No more AntiDetector on future nVidia drivers?

[Hanners]

I just thought I'd draw everyone's attention to a comment made by Unwinder in this thread at Rage3D:

NVIDIA prepared to launch new 44.67 drivers, that have heavily encrypted D3D driver which decrypts itself in runtime (to tangle disassembling) and internal code checksums calculations that emulate visual artifacts if at least one byte of code is patched. Currently the company acts exactly as I've assumed in the conclusion of the article. Shame.

So, it looks like rather than take a hint and stop the cheating, nVidia are going to keep digging the hole they are in and hide themselves further away from the public gaze. Sad to see, but not unexpected.


(These very same drivers are now available here by the way.

 

[K.I.L.E.R]

Why is it that NV waste their time with such trivial matter such as cheating and encrypting driver code when they can work on actually getting problems fixed?

 

[Rodéric]

Who still wants to buy nVidia products ?
They are added to my Boycott list... they join MS and SONY.

(and NEC-MITSUBISHI LCD screens)

 

[martrox]

And this suprises whom?

 

[Arun]

It surprised me. I thought they'd just hire a bunch of lawyers to get Unwinder, and if that didn't work, an army of ninjas.

Sounds like they are more reasonable than I expected j/k

Yeah, sad. But you know what we can do to annoy them? Claim we don't want to use new drivers now, that old drivers are "more efficient", LOL.

What seems strange to me is that the 44.67 date from quite some time - I mean, their compilation must have been done several days before the article and the script came up ( yes, I know it pretty much for sure, but I can't publish any evidence, eh, it's someone who contacted me about them a while ago )

So it sounds like nVidia took this threat VERY seriously from the start...


Uttar

 

[2senile]

heavily encrypted D3D driver which decrypts itself in runtime (to tangle disassembling) and internal code checksums calculations that emulate visual artifacts if at least one byte of code is patched.

What I'm interested in, as a simple user, is what "hit" it takes & what do I do about patching games? :?

... if I had an nV card.

 

[K.I.L.E.R]

I thought they'd just hire a bunch of lawyers to get Unwinder,

In Russia? I doubt the Russian authorities give a rats ass.

 

[WaltC]

Why is it that NV waste their time with such trivial matter such as cheating and encrypting driver code when they can work on actually getting problems fixed?

That is of course *the point* to this whole affair--a question very well phrased and one that needs to be asked in all upcoming nVidia employee interviews... (Of course the stock answer would probably be: "Is that happening? Really? I've not heard anything about that so let me check on that and I'll get back to you.") It can only be presumed that the shortcomings of their current hardware place them at a disadvantage competitively so the company sees such tactics as critical to its ongoing fiscal position in the market, if not survivability. Hence the constant equivocation and denial as opposed to a constructive course. It seems obvious that nVidia sees the 3D market as something to be manipulated rather than something to compete in. If this attitude prevails within the company it will be their undoing.

Why, indeed, waste all of the man-hours in R&D and PR, not to mention legal, and all of the associated expense of such tactics, rather than adopting a course of building a better mousetrap? It would almost seem as if we are observing the "peter principle" at work here...(Not talking of dangling participles, either...)

 

[chavvdarrr]

I thought they'd just hire a bunch of lawyers to get Unwinder,

In Russia? I doubt the Russian authorities give a rats ass.

Unwinder is in Ukraina AFAIK.

2 Uttar
Original review was posted on 25.06 - on ixbt.com (in russian). Almost a week before that the info was "on air" on ixbt's forum (check the date I posted the topic "wait for info from Unwinder" here)
Edit: I checked , 16.06 was the date.

 

[digitalwanderer]

It surprised me. I thought they'd just hire a bunch of lawyers to get Unwinder, and if that didn't work, an army of ninjas.

Sounds like they are more reasonable than I expected j/k

Yeah, sad. But you know what we can do to annoy them? Claim we don't want to use new drivers now, that old drivers are "more efficient", LOL.

What seems strange to me is that the 44.67 date from quite some time - I mean, their compilation must have been done several days before the article and the script came up ( yes, I know it pretty much for sure, but I can't publish any evidence, eh, it's someone who contacted me about them a while ago )

So it sounds like nVidia took this threat VERY seriously from the start...


Uttar

Thanks for the laugh on a morning of news that contains little humor, ( I liked the bit about the ninjas )....and damned good insite on the dates!

Why is it that NV waste their time with such trivial matter such as cheating and encrypting driver code when they can work on actually getting problems fixed?

