Launch failing? Windows Defender is the culprit
Windows Defender's automated scanner keeps quarantining our game loader by mistake. Microsoft has reviewed the file and confirmed it is clean. Here is the two-minute fix, and what the launcher now does to help.
Some of you hit "Launch failed - Ashita-cli exited with code 1" today. Here is exactly what happened and how to fix it in two minutes.
What is happening
Windows Defender's automated AI keeps flagging our custom game loader (driftwood-xiloader.exe) as suspicious and quarantining it. This is a false positive: we sent the file to Microsoft's analysts on August 15 and their written verdict was that their scanners show no virus in it. Their automated system re-flags it anyway whenever virus definitions update, which is why launches can break "out of nowhere" on a day we changed nothing.
The fix
1. Open Windows Security, then Virus and threat protection. 2. Open Protection history and find the recent item that names driftwood-xiloader.exe. 3. Choose Actions, then Restore, and when offered, choose Allow on device. 4. Launch the game normally.
The Allow step is the important one. Restore alone puts the file back, but the launcher keeps that file fresh on every launch, so without Allow the next definition update just quarantines it again.
What the launcher does now
Starting with this version, when Defender eats the loader the launcher tells you exactly that - with these instructions - instead of the useless "exited with code 1". And if the loader is missing, the launcher will say so before you ever reach a dead login screen.
We are also pursuing the permanent fix (a code-signed loader, which is what actually convinces Defender's AI to leave a file alone). Until that lands, the steps above are safe to repeat if it ever recurs. Thanks for the fast reports today - the screenshots in Discord were exactly what let us pin this down.