Marketplace Encrypted Files - Unlock or Remove Encryption including Premium and Deluxe Aircraft

There was a mention of a “Christmas Surprise” in the last Q&A.

Wouldn’t it be great if that “surprise” ended up being the opening of the encoded CFG files !!!

Talk about opening up these files was conspicuous by it’s absence for the Q&A … !!!

I wish, but I really doubt it. If they are going to tease a surprise it has to be something that lots of people want or anticipate.

Honestly, just like the bug with the clouds, it’s probably something that they think is hard to answer, or do not want to do so publicly. But even a “Not Planned” in the Feedback Snapshot would be better than just getting ignored three weeks in a row. This really isn’t a good look for them. They promised transparency and want us to be patient with them as they try to make the simulator the best it can be. But it has to go both ways.

Well, I am encouraged they say they are going to “Go away, and research LDA’s”.
That made my day !!!

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What do you mean? As far as I can tell, the engines, flight model, and systems cfg files are encrypted in the cfg.fsarchive file. Are you saying that when a person loads a flight in a premium or deluxe aircraft, the sim decrypts the fsarchive and stores the raw cfg files in RAM?

It actual decrypts the fsarchive in a Virtual Disk environment, detecting the fact that that data was encrypted, and not allowing you access to view it through the Virtual Disk Interface (The Developer’s Console")

No idea if it’s changed by now, but I did that for the B787 2-3 patches ago.
[VERSION]
major = 1
minor = 0

[WEIGHT_AND_BALANCE]
max_gross_weight = 557000 ; Empty weight, (LBS)
empty_weight = 298700 ; Empty weight, (LBS)
reference_datum_position = 0, 0, 0 ; Position of reference datum relative to FS(0,0,0) (FEET), z, x, y
empty_weight_CG_position = -14.5, 0, 0 ; Position of airplane empty weight CG relative to reference datum (FEET), z, x, y
CG_forward_limit = 0.14 ; Gravity center forward limit (longitudinal offset) for longitudinal stability
CG_aft_limit = 0.44 ; Gravity center after limit (longitudinal offset z) w.r.t reference datum for longitudinal stability (FEET)
empty_weight_pitch_MOI = 28163471 ; Empty pitch moment of inertia, Jxx (SLUG SQ FEET)
empty_weight_roll_MOI = 9217827 ; Empty roll moment of inertia, Jzz (SLUG SQ FEET)
empty_weight_yaw_MOI = 36117014 ; Empty yaw moment of inertia, Jyy (SLUG SQ FEET)
empty_weight_coupled_MOI = 10000 ; Empty transverse moment of inertia, Jyz (SLUG SQ FEET)
activate_mach_limit_based_on_cg = 0 ; Activate mach limitation depending on CG position (true if > 0 /false othewise). Mostly for Concorde).
activate_cg_limit_based_on_mach = 0 ; Activate cg limitation depending on mach value (true if > 0 /false othewise). Mostly for Concorde).

[AIRPLANE_GEOMETRY]
wing_area = 4058 ; Wing area S (SQUARE FEET)
wing_span = 197 ; Wing span b (FEET)
wing_root_chord = 50 ; Wing root chord croot (FEET)
wing_camber = 1 ; (DEGREES)
wing_thickness_ratio = 0.03 ; Local thickness is local_chord(x)*wing_thickness_ratio, x = lateral coord
wing_dihedral = 9 ; Dihedral angle Lambda (DEGREES)
wing_incidence = 2 ; Wing incidence (DEGREES)

Just a small part (obviously) from flight_model.cfg

Interesting. A few weeks ago, I opened the Beech Baron in dev mode, but the details were not accessible from the dev menu. When I tried any of the normal dev options, I got a message box saying the plane was encrypted. Are you using a third-party app to read RAM while the sim is running, or are you using a dev mode feature?

No dev-mode feature, DRM (payware) addons should not be accessible and that’s a good thing. But .cfg files for the Asobo planes should not have DRM, there is no reason to use that if they dont plan on adding more features to very limited premium planes.

As Mathijs Kok from Aerosoft said, DRM is a big issue. And understandable if your sim/addons gets downloaded a lot for free… And I hope they find a good solution.

