The creator of a popular but unauthorized Final Fantasy XIV mod has admitted to including malware that can shut down a user’s PC. Gshade, a mod that allows users to play with MMORPG visuals, contains code that resets a PC if the mod is used for other purposes, such as creating additional mods that could alter game dynamics.
The use of mods in Final Fantasy XIV is strictly prohibited by Square Enix’s Terms of Service, something the pro raid team UNNAMED_ learned just a week ago after using unauthorized plugins to win the Race to World First in the Omega Ultimate Protocol. Raid.
Gshade is also prohibited, but it does nothing wrong under normal circumstances. In fact, it’s often used by gamers with various forms of color blindness to adjust lighting and UI elements that would otherwise be indistinguishable.
However, the mod’s creator, who goes by the name of Marot, has now revealed that he deliberately included malware in Gshade’s code, as reported by GameRant. In the leaked Discord messages, Marot says the malicious code is triggered when a third-party app tries to call functions from Gshade and restarts the client computer.
“It was supposed to be a lesson,” says Marot, speaking to another modder. “Anything could have been in the payload and you would have been tasked with distributing it to people and activating it.”
Unsurprisingly, this didn’t become just a modder-to-modder learning moment in the larger Final Fantasy XIV community. Marot has now been banned from at least one fan Discord server and the FFXIV subreddit has removed its endorsement from Gshade. The mod has also reportedly been removed from the Github coding repository, pending an investigation.
However, the episode serves as a warning and a reminder that modding games always come with some risk unless you have the know-how to do it. reviewing a mod’s code line by line, there’s always a chance that something malicious is lurking there.
Check out our guides for Final Fantasy XIV’s Island Sanctuary and FFXIV’s Sanctuary Animal List to learn how to unlock your own old-school Hydaelyn escape.
via: www.pcgamesn.com