletion of my mod and the modding site.

Your's sincerely,

AlliedG/Allied General

Mod Leader

[~Guest Nology5890~]

Wow. That is pretty stupid. Someone stealing mods, then mirroring them without permission, all the while using them as virus couriers? Not cool.

[DCoder]

For everyone's reference, I've compiled a nice PDF table showing all the downloads, along with their virus-infectedness, versioning and naming:
  Less than 1 minute ago">ra2.pdf (Size: 36.01 KB / Downloads: 638)
Virus scanner used - AVG 7.0, up-to-date definitions. Also yay for OpenOffice's Export as PDF.

I will wait for a few days or more before sending that email, to give more authors time to notice this.

Edit: a
  Less than 1 minute ago">filelist.txt (Size: 30.28 KB / Downloads: 832) listing all the archives with their contents, for bobing mainly.

[Bobingabout]

note to DCoder, every version of R:ROTC released after 0.41(0.4.1) has had an ingame version of 0.42(meaning 0.4.2), however, it is probably 0.4.1.96, there have been 3 versions released with this 0.42 version number.

i have determined that it is probably the latest(0.4.196) floppy version release, which is just over a year old, and will be out of date in the near future(planned release date was 21st this may, however hunty's computer problems set that back a few days)

[DCoder]

Your mod Installer program said it was installing "ROTC 0.42", while the program itself had 04196 in its title. Hence I picked "0.42".

BTW, it's "DCoder". No e between D and C, both of which should (preferably) be capitalised.

[Bobingabout]

I'm just getting lazy...
i thought i fixed the installer version error... i copied the 0.42 script i wrote and tweaked it for 0.4.196... i actually have a 0.4197 here too but it was never released.

the filename should be RROTC04196F.zip
this is very revealing, its the mod R:ROTC, its version 04196, and the F means its a floppy disk version, zipped.

[DCoder]

I uploaded a file list listing all the archives with their contents, just for fun.

[Bobingabout]

:S its just the standard 0.4.196 in a ZIP... i'd be suprised if it wasn't virus infected, because we never zipped that.

[Apollo]

Well gladly the Robot Storm mod download link is dead but it should only be available from Revora Network and its authorized mirrors which THIS is NOT.

Just presence of download link while invalid is enough of a violation to pursue my rights among others in this case.

I do not like the thought of my work being spread without my permission especially when site in question also has included viruses to the mod downloads which would mean bad publicity for the mod, not to mention for the other mods in question.

I would recommend suspension/deletion of the modding site and demand removal of the mods in question.

Yours sincerely,

Apollo

Mod Leader

[~Guest~]

That Lithuanian sucks.
I remember a similair case 2 years ago. Don't these people learn?

[DCoder]

I don't remember such a "case", care to enlighten me?

[Nighthawk]

At least my link's dead

But this still isn't good for the community