Tag Archives: GTA V

Some GTA V Mods Serve You Malware

What it’s all about

aboutseven, a newly registered member on the GTA forums, was the first one to notice that all was not well with the processes running on his computer. “I came across something pretty startling today after reviewing my processes that were running on my computer. I tend to do this a lot out of paranoia, just checking that I don’t have stuff running in the background that I don’t want running, or if I ever possibly run into something that is out of the ordinary that could possibly be malware. I happened to notice that the Windows C# compiler running the background as csc.exe”, he wrote in his post.

After looking into it some more he dredged up a file called Fade.exe, which hijacked a part of the registry in order to being launched at boot. Some more testing revealed that a GTA mod named Angry Planes was to be held responsible for the malware landing on his system. Since the discovery, other players are claiming they’re finding similar harmful files on other mods as well, such as No Clip.

What it does

So, why exactly is Fade.exe such a problem? To answer the question, let’s just take a look at the modules that are loaded with the mod, according to another forum user named ckck:

  • “Facebook spam/credential stealing module
  • Twitch spam/credential stealing module
  • com spam/credential stealing module
  • A Steam spamming module
  • A Steam module that evaluates the items in your inventory and their value based on current market value
  • A Keylogger module that logs individual button presses in an XML like format, it also includes information about context switches (switching from one app/window to another)
  • A UDP flooding module
  • I hadn’t deciphered and didn’t see in action.”

What you can do

In case you have one of the mods installed, make sure to scan your computer with your AV and remove the malicious files. Keeping in mind that Fade.exe also sniffs around your Facebook, Steam, and Twitch accounts, make sure to change all your passwords as well.

The post Some GTA V Mods Serve You Malware appeared first on Avira Blog.

Troubleshooting GTA V

On launch day I spent hours trying to get GTA V to run on my gaming machine which was an absolute time-consuming nightmare.

To spare you the trouble, here are some of the steps that led to GTA V finally working on my machine:

 

RockStar Social Club

Download Rockstar Social Club from this page here. This is the application that actually launches GTA V and checks for an online connection and your system requirements. Having the latest version or even uninstalling and reinstalling it could help.

Rock Star Social Club

 

Updating Windows System File

The one tip that solved the problem for me was downloading an updated Windows system file that’s responsible for the controller input (it was either that or unplugging the Game controller, which I obviously didn’t want to do.)

To do that, go to this page and download the file “Xinput1_3.dll” by clicking on “Download ZIP-FILE”. Chose the “18.944.0” file or the “32bit9.18.944.0” (if you have an older 32-bit system). Extract the file. Next, open up the folder C:WindowsSysWow64 and look for a file called “Xinput1_3.dll” and rename it to “Xinput1_3_backup.dll”. Copy the file you just downloaded here.

xinput1_3

Repeat the same step for the “C:WindowsSystem32” folder. Reboot your PC! This has helped a lot of users on the Steam community forums – including me.

 

Validate the Game Cache:

If you’ve preordered GTA V it’s possible that the encryption on launch day didn’t work for you, so it may be best to try to validate all of the 60 GB files in GTA in Steam. To do so, open Steam and right-click on “Grand Theft Auto 5”. Select Properties and go to “Local Files”. From here, click on “Verify Integrity of Game Cache”: 

Validating Game Cache

 

Delete the GTA V game cache:

Upon installation, GTA V creates temporary files and settings that you can simply reset which may help you solve some of the launch problems. Simply hit the “WINDOWS” key on your keyboard and “R” at the same time and type in %appdata%. Click on “AppData” in your navigation bar at the top of the Windows Explorer and go to “Local”. Delete the entire “Rockstar Games” folder.

Game Cache

 

Create a new Administrative user account:

Rockstar admitted that GTA V doesn’t work if your user account name consists of some unusual characters. Basically everything except numbers and regular letters work. Simply renaming your account doesn’t do the trick, so you actually have to create a new administrator account that you need to switch to before starting GTA. Rockstar is working on a fix. You’ll find the appropriate options in your “Control Panel” under “Add of Remove Accounts”.

New admin user

 

Disable any integrated graphics chip:

Some laptops and Desktop-PCs have both an integrated (weaker) graphics chip to save power/battery life and a more powerful discrete graphics. In my example, my desktop PCs mainboard has an Intel HD graphics chipset and a dedicated GeForce GTX 970. In such instances, you should go to Device Manager, Display Adapters and right-click on any graphics chip that’s not NVIDIA or AMD. Select Disable: 

Disable graphics chip

In some instances, it helped some users to disable their main graphics chip before launching GTA V and then re-enabling it right at the very moment the game launches.

Here’s a video that shows you at which point you’d need to disable and enable the chip:

Video

Disabling Internal Graphics Chips

 

Run GTA V as an administrator:

Open up the following folder on Steam “C:Program Files (x86)SteamSteamAppscommonGrand Theft Auto V” or “C:Program Files (x86)Rockstar GamesGrand Theft Auto V”, right click on “PlayGTAV.exe” and select “Run As Administrator”.

 

Now that you are up and running with GTA V, check out my Ultimate Performance Guide to help you make the most out of the experience!

The Ultimate GTA V Performance Guide

It’s been a long time coming, but Grand Theft Auto V is now available on Windows PCs. While Playstation and Xbox players have been enjoying this title for some time already, I strongly believe that PC is now the platform to play GTA V.

Why? Well quite simply, the PC has so many great options to tweak that gamers can really control and enhance their gaming experience!

If you have bought GTA V for PC and are wondering how you can improve framerates, graphics and more then you’re in luck. I’ve run a series of benchmarking tests on GTA V and have put together my top tips on getting the most out of this red hot title!

So without further ado, here is The Ultimate GTA V Performance Guide.

 

Download the full guide