Proof of Fishy Practices / malware?

[Possemaster]

Hmm, I like the game but this seems very fishy to me.

This game creates 2 Startup Tasks in your user account to start as the user logs in.

If you have started the game once, Open taskmanager and go to StartUp Apps you see 2 tasks;
0 and a UUID {3cd4e915-5efa-49b9-8d0a-40f7f1d6a932} something like this (it changes every time)

I have removed them in registry under (HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run)
They are named:
AF_counter_2139460 with value 0
AF_uuid_2139460 with value 3cd4e915-5efa-49b9-8d0a-40f7f1d6a932 (This changes)

As soon as you start the game they are back immediately.
This is not OK, why would a game create a startup tasks for your user?

2139460 is the Steam Game ID, so that matches in the registry keys. But if they need to log something in the registry Run is NOT the location to do this.

[Merlin]

The 2 startup processes some are seeing has been explained by the devs and not fishy in any way lol

[󠀡󠀡]

Taken from a different site in a different language. Use at own discretion.

"Here is the text of one of the users of this game about the files.

Autostart of two processes is created via the registry:
1. Name AF_counter_2139460, type REG_SZ, value 1 (increases each time the game is launched).
Game launch count, if deleted, is recreated when the game is launched and starts counting again.

2. Name AF_uuid_2139460, type REG_SZ, value 5b177df8-dec3-4505-886d-26d4fa8725fe (does not change).
UUID is an identification standard used in software development, standardized by the Open Software Foundation as part of the DCE - Distributed Computing Environment. The main purpose of UUID is to allow distributed systems to uniquely identify information without a coordination center.

Number 2139460 points to the Steam game directory Once Human.

Assumption: When the client was being compiled for release, they simply forgot to cut this out.

For those who want to remove this from Startup after uninstalling the game: regedit
Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

Important: Delete only AF_counter_2139460 and AF_uuid_2139460, do not touch the rest if you do not know what it is and what it is responsible for."

[◬ ☥ 𝕄𝕚𝕝𝕜 ☥ ◬]

Originally posted by Possemaster:

Originally posted by ◬ ☥ 𝕄𝕚𝕝𝕜 ☥ ◬:

I was giving an example of how you could censor it im sorry for assuming you could extrapolate from there my bad! (i dont really understand how you know what im talking about and i know what you're talking about but you cant figure out that i dont mean the game ID when you know what the game ID is and also know that it wouldn't matter) the next step would be looking at the other numbers that do matter hmmmmm

Aaah the world is a better place with you in it..... Wonder why people are so *** Up right now. Keep on trashing my friend.

all you did was argue about nothing every reply so I dont know what you wanted

[Kanavek]

Did they say as to when they're going to patch this nonsense up?

[Cthugha76]

Originally posted by Merlin:

The 2 startup processes some are seeing has been explained by the devs and not fishy in any way lol

No game should ever need to add anything to Windows startup. These things will run every time you log into your PC regardless of whether you're playing the game or not.
If you try to remove it, the game will put it back next time it's started.
Very fishy sh!t, and not ok!

[Cthugha76]

Originally posted by 󠀡󠀡:

Taken from a different site in a different language. Use at own discretion.

"Here is the text of one of the users of this game about the files.

Autostart of two processes is created via the registry:
1. Name AF_counter_2139460, type REG_SZ, value 1 (increases each time the game is launched).
Game launch count, if deleted, is recreated when the game is launched and starts counting again.

2. Name AF_uuid_2139460, type REG_SZ, value 5b177df8-dec3-4505-886d-26d4fa8725fe (does not change).
UUID is an identification standard used in software development, standardized by the Open Software Foundation as part of the DCE - Distributed Computing Environment. The main purpose of UUID is to allow distributed systems to uniquely identify information without a coordination center.

Number 2139460 points to the Steam game directory Once Human.

Assumption: When the client was being compiled for release, they simply forgot to cut this out.

For those who want to remove this from Startup after uninstalling the game: regedit
Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

Important: Delete only AF_counter_2139460 and AF_uuid_2139460, do not touch the rest if you do not know what it is and what it is responsible for."

