[SOLVED] My game freaking out virus protection--help!

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Kokoro Hane
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[SOLVED] My game freaking out virus protection--help!

#1 Post by Kokoro Hane »

EDIT EDIT: So I'm having others look at it, and it does seem to be a false positive--the game is clean. I'm just going to wait for a few more opinions or so before I make the build public again, but thank you all again!

EDIT: I have a private upload of said build that has the problem, if anyone would like to scan it themselves. Many replying say it is most likely a false positive though if you'd like to test it yourselves--lemme know!

Hi,

I just made a brand new build of my game, 30 Kilowatt Hours Left. I imported it from Ren'Py 6.15.2 to 6.99.11 so that it could run better. After that, the only changes I made was fixing and added some more images and sound effects, customised the menu a little (added menu image and just rearranged the buttons a bit), added a makeshift CG gallery like I've done with my previous game, fixed the text padding, and made it True to open in Full Screen. When I tested the compiled version of my game, my virus protection suddenly decided to scan my .exe file the moment I tried to open it and it found it to be clean, so I thought it was just being sensitive. After uploading the build, a user brought to my attention that their virus protection thinks there's a trojan inside. I'm pretty sure it is clean, but I temporarily made private its itch.io and deleted its build so no one can download it as well as revert back to version 1.1 (and deleted ver2's build) on our GameJolt page just to stay on the safe side.

Now I recall a couple of Ren'Py games that were clean in the past but were falsely detected as being/containing a virus (chronica's "Grinning Heart" and OokamiKasumi's "Madeline's Misplaced Miscellany" I actually remember those games freaking out mine too but they were clean, they're some of my favourites), so I know this is not an uncommon issue with Ren'Py games. So I am curious, what could be causing a virus software to go off like that? Could it be how I scripted something, the .exe's title (30kwh left), or the importing from 6.15 to 6.99? Should I be worried?

Thank you in advanced! I really hope this is an easy fix and not a serious problem...

EDIT: Forgot to link, this is what they said their protection found; viewtopic.php?f=11&t=36993&p=457480#p457479
Oddly mine didn't, so I have no idea.
Last edited by Kokoro Hane on Mon Jun 19, 2017 2:49 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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mitoky
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Re: My game freaking out virus protection--help!

#2 Post by mitoky »

First of all i would maybe ask the user to update their virus software (in case it isnt). I previously had the same problem with a game due to that (and too with Avira).
In case you want to be careful, i would recommend having friends or people you can ask to download the file and maybe scan it too, just to be sure.
When you find no problem, then i would upload the file again. Additionally, you might maybe include a comment, stating "Due to issues the game might cause false alarm of virus softwares." and that updating might help.

Good luck!

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Re: My game freaking out virus protection--help!

#3 Post by Remix »

I think your first steps might want to be checking if the file is causing a false positive...

VirusTotal (max 145mb or so)
Avira Submit

With virus scanners using a heuristic approach they could very well be mistaking normal 'safe' behaviour for something more suspicious.

Not too sure what to do if those sites call it infected. Maybe try removing any bolt-on frameworks, rebuild and re-scan...
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Re: My game freaking out virus protection--help!

#4 Post by andalusian »

mitoky wrote:First of all i would maybe ask the user to update their virus software (in case it isnt).
i am the user who reported it! my antivirus (Avira Antivir) is up to date: https://www.avira.com/en/support-vdf-history says that the "virus definition file" used (version 8.14.13.28) was released this morning.

and my antivirus gave a warning both for the new version of the game (using renpy 6.99), and the old version of the game (using renpy 6.15), although the "trojan" identified was different (viewtopic.php?f=11&t=36993&p=457480#p457482).

i have played about 20 renpy games, but did not get a trojan warning with any of the others. i have have thought of making a visual novel one day as well, if it is a false positive it would be interesting to know how to avoid this.

EDIT:
Remix wrote:I think your first steps might want to be checking if the file is causing a false positive...

Avira Submit
I agree that this is a good thing to try!
Last edited by andalusian on Mon Jun 19, 2017 12:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: My game freaking out virus protection--help!

