ok, i'll install the newest drivers and see if i still get the BSOD
thanks for your reply!
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ok, i'll install the newest drivers and see if i still get the BSOD
thanks for your reply!
Hi folks. I've been doing a little bit of research on this for a week now. I'll just sorta fill you in on what I've found and you can choose to do with what you will. (and no I don't have a real solution, this is just information)
The common thing among all this is Maple Story. More specifically gameguard. Gameguard by nProtect is somewhat well known as a rootkit. ( Don't freak out just yet, cuz rootkits aren't exactly evil all the time. All it does is hide processes in this instance) If you've done a bit of digging, you'd know that gameguard sort of hijacks your kernel processes. Ok I don't know if hijacking is actually accurate, but what it does is kill your kernel and replaces it with one of it's own. Allowing it to have pretty much full access to your system. Now this new fake kernel pretty much has say over what can and can't be done on your system somewhat (this is to prevent hacks in short).
When gg starts up, it will create a temporary file (what everyone sees as dump_wmimmc.sys) sets up its hooks and then boot the game. If for any reason gg sees something it considers "threatening" it will call for a reboot.
The crash you experience when quitting the game I believe starts out when the temp file is cancelled, yet the hooks remain.
There's not really anything you can do as it's pretty much up to nProtect to fix this problem. Its not so much maple story as it is gameguard. I've had this problem for a long time just that it didn't get serious until the BSODs. I think what clued me in was when my device drivers started crashing like crazy (bluetooth stacks etc.) Even with yesterday's latest patch, nothing is to be done. In fact, gameguard now thinks my logitech game profiler is malicious and will force a shutdown of the game.
I know not everyone is experiencing this, but from some of the systems I've tested, it seems to be affecting specifically windows xp sp2. I've tried this on windows 2000 with sp2, sp3 and sp4 installed as well as windows xp with sp1 and sp2 installed.
Well that's what I've discovered so far and if there are any corrections to be made, please correct me.
Oh and just so you know, there is a known vulnerability involved with nProtect gameguard which does allow malicious code to be injected into your system.
As great as "free" games go, maple is one of them. But there is no way I am going to continue with it anymore because of nProtect software. Or any game using nProtect. (this was supposed to prevent hacking, but has been nothing short of failure. What is the point when gg can easily be circumvented by hackers?) I suppose the intent was good, just the execution was horrendous.
Companies like wiznet and nprotect seem to only care if it affects their bottom line (try contacting them and you will see what I mean). So your cries will go in vain until a large portion of their paying players start quitting. I spend what most people consider way too much money on games etc. and I can tell you, these guys aren't going to get my money.
Thanks for the information everyone, I'm glad to see that I'm not the only person experiencing this problem.
In my case, I began having problems with Maple Story about a week ago when I would randomly be kicked from the game and presented with error 230 from GameGuard, which said that it had failed to initialize. After countless reinstallations on two different drives, I still experienced the problem. Only this week has it gotten worse in that I am now experiencing the reboots that everyone has previously mentioned. Currently I am unable to load Maple Story as it wants to patch (I assume a new version was released by Wizet in the past two days) but instead my machine performs an involuntary reboot (presumably due to GameGuard).
Based on what everyone has been saying, does anyone think it is possible that we are all running a common process that GameGuard doesn't like? I'm currently running XP SP1, so I don't think it's an isolated issue (in regards to Unbalanced's post). I've also tried to load the game in safe mode but have had no success (though it doesn't force me to reboot). Lastly, I too have updated to the latest drivers for my video card (Catalyst 6.6's with an X800 Pro). Short of pleading our case to GameGuard, what is our next move?
Okay, I installed the drivers and still received the BSOD. I uninstalled MapleStory, and am almost finished downloading it. I did have a copy on CD made a few days prior, but I'm worried that something in the patching process may have been the problem, so I'm going to try this first. The new Independance Day hats so are not worth this hassle.
