Doom Eternal Update 1 adds Denuvo Anti-Cheat

[ResonanceSD]

As seen here, Doom Eternal, iD Software's highly anticipated sequel to DOOM (2016), has just added a new update which requires a DAC install. This is a ring 0 level anti cheat which undestandably, has the player base a little pissed off.



Do you feel that adding updates like this post launch significantly changes the product enough to warrant a refund? Steam as usual, are denying refunds left right and centre despite the effects that DAC has had on performance, stability and security.

 

[Elvis Starburst]

Doesn't Denuvo basically not work at all?

 

[Worgen]

They needed some kind of anti-cheat software. This isn't the denovo drm, this is an anti-cheat that only runs when the game is running and its only required for playing the battlemode, you can uninstall it and still play the single player.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

They needed some kind of anti-cheat software. This isn't the denovo drm, this is an anti-cheat that only runs when the game is running and its only required for playing the battlemode, you can uninstall it and still play the single player.

Makes it seem kinda telling that something like this - if that’s all it is - pisses so much of the player base off like that.

 

[Elvis Starburst]

Makes it seem kinda telling that something like this - if that’s all it is - pisses so much of the player base off like that.

From what the update page and Worgen says, it can be uninstalled to keep playing single player. But if people get this up in arms about it, I wonder if that information is actually properly stated to people who have bought the game already and update the game. People are saying it is and isn't Denuvo, so I don't have anything to say on that. If it is Denuvo though, I have not heard good things about what that can do for a game's performance and even a user's PC performance. Fingers crossed this is an actually respectful anti-cheat program added in

 

[Worgen]

Makes it seem kinda telling that something like this - if that’s all it is - pisses so much of the player base off like that.

Gamers tend to be very reactionary and freak out about rather minor things. Most people probably just saw 'denovo' and spazzed out thinking they were adding drm to the game since it has a rep for causing issues, although I'm not sure how true that is for the most part.

 

[FennecZephyr]

From what the update page and Worgen says, it can be uninstalled to keep playing single player.

That's incorrect. According to what I've heard, it will ask you to install it every time you start the game, and if you don't install it, it won't let you play.
I don't know the exact reasons to how, but this has made the game unplayable on Linux.

It also has kernel level access to your system, which is worrying because that gives it the same level of access and authority as the operating system itself, and above your own admin user account. If some hacker finds a way to exploit the anti-cheat to gain access to your system, you're basically fucked.

I've also heard of issues where buggy kernel drivers can render a PC unbootable requiring a reinstall of Windows because it was coded to run at startup.
However, Bethesda/Denuvo claims the anti cheat only runs when you're running DOOM, so any potential problems should be limited to when you're playing the game, but there isn't any good reason to require that level of access for a fucking videogame.

Gamers tend to be very reactionary and freak out about rather minor things. Most people probably just saw 'denovo' and spazzed out thinking they were adding drm to the game since it has a rep for causing issues, although I'm not sure how true that is for the most part.

Denuvo's DRM has been in there since launch. This is a different issue.

 

[ResonanceSD]

Makes it seem kinda telling that something like this - if that’s all it is - pisses so much of the player base off like that.

Because that's not all it is, and the guy you're replying to has massively oversimplified the issue.

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

Weird. Isn't Doom all about having unbridled fun in a dumb power fantasy? And totally single-player? Why care about customers cheating at all in such a game? It's not an e-sports.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

That's incorrect. According to what I've heard, it will ask you to install it every time you start the game, and if you don't install it, it won't let you play.
I don't know the exact reasons to how, but this has made the game unplayable on Linux.

It also has kernel level access to your system, which is worrying because that gives it the same level of access and authority as the operating system itself, and above your own admin user account. If some hacker finds a way to exploit the anti-cheat to gain access to your system, you're basically fucked.

I've also heard of issues where buggy kernel drivers can render a PC unbootable requiring a reinstall of Windows because it was coded to run at startup.
However, Bethesda/Denuvo claims the anti cheat only runs when you're running DOOM, so any potential problems should be limited to when you're playing the game, but there isn't any good reason to require that level of access for a fucking videogame.

Denuvo's DRM has been in there since launch. This is a different issue.

Because that's not all it is, and the guy you're replying to has massively oversimplified the issue.

Well shit, then Bethesda really hasn’t learned their lesson. I’m wondering why it’s so difficult for anyone to implement a non-intrusive solution on PC to prevent people ruining online gameplay? Like, the game has to be online to play that way, so if it’s running through their servers they should be able to detect that the game code on the machine it’s pinging hasn’t been manipulated to enable cheats, hacks, bots, etc. and boot them if it has.

There’s got to be something better than crapping out people’s systems with buggy kernel drivers. That sounds blatantly illegal, let alone unethical.

 

[Worgen]

Denuvo's DRM has been in there since launch. This is a different issue.

Yeah, I know, this is them adding the anti-cheat software. But gamers are reactionary and freaked out just by seeing the word 'denuvo.'

 

[Worgen]

Weird. Isn't Doom all about having unbridled fun in a dumb power fantasy? And totally single-player? Why care about customers cheating at all in such a game? It's not an e-sports.

No, there is a multiplayer battlemode where one person plays a slayer and 2 people play demons trying to kill him. The anti-cheat is only active in that mode.

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

No, there is a multiplayer battlemode where one person plays a slayer and 2 people play demons trying to kill him. The anti-cheat is only active in that mode.

Oh, right, no worries, that completely passed me by. Only ever heard anyone talk about the single-player till now! ,

 

[Worgen]

Oh, right, no worries, that completely passed me by. Only ever heard anyone talk about the single-player till now! ,

The battlemode is pretty fun so far, but it did need some kind of anti-cheat. I've encountered too many slayers who seem to just do stupid amounts of damage really fast, havent seen it as bad since the patch.

 

[thebobmaster]

Well. Guess this is one game I won't be buying on PC. I would much prefer to play it on PC, but I am not going to deal with Denuvo.

ETA: Another aspect that really bothers me about this is just how shady it comes off by adding it in later. It's like Bethesda knew that fans would not be happy with Denuvo, but they wanted Denuvo. Their solution? Release the game without it, wait a couple of months until the early adopters snatch it up, then spring Denuvo on them now that they can't get a refund.

 

[Houseman]

Gamers tend to be very reactionary and freak out about rather minor things.

Well that hurts my feelings

 

[SilentPony]

Wait Doom Eternal? The game that makes you the Doom Marine, the literal killer of Satan and Angels? People needed to cheat in that one?

 

[Worgen]

Well. Guess this is one game I won't be buying on PC. I would much prefer to play it on PC, but I am not going to deal with Denuvo.

ETA: Another aspect that really bothers me about this is just how shady it comes off by adding it in later. It's like Bethesda knew that fans would not be happy with Denuvo, but they wanted Denuvo. Their solution? Release the game without it, wait a couple of months until the early adopters snatch it up, then spring Denuvo on them now that they can't get a refund.

Did you like, read the subject then immediately stop on denuvo and not read the 2 words after it?

 

[Aegix Drakan]

They needed some kind of anti-cheat software. This isn't the denovo drm, this is an anti-cheat that only runs when the game is running and its only required for playing the battlemode, you can uninstall it and still play the single player.

Oh, this is good to know.

 

[MrCalavera]

Kernel level anti-cheat, that is reported to sometimes worsen the performance by 30%. Patched in, after release? Yeah, no thanks, that's smells foul, Zenimax.