Ren'Py [SOLVED] All games broken after computer restart

[TheoBambou]

Hello guys,
Today I wanted to play some games but for a reason they are not opening anymore...

If I launch the normal .exe I get this error :
And if I launch the .exe in lib\windows-i686 directory I get the same error and all the renpy games I had got this problem...
BUT on all games I get this error only when launching the .exe in the lib\windows-i686 directory but when I launch the normal .exe on some games I get this error :
[Normal .exe]

[lib\windows-i686 .exe]


Exemples :



The other games I have on unreal/Unity/Flash don't have this problem.. It only happen on Renpy games... And to fix it I need to redownload and reextract the game and it will work normally again.

I almost forgot something, when it show the error message it opens this program that doesn't stop when I close the error message :


Do you guys know what cause this ? My Antivirus software (Windows Defender / MalwareBytes(Premium)) is disabled (MalwareBytes closed and Windows Defender fully disabled in regedit).

 

[TrialRagnarok]

It mentions them being in the cache. Cache clears everytime the computer restarts, hence why the files are missing.
Try moving one to another folder besides Desktop and search for an .exe file, all of those games should have an .exe file inside the main folder, it shouldn't be hidden in several folders.

Also it's weird the .exe needs a cache file to even launch in the first place.

 

[TheoBambou]

Why do those .EXEs have that "._cache_" prefix? Is it legit on Windows? The only page where I have seen it mentioned is

You must be registered to see the links

and it's about a virus.
But maybe it's a false positive and you just have to rename them. Anyway, I'd perform an anti-something scan.

None of them have the "._cache_" prefix at the start it's just "gamename.exe" but somehow it's looking for the game cache and doesn't find it...

 

[TheoBambou]

It mentions them being in the cache. Cache clears everytime the computer restarts, hence why the files are missing.
Try moving one to another folder besides Desktop and search for an .exe file, all of those games should have an .exe file inside the main folder, it shouldn't be hidden in several folders.

Also it's weird the .exe needs a cache file to even launch in the first place.

Some games had the error I got from SunriderAcademy but was easy to launch the game just by lunching the .exe in lib\windows-i686 directory but now none of them are working and I tried switching folder and putting the game folder on the desktop but I still get the same error.

 

[anne O'nymous]

Why do those .EXEs have that "._cache_" prefix? Is it legit on Windows?

It's absolutely not legit on Windows.
I don't know all the software that exist, but I totally fail to see why they would cache or sandbox on individual level. It's way easier, and reliable, to generate a global cache or secured environment, then run the whole program inside it, than create a new one for each file.

The only page where I have seen it mentioned is

You must be registered to see the links

and it's about a virus.

Strangely, I found nothing using either "_cache_", "XRed" and "XRedline". I haven't searched deep, but the name of a virus with no related result on the few first pages, it do not exist ; as proof, there's tons of code red while searching this.
It's an, at least, one and half year old virus, and it seem to have past below all radars except one :/

But maybe it's a false positive and you just have to rename them. Anyway, I'd perform an anti-something scan.

Honestly, I don't know what to think because of that :

View attachment 1195967

870KB is way too high for the Ren'py exe file.
It's a file generated each time the distribution is built, therefore it's size vary. But it shouldn't be this big. I don't have this particular game under the hand right now, but taking a quick look, the Ren'py exe files should be at most 200 KB.
This being said, files like dxwebsetup.exe, zsync.exe and zsyncmake.exe, them don't depend of the distribution, and should have a size below 300 KB (dxwebsetup.exe) and 100 KB (the two other), while they are both respectively above 900 KB and 800 KB.

Would have I been still working as security admin, or talking with some admins, I would immediately throw the virus card. But it's really strange that someone here catch a virus apparently only seen once in more than one year ; who would waste his works to target random persons ?

So, first things first.
TheoBambou go to

You must be registered to see the links

and test the "dxwebsetup.exe" file. It's the most common one, if they had it scanned already, the result will come really fast. It should tell you the names (yeah, they fail to agree on names) of the virus, what will tell you what to search to eradicate it.
Then download and install an anti-virus, and never disable it. Whatever the anti-virus you choose, a free one, or even the Window's one, is good enough to protect you from more than 95% of the threats.

And if VirusTotal say that the file is safe... Honestly I don't know. As I said, it clearly looks like an infection, but why would you be infected by such virus ?
No need to answer, but if you works on a sensible field, or for a sensible society, and if it's possible that your home computer have been infected through your job (USB key used to transfer data when you works at home, you read works related emails at home, things like that), you should report to the IT. Don't necessarily say that it's a virus, but that there's really something strange, both on the behavior of some software and size of some executable ; I mean here they have around 700 KB more than they should, and it's not small.

 

[TheoBambou]

It's absolutely not legit on Windows.
I don't know all the software that exist, but I totally fail to see why they would cache or sandbox on individual level. It's way easier, and reliable, to generate a global cache or secured environment, then run the whole program inside it, than create a new one for each file.




Strangely, I found nothing using either "_cache_", "XRed" and "XRedline". I haven't searched deep, but the name of a virus with no related result on the few first pages, it do not exist ; as proof, there's tons of code red while searching this.
It's an, at least, one and half year old virus, and it seem to have past below all radars except one :/




Honestly, I don't know what to think because of that :


870KB is way too high for the Ren'py exe file.
It's a file generated each time the distribution is built, therefore it's size vary. But it shouldn't be this big. I don't have this particular game under the hand right now, but taking a quick look, the Ren'py exe files should be at most 200 KB.
This being said, files like dxwebsetup.exe, zsync.exe and zsyncmake.exe, them don't depend of the distribution, and should have a size below 300 KB (dxwebsetup.exe) and 100 KB (the two other), while they are both respectively above 900 KB and 800 KB.

