Nprotect not cleanly uninstalled

[Major Grape]

So I think I am still under NDA (They only told us that we couldn't talk about the testing and content) and such but I did not buy helldivers 2 due to Nprotect and even warned against it numerous times. But I had a beta version for testing (I can't speak about the testing) and when I uninstalled the game and Nprotect ran through its "Clean uninstall" It left a "GameGuard" file in the empty game file on my pc.

Here is a picture of what's inside: https://i.imgur.com/Wq8r9YC.png

I scanned my system32 for rootkits and leftover files and found nothing but still concerning. I have no idea what those files in the "gameguard" folder are but I'm just gonna delete them.

[Sgt.Parker]

If I may, how did you scanned your disk looking for it? Did you use windows explorer, dedicated program or run scrips through command menu?

[Miso]

Yeah I did the same thing and scanned System32 for anything regarding gameguard and got nothing. I did find the game guard folder that got left behind when I first uninstalled Helldivers 2 and deleted it. Now I am in the same boat as you, im not sure how I can help or what to do next.

[Major Grape]

Originally posted by Sgt.Parker:

If I may, how did you scanned your disk looking for it? Did you use windows explorer, dedicated program or run scrips through command menu?

I scanned my system32 with malwarebytes and ccleaner and both turned up nothing. But I still dont like that the gameguard leaves that little folder with random files in it. Who knows what they do?

[Major Grape]

Originally posted by Miso:

Yeah I did the same thing and scanned System32 for anything regarding gameguard and got nothing. I did find the game guard folder that got left behind when I first uninstalled Helldivers 2 and deleted it. Now I am in the same boat as you, im not sure how I can help or what to do next.

At this point you should be okay. Now we wait for them to either dump gameguard or look forward to another game coming out this year.

[Sgt.Parker]

Originally posted by Major Grape:

Originally posted by Sgt.Parker:

If I may, how did you scanned your disk looking for it? Did you use windows explorer, dedicated program or run scrips through command menu?

I scanned my system32 with malwarebytes and ccleaner and both turned up nothing. But I still dont like that the gameguard leaves that little folder with random files in it. Who knows what they do?

Have you also checked registery and/or files this anti-cheat may/does change?

[Ethanol]

You understand the fact, when you uninstall a game on Steam, its folder will still stay there but everything in there is gone, correct?

[Sgt.Parker]

Originally posted by Ethanol:

You understand the fact, when you uninstall a game on Steam, its folder will still stay there but everything in there is gone, correct?

False, many games on steam tend to leave additional files behind, even .exe ones.

[Soul]

Originally posted by Ethanol:

You understand the fact, when you uninstall a game on Steam, its folder will still stay there but everything in there is gone, correct?

Anime catgirl spreading wrong infos again instead of playing the game,cause its not possible rn

[Conspicuous Coyote]

I uninstalled helldivers 2 after spending 2 hours to just get gameguard to stop interrupting its own installation.

After giving up I uninstalled helldivers 2 and refunded, discovered 3 instances of gameguard where running still, after it was supposedly uninstalled, all running at above-admin permissions, meaning I couldn't even end the rogue processes with out a restart.
https://i.gyazo.com/6d90a0e2abfc84ba229122fa5a006844.png
Pic is from task manager **after** uninstalling helldivers 2.

I think I agree with the gameguard hate, given this anti-cheat can muck up its own installation/removal that hard. It's just too disruptive to bother with.

[Koldz]

An anti-cheat ware designed by a South Korean Banking Software developer is hard to get rid of? I for one am shocked.

[Oakatusz]

Originally posted by Conspicuous Coyote:

I uninstalled helldivers 2 after spending 2 hours to just get gameguard to stop interrupting its own installation.

After giving up I uninstalled helldivers 2 and refunded, discovered 3 instances of gameguard where running still, after it was supposedly uninstalled, all running at above-admin permissions, meaning I couldn't even end the rogue processes with out a restart.
https://i.gyazo.com/6d90a0e2abfc84ba229122fa5a006844.png
Pic is from task manager **after** uninstalling helldivers 2.

