AH statement on anticheat.

[ForeverAPeon]

Here's a message from Arrowhead's Technical Director:

Hi everyone,

My name is Peter Lindgren and I'm the Technical Director of HELLDIVERS 2. I've been making games at Arrowhead since the Magicka-days and I've been involved in every game we've released to date.

I will do my best in this post to address the concerns and confusion that's come up recently regarding the choice of Anti-Cheat software in HELLDIVERS 2.

So, let's start off with the more urgent questions:

Is GameGuard a kernel-level / administrator-priviledge anti-cheat?
Yes, GameGuard is a "kernel-level", aka rootkit, anti-cheat. Most anti-cheat run at "kernel-level", especially all of the popular ones. It's unfortunately one of the more effective ways to combat cheating.

There are some anti-cheat that can run in "user-mode", but they are much less effective and tend to be cracked very quickly, resulting in widespread cheating.

Will GameGuard stay installed on my system after I've uninstalled HELLDIVERS 2?
No, GameGuard is removed at the same time as the game is uninstalled.
The installer and uninstaller for GameGuard is visibly included with the game in <install-dir>/tools/GGSetup.exe and <install-dir>/tools/gguninst.exe.

I'm worried about my privacy, will GameGuard collect sensitive information about me?
No, GameGuard does not collect any personally identifiable information (PII). And doing so would be a GDPR/ADPPA nightmare as well. I can speak from experience that we're all bending over backwards to be compliant with these regulations.
On a more technical note, GameGuard is scanning the running processes (applications) for malicious software and attempts to block such software from manipulating the game client.

Will GameGuard reduce the performance of my PC?
GameGuard is only active while the game is running and after thousands of hours of testing we’ve not noticed any noteworthy degradations of performance on our developer and QA workstations.

And the big one that needs plenty of context:

HELLDIVERS 2 is a co-op/PvE game, why do we even need Anti-Cheat?
That's a great question, and there's two related but separate points to it:
First, we want everyone to have a great time playing HELLDIVERS 2, with friends, ex-friends or randoms. What we've seen in some of our and others' games is that rampant cheating tends to have a very negative effect on players openness to playing, especially with randoms.

There's an anecdote from HELLDIVERS 1 I'd like to share:
When we released HELLDIVERS 1 on PC there was effectively no anti-cheat implemented. Additionally HELLDIVERS 1 uses a peer-to-peer networking model, and that means, from a security perspective, each game client will blindly trust each other.
Shortly after release we noticed there was a cheat going around which granted 9999 research samples. Unfortunately any non-cheaters in the same mission would also be granted 9999 research samples. These non-cheating players now had their entire progression ruined through no fault of their own.
We were able to deal with a lot of these early issues without using a third party solution, but it took a lot of work, and most of it was done reactively.

Incidentally HELLDIVERS 2 also uses a peer-to-peer networking model, but this time around we're trying to be more proactive and make sure everyone can play the intended experience.
Second is the Galactic War. There's this huge metagame going in the cloud which all players (and game clients) participate in. Even though we have other countermeasures in place, a cracked game client could make it easier to disrupt the Galactic War, which would sour everyone’s experience.

As a final note, on an open platform like PC it's not possible to stop cheating from ever happening. Someone with the skills, dedication and resources will ultimately succeed. The point of anti-cheat is to make it more difficult and time consuming to develop cheats.
Needless to say we will be keeping a very close eye for any issues that may be encountered at release.

See you on the battlefield 😉

-Peter


Frequently Asked Questions about anti-cheat:
We collected responses from Reddit, Discord, and elsewhere and have compiled our answers here.

Q. Isn't using anti-cheat just to protect the game's monetization structure?
A. Yes, and no. While it will protect monetized content, our primary purpose in using it is to protect the social aspect of the Galactic War gameplay and preserve player experience.

Q. Does using nProtect GameGuard impact PC performance?
A. We have not seen a measurable impact on performance in our tests with GameGuard.

Q. Why did you choose nProtect GameGuard over other anti-cheats available?
A. We investigated feature sets in many of them, and GameGuard met our needs in preventing cheating in the Galactic War.

Q. Is nProtect GameGuard a security risk? i.e. Will it override security functions, create a backdoor into my firewall, allow malicious software such as keyloggers, etc.?
A. No. GameGuard communicates with a few servers for patching and reporting. However, it doesn't modify anyones firewall settings and it doesn't install other software. INCA, the creators of GameGuard, sells GameGuard as an anti-cheat solution. Their incentive is to make a good anti-cheat for publishers, developers and gamers. Installing malicious software is very illegal activity.

Q. Will GameGuard interfere with programs like MSI Afterburner, or monitoring software like hwinfo64?
A. We don't know all the things GameGuard might react to, but we are actively whitelisting known good programs. If you encounter any issues with GameGuard killing a process that should be whitelisted, please reach out to our support team.

Q. If I uninstall GameGuard, is it totally uninstalled or are files left behind?
A. The administrator level anti-cheat service that is installed with the game is removed when the game is uninstalled (or gguninst.exe is run). However, we've noted that there are some remnant files left in the game directory in the Steam library folder. They can be simply deleted though as they're only previously downloaded GameGuard updates.

[Khloros]

Цитата допису Jonly Bonly:

Add me to the list as well, I have never installed a single game with a kernel level anti-cheat, and this game won't be the one to break that streak. Especially with how completely unnecessary it is, not to mention it being completely ineffective at actually stopping cheaters.

you uhhh, you might wanna re-evaluate your statement there....
Killing floor 2
Halo master cheif collection,
Empyrion
Hunt showdown
Just to name a few all use EAC which is a kernal level application.

