Why is GameGuard installed when I never launched the game?

[Ahuja]

I pre-ordered and downloaded the game before I knew about the invasive anti cheat. lucky before I ever launched it my friend told me about it and after researching it a bit i decided to refund the game. While uninstalling I was greeted with a pop up from nProtect GameGuard uninstaller which I found weird as I never agreed to anything to allow GameGuard to be installed. I thought it worked like other anti cheats when you launch for the first time it will ask you for permission. Maybe I am mistaken can someone shed some light on this?

[Roland]

If your profile and games weren't hidden we might be able to answer that. There's hundreds of games that use Gameguard and it's been around for 20 years.

[McSweeny]

you do not own the game?

[Roland]

Originally posted by Freezing:

So it is active on our PC if we only downloaded the game and never launched it? I downloaded HD2 but never launched it. Then I uninstalled and also removed nProtect GameGuard

That's not how anything works. Op has no idea what they are talking about.

Even after it's installed it's not running all the time:
https://imgur.com/a/FdTtYJI

[Crosswind]

Originally posted by Freezing:

So it is active on our PC if we only downloaded the game and never launched it? I downloaded HD2 but never launched it. Then I uninstalled and also removed nProtect GameGuard

Correct. Installing the game automatically installs nProtect. Once you run the game and it becomes active, it does not turn itself off or become inactive afterward. It has a very bad reputation for a reason.

[Roland]

Originally posted by Crosswind:

Originally posted by Freezing:

So it is active on our PC if we only downloaded the game and never launched it? I downloaded HD2 but never launched it. Then I uninstalled and also removed nProtect GameGuard

Correct. Installing the game automatically installs nProtect. Once you run the game and it becomes active, it does not turn itself off or become inactive afterward. It has a very bad reputation for a reason.

NO. Incorrect

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ people.

If they never launched it, the install script never ran.

Steam does not run install scripts until first launch, and when you verify game files it resets those scripts. You can even see this for yourself by verifying the game files; you will get a prompt about Uninstalling GG before it starts and it starts when you confirm and it uninstalls it.

Edit:
And if it doesn't turn itself off, what do you call this:
https://imgur.com/a/FdTtYJI
?

Please stop spreading misinformation.

[Ahuja]

Originally posted by Roland:

Originally posted by Crosswind:

Correct. Installing the game automatically installs nProtect. Once you run the game and it becomes active, it does not turn itself off or become inactive afterward. It has a very bad reputation for a reason.

NO. Incorrect

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ people.

If they never launched it, the install script never ran.

Steam does not run install scripts until first launch, and when you verify game files it resets those scripts. You can even see this for yourself by verifying the game files; you will get a prompt about Uninstalling GG before it starts and it starts when you confirm and it uninstalls it.

Edit:
And if it doesn't turn itself off, what do you call this:
https://imgur.com/a/FdTtYJI
?

Please stop spreading misinformation.

That's what I don't understand I never launched the game so it shouldn't have been active. Right? Can you explain in greater detail please?

[Crosswind]

Originally posted by Ahuja:

Originally posted by Roland:

NO. Incorrect

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ people.

If they never launched it, the install script never ran.

Steam does not run install scripts until first launch, and when you verify game files it resets those scripts. You can even see this for yourself by verifying the game files; you will get a prompt about Uninstalling GG before it starts and it starts when you confirm and it uninstalls it.

Edit:
And if it doesn't turn itself off, what do you call this:
https://imgur.com/a/FdTtYJI
?

Please stop spreading misinformation.

That's what I don't understand I never launched the game so it shouldn't have been active. Right? Can you explain in greater detail please?

He can't because he's lying. He's just a paid astroturfer sent to defend Arrowhead and silence this topic in these forums at any rate. Nprotect is installed alongside the game, this is factually and verifiably the truth. He or anyone else saying otherwise are acting in bad faith.

[Roland]

Originally posted by Crosswind:

Originally posted by Ahuja:

That's what I don't understand I never launched the game so it shouldn't have been active. Right? Can you explain in greater detail please?

He can't because he's lying.

Screenshots don't lie.

And you literally have no idea how Steam works. No 3rd party anything gets installed until launch, prior to that files are just sitting there.
It is literally impossible for GG to have installed itself (via Helldivers 2) if he never launched it.

Every single Steam user can prove you wrong, just stop.

Originally posted by Ahuja:

Originally posted by Roland:

NO. Incorrect

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ people.

If they never launched it, the install script never ran.

Steam does not run install scripts until first launch, and when you verify game files it resets those scripts. You can even see this for yourself by verifying the game files; you will get a prompt about Uninstalling GG before it starts and it starts when you confirm and it uninstalls it.

Edit:
And if it doesn't turn itself off, what do you call this:
https://imgur.com/a/FdTtYJI
?

Please stop spreading misinformation.

That's what I don't understand I never launched the game so it shouldn't have been active. Right? Can you explain in greater detail please?

Look at my very first reply.

GG has been around for over 20 years. You would have to give me a list of every game you've ever played or installed.
And if you share you computer with others, every game they ever installed.

No matter what Steam doesn't work that way the other guy claims.

I'd tell you to verify the game files and see it for yourself but you jumped the gun and refunded after listening to these people that make ♥♥♥♥ up.
I can provide a screenshot of that too if you seriously still doubt me.

These people bought into some BS and for some reason can't let it go, even when they have screenshots and actual proof they are wrong.
(just look at how many people went into hiding after saying "you can't uninstall it!" when both the 20 year old Sega tool and the game itself proved that wrong)

[Roland]

Wait I just realized what the ♥♥♥♥ is happening.

