NProtect GameGuard
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nProtect GameGuard logo | |
Developer(s) | INCA Internet Co., Ltd. |
---|---|
Operating system | Microsoft Windows |
Available in | C++ |
Type | Anti-cheating |
License | Proprietary |
Website | gameguard.nprotect.com |
nProtect GameGuard (sometimes called GG) is an anti-cheating application developed by INCA Internet. It is bundled with many multiplayer online games such as Phantasy Star Universe, MapleStory, Gunbound, GunZ: The Duel, Sudden Attack, FlyFF, Ragnarok Online, and 9dragons to block certain malicious applications and common methods of cheating. nProtect GameGuard provides a business model for online game companies and portal sites in the form of B2B2C to provide security services to game and internet users by providing a personal security policy for internet game services and covering security vulnerabilites. nProtect GameGuard possesses database on game hacks based on security references from more than 260 game clients. Some editions of GameGuard are now bundled with INCA Internet's Tachyon anti-virus/anti-spyware library, and others with nProtect KeyCrypt, an anti-keylogger software that protects the keyboard input information. nProtect GameGuard hides the game application process, monitors the entire memory range, terminates applications defined by the game vendor and INCA_Internet to be cheats, blocks certain calls to DirectX functions and Windows APIs, and auto-updates itself to change as new threats surface. nProtect GameGuard is launched via GameMon.des with a driver dump_wmimmc.sys.
Features
nProtect GameGuard Basic
- Hacking Tool and Virus Diagnosis and Blockage
- Auto-mouse & Macro Blockage
- Memory Debugging Prevention
nProtect GameGuard Pro
- Real-time Server Authentication
- Game Client Encryption Tool
- End-user Support
nProtect GameGuard SE
- Public Key Based Packet Encryption Service
- Proxy Server Blockage
- Collect and Receive Report on Hacking Attempts through Log-server
System Requirements
Operating System | Processor (CPU) | RAM | First library drive | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Requirements | Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista | Intel Pentium 133MHz or higher (or equivalent) | 32 MB Minimum | 1.2M Maximum |
Known games running GameGuard
- 2Moons (revision 1059)
- 9Dragons (revision 1057)
- Albatross18
- BOTS (revision 1057)
- Cabal Online
- Cal Ripken's Real Baseball
- Dance! Online
- Darkeden
- Digimon RPG
- Drift City (revision 1053)
- Exteel
- Soldier Front
- FlyFF[1] (EU: revision 1122)
- Grand Chase
- GunBound
- GIS (revision 1086) [1]
- Europe (GOA, revision 1204)
- GunZ: The Duel
- HEAT Project
- Kart n'Crazy
- Korean WarRock
- Lineage II[1]
- Lunia
- Mabinogi
- MapleStory
- Korean (revision 1121)
- Japanese (revision 1105)
- South East Asia (revision 1154)
- Thai (revision 1105)
- Global (revision 1196)
- Europe (revision 1195)
- Monster Hunter Frontier
- Mu Online
- NaNaiMo Online
- Pangya
- Phantasy Star Online Blue Burst[1]
- Phantasy Star Universe
- Priston Tale[1] (English version is running X-Trap)
- Project Torque
- Ragnarok Online
- Rakion (revision 1140)
- Ran Online
- Risk Your Life
- Rohan Online
- ROSE Online (revision 1127)
- SEAL Online Reload[1]
- Shaiya
- Silkroad Online
- Soldier Front
- Sudden Attack
- Trickster
- Xiah online
Known blocked applications
- Logitech G-series Keyboard Profiler (Profiler is required to use G-keys and any features) This software is no longer blocked.
- Ollydbg
- Almost all VNC servers, such as RealVNC (does not block or shut down, but disables input)
- Cheat Engine - Some strings and blocks of codes are detected, up to a buffer size of 512, so the names of some things can be changed to evade detection. Usually referred to as "Undetected Cheat Engine" (UCE) when it is not detected by nProtect GameGuard.
- The Core Media Player
- WhatPulse
- Outpost Firewall Pro
- Process Explorer
- Xpadder
- WPE Pro
- Tsearch
- Steam (content delivery) - Launching game through Steam, GameGuard reports Steam as a "Game Hack" and shuts down the game)
- Motherboard Monitor - (Reason unknown) Causes the software to crash
- SpeedFan - (Reason unknown) Core2 sensors report -27 degrees Celsius, Voltage and RPM drop to 0 when game is launched
- Filezilla - (Reason unknown) Causes the software to crash
- Eclipse - Does not start while GameGuard is running; works if it is already running on GameGuard initialization
- Zboard
- NetLimiter - Detected as a game hack, even if you stop the service and kill the process
- cFosSpeed - Detected as a game hack if "Traffic Shaping" is turned on
- Freenet - Closes Freenet node without warning.
- EZ Macros - Reports as a "Game Hack"
- AutoHotkey - (Created hotkeys do not work)
- Razer - Mouse drivers (mouse buttons mapped to keys will not function, scrollwheel ceases to function)
- ATI Tray Tools
- AVG Anti-Virus - Making many of the tray tool components report error.
- TokyoShot Screenshotter - (Reason unknown) Making it impossible to use the mouse for captures
- Mal Updater - (Reason unknown) Makes the software freeze and impossible to use
- Media Player Classic - Media doesn't play correctly and ends up crashing
Issues with GameGuard
GameGuard is known to crash when Panda Antivirus is installed. After turning the protection off, the GameGuard is able to start, but you risk your security (this has been noticed with Lineage II)
Because of its method of actuation (similar to a rootkit), it is criticized for being too invasive. The software installs a device driver and offers no way to uninstall it; even uninstalling the game will still leave some files hidden on the system. In recent versions (revision 1007 and up), GameGuard fails to halt when the game ends, so GameGuard continues to use resources and inject code into processes. This is usually not noticeable to the end-user, as GameGuard masks its intense CPU usage by hooking Windows system querying APIs. Most anti-virus vendors exclude nProtect GameGuard from their detection databases due to it being commercial software.
GameGuard is sometimes cited by users of a specific game as unusable because of numerous errors when attempting to run a game, including the infamous "Error 114," which details that the device driver dump_wmimmc.sys has failed to load, thus not allowing GameMon.des to fully initialize.
It has been said that GameGuard can still be compromised by using modified game client files, modified versions of Cheat Engine coupled with server emulation utilities. On some games such as MapleStory, the game itself does a hash check of the GameGuard revision currently running and will exit if it does not match the hash on the server side.