Baldur's Gate 2 Modifies Modifies Boot Record as Copy Protection?

[petepham]

does anyone know if baldur's gate 2 modifies the master boot record for copy protection or something? I noticed that after I installed it, my Norton Anti-Virus detected a modification of the boot record. When I have NAV restore my original master boot record, the game no longer is "installed." It thinks as though I still need to set it up and it doesn't run. However, if I reinstall without having NAV restore my boot record, the game works fine. Does anyone know about this or do I have some kind of virus??!?

 

[Modus]

Yup, from your description, it certainly looks like boot sector copy protection. Sheesh, I thought companies abandonned that ridiculous scheme long ago. It's so easy to crack, yet so annoying to antivirus users. These days, I think the best scheme is to hide a few benign-looking keys in the Windows Registry. Name them something totally unrelated to the game, and put them where nobody will look for them.

Modus

 

[LuciferHaze]

Yea, I agree with Modus. Then again, who wouldn't?

 

[Adrian Tung]

I run NAV 7 Corporate Edition and didn't get such a warning in Win2K? I also have BIOS virus protection on, BTW....


atwl

 

[esung]

hmm.. I have BG2, and my virus scan doesn't reveal anything. I doubt the game will modifiy your boot sector though, and the master boot record looks fine.(I think the game is protected by SafeDisc already) What version/language of BG2 do you have?

copy protection: there're are some other program that put junk DLL in your system as well, which annoys me a lot.

 

[petepham]

I have the .22596 version of BG2 ENGLISH version. It's odd because if I have Norton Anti-Virus restore my master boot record, the game ceases to run. Usually, if you install the anti-virus software after the game, it will incorporate (innoculate) your current boot record no? Also, if you don't have the boot record analysis on, won't it skip over this? I'm just a little concerned about a possible virus.

 

[Mem]

There are some issues with Norton software,


<< I have the game installed but it is asking me to install again.

If you have Norton WinDoctor or any other type of registry checking/cleaning utility it will delete the registry entries for BG2. While these entries are not wrong per say, they will be deleted by these kinds of utilities. The patch addresses this issue. >>



Go here for known issues &amp; fixes
http://www.interplay.com/support/bg2/fixes.html#13

 

[petepham]

The Registry Checker programs mess it up because they delete the copy protection registry entries that aren't associated with any games. I had a boot record problem though...