OP Gameguard was never installed on your machine.

What you saw was the tool to uninstall it, the tool shows that message to confirm you want to run it at all and does not check if it is there beforehand.

This entire time I thought you had checked your services and saw it there but I just re-read the entire thread and you never did. You've been assuming it was there a; because a tool asked to uninstall something that wasn't there and the tool did not know any different.

You refunded based on an assumption and bad information OP.

[Hornet]

Okay here's how I believe they've implemented GameGuard:
When you install the game, you also download two game guard related .exe files. GGSetup.exe, which installs GameGuard, and gguninst.exe, which uninstalls GameGuard, and fully removes it from your system.

When you launch the game, it runs the GGSetup.exe in order to:
A) Ascertain whether GameGuard is installed, and
B) Install GameGuard if it is not installed, such as on a first launch, or if you removed GameGuard from your system at some point.

Presumably, GameGuard should not be fully installed on your system until you've launched the game for the first time.

When you uninstall the game from your computer, regardless of whether you've played the game or not, the GameGuard uninstaller will run. What it does, is remove all registry entries related to GameGuard, and deletes the GameMon.des file from "C:\Windows\SysWOW64\", and removes the service associated with it as well.

Of course if there's nothing there to remove in the first place, it won't really do anything at all, but it will still run because it's part of the uninstall process for the game.

[Roland]

Originally posted by Hornet:

Okay here's how I believe they've implemented GameGuard:
When you install the game, you also download two game guard related .exe files. GGSetup.exe, which installs GameGuard, and gguninst.exe, which uninstalls GameGuard, and fully removes it from your system.

When you launch the game, it runs the GGSetup.exe in order to:
A) Ascertain whether GameGuard is installed, and
B) Install GameGuard if it is not installed, such as on a first launch, or if you removed GameGuard from your system at some point.

Presumably, GameGuard should not be fully installed on your system until you've launched the game for the first time.

When you remove the game from steam though, regardless of whether you've played the game or not, the GameGuard uninstaller will run. What it does, is remove all registry entries related to GameGuard, and deletes the GameMon.des file from "C:\Windows\SysWOW64\", and removes the service associated with it as well.

Of course if there's nothing there to remove in the first place, it won't really do anything at all, but it will still run because it's part of the uninstall process for the game.

Thank you.

[UR Girl's Number 1 Hero]

Originally posted by Ahuja:

I pre-ordered and downloaded the game before I knew about the invasive anti cheat. lucky before I ever launched it my friend told me about it and after researching it a bit i decided to refund the game. While uninstalling I was greeted with a pop up from nProtect GameGuard uninstaller which I found weird as I never agreed to anything to allow GameGuard to be installed. I thought it worked like other anti cheats when you launch for the first time it will ask you for permission. Maybe I am mistaken can someone shed some light on this?

I am in the same boat as you and I bought the game then learned of this intrusive software before ever launching the game. I am now going to uninstall and refund until they remove this software. From what I am seeing above if we never launched the game the nProtect software will never have activated? If this is the case I am happy.

[PigVomit]

Originally posted by Roland:

If your profile and games weren't hidden we might be able to answer that. There's hundreds of games that use Gameguard and it's been around for 20 years.

According to Steam Db there is only 67 games using this anti cheat. https://steamdb.info/tech/AntiCheat/nProtect_GameGuard/

[Kubility]

Originally posted by Ur girl's favorite Pizza BOI:

Originally posted by Ahuja:

I pre-ordered and downloaded the game before I knew about the invasive anti cheat. lucky before I ever launched it my friend told me about it and after researching it a bit i decided to refund the game. While uninstalling I was greeted with a pop up from nProtect GameGuard uninstaller which I found weird as I never agreed to anything to allow GameGuard to be installed. I thought it worked like other anti cheats when you launch for the first time it will ask you for permission. Maybe I am mistaken can someone shed some light on this?

I am in the same boat as you and I bought the game then learned of this intrusive software before ever launching the game. I am now going to uninstall and refund until they remove this software. From what I am seeing above if we never launched the game the nProtect software will never have activated? If this is the case I am happy.

Also there are many of us who wait to buy the game after the DRM bs is removed. Protect your game without invading my system.

[Roland]

Originally posted by 🏌 Jerry 🍕 VRcia 🏓:

Originally posted by PigVomit:

According to Steam Db there is only 67 games using this anti cheat. https://steamdb.info/tech/AntiCheat/nProtect_GameGuard/

that guy literally has 0 clue what he is talking about lol

the rootkit AHG chose is made by a korean company, and mostly been used on gacha/mtx ridden korean games to prevent "cheating" so people are forced to spend $$

helldivers is a standout on that list, wonder what this game has in common with those others? :soyface:

Thanks for reminding me to reply to this.

Games exist outside of Steam, so only listing the 67 on Steam seems like an odd choice.
It's impossible to get a complete list, but even if it's not hundreds of games it's still been tried and tested for over 20 years.

And helldivers is the stand out?
What about PSO2 and PSOBB being Japanese and not Korean? OH WAIT PSOBB isn't on the list, because there's games outside of Steam...

Or Combat Arms being a First Person Shooter isn't a stand out?

Or Navy Field being a Tactics game?

Anything can be a "stand out" depending on what category you choose.

Anyway, you kids have fun now. Those of us that have been around long enough to know GG is harmless (or just have the common sense to see Steam allows it and it's been around for 20+ years) will keep enjoying the game. Several of my friends have said it's the most fun they've had in a game in awhile, and after 2-manning a Helldive difficulty Operation with one of them, I have to agree.