How to Make Sure I Don't Get Inadvertently VAC Banned

[Hitman7128]

About a week and a half ago, I installed a mod launcher for Witcher 3 (a game that is 100% single player) because I enjoy modding games as long as it is completely single player because I do not want to ruin anyone else’s experience. However, I was speaking to my friend and he said that if I forget to close the mod launcher, I could get VAC banned. Out of panic, I hastily deleted the mod launcher and scanned my computer for viruses because I was afraid if I opened a VAC protected game in the future, I might forget to close the mod launcher. However, I then began to realize that a couple thousands of people use mods on Cities: Skylines (a popular game on Steam, especially for modding) every day and if they caused VAC bans, there would most likely be warnings on the mod download information.

I know to use common sense when avoiding VAC bans like not using any untrusted device, don’t use SAM, or don’t even download some of those cosmetic modifications. However, I am trying to understand precisely what triggers a VAC ban (besides the obvious cheats) and what does not. While I know that the people who say that they got VAC banned for modding a single player game are trying to cop out, I want to make sure having my Witcher 3 mod launcher open is safe for VAC protected games (because I may forget to close it or something one day if I open up a VAC protected game). Unlike the Witcher 3 mod launcher, I think trainers and other similar programs are the ones that cause problems when it is open while playing a VAC protected game.

Also, I now have a fear that there may be some hidden file in my computer files that could mess with the VAC protected games without me knowing. While this fear may be irrational, I would like to know if there is any way to check for such exe programs.

If you think I am just posting this to cop out because I recently cheated on a VAC protected game, you can check my profile and my recent games (both of which are public) and you will see that absolutely none of the games I have played recently are VAC protected.

In short, my questions are:
- Is having my Witcher 3 mod launcher open safe for VAC protected games?
- Is it just trainers and other similar programs the ones that cause problems when open while playing a VAC protected game?
- How can I make sure there is no hidden file or program that could get me VAC banned or do I have nothing to worry about as long as I don’t download anything shady?

[Deathy]

Probably depends on a lot things, which launcher, which mods idk but I played a few hours of modded fallout 4, new vegas and 3 and I didn't have any problems yet and this was like half a year ago

[J4MESOX4D]

You wont get VAC banned unless you have a known cheat or illicit modification injected into the protected games core file directory or directly hooked to the active process of it. There are lots of scare stories and misconceptions but you wont get banned by cheating in a different game even at the same time. Only if you hook or inject cheats on a VAC protected game will such things be detected.

[Snaggle]

Originally posted by SwordmasterZA:

In short, my questions are:
- Is having my Witcher 3 mod launcher open safe for VAC protected games?
- Is it just trainers and other similar programs the ones that cause problems when open while playing a VAC protected game?
- How can I make sure there is no hidden file or program that could get me VAC banned or do I have nothing to worry about as long as I don’t download anything shady?

1: Yes, it's safe.
2: If those trainers are for different games then you'll be fine
3: There is no tool that will scan for hidden cheats on your PC. If you want to be sure you don't have anything like that then the best thing you can do is reformat your PC and reinstall your OS. The chances of you downloading a trainer/mod for 1 game and then it secretely containing a cheat for a VAC enabled game is really slim, so you should be fine in most cases. But yes always be sure that whatever you're downloading comes from a trusted source.

Originally posted by SwordmasterZA:

don’t use SAM, or don’t even download some of those cosmetic modifications.

SAM doesn't cause VAC bans. And if by cosmetic mods you mean skin/texture packs from websites like gamebanana, then you'll be fine. Just don't use a .exe file to change skins/textures as that can get you VAC banned.

[The Giving One]

Originally posted by SwordmasterZA:

While I know that the people who say that they got VAC banned for modding a single player game are trying to cop out, I want to make sure having my Witcher 3 mod launcher open is safe for VAC protected games (because I may forget to close it or something one day if I open up a VAC protected game).

If they are lying or not is one thing, but it might not be a cop out. All servers are VAC secured by default. So it makes no difference....no cheating whatsoever is the policy.

And the SSA is clear on that.

EDIT............

Originally posted by SwordmasterZA:

If you think I am just posting this to cop out because I recently cheated on a VAC protected game, you can check my profile and my recent games (both of which are public) and you will see that absolutely none of the games I have played recently are VAC protected.

It's not a big deal, but anyone can just delete games then re-add them later, so that's not really proof of anything. Don't get me wrong, as I am not saying you are trying to cop out or anything, just saying that there are easy ways around that.

[Hitman7128]

Originally posted by The Giving One:

If they are lying or not is one thing, but it might not be a cop out. All servers are VAC secured by default. So it makes no difference....no cheating whatsoever is the policy.

And the SSA is clear on that.

I don't understand what argument you are trying to get across here. While all cheating is modding, not all modding is cheating. I am talking about modding Witcher 3, which has no server because it is a single player game. Also, not every server is secured by VAC. The Dark Souls games have a server and none of them have VAC.

Originally posted by The Giving One:

It's not a big deal, but anyone can just delete games then re-add them later, so that's not really proof of anything. Don't get me wrong, as I am not saying you are trying to cop out or anything, just saying that there are easy ways around that.

I know what you are trying to say; my recent activity is not sufficient evidence that I haven't played a VAC game in a considerable amount of time. I could take pictures of each VAC protected game in my library with the Last Played, but that doesn't solve the problem of me proving that I didn't delete any games from my library.

[The Giving One]

Originally posted by SwordmasterZA:

I don't understand what argument you are trying to get across here. While all cheating is modding, not all modding is cheating. I am talking about modding Witcher 3, which has no server because it is a single player game. Also, not every server is secured by VAC. The Dark Souls games have a server and none of them have VAC..

