Denuvo in Doom Eternal: How Worried Should We Be?

[Michael]

I was disappointed to learn that the recent Doom Eternal patch includes Denuvo Anti-Cheat as a requirement to play. I only play Single Player, have no interest in online play, and yet I've heard that Denuvo degrades performance in the titles to which it's attached at best, and at worst, can degrade performance across a system and open up your root-level system access causing potential security concerns. This really isn't my area, so I'm looking to get some information to decide whether to continue playing Doom, or uninstall it entirely:

Can anyone who's played the game both pre- and post- this Denuvo patch comment on the game's performance on their system?

Have we determined if this was a "good" or "bad" Denuvo implementation? Should I worry that the software is continuing to run in the background, degrading performance in other titles?

How worried should I be about system hacks and security with Denuvo running?

TIA for any insight!

[M.Spengler]

Denuvo Anti Tamper (DRM) is known to cause trouble on some machines, but for me this isn`t the problem.

They pulled the jack in a box with Denuvo Anti Cheat after many of us already have bought their game. It was not advertised. It was not mentioned to happen. It just was there and you have no choice than installing with or against your will or your game is rendered useless.

Imagine you buy a car.
Two month after your purchase, you enter your car and a stranger is sitting right next to you : "Hi. I will be sitting next to you every time you enter your car. Gimme a copy of ya keys, licence etc. or your car won`t start anymore.". The stranger has the same family name like someone you know for causing nothing than trouble.

Would you get the car if it was advertised ?

[operator97]

Originally posted by Michael:

I was disappointed to learn that the recent Doom Eternal patch includes Denuvo Anti-Cheat as a requirement to play. I only play Single Player, have no interest in online play, and yet I've heard that Denuvo degrades performance in the titles to which it's attached at best, and at worst, can degrade performance across a system and open up your root-level system access causing potential security concerns. This really isn't my area, so I'm looking to get some information to decide whether to continue playing Doom, or uninstall it entirely:

Can anyone who's played the game both pre- and post- this Denuvo patch comment on the game's performance on their system?

Have we determined if this was a "good" or "bad" Denuvo implementation? Should I worry that the software is continuing to run in the background, degrading performance in other titles?

How worried should I be about system hacks and security with Denuvo running?

TIA for any insight!

My specs are as follows:

CPU: i7-4771
GPU: GTX 1660 Ti
RAM: 16GB DDR3-2400 CL10

Performance is just as good for me after the update as it was before. As far as I can tell there's no difference whatsoever.

I play at 1080p / max settings, and sit comfortably at 144 fps quite a lot of the time with v-sync on, with any framerate drops happening in parts of the game they've always happened (and not in an overly sudden / stuttery way).

The lowest I've EVER seen it go was 90 fps, but far more commonly it might go down to more like 115 - 130ish every so often.

[Issac Freeman]

Very very bad.

[rambley enjoyer 73]

Depends on how worried you are about the security concerns. From what I know DAC works similarly to other mainstream anticheats like Easy Anti-Cheat or Battleye with running at kernel, but is an entirely new service that only really launched with Eternal's recent update. If you can trust EAC or Battleye you'll probably be fine with Denuvo, but if you can't trust anything running at that level, DAC only being a recently launched thing, or just Denuvo in general, then wait for the anti-cheat to be patched out of the singleplayer.

The anti-cheat only runs when the game is open so I don't think it'll cause problems outside of the game.

[Rei Johannes]

I can say that Denuvo anti cheat broke something in my computer, since watch dogs 2 is not launcing anymore, just some error message about kernel modification.

[Heretic]

Well, BattlEye and Easy Anti Cheat are also kernel level drivers that start when the game starts.

https://www.easy.ac/en-us/partners/ that has lists of many of games that use the EAC kernel level driver.

https://www.battleye.com/ has lists of some of the games that use it as well.

Things that are of note here are, among others:
Fortnite
Battlefield 3, 4, 1
Playerunknown's Battlegrounds
R6 Siege
Planetside 2
DayZ
ARMA games
Far Cry 5
For Honor
Gears 5
Halo Master Chief Collection
Hell Let Loose
Hunt: Showdown
Insurgency Sandstorm
iRacing
Predator Hunting Grounds
Warface
Vermintide 2
Watch Dogs 2

And the list goes on and on ...

So, nothing new here.

[SuperFly]

Very.

They are SecuROM rebranded.

[Donaldo Trumpado]

Originally posted by Rei Johannes:

I can say that Denuvo anti cheat broke something in my computer, since watch dogs 2 is not launcing anymore, just some error message about kernel modification.

