No more Anti-Detector for Future nVidia drivers

[Rand]

Linky

I'd direct your attention to the last post in the thread, on page 2.
Specifically this comment by UniWinder....

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.

It seems at least with nVidia's future drivers we've just lost our only complete and definite means to stop application specific optimizations/cheats.

Rather irritiating, as UniWinder's Anti-Detector application had enabled us to detect a few more applications that were being detected and 'optimized' by the drivers- instances which we'd likely never know about were in not for Anti-Detector.

I hope ATi, and others don't decide to follow the same path though I can't say as I have much faith.

 

[rbV5]

Novel approach for yet another way to introduce visual artifacts. Apparently software engineers have perfected graphics drivers to the point of concentrating on more important pursuits.:frown:

 

[BFG10K]

It's interesting that instead of trying to make the drivers better nVidia is instead concentrating on being able to cheat without being detected.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: BFG10K
It's interesting that instead of trying to make the drivers better nVidia is instead concentrating on being able to cheat without being detected.

This makes driver settings and in-game quality settings worthless for nvidia cards since you have no idea whether nvidia will decide to ignore them to score higher on benchmarks. Scum.

Too bad this kind of lying to consumers is probably not breaking any FTC regulations.

 

[nemesismk2]

What a classic, how long do you think it will be before ATI copy them and do exactly the same thing to their drivers?

The good news is atleast it will make the drivers more user friendly to newbies because they willn't have to bother with driver settings!

Actually this isn't even anything new because SIS have been doing it with the Xabre since it was released and it's been mostly ignored in reviews.

 

[Viper96720]

Wouldn't having to do decryption slow the card down? Good think I don't have an NVIDIA card anymore.

 

[nemesismk2]

Originally posted by: Viper96720
Wouldn't having to do decryption slow the card down? Good think I don't have an NVIDIA card anymore.

Bad news, anything Nvidia does ATI copies!

 

[BoomAM]

Ive got to say, my opinion on nVidia lately is getting lower and lower.
The used to have the best drivers bar none, but now they are running them into the ground.

 

[sandorski]

My opinion of Nvidia has never been high, but after 3dfx went under Nvidia won by default. Now they have let ATI just take the crown from them, I think something is really messed up here. I really like the NForce 2 chipset, but my video preference is definitely ATI for now.

 

[mamisano]

Not sure that ATI is going to copy them on this one....they have nothing to hide. Take the Omega Drivers for instance....Nvidia is threatening the site and the programmer to stop producing "enhanced" drivers....ATI has no problem with it. If Nvidia or ATI were smart, they would hire the guy because his drivers are often much better than the OEMs.

 

[Schadenfroh]

nvidia is probably doing this to prevent theft of its driver code

 

[rbV5]

nvidia is probably doing this to prevent theft of its driver code

If they were "selling" their drivers, that argument would hold more weight. Prevent "inspection" of their drivers is more like it.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
nvidia is probably doing this to prevent theft of its driver code

this might make sense if ATI and nvidia GPUs had the same internal architecture (which they don't). And since the drivers must be decrypted to run it won't stop professionals at ATI using hardware debugging to break into the running driver and inspect the code.

So no, this is pretty clearly aimed at stopping other people from (a) finding game-detection code (b) patching the driver to turn off game-detection code. It might also let them use the DMCA to sue anyone who breaks the encryption *




* me not lawyer, this not be legal opinion! but it worked on ink carts why not drivers

 

[Killrose]

Pretty soon they will probably remove all the video card user controls from their control panel. No sliders, no user adjustable settings. Just let the Det's do it all for the public. You don't need to know whats going on, we'll take care of it for you!!

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: Killrose
Pretty soon they will probably remove all the video card user controls from their control panel. No sliders, no user adjustable settings. Just let the Det's do it all for the public. You don't need to know whats going on, we'll take care of it for you!!

Sounds like what the US government is trying to do with their anti-terrorism intrusions...er, "measures."

 

[Regs]

And since the drivers must be decrypted to run it won't stop professionals at ATI using hardware debugging to break into the running driver and inspect the code.

Hmm. What type of encryption are we talking here? 16,32,64, 128 bit +?

I don't understand this move by Nvidia. Makes it seem like they are now the big bully trying to shove a product up our ass's.

 

[nemesismk2]

Good move Nvidia let's get rid of ALL of those pesky driver settings, our whole support department is with you 100%