How to: Play MapleStory Using VirtualBox 4.1.x (and above)

With the recent updates to the MapleStory (GMS) game client (v.102 and above), many new security features have been introduced with the expressed intent of preventing players from  using multiple clients, virtualizing, and other things. This guide will show you how to escape those restrictions by playing MapleStory in a virtual version of the Windows operating system. This technique has been verified to work with versions v.102, v.103, and v.104 of the MapleStory (Global) game client.

Minimum Requirements

• (Optional) Processor that supports hardware-level virtualization.
• At least 2 GB of physical memory (RAM).
• At least 20 GB of hard drive space available.
• A graphics card that support 3D acceleration.
  • If you are unsure if your video card supports 3D acceleration: Open the Run window ([Win Key] + [R]) and type ‘dxdiag’ and press [ENTER].
• (Recommended)  Installation of all current drivers, that work, for your hardware.

Software Requirements

• Installation of the latest DirectX runtime (If you do not have the DirectX runtime installed, or want to upgrade it, you can download and run the DirectX End User Runtime Web Installer here).
• Installation of  the latest version of VirtualBox (download).
• (Optional) Installation of the latest version of the VirtualBox Extensions Pack (download).
• An install disc for: Microsoft Windows XP; Microsoft Windows Vista; or Microsoft Windows 7 (32-bit versions preferred).

Instructions

Creating the Virtual Machine

1. Open VirtualBox.
2. Click on ‘New’.
3. Use the ‘Create New Virtual Machine’ wizard to create a new virtual machine.
   • On the ‘VM Name and OS Type’ page, select ‘Microsoft Windows’ as the Operating System; and select the appropriate version of Windows based on your install disc (i.e. If your install disc is for a version of Windows XP, then you would select ‘Windows XP’ as the version).
   • On the ‘Memory’ page, allocate at least 512 MB of RAM for the virtual machine. This is the amount of RAM that will be taken from your computer and dedicated to the virtual machine while its running; when the virtual machine is not active, that RAM will be returned to your computer.
   • On the ‘Virtual Hard Disk’ page, check ‘Start-up Disk’ and select ‘Create new hard disk’; After clicking ‘Next’, use the ‘Create New Virtual Disk’ wizard to create a virtual hard disk that is at least 12 GB in size (I recommend that you select ‘Fixed size’ under ‘Virtual disk storage details’, it’s faster).
4. Select your new virtual machine fron the VirtualBox Manager window, and click on ‘Settings’.
5. Select ‘Display’ from the ‘Settings’ window for your virtual machine (screenshot).
   • Under the ‘Video’ tab, set ‘Video Memory’ to at least 32 MB (I recommend using the maximum setting of 128 MB).
   • Under the ‘Video’ tab, next to ‘Extended Features’ check ‘Enable 3D Acceleration’ and ‘Enable 2D Video Acceleration’.
6. Click ‘OK’.

Installing Windows

1. Insert the Windows install disc into your CD/DVD drive.
2. In the VirtualBox Manager window, select your virtual machine and click ‘Start’.
3. Since this is the first run, the ‘First Run Wizard’ will be launched.
4. On the ‘Select Installation Media’ page, select the drive that contains your Windows install disc; for most people, this will be the D:\ drive (screenshot).
5. Complete the ‘First Run Wizard’.
6. The virtual machine will start and you must install Windows on the virtual machine, in the same manner you would a physical computer.
   • A virtual machine simulates a real computer in almost every aspect. You will need to install Windows on the virtual machine the same way you would on a normal computer. This includes running Windows Update.
   • After you have installed Windows (and all necessary updates) on the virtual machine: install VirtualBox Guest Additions on the virtual machine by selecting Devices > Install Guest Additions (or [Right CTRL] + [D]). This step must be done in Safe Mode.
   • To boot the virtual machine in Safe Mode: run msconfig. Under the BOOT.INI tab, check /SAFE, and click ‘OK’. (To undo this later, repeat this step, and uncheck /SAFE).

Preventing Detection of VirtualBox

These steps must be done from inside your virtual machine.

• Method 1 (Make registry changes manually, you will need to do this at each logon)
  1. Go to Start > Run (or [Win Key] + [R]) and run regedit.exe
  2. Navigate and expand to sub-key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE\ACPI\DSDT (screenshot).
  3. Rename sub-key VBOX__ to NOBOX__
  4. Navigate and expand to sub-key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE\DESCRIPTION (screenshot).
  5. Select sub-key System.
  6. Right-click value SystemBiosVersion and select ‘Modify‘.
  7. Change the text part “VBOX” to “NOBOX” and click ‘OK‘ (screenshot).
  8. Close the registry editor.
• Method 2 (Make registry changes through HideVirtualBox.bat)
  1. Download HideVirtualBox.bat (download). Save it to your desktop.

     @echo off
     @reg copy HKLM\HARDWARE\ACPI\DSDT\VBOX__ HKLM\HARDWARE\ACPI\DSDT\NOBOX__ /s /f
     @reg delete HKLM\HARDWARE\ACPI\DSDT\VBOX__ /f
     @reg add HKLM\HARDWARE\DESCRIPTION\System /v SystemBiosVersion /t REG_MULTI_SZ /d "NOBOX - 1" /f
     @exit

     What’s happening in the code above?

     • Themida (and most system that detect virtualization) attempts to use the system registry to determine if the current environment is a virtual one. This technique is a lazy one, and thus why it is so easy to circumvent.
     • First, we’re copying the sub-key (and all the keys/values under it) HKLM\HARDWARE\ACPI\DSDT\VBOX__ to the new key HKLM\HARDWARE\ACPI\DSDT\NOBOX__.
     • Then, we’re deleting the original sub-key HKLM\HARDWARE\ACPI\DSDT\VBOX__.
     • Finally, we change the value of ‘SystemBiosVersion‘ located under the sub-key HKLM\HARDWARE\DESCRIPTION\System to ‘NOBOX - 1‘ (It’s original value will have been ‘VBOX   - 1‘).
     • The last line, exits the script.
  2. Run HideVirtualBox.bat each time you log in to your virtual machine (VirtualBox resets certain registry values each time the virtual machine is started). The script will, as the name suggests, hide VirtualBox from games protected with Themida/WinLicense. This includes most Nexon games, the most popular one being MapleStory.

Installing MapleStory

These steps must be done from inside your virtual machine.

1. Go to your regional MapleStory website.
   • For MapleStory (Global) players, the website is maplestory.nexon.net.
2. Download the MapleStory game client installer.
   • You can download the MapleStory (Global) game client directly, here. Or use the Nexon-provided MapleStory Downloader (download). In my experience, if you’re on a broadband connection, a direct download is faster.
   • Install the MapleStory game client.

Playing MapleStory

• Start the game as you would normally. MapleStory will no longer detect that you’re running the game client in a virtual machine. You can also multi-client, running an instance of MapleStory on your computer, and one in your virtual machine.
• Your virtual machine will likely execute very fast, but MapleStory may be occasionally laggy in the virtual machine due to your bandwidth. I recommend you set the virtual machine’s version of MapleStory to use the ‘Fast’ settings from the game’s System settings dialog.

It works! Here’s proof!

Running multiple MapleStory (v.103) on my normal Windows 7 64-bit computer, and running a second MapleStory inside my virtual Windows XP 32-bit machine.