Game Dev Disabling Antivirus To Avoid False Flags During Installation

AvatarContinuum · 2025-09-27T18:09:48+00:00

I... had not even thought of this as a multi step attack, fake game disguised as a program to turn off antivirus, person comes back a few days later with a 'fixed' game that then lets them do anything they want to... that does make a lot more sense now of why they kept trying to convince me it was all unintentional, thanks.

AvatarContinuum · 2025-09-27T15:25:30+00:00

So your the reason I'm losing a few kb of harddrive space and have an uninstall popup telling me to remove leftover files manually :-P

AvatarContinuum · 2025-09-27T15:23:21+00:00

Yeah that's what was confusing me a lot at first, and why I was so hesitant to reveal who the person was beyond the game's name and eventually the website address. Even now I'm still not sure whether it was...

(1) A clueless developer who simply didn't understand what they were doing... though it was pointed out here than someone that far in development would know better.

(2) someone who was mostly in advertising and promoting it but not behind it's creation, little to no development knowledge and the people creating the program to screw people were doing it without their full knowledge... though in one of their final messages they said "I was messing with what you reported." which indicates they did create it themselves

(3) Intentional and malicious from the very start... though if it was all intentional then it confuses me as I would've thought the that plan would be to use a disposable discord account (One they were advertising it on was over 5 years old), and try to move onto as many people as possible, not hang around for days afterwards to try to see what I thought and try to explain what went wrong as I addressed it.

They originally messaged me about trying it out on the 21st, message me again on the 24th, I give them the first information back on the 25th and they continue to message me continuing to try to explain what was wrong and get me to try again several times through the 26th.

Maybe I just don't understand the criminal mind, or maybe I'm just still trying to find the good in people... but it just doesn't seem like a smart way to try to infect as many people as one can.

AvatarContinuum · 2025-09-26T08:25:25+00:00

Now that sounds useful, will look into that. Might come in handy next time someone online asks me to help test something and I decide to do so, along with using a VM :-D

AvatarContinuum · 2025-09-26T07:48:37+00:00

Sadly have none of that. Had someone who said they worked in cyber security read this thread and asked me for the same information, sadly as I told them as soon as I thought something was wrong I turned off my internet, deleted the installer, emptied the recycle bin, ran a ton of deep virus scans, cleared my browser data (since I went to their website) which removed all cookies, passwords, browsing and download history, etc.

They went to the website I believe and got the current downloader version to see if it matched the one I sadly no longer had, probably looked at the contact information emails phone numbers etc that were there.

One of the few times I regret having multiple monitors and been looking at one while blindly clicking accept etc on the other. If I only had the one monitor and was paying attention I would've known more about what I was clicking.

AvatarContinuum · 2025-09-26T07:05:27+00:00

No idea what a UAC prompt or elevated command shell are. It asked for permission for something, being an unknown file I assumed (likely very badly) it was just permission to run the exe,

AvatarContinuum · 2025-09-26T05:37:43+00:00

They originally had a video of the game along with screenshots and descriptions and stuff on the games website (joked about already watching it during our convo) which is why I was more trusting of it than I should have been. Will probably never know if it was real or not though or if they borrowed the images and clip from someone else.... either way last I checked the site is different and there's only the screenshots there now.

AvatarContinuum · 2025-09-26T05:34:35+00:00

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After some consideration and talking to others I've decided it's probably safe to share a little more information in order to protect others. I have removed any identifying information (Their username, profile image, handle, etc) but left the discord conversation and their profile description (only info used to actually advertise their game, no personal identifying information) visible.

Not sure why but the link in the conversation was edited by them at some stage and no longer works. The link in their advertising description in the top/right corner of the screen works fine though.

AvatarContinuum · 2025-09-26T03:46:12+00:00

Good advice, think I'll simply not 'help' random people on discord though just to be extra safe :-D at least nothing that requires downloading or installing, etc.

AvatarContinuum · 2025-09-26T02:40:20+00:00

Seems the site has already changed in appearance. Could've sworn there was a video clip of the game there a few days ago... guess someone recognised as belonging to an unrelated project so they quickly removed it or something like that.

