Battlefield 1 gets EA anticheat in September - will be left broken on Steam Deck / Linux

Valve should punish randomly breaking Deck support with refund eligibility :/
Heck, forget the competition I just want my money back :|
Ain't gonna buy anything remotely touching EA anymore. Not once, not twice, they're very dedicated to break decade-old working games (the launcher saga?) too xD

EA has a habit of killing Battlefield games. It was fun while it lasted.

Time to get a refund.


Last edited by officernice on 28 August 2024 at 8:11 am UTC

Heh doesn't affect me.. Battlefield V Battlefield 1 Battlefield 4 was the last good battlefield game..

Spoiler, click me

Actually this really is a bummer.. I've got a few workmates I join for early saturday morning BF1(only time we all have available anymore with kids and all), maybe we'll find another game, but I'm going to miss how it is now.

The closest thing you can do is use something like cloud services such as Geforce Now since it's available there but you'll need a strong network connection. This is what I did when I was close to finishing Battlefield V and my network wasn't the greatest but it was enough to get me through the remaining campaign mode.

I guess that won't happen anytime soon (unless something EXTREMELY BAD happens

Millions of PC's going offline wasn't bad enough? I think the logic many of us are having here is that if Microsoft is successful at kicking those AV vendors out of the kernel, it should have a dominos effect and hit the kernel level anti cheat mob too. If a cybersecurity firm specifically specialising in preventing what happened on July 19 fucked up, there's no reason to believe the anticheat makers won't make the same mistake in the future.

I know very well why i haven't bought any EA games in a long time (well, i have picked up Jedi:Fallen Order for 5 bucks to give them a chance after so many years - and still regretted it due to the EA-App bullshit).

And time and again, this steaming pile of shit of a company proves me right and provides even MORE reasons why to avoid them at all costs...it's almost comical at this point...

When Apex Legends gets EA anticheat, everything will come to a head. Kind of interested to see what happens.

Let's just hope Microsoft end up locking them out of kernel access, just to make this a complete waste of time and money, for EA.

I guess that won't happen anytime soon (unless something EXTREMELY BAD happens, like a massive exploit and/or data breach), since -on purpose or not-, this allows M$ to gatekeep gaming and prevent desktop Linux and Linux-based handhelds to reach their maximum potential.

Unfortunately, you are right about that. It's probably the only advantage that Microsoft still got over Linux, in gaming. They will probably cling to it as long as possible even if giving kernel access to a game, which is absolutely not an essential service, doesn't make sense.

And this is why you should not rent a game (which is what you do when purchase anything on steam).

And this is why you should not rent a game (which is what you do when purchase anything on steam).

Please explain because, from my point of view, you will get this forced update, no matter where you bought the game, else you will get blocked from playing the game. It's not a renting or Steam issue, it's a live service game issue.


Last edited by Mohandevir on 28 August 2024 at 12:59 pm UTC

Unfortunately, you are right about that. It's probably the only advantage that Microsoft still got over Linux, in gaming.

It's not the only advantage. They've also got a subscription service, their own console line, and hundreds of game studios (including the - by far - largest ever gaming industry acquisition) to lock people into Windows-only stuff, as well as being the default on essentially every computer people might buy.

They will probably cling to it as long as possible even if giving kernel access to a game, which is absolutely not an essential service, doesn't make sense.

That was such a terrible solution. The proper response to "Microsoft's AV gets special access to the kernel that other AVs don't" isn't "everyone gets to futz with the kernel," it's "Microsoft's AV doesn't get to futz with the kernel, either."

It's not the only advantage. They've also got a subscription service, their own console line, and hundreds of game studios (including the - by far - largest ever gaming industry acquisition)

Yeah ok. We were talking about OS only, technologically speaking, but yeah, in a business sense, MS is much bigger than that. Still, MS games are on Steam and are quite nearly all playable on the Steam Deck/Linux Desktop, last time I checked? This is what we were talking about.

Edit:

Unfortunately, you are right about that. It's probably the only advantage that Microsoft still got over Linux, in gaming.

Bad wording from my part, I should have used "Windows" instead of "Microsoft", I admit. My bad.


Last edited by Mohandevir on 28 August 2024 at 1:30 pm UTC

Yeah ok. We were talking about OS only, technologically speaking, but yeah, in a business sense, MS is much bigger than that. Still, MS games are on Steam and are quite nearly all playable on the Steam Deck, last time I checked? This is what we were talking about.

