Forum Discussion

11 months ago

Solved

Steam Deck: Enable Single-Player When Anti-Cheat Unavailable?

Feature suggestion: When running under SteamOS and EA Anti-Cheat is unavailable, can we get just the single-player mode? Better yet, add EA AC for SteamOS, but I get it if that's a stretch goal f...

TheRagebeard
11 months ago
Hello @Lowe0 , The issue is with SteamOS as the way it's setup it won't accept any game that has an anti-cheat. For F1 24 to run on the Steam Deck either Valve would have to modify their OS or EA would have to remove the Anti-cheat from the game.
I don't really see either happening so unfortunately running F1 24 on the Steam Deck is unlikely.

KairanD

8 months ago

@TheRagebeard Invasive kernel-level anti-cheats are not the best solution. After the global CrowdStrike crisis, even Microsoft is pushing the restriction of kernel-level access.

Disabling kernel-level access for Linux players may create a vulnerability. But that does not necessarily mean an increase in the number of cheaters, since the Linux player base is small, cheating in Linux is way harder and the anti-cheat still has some functionality even without kernel access.

I understand and respect your opinion, but even on Windows I refuse to play games with kernel-level rootkits. I think kernel-level solutions should not be used. Server-sided anti-cheats and active moderation are way better solutions.

TheRagebeard

Hero+

8 months ago

@KairanD I agree that kernel-level AC isn't a great solution, I certainly would prefer to avoid it where possible, but this is just where the gaming industry is right now.

While there may not be a lot of Linux players, even a few could do a good bit of damage. In particular I'm thinking of the Time Trial leaderboards, even if only 100 people cheat then its forever impossible for anyone playing fairly to set a top 100 time. It's a bit different for head-to-head games like EA FC or Madden where you run into a cheater, get beat, report them, and move on with your life. A good number of people care about the TT leaderboards so constantly having to reset them because a new wave of cheats came through isn't really great either.

I think there's also an optics component to the discussion as well. While I think you and I are probably on the same page regarding the downsides of kernel level AC, a lot of people like the idea that there's something preventing/ dealing with cheaters. It was a very frequent complaint the past two years, you'd be surprised how many people were asking for an AC to be added. Obviously would be better if it was server side like you mentioned but... of course that costs money.