Is the new CA/SEGA Total War launcher a virus?

[AnthoniusII]

After a long time i wanted to play a custom battle in Attila.
I launced STEAM and when i pressed THE Attila button a new launcher for all TW games apeared with a message "Nottice: Please check up if the latest hardware drivers are installed"
I installed latest Nividia GTX-660 drivers but the message continued.
Never the less i pressed the button PLAY and AVAST isolated TW.exe as Virus!!
Did anyone else had such problem?

All TW exe files (launchers) Avast isolate them as virus. That never happened before the TW launcher update.

[Daruwind]

The warning about latest drivers is fairly common. It is there like 90% of time.

I´m running avast as well and tried to start a fet TWs and no problems. But I´m using this new beta launcher for quite a time.

Is the avast program and DB updated?

[AnthoniusII]

The launchers of Shogun II and ETW work fine but they do not LOAD the new launcher like the Rome II and Attila ones.
Avast is uppdated what is DB?

I tried to launch the two games with the old launch icons but they loaded the new TW launcher instead of load the game instantly like ETW and ShogunII.

CA/SEGA refuses me to LOGIN to report this issue.
Who can help me report it in their site and find a solution?
I payed more than 200 EUROS for these two games and now i can not play them.

FAQ

My launcher will not load

• If your Launcher is not loading, please open the following location, “Drive”:Users”USER”AppDataRoamingThe Creative Assembly
  and delete the “Launcher” folder if it is present. This will remove any corrupted or old Launcher data.
• If you have an antivirus software installed, it may have erroneously quarantined or deleted the Launcher application. Please use the “Verify your game files” option on Steam which will redownload any missing files and either:

1. Create permissions for the launcher by making an exception
2. Disabling antivirus software whilst redownloading/ re-launching game

So....i will have to :
1st Verify the game's folder hoping that the new launcher wont be a threat in to Avast "eyes" or worst..
2nd Delete and re-install both games. Great work CA/SEGA...

[Daruwind]

Avast has two components: Program itself (update usually requires restart of whole pc) and virus database/core (that could be done on fly without restart)....but if you don´t see any big red flags, everything should be fine.

The new launcher is for Rome2 and games after that, so Attila,ToB,WHs. So Shogun2,Empire...they are still using older launcher. I you want to use old launcher, you have to opt for older update (beta tabs under steam game properties for each particular game, updates are still there, I checked it)

If the launcher is not loading after Avast flagged some files, well they were probably removed or are in virus chest/detention whatever it is called. Then of course launcher is not working properly if there are missing some files...So verify integrity of game(s).

And CA refused you login where? Official forum? I thought you are banned there or something. I´m sorry to hear that but that is mere consequences of bad behavior...If you want I can repost your problems here.

[AnthoniusII]

If the launcher is not loading after Avast flagged some files, well they were probably removed or are in virus chest/detention whatever it is called. Then of course launcher is not working properly if there are missing some files...So verify integrity of game(s).

Verify integrity does not help.
AVAST removes the entire new exe launchers again and again and place them in the vault as threat to PC.
Deleting the game and reinstall it has the same results.
Total War Official Forum has my account as "not_active" without warning of a possible ban.
Even when i aplly for new password they LOGIN button does not work for me. It works for others though. I guess CA/SEGA doen't like to see writen TRUTHS about its games in its own "house" and silently excummunicate members from its forums without warning.
I will try if i can find the old secure launcher. Thanks.

[Daruwind]

Anthonius, this is more likely problem in your PC not CA... If AVAST decided launcher is possible threat, it will do it again and again because the file is the same every time, verifying/re-installing won´t help.. Only solution if there are no updates for AVAST is to create exception in AVAST rules. Just verify again files and at the moment AVAST flag the file,there should be pop-up with option to create exception. second option should be via virus chest....

And it happens from time to time. My avast flagged minecraft files for my server while friend has never any problem with completely same setup. Reason, I don´t know. It is probably due to different PC or combination of programs or whatever but it is more likely problem of Avast than TWs...

About Official forum, I cannot say i thing. It is strange, I would you to be able to login, there is mederation tab to see all possbile problems. THis sounds more like login problem...bad passworld or something with your profile. It is simply strange that CA would use some strange way to sabotage your profile while they can simply ban you...Occam´s razor.

