Is VTL a virus?
No. Some antivirus — almost always Malwarebytes — flags the loader exe. Here's the real scan, why it happens, and how to fix it.
Malwarebytes flags the exe as Malware.AI.4228692348 — that's their own AI/heuristic model guessing, not a signature match on known malware. Every other major engine (Microsoft Defender, Kaspersky, ESET, Avast, BitDefender, CrowdStrike, Sophos, and 56 others) says Undetected. Two real things trip that heuristic:
No code signing yet. The loader isn't signed with a paid certificate, so Windows and AI-based scanners have zero trust history for it. A brand new unsigned exe gets flagged harder than one that's been around for months — we're looking into getting one.
It injects into the game process. VTL works by loading code into Animal Company while it runs, which is exactly the behavior AI heuristics are built to catch. Any game-modding tool that does this trips the same kind of flag.
If you use Malwarebytes (the one that actually flags it):
- Open Malwarebytes → Settings → Exclusions → Add Exclusion
- Pick the VTL exe or its folder
- Re-download if it got deleted, then run normally
If Windows Defender ever warns too:
- Windows Security → Virus & threat protection → Manage settings → Add or remove exclusions
- Add an exclusion for the VTL folder (or just the exe)