I look forward to all the kernel level anti cheat systems interferring with each other and banning players on accident.
Look, Halo MCC can't figure out the difference between you quitting and their game crashing.
Call of Duty Adds Kernel Level Driver for Anti-Cheat
131–140 of 332 posts
Re: Call of Duty Adds Kernel Level Driver for Anti-Cheat
#132Earlier quoted context omitted.
Valve have been working with anti-cheat providers for the release of the Steam Deck. Will be interesting to see how this turns out though.
Yes, I believe EAC has recently introduced opt-in support for Linux compatible modules. I don't think I've seen any developer using EAC outright poo-poo the possibility so far, so that's somewhat encouraging...
On the other hand, I don't think I've seen any developer release a game update enabling (what I understand to be) the essentially one-click "Linux support" EAC flag.
Re: Call of Duty Adds Kernel Level Driver for Anti-Cheat
#133Earlier quoted context omitted.
By the time it becomes a problem, it'll be too late to reverse. You think publishers will willingly give up the ability lock down their games on PCs? It's been their dream for decades. I'd rather not give up what we can do with the software we've paid for (and I don't care what some piece of crap ToS says I can or cannot do with the software), just so you get less cheaters in online games.
But that's really not a great place to use this argument - this isn't surveillance infrastructure or encryption backdoors where yes, once it's built a) it will be used for nefarious purposes b) it's really hard to get rid of. Game sandboxing is already very easy to achieve(at least on windows) and doesn't require any special software to be developed or deployed. It's all part of the Microsoft GDK and is already used…
I think it's probably the correct argument to use.
As you pointed out, what the vast majority of gamers will respond to is performance. In order to get performance, you have to start cutting other areas like graphics. However, those are other important aspects - maybe particularly to marketing.
The reason it's not palatable enough to be widespread is because of it's technical limitations. If you throw enough resources at the matter to remove those limitations, you won't see all the pressure you're mentioning that keep companies from making maximal use of this kind of tech in all games all the time.
I'm pretty comfortable erring on the side of caution here. Cheaters are rather annoying, but at least it's a relatively contained problem with a fairly wide range of options for how I want to respond to it. Worst case, I can go try to find a smaller community or even just go play another game. Meanwhile, most every game being fully locked down in all the ways... I can't really do jack about that.
Re: Call of Duty Adds Kernel Level Driver for Anti-Cheat
#134Earlier quoted context omitted.
Windows drivers can be loaded and unloaded dynamically, yes. It's also possible that they're using "shut down" semantically and not literally, in that the driver is loaded but inactive while the game isn't running.
Isn't this the case for every major OS? I know FreeBSD device drivers can be (un)loaded on-the-fly. Same for MacOS. I assume it's also possible in Linux(?)
Linux lets you disable dynamic modules. OpenBSD removed support for them some years ago.
Re: Call of Duty Adds Kernel Level Driver for Anti-Cheat
#135Earlier quoted context omitted.
Windows drivers can be loaded and unloaded dynamically, yes. It's also possible that they're using "shut down" semantically and not literally, in that the driver is loaded but inactive while the game isn't running.
Isn't this the case for every major OS? I know FreeBSD device drivers can be (un)loaded on-the-fly. Same for MacOS. I assume it's also possible in Linux(?)
It is. I believe you use
modprobe -r kernel_module_name modprobe kernel_module_name Re: Call of Duty Adds Kernel Level Driver for Anti-Cheat
#136> In its initial rollout on Call of Duty: Warzone, the kernel-level driver will only operate when you play on PC. The driver is not always-on. The software turns on when you start Call of Duty: Warzone and shuts down when you close the game. Oh that's good. > Plus, the kernel-level driver only monitors and reports activity related to Call of Duty. Oh, so in other words it reports everything since any software that mi…
You don't really have to put so much effort into dissecting their verbiage. It's guaranteed that any kernel anti-cheat is going to be invasive and inspect everything on the system while looking for cheats.
Re: Call of Duty Adds Kernel Level Driver for Anti-Cheat
#137Earlier quoted context omitted.
> detect the supernatural aim server-side Not possible. Sure, it might be possible to detect a player instantly snapping to the center of an opponent's head and clicking, but cheats could easily make the aim move over the course of several frames, and make the target off of the center of the head by a couple pixels to simulate someone just being really good. I've watched some really good gamers in person. People's ab…
But if a cheater really is subtle enough to be indistinguishable from a highly skilled player, is it really a problem? I mean, I guess it's "unfair" to genuinely skilled players but come on, it's just a game.
To be fair, so are football, baseball, etc. And if you get caught cheating in those, it's a pretty big deal.
Re: Call of Duty Adds Kernel Level Driver for Anti-Cheat
#138Not to say this isn't a worrying practice, but it's unfortunately industry standard. Almost every mainstream fps game has intrusive software, to the point where you're expected to be thankful that it's not a rootkit (which is not unheard of).
Then there's CS:GO, whose developers refuse to use intrusive practices to counter cheating. And the game is ruined by rampant cheating. (Neither for nor against. Just saying.)
This is not my experience as a frequent player. I rarely run into cheaters.
Re: Call of Duty Adds Kernel Level Driver for Anti-Cheat
#139It's a cat-and-mouse game, where the mice basically have infinite time to spend on anti-anti-cheat... and dare I say it, countless young people probably got their head start in learning about computers, programming, reverse-engineering, etc. by playing this "meta-game". I know some people who were otherwise completely uninterested in the typical STEM courses at school, but highly skilled at the sort of low-level knowledge required to defeat anti-cheat systems, and thus started their career in software development.
Re: Call of Duty Adds Kernel Level Driver for Anti-Cheat
#140Not to say this isn't a worrying practice, but it's unfortunately industry standard. Almost every mainstream fps game has intrusive software, to the point where you're expected to be thankful that it's not a rootkit (which is not unheard of).
Then there's CS:GO, whose developers refuse to use intrusive practices to counter cheating. And the game is ruined by rampant cheating. (Neither for nor against. Just saying.)
It seems like removing incentive beyond trolling is the best solution. Whose spinning up a cluster of bots if you can’t level up and sell digital loot? Market places for digital items has to be the dumbest thing ever in gaming. CS 1.6 was fun and the only thing you could customize was your graffiti spray, and there wasn’t a marketplace for them. You just added an image you liked.