I fully agree with that statement. There is no need for the cfg files to be encrypted. It is absolutely possible to make the cfg files available without fully opening the premium planes to being copied by anyone who has not purchased the premium deluxe version. But since the cfg files are currently encrypted, my concern is that accessing the decrypted content in RAM may not be a viable option for a community mod. In some jurisdictions, it probably violates the terms of service, right? If a community mod is developed based on illegally-obtained information, it could be taken down. That’s why it seems that the primary option for a community project is to build new cfg files from scratch.

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It probably is against the terms yes, so I’m not going to risk my account by making the files public. Also, if it can’t be used by everybody then it has no use. MS will just ask websites to remove the content, that’s why the topic was made so it is legal and people can enjoy it. The models can be encrypted because there is no need to modify those.

If you make them from scratch then they can’t do much against that, I hope. But copyright laws are weird sometimes. :slight_smile:

Everyone has been asking for access to these .cfg files., ever since MSFS was released,

If Asobo had made them visible in the last Update, don’t you think they would have announced it, and everyone would be talking about it ???

#15352 votes | Unlock FSArchive Files for Premium/Deluxe Aircraft | Not Planned

From the latest Feedback Snapshot. A shame. Let’s hope they explain why there are no plans for this.

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Because they are not interested in aircrafts flying properly ! This will be only addressed by companies like A2A or PMDG.

Umm, I saw the question in the wishlist section of the last Development Update. It said “Not Planned”. This means no.

Now, I’m ok with their not unlocking the .fsarchive. I would AT LEAST, however, like the ability to add liveries to them. WIth official instructions from Asobo (not some hack people have discovered).

It would also be super nice if they allowed the development community to update them as well if they don’t want to improve the aircraft themselves. Perhaps put out a request for volunteers and only give access to a select set of developers out there who are willing to take the time to edit them and show that they have the necessary skills? Then they could make those updates available to people through the Content Manager or Marketplace for those who own the content? This seems an equitable solution to me, and should make EVERYBODY happy…

Well, yeah, ok, not everybody… but lots of people :slight_smile:

In the meantime, the official answer is No.

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It’s not because they don’t want the planes to fly properly. I’m sure they’d love to have the planes fly “properly”.

It’s because they don’t yet have a proper DRM system, at least the developers are asking for such, and they’ve said they are working on it, so they admit it’s an issue. In the meantime, they have to draw the line somewhere.

It’s kind of like we all have to go through airport security, but, airport security has never actually stopped a terrorist. The criminals will always have a way to get around any security system, but, we all have to pay the price for their actions.

I do believe they are working on solving this problem eventually.

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Is there any toolkit for creating .fsarchive file?

Encrypted packaging is handled by Asobo/MS. The FlightSimulator.exe only unpacks, there are two file structures for .fsarchives one of them is pkzip based. But I assume you dont want a zip based one. :slight_smile:

Makes … but then raises the question.

If the developer relies on Asobo/MS to take their files, and encrypt them for the Store, then it should still be up to the developers to specify what they want encrypted or not.
maybe, with specific instructions, Asobo/MS encrypt a standard set of file names … but, there “MAY” be no reason what a developer could not specify a file set NOT to be encrypted.

I am not privy to any of this information, or details on how this works, but IF I were a developer, selling my product on the MS Store, I hope I would have some choice as to what get encrypted or not.

I also still have great difficulty understanding the reasons why Asobo should have the .cfg files encoded in their premium products … surly that’s not really where the IP is – its in the Models & textures.

But it what it is, and as a user of what is really a very inexpensive , but VERY LARGE piece of software, I feel I have more than got my money’s worth, and will accept that I cannot have “everything” that I think I want.

After all, at the end of the day, at least for users, it’s only a GAME – here today, and gone/replaced tomorrow (or in 10 years) with something bigger & better … “we hope”.

As a user, we may think we are on a Beta Testing Roller Coaster, but that is nothing compared with the unpredictable & rough ride, that the developers and addon developers on on !!

I just hope they can hold on tight for the ride, and do not get thrown off, or under the Car ( / Bus)

So. What if I want to distribute my product for free, but at the same time I do not want someone to crawl in its code and use the developments and / or modify and sell it under the guise of modification - then I will not be able to protect myself?