How does File Match work with locked slave files?

Files from any tool can come to your portal. Locked slave files from tools such as KESS3 and AutoTuner add one question to File Match: how do you compare two files when you cannot read what is inside? If you are new to the idea, what a slave file is explains it first.

Can a locked file match without being decrypted?

Yes, if it is identical. The portal fingerprints every file as it comes in, so a locked file that exactly matches one it has seen before is found immediately, with no decrypt and no call to anyone. It recognises locked formats from Alientech, AutoTuner, bFlash and Magic Motorsport without contacting them.

When is a decrypt needed?

When the same content arrives in a different wrapper. Two locked files from different tools have different bytes, even if the data inside is the same. Only after decrypting can the portal compare what is inside. Once a read has been decrypted, its plain fingerprint is kept, and it can be found by that from then on.

Who can decrypt?

Only a shop that is a master on Alientech or AutoTuner, on its own account. See master or slave tool if you are not sure which you are. Every other shop still gets files from any tool, and a locked file from a tool it cannot open goes to a person, or to its master. A TunerEngine portal does not hold anyone else's account to do it for you.

We are in beta, so to be plain: these connections have been tested on our side, and not yet on a customer's own account on this service.

Your portal also avoids paying twice for the same work. A read it has already decrypted is not sent again, and a failure that cannot succeed is not retried.

How does a tuned file get back to the customer's tool?

A customer with a locked read needs the tuned file locked again, for the same tool. The portal uses the details kept from that job's own read. If those are missing, it can recover them from an earlier identical local file. The job stays in processing until the file is packed, and the customer is told when it is ready.

If it cannot be packed for that job, the file is held and your tuner sees why. When File Match holds a file back has the rest of the list.

Which reads always go to a person?

• Bench and boot reads holding several regions. A locked read of that kind is done by hand.
• Full backup archives. These are not a plain read of the calibration. Your OBD, bench and boot guide explains the different reads.
• Locked files from a tool you cannot open. The portal has no way into these, so they go to your tuner as they came.

What is worth doing if I am a master?

Switch on reading on upload, which is off to begin with because it can use your tool account. Each read is then decrypted and identified as it arrives, and more repeats can be found across different tools. Bear in mind every decrypt runs on your own vendor account and within its limits.