Windows XP SP2 related problems - Athlon64 users read!

08-17-2004, 12:58 AM

About SP2

Windows XP Service Pack 2 is an update pack from Microsoft, which fixes a lot of security issues with Windows XP. In addition it adds a lot of additional security features like an improved Firewall, which is enabled by default or Data Execution Prevention (DEP), a stack protection feature enabled by Athlon64 CPUs which prevents the execution of memory, which was meant for data instead of executeable code. More information about SP2 or DEP can be found here: Programs that may behave differently in Windows XP Service Pack 2 (KB884130)

What do I need to know as a Warcraft III modder?
The reason for this thread is that certain tools are affected by the advanced security features of SP2.

Tools which are known to behave differently with SP2:

MPQDraft and all patches created with it (such as UMSWE, WEU): Reports "Patch unsuccessful" and quits
War3 File Converter: Displays an error message and quits
WinMPQ: Displays an error message and quits

If you don't encounter these problems then you don't have to care about the issues. The DEP feature, which is currently only supported by Athlon64 and Opteron CPUs by AMD and will be supported by upcoming Pentium 4 and Xeon CPUs, is the reason for the problems I encountered (I have an A64). Please don't blame the A64 for it, DEP is actually a reasonable security feature. You can blame the programmers of these tools.

Note: There might be other tools where I haven't yet found problems. If you encounter a problem with SP2 and if you are sure these problems haven't occured before the installation of SP2, please provide me with the information here. Please explain when the problem occurs and which version of the tool you are using.

How to solve these problems?
Although the problems mentioned above are annoying, especially when a tool stops to work which previously worked and you don't know why (that's the awful part).
However there is a solution which is rather easy. There is a way to exclude certain programs from DEP. You have to perform the steps explained in Microsofts KB Article 875351 (there is also a link to this article in the article mentioned above) to add a program to the DEP ignorelist.

I extracted the step-by-step guide from the KB article to make it even easier for you:

Quote:

You can also add an exception for the application by using System Properties in Control Panel. To do this, follow these steps:

Click Start, click Run, type sysdm.cpl, and then click OK to open Control Panel.
Click the Advanced tab, click Performance, and then click Settings.
In Performance Options, click the Data Execution Prevention tab.
Click Turn on DEP for all programs and services except for those I select, and then click Add.
In the Open dialog box, locate and then click the application.
Click Open, click Apply, and then click OK. When you are prompted to restart your system, click OK.

Special thanks to Doca-Cola for helping me investigating this issue.

08-17-2004, 05:23 PM	#2
Vexorian	I think we can temporary make a fake patcher maker that just saves the subdirectories somewhere, and then extracts the things of the package before running the editor, or edits the registry to allow local files before running war3 Edit: After reading the article, that solution is completelly better

08-18-2004, 05:15 PM

Starcraftfreak

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lord Vexorian

I think we can temporary make a fake patcher maker that just saves the subdirectories somewhere, and then extracts the things of the package before running the editor, or edits the registry to allow local files before running war3

Edit: After reading the article, that solution is completelly better

Believe me, I made torough research on this issue. Don't you trust my work?

I'll include the step-by-step guide as a quote into the first post.

There is not much to worry about anyway, since there are not many Athlon64 users here. Now this is a good idea, I'll make a poll about that!