dfe

The dfe file found in the root game directory is used by SecuROM, the copy protection the game uses. It is purportedly an encrypted archive of game data that is only accessible upon successfully authenticating ownership of the game.

The game itself does not appear to open the dfe file. SecuLauncher.exe has a string %s\data_dfe_%08x%08x%08x%08x which matches the Tron: Evolution Mod Documentation on SecuROM's dfe files but no files of this form are ever created. The game will launch and run fine without this file.

See also: SecuROM

dfe file resources

Hanzhiyun's "CD-free", a victory for pirates?

The encrypted data of SecuRom is stored in dfe. It is first compressed using zlib, then encrypted using TEA (QQ uses this algorithm to encrypt local message files), and finally a simple algorithm XOR is used. The dfe in Hanzhiyun contains 194 pieces of data, which totals 16979441 bytes after decompression.

Tron: Evolution Mod Documentation SecuROM

Check what SecuROM does with these files. They could just be useless garbage as they also seem to appear in different games with the exact same size.

neolurk wiki SecuROM

The dfe or dfa file are used to decrypt game data.

SecuRom Italian Error 9000

Error initializing DFE

Red Alert 3 Forum Error 9000

SecuRom Technical Information & Features

Data Files
SecuROMTM (version 7 or higher) also offers a security feature for data files. DFE (Data File Encryption) gives you the opportunity to wrap several data files into one DFE container. These files then can only be accessed if the encrypted executable file has been launched successfully.