https://www.ea.com/games/ea-sports-wrc/wrc/news/ea-anticheat"EA anticheat is a kernel-mode anti-cheat and anti-tamper solution developed in-house at Electronic Arts."In normal person terms, kernel level means giving the game the right to do whatever it wants to do to your computer at any time, without requiring your confirmation or consent. This was not something that PC players agreed to on the games launch and should not be tolerated as an acceptable solution to some leaderboard issues that don't affect the core gameplay.EDIT: Original thread title was "Warning: PC players about to be forced to install a kernel-level program". The change has been made to reflect a bug reports thread now being part of this one.

Product: EA SPORTS™ WRCPlatform:PCSummarize your bug Stop kernel-level EA anti cheat in the next upcoming patch.How often does the bug occur? Every time (100%)Steps: How can we find the bug ourselves? https://steamcommunity.com/games/1849250/announcements/detail/4188988499354675175What happens when the bug occurs? https://steamcommunity.com/games/1849250/announcements/detail/4188988499354675175What do you expect to see? No kernel level anti cheat software.Stop kernel-level EA anti cheat in the next upcoming patch. This is a highly invasive and unnecessary back door that will be installed with the next patch. It will also stop the game from running on Linux and Steam deck. EA anti cheat runs at kernel level and will have access to pretty much everything on your computer. Please make yourself heard and tell EA that this is not what we want.You can read here what kernel level anti cheat means and why it's bad: https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/xf1cwr/the_insanity_of_eas_anticheat_system_by_a_kernel/

Cheaters are only a problem in a small part of the game, namely online events and leaderboards. Someone who mainly plays single player modes doesn't care about leaderboard times that are a second or thirty quicker but will still have to sacrifice their privacy just to play the game. In my mind that's not a reasonable demand from the developers as long as the game is not an Esports-first title. If that's the aim, provide a dedicated version of the game for Esports events.

I just want to add my feedback here as well.I play on Linux, and I love the game, but will not be able to play if Kernel level anti-cheat gets added. I know I am in the minority, but I still want to mention this.Along with the above, I would not be comfortable installing a black box onto any Operating System and give it Kernel level access. I think adding this requirement to a game after release breaks trust, especially since cheating does not have a much of an impact on the gameplay (as opposed to a shooter where a cheater can ruin the game for everyone).I urge you to please reconsider implementing EA Anti-Cheat in the game. I understand the commitment to fair play, but I believe that Kernel level anti cheat is not the answer, and will harm the consumer (whether they know it or not).If that is not an option, please make the anti-cheat optional for single player and club play (make it optional for the club owner to enable or disable it). I know this will require extra dev work, but it will allow more people to continue playing the awesome game you made.Kind Regards

I stand with this as well, EA / Codemasters did NOT state this was going to be a kernel anti cheat game at launch and its false advertising, IF they did this at launch I WOULD NEVER have bought this game, NO DiRT Rally by Codemasters has EVER had a kernel anti cheat, and so I will be requiring a FULL refund from Valve on Steam, until EA makes their Kernel anti cheat work on Linux and with the new Linux NT Kernel Sync Driver being added to the Linux Kernel V 6.10 mainline release this summer then all Win NT Kernel Anti Cheats should be able to just be run in Linux Userspace in Proton/GE-Proton/WINE Staging, and listening to the Linux devs it would be pretty impossible to create anti cheats for Linux with that in place on Linux running the WIn NT Kernel Anti Cheats that I have been reading up on and watching them talking about this. So either EA gets their act together this summer when the Linux NT Kernel Sync Driver is released in Linux Kernel 6.10 and sort this out, or I get a full refund and stop playing any games that EA wants to try and FORCE people into ONLY using Windows, this is an ABSOLUTE SCANDAL as gaming companies are FORCING people to use ONE OS by a corporation ONLY which is a MONOPOLY and I HOPE this goes against laws in the EU and all OVER the world and the big gaming companies INCLUDING Microsoft get FORCED to create this in Linux with the Linux NT Kernel Sync Driver, as there is NO EXCUSE other than to create a fascist dictatorship model of a tech monopoly into using just ONE OS.Sort it out EA, Linux is growing now by 400% a year, and largely due to the Indian Open Source Initiative, India is the largest country on the planet, the largest democracy on earth and the fastest growing economy, and they are all switching to Linux, so there will be a boom over the next coming couple of years seeing as Microsoft is ending support for Win 10 next Oct 2025.

@FrankWurst I have Steam Deck and I use Linux on desktop. Can I avoid updating, to keep older version so that I can play offline? I really do not care about online features, and I really love the game.

Forced install of a kernel-level program on PC (Anticheat merged thread)

58 Replies

lucag120
15 days ago
I doubt anti-cheat is even working. Please look at the Official WRC Club first few stages current top time by 'LorenzoB-Gamer'. Wow
beanjeangreens
2 months ago
Just thought I'd voice my immense disappointment with EA's anticheat as someone who's got a steam deck in the last year. Again and again I've tried looking to see if EA games can run on the deck and come up against the anticheat wall. I would have been MORE than happy to buy Battlefield 1, FC 25, etc, but I can't because of this limitation. I really hope someone will eventually create some other alternative for Linux players!
OTT2
Rising Scout
5 months ago
Two months since anti-cheat was added to EA WRC... and it's clear that the potential playerbase haven't forgotten. You still see to this day people on other websites complaining that they can no longer even start up the game when they could before. Some who can refuse to play regardless. And through all of this, there's still no sign of the e-sports competition that EA planned on running that would at least partially justify needing stronger enforcement against cheating.
I understand (based on communication in the official Discord) that this reception was perceived as unexpected, given how the Battlefield and F1 playerbases were more receptive or indifferent about anti-cheat being added to their games. But each game has different audiences with different priorities, and this audience at least has decided that they do not want kernel anti-cheat. Now EA has a choice to either remove it in time for the expansion release and enjoy some goodwill leading to good sales, or do nothing and doom the franchise.
MMFL012
5 months ago
EA doesn't care. they already took your money. they will push out their cash grab dlc with no patch in sight. scummy company and no one here answering questions, just deleting what they dont like. what a joke of a company/forum
Captain_Iglo_83
5 months ago
it doesn't matter whether EA Anticheat works or not.
Too many users are negatively affected by this.
EA and CM can make everyone happy by making this requirement optional.
Not every player wants to be ranked in exchange for vulnerabilities on their PCs.
Peter_Mathen
5 months ago
@cadeharrison wrote:
Why the hell didn't they just add a way to bypass the anti-cheat which launches the game in "offline" mode?
That would be a really good solution and I would re-install the game and maybe buy the DLC.
But atm I will not buy anything from EA at all.
Just dropped by to see if there is anything new in EA WRC.
BTW: After 2 h Dirt Rally 2.0 with VR, Ford Escort RS in Greece is so good.
cadeharrison1
5 months ago
Why the hell didn't they just add a way to bypass the anti-cheat which launches the game in "offline" mode? They did this for Battlefield V. If you delete all the files for EA Anti-cheat you can launch that game and completely bypass the anti-cheat.
lucag120
5 months ago
I found some cheating links with a google search; (Something for EA to look into FYI)

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JG-skinny-racer
5 months ago
Anti cheat should only ever kick in when you enter a game mode that requires it. There is absolutely no reason for it to run all the time. Except for lazy dev
Shaadum59
7 months ago
Much to my regret, I am part of the EA Sport WRC uninstall team.
I didn't accept these conditions when I bought the game, and forcing this software to work is inappropriate.
There's a case to be made against EA for this, I imagine.