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.

[ZappoDude]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Froschi:

People with irrational fears sometimes make up things to support their flawed opinion.
Not really a new phenomenon on the internet.

If you really ran into issues, it shouldn't really be a problem to provide more details, which would also help other people to troubleshoot their issues, or help you with yours.

The reason for you being so vague remains unknown.
But what I have learned is to be skeptical when encountering such individuals.

I went over what the issue was, solutions I tried which didn't work, and the one that did. I'm not sure what further detail you want. Screenshots wouldn't help as it's an audio issue and Gameguard keeps its logs in a proprietary format which only the developers can read. Video might help if it was recording to catch it happening, but the audio cutting out could also easily be faked in editing and I don't know if it would convince you if you already think I'm just paranoid. Either way I'm not going to try and intentionally cause the issue again.

[Froschi]

For starters, it would be interesting to learn more about your audio setup.

Are you using audio via the mainboard chip? If yes, which mainboard? Or are you using a dedicated soundcard? If yes, which one?
And what are your connected output devices? Speakers? Headphones? How are they connected? USB? 3.5 mm jack? Bluetooth?

All this would be relevant to know to at least understand if this is maybe an isolated case of an atypical setup, or what exactly is going on in your case. Every bit of information helps.

[ZappoDude]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Froschi:

For starters, it would be interesting to learn more about your audio setup.

Are you using audio via the mainboard chip? If yes, which mainboard? Or are you using a dedicated soundcard? If yes, which one?
And what are your connected output devices? Speakers? Headphones? How are they connected? USB? 3.5 mm jack? Bluetooth?

All this would be relevant to know to at least understand if this is maybe an isolated case of an atypical setup, or what exactly is going on in your case. Every bit of information helps.

I was using a USB HyperX headset so motherboard audio + its own hardware and driver. I do have a Soundblaster AE-5 Plus which I don't really use and Nvidia High Definition Audio from my RTX 3080. Those are the devices I disabled to test if the issue was a conflict of some sort - didn't change anything.

MSI MEG Z490 motherboard with Intel i7 processor. Game was installed on an SSD.

Setup's never had audio issues prior to installing the game, and hasn't since uninstalling it.

[Froschi]

There's a few reports of muted audio (not just in-game) on Discord.
Also a bunch of issues regarding microphones (which is not something you ran into, just mentioning it).

Even if you don't like to hear it, it's extremely unlikely GameGuard is doing this. Simply due to the fact that it doesn't run unlike the game is running. You clearly stated that this happens even if you're not playing, and even after a Windows restart when Helldivers didn't launch yet.
Keep in mind that Helldivers itself also installs a bunch of system files, so it's possible that those system files somehow cause issues with whatever software or drivers you use together with your HyperX headphones (e.g. HyperX NGENUITY).

[Nohiro]

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.

BIG LOL

[Kleo ツ]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von ZappoDude:

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Froschi:

You could as well have completely made up all of that.
First you claimed it's causing issues with your PSU, with no details about what exactly happens or how you narrowed it down to GameGuard.
Now you're claiming some weird audio issues. Again, with no details whatsoever.

I think you're just making s*** up.

I honestly have no clue what possible motive could exist for fabricating stories against an ineffective anticheat software. If you'd like to share some, you're welcome to, but they probably don't make sense.

They've been here for a literal year defending the anti-cheat. They were all keeping it up throughout Christmas and New Years as well last I checked back in the main nProtect thread in the anti-cheat section. Very strange behavior.

We all shared plenty of information akin to the technical issues you've been experiencing (a LARGE sum of posts having since been deleted by Arrowhead moderation within that thread), both software and hardware issues including but not limited to bricked SSDs, all of which was on top of historical experiences involving nProtect Gameguard across other games as well.

Arrowhead and INCA Internet/Nprotect themselves in conjunction with Sony presents a litany of red flags. I was keen on purchasing HD2 originally if they removed the rootkit, game looked like a blast but they never did and so I still shall not buy and never will now even if they do.

