VMware vs. HackShield: Error 66307

Well, I dropped this into another thread, but there are probably a few people around here trying to play Maple on VMware, so I figure this deserves its own thread. Perhaps we can collaborate and eventually get it working, or at least figure out what's wrong. I'd like to place a bug report with the developers of HackShield, as Nexon undoubtedly has no clue what's going on.

The story so far: I run an nLited XP Pro in a virtual machine, using VMware Player on Gentoo Linux. Host system is a quad-core Q9400. This worked fine (albeit not the greatest performance, but acceptable; I don't die from lag, even in Zakum) for the two months I'd been doing it—until Nexon America ditched GameGuard for HackShield. I patched this morning and played for less than an hour on a low-level character. Leaving him idle in town, I switched away from the virtual machine, then returned after 10 minutes or so to find:



Just for the hell of it, I opened a ticket on Nexon's site.

 My ticket

I run MapleStory in a virtual machine. This worked fine using GameGuard. Today I switched away from the VM with the game running, and when I came back to it my game was closed, with a dialog up from HackShield that said "Initialization error 66307 / Change occurred in system time....

 Irrelevant copy-n-paste response

Comment
04/28/2009 11:04:14 PM | GM Raven



Greetings,

Thank you for contacting Nexon America's Customer Support team.

Here are a few suggestions that might resolve your issue:

1) Close any extra applications before starting the game as they may interfere with our game clients. If you do not feel comfortable turning off your firewall or antivirus, we suggest configuring them appropriately to allow the game client to run.

2) Run a Virus/Spyware scan on your system to make sure that it is clean. Malicious programs can interfere with the game and compromise the security of your account.

3) Please make sure that you have DirectX 9.0c or better and that your video card drivers are up to date. More information about directX can be found in our "Game Download" section at Nexon.net/

For nVidia video card drivers: http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp

For ATI video card drivers: http://ati.amd.com/support/driver.html

4) Please make sure that Windows is configured to allow the execution of the game client. To verify this, click on your Start menu, Control Panel, Performance and Maintenance (if applicable) and then double click on System. Select the Advanced tab and click settings in the performance section. Once there, select the Data Execution Prevention tab and make sure that the game client is added if the second option is selected. Also make sure to click Apply and Ok if you make any changes.

5) If all of the above solutions do not resolve the issue, we advise that you re-download the game client and then reinstall it. For best results, we suggest to delete the folder the game is in and any other related files or icons before you reinstall the game. You can download the game client from our "Game Download" Section at http://www.nexon.net/

For MapleStory you might also try:

A) If you have problems with the patcher, we suggest downloading our manual patcher from our "Game Download" section at http://maplestory.nexon.net/

B) If all you see is a black screen or you get disconnected every time you enter the game, browse to your MapleStory folder and run the "Setup.exe". You will be prompted with a question. Click NO and the setup will run through various frequencies and attempt to find one that works for your monitor. When you see the MapleStory image during the test, press ALT-H to notify the setup that you are able to see it. Outdated video drivers can also cause this; refer to #3.

C) If you have Windows Vista, right click on your MapleStory icon (not the desktop shortcut) and select properties. Once in the properties, click on the compatibility tab, check the box that says "Run this program in compatibility mode for:", select Windows XP (Service Pack 2) from the drop down menu and click Apply. For best results, make sure to log on your computer as an administrator. While this solution will help MapleStory function under Windows Vista, please remember that it is still not fully compatible.

I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Sincerely,

GM Raven
Nexon America, Inc.

For security reasons any sensitive account information has been made private.

Please do not give your password or pin number to anyone for any reason.
Nexon representatives will NEVER ask you for your password or pin.

 My parting shot

Thank you for your canned response. It has nothing to do with my problem. However, I have learned something today: That what I write in the text box does not matter. This important fact will save me time in the future.

I should overcome my laziness and get Hijack This, or something else that can nicely list running processes the way "ps ax" does in Linux. Until I do that, you'll have to take my word for it that all I have running besides Maple when this happens is Notepad and Avast antivirus. Of course there are many system processes that don't show up on a normal task list.