That is of course *the point* to this whole affair--a question very well phrased and one that needs to be asked in all upcoming nVidia employee interviews... (Of course the stock answer would probably be: "Is that happening? Really? I've not heard anything about that so let me check on that and I'll get back to you.") It can only be presumed that the shortcomings of their current hardware place them at a disadvantage competitively so the company sees such tactics as critical to its ongoing fiscal position in the market, if not survivability. Hence the constant equivocation and denial as opposed to a constructive course. It seems obvious that nVidia sees the 3D market as something to be manipulated rather than something to compete in. If this attitude prevails within the company it will be their undoing.

Why, indeed, waste all of the man-hours in R&D and PR, not to mention legal, and all of the associated expense of such tactics, rather than adopting a course of building a better mousetrap? It would almost seem as if we are observing the "peter principle" at work here...(Not talking of dangling participles, either...)

I hate to show off my ignorance, but I hate not gaining knowledge worse....what is the "peter principle"? (Great post BTW, and your response to Vince in that other thread was brilliant. )

 

[rubank]

According to the Peter principal, employees tend to be promoted until they reach a position for which they are incompetent.

 

[Nazgul]

That is of course *the point* to this whole affair--a question very well phrased and one that needs to be asked in all upcoming nVidia employee interviews... (Of course the stock answer would probably be: "Is that happening? Really? I've not heard anything about that so let me check on that and I'll get back to you.")

Speaking of which, have there been -any- interviews with Brian Burke or the other Usual Suspects from Nvidia since this whole thing began? Kinda makes you wonder what the Nv40 launch event is gonna be like

 

[digitalwanderer]

According to the Peter principal, employees tend to be promoted until they reach a position for which they are incompetent.

Thanks, my lack-o-employment tends to keep me from going into a work/professional viewpoint. (Me greatest strength and me greatest weakness at the same time. )

That is of course *the point* to this whole affair--a question very well phrased and one that needs to be asked in all upcoming nVidia employee interviews... (Of course the stock answer would probably be: "Is that happening? Really? I've not heard anything about that so let me check on that and I'll get back to you.")

Speaking of which, have there been -any- interviews with Brian Burke or the other Usual Suspects from Nvidia since this whole thing began? Kinda makes you wonder what the Nv40 launch event is gonna be like

I have not been able to find ANY interviews with any of the usual nVidia suspects nor have they been at all forthcoming in any communications with me. (Then again, they really don't like me very much either. )

 

[Hanners]

I have not been able to find ANY interviews with any of the usual nVidia suspects nor have they been at all forthcoming in any communications with me. (Then again, they really don't like me very much either. )

You know perfectly well they love the little rays of sunshine you bring to their mailboxes every now and then.

 

[breez]

Hmm, I haven't read too much about the script. Is it possible that the script is disabling valid optimizations too? Maybe that could be the reason why Nvidia is doing this.

 

[digitalwanderer]

I have not been able to find ANY interviews with any of the usual nVidia suspects nor have they been at all forthcoming in any communications with me. (Then again, they really don't like me very much either. )

You know perfectly well they love the little rays of sunshine you bring to their mailboxes every now and then.

Can you e-mail someone who has a restraining order out on you?

 

[Hanners]

You know perfectly well they love the little rays of sunshine you bring to their mailboxes every now and then.

Can you e-mail someone who has a restraining order out on you?

Only one way to find out...

 

[Arun]

I thought they'd just hire a bunch of lawyers to get Unwinder,

In Russia? I doubt the Russian authorities give a rats ass.

Unwinder is in Ukraina AFAIK.

2 Uttar
Original review was posted on 25.06 - on ixbt.com (in russian). Almost a week before that the info was "on air" on ixbt's forum (check the date I posted the topic "wait for info from Unwinder" here)
Edit: I checked , 16.06 was the date.

I just checked it. The information I got is from very slightly after 25.06, meaning the compilation date is probably before 25.06

You are right, it was on air before - but the focus wasn't much on it yet. And considering it might have taken them a few days from decision to implement that encryption to the time it's all finished, it is questionable when exactly they began - I'd guess something like the 20th.

So, even though it was on air before, the focus wasn't on it, which still proofs how much of a close eye nVidia is keeping on all this.


Uttar

 

[Dave Baumann]

Why is it that NV waste their time with such trivial matter such as cheating and encrypting driver code when they can work on actually getting problems fixed?

And here we were all thinking that 3DMark03 was so bad because it diverts all that time away from making the driver better for games!

 

[CorwinB]

Seems that the management at NV forgot the first law of holes...

"First law of holes : when you are in one, stop digging."