@TricolorBloom74 this is a problem for Mac users. GPU passthrough does not exist on the macOS platform. Parallels Desktop 15 provides Metal GL translation, turning Windows GPU calls into Apple's own Metal graphics library, which yields significantly improved performance, provides eGPU support, and allows for proper DirectX 12 support. Other VM applications are not designed for this (as it would require writing a graphics driver just for Macs in a new language only supported on newer hardware. Parallels has no worries as it is a Mac only program).

It's nice to know at least Linux users have a "way around" it, but it's still a workaround, not a solution.

@EeryHealer8871 http://gameguardfaq.nprotect.com/eng/con_13.html this was literally a first page result on bing for "NProtect GameGuard"

But as the email says, it's not them, it's sega. It's an option Sega enabled, not an issue with GameGuard. Have to visit https://pso2.com/support#contact-us and contact the game devs and ask them to remedy the situation.

Maybe if they get enough support tickets on VM users they'll lift the block.

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@KnightHarb1nger said in PSA: Virtual Machines Are Blocked By SEGA (Mac, Linux):

Or has also been said look for virtualization providers that aren't as obvious to the world as "I can haz iz VMseseses!!"

Unfortunately, that's nigh impossible, at least on Macintosh systems. VMs have to use special drivers for graphics display, and Windows itself checks if it's running in a hypervisor so it may adjust behavior accordingly. I don't think a VM can "ghost" it's presence unless it's a "bare metal" VM; that is, it's basically a virtual machine as an OS itself, rather than as a program.

@Ragnawind said in PSA: Virtual Machines Are Blocked By SEGA (Mac, Linux):

This was likely to be expected, since they want it to be a Microsoft Exclusive for a time. We don't know how long, though. If they allowed the game to run in a virtual environment, that would make it impossible to remain Microsoft exclusive.

Not really? Like, you're still running it in Windows. That's the whole point of the VM. You're still using the Windows Store, still using Microsoft Servers, and still running it on Windows. You're just running another OS at the same time as Windows. Not like you're running it in Wine on Linux. — You're still using Windows. It's just running on virtual hardware instead of physical hardware. Theres a layer of abstraction.

As per NProtect Customer Support, SEGA has enabled a "Virtual PC Environment Blocking Policy" within the GameGuard configuration. With this policy enabled, GameGuard will throw Error NP1013 (i.e. "conflicting software"), or other errors, when attempting to play the game.

As there is no indication of this policy on the Windows Store, or known issues listed by SEGA here on pso2.com, do not try to install this game if you are running Windows inside a virtual machine. This includes macOS, and Linux users wishing to play this game on other platforms, and covers known VM technologies (Hyper-V, Parallels Desktop, VMWare, Virtual Box).

Here is a copy of the message text, per NProtect Support:

Note the final sentence "If you have any questions or inquiries regarding the Virtual PC Environment Blocking Policy, please contact the game company.", as well as the use of the term policy throughout the email, indicating that this is a policy enforced by the game developer, and not something enabled by NProtect themselves.

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I[1], and others[2], have experienced issues with NP1013, and there is nothing indicating this policy being enabled on any front officially. Only through contacting the developer of NProtect, by sending them a blank email attached with only the ERL error logs, was I able to understand that this policy had been made/configured by SEGA.

I have filed a ticket via support.pso2.com, and urge others with this issue to do so as well, asking SEGA to remove the Virtual PC Environment Blocking Policy.

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Can a mod pin this so people can see it? I feel like this is important to know before someone goes through hours downloading 80+ GB for a game

@Ragnawind said in [PC] GAME GUARD ERL FILE DUMP THREAD - for developer assistance ( BASICALLY GAMEGUARD CRASH LOGS):

@Scape211 said in [PC] GAME GUARD ERL FILE DUMP THREAD - for developer assistance ( BASICALLY GAMEGUARD CRASH LOGS):

Thanks I appreciate it. To be honest though my system is a fresh install and completely bare bones. The only issue that may be arising is that I'm running a virtual PC through parallels on a Mac. Normally this isn't any issue, but game guard might be tripping up from that. Otherwise I am not sure what else it could be. All you have mentioned I either didn't have on my list or it was turned off.

I did turn off all parallels functions from the list you mentioned too. Still didnt help. I made a support ticket with my game guard crash log. We will see what they say.

If you are using a virtual machine, that likely is what is causing GameGuard issues. Gameguard is notorious for stuff like that. People even tried to get MMOs running on an emulator in Linux before, but with GameGurad, it always detected it and shut down.

