Tunic on PC game pass makes Malwarebyte Service to freeze the system.

[SA2000]

Something strange, Tunic on PC game pass makes Malwarebytes to freeze the system. Soon as I try to start the game, it makes Malwarebytes Service go into over drive and prevent any other program to open. Only way to stop this is close Malwarebytes and everything catches up and opens. But Malwarebytes Service is still running over drive in the background. Only way to stop it is to reboot the PC.

Doesn't happen with any other program or games so far. So not sure what is causing Tunic on PC game pass to cause this on Malwarebytes.

Any help or fix will be nice.

[Malwarebytes]

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[Porthos]

1 minute ago, SA2000 said:

Any help or fix will be nice.

Please do the following so that we may take a closer look at your installation for troubleshooting:

NOTE: The tools and the information obtained is safe and not harmful to your privacy or your computer, please allow the programs to run if blocked by your system.

 

• Download the Malwarebytes Support Tool
• In your Downloads folder, open the mb-support-x.x.x.xxx.exe file
• In the User Account Control pop-up window, click Yes to continue the installation
• Run the MBST Support Tool
• In the left navigation pane of the Malwarebytes Support Tool, click Advanced
• In the Advanced Options, click Gather Logs. A status diagram displays the tool is Getting logs from your machine
• A zip file named mbst-grab-results.zip will be saved to your desktop, please upload that file on your next reply

Thanks

[SA2000]

I did uninstall and reinstall malwarebyte also. Problem still happens. Only way to play the game is if I close Malwarebyte before starting the game.

mbst-grab-results.zip

[Porthos]

@SA2000

Please add the game folder to folder exclusions.

[SA2000]

Thanks, I guess that's a workaround.

[Insomniac34]

So I created an account last week with the intention of posting about this issue but completely forgot until now. But yeah, this happens to me as well, and not just with Tunic but with many other games. I believe it all started once Microsoft pushed out an update to their PC Game Pass app that allows you to install games to a folder of your choice outside of the encrypted and inaccessible "WindowsApps" folder. Most every game I've tested that has been installed to a custom folder (~90%) will have this issue where Malwarebytes causes the game to take several minutes to launch before eventually freezing. There are still some games on the service that cannot be installed to a custom folder and can only be installed to the aforementioned "WindowsApps" folder, and those all launch instantly. Steam games likewise are unaffected. The only games impacted are Game Pass games installed to custom folders.

This is on Windows 10 Pro 21H2 and a fully updated MB Premium (4.5.6). Only other AV is Windows Defender. Tried disabling that and it didn't help. Also tried reinstalling MB with no luck.

[Porthos]

9 minutes ago, Insomniac34 said:

Most every game I've tested that has been installed to a custom folder (~90%) will have this issue where Malwarebytes causes the game to take several minutes to launch before eventually freezing.

Please exclude that whole custom folder. Please report your results.

 

[Insomniac34]

50 minutes ago, Porthos said:

Please exclude that whole custom folder. Please report your results.

 

Yeah, either whitelisting the entire folder or temporarily disabling the Malware Protection module while playing were the two solutions I had been running with.

[yamaci17]

I can confirm that Malwarebytes indeed blocks games to run. This happens when you enable "Advanced Install Feature" that Xbox Beta App brings. With this beta feature, you're able to install the games to wherever you desire.

 

When games are installed this way, MBAM causes a huge clamp on games, crashing some of them while some of them take very long time to run but with wonky side effects.

 

Ori and Blind Forest takes 3 minutes to engage and finally crashes with a error. When MBAM is disabled or the folder is excluded, the game just runs okay. This is the case with ALL game pass games that is installed with advanced install feature.

 

I'd say at least having the workaround is cool and all, but you have to fix this issue and provide a more reliable way to circumvent it. I've been struggling for 7 hrs as to why games did not work with the new feature. Since Microsoft is inconsistent with this software in recent years, I mostly suspected them for this weird bug. Then I finally noticed the high amounts of disk activity Malwarebytes does when launching these games.

 

I hope a skilled software dev from MBAM team can have a look at the issue. Not everyone can detect that the issue is caused by MBAM

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 25, 2022 by yamaci17

[Framston]

I also spent hours trying to figure out this very same problem after installing a new game on Game Pass this morning. 

Please correct the problem so I don't have to specify every new install folder to be excluded. 

[Lunar_Umbra]

I have also been experiencing this issue.  To confirm my usage scenario is the Xbox app installed on the OS drive and the Game Install folder is on a different drive (both SSD).  When launching a game, such as Slay the Spire, anything that is relying on content located on the other drive comes to slow grind and is nearly unresponsive including the game which takes an exorbitant amount of time to fully open.  All the while, Malwarebytes Service is around ~17% CPU usage and drive read activity is at a constant ~7MBs and will never seem to stop.  I have to restart the computer to get system responsiveness back to normal and stop the Malwarebytes Service activity.

The only workaround has been to either toggle off Malware Protection or add the Game Install folder (which allows all subfolders) to the Allow List.  Obviously toggling off Malware Protection is not a legitimate option, but having a top folder in the Allow List, with large quantities of downloaded content, may not be ideal for long term security.

This issue definitely needs some attention.  It is also one the types of problems I experience the most with Malwarebytes, some layer being overzealous in its protection in such a way that it breaks the systems functionality for common usage scenarios.

[AdvancedSetup]

Please post back some logs so that we can review further

 

To begin, please do the following so that we may take a closer look at your installation for troubleshooting:

NOTE: The tools and the information obtained are safe and not harmful to your privacy or your computer, please allow the programs to run if blocked by your system.

• Download the Malwarebytes Support Tool
• In your Downloads folder, open the mb-support-x.x.x.xxx.exe file
• In the User Account Control pop-up window, click Yes to continue the installation
• Run the MBST Support Tool
• In the left navigation pane of the Malwarebytes Support Tool, click Advanced
• In the Advanced Options, click Gather Logs. A status diagram displays the tool is Getting logs from your machine
• A zip file named mbst-grab-results.zip will be saved to your desktop, please upload that file on your next reply

Thank you

 

[yamaci17]

1 hour ago, AdvancedSetup said:

Please post back some logs so that we can review further

 

To begin, please do the following so that we may take a closer look at your installation for troubleshooting:

NOTE: The tools and the information obtained are safe and not harmful to your privacy or your computer, please allow the programs to run if blocked by your system.

• Download the Malwarebytes Support Tool
• In your Downloads folder, open the mb-support-x.x.x.xxx.exe file
• In the User Account Control pop-up window, click Yes to continue the installation
• Run the MBST Support Tool
• In the left navigation pane of the Malwarebytes Support Tool, click Advanced
• In the Advanced Options, click Gather Logs. A status diagram displays the tool is Getting logs from your machine
• A zip file named mbst-grab-results.zip will be saved to your desktop, please upload that file on your next reply

Thank you

 

 

mbst-grab-results.zip

 

the OP also shared their logs if you have not noticed... 

 

then again, i don't think this has anything to do with our configs or installations.

Edited April 6, 2022 by yamaci17

[AdvancedSetup]

I'm typically way too busy to play games on the computer so I haven't a clue what is really causing it but I know that the developers will want logs regardless to try and track down the issue.

Thank you for proving the logs, I will pass them along.