Denuvo
From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
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| Website | |
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| https://irdeto.com/denuvo | |
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| Irdeto | |
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Denuvo Software Solutions GmbH is an Austrian company formed through the management buyout of Sony DADC DigitalWorks, the creators of SecuROM. After the management buyout Denuvo Software Solutions and Sony DADC continued to have a close working relationship with the latter acting as a reselling partner of the former. Some games making use of the Denuvo Anti-Tamper product will therefore include mentions of this relationship in their EULAs, and refer to the product as one by Sony DADC or similar.[1] In early 2018, Denuvo Software Solutions was acquired by Irdeto.
Denuvo Anti-Cheat
Being listed on the official website since at least January 2017, this product was in development over the next three years before it would go live in May 2020.[2]
In August 2018, Irdeto announced the Anti-Cheat technology would soon launch as a full end-to-end solution. The following year, on 20 March 2019, a launch announcement was made about the new product. According to the announcement, Denuvo Anti-Cheat combines machine learning of game agnostic process metrics with the latest hardware security features[3] offered by Intel and AMD to detect and prevent cheating. The protection supposedly operates on the binary, not the source code, and integrates directly into the product build process, and also does not interfere with debuggers, instrumentation tools, or profilers, nor does it require additional APIs or SDKs to implement. Since it uses hardware-backed security, the protection goes beyond that which is offered by simple Windows kernel-mode drivers.
On May 14, 2020 the anti-cheat product launched alongside the first update of Doom Eternal to protect its 'battlemode' multiplayer mode,[4] and was met with a negative community response[5][6][7] when it was discovered to rely on an kernel-level driver and introduced incompatibility with Proton, a compatibility tool used to allow Windows-based games to be played on Linux. Following the negative response, Denuvo responded to enquiries made by TechRaptor to explain that while they do not believe in kernel-level anti-cheat, the use of a kernel-level driver is necessary for the product to take advantage of modern hardware-backed security. On the subject of Proton, Denuvo replied to be tracking the issue immediately after launch as well as being committed to delivering a fix soon.[8]
The company also described how their approach differed from other anti-cheat technologies in that they take what they describe to be a "read only" approach where the anti-cheat protection does not actively block any cheats or applications but only detects and reports. This detection as well as data collection was further stated to not be performed at all outside of competitive multiplayer matches. Users were stated to be free to cheat, mod, and hook their games, but if done maliciously in a competitive multiplayer match they would be banned from online services.[8]
On May 20, 2020 Marty Stratton, executive producer for Doom Eternal, announced the removal of the anti-cheat component from the game, but noted that the removal was "not based on the quality of the Denuvo Anti-Cheat solution" and that their development team needed to "re-evaluate [their] approach to anti-cheat integration" to, at a minimum, "consider giving campaign-only players the ability to play without anti-cheat software installed, as well as ensure the overall timing of any anti-cheat integration better aligns with player expectations around clear initiatives – ranked or competitive play – where demand for anti-cheat is far greater."[9]
Technical information
Denuvo Anti-Cheat relies on two Windows services for its functionality:
- Denuvo Anti-Cheat is a kernel driver service responsible for the anti-cheat protection used by games.[10]
- Denuvo Anti-Cheat Update Service is a background service responsible for keeping the anti-cheat component up-to-date.
Both of these services are manually started alongside the games that needs them, and can at any point be uninstalled through the Programs and Features list of Windows.
Denuvo Anti-Tamper
Flowchart over launch procedure for Steam titles.
Denuvo Anti-Tamper is the current de-facto standard for securing DRM schemes on modern titles. Since its original release back in 2014, it has been used to strengthen the DRM of over 150 titles; some with great success, others less so. At its core, it uses various obfuscation techniques, such as unique hardware-based code paths, virtualization, and more, to make tampering with the account-based DRM protection of a game (e.g. Epic Games Launcher, Microsoft Store, EA app, Steam, or Ubisoft Connect) harder in an attempt to delay piracy. It is embedded in the executable of the game, and only stores licensing data (the "offline token" used to launch the game) separately on the storage drive. This licensing data is typically a couple of kilobytes in size, and is (re)created when the system environment changes enough to necessitate a new token.
A consequence of its use of unique hardware-based code paths, Denuvo Anti-Tamper requires an online connection periodically as the system environment of the operating system changes with new hardware and/or Windows updates. While everything that might invalidate the token stored on the storage drive is not fully known, this happens frequently enough for the anti-tamper protection to be described as requiring a periodic online connection every fortnight or so. This is generally not an issue or hindrance for those with an always present online connection, but can be an annoyance for people primarily using roaming data. Players gaming offline for a long period of time can also suffer if proper preparations are not made in advance to ensure the validity of the offline token. The lack of transparency on storefronts regarding this process from Denuvo Anti-Tamper is a hindrance for potential purchasers, as it means people might not be aware of its presence and periodic online requirement before purchasing a game that, after purchase, the purchaser may find unplayable when an online connection is unavailable.
- Limited to five daily activations per game, which resets 24 hours after the first activation.
- Capable of offline token renewal through a support page (e.g. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain) if supported by the platform. EA app and Ubisoft Connect titles do not support this as their token generation is handled within