For now.

After they've got their iOS and Android stores to tie in with their DirectX box store and their Windows store, seeded with the biggest games in the industry, with an Epic-matching publisher cut, everyone who buys a computer already having the Microsoft store and a Microsoft account, and Microsoft having all the money? Who can say for sure? Valve feared that outcome, which is why they invested in Linux in the first place. If the battle between Microsoft and Valve over PC gaming does kick off there's no guarantee that Linux gamers will still have access to all the new games, anti-cheat or not.

Bad wording from my part, I should have used "Windows" instead of "Microsoft", I admit. My bad.

On the happy side, Linux has advantages over Windows for gaming. Games can run better on Linux even when they aren't built, or optimised, or tested, for Linux, and it's much easier to put together a controller-friendly interface using the abstractions of the Linux ecosystem than it is to do the same in the integrated Windows ecosystem.


Last edited by CatKiller on 28 August 2024 at 1:45 pm UTC

After they've got their iOS and Android stores to tie in with their DirectX box store and their Windows store, seeded with the biggest games in the industry... Everyone who buys a computer already having the Microsoft store and a Microsoft account

Please! Stop! I'm going to throw up!


Last edited by Mohandevir on 28 August 2024 at 1:56 pm UTC

Bad wording from my part, I should have used "Windows" instead of "Microsoft", I admit. My bad.

On the happy side, Linux has advantages over Windows for gaming. Games can run better on Linux even when they aren't built, or optimised, or tested, for Linux, and it's much easier to put together a controller-friendly interface using the abstractions of the Linux ecosystem than it is to do the same in the integrated Windows ecosystem.

...And there is another thing to take into account, I do not have statistics to back this, but many PC gamers are DIY builders. Windows doesn't come preinstalled on these PC. If Valve releases a desktop version of SteamOS, it might lure a couple of them to our side. It's already begun.


Last edited by Mohandevir on 28 August 2024 at 2:25 pm UTC

There is another thing to take into account, though. I do not have statistics to back this, but many PC gamers are DIY builders. Windows doesn't come preinstalled on these PC. If Valve releases a desktop version of SteamOS, it might lure a couple of them to our side. It's already begun.

Yeah, I don't have statistics either, but the impression that I get is that fewer gamers DIY build than they used to: back in the day, building your own machine, tweaking settings and config files, and doing all sorts of fiddling to get the maximum out of it was part-and-parcel of PC gaming; my understanding is that that kind of knowledge and experimentation is much less prevalent amongst gamers these days, which might mean that DIY building is also less prevalent.

But, yeah, if people are in a position to choose their OS (because they're going to have to install something regardless) then some may well choose Linux - especially if they're chafing from things like the enforced Microsoft account.

It's not quite the same, but Isonzo is a good alternative to BF1. I've been playing it for the past few weeks (having ditched EA's multiplayer titles months ago). It doesn't have vehicles and is more of a hardcore shooter than Battlefield 1, but it scratches a very similar itch and has a native Linux build.


Last edited by CountVlad on 28 August 2024 at 3:24 pm UTC

That was such a terrible solution. The proper response to "Microsoft's AV gets special access to the kernel that other AVs don't" isn't "everyone gets to futz with the kernel," it's "Microsoft's AV doesn't get to futz with the kernel, either."

And you know Microsoft won't just give that up, so we're back to square one here. So frustrating.

Let's just hope Microsoft end up locking them out of kernel access, just to make this a complete waste of time and money, for EA.

Yeah, it's funny how we have pretty safe operating systems by moderns standards for mobile devices, but people still install this kind (kernel-mode [...]) of software on their PC's.

Anyway, I'm personally pretty chill about it. Another game to uninstall, more space for others. I already own more games than I will ever be able to play in my life, so this news doesn't bother me much.


Last edited by Plintslîcho on 29 August 2024 at 5:51 pm UTC

As I understand, there is a reason to do this kind of anticheat, because we cannot check all think. Some calculations must been done on client side, like collision checking, right? But why do not check, for example 1/10000 * number of players for 20 minutes and then roll other player set to check? There is not reason to check every player. If we ban some players, who cheat and there no option for player to check if they are checking, players will stop cheating.

What do you think?