So what´s the difference between easy anti cheat or battleye and more anti cheat systems and nprotect game guard?

[Robin (Don Quijote)]

I mean, people complain about Helldivers having nprotect but Darktide, R6 siege and Elden ring, to name a few, also have similar anticheat software, right? and dont complain about those games. Is it because Helldivers is PvE?

[Jawny]

It's due to many reasons (also due to the fact that the game is PvE) but the biggest problem is the reputation of NPROTECT, which is the anti-cheat used in Helldivers 2.

It has a lot of issues and there are much better alternatives like Easy Anti-cheat for instance, mostly because it's used by many IPs and it's time-tested. Considering all that, all rootkits can be potentially dangerous, when they get breached.

Also some people were talking about even hardware issues it might cause, but I have no hard info on that.

[Robin (Don Quijote)]

What i dont understand is why the developers didnt use anohter anti cheat software. Ive been looking online and aparently nprotect is used by a bunch of bad games.



The following is from a post form 2016 but still:




I know some of you like me have issues with nProtect Gameguard for various reasons. I personally won't put it on my PC due to past experiences and the issues it has caused.

nProtect Gameguard is an anti-cheat root toolkit developed by INCA Internet. GameGuard hides the game application process, monitors the entire memory range, terminates applications defined by the game vendor and INCA Internet to be cheats (QIP for example), blocks certain calls to Direct X functions and Windows APIs, keylogs your keyboard input, and auto-updates itself to change as new possible threats surface. It's known to cause pc instability which includes common BSoDs, deletion of harmless files and drivers, such as one for gaming keyboards/mice(example: Logitech G510 and G710+), anti-virus and firewall programs.

Since GameGuard essentially works like a rootkit, players may experience unintended and potentially unwanted side effects. Since the game's process cannot be stopped from the task manager, if the protected game has an infinite loop or hangs in any way, it is effectively impossible to close without logging out or restarting the computer. This is even more frustrating since GameGuard checks if it is already running on the game's launch and does not permit the player to start a new instance in such cases.

nProtect GameGuard is not like other anticheat programs out there. If you decide to remove the game, Gameguard will stay in your system as there is no uninstall feature. Some of the .dlls will be removed with the game but some will be hidden in your system. You have to manually uninstall them which includes editing the registry. Being there is in fact .exe files left in your system it can run when INCA decides to and it can still scan your system memory and keystrokes. For those that argue that the Gameguard rootkit can't run without the game running or being in their pc, this is false.



I figured I would compile a list of games that I have seen and read about that have Gameguard. If you know of any games not listed please post and I'll be happy to update the list. I'm hoping that after learning about Gameguard that the MMORPG.com staff would consider including whether a game has nProtect Gameguard with it when they list a game due to the huge issues and concerns there is with the program.



4Story

9Dragons

Albatross18

Alliance of Valiant Arms

ArchLord

Asda Story

Asda 2: Evolution

ASTA: The War of Tears and Winds - NEW

Black Shot

Blade & Soul - NEW

BOTS

C9: Continent of the 9

Cabal Online

Cal Ripken's Real Baseball

Chronicles of Spellborn

City Racer - NEW

Club Audition

Counter-Strike Online

Cronous

Dance! Online

Dark Arena

Dekaron (2Moons)

Deco Online

Digimon Battle

Digimon Masters Online - NEW

Digimon RPG

Divine Souls

Dragonball Online

Dragonica Online

Drift City

Dungeon Fighter Online

Elite Lord Of Alliance (ELOA) - NEW
Elsword

Emil Chronicle Online

Exteel

FIFA Online 2

Fiesta Online

FlyFF

GameCampus dot com - All games from this site use Gameguard.

