[UPDATE] Earlier today, S2HD Project Manager Canned Karma announced that LOst, Sonic 2 HD‘s programmer who needlessly added DRM protection to the long anticipated fan game, is no longer part of the project, as stated in the Sonic Retro forum.
All of us had the exact same reaction everyone here did, and we’re actively looking into it to the best of our abilities. That said, we’ve heard just as much from LOst as anyone here has lately, so I’m not sure what, if anything, we’ll be able to find that corroborated or refutes what’s been brought to light. I will say this though. LOst is no longer a part of S2HD. I’ll have a more in depth response soon. We’re just as pissed off about this as the community is.
[ORIGINAL] Scarred Sun of Sonic Retro advises everyone who has downloaded the Alpha Demo of Sonic 2 HD to delete the entire software in light of a recent keylogger discovery, the cause behind triggered antivirus alerts. Read the full statement after the jump.
Earlier today, I was contacted by a professional antivirus employee who was interested in why Sonic 2 HD consistently popped up as a threat by multiple antivirus software programs and did some investigation. His results showed that a keylogger is part of the Sonic 2 HD software. After receiving this notification, we conducted our own independent tests and found that there is indeed a keylogging program as part of the Sonic 2 HD alpha software.
I want to emphasize that at this time, we have found no evidence that the software has been “phoning home” any data—only that we have found the capability exists.
Because this vulnerability has been found, we are strongly advising that the software be removed. You will need to delete the files included with the Sonic 2 HD zip, as well as the registry keys hooked at HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/NakaSMK (if you are unfamiliar on how to do this, go to Start->Run.., type regedit, follow the folder path, and then delete the NakaSMK folder.)
We will have more information on the situation as it evolves.
-Scarred Sun
To those who don’t know what keylogging is, it is a manner of tracking which keys are being typed onto a keyboard. In other words, those being keylogged will likely not be aware that their actions are being monitored. Again, there is no evidence of Sonic 2 HD actively doing this, but the fact that it is capable of doing so is enough to warrant deletion.
To reiterate: to those who’ve downloaded Sonic 2 HD‘s Alpha Demo, delete the software immediately.
Here’s to hoping for the best to the Sonic 2 HD team and that the project will be fixed soon.
Special thanks to MetaRyan for tipping in.
Man, I feel awful for the team. D:
Why? They’re the ones who put the keylogger in the game in the first place!
One guy did. Same guy behind the DRM which the team is not okay with.
Why does a free game need DRM anyway? The whole thing is fishy.
Wow hope they kick that guy outta the team cause after all these years of waiting we get a broken version of the alpha demo with only a lil portion of people can play cause of the drm crap..
Actually, they just did.
Interesting.A few days ago I finished the demo and deleted it.Don’t know why I deleted it,but it’s a good job I did!Thanks,TSS.
Aw man, first all the controversy surrounding the development team, now this? I feel so bad for the people who have genuinely worked so hard on this game. I have to wonder if this was some kind of freak accident, or more crud from that ‘corrupted developer’ on the team.
Either way, it’s a shame to see a project I’ve been following since it’s somewhat early stages fall apart like this…
Thank god I don’t download demos. I prefer to wait for the full game ;D
which will be in 5 or over 5 years from now
Well shit.
I really want to support these guys but the guy doing all the coding are stupid DRM is making it very hard.
Wow. First DRM in a fan game and now this shit.
DRM? *Is a bit lost on what the word means*
Digital Rights Movement. It means the game can’t be copied onto another computer or modified.
The S2HD Team really needs to get rid of LOst, the game’s programmer. He’s the scumbag who coded DRM into the demo and included the keylogger. And this is far from the first time he has pulled BS like, as people in the Sonic Retro community should know.
Wait, there’s more?
All I know of is this, the DRM controversy, and him hijacking the demo for over a year.
If anything, maybe they should present themselves to Sega, so they can make a 20th Anniversary Edition of Sonic 2 for PSN and XBLA. This way, the game becomes Official, or something. Otherwise, you can just settle for the Sega Vintage Collection Edition.
Awww, I was enjoying it too.
I deleted all the files. I can’t find this NakaSMK folder, so I’ll assume it had already been deleted (my laptop’s antivirus claimed to have found a trojan and deleted it accordingly, so it might have been that).
I had a quick question, I’m running a Windows computer and am trying to delete all of my Sonic 2 HD files but I can’t find this NakaSMK folder even after I open the regedit program. All that seems to show up is
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
HKEY_CURRENT_USER
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
HKEY_USERS
HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG
But I don’t see NakaSMK in any of those folders, but I shouldn’t have to delete those folders right? Also am I going to have to completely uninstall the Sonic 2 HD program or can I just delete the files?
you must go in HKEY_CURRENT_USER, then open the Software folder. There will be the NakaSMK folder.
…KILL IT WITH FIRE!!!!
I wonder who’s suffered from this software.
Well that’s mine deleted. I’m so glad I regularly check TSS, because AVG Free Edition did not detected this.
Makes me wonder how much software I download from the internet, and trust implicitly, is really safe. The last place I expected to find dodgy software was a Sonic fan game, but I suppose that was the point. And what’s the point of DRM on a free to download game anyway?
I just noticed that the Sonic 2 HD website contains a note telling users that antivirus programs will identify the software as a threat. How did I miss that.
They told us to ignore it. Sneaky bastards.
I just went through the registry only to remember it doesn’t install on Windows XP SP3 then. Deleted the Zip anyway.
My computer is once again clean.
Thanks for the heads up guys.
I went to the sonic 2 hd website and it says all the current downloads are clean now should i download them ?
Lost is gone? Thank god!
I ran that folder through 10 different things and didn’t pick up anything. :U
Well this explains a lot. Im glad they kicked him off the team. Thanks for the info Sonic Stadium, and I hope that they manage to fix all of this.
I have a question. When I was useing the regedit program there were 2 things under the NakaSMK folder one was Sonic 2HD and the other is called “UserInterface” in the folder was “controllerschemes” in that folder the files are called “(default)”, “controller (xbox 360 for windows)” , and “keyboard”. Should I delete this too?