I'd recommend against any and all Sony products in the future, alongside any software involving third-party or proprietary kernel anti-cheat solutions.

[The dog]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Kleo ツ:

Ursprünglich geschrieben von ZappoDude:

I honestly have no clue what possible motive could exist for fabricating stories against an ineffective anticheat software. If you'd like to share some, you're welcome to, but they probably don't make sense.

They've been here for a literal year defending the anti-cheat. They were all keeping it up throughout Christmas and New Years as well last I checked back in the main nProtect thread in the anti-cheat section. Very strange behavior.

We all shared plenty of information akin to the technical issues you've been experiencing (a LARGE sum of posts having since been deleted by Arrowhead moderation within that thread), both software and hardware issues including but not limited to bricked SSDs, all of which was on top of historical experiences involving nProtect Gameguard across other games as well.

Arrowhead and INCA Internet/Nprotect themselves in conjunction with Sony presents a litany of red flags. I was keen on purchasing HD2 originally if they removed the rootkit, game looked like a blast but they never did and so I still shall not buy and never will now even if they do.

I'd recommend against any and all Sony products in the future, alongside any software involving third-party or proprietary kernel anti-cheat solutions.

I would assume at this point that the devs of the anti cheat made an investment in the game company themselves, there is no other reason i can see that they would not simply move to a less invasive but more able anti-cheat after the contract ended.

Having valve anti cheat + requiring a psn account as a combo should already remove most cheating, unless hackers are determined to buy multiple copies of the game every time they get banned.

[The Gunsmith]

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.

well ive got it for now... ANYTHING suspicious happens going forward you guys are target no 1 for where the breach comes from.

Prevention > Treatment.

[Kleo ツ]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von The dog:

I would assume at this point that the devs of the anti cheat made an investment in the game company themselves, there is no other reason i can see that they would not simply move to a less invasive but more able anti-cheat after the contract ended.

Having valve anti cheat + requiring a psn account as a combo should already remove most cheating, unless hackers are determined to buy multiple copies of the game every time they get banned.

Could be but I would not be surprised at all if this was Sony's initiative rather than INCA themselves.

What the general population needs to understand first and foremost is not only Sony's abhorrent track record regarding opsec and general respect towards their consumer base but also their ties to U.S. intelligence agencies and their penchant for both domestic data collection and international disruption. There's a great reason they wanted to go as hard as they did in the U.K with biometric data pertaining to PSN accounts.

Regarding GameGuard itself, another user has long since touched on the CRSHandler sending off data beyond the expected moments in which a crash may occur. This data was sent to multiple domains, one particularly noteworthy one being that located in Virginia which is AWS's largest data center.

It's entirely expected that a vast sum of data travels through that avenue daily, completely reasonable but when you take into account the precise positioning you'll realize that it's quite strategic, nestled in among two of the most prolific entities in dragnet intel and online psychological operations, the NSA HQ in Fort Meade, Maryland and the CIA's Langley/AFB, McLean/Hampton, respectively.

Consider the following: "Very illegal activity" only holds substance when the authoritative bodies tasked with upholding those regulations actually function correctly rather than playing "rules for thee but not for me" courtesy of special interest financeering.

Amazon/AWS is also now host to Palantir, AI data aggregation in that specific instance which essentially sifts through all those vast clumps of siphoned data from the public in order to produce a readable format to clientele that are interested for one reason or another.

Palantir has its fair share of military applications, one such noteworthy project in collaboration with Shield being Hivemind, an autonomous "threat" detection system which will respond without human interaction, dispatching drones.

This system has been developed on the back of raw SIGINT data provided by agencies like the NSA. It is an AI targeting system being tested in Gaza against a particular race of people, by whom and for what purposes I'm sure you'll be able to discern yourself.

Why am I telling anyone this "conspiratorial crap"? Because as much as people are blind to these antics and may think them crazy, they do indeed exist and the ways in which they've collected this data in the first place to then be aggregated are cunning and numerous.