I contacted NProtect directly, sending them nothing but the error logs (no message content), and they indicated that a "Virtual PC Environment Blocking Policy", an optional policy of GameGuard, has been configured by SEGA, preventing it from running in a Virtual Machine.

Until SEGA removes this policy, the game will fail to run in a virtual machine.

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Update: @Scape211 @EeryHealer8871 https://forum.pso2.com/topic/4614/psa-virtual-machines-are-blocked-by-sega-mac-linux

@Ragnawind Shouldn't. Under the hood it's just like Pro, it just has additional features available. I have none of them installed though.

Enterprise is different from Server. It's still just a "higher edition" of Windows, similar to how Vista had "Ultimate" & "Business" editions.

As it stands, it's configured just like a Pro installation. It's been stripped down pretty bare (I even removed calculator and other Windows 10 apps) too.

I got this through my old school (10 Edu is a version of Enterprise pre-configured to turn analytics off and strip bloatware), and cannot afford another copy of Windows.

Behind the scenes theres nothing really different from Pro or Home; task manager and services running are practically identical.

PSO2 crashes after 60 seconds of execution with NP1013. This is an issue with GameGuard. However:

• It is a Windows Store based installation
• Tweaker was initially not installed when errors began
• No key-mapping tools are installed.
• No extra utilities are installed. — Outside of Steam, this is a clean Windows installation
• Steam has been turned off/disabled.
• PSO2 permissions have been fixed.
• Tweaker's "fix GameGuard" has been attempted.
• All the coherence utilities of Parallels Desktop drivers have been disabled.
• Steam has been disabled.
• Game has redownloaded fresh copies of assets thrice.
• Bare Windows Enterprise-based instillation (Highest Non-Server Edition)
• Latest stable Windows build/update
• Full DEP enabled
• No third party antivirus
• Microsoft Power Toys has been uninstalled.
• Community GameGuard patch has been attempted

No matter what I have tried, NP1013 is thrown after 60 seconds [tops], and the game is force quit.

Please fix this mess. — Currently installing the Tweaker-based installation in hopes their non-store installation is more stable and reliable than this…

I'm having the same issue. Running Windows inside Parallels Desktop, and NP1013 happens after about 30 - 60 seconds of execution.

• No key-mapping tools.
• No extra utilities.
• Steam has been turned off.
• PSO2 permissions have been fixed.
• Tweaker's "fix GameGuard" has been ran.
• All the coherence utilities of Parallels have been disabled.
• Steam has been disabled.
• Game has redownloaded fresh copies of assets.
• Bare Windows Enterprise-based instillation (Version up from Pro)
• Latest stable Windows build
• DEP enabled
• No third party antivirus
• Microsoft Power Toys has been uninstalled.
• Community GameGuard patch has been attempted

This is maddening. No game should have this many problems…

Currently trying to install the game VIA the tweaker instead, in hopes its installation is more stable. This is infuriating,

What I'm not getting here is: Why didn't they launch the cloud version in the US. With everyone going ham on "streaming for games", you'd think Microsoft would throw the weight of Azure & XBOX Cloud Services to bring the "lightweight" client to North America.

(For those not in the know, there is a "cloud" client in Japan, that streams assets and video to the client, and is not only on Windows, but Nintendo Switch, and mobile devices as well. It's designed for those with less than the already ridiculous minimum 67GB required by the JP version {which is being blasted out of the water by the NA's unofficial plus 100GB req.}, and purportedly runs in just 100MB of storage space)

The cloud version would surely have sidestepped 90% of install issues (as the cloud version doesn't have to download 80GB+ of assets, and it is designed for less graphically capable machines, despite having a higher CPU req. {for video decoding most likely}), and could have saved reviews of the game.

7th times a charm? Got an external 128GB drive, allotted 83GB (3 above the last reported minimum 80) in partition space just for the game, and it still didn't have enough room.

So a reformat later and I'm taking a new approach: I created an expanding virtual NTFS disk that caps out at the drive's capacity limit, and turned that into a storage space. Hopefully that gives it enough room on the drive to install, whilst still allowing me to use this drive with Mac & other OSes (I also made an expanding virtual APFS drive as well. So I can have my 128GB APFS partition, and have my 128GB NTFS partition too).

If this game still needs more room than 128GB so help me... I might as well give up at that point.

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Sega, please. Just give us the multiplatform cloud version (It exists, don't say it doesn't. It's listed on the JP PSO2 help page)... Enough with this pain. orz