Gersang

GodsWar Online

Grand Chase

GunBound

Gunster

GunZ: The Duel

Heat Project

Hero of the Oblelisk

HeroesGo

Huxley

Hyper Relay

Jin online

Karos Online

Karma: Operation Barbarossa

LA Noire - NEW
LaTale

Legend of Edda

Legend of Mir 3

Lineage II

Lost Saga - NEW

Luminary: Rise of the Goonzu

Lunia

Luna Online

Mentin 2

MLB Dugout Heroes

Monster Hunter Frontier

Mosiang Online

M Star Online

Mu Online

Navy Field

NosTale

OZ World

Pandora Saga

PangYa

Phantasy Star Online Blue Burst

Phantasy Star Online 2

Phantasy Star Universe

Priston Tale

Priston Tale 2

Prius Online

Project Torque

Ragnarok Online

RaiderZ

Rakion

Rappelz

Ran Online

Red Stone

Return of Warrior

Rohan Online (English Version of Rohan: Blood Feud)

Rohan: Blood Feud

ROSE Online

Rumble Fighter

Seal Online

Saga

SD Gundam Capsule Fighter

Shaiya

Shot Online

Silkroad Online

Soldier Front

Soul Master

Spell Born

Street Gears

Sudden Attack

TalesRunner

The Chronicles of Spellborn

Trickster

Twelve Sky

TwelveSky 2 - Rise of the Sky Clan - NEW

Uncharted Waters Online

WolfTeam

War Rock

WonderKing Online

Xiah online

Xiah Rebirth

Ys Online

https://forums.mmorpg.com/discussion/403448/nprotect-gameguard-is-bad-news-list-of-games-its-on-updated-03-03-16



And a post from steam https://steamcommunity.com/app/1549250/discussions/0/6006138415305811117/

Its really difficult to live with technology. I can be hypocrite be just saying i dont want nprotect in my videogames but i might as well unknowingly or reckelessly have already accepted being tracked by installing another game or some cellphone apps. So i guess i can say if i could wish for the Helldivers series to have never existed and it never did i would no be having this dilema of buying it or not. Most likely wont. Dang

[Amaranth]

Info from 2016 might not be reliable. Software evolve.

[Amaranth]

I just looked at the games list. The only one is there that I played a lot, for several years even, is Ragnarok Online. Never had issues with it.

[Jawny]

Yea, I've seen enough posts and dissections of NPROTECT to not really go for it. As many people before me stated, there much better alternatives that basically do the same thing... So why use the literal worst?

[Robin (Don Quijote)]

Originally posted by Amaranth:

I just looked at the games list. The only one is there that I played a lot, for several years even, is Ragnarok Online. Never had issues with it.

As you said on your first reply: "software evolve" Eat your own words. The fact that you didnt have a problem with that game doesnt mean you are not going to have issues with Helldivers. Also, there is more than that. People should not have to give full access to their PC just because there are cheaters, devs should take meassures that directly adress the ones cheating. Otherwise, they are disrupting the game experience they are trying to sell

[Jiffypop]

All the other (good) anti cheats cost a lot of money, but they do their job well and in an uninvasive way. Game Guard is dirt cheap and theoretically does it's job very well. Perhaps too well. But additionally, it'll scan all active memory, go through all your files, and has high level administrator power. There have been cases of it deleting crucial files on your PC since it thinks it's a hack, but in reality you need that file to boot up. It's also known to be a great spyware, since it scans many files on an admin level and since it's online, it's not too hard for data collection from the company, or from a more malicious third party. But the strange thing is, this is a COOP game. There's no PVP. Who cares if someone cheats? If it ruins the game experience in the RARE lobby where someone would cheat, just leave.