Sounds like it did you a favor. Watch Dogs 2 is an absolutely awful game

[Doktor Mandrake]

Originally posted by M.Spengler:

Imagine you buy a car.
Two month after your purchase, you enter your car and a stranger is sitting right next to you : "Hi. I will be sitting next to you every time you enter your car. Gimme a copy of ya keys, licence etc. or your car won`t start anymore.". The stranger has the same family name like someone you know for causing nothing than trouble.

Would you get the car if it was advertised ?

This isn't a car though, it's a digital product, one you pay to obtain a licence to use said game.

You don't own any of these games you're buying, you merely obtain a licence to use them and the companies who DO own said games have legal rights to make adjustments to their products as much as they want.

Why do you think some of us have been against DRM for so long? If Steam/Valve didn't force us to update our games, and let us stick with older builds, a lot of use could of just stuck with the older build of the game. But nope, people have to defend Steam and Denuvo like they're gods lol

[Donaldo Trumpado]

Originally posted by Doktor Mandrake:

Originally posted by M.Spengler:

Imagine you buy a car.
Two month after your purchase, you enter your car and a stranger is sitting right next to you : "Hi. I will be sitting next to you every time you enter your car. Gimme a copy of ya keys, licence etc. or your car won`t start anymore.". The stranger has the same family name like someone you know for causing nothing than trouble.

Would you get the car if it was advertised ?

This isn't a car though, it's a digital product, one you pay to obtain a licence to use said game.

You don't own any of these games you're buying, you merely obtain a licence to use them and the companies who DO own said games have legal rights to make adjustments to their products as much as they want.

Why do you think some of us have been against DRM for so long? If Steam/Valve didn't force us to update our games, and let us stick with older builds, a lot of use could of just stuck with the older build of the game. But nope, people have to defend Steam and Denuvo like they're gods lol

Then propose a realistic alternative. Complaining is cathartic and fun, but the value and convenience most people get from using digital storefronts like Steam (which is a form of DRM in itself) far outweighs any pitfalls. Propose a realistic alternative or quit yer whinin'

[Kyller92 AKA Cinos]

Originally posted by Rei Johannes:

I can say that Denuvo anti cheat broke something in my computer, since watch dogs 2 is not launcing anymore, just some error message about kernel modification.

Watch Dogs 2 also uses a Kernel-mode anti-cheat so that's interesting. I wonder if some conflicts could happen here. That would be even more annoying if it's the case. Sadly I don't have WD2 to test this

[Doktor Mandrake]

Originally posted by President Donald Trump:

Originally posted by Doktor Mandrake:

This isn't a car though, it's a digital product, one you pay to obtain a licence to use said game.

You don't own any of these games you're buying, you merely obtain a licence to use them and the companies who DO own said games have legal rights to make adjustments to their products as much as they want.

Why do you think some of us have been against DRM for so long? If Steam/Valve didn't force us to update our games, and let us stick with older builds, a lot of use could of just stuck with the older build of the game. But nope, people have to defend Steam and Denuvo like they're gods lol

Then propose a realistic alternative. Complaining is cathartic and fun, but the value and convenience most people get from using digital storefronts like Steam (which is a form of DRM in itself) far outweighs any pitfalls. Propose a realistic alternative or quit yer whinin'

A realistic alternative would be not to use random and weird analogies to try and get your point across.

If you mean an alternative to Steam/Valve.. Pretty sure there already is one, it's called GOG and if memory serves me right, you can downgrade your games on GOG and have any build you want... unlike valve, who, you know, force us to have the latest build of our games.

And it's also important we stick to facts, because I don't like Denuvo either but when people spread false-information they are only hurting the cause and making the rest of us look like liars as well with no valid reasons to not like the company. Now for me I haven't liked them simply because of preservation of games years down the line, and also not wanting my money to go to some random company.

In terms of things like kernel level and stuff like that though, it's way blown out of proportion, I've even see threads with people obviously thinking it's the anti-tamper they've implemented, literally not knowing what they are even complaining about but just jumping on a bang wagon.

[SuperFly]

Facts: Denuvo's history as SecuROM has secured their existence in bad faith for the consumer.

Cry about it. Take your rootkit home with you.

[Doktor Mandrake]

Originally posted by SuperFly:

Facts: Denuvo's history as SecuROM has secured their existence in bad faith for the consumer.

Cry about it. Take your rootkit home with you.

Are you confusing securom with the sony rootkit scandal?

[Hermann Knallfeiss]

Originally posted by Rei Johannes:

I can say that Denuvo anti cheat broke something in my computer, since watch dogs 2 is not launcing anymore, just some error message about kernel modification.

I would die laughing if this was one copy protecting reacting to the changes made by another one. The game industry - The costumer is our ♥♥♥♥♥. Bend over, please.