Are interfaces legal to use in game

franciel589 · 07-30-07, 06:51 PM

Are the interfaces that you download to the game legal? Some people told me that if they are not legal I could get banned from the game, is this true?

Hjalte · 07-30-07, 06:58 PM

Anything that goes in the Interface/Addons folder and is made of .lua files will most likely not get you banned.

You can download any of the addons on this website without fearing for your account.

malcite · 07-30-07, 07:15 PM

there are certain mods that are illegal yes, but if you stick with the good sites (curse-gaming, wowinterface and ui.worldofwar.net are good examples) then you are very unlikely to get that. And make sure they aren't .exe, as said above .lue is a sure thing but several sites also offer external .exe files that are legal cause they are used with the game but not in it (such as automatic updates of your mods and ui designer programs that are also available on this site)

also there are mods that check your other mods (such as illegaladdon to see if they are illegal (this one was found in the outdated section but i was a bit lazy to check for the updated ones so i just searched with the word "illegal" in the download search

)

robthedude · 07-30-07, 07:21 PM

Any addon (or program) that does things automatically for you (like moving your character around or automatically fighting) is 'illegal'.

With the 2.0 patch (just before christmas last year) Blizz tightened up the code for creating addons, so now there aren't any ways for them to do anything like that.

Blizzard are in favour of addons and actively promote the creation of them on their forums, some say that's why the default interface is so god-awful

So yes, don't worry, as far as I'm aware ALL of the addons on WoW Interface are completely LEGAL and WILL NOT get you banned

Edit - That 'IllegalAddon' addon that was mentioned is a joke, all it does is print to the chat window 'All Your Addons Are Legal', it doesn't actually scan them... don't believe me? check the code

Although what it says is true, the game won't let addons do anything illegal...

Gemini_II · 07-30-07, 07:55 PM

Originally Posted by robthedude

So yes, don't worry, as far as I'm aware ALL of the addons on WoW Interface are completely LEGAL and WILL NOT get you banned

Edit - That 'IllegalAddon' addon that was mentioned is a joke, all it does is print to the chat window 'All Your Addons Are Legal', it doesn't actually scan them... don't believe me? check the code

Although what it says is true, the game won't let addons do anything illegal...

Yeah "IllegalAddon" is hilarious; although it was coded for people (no offense

) like the OP, who were incorrectly told that some addons are illegal.

All LUA addons are legal. As stated, Blizz tightened the code to prevent addons that go "against the nature of the game" like old Decursive-like and SmartBuff-like, etc addons, so they got "nerfed".

Also like stated, external EXE's like Curse Profiler or WowHead Client, collect data for datamine sites and are acceptable. EXE's that hack or interfere witht he client like Glider and such bots, hacks, cheats and other lameness are bad. Very bad. Against the EULA, ToS, and all things good and fuzzy.

If you're not sure about a download that contains an executable (.exe, .bat, .com, .scr, etc), trash it.

Just thought I'd elaborate.

malcite · 07-30-07, 08:15 PM

Originally Posted by robthedude

Any addon (or program) that does things automatically for you (like moving your character around or automatically fighting) is 'illegal'.

With the 2.0 patch (just before christmas last year) Blizz tightened up the code for creating addons, so now there aren't any ways for them to do anything like that.

Blizzard are in favour of addons and actively promote the creation of them on their forums, some say that's why the default interface is so god-awful

So yes, don't worry, as far as I'm aware ALL of the addons on WoW Interface are completely LEGAL and WILL NOT get you banned

Edit - That 'IllegalAddon' addon that was mentioned is a joke, all it does is print to the chat window 'All Your Addons Are Legal', it doesn't actually scan them... don't believe me? check the code

Although what it says is true, the game won't let addons do anything illegal...

Lol, ok, well in my defense, i didnt check the mod, just searched it up

Shadowed · 07-30-07, 08:48 PM

Originally Posted by Gemini_II

Yeah "IllegalAddon" is hilarious; although it was coded for people (no offense

) like the OP, who were incorrectly told that some addons are illegal.

All LUA addons are legal. As stated, Blizz tightened the code to prevent addons that go "against the nature of the game" like old Decursive-like and SmartBuff-like, etc addons, so they got "nerfed".