Hi Unbalanced, and Xenethyl, and Welcome to Virtual Dr. :)
I too think it is upto Nprotect to make the next move here, has anyone reported this as a major bug?
http://eng.nprotect.co.kr/qa.htm
Oh, and slightly off-topic, but Xenethyl you should really have installed XP SP2 by now, i'm not saying it will fix this problem, but it will patch a few others in Windows, either get it from the Windows Update site, or here: http://www.softwarepatch.com/windows/xpsp2.html
Liam
I'm going to see what I can do about spreading Unbalanced's information to other Maplers. I've been playing this game for over a year, and I do not believe that the threat is sufficient for me to give it up just yet. As far as Wizet only caring about how much money they rake in, I believe that goes without saying for most online games. Despite being disenheartening, this is very useful information, and I thank you for your post.
I just sent in an email to NProtect (thanks for the link!), although I'm not feeling too optimistic about it right now. Oh, and I have an off-topic question about another MapleStory bug that's irking me.
During gameplay, at seemingly random intervals, MapleStory minimizes itself. It doesn't matter if I'm AFK, fighting a monster, or chatting with a friend. It's very annoying, as it interrupts whatever I'm doing and takes several seconds to load back up. This was never an issue on my previous computer, and I have no idea what could be causing it.
Thanks, Liam! I'm planning an upgrade in a couple months so I have been holding off on installing SP2. I haven't had any problems with SP1 and have both Norton Anti-Virus and Zone Alarm installed, so when SP2 was released (along with the numerous problems people were having with it) I didn't see it as a critical update. I will, however, make sure that it gets installed on my new machine.
Anyways, back on topic. I will also submit the problem to nProtect. The more people that submit our situation to them the better. Furthermore, it might be beneficial if the topic title was renamed slightly, in an effort to place an emphasis on Maple Story and GameGuard. It may help in drawing more people to this thread.
You're Welcome. :)Quote:
Thanks, Liam! I'm planning an upgrade in a couple months so I have been holding off on installing SP2. I haven't had any problems with SP1 and have both Norton Anti-Virus and Zone Alarm installed, so when SP2 was released (along with the numerous problems people were having with it) I didn't see it as a critical update. I will, however, make sure that it gets installed on my new machine.
Anyways, back on topic. It might be beneficial if the topic title was renamed slightly, in an effort to place an emphasis on Maple Story and GameGuard. It may help in drawing more people to this thread.
I'll leave the thread title for the time being, as the thread has 2000+ views, so hopefully one of the viewers may have something to add, it was also created by "Charlotte h" and i don't want to change it without her say so.
You're Welcome also. :)Quote:
I just sent in an email to NProtect (thanks for the link!), although I'm not feeling too optimistic about it right now.
You may have gotten an auto-reply e-mail to give you a timeframe for a personal reply, depending on how "big" and busy the company is....hopefully they will be aware of this problem, and either have a fix/workaround, or are working on one.
Liam
The tech support for maple story suggests:
1. A virus scan (lol my Anti-Virus notes GG as a threat) followed by:
2. Uninstalling maple story
3. Download the lastest version of mssetup.exe
4. Reinstall Maple Story.
Long and needless I say :p . They still won't admit gameguard bugged and erratic.
Xen: Was wondering if you are using an anti-virus and firewall? I've noticed that both go nuts whenever maple story starts (since 2 weeks go or roughly 3 gameguard patches ago). I've also read somewhere that you have to put one or two of the gameguard files into the trusted zone if you are using Kaspersky Anti-virus (gameguard.des and something else).
I'm not going to suggest disabling your firewall or anti-virus usless you truely don't care what happens to your machine or you're a glutton for punishment. That might be why you can't seem to patch. BTW the update was this morning to version .25 and gg version is up to 767 (I think) :)
Also, if you are using a program like process guard, that will stop gameguard from running.
As far as common processes go, the system which runs maple is almost completely stripped. Outside of the minimal default system processes and firewall + ant-virus, I have bluetooth processes and the logitech game profiler process running.
P.S. I just want to add to what grey said in that I'm starting to think maple story just isn't worth the hassel. Especially if this isn't fixed.
