Why people don't like Denuvo

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Neo Black Jun 3, 2023 @ 2:34am

From what I know Denuvo is an anti-tampering, a software made to avoid people messing up with programs. It makes the game harder to crack but also make hard to mod.
From my point of view there's nothing wrong with it and I don't think people would be so fired up just because a game don't allow mods, there must be another reason! I think I read some review pointing to a loss of performance but I'm pretty sure non of the game I own use Denuvo so I can't say.
I'd like to ask people that had experience with this software simply what's wrong with it, what's the problem, why the fuss?

Last edited by Neo Black; Jun 3, 2023 @ 2:38am

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Originally posted by lukaself:

Originally posted by Neo Black:
Originally posted by Ganger:
I would even go as far to say most gamer's don't even have a clue on what denuvo does or doesn't do but are simply jumping on the bandwagon of hate.
That's why I created the post. There are probably billion of posts like this but I need to point out my ignorancy on the subject and recive exact direct answer for my specific question.

The Steam forums aren't the best of place for unbiased discourse and information. People have many opinions and beliefs here. Denuvo isn't the worst in terms of business practices but full disclosure, I consider Denuvo an inconvenience for users and a waste of resources for developers.

The effects of Denuvo have been widely documented: Denuvo anti-tamper adds limits to how you can use the products, installation limits, online requirement, dependency to a third party server and domain as well as encryption, obfuscation and running the executable through a VM which causes incompatibilities and diminished performance on some implementations. It makes a small yet pivotal subset of mods such as script extenders more complicated to make. It has the ability to occasionally block users from enjoying their purchases temporarily when the undisclosed conditions aren't met and permanently when the servers, the company or the publisher close their doors.

This resulted in large scale issues and outages such as Unplayable games, performance issues and incompatibilities. Add to this the problems it causes with the Steam deck due to limiting hardware switches to 5 a day. It also causes occasional individual issues at random.
You can see it happening on video here: Can't play MH:Rise because of DRM (live in front of 60k viewers)[clips.twitch.tv]

I hope this answers your question in a sufficiently direct manner. You may refer to https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Denuvo#Denuvo_Anti-Tamper for more unbiased information about the technical side of that middleware.

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Showing 1-15 of 42 comments

Faster With Feeling Jun 3, 2023 @ 2:36am

I bet this thread lasts more then 4 pages

Ulfrinn Jun 3, 2023 @ 2:37am

It's proven to reduce performance. That's why. It's impossible to run additional code, and running that additional code not influence performance.

sleeps Jun 3, 2023 @ 2:57am

it just invasive and a bit of a hog

Neo Black Jun 3, 2023 @ 2:59am

Originally posted by sleeps:
it just invasive and a bit of a hog

Invasive in what way? For example, does it collect data or mess with you settings?

superslayer Jun 3, 2023 @ 3:19am

I've heard it messes with performance and doesn't it limit how many downloads one can have of the game. Like you can download on three pcs and no more, if you buy a fourth you need to buy a new copy, which I find stingy and intrusive to digital rights.

オナニー Jun 3, 2023 @ 3:47am

Sure just run things in my background tasks. Collect any and all my data, turn on my webcam if they want to really ensure Im not a sailing pirate. Everyone has intel i69's and ryzen 420x3d now anyways so no performance drops.

If the game in the future ends up unplayable because drm didnt function its my fault for playing an old game anyways

Sir Dookface McFerretballs Jun 3, 2023 @ 4:18am

Before the "corpo-bros" people start defending it, watch this video.

https://youtu.be/1VpWKwIjwLk

It literally DOES hurt performance and cause stuttering compared to the same title with Denuvo removed.

TWPanda77 Jun 3, 2023 @ 4:26am

I do not care if it used or not. It has never caused any issues in the games that I play so my level of indifference will surely trigger the angry gamer gang.

Neo Black Jun 3, 2023 @ 4:42am

Originally posted by Sir Dookface McFerretballs:
Before the "corpo-bros" people start defending it, watch this video.

https://youtu.be/1VpWKwIjwLk

It literally DOES hurt performance and cause stuttering compared to the same title with Denuvo removed. :SafeForWork:

I can clearly see the game stuttering. This is very bad for game that require high precision. Not to mention Steam alrady use a not negligible amount of resource, not enought to cause problem but still it takes its part, then there's the AV (more or less depends on wich kind). I don't really understand why they don't find a way to fix this usage. Also isn't a code check at the lauch enough? Like Dark Souls used to have an anti code injection trough remote control or something like that.

Neo Black Jun 3, 2023 @ 4:43am

Originally posted by TWPanda77:
I do not care if it used or not. It has never caused any issues in the games that I play so my level of indifference will surely trigger the angry gamer gang.

Can I ask your specs and what game with Denuvo included you played?

#10

Neo Black Jun 3, 2023 @ 4:47am

Originally posted by Mitsubishi FTO GP VerR 2.0 V6 NA:
Sure just run things in my background tasks. Collect any and all my data, turn on my webcam if they want to really ensure Im not a sailing pirate. Everyone has intel i69's and ryzen 420x3d now anyways so no performance drops.

If the game in the future ends up unplayable because drm didnt function its my fault for playing an old game anyways

Unfortunately a good processor isn't enough to prevent performance loss, I think there will be a marginal amout of utent in combination with some games (even recents) that will have issue even with a 3060/6600 GPU + 12th Gen Intel/3rd Gen AMD CPU. Gotta be honest, I may be wrong.

#11

Plaid Jun 3, 2023 @ 4:49am

Off the top, I noticed some big differences with MadMax and Prey

#12

AD Jun 3, 2023 @ 4:50am

I don't like DRM because it doesn't do anything but cause problems for me as a gamer (performance is the obvious one). Plus I don't like the idea of not being able to play a game because the company that made the game didn´t bother with prolonging the DRM thing (this has happened). Granted, those games are probably older by then, but I don't think we should be locked out of older titles.

Also some DRMs are kernel level and I don´t like sticking things like this in the kernel.

Last edited by AD; Jun 3, 2023 @ 4:53am

#13

Neo Black Jun 3, 2023 @ 4:51am

Originally posted by AD:
I don't like DRM because it doesn't do anything but cause problems for me as a gamer. Plus I don't like the idea of not being able to play a game because the company that made the game didn´t bother with prolonging the DRM thing (this has happened). Granted, those games are probably older by then, but I don't think we should be locked out of older titles.

So what happen if they don't prolong the DRM? The game stops to work?

#14

AD Jun 3, 2023 @ 4:53am

Originally posted by Neo Black:
Originally posted by AD:
I don't like DRM because it doesn't do anything but cause problems for me as a gamer. Plus I don't like the idea of not being able to play a game because the company that made the game didn´t bother with prolonging the DRM thing (this has happened). Granted, those games are probably older by then, but I don't think we should be locked out of older titles.
So what happen if they don't prolong the DRM? The game stops to work?

Yep. Think there was some old Tron game that you suddenly couldn't play for this reason, even if your purchased it legally and all that.

#15

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Date Posted: Jun 3, 2023 @ 2:34am

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