If you delete these registry entries the game will recreate them next time you start it. Not ok! No game should ever need to add anything to Windows startup. This is bullish!t and we need to make the devs know it's not acceptable.

[Crunchy[Daz]]

I'm sorry but typing out random stuff in a steam forum is not at all proof of anything. Look, i'm doing it right now. The Sky is green, grass is blue!

See how that falls apart really quickly? Thats why its called proof.... it actually proves something.

[Cthugha76]

AppsFlyer is what the game adds to your Windows startup, which will run every time you start your PC, regardless of playing this game or not.

"What is AppsFlyer used for?
AppsFlyer is a cloud-based mobile attribution and marketing analytics platform which assists app marketers with campaign management and conversion tracking. Its key features include customer journey mapping, attribution modeling, audience segmentation, social media metrics and retention tracking."

"What does AppsFlyer track?
There are two types of events recognized by AppsFlyer: app install and in-app events. The first one occurs when a visitor downloads and installs an app. The second event type occurs on occasions defined in the SDK, such as reaching a certain level in a game or making an in-app purchase."

[muug]

ok calm down chatgpt

[Kal-El]

I like the game a lot but I was annoyed by what was mentioned here and I deleted it. I hope the developers speak out and do something.

[.revo]

Originally posted by Cthugha76:

If you delete these registry entries the game will recreate them next time you start it. Not ok! No game should ever need to add anything to Windows startup. This is bullish!t and we need to make the devs know it's not acceptable.

If you actually inspected those entries with a tool like "Autoruns", you will see that the entries actually point to nothing. AF_counter_XXXXX points to a nonexistent "{n}.exe" that increments with every game launch (until you delete the entry) and AF_uuid_XXXXX just points to a nonexistent .exe with your UUID. They don't launch anything, and it seems like they merely are a very odd way of tracking things.

[MerlinW]

AF is AppsFlyer. It's for the mobile version, it counts the install/uninstall actions. It's harmless.

https://dev.appsflyer.com/hc/docs/nativepc-vanilla

[Fessaer]

I love how people say "Ohm it doesn't open any program in a way I know - it's surely safe" or "I have no idea what is it or what it is for, but I know it's incrementing - looks okay".

From what I saw in different sources, if you run the game from it's native launcher, no keys are added. Which kinda hints, that this is steam version "feature" and not some "mistakenly forgotten code from the port". Now why there would be external registry and counters for the game launched from Steam and not from it's native launcher - zero ideas. Really - why would they count launches externally if they can get that from Steam API?
Could be a flick or bug. But also it can be way to bypass Steam's launcher's checks on what's launched by the game. But it's enough to say, that game is not 100% safe to have on the PC, as people here claim. And no "developers said" - isn't a proof to anything.

[muug]

Originally posted by Fessaer:

that game is not 100% safe to have on the PC, as people here claim. And no "developers said" - isn't a proof to anything.

lol theres nothing in that sdk that can hurt you. steam woulda pulled the game already if there was malicious code. shhhh

unsubbing from this too many smooth brains out here

[Cthugha76]

Originally posted by muug:

lol theres nothing in that sdk that can hurt you. steam woulda pulled the game already if there was malicious code. shhhh

unsubbing from this too many smooth brains out here

If you're fine with a game launching processes every time you log into Windows, even if you're not playing the game, that's up to you. That's spyware behavior and tracking software for analytics and marketing purposes is not harmless. Read up on Appsflyer and Netease. Also, this is a F2P title so they will be trying to monetize anything they can.
It's up to everyone to decide for themself if they can trust this game.

This is not the first time...
- Pathfinder dev Owlcat eventually had to dump Appsflyer
https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/pathfinder-dev-owlcat-ditches-advertising-tracking-solution-after-fan-backlash
- Red Shell is a similar spyware-like tracking system that caused outrage a few years ago, and forced several game devs to remove it
https://www.polygon.com/2018/6/20/17485762/red-shell-spyware-pc-games-controversy-steam
- It's even being classed as malware by Malwarebytes, Norton, and other anti-malware products
https://www.malwarebytes.com/blog/detections/appsflyer-com

Sounds like it's your brain that got ♥♥♥♥♥♥ by stup1d.

Unsubscribing...