Edit:
Off Topic:Quote:
Originally Posted by liam858
Thanks Liam! But I have to comment that SP2 is such a big headache compared to SP1 minus the USB problem. LOL .. but I agree, better to upgrade to SP2. And add dump Norton products .. please .. :(
I'm also surprised how many posts there were when I typed that post above me. Imagine my surprise LOL
In response to your question above, yes I had reported this to nProtect last week and I encourage everyone to send in emails (don't spam/flood them .. tempting as it may be)
I find this absolutely hilarious that all useful information I've found so far were from hacker posts on forums that shall remain nameless. And it's all there for your googling pleasure. Go figure ... :(
Thanks a bunch for your information, Linda, I'll look into Panda. The only problem I may encounter is, unfortunately, parents. (I'm 16, and though I'm going to be at a university this fall, they pretty much still have jurisdiction over my posessions and they advocate Norton. However, they have realized the woes of Mcaffee. Finally.) Also, Unbalanced, that information is really helpful. I guess we'll have to email not only Wizet about the problem (and of course, expect no reply, as this seems to be their policy) as well as the GG company and see if they'll fix anything.
Seeing as it isn't just Norton, though, this just seems like some crazy anti-hacking attempt that certainly is just blown out of proportion. I think if Wizet gets enough emails the problem will eventually be fixed. Maybe.
And Unbalanced, about the latest tech support suggest post, my brother and I both uninstalled the program and run scans, and reinstalled the new client, and are still recieving errors. So I guess I'll email them that.
Ahh, I hope that they resolve this issue or they are going to be losing a lot of players. (Judging by the number of people I have seen experiencing problems inside and out of game. I asked around a bit on the ship to Ossyria, ha, and I got quite a few angry responses all dealing with the dump_wmimmc.sys file.)
I'll keep an eye up here though, for a good solution outside of uninstalling Norton/Maple. The BSODs are annoying but they haven't gotten to the point of complete quitting. Yet.
Understood.Quote:
Originally Posted by liam858
I am using both an anti-virus program and a firewall. I have Norton 2006 and Zone Alarm installed. However, my problem isn't that I can't patch, it's that when I try to patch my computer reboots (I'm assuming it's GameGuard's fault, not Maple Story's). I wouldn't be surprised if I downloaded the manual patch from Wizet and was able to install it (which I am going to do now). Unfortunately, I highly doubt it will fix the rebooting problem.Quote:
Originally Posted by Unbalanced
Also, I just received an error message from nProtect saying that my e-mail failed to be delivered because there is no such address. Did anyone else have any luck getting through (Grey)?
EDIT: It seems the manual patch file is not available on their server. Go figure.
I'd agree with that too, the drain on system resources from Norton is a disgrace, i think that the freeware AV's are better in ways, and i've used a few of them on VM's, with good results.Quote:
.. but I agree, better to upgrade to SP2. And add dump Norton products .. please ..
Sticking with the topic, i'd also agree that if everyone with the problem e-mailed Nprotect, then they may just do something about it, as mentioned above, they would be losing a lot of players. Am i right in thinking that this game also costs? (monthly?)
Liam
WTF kind of reply is that? Apparently they have a sense of humor there, which I'm not really appreciating at the moment. I've spent nearly the entire day trying to fix this, and still no results. I'm really starting to appreciate the situations of the people who called in to SP2 technical support and yelled at me because Bill Gates broke their computer.Quote:
From: <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, June 28, 2006 10:31 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: failure notice
Hi. This is the qmail-send program at inca.co.kr.
I'm afraid I wasn't able to deliver your message to the following addresses.
This is a permanent error; I've given up. Sorry it didn't work out.
<[email protected]>:
Sorry, no mailbox here by that name. (#5.1.1)
I reinstalled MapleStory, and the same BSOD occurs as soon as I exit the game. I did notice something on the screen that hasn't been adressed before. The screen recommends disabling caching/shadowing on your BIOS. Could this possibly help, and how would I go about doing it?
And Liam, the game has no monthly fee. You have the option of paying real money to customize your character and take advantage of special features in the game, but it's otherwise completely free.