Bypass EA Anticheat

Version 1.9.0 broke support for Linux and is forcing Windows users to run EA's kernel level anticheat. This guide shows how to bypass that both on Linux and Windows. (Game files from before the 1.9.0 update are necessary for this to work)

Intro

So, EA like the saints they are caring about the GAMERS, decided adding kernel level anticheat to a mostly singleplayer rally game is beneficial to us (totally). Now this effectively takes away our right to play the game we paid for.

I found a quick way to play the game again on Linux or Windows, bypassing the anticheat at the cost of online features and a little bit of inconvenience.

♥♥♥♥ you EA ;)

You need game files from before version 1.9.0, this guide will not work without them. Any version below that will work. This guide will not tell you how to get the files, if you already updated, you're gonna have to figure it out yourself.

If something is unclear or doesn't work, please let me know, I'll try to help.

2025 update: I've added an alternative workaround mainly to address the "For the first launch go into Online Mode" dialog, but if you don't have this issue you still might want to use it instead.

Alternative workaround

If when trying to launch the game in steam offline mode or while disconnected from the internet you see this window which locks you out of the game, this solution will fix that.

This workaround is more annoying to set up and it likely will break with every game update so it is not the ideal first choice. It also doesn't explain the steps as clearly.

If you aren't doing the alternative workaround, skip all the "Alt:" sections

Alt: Create the appmanifest

Since this option relies on running the game while Steam is online, we need to trick Steam into thinking the game is fully up to date. There are 2 ways to do that, neither of which is particularly great.

The first option is bandwidth intensive and requires ~100GB of free disk space:
Back up your pre-1.9 game files.
Go back to Steam and update the game, if that fails, uninstall it, then install again.
Once the download finishes you can try running the game, but you will likely be prevented by the anticheat.
Now that you have the newest version of the game, Steam created the correct appmanifest for the version.
Delete the game files installed by Steam and replace them with the old files.

The second option is less bandwidth intensive but may be more tedious and is not guaranteed to work:
You need to put all the depot info into the appmanifest to make Steam believe the game is up to date, to do that, go to https://steamdb.info/app/1849250/depots/ There, you can find all the depots sorted from oldest.
Go into your appmanifest_1849250.acf and scroll down to find the last depot which should start with a 7-digit ID, followed by "manifest" and "size". Copy the ID and search for it on the SteamDB page. You will need to put all the depots below it which have a size listed into the appmanifest. Copy the depot ID, and put it in quotation marks under the latest depot, then click on the depot on SteamDB and find the manifest number which is written in bold under the "Files category". Use the same format as all the previous depots, replacing the manifest number with the new one. The "size" line can be omitted and will be filled in by steam, although stating "0" which may (or may not) cause problems later. Repeat for every other missing depot.
Alternatively you can paste my depot list, but i will not be updating it and it will stop working after the next update, and you will need to manually add the missing depots. https://pastebin.com/bwdYi0ir

Once you've done either of these, go into the appmanifest and make sure the "Stateflags" is set to 4 and "AutoUpdateBehavior" is set to 1. Back up the file

After this, complete the "Fixing the executable" section and "Alt: Running the game" section

Tweaking the appmanifest

First you need to find the location of your game's installation, you can do that by clicking on Properties > Installed Files > Browse.

Once you're done, exit Steam completely.



In your file browser, go to the "steamapps" folder on the path and locate "appmanifest_1849250.acf".

Open the file in your text editor. Find "Stateflags" and set the value to 4. Find "BytesToDownload", "BytesDownloaded", "BytesToStage", "BytesStaged" and set their values to 0. Additionally make sure "AutoUpdateBehavior" is set to 1. This will prevent automatic updates breaking the game.


Save the file and back it up somewhere safe. Steam will try to revert the file every time it detects the update, having it backed up will allow you to easily replace the file with the modified one.

Fixing the executable

The game is almost ready to be run, but doing so will result in an error.
To fix this, we simply need to rename the executable to what Steam is expecting.

Go back to the game's install directory, navigate to WRC/Binaries/Win64/ and you will find the WRC.exe executable which launches the game normally. Rename the file to "EAAntiCheat.GameServiceLauncher.exe". This will allow Steam to launch the game like normal and it doesn't break anything once in-game.

Alt: Running the game

Starting the game is much simpler than in the standard workaround but you need to be able to quickly disconnect the internet after launching.
Simply start the game and once the splash screen appears, disconnect from the internet. This needs to be reliable and quick, and cannot be done before the game is launched. Do not reconnect until you quit the game.
I am not entirely sure if this is necessary, but its better to be safe than sorry. Having no internet connection will prevent any EA server communication.

Update procedure:
If you see the update prompt on steam after an update has been made available, you're gonna have to repeat the guide from the beginning, although if possible I recommend using the second method in the case of smaller updates.

Running the game

Steam is constantly checking for updates so running the game normally won't work.

(You need to repeat this process every time you want to play the game)
1. Open Steam
2. Click on Steam > Go Offline...


3. Exit Steam


4. Replace the appmanifest in the steamapps folder with the one you backed up. (Steam probably updated it while online)
5. Open Steam. It will automatically open in offline mode.

You should now be able to play the game. Of course this is not a perfect solution, you're losing moments because they're online only, leaderboards and multiplayer wont work obviously, but other than that the game is perfectly playable.

To return to online mode click Steam again and select "Go Online..."

Conclusion

EA is an awful company and you shouldn't buy anything from them. I certainly won't anymore despite being a NFS fan. Remember to leave a negative review and let them know why you did it. Kernel level anticheat is completely unnecessary, it's intrusive, and it breaks compatibility for Linux users which is especially a big deal ever since the Steam Deck came out. Who asked for anticheat in a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ rally game????? I kind of understand adding anticheat to bf5 way after release because its a competitive shooter, but a racing game where there's no player interaction? Really?

Anyways, hope you enjoy playing the game or whatever is left of it and take care (unless you're an EA exec, I hope both sides of your pillow are warm tonight, ♥♥♥♥ EA)
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[dale guapo]

you saved me hours

[benjydenjy]

How do I do this on an EA app game

[76561198187577298]

Thanks for the guide, EA is so damn woke even their anti cheat is gone woke.

[polymathZZY]

but how can i get the game files before 1.9.0 version? thank u!

[Decs]

are you sure youre in the right directory? if you have the game installed this appmanifest has to be in the steamapps folder where the game is

[kaithegoodguy]

i dont have the "appmanifest_1849250.acf" file