Well, is really crap when you do your own skin ( Privated in this matter ) and some ramdon a$$hole stole and use it without care about the copyright

I have 2 ideas

First one
Add watermark in each skin on the Skins_dds folder and skins_x (This could be done automaticaly by lfs each time that a skin is downloaded in game )
So next time someon wanna stole the skin he cant use it because have a watermark all over the pic

Seccond
Encrypted the 2 folders skins_dds and Skins_x, so no one can "steal" your skin and use it

it would just be simple to put your own water mark on your skins. I already put my own water mark on my own private skins and make them almost hard to edit on. far as encrypted the folders idk i dont want to say good idea or bad cause im not sure how that would play out. " I place my water marks on the skin it self in hard to see spots that a quick glance wont see." u can do water marks easy and quick in PS,Gimp, ETC

@2nd one: if it's encrypted, LFS should have a key to decrypt it. If a key is in executable, skin stealer could extract that encryption key and decrypt it by himself (or simply use 3D Ripper DX).

The watermark should be add by lfs automaticaly is the "Best" solution to this matter

Is really frustrating that you are powerless when you see someon else using your privated skin

@240sxdaniel89

Is easy as is not, some skins are Really easy to "Remove" the water mark, in my case i'be created a simple skin for the lx4 and be using it for 1 year continuously




As you can see if someon wanna "Stole" my skin and remove a watermark should be easy...

But if lfs add a watermark all over the "skin.jpg" should be a better and easy solution, Of course this only apply on that 2 folders i mention before


Today i switched for the TRR skin to use it for a couple of races and this A$$hole popup on the track with my skin

When i ask hin from where he got it told me "From lfs/data/skin_dss"...

I don't have nothing to add here, But I see flux pavilion on that list!!

(When did you go to trr o.O)

Solution:

skins folder
skins_z folder


when adding the skin on LFSW, simply reload back to the skins z folder with unique watermark


Watermark will appear on skin when someone else than own account will use it

Same names, just "registered"

I don't think the watermarking would work. LFS downloads skins from LFSW, saves them to skins_x and then applies them on the cars. Skins are kept in skins_x so that they don't have to be downloaded all over again when LFS needs them. If LFS added some sort of watermark to the skins, it'd also have to remove it before applying the skin on a car. If LFS could do that, so could Photoshop and co.

I like the skins_x encryption better. To make it actually secure, perhaps instead of encrypting the entire folder the individual files should be encrypted. Each user would be assinged an unique key that LFS would fetch and use to decrypt skins when needed. Sure, this approach is still susceptible to Direct3D calls intercepting, reading the decrypyted skins from memory, sniffing the keys from the network communication etc etc, but would a common skin thief go through such a hassle?

The most secure approach would be not to save the skins locally at all. Maybe it could be a payed feature to cover the additional costs for bandwidth.

Or... simply don't allow to others download your skin but that is radical solution

Quote from Inouva :

The watermark should be add by lfs automaticaly is the "Best" solution to this matter

Is really frustrating that you are powerless when you see someon else using your privated skin

@240sxdaniel89

Is easy as is not, some skins are Really easy to "Remove" the water mark, in my case i'be created a simple skin for the lx4 and be using it for 1 year continuously




As you can see if someon wanna "Stole" my skin and remove a watermark should be easy...

But if lfs add a watermark all over the "skin.jpg" should be a better and easy solution, Of course this only apply on that 2 folders i mention before


Today i switched for the TRR skin to use it for a couple of races and this A$$hole popup on the track with my skin

When i ask hin from where he got it told me "From lfs/data/skin_dss"...

Try like mine on the door at the top if some one trys to hide it will mess up the skin

Or just don't upload your skin to lfsworld.

512 looks bad enough and i certainly don't want a watermark all over that and i also don't want any encryption for something this simple.

Skins get stolen and it might be annoying, but it's hardly the end of the world. Especially since the skin will be low res.

Quote from Inouva :

When i ask hin from where he got it told me "From lfs/data/skin_dss"...

So? That's where all skins you add to LFS go

Quote from pipa :

Skins get stolen and it might be annoying, but it's hardly the end of the world. Especially since the skin will be low res.

LFSW allows for 1024x1024 downloads which is not all that lowres.

Quote from E.Reiljans :

So? That's where all skins you add to LFS goLFSW allows for 1024x1024 downloads which is not all that lowres.

For detailed skins in 2048 or 4096 it is.

There's also the chance that the person has not stolen a skin, but is using another with the same name as yours has on LFSW. They will not see the 'skin not found' message in this case either.

@Inouva - ALT+PrintScrn captures the active window only

Quote from E.Reiljans :

So? That's where all skins you add to LFS goLFSW allows for 1024x1024 downloads which is not all that lowres.

I know where do go the skins that lfs download in game, i clean up that folder every 3 months

Quote from Bean0 :

There's also the chance that the person has not stolen a skin, but is using another with the same name as yours has on LFSW. They will not see the 'skin not found' message in this case either.

@Inouva - ALT+PrintScrn captures the active window only

I know

Quote from Inouva :

I know where do go the skins that lfs download in game, i clean up that folder every 3 months

um.. DOWNLOADED skins go to skins_x or skins_y (if you are not greedy to LFS devs).

If you see someone with your skin, just make a pink one with I STEAL SKINS written all over it, and reupload that with the same name.

Then, everyone else will download and see the pink one, but their PC will still have the stolen one cached so they will be oblivious to the ridicule.

Quote from Crashgate3 :

If you see someone with your skin, just make a pink one with I STEAL SKINS written all over it, and reupload that with the same name.

Then, everyone else will download and see the pink one, but their PC will still have the stolen one cached so they will be oblivious to the ridicule.

(old) example:

What if skins were streamed from lfsworld instead of being cached?

Then you'd have to download every single skin in the race as you join every server, which would be a huge bandwidth drain on LFSWorld as well as being a massive pain in the arse for everyone playing.

I have an idea. To create a new format, for example .skin which understands only the LFS and convert it will not be possible in .jpg format.

Quote from [Audi TT] :

I have an idea. To create a new format, for example .skin which understands only the LFS and convert it will not be possible in .jpg format.

This is called "security by obscurity" and it's been proven ineffective many times. Someone would eventually figure out how to do the conversion and unless some insanely convoluted algorithms were involved, it'd probably take hours or days tops to crack.

Maybe there should be a change, any skin used online will be automatically public domain (like gpl)
No more arguing about stolen skins It worked very well for software, many people use opensource products/tools without even knowing it. (emule, torrent clients, 7-zip etc.)
So everyone can takes anybody's skin and edit it, improve it or make it worse. In the long run it will be more productive than if everybody keeps their skin to themselves.

And what do you tell if a skin is created for my team?

What Bluebird suggests is not really a solution, it's rather a workaround that'd stop all these complains. If it was made clear that by sharing your skin online you automatically give anybody permission to modify it, people would stop complaining. However, it's more like "We can't stop murderers from killing people, so let's just make killing legal" kind of solution.
Perhaps the private skins should be shared separately so that only people you'd want to have them could get their hands on them.

Quote from MadCatX :

However, it's more like "We can't stop murderers from killing people, so let's just make killing legal" kind of solution.

Well, it works well out there in mainland China. :/