Now, I sometimes experience odd lag in the game while running on VMware. Sometimes (usually when first entering a map) my character moves faster than it should, and I think this is caused by the system lagging and then catching up to where it should be. Sometimes I experience "slow motion," usually caused by lag when a sound tries to play; because of this, I turn sounds off when bossing or PQing, but normally I like to have them on. These obviously affect my speed, but the thing is that I don't think I experienced these this morning, and HackShield decided to pick on me while I was standing there doing nothing. :f6:

So... let's collect information here. What have your experiences been with HackShield on VMware? Has anyone had success, or is everyone suffering from this?

.

C) If you have Windows Vista, right click on your MapleStory icon (not the desktop shortcut) and select properties. Once in the properties, click on the compatibility tab, check the box that says "Run this program in compatibility mode for:", select Windows XP (Service Pack 2) from the drop down menu and click Apply. For best results, make sure to log on your computer as an administrator. While this solution will help MapleStory function under Windows Vista, please remember that it is still not fully compatible.

Except Hackshield doesn't like compatability mode. Apparently only hackers use it.

Yeah, I guess they need to update their copy-pasta now.

Interestingly, nothing unusual happened on my Vista machine. Patcher ran, game started, everything seems normal; I got no errors or messages of any kind. Aside from the different banner, I'd never know anything had changed.

I'm going to cruise over to AhnLabs sometime this week and see if they have a means of accepting bug reports or feedback from end-users. If they do, I have a feeling that might be slightly more useful than submitting tickets to Nexon—although I think we still should do that, and post on their forum (which I haven't done yet) to keep them aware of this issue.

works fine for me, i use vmware to set up hs mule/xfer/store

what are your VMware settings like?

One thing though I'll bring up.

Only a handful of the population run Maplestory on VMWare, back when I played WoW, Blizzard would allow you to run it on VMWare or WINE, but you were on your own. No customer support due to the fact that the population is very small, and because Linux can be configured inside and out, they expect you to know what you're doing.

I've heard the VMWare Tools can help keep the clock working properly but since you're running a D3D game I'd assume you already have those installed. Anyway... might help.

Yup I got the same problem... my vmware time do go faster by a bit though... Stereo I do have the time sycronize option opened, but after 3mins maple shuts down... darn looks like I cant setup my shop

works fine for me, i use vmware to set up hs mule/xfer/store

Would you care to post your .VMX so I can compare? Also, what is your host operating system?

 Here's mine

Code:

#!/usr/bin/vmplayer
.encoding = "UTF-8"

# Filename: XP.vmx

# This is a Workstation 6 config file
# It can be used with Player
config.version = "8"
virtualHW.version = "6"

# Selected operating system for your virtual machine
guestOS = "winxppro"

# displayName is your own name for the virtual machine
displayName = "XP Maple"

# These fields are free text description fields
annotation = "XP Pro Maple"
guestinfo.vmware.product.long = "XP Pro with MapleStory"
guestinfo.vmware.product.url = "http://www.easyvmx.com/"
guestinfo.vmware.product.class = "virtual machine"

# Number of virtual CPUs. Your virtual machine will not
# work if this number is higher than the number of your physical CPUs
numvcpus = "1"

# Memory size and other memory settings
memsize = "2048"
MemAllowAutoScaleDown = "FALSE"
#MemTrimRate = "-1"

# PowerOn/Off options
gui.powerOnAtStartup = "FALSE"
gui.fullScreenAtPowerOn = "FALSE"
gui.exitAtPowerOff = "FALSE"

# Unique ID for the virtual machine will be created
uuid.action = "create"

# Settings for VMware Tools
tools.remindInstall = "FALSE"
tools.upgrade.policy = "upgradeAtPowerCycle"

# Startup hints interfers with automatic startup of a virtual machine
# This setting has no effect in VMware Player
hints.hideAll = "TRUE"

# Enable time synchronization between computer
# and virtual machine
tools.syncTime = "TRUE"

# USB settings
# This config activates USB
usb.present = "TRUE"
usb.generic.autoconnect = "FALSE"

# First serial port, physical COM1 is available
serial0.present = "FALSE"
serial0.fileName = "Auto Detect"
serial0.autodetect = "TRUE"
serial0.hardwareFlowControl = "TRUE"

# Optional second serial port, physical COM2 is not available
serial1.present = "FALSE"

# First parallell port, physical LPT1 is available
parallel0.present = "FALSE"
parallel0.fileName = "Auto Detect"
parallel0.autodetect = "TRUE"
parallel0.bidirectional = "TRUE"