Destiny 2 also uses battle eye, which is also a kernel level anti cheat.

Its not that kernel level anti cheats are bad, its that poorly made ones are bad.

[Leithal--Weapon]

I was watching Videos of this game and I was super pumped to give it a go because it looked like people were in a movie instead of game with amazing explosions and I wanted to be Rambo too but alas it is not to be and because of nProtect GameGuard wiki on keylogging and reputation I will not be buying this game and because of the Q&A and the blatant misinformation in my opinion allegedly I will be extra hesitant to buy any games from this developer. Wish them the best in their endeavours and I'm going to do what many other have said on here and just file this game into the too bad I won't let that touch my computer list. "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NProtect_GameGuard"

[InertFurry]

Цитата допису Jonly Bonly:

Add me to the list as well, I have never installed a single game with a kernel level anti-cheat, and this game won't be the one to break that streak. Especially with how completely unnecessary it is, not to mention it being completely ineffective at actually stopping cheaters.

Uh yeah, about that... You've played an amount of Destiny 2...
Monster Hunter World even used Denuovo.

[Khloros]

Цитата допису InertFurry:

Цитата допису Jonly Bonly:

Add me to the list as well, I have never installed a single game with a kernel level anti-cheat, and this game won't be the one to break that streak. Especially with how completely unnecessary it is, not to mention it being completely ineffective at actually stopping cheaters.

Uh yeah, about that... You've played an amount of Destiny 2...

Im gonna tell him...

[CrypticTaco]

Цитата допису Khloros:

Цитата допису InertFurry:

Uh yeah, about that... You've played an amount of Destiny 2...

Im gonna tell him...

Gonna shatter his i dont play games with kernal anti cheats livelihood 😩

[RekoHunter]

Kernel level anticipated can be fine if done right. Easy anti cheat is fine. Keeps online safe, and bonus for being easily modded out for those who want to single player mod it up like with Elden Ring.

Game Guard is just to an extreme level of invasiveness and potential harm as it will apparently willy nilly muck with other kernel level stuff. I don't really want to take the risk of busting my set up and taking hours to fix it. Easy Anticheat is simple. Straightforward and acceptably unobtrusive. Worst thing for EAC is it's an extra loading screen on start up.

I don't think it's unreasonable for a dev to protect their game. I also don't think it's unreasonable for the community to want that done in a safer more convenient way.

[WillRebelForCoffee]

Tc, shame really - deep rock galactic comes to mind - peer/peer (i believe) co op and extremely fun,still battlepass,but absolutely free,and overall amazing experience even with randoms
...guess I'm sticking to it for bug squishing action,not that im complaining - you guys do know this will hurt your sales and image in the long run,rite- remove the anti cheat ,or switch it to something like easy AC,get some good face and remember this really won't ruin ♥♥♥♥- this aint an mmo,and people who wanna support will do so regardless,just like cheaters would

[Cotton Hills Shins]

I would love to play this game, but at the moment, I'll hold off until another AC is proposed and other alleged performance issues are ironed out.

To those that'll just reply to this with, "But you play..", I'm well aware EAC, Battleye, and other AC's have kernel level permissions, that's not my concern.

[Lyzrac]

Kinda hard to trust a program about security from a company that can't be bothered to keep their security certificates up to date on the web pages that their program forces open every time it fails to load. Honestly at this point it's a joke. Love the game though.

[Tardicus Maximus]

Цитата допису Khloros:

If they came out and said "Hey sorry we are switching to EAC, i should buy a copy for a friend and the premium battle pass for this and next season just to support a dev taht for once, in modern gaming actually saw their player base had legitimate concerns and listened to them.

Don't buy any premium ♥♥♥♥ just for supporting the devs. They and the publisher chose to keep us barred from the game and take us through this ♥♥♥♥. I'll buy a normal copy when they come to their senses and that's it. I may have chose to get something extra if they weren't stubborn goats about it, but that train left the station.

[Tardicus Maximus]

Цитата допису Eleghrin:

Jumping in as someone who has bought and played the game: please, please reconsider your choice of anti-cheating measures. This game is fantastic, but the kernel-level anti-cheat very much feels like overkill and sours my experience the more I learn about it.

Given how technically and mechanically impressive your game is, surely you can develop a more creative, and less intrusive, way to catch or punish cheaters that is part of the game and requires no third party applications.

Please, please remove the anti-cheat, and soon.

You should refund it until they do if you're able. Your voice means less than nothing if you already bought the product.

[Soul]

boil down to "we did test,found it alright"
-Cheaters are a thing already
-Close other softwares
-Cause crashes and some to not be able to play at all (said by the devs,the 1/150 players thing)
-Sometime don't install so can't play,whoopsie doo
-Shady as hell,got problems before,causes more now
-Never up to date
-Famous for just being bad overall

But sure,keep that thing on,screw players,cheap chinese stuff to protect the shop is better

[Lucky]

I mean, your game is already overrun by cheaters, so yeah, great anti-cheat you have, literally in less than 12 hours

[Weavel Knievel]

The only people the anticheat is keeping out are, y'know, a bunch if paying customers who cant launch the game because of it. Sounds like the cheaters are getting in just fine, though. Maybe, idk, switch those two?

[K4hid]

It feels pretty damn bad, not gonna lie, because I'm really interested in the game, and would buy it in a heart beat.
This is literally the first time for me, feeling like I am force to ignore a game I want to play... because of an anti cheat software. It is pretty frustrating to be honest.