Sorry still cannot edit posts:

It is strange, I would expect you to be able to log in, there is moderation tab to see all possible problems

[Dismounted Feudal Knight]

I would shut down avast and/or whitelist the applicable software. I have very little patience for that brand of AV software and that software has no patience for things it decides could be a threat, and I doubt there's a great deal you can do without going into the software and telling it to shut up. If you do not go into avast, you should not expect much if any progress at all in this issue unless there are edits/sources involved that you have not described or that you're not aware of. If you're not aware and basic checks don't do it, the issue is much more than a simple launcher-av spat anyways.

To edit, open the edit button in a new tab. It will wipe post contents, but pasting back in what you posted (with your edits) and proceeding from there works.

[AnthoniusII]

I posted this issue to AVAST forums to get an answer as well.

[Gigantus]

I just posted a blog that might be relevant.

Apart from that AVs are notorious for 'zapping' launchers if these modify original files. The Stainless Steel launcher is working on that principle (merging, renaming files), not sure if it is plagued by that though. AVs update fairly fast so I would expect those false positives to be resolved in a short time.

[LestaT]

Verify integrity does not help.
AVAST removes the entire new exe launchers again and again and place them in the vault as threat to PC.
Deleting the game and reinstall it has the same results.
Total War Official Forum has my account as "not_active" without warning of a possible ban.
Even when i aplly for new password they LOGIN button does not work for me. It works for others though. I guess CA/SEGA doen't like to see writen TRUTHS about its games in its own "house" and silently excummunicate members from its forums without warning.
I will try if i can find the old secure launcher. Thanks.

For issues related to the game, you should contact SEGA support. In my experience they answered pretty quickly (within 24 hrs).

https://help.sega.net/hc/en-us/secti...1304-Total-War

In any case, as many mentioned, this is AV issue and not game issue.

[♔Greek Strategos♔]

Avast is known for such false alarms. It's ok for a free antivirus but not as stable and trustworthy as it used to be.

[Gigantus]

Avast is usually pretty quick to update their signature if you submit false positives with some references from where (program) you got it.

[Leonardo]

So....i will have to :
1st Verify the game's folder hoping that the new launcher wont be a threat in to Avast "eyes" or worst..
2nd Delete and re-install both games. Great work CA/SEGA...

You know, I once use Avast but after an update it started to act kind of weird, so eventually I remove Avast and decided to not use it again ever.

Now, I use Panda Dome and it's the one of the best AV out there.

[Gigantus]

Avast moves deleted threats to the vault - it's a simple step to re-instate the file and by doing so instruct the AV to ignore it in further checks. I have used Avast for years and have been quite happy with their response to false-positive resolving.

https://support.avast.com/en-in/arti...us-Virus-Chest

Only problem I ever had was self inflicted - gummed up my machine with too many programs installed, then uninstalled, which somehow (I reckon registry related) caused Avast to run at 5-10% disk activity all the time. After my annual clean system install, no one gums up a machine like I do, everything was back to normal.

[♔Greek Strategos♔]

From what I have seen Αvast is a no-no for gaming setups. People usually reporting various compatibility issues with specific game exes.
It's also very much connected with your OS. If you're on Win 10 (for example) there is no reason for another antivirus, since Defender is all you need. That's another story though like when people using 2 antivirus programs simultaneously. Go figure

[Dismounted Feudal Knight]

Defender and malwarebytes is more than enough for a slightly paranoid but inherently cautious user. Common Sense is always the best antivirus, and those are merely the backups.

[Gigantus]

If you're on Win 10 (for example) there is no reason for another antivirus, since Defender is all you need.

Been trying out defender on it's own for a few weeks as I wasn't in the mood for de-gumming. Was actually relieved once it picked up something...

[♔Greek Strategos♔]

Defender and malwarebytes is more than enough for a slightly paranoid but inherently cautious user. Common Sense is always the best antivirus, and those are merely the backups.

Αgreed

Been trying out defender on it's own for a few weeks as I wasn't in the mood for de-gumming. Was actually relieved once it picked up something...

Well, I'm sure you're experienced enough and cautious with your downloads, etc I'm using defender and Malwarebytes for the last 3 yrs and I probably had only 3-4 warnings. It's really funny when people getting 40 warnings a day. True story