Would have I been still working as security admin, or talking with some admins, I would immediately throw the virus card. But it's really strange that someone here catch a virus apparently only seen once in more than one year ; who would waste his works to target random persons ?

So, first things first.
TheoBambou go to

You must be registered to see the links

and test the "dxwebsetup.exe" file. It's the most common one, if they had it scanned already, the result will come really fast. It should tell you the names (yeah, they fail to agree on names) of the virus, what will tell you what to search to eradicate it.
Then download and install an anti-virus, and never disable it. Whatever the anti-virus you choose, a free one, or even the Window's one, is good enough to protect you from more than 95% of the threats.

And if VirusTotal say that the file is safe... Honestly I don't know. As I said, it clearly looks like an infection, but why would you be infected by such virus ?
No need to answer, but if you works on a sensible field, or for a sensible society, and if it's possible that your home computer have been infected through your job (USB key used to transfer data when you works at home, you read works related emails at home, things like that), you should report to the IT. Don't necessarily say that it's a virus, but that there's really something strange, both on the behavior of some software and size of some executable ; I mean here they have around 700 KB more than they should, and it's not small.

Ok so more than half of the games I downloaded here have this dxwebsetup.exe are 939KB and I tested them on virus total and it gave me this :

The zsync.exe gave me this :

The zsyncmake.exe gave me this :

The game file (I tested Shelter) gave me this :

I tested the python.exe to be sure :


Sooooo does that means that half of the games avalaible here contains viruses ?

 

[anne O'nymous]

Sooooo does that means that half of the games avalaible here contains viruses ?

No, because they would have been reported already.
It's perhaps a rare virus but, since it's detected by more than 50 anti-viruses, it's a virus clearly known. There's just no way that it would both not be seen by the uploader, nor by at least one member.
In near to 4 years here, I only seen an infected game once. Yet, it was reported before I can do it myself, and the links where already removed (the time to upload a clean version) less than one hour after the infected version was initially uploaded. Both the staff and the community give a real attention to this kind of threats.

Just to be sure, I downloaded one of the game (A Mother's Love, the first one name on your thread opening), both in its original and compressed version. The exe files have their expected size. Extracting the games didn't triggered my anti-virus, neither did the fact to play the games.
The files are safes, until they become infected once on your computer.

It's a really bad idea to not have an anti-virus nowadays.
I mean, I worked as security admin for years, moderated a forum regarding computer security, what gave me sane (some would say paranoid) habits regarding what I put on my computer. In the 90's and 00's, I was going without active anti-virus, just a monthly scan, and only caught one, because a coworker wanted to prank me. Starting the 10's, I switched to an active anti-virus, because the times had changed. And without changing my habits, it catch on average one virus every three months.

So, imagine yourself, who don't have those habits, nor have an active anti-virus...
Accepting to download files that sometimes come from shady sources (not here, obviously), while not having an anti-virus is a virtual suicide nowadays.
Haven't kept the link, but I remember an article (not a scientific one, but still something serious) that did some stats comparisons, and came to the conclusion that someone who both download many files and sleep with many girls, while still being averagely cautious, will have near to three time more risk to catch a computer virus than to catch a STD ; and will catch it before the STD. When you know that on US campuses, at anytime one out of four student have an active STD, it's impressive.

TL;DR: Install an anti-virus, right now !

 

[TheoBambou]

No, because they would have been reported already.
It's perhaps a rare virus but, since it's detected by more than 50 anti-viruses, it's a virus clearly known. There's just no way that it would both not be seen by the uploader, nor by at least one member.
In near to 4 years here, I only seen an infected game once. Yet, it was reported before I can do it myself, and the links where already removed (the time to upload a clean version) less than one hour after the infected version was initially uploaded. Both the staff and the community give a real attention to this kind of threats.

Just to be sure, I downloaded one of the game (A Mother's Love, the first one name on your thread opening), both in its original and compressed version. The exe files have their expected size. Extracting the games didn't triggered my anti-virus, neither did the fact to play the games.
The files are safes, until they become infected once on your computer.

It's a really bad idea to not have an anti-virus nowadays.
I mean, I worked as security admin for years, moderated a forum regarding computer security, what gave me sane (some would say paranoid) habits regarding what I put on my computer. In the 90's and 00's, I was going without active anti-virus, just a monthly scan, and only caught one, because a coworker wanted to prank me. Starting the 10's, I switched to an active anti-virus, because the times had changed. And without changing my habits, it catch on average one virus every three months.

So, imagine yourself, who don't have those habits, nor have an active anti-virus...
Accepting to download files that sometimes come from shady sources (not here, obviously), while not having an anti-virus is a virtual suicide nowadays.
Haven't kept the link, but I remember an article (not a scientific one, but still something serious) that did some stats comparisons, and came to the conclusion that someone who both download many files and sleep with many girls, while still being averagely cautious, will have near to three time more risk to catch a computer virus than to catch a STD ; and will catch it before the STD. When you know that on US campuses, at anytime one out of four student have an active STD, it's impressive.

TL;DR: Install an anti-virus, right now !

Yeah I enabled back Windows Defender from the registery then re-installed malwarebytes, restarted my computer and ran a scan from both AV, i deleted some viruses (detected minecraft as a virus somehow) and deleted anything it found, Used CCleaner to "clean" temporary files. Now I think it's pretty good and my computer isn't infected anymore (I hope). Thanks for the help tho

 

[anne O'nymous]

Now I think it's pretty good and my computer isn't infected anymore (I hope).

Perhaps not totally cleaned yet, some virus can escape a basic scan. But they'll be caught when triggered, and it's what matter.

Thanks for the help tho

You're welcome.