Performance Impact of Protection Modes

Issues related to VMProtect
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WenGe
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Joined: Tue Jun 03, 2025 5:53 am

Performance Impact of Protection Modes

Post by WenGe »

VMProtect offers three compilation methods for code protection: Mutation, Virtualization, and Ultra. While I acknowledge that code protection inherently introduces performance overhead, I am keen to understand the extent of this impact. For instance, if a function initially executes in 50ms without protection, could you provide a reference on the approximate execution times when protected using each of the three methods? This information is crucial as my software has high-performance requirements.


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WenGe
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Re: Performance Impact of Protection Modes

Post by Admin »

1. "Mutation" doesn't protect your code against reversing. The goal of this method is changing code signatures.
2. "Virtualization" converts your code to VM instructions. The speed decreases by about 1000 - 10000 times. Don't recommend to use this method for big loops.
3. "Ultra" converts mutated code to VM instructions. The speed is slower than after "Virtualization".
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