#5 Post by Scribbles »

My computer had freaked out at a couple of renpy games, I'm never sure why it happens? It's windows that does it for me, and I usually have to run it as an administrator.
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Re: My game freaking out virus protection--help!

#6 Post by Donmai »

Why developers hate antivirus software: https://www.jitbit.com/alexblog/212-why ... tiviruses/
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Re: My game freaking out virus protection--help!

#7 Post by Kokoro Hane »

Hey guys, thank you so much for your replies! I'll take into consideration having some people I know to scan it themselves just to be safe (my brother and I already have, but it's good to have more), but I am pretty sure it is a false positive. This is often common with a lot of indie games, my brother often complains about this when he downloads new games from GameJolt that are fine but the anti-virus freaks out and deletes the .exe without giving him the chance to say whether he wants it to or not xD
Donmai wrote:Why developers hate antivirus software: https://www.jitbit.com/alexblog/212-why ... tiviruses/
This was an excellent article! Even my brother last night stated he's pretty sure it has something to do with some code that is freaking out the software. That makes a lot of sense and explains probably why a lot of indie games that are totally harmless ends up getting their .exe deleted at random, which makes a game useless obviously. Version 1.1 I know is safe since a lot of people I know have played it and reported no issue, and neither did strangers, so most likely the same is with this one since it's just an updated version from the same project folder with some adjustments and a newer engine.

EDIT: I have uploaded a private build if anyone wants to scan it themselves. I'm pretty sure some kinda script I did is freaking it out, plus it's 6.15 to 6.99 so...
PROJECTS:
Operation: Magic Hero [WiP]
Piece By Piece [COMPLETE][Spooktober VN '20]
RE/COUNT RE:VERSE [COMPLETE][RPG]
Since When Did I Have a Combat Butler?! [COMPLETE][NaNoRenO2020+]
Crystal Captor: Memory Chronicle Finale [COMPLETE][RPG][#1 in So Bad It's Good jam '17]

But dear God, You're the only North Star I would follow this far
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Re: [SOLVED] My game freaking out virus protection--help!

#8 Post by Kokoro Hane »

It does seem to be a false positive--had someone scan it, came up clean for them. I'm going to wait for a few more opinions before releasing the build publicly again, but thank you guys so much! I'll also be sure to put a warning it may freak out certain virus protection software.
PROJECTS:
Operation: Magic Hero [WiP]
Piece By Piece [COMPLETE][Spooktober VN '20]
RE/COUNT RE:VERSE [COMPLETE][RPG]
Since When Did I Have a Combat Butler?! [COMPLETE][NaNoRenO2020+]
Crystal Captor: Memory Chronicle Finale [COMPLETE][RPG][#1 in So Bad It's Good jam '17]

But dear God, You're the only North Star I would follow this far
Owl City "Galaxies"

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Re: [SOLVED] My game freaking out virus protection--help!

#9 Post by PyTom »

Antivirus software is really a waste of money, at this point. Microsoft ships a quite good antivirus program with windows. This means that third-party antivirus programs have to make you feel like the money you spent on them isn't wasted, and they do that by convincing you that they're "catching" viruses, even when they're just breaking third-party software.

In the meantime, many antiviruses make your system less secure, both by preventing security features built into web browsers from operating, and by introducing remotely exploitable problems. (See the 25 bugs in Norton.) Here's a good article on the subject:

https://arstechnica.com/information-tec ... us-is-bad/
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Re: [SOLVED] My game freaking out virus protection--help!

#10 Post by Kokoro Hane »

I can see why a lot of devs are hating anti-virus, lol, it can be more of an annoyance than a shield xD

Thanks for the article link! I'll be taking a look at that~
PROJECTS:
Operation: Magic Hero [WiP]
Piece By Piece [COMPLETE][Spooktober VN '20]
RE/COUNT RE:VERSE [COMPLETE][RPG]
Since When Did I Have a Combat Butler?! [COMPLETE][NaNoRenO2020+]
Crystal Captor: Memory Chronicle Finale [COMPLETE][RPG][#1 in So Bad It's Good jam '17]

But dear God, You're the only North Star I would follow this far
Owl City "Galaxies"

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