# Sound settings
sound.present = "TRUE"
#sound.fileName = "-1"
sound.fileName = "/dev/audio"
#sound.fileName = "/dev/snd/pcmC0D1p"
#sound.autodetect = "TRUE"
sound.autodetect = "FALSE"

# Logging
# This config activates logging, and keeps last log
logging = "TRUE"
log.fileName = "XP.log"
log.append = "TRUE"
log.keepOld = "3"

# These settings decides interaction between your
# computer and the virtual machine
isolation.tools.hgfs.disable = "FALSE"
isolation.tools.dnd.disable = "FALSE"
isolation.tools.copy.enable = "TRUE"
isolation.tools.paste.enabled = "TRUE"

# Other default settings
svga.autodetect = "TRUE"
mks.keyboardFilter = "allow"
snapshot.action = "autoCommit"

# First network interface card
ethernet0.present = "TRUE"
#ethernet0.virtualDev = "e1000"
#ethernet0.virtualDev = "vmxnet"
ethernet0.connectionType = "bridged"
ethernet0.addressType = "generated"
ethernet0.generatedAddressOffset = "0"

# Settings for physical floppy drive
floppy0.present = "TRUE"

# Settings for physical CDROM drive
ide1:0.present = "TRUE"
ide1:0.deviceType = "cdrom-image"
ide1:0.startConnected = "FALSE"
ide1:0.fileName = "/home/rassilon/ISO/clonezilla-live-1.2.1-39.iso"
ide1:0.autodetect = "FALSE"

# First IDE disk, size 10 GiB
ide0:0.present = "TRUE"
ide0:0.fileName = "XP_10GB.vmdk"
ide0:0.mode = "persistent"
ide0:0.startConnected = "TRUE"
ide0:0.writeThrough = "TRUE"

# Second IDE disk, size 10 GiB
# You have selected to use this optional disk image
ide0:1.present = "TRUE"
ide0:1.fileName = "XP1-D.vmdk"
# When putting in new drive, change CID in the VMDK to the same as XP_Pro.vmdk
ide0:1.mode = "persistent"
ide0:1.startConnected = "TRUE"
ide0:1.writeThrough = "TRUE"

# EasyVMX! Shared Folder
sharedFolder.option = "alwaysEnabled"
sharedFolder0.present = "TRUE"
sharedFolder0.enabled = "TRUE"
sharedFolder0.readAccess = "TRUE"
sharedFolder0.writeAccess = "TRUE"
sharedFolder0.hostPath = "/home/rassilon/VMs/xp_shared"
sharedFolder0.guestName = "XP Shared Folder"
sharedFolder0.expiration = "never"
sharedFolder.maxNum = "1"

# Experimental!
# Accelerated 3-D Graphics
mks.enable3d = "TRUE"
#svga.vramSize = "67108864"
svga.vramSize = "134217728"
vmmouse.present = "FALSE"

# END OF EasyVMX! CONFIG

extendedConfigFile = "XP.vmxf"

virtualHW.productCompatibility = "hosted"

ethernet0.generatedAddress = "00:0c:29:ef:5a:4d"
uuid.location = "56 4d de 98 87 24 95 86-03 ea a5 16 34 ef 5a 4d"
uuid.bios = "56 4d de 98 87 24 95 86-03 ea a5 16 34 ef 5a 4d"
ide0:0.redo = ""
ide0:1.redo = ""
vmotion.checkpointFBSize = "134217728"
ethernet0.pciSlotNumber = "16"
sound.pciSlotNumber = "17"
parallel0.startConnected = "FALSE"
serial0.startConnected = "FALSE"

floppy0.fileType = "file"
floppy0.clientDevice = "FALSE"
floppy0.fileName = "/home/rassilon/VMs/vmscsi-1.2.0.4.flp"

checkpoint.vmState = ""

hgfs.mapRootShare = "TRUE"

usb.autoConnect.device0 = ""

floppy0.startConnected = "FALSE"

# Based on tips I found on Sleepywood o_O
sched.mem.pshare.enable = "FALSE"
mainMem.useNamedFile = "FALSE"
prefvmx.minVmMemPct = "100"
MemTrimRate=0

I've heard the VMWare Tools can help keep the clock working properly but since you're running a D3D game I'd assume you already have those installed. Anyway... might help.

Yeah, I pretty much have to have those, otherwise several things don't work very well.

