Gaming on Linux without cheating

pjmlp

Looking at those requirements, I doubt this will ever get that much adoption.

tfrancisl

Many, many issues with the requirements here that essentially make this unusable for most Linux users. I really hope they don't force current EAC games to upgrade. I would also love to see companies like this actual give behavior-based AC the college try before resorting to shipping spyware. > Signed Kernel and Kernel modules Probably the most egregious. Why am I not allowed to compile my own kernel? Why do I have to get a kernel, and modules, from specific, approved, vendors? > TPM 2.0, Secure Boot, Measured Boot Also all impractical for most linux users. > IOMMU You may not spy on my memory, thank you very much. What's stopping Epic from taking snapshots and phoning home? > Kernel Lockdown Integrity mode at boot time Preventing root from doing root things for the sake of it. I mean, maybe this makes sense. They're also trying really hard to make Linux distros that "don't support this" look like the bad guys. They encourage distro maintainers to reach out to work together on the requirements, but many distros are effectively excluded by default (Arch, Gentoo, NixOS, which I believe have most of the gamers, at least in the online spaces I chat in).

Surac

un acc epti cal

tancop

I like that they went with the obvious best solution, combining all the existing security features instead of making a closed source kernel module. I thought about this problem many times ever since I first used Proton, and I wouldn't have implemented it any other way. Doing it this way is strictly more private and secure than any anti-cheat on Windows, even the ones with no kernel access that run as administrator. The systemd service runs as a normal user, only when you're playing a game and you can verify that with one command. The same lockdown mode that blocks cheats also prevents EAC from reading arbitrary process memory. I'm just waiting to see what distros Epic will whitelist next. I hope SteamOS gets support day one when the official desktop ISO comes out.

Retr0id

Very exciting, I've been looking for a fun target to demo my attestation bypass techniques against.

aniceperson

the era of dual booting linux signed and linux unsigned has started...

ashpool37

The quiet part needs to be said out loud: ensuring "fairness" in online games and letting clients meaningfully remain in control over their hardware and software are two fundamentally incompatible goals . One goal puts the interests of the game publisher and community first, the other upholds the individual clients' interests. Ideally there should be little conflict between the two, however, modern online games require running sophisticated software locally that encapsulates core game logic. The fairness (compliance) goal demands that this software runs correctly and only conveys information and processes input as designed. The user control (freedom) goal demands that the individual user is allowed to run and modify any software as they see fit, including any game software, meaning that he or she must be able to tamper with the game software behaviour to gain advantage. Now remember that online gaming is an extremely low-trust environment. Competitive online gaming is often supposed to emulate sportsmanship, thus widespread trust in the games' rules is essential so that players continue to participate. At the same time, building that trust dictates enforcing compliance down to the level of each individual user's hardware. So if you want to participate, you must be willing to give up ultimate control over your hardware and software, even if you believe it's only temporary. All of this might sound very obvious, tautological even. However, lots of comments on this sound like they come from a place of unawareness of this contradiction. More people need to see that this is not a tech incompatibility issue, but rather a more serious values clash . Linux folks are (still) mostly the ones who prefer more freedom and control over their software, and competitive online gaming asks that they give that up. For a lot of people this defeats the purpose of using Linux in the first place.

spl757

Vote with your wallet peeps

trashface

> We will bring the level of protection much closer to par with Windows, in the very near-term, using existing Linux features including signed kernel, signed kernel modules, and secure boot with attestation. Yeah fuck that and fuck them for suggesting it. Do they even understand what running linux means?