Also like stated, external EXE's like Curse Profiler or WowHead Client, collect data for datamine sites and are acceptable. EXE's that hack or interfere witht he client like Glider and such bots, hacks, cheats and other lameness are bad. Very bad. Against the EULA, ToS, and all things good and fuzzy.

If you're not sure about a download that contains an executable (.exe, .bat, .com, .scr, etc), trash it.

Just thought I'd elaborate.

Not exactly true, All Lua addons are legal the exception are mods that enable you to talk cross faction even if they are Lua, including an EXE isn't bannable it's what the EXE does that matters.

Gemini_II · 07-30-07, 10:33 PM

Originally Posted by Shadowd

Not exactly true, All Lua addons are legal the exception are mods that enable you to talk cross faction even if they are Lua, including an EXE isn't bannable it's what the EXE does that matters.

True enough. Blizz even explicitly stated that about the cross-faction thing.

I thought I had made the difference in my explanation of executables, but yours is simpler.

Zyonin · 07-31-07, 02:43 AM

EXEs that directly inferface with the WoW.exe client are illegal and the users will get one shotted by the Banhamer.

The EXEs that collect data for sites like WoWHead, do so via a two part system:

- part 1 is a normal AddOn that collects the data and saves it in your SavedVariables folder, just like any other AddOn does. The data is written to the SavedVariables folder when log out or quit the game, or when you reload your UI. If you terminate WoW via other than the normal method, then the data collect during your session gets lost as it has not been written to the SavedVariables folder

- pard 2, the EXE, grabbs the data after it has been saved (either when you start the EXE or some will detect when you quit WoW and auto uploads)

Other "legal" EXEs only do things such as automatically installing/update AddOns (WoWAceUpdater and some UI mod packages), however you will notice they do these things OUTSIDE of WoW.

dafire · 07-31-07, 06:21 AM

you can't say that all lua addons are legal... it depends on what they are doing...

e.g. an addon that spams everybody with gold ads will possibly only use legal methods but certainly will get your account suspended.

don't trust every addon just because it only contains .lua .xml and .toc files... only install addons from sources you trust. Look how many downloads an addon has and read the comments on the download page. ( I remember there was a ktmthreadmeter 2.0 posted on curse that contained a trojan and it was downloadable )

Just because it did not happen yet it could happen that someone takes a working mod, add some spam code that turns you into a spammer without you will notice and upload it on a different site.

that's because I dislike postings like http://www.wowinterface.com/download...lToolSMCT.html

[NB: I am not the author, just uploading so there's a copy on WoWI - Fin]

the author chooses where to store and update his mods... there is no need to spread it on other sites where it might not get updated... and maybe is modified what will fall back to the original author...

robthedude · 07-31-07, 07:41 AM

Originally Posted by dafire

( I remember there was a ktmthreadmeter 2.0 posted on curse that contained a trojan and it was downloadable )

Curse don't check whats being uploaded to their site, as far as I'm aware.

Here at WoWI however, they do

It's all checked for dodginess before being made available for download

einherjan · 07-31-07, 07:50 AM

Wonder why I don't use curse anymore

dafire · 07-31-07, 07:57 AM

Originally Posted by robthedude

Curse don't check whats being uploaded to their site, as far as I'm aware.

Here at WoWI however, they do

It's all checked for dodginess before being made available for download

They check for virus and trojans and stuff like that ... but I don't think they check every line of code what exactly every addon does in lua and if it's only doing what the author advertised in his summary or perhaps has some "hidden" features.

That's not even possible for bigger projects (:

Gemini_II · 07-31-07, 08:23 AM

Originally Posted by robthedude

Curse don't check whats being uploaded to their site, as far as I'm aware.

Actually, since that episode that happened to Curse and to Worldofwar.net, both of them take more strict measures now. WowI has always been stringent. Curse now virus scans and must manually approve any project that contains ANY type of executable. I still use Curse for some news, couple mods, and alt mirror. I don't use Worldofwar.net anymore.

Originally Posted by dafire

that's because I dislike postings like http://www.wowinterface.com/downloa...olToolSMCT.html
Quote:
[NB: I am not the author, just uploading so there's a copy on WoWI - Fin]
the author chooses where to store and update his mods... there is no need to spread it on other sites where it might not get updated... and maybe is modified what will fall back to the original author...

I agree 100% on that.