I'm going to try changing the "nice" value of the process to run it at a much higher priority than usual, and see if that helps.

@GameMX: Yeah, sadly I realize that only a handful of the—what's Nexon claiming this week, 100 million?—many MapleStory players even know what VMware is, much less use it, and that Nexon support for this is going to be zero. That's why I'm asking for ideas on a forum like this, where the signal-to-noise ratio is rather higher. (I also know of the somewhat less-than-legit uses for it, but I'll take help from any quarter here.) Still, I don't see any harm in trying to alert as many people as possible to the problem. Who knows, even somebody on the Nexon forum might have a clue. :f6:

OK, not a bump, but new data. Without making any changes to my .vmx, I reniced the vmplayer process to -15 and logged in. I played for 30-45 minutes (forgot to time it), including idling in town, idling in a map, idling in FM channel 1, training normally, and chatting. All seemed OK until I went back to Orbis to do the exchange quest, and suddenly every time I moved the mouse the screen froze for a split second. Keyboard input worked normally, but while the mouse was moving over the Maple part of the screen (it displays at 800×600 with black borders, bleah) the video was very jerky. I logged off that character and the jerkiness continued on the MapleStory login screen.

So... good news = no silly HackShield disconnections (yet) at nice -15. Bad news = potential for odd glitches like that.

Next I'm changing my menu item for this VM, to start it using -15 all the time. We'll see how that goes.

I get the same exact error as you. What do you mean by "reniced" ?

I get the same exact error as you. What do you mean by "reniced" ?

In Linux (and similar systems) it is possible to change the priority of a process after it has been started. The tool for this is called "renice" and is used something like this:

Code:

miharu ~ # ps ax | grep vmplayer
6219 ?        S      0:01 /opt/vmware/player/lib/vmware/bin/vmplayer /home/rassilon/VMs/Maple_XP/XP.vmx
6817 ?        S      0:00 /opt/vmware/player/lib/vmware/bin/vmplayer-daemon
miharu ~ # renice -15 6219 6817
6219: old priority 0, new priority -15
6817: old priority 0, new priority -15

The first command (ps...) gets me the process IDs of vmplayer and its daemon, and then the second command increases their priority by giving them a negative "nice" value. (Negative niceness means they are "less nice" to other processes because they have a higher priority.) I don't think boosting the daemon was actually necessary, but I did it to see if it would help the mouse problem. It didn't help.

BTW, I'm tentatively reporting success with my priority boost. I left my FM shop up all day (over 10 hours) without a problem, and the same session is still up now. I will test at Zakum this weekend; if I survive that, I should be able to handle almost anything. Edit: It still can't deal with multitasking. I switched away from the VM and downloaded some e-mail with Thunderbird, opened some files with an editor, etc., and when I returned to the VM I had the HackShield message.

I haven't triggered the mouse problem in this session yet, but it occurred twice while talking to the Staff Sergeant Charlie NPC in Orbis. Closing MapleStory seems to be the only way to reset this.

To anyone who cares about this particular issue, I may revisit it later but for the moment I have given up. After more random disconnections in the Free Market, Zakum Altar (just sitting there alone, in fact), Zakum battle, and elsewhere, I decided it was not worth the stress of never knowing when HackShield would suddenly decide I was not allowed to play any more. I have resurrected the old XP box the VM was supposed to replace, and I'm now playing on my Vista laptop and using the old machine for my FM mule.

I had boosted the VM to -20 niceness (the highest, supposed to be considered "real-time") and although I could train my Mage normally (never once got booted from newties) I could not complete a Zakum run or keep my shop open predictably. So, at least on my system and at least right now, VMware + HackShield == No Soup for Me!

Actually, it seems to be an error due to the multitasking. Whenever you change from that image, it will be "deprioritized".

However, I think you'll be able to solve it if you add in /usepmtimer in the Windows XP boot.ini-file. Try it out, and tell me if it works or not. If not, hmm... I'll look into it.

Hi all,

not in direct relation to VMWare, I've tried VirtualBox 3.0x and I too can get MS to run, but after a while gets into the hackshield hacking issue as well. As I'm running a WinXP host (totally "evaluating" the entire possible prospect), I may also try my bit to see what can be done. After reading some of the posts, I might also have a go at running it in Linux (do I assume Ubuntu works in this case?) with the renice command. We'll see how things go.