Your name, your age, your fingerprints, your heart rate, your screen resolution, your purchasing habits, your viewing trends, refresh rate, Device IDs, email addresses, post history, voice, location, gender, sexual orientation, spacial dimensions, bandwidth, IP address, latency, reaction time, eye movements, browsing history, user interaction etc etc data all used for inference alone but when brokered between corporations they begin to paint a pretty little picture! :)

When they decide to call upon anyone's own data after profiling them and wield it against them in the way of target acquisition when that particular end user finally decides enough is enough but is then deemed a threat by these advanced systems, they will end up wondering when, how and why it all went so wrong.

But hey, at least we're stopping cheaters in video games! Oh wait...we're not even managing to do that? Oh well! It's for your protection. Why? IT JUST IS, OKAY! Trust Sony, they've NEVER mishandled consumer data before c:

[Kleo ツ]

For further consideration.[i.imgur.com]

Stay safe, friends o/

[Froschi]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Kleo ツ:

Regarding GameGuard itself, another user has long since touched on the CRSHandler sending off data beyond the expected moments in which a crash may occur. This data was sent to multiple domains, one particularly noteworthy one being that located in Virginia which is AWS's largest data center.

crs-handler.exe has nothing to do with GameGuard, though. It's from Sony.
That thing is part of pretty much every Sony/PlayStation title.

So if the whole point of GameGuard was to spy on its users, which you seem to imply, then why even implement it when they can do all the spying with a much less suspicious crash handler anyway.
Makes no sense.

[Kleo ツ]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Froschi:

crs-handler.exe has nothing to do with GameGuard, though. It's from Sony.
That thing is part of pretty much every Sony/PlayStation title.

So if the whole point of GameGuard was to spy on its users, which you seem to imply, then why even implement it when they can do all the spying with a much less suspicious crash handler anyway.
Makes no sense.

Yes, thank you again for your incredible deductions as always. Bravo.

If you'd have been paying any attention last year when actual meaningful discussions were taking place instead of trying to redirect the conversation towards completely irrelevant points of discussion like PRISM then you'd know full well I was apart of those very broad and deep conversations. So here you are again, throwing out the most inane "errrmmm ackshuallys" as you do so seem to pride yourself on.

The implication was that if the CRSHandler alone has that sort of capacity and is engaging in obtuse behavior then GameGuard is infinitely worse considering most already know of the root access it possesses but not so much the capabilities of a rootkit in conjunction with GameGuard's shoddy history in addition to the attack vector it opens up on the end user's system for third parties outside of and even within nProtect and for what? An anti-cheat that is no more effective at stopping cheaters than FAR less intrusive measures like VAC.

What REALLY makes no sense here is your ardent defense of this Anti-Cheat solution for a year straight.

You sure got your wish though, here I am providing users insight into those far more ominous machinations to consider going forward. Funny thing too, you were the first to bring the topic up and yet never bothered engaging thereafter while I originally attempted to build rapport with you. Hmmm...almost like you were trying to derail discussions c:

Anyway. Thanks to the fact you lot completely ♥♥♥♥ up the primary thread in a year-long onslaught, hope you enjoy indulging in your faux tech support :)

The house of lies you build is going to come back down on your own head someday, good luck with that.

[Froschi]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Kleo ツ:

So here you are again, throwing out the most inane "errrmmm ackshuallys" as you do so seem to pride yourself on.

Yes, I can understand that you're getting angry when I am forced to correct you on such a simple fact that crs-handler.exe has absolutely nothing to do with GameGuard.

You praise yourself with being part of "deep conversations" (lmao), and yet over a year later you can't even get such a simple fact right.

The rest is just your usual personal accusations and defamatory statements that I won't waste my precious time on. Your baiting attempt failed.

[Close]

I like how loads of early posts in this are "you wont see me buying this" and they all bought it

[ZappoDude]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Close:

I like how loads of early posts in this are "you wont see me buying this" and they all bought it

They didn't, if they don't have the mouse icon next to their name then they didn't buy it.