No big deal, as I was just making a clarification from what you said about single player. Yes, you can get VAC banned from only playing single player mode. You said that people saying that were just doing a cop out, so that's not always the case. Just making sure you understand that.

And yes, all VAC protected game servers are VAC secure by default.

[Hitman7128]

Originally posted by The Giving One:

No big deal, as I was just making a clarification from what you said about single player. Yes, you can get VAC banned from only playing single player mode. You said that people saying that were just doing a cop out, so that's not always the case. Just making sure you understand that.

And yes, all VAC protected game servers are VAC secure by default.

I thought you could only get VAC banned if you play a game that has the Valve Anti-Cheat Enabled tag on it. One reason I thought modding in single player doesn't trigger VAC bans is because games like Cities: Skylines and Skyrim have large modding communities and if the mods were known to cause VAC bans, there would be plenty of warnings and stuff like that to prevent players from accidental VAC bans. I don't mean to be rude, but I am still not convinced that you can get VAC banned from only playing single player mode without playing any VAC protected game.

Also, when you said "All servers are VAC secured by default" in post #4, I didn't realize you were referring to VAC protected game servers. My mistake.

[Snaggle]

Let's clear some stuff up here.

You can only be VAC banned if you cheat in a VAC secured game. Modding/cheating or whatever else you do in a non VAC game such as Witcher will not get you VAC banned because it doesn't use the VAC system.

[The Giving One]

Yea, sorry, as you have a point about my comment above. I did not say it had to be a VAC protected game in my example. I am just used to saying "All servers are VAC secure by default" in threads because it's always about VAC already, so good catch, actually. Thanks.

Yes, the game has to be VAC enabled. Also, games like CoD games allow no modifications whatsoever. Any changes to any files in CoD games can earn that account a ban.

So sometimes, modding is cheating, technically. At least where VAC is concerned. Feel free to do a forum search here for "VAC banned from single player" or other relevant terms and you can see that I am not the only one explaining how that works.

The SSA states that using cheats may earn that account a ban. It does not get specific as to those cheats only being used in online multiplayer. It says that cheats may cause the account to be banned in online multiplayer. So that is why I was making that clarification.

Finally, this is very important also, what the good Snaggle said :

Originally posted by Snaggle:

3: There is no tool that will scan for hidden cheats on your PC. If you want to be sure you don't have anything like that then the best thing you can do is reformat your PC and reinstall your OS. The chances of you downloading a trainer/mod for 1 game and then it secretely containing a cheat for a VAC enabled game is really slim, so you should be fine in most cases. But yes always be sure that whatever you're downloading comes from a trusted source.

You are "probably" ok with this tool that you want to use, but unless you wrote the code yourself, you can't be 100% sure of what else it may do.

CS: GO player releases fake hack and purposely gets 3,000+ cheaters VAC banned

https://www.pcgamesn.com/counter-strike-global-offensive/cs-go-player-releases-fake-hack-and-purposely-gets-3000-cheaters-vac-banned

[Hitman7128]

Right. As stated in the original post, I don't plan on modding any game that has a multiplayer feature just because of the risks involved.

But yes I do see your point now about the SSA (Section 4):

"Steam and the Content and Services may include functionality designed to identify software or hardware processes or functionality that may give a player an unfair competitive advantage when playing multiplayer versions of any Content and Services or modifications of Content and Services ("Cheats"). You agree that you will not create Cheats or assist third parties in any way to create or use Cheats."

The last sentence isn't clear whether they refer to singleplayer and multiplayer or just multiplayer.

Also, as for the fake hack, those cheaters who got banned deserve it in my opinion because their intent was to ruin the fun for other players. If it was a fake Witcher 3 mod that gets the player VAC banned, then it isn't really deserved because the player's intent was to mod a singleplayer game and not ruin anyone else's experience.

Lastly, I'm not sure if this is clear but I only want to mod games with no VAC protection at all and that are 100% singleplayer. I think you may have thought that I was planning on modding games like Left 4 Dead 2 which has a singleplayer and a multiplayer mode, but is VAC enabled and that I would get VAC banned even if the mod was solely directed for Left 4 Dead 2 singleplayer mode.

[Snaggle]

Originally posted by SwordmasterZA:

but is VAC enabled and that I would get VAC banned even if the mod was solely directed for Left 4 Dead 2 singleplayer mode.

You are allowed to mod most VAC enabled games. The Call of Duty is the series I know you cannot mod anything. As I said before you can use skin and texture packs, as well as sound files and other mod packs without a ban. But never use a .exe file in these games to get the mod to work.

[The Giving One]

Exactly, as it says in the SSA that it "may" give a player an "unfair competitive advantage when playing multiplayer versions". Even if the player is only using it in single player, it still "may" give that advantage if used in multiplayer.

Yes, I was not at all defending those that got caught with the fake hack example, but my main point was that you need to always download anything from a trusted source, which was what the good Snaggle said in that comment.

Now, what a trusted source is and what an untrusted source is....that's where it gets grey. So you have to be very careful.

Cheats don't necessarily detect as viruses either. In fact, most of them probably don't, unless maybe part of an .exe file. So unless the code can be examimed and the person actually knows what code they are looking for, then there is no way to know for sure.

And of course, if that code was identifiable already anyway, then VAC might already know about it, as VAC only bans for identifiable cheats. The cheats have to be known for sure by VAC to in fact be cheats.

Thanks. Hope anything I said did not appear to get too far off track, but just wanted to clarify some things in case it might help you or others that may see this.

[Hitman7128]

Alright. Thank you to everyone who helped me because this was the first time I attempted to mod a game where everything is saved to an online profile and I wanted to make sure it was a safe. Given that VAC bans are permanent, I wanted to make sure that I don't get one. If I want to spice up my gameplay in Witcher 3, I should just come up with some wacky challenge for myself instead of modding.