I think I agree with the gameguard hate, given this anti-cheat can muck up its own installation/removal that hard. It's just too disruptive to bother with.

Hey Coyote!

Thanks for this info, very valuable. Can I link your comment in my own thread which is about the nProtect Gameguard issue? Would you maybe kind to share more details about this?

[Major Grape]

Originally posted by Ethanol:

You understand the fact, when you uninstall a game on Steam, its folder will still stay there but everything in there is gone, correct?

Yes I am aware, And what I did was indeed uninstall the game AND ran the Nprotect GG uninstaller and it still left things in the shell of the old game folder.

[Skeletal Soap]

Originally posted by Conspicuous Coyote:

I uninstalled helldivers 2 after spending 2 hours to just get gameguard to stop interrupting its own installation.

After giving up I uninstalled helldivers 2 and refunded, discovered 3 instances of gameguard where running still, after it was supposedly uninstalled, all running at above-admin permissions, meaning I couldn't even end the rogue processes with out a restart.
https://i.gyazo.com/6d90a0e2abfc84ba229122fa5a006844.png
Pic is from task manager **after** uninstalling helldivers 2.

I think I agree with the gameguard hate, given this anti-cheat can muck up its own installation/removal that hard. It's just too disruptive to bother with.

Yesterday I experimented with gameguard through UNDECEMBER by deleting files while the game was running to see if the anti cheat would stop working and boot me from the game.

What I found was deleting GameMon.des in SysWOW64 did not kill it, in fact deleting multiple different files from the gameguard folder within the game folder didn't kill it either.

All the files I could delete in real time was the .erl files, but of course, you can't delete files that the process is using such as... GameGuard.des, GameGuard.ver, and GameMon.des that's in the game folder, in short any file that's a .des file in the game folder.

And the final point, uninstalling UNDECEMBER does in fact delete the gamefolder along with the gameguard folder, but of course GameMon.des remains in SysWOW64, which is where you need to get the uninstaller to "fully" get rid of it. Other games that uses GameGuard have GameMon.des installed in the System32 folder sometimes. So yeah this "anti-cheat" is a whole different headache and why would Sony go with the cheapest option is beyond me.

*EDIT*
I have to come back and correct myself that, no the game UNDECEMBER that i showed as an example does not delete it's own game folder when uninstalling it.

You can still find it in the install location of your drive where it contains two folders. First folder has left over game files while the second is dedicated for GameGuard, and it only contains one single file in it, and it's called "npgmup0.erl".

Now about Helldivers 2, yes HD2 leaves all the files in the GameGuard folder when you uninstall the game. When you get the prompt to delete GameGuard from your PC, it only deletes the GameMon.des file from SysWOW64 from what I know.

Now about the dp.jfm that is dumped in the (C:) drive, I really don't know what it is but it seems to be only linked to HD2s GameGuard. One good way to check if it's linked to GameGuard is to check it's modification date and then go to the Prefetch folder in windows and find GameGuard.des.pf and look at it's modification date to see that they're exactly the same. And why windows is asking for user admin privileges to delete a supposed "temp" file is strange to me.

And to wrap it up. Does GameGuard get completely uninstalled? I can't really answer that, I don't know if it deletes all the register keys from you windows folder, and I don't know if GameMon.des is the only file that is injected in the windows folder, and the fact the uninstaller doesn't even delete everything from the game folder does make me question it.

[Major Grape]

So there is also a dp.jfm File just wildly hanging out on my C drive just out in the open unprotected and after some research it only showed up when gameguard got installed and GG is now uninstalled and it is still there. Also went into my PREFETCH folder in my windows folder and I searched "Game" and sure enough... Gameguard. Also all these files were last modified when the game ended (version of the game I had was on a time limit in a way? without breaching anything by saying too much?) I am kind of mad because I just sank a lot of money into this rig and was completely fresh and now I am rooting out remnants of a rootkit even after everyone and the devs claim it "Uninstalls cleanly"

[Major Grape]

Also windows needed admin to delete the dp.jfm file which someone apparently reported as "a temp file"