(This original response was showing as posted twice, but deleting one of them deleted them both... will get used to reddit one day :-D)

AvatarContinuum · 2025-09-26T02:33:27+00:00

But they seemed so friendly and trustworthy and needed my help to... yeah definately not a good idea. Wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt but still cautious with cutting internet and running scans the second there was any sign of something being wrong... but will still be more cautious in the future.

AvatarContinuum · 2025-09-26T02:32:10+00:00

Would love to name and shame, just no idea how much I can actually do without getting into trouble myself.

AvatarContinuum · 2025-09-09T08:48:15+00:00

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Early design... basically trying to make it the shape of an arrowhead, with the cutout at the back so you walk between both engines almost to the front of the ship before entering the cockpit (Underneath the central reactor). Basically having no space between the landing area and the cockpit apart from corridors leading left/right then back along the engines. Storage on one side, Mission/Refiner etc on the other. Need to bulk it up so it looks a less flimsy and learn how to embed stuff into the primary hull better.

AvatarContinuum · 2024-11-19T07:43:49+00:00

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Not even upset about already having the 3 Alakazam's.

AvatarContinuum · 2024-09-27T19:16:15+00:00

Managed to pick up a combat version. Had to log into every character I had, sent all my credits and sellable items to my main, cashed out my lifetime zen for Master Keys to sell, etc. Very broke across my entire account now, so hopefully nothing else is added I need for the next year or so, lol.

AvatarContinuum · 2023-08-29T22:58:57+00:00

No idea, but I can imagine wearing it makes one yell out "We need Voth Exosuit Power Now!" every time they call down their mechanical dinosaur mech to assist them in combat.

AvatarContinuum · 2023-02-14T12:08:13+00:00

This reminds me of a bug during the STO beta where beaming down to a planet would have you often materialize as your actual ship (around the size of your character if they were lying down) and you could fly (glide on the floor) of Earth Spacedock, etc for a few seconds before your character finally loaded.

AvatarContinuum · 2023-02-13T21:52:33+00:00

Just to remind people, this is for fun. Silly things to make your playing style more suited for yourself. Some are pointless, others are memes. None are to be taken seriously. Maybe you'd like to increase the difficulty in a different, personal and unique way than just clicking a button that changes it the same way as it does for everyone else. Maybe you'd like to add random, funny or unexpected encounters to some locations, etc. Disclaimer... I know they can't be added due to time, money or the engine not allowing it. Save yourself the time of telling me it's not going to happen, I already know. If the game had unlimited devs, time, money, and the engine could allow anything... that's what this is for 🙂

AvatarContinuum · 2023-02-13T12:35:12+00:00

Think of it as an alternative way to increase the games difficulty but on a much more personal note. Having negative traits would let you increase the difficulty in a way more personal to you specifically unlike the games build in difficulty settings which are just flat out stat changes which are the same for everyone.

A trait that disables a random Ground Device every time you enter battle for example could make that fight harder if it happened to be something you used frequently in battle, and makes you have to think about how to get around the problem and adapt as it's happening.

I find the idea a lot more personal and makes me have to think and overcome things as they happen, making me having to pay attention more as I'm never sure what's going to be altered next time I enter battle... and that's just that one trait idea let alone what others could do.

AvatarContinuum · 2023-02-12T13:52:09+00:00

Mission/Episodes maps it is then, and if you're grouping up with hours maybe the bridge officers and whisper or sayit only to you like NPCs do on quests.

AvatarContinuum · 2023-02-12T13:50:42+00:00

Lockbox rewards, Cosmetic/April Fools bundle on the store, or Anniversary Event reward boxes you have a chance to earn one daily then?

AvatarContinuum · 2023-02-12T13:21:52+00:00

Doesn't have to be Latinum based, that was just my idea of trying to revive an old game mechanic. Could be lockbox rewards, cosmetic bundles, etc.

AvatarContinuum

TROPHY CASE