Basically, devs want to invade your privacy and put your device at risk so you can't hack in premium currency and they don't have to buy the expensive anti cheat. As a PR stunt, they said they'd remove it if there's enough backlash, which there absolutely is, yet they aren't removing it. Instead they post some very corporate talky post saying "Ok yeah so even though GG does all that stuff, it won't actually do it.". I've been looking into this a LOT since I found out it's going to be in HD2, and as a CS/SWE/CSS, I'm telling you this is a very, very bad software from everything I could find.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Helldivers/comments/19dp2qw/helldivers_2_nprotect_gameguard_anticheat/

[Robin (Don Quijote)]

Originally posted by Jiffypop:

All the other (good) anti cheats cost a lot of money, but they do their job well and in an uninvasive way. Game Guard is dirt cheap and theoretically does it's job very well. Perhaps too well. But additionally, it'll scan all active memory, go through all your files, and has high level administrator power. There have been cases of it deleting crucial files on your PC since it thinks it's a hack, but in reality you need that file to boot up. It's also known to be a great spyware, since it scans many files on an admin level and since it's online, it's not too hard for data collection from the company, or from a more malicious third party. But the strange thing is, this is a COOP game. There's no PVP. Who cares if someone cheats? If it ruins the game experience in the RARE lobby where someone would cheat, just leave.

Basically, devs want to invade your privacy and put your device at risk so you can't hack in premium currency and they don't have to buy the expensive anti cheat. As a PR stunt, they said they'd remove it if there's enough backlash, which there absolutely is, yet they aren't removing it. Instead they post some very corporate talky post saying "Ok yeah so even though GG does all that stuff, it won't actually do it.". I've been looking into this a LOT since I found out it's going to be in HD2, and as a CS/SWE/CSS, I'm telling you this is a very, very bad software from everything I could find.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Helldivers/comments/19dp2qw/helldivers_2_nprotect_gameguard_anticheat/

I think you brought up the most important reasson why they added GG: the in-game currency. No wonder just made the announcement a week before release. F u c k this game

[Kiggles]

Originally posted by Jiffypop:

All the other (good) anti cheats cost a lot of money, but they do their job well and in an uninvasive way. Game Guard is dirt cheap and theoretically does it's job very well. Perhaps too well. But additionally, it'll scan all active memory, go through all your files, and has high level administrator power.

All of that applies to basically all of the other anti-cheats, save VAC.
Basically every last one of them is a kernel level 'rootkit'. They are equally invasive. The question when it comes down to difference is a "trust me bro" scenario where EAC is more passive, generally reporting cheats, rather than actioning on them, while Gameguard is typically proactive, terminating detected cheats.
The latter ABSOLUTELY is more risky and hypothetically (actually according to some reports) dumpstering windows installs when GG decides a crucial windows service is a 'cheat'.
But in no way are any of the other anti-cheats worth mentioning not equally massive security risks.

[Robin (Don Quijote)]

Originally posted by Treat (Kiggles):

Originally posted by Jiffypop:

All the other (good) anti cheats cost a lot of money, but they do their job well and in an uninvasive way. Game Guard is dirt cheap and theoretically does it's job very well. Perhaps too well. But additionally, it'll scan all active memory, go through all your files, and has high level administrator power.

All of that applies to basically all of the other anti-cheats, save VAC.
Basically every last one of them is a kernel level 'rootkit'. They are equally invasive. The question when it comes down to difference is a "trust me bro" scenario where EAC is more passive, generally reporting cheats, rather than actioning on them, while Gameguard is typically proactive, terminating detected cheats.
The latter ABSOLUTELY is more risky and hypothetically (actually according to some reports) dumpstering windows installs when GG decides a crucial windows service is a 'cheat'.
But in no way are any of the other anti-cheats worth mentioning not equally massive security risks.

Ok, good to know

[[MPW] ColTeH 🦄]

If enough people make a fuss and ask for it to be swapped.. They should do so.. but i actually dont know why its there.... This game doesnt have PVP so who cares when most people will play it with friends.

[Robin (Don Quijote)]

Originally posted by MPW ColTeH:

If enough people make a fuss and ask for it to be swapped.. They should do so.. but i actually dont know why its there.... This game doesnt have PVP so who cares when most people will play it with friends.

We can go to they discord because here they dont hear people