this post was submitted on 20 Feb 2024
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[–] [email protected] 36 points 9 months ago (2 children)

That'd be great. I've had the game for a week or so, and most of that time has been spent playing other things because H2 is completely and literally unplayable with the current server issues.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago

If your outside the usa you can probably avoid the peak times on the weekends, that's how I've been getting into the servers

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

Yeah, I had to put it down since last Sunday, as server keep being full after 20:00 each evening since then.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 9 months ago (9 children)

Off topic. Is the anti cheat as invasive as people make it out to be? I'm no computer wiz but I've stopped playing pvp games with root kits but don't actually know enough. Also anti cheat in a pve game lol.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 9 months ago (1 children)

It rootkits your PC, and some versions have a privelige escalation exploit where an attacker can run any arbitrary code as root.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (3 children)

It rootkits your PC, and some versions have a privelige escalation exploit where an attacker can run any arbitrary code as root.

Hasn't Steam itself had issues with privilege escalation exploits in the past?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago (4 children)

Probably? I'm not sure how that's relevant to what I said though.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago

For some reason FOSS bros don't have any issues with capitalism or security when it comes to Steam, they think Gaben shits gold or something idk. It's weird. Steam is virtually a monopoly and has had security vulnerabilities in the past but they just plug their ears and ignore it.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 9 months ago

Don't get pulled in by this bullshit. Some game is not worth a rootkit. Take back out hardware.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Setting aside that there really shouldn't even be an anticheat in a PvE game (unless progression allows you to unlock items that are real world currency based on which I could see why they'd want to stop people from accessing it without one of their two methods) the concept of a rootkit doesn't equal "software with admin privileges."

A rootkit is a package of different (specifically malicious) programs that are designed to hide themselves from your system.

Is the anticheat designed to be invisible when installed or running? No. Is it designed to specifically be malicious? No. Therefore it's not a rootkit.

There's a difference between software designed for malicious purposes and software that has the ability to be hijacked for a malicious purpose. These two aren't the same and everyone with even a smidgeon of actual IT security knowledge would acknowledge that at the bare minimum which no one in this thread seems to have done yet.

This isn't just semantics, rootkits are defined by their purpose not their permissions. Bunch of script kiddies in this website pretending their ability to install Arch makes them professional Comp Sci degree holders.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 9 months ago

Setting aside that there really shouldn't even be an anticheat in a PvE game (unless progression allows you to unlock items that are real world currency based on which I could see why they'd want to stop people from accessing it without one of their two methods)

I can think of another reason. It's a live service game where it's the community vs the game masters. They want to tell a story within the game and direct us with community challenges. Right now there's a challenge to protect planets from automaton invasions. We lost the first planet, won a few but it's not looking as much of a clearcut victory like the first challenge was. There's a real chance we fail this challenge and maybe that part of their plan?

So what would happen if you let cheaters run amok? Now you can't tell a story where the community fails, because cheaters can guarantee wins. If you make it so hard cheaters can't win you're going to make it completely impossible for the community and that's just not fun. So what can you do to make it fun for the community? Crack down on cheaters.

I just don't see another rational reason to have anticheat. Even the real world currency isn't that useful because it's mostly for buying armors for cosmetic purposes. There's really not much to gain from circumventing the real world currency.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 9 months ago (1 children)

unless progression allows you to unlock items that are real world currency based on which I could see why they'd want to stop people from accessing it without one of their two methods

This is the reason I believe. There's a premium season pass that has some later game unlocks which they probably want to incentivize. That, and there's a meta-game that depends on the community making concerted efforts to progress the story. I'm assuming that they don't want a modder to unbalance that.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

Yeah, it's definitely getting difficult to identify the difference in PvE and PvP from a security and financial standpoint in the modern live service landscape. Games that don't include direct competition still have aspects of them which can be messed up by other people with cheats.

A somewhat similar concept is how easy it is to stop at the space anomaly in NMS and get handed a stack of Starship AI valves that will immediately skip you past early-mid game progression in a lot of gameplay loops. It has nothing to do with paid currency which is why they don't stop it but the idea is similar I guess.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 9 months ago

Yes it is. Its literally a free for all rootkit on your system. Anything you run can exploit it. Its an open invitation to take over your system. The only way I'd run this, would be under linux with proton emulation layer.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I think it's roughly as bad as EAC or Battleye. The big difference is it's by a less known company.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

EAC and Battleye, to my knowledge, demand significantly less access to your system. Because they're made by people who know what they're doing.

Rootkitting the whole computer is basically the "Getting rid of the possum under the porch with dynamite" approach.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago

Bonus point, it doesn’t even work, judging from the videos I’ve seen of people cheating ammo counts or resources

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago

Not really, it opens and scans the PC when you launch the game and then closes itself once you quit the game.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

Off topic to the off topic. OS masterminds out there, does rootkit anti-cheat translates to Linux over Proton? I assume not? If Proton is not originally run as root, it shouldn't be able to elevate its privileges, correct?

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 9 months ago

The server issues were cute for a couple days following their overwhelming success but I would like to be able to play the game I fucking paid for now please

[–] [email protected] 13 points 9 months ago (3 children)

Game won't even launch for me. Just a black screen. Maybe this will fix it? otherwise I'm enjoying the Starship Troopers game, in its stead.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 9 months ago (1 children)

You can get past the black screen by deleting the config file in the game's appdata. After that, it'll launch, you'll apply settings, and you'll get stuck on the "Defrosting Helldiver" screen because you can't access a server, and be stuck with a black screen the next time you launch. I'm having so much fun.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago (2 children)

So glad there's a... Work around...? They got 1 week before I refund I guess.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

~~Steam is allowing refunds even over 2 hours for this game, just fyi~~

Oh man actually take that last comment with a grain of salt, I am seeing conflicting reports on the Steam boards about that today, sorry about that

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Oh man actually take that last comment with a grain of salt, I am seeing conflicting reports on the Steam boards about that today, sorry about that

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

Understood. Thanks for the follow up

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

In the config file under appdata, edit fullscreen flag to false. Its one of the first lines in the file.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago (1 children)

If you let it sit on the black screen, it will eventually let you in. Or to be exact it will eventually display the intro movie and splash screen, you'll probably see servers at capacity there and after some time there you'll eventually get in. Not exactly sure what it's doing on that black screen, but I'm guessing it's trying to talk to some server that's massively overloaded. I spent most of the weekend playing with friends, so I had to suffer through the wait multiple times.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

Hmm. I don't like the waiting. I have about 1.5hrs of playtime before I can get it refunded with ease. I'll just see what state it's in next weekend and refund if it's still iffy.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Black screen is the first boss Servers are full screen second boss

Just have to wait for both

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

I read somewhere that the server issues and the black screen is related

[–] [email protected] 11 points 9 months ago (1 children)

It’s crazy peoples experiences so far, I got to play all week with zero issues, had some issues over the weekend but decided to not queue up to let others join.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

If you look at the Steam player charts for the game you'll see when it's working vs. when it's not. Off-peak it works fine, but right now the player base is ramming up against their temporary player cap for hours at a time on-peak. If you try to connect when there are thousands of others also trying to connect, that's when things go south. That was the case for much of the weekend.

Edit: Here's a chart illustrating what I mean:

In the last 48 hours, player counts hit 400k at about 7pm ~~Eastern~~ UTC and just stayed there for 6-ish hours. That isn't normal, almost all other player count charts show a gradual rise and fall over the course of a day. The devs implemented an artificial cap after they found that their servers bog down when there are too many active players, basically sacrificing the peak time login experience to preserve the in-game experience. If you try to connect while the active player count is pegged, you're essentially joining a swarm of other players who are also trying to connect at the same time. That swarm is likely DOSing some aspect of their own login systems.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

A lot of the player count on steam is users AFK idling so they don't have to get stuck in queue again. My discord friend list is a ton of idle users on Helldivers 2 all day and night

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

Yeah, that's definitely a thing. They need to implement an idle timer. Seems like a low effort feature that would improve the login experience significantly.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (3 children)

I keep watching clips of Helldivers 2 and it looks fun but I don’t understand why I would play it over Deep Rock Galactic, especially when the original Helldivers actually has splitscreen co-op.

So what does this game’s combat bring over Deep Rock Galactic? It seems a lot flatter and less tense.

I really want to see a good YouTube reviewer critically compare them.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

I love all three, but they are quite different in their gameplay. In DRG you choose a class upfront so your role is more defined by this choice, the challenge is mainly about getting your bearings and traversing the terrain, and the mission objectives are (IMO) more involved. In HD2, the challenge is more about surviving against hordes of enemies without killing each other. In DRG, if you shoot somebody you hear a funny voice line, but I don't think I've ever killed a teammate by shooting them. In HD2, this happens all the time.

I don’t understand why I would play it over Deep Rock Galactic, especially when the original Helldivers actually has splitscreen co-op.

I don't see the logical connection here, but you do you. Perhaps worth pointing out, the original Helldivers doesn't have splitscreen but rather shared screen coop -- meaning you can't get separated from your teammates, which is both a feature and a pretty big limitation.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago

I don't think I've ever killed a teammate by shooting them.

Tell me you don't have the Fatboy OC, without telling me you don't have the Fatboy OC.

Rock and Stone!

[–] [email protected] 12 points 9 months ago (3 children)

I've played both games and tbh I wouldn't really compare them, I like them both individually. Helldivers 2 is a lot more focused on combat and fighting overwhelming hoards of enemies. On higher difficulties sometimes stealth or just running away is the best solution because of how absurd the number of enemies are. Its honestly really fun just trying (sometimes in vain) to thin out enemy numbers while protecting an objective. That being said, everyone gets access to cool down based, very powerful orbital abilities that do everything from calling down powerful support weapons to dropping a 500kg bomb on a bunch of enemies. At the moment there are 2 different enemy factions that require pretty different playstyles to overcome as well. Honestly pretty dope game, check out SkillUp on YouTube for a good review of the game.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I have played both DRG and HD2. I think you simply have to play HD2 to answer that question. It might not be for you, but having played both games "a lot flatter and less tense" is how I feel about DRG.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Unplayable right now.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

It is absolutely absurd. There have been a lot of games that aren't polished come out in the last half a decade that got a LOT of flack, but this one cannot be played without a connection to the servers and no one can connect to the servers. I have 15 hours logged and probably 4 of that has actually been playing. The game is by every definition LITERALLY Unplayable.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (5 children)

But when you are able to play it is great. I don't think it's fair to judge it's gameplay from not beiyablento connect due to sever being full. It's a valid complaint about not being able to log in. That being said, I don't really blame the developers because there was no possible way they could have known their game would have been this big.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

Yeah I have 12 and a half hours in the game and most of that has been staring at a black screen. Waiting to see if it'll load

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I saw this game earlier and was interested but the rollout seemed pretty fucked so I'm not touching it.

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