What gets bound to your license, when binding happens, and how it behaves across host moves and hardware changes.
Binding is the anti-piracy core of the licensing system: when your personal loader activates a product on a server, the license server records where that install lives — the server's IP address and its hardware. From then on, the loader's validation checks that the install still matches what was recorded. This page explains what gets bound, when, and what happens when your infrastructure changes.
| Binding | What it identifies | Typical trigger for a change |
|---|---|---|
| IP binding | The public IP address of the game server your install runs on | Host migration, a host rotating your IP, moving from a VPS to dedicated hardware |
| Hardware binding | The hardware identity of the machine your install runs on | Hardware upgrades, a different virtualization platform, a new VPS node |
Binding is recorded when your loader activates the product on a server — that install's IP and hardware are registered on the license server as the home of this license. From that point, day-to-day operation never fights you: restarts, reboots and crash recoveries all re-validate normally, because the server is still the same server.
The binding only becomes visible when the server itself changes identity — a new IP after a host move, different hardware after an upgrade. That is by design: the license protects the buyer's right to run the product on their own infrastructure, and it prevents the same license silently serving a stranger's machine.
If you are planning a migration, the smoothest path is to request the reset first and have the new binding ready before you decommission the old server — see Requesting a License Reset. If an IP change hits you unexpectedly (for example, the host rotates your address), the loader's validation will fail until the binding is updated — request the reset and you are back in minutes.
Hardware changes work the same way: a significant hardware change or a move to a different machine needs a hardware reset so the license server records the new fingerprint. Both resets are quick staff operations — nothing needs to be repurchased, and your license itself is untouched.
Note:A failed validation after an infrastructure change is the system working correctly, not a fault — the fix is a reset, not a new license. See License Troubleshooting if you are staring at a rejected license right now.