VAC vs BattlEye vs EasyAntiCheat (discussing with other anti cheat "competitors")

[Jelly Donut]

So from what I know, VAC is more based on Valve's system and uses scan packets to send and receive the memory instances and processes of the system to Valve's Servers, rather than more software based cheat systems like BattlEye and EasyAntiCheat (I am not sure how exactly they work either but they use an Exe/executable file, Valve prob integrates it into the supported games)

Or maybe its something else, of course no Valve Employee is gonna tell me how VAC exactly works here, but I am just curious a bit on how it works compared to other Anti Cheat solutions.

VAC did come a long way though, from VAC1 to VAC2 and being able to easily detect more cheats.

So other than VAC's tricky nature of delayed detection as a way to make cheat makers second guess themselves, what more does VAC does than the "competitors"?

[ともり]

vacnet exists. also vac doesn't eat ram/CPU like BE or EAC.

[Flareon]

At least VAC doesn't require admin permission on my PC.

[Jelly Donut]

Originally posted by Umbreon:

At least VAC doesn't require admin permission on my PC.

That's kinda true :P

[Cathulhu]

Well, that's what the Steam Service is for. Remember needing Admin rights when installing Steam? That was required to install the Steam Service with admin rights.
So, Steam has hidden it better than others, but they still need and have it.

[Flareon]

A service isn't a full fleshed out program, that runs at 24/7 on my PC, if I wouldn't stop it.

[Cathulhu]

Yes and no. But the service runs with admin rights and can launch processes with admin rights. Like VAC.

[ReBoot]

Originally posted by Umbreon:

A service isn't a full fleshed out program, that runs at 24/7 on my PC, if I wouldn't stop it.

A Service is a fully fleshed-out program. It lacking a WinMain entry point doesn't mean its not a program. Or wait, the Steam Service has that as well!
The saving grace, so to say, is that it only runs when Steam is running. It doesn't run 24/7 (unlike bay written software like Punkbuster), it runs only as long as it's needed. But its as fleshed-out as Steam.exe is.

[Jelly Donut]

So.. VAC doesn’t run as an executable but with Steam when it’s run, more like a service?

[ReBoot]

Originally posted by No Love Potions!!!:

So.. VAC doesn’t run as an executable but with Steam when it’s run, more like a service?

The Steam service, which services, among other things, VAC, is literally a service. This service has an own executable file from which it runs.

[Jelly Donut]

Originally posted by ReBoot:

Originally posted by No Love Potions!!!:

So.. VAC doesn’t run as an executable but with Steam when it’s run, more like a service?

The Steam service, which services, among other things, VAC, is literally a service. This service has an own executable file from which it runs.

I see....

But compared to "VAC Service" to software based cheats like BattlEye.exe or EasyAntiCheat.exe, how are they kinda "different" (other than the reasons just explained)

[Cathulhu]

As the old saying goes, the devil is in the detail. Which is not openly documented as that would only help developers of cheats.
They work rather similar.

[ReBoot]

Originally posted by No Love Potions!!!:

Originally posted by ReBoot:

The Steam service, which services, among other things, VAC, is literally a service. This service has an own executable file from which it runs.

I see....

But compared to "VAC Service" to software based cheats like BattlEye.exe or EasyAntiCheat.exe, how are they kinda "different" (other than the reasons just explained)

I can draw a comparison to Punknister which requires two services opposed to one (which already doesn't speak positively of the developers' competence) and needs to run upon system start (which speak overly negatively of said competence). Everything else I personally can say would be rumors. Such as, I've heard that EAC has rootkit'ish capabilities which would be a great reason not to buy any game using EAC.

[C²C^Guyver |NZB|]

As you said in your initial post, no one is going to tell you exactly how it works.....much less any Valve employee. We know basics, however, we are users just like you. VAC has been around since 2002 and it still works. The 24/7 traffic that this forum gets, is proof of that. VAC is one of the best anti-cheats. It wouldn't have lasted 17 years if it wasn't.