Doom Eternal adds ring 0 access Denuvo Anti Cheat, screwing all Proton users over

The reports are already coming in of the game failing to launch on Proton. This won’t ever be fixed because its a KERNEL ring 0 level anti-cheat, and Proton prefers userspace DRM like standard Denuvo Anti-Tamper. https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/issues/3773#issuecomment-628907497

VFIO reports aren’t in yet, but since this is also a ring 0 anti cheat exactly like Valorant, this doesn’t bode well. Proton and Wine were basically half a step forward, 1 million steps back. It’s also a HUGE security risk.

Need reports of this with VFIO people as soon as you’re able to sacrifice a machine. Remember, it’s ring 0, so sandbox that stuff (even physically) like crazy. Valorant though doesn’t work in a VM so I don’t have good hopes for this.

In the meantime, if you’re angry, tweet about it using #FCKDRM and maybe GoG will listen.

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I dont think people care about stopping cheaters that much

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Exactly, but why are all these new Anti-Cheats Ring 0?!? Userspace is fine for something like Overwatch and CS:GO and PUBG.

This is genuinely creating a security risk.

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I think its more that hacking is more prevalent then before (keeps growing) but honestly who cares its a game I cant say I run into that many generally. Just have things like Overwatch in CS:GO where you get people to judge suspected hackers that have beaten VAC.

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If they’re so paranoid, FPS shooters should honestly run entirely on the cloud. But competitive players honestly can’t accept that and a majority of cheaters are in Asia. There could be unintended consequences of this if it’s abused. Valorant had a bug bounty of $100,000, but if it’s this level, it shouldn’t even exist. It should remain userspace.

Eh maybe, for sure heavier % but its deff not just them

The baffling thing is why they escalated to Ring 0, and they worked on it knowing it has access to everything, Valorant AND Denuvo.

Riot Games has a good presence in China with LoL, but what made Denuvo do the same? Why did they chose something extremely invasive around the same time Riot did?

I don’t have Twitter to protest, but I’ll do my part by not buying Doom Eternal.

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Just reach out to GoG. If they get the game eventually it’s gonna be the for the best.

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Oh man, I’ll need to check later today. If it does not work anymore I hope I’m not too late for a refund. And I didn’t beat it yet, would be a shame.

Maybe in the future, but right now for competitive shooters ping and latency are reasons why it isn’t possible in the current moment.

I was initially confused about needing kernel level access for a single player game, but I looked at the mode that needed it. It’s the online mode called Battlemode,


I kinda get why they needed it for online play, because if you don’t have vac + overwatch, you get hackers.

From what I have heard from my brother who plays a lot of CS:GO and the gdc lecture, CS:GO pre overwatch hacking was really bad. The hacking in comp got so bad that people just went to play in alternative competitive ladders (faceIt and ESEA)
Also they say you need to install it to play in the online mode.

In the wording of the patch notes, it sounds like if you want to play the 2v1 mode, you need the anticheat installed.

My assumption is that this is used to prevent the online from becoming gta online. I wonder if the results of the match are used to reward in game currency. Thus they are using heavy handed cheats. I don’t play the game so I can’t really comment on it

Also for those curious about the patch notes

Also isn’t this the same game that got launched without an anticheat by “accident”
https://gbatemp.net/threads/it-looks-like-bethesda-leaked-a-drm-free-version-of-doom-eternal.560379/

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Anticheat developers use ring 0 because they hear the voice of G0D

Audio in vid is NSFW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pueh5IcRi2U

Wait… what?

HOW THE FUCK is this permitted?

Microsoft don’t even want DRIVERS in the kernel. If Bethesda were to try that on macOS Apple would tell them to get fucked.

If someone writes an exploit for Denuvo, they’re going to own a lot of machines.

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It’s one thing to add in anti-cheat to a multiplayer only game like overwatch or even just the multiplayer portion
But to be critical to run the game even if you only want to play single player is a little much

Especially if it’s a ring 0 anti cheat.

Yup, it’s the same as Valorant’s Anti Cheat. Valorant’s Anti Cheat won’t work in a VM.

So I searched about this and someone made a post on r/pcmasterrace
21 votes and 4 comments so far on Reddit
Apparently denouvo isn’t letting people start the single player mode.

This is a handy suggestion if you haven’t updated yet

I think the best thing to do right now, for anyone trying to play single player is to pause the update and wait for a fix on denovo anticheat.

I think I am going to wait and see if the devs made a mistake trying to enforce the anticheat on single player mode, before getting my fire and pitchforks

There won’t be a fix. It’s the flagship launch title for Denuvo Anti Cheat, and they won’t gimp or remove it because it works on Windows, while installing what’s basically a rootkit.

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That’s a real bummer.

I assume that the single player mode will get fixxed as from the dev blog, the wording sounded as if the anticheat was only required for multiplayer so I wouldn’t lose all hope just yet.
If they made another annoucement confirming single player requires the anti cheat, then I’d give up and see if I could get a refund (if not, then I would just uninstall the game and wait until they remove it like doom 2016).

Though I am speaking as a hypothetical user. I guess I am not as riled up since I don’t own it nor do I play with proton either.

If you want them to avoid using the anticheat there are probably a couple good options.

  1. Send a ticket
  2. Vote with your wallet
  3. Spread the news, and let people know why they should be concerned

By the looks of this post it seems you already did all 3 options, so I guess the best thing to do now is to wait and see

Denovo has a history of getting their stuff broken into, so having the kernel access is pretty worrying.

On a different note, I am also going to keep linking this article for those interested in why kernel anticheats exist. The article uses vanguard, but I figure it also applies to denovo as well

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THIS. This is exactly why ring 0 access is so dangerous.

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