How to protect a file from being leaked to the Internet?

Question

Windows

I describe the essence. An add-on file is bought in the launcher, which is placed in the game folder and changes some properties of the game. But the question is how to protect the file from piracy, because you can just get that file from the game folder and upload it to the Internet. Thoughts are spinning in my head, either provide (somehow) a link to the game to the file, and not the file itself, or completely disable the rights to edit, copy, etc. file. Who can advise something?

Answer 1

None of this works. And nothing will help. no protection against piracy. All existing methods can help for a short time. provided that your Wile is not really needed by anyone.

Answer 2

No way. You can only complicate the drain a little, if this file is executable, then somehow check the system fingerprint so that after copying the file does not work on another computer. But it's still relatively easy to hack.
Is your file definitely not Elusive Joe ?

Answer 3

If the user himself downloads and copies the file, even an unqualified user will guess what needs to be done.
And here you will need a specialist to figure it out:
If the game itself will download and install itself where it needs to.
Or if the functionality will be checked through the server every time the game is launched

Answer 4

How to protect a file from being leaked to the Internet?

It's impossible.
If you give the file to the user, he can do whatever he wants with it.

Answer 5

As an option, for add-ons of a small size, add-ons available to the user are checked at startup, assemblies are loaded over a secure connection into RAM, and from there they are loaded into the application. Storage on disk is not used in this case, and pulling the assembly out of memory is already a little more difficult.
In the code, we load the addition into a byte array, and load it through Assembly.Load (binary_asm)
PS automatically solves the problem with updates

Answer 6

(1) One time payment.
You shoot how the program works, you show it - you get a reward (from donations, a person, a company). Here's what I came up with.
(2) Monthly deductions (royalties).
Well, if they break into it, then ... It is already necessary to conclude a contract. Where are the royalty terms?