end of the road

[Rama]

Originally Posted by CloCloZ

The other problem is that every mod possibly "made official" could mean ... one thing less to sell for 1C!

If you have followed the history of IL2 since the first demo in November 2001, you would know it isn't a problem at all.
A good number of the planes actually present in the sim + a number of the maps where done by third-party "moders" and integrated in the sim by M:1C..... for free (in patches and free addons).

But I like the "open model" and I really would like to have such a ("controlled") thing in SoW/BoB, if not in IL-2.

This was exactly the model of IL2, until M:1C stated that the dev of the sim will be over, and that no more planes/cockpit/maps will ne accepted for integration (with different deadline for each).
Since the begining... every modder wanting to developp a nexw plane, and able to reach the quality standarts defined by M:1C saw their creation integrated in the sim.
Look at the last 4.09 patch/addon: all the maps were done by third-party team, and integrated in the game for free.... it's the last of numerous free patches/addon.

Now... ot go back on subject... I'm not sure (and even sure of the contrary) that digitall signatures will be enough to protect servers. Some real check (file check) has to be done to insure integrity.

[CloCloZ]

Originally Posted by Rama

Now... ot go back on subject... I'm not sure (and even sure of the contrary) that digitall signatures will be enough to protect servers. Some real check (file check) has to be done to insure integrity.

Well, as I've told before I don't know the internals of IL-2 and don't know if and how the suggestion is (realistically) appliable, but digitally signed executables and the likes are usually the way to go to assure file (executable or not) integrity and authenticity.
It seems to me the main problem lies in the fact that servers are out of control by online gamers, so they have to "trust" server administrators, and gamers PCs are out of central server control (not knowing how the tasks are assigned to servers and clients I have no idea about which part is the most critical).
In fact, in theory the "other side" could be even a fully "cloned" IL-2 server or client, without a single line of Oleg's code, just behaving the same way (except for cheats ... )!

In any case a direct integrity checking of the other side isn't possible, so you would have to rely on some form of secure remote checking, encrypted exchange of authentication messages between signed game modules and the like.
I'm not an expert but I suppose Oleg and his guys are skilled and smart enough to face also these issues, at least for BoB (and also to evaluate if it's worth the effort!).