Just wanted to note that with the Z90 Maximus Hero mobo and a Tuf Gaming 4080 video card, if I install Gamefirst VI (updated to latest available version), it prevents me from running EA Games.
EA Games require the EA Games App to launch them. If you launch them separately via Windows Start or desktop shortcut, it will still call up the EA Games Launcher as first step.
EA Games App Launcher has built-in, to protect players from online cheating, something called Eazy Anti-Cheat software, something that is pretty much a standard in the online games industry in the US. EA uses it, Activision uses it, and probably Microsoft uses it, for their PC games (well Activision is part of MS now, so, yeah....).
My _THEORY_ is that because Gamefirst VI - which is a really great utility for watching and optimizing network traffic and your system's resources in real-time - is looking at and changing things like TCP settings on the fly, to load balance, that it is signaling something "fishy" going on to Eazy AntiCheat. Which then shuts down any attempt to launch the game. Even if that is not the intention. Like any software automation and protection and security, there are plenty of false positives. Gamefirst VI seems to be generating a false positive with this anti-cheat software standard.
The real problem is, it would be fine if you could just exit Gamefirst and have it not respond prior to running an EA Game. Not optimal, another step to take, but at least a workaround. BUT: the REAL issue is that Gamefirst VI automatically pops up again when you start a game, even if you have exited it.
I'm not sure whether exiting Gamefirst VI alone, if it were possible, would allow EA Games to run; it may be there is still a service lurking which has to be ended or stopped for the EA Games Anti Cheat software to allow launch of a game.
In any event, the responsibility on my system for preventing EA Games from launching is proven by completely uninstalling Gamefirst VI, restarting the PC, and then Repairing the game that was attempted to be launched while Gamefirst VI was installed. After all that, EA Games launch without any problem.
I hope ASUS can work either independently or with the developers of the EA Game App Launcher to resolve this issue. Until it is resolved, I would caution anyone about Gamefirst and avoid using it if you use EA Games of any type. Uninstall it if you have it installed, and wait for a report from ASUS that this issue has been resolved.
This problem is not showing up with Xbox PC Game Pass or Steam, so is a unique interaction between Gamefirst VI and the EA App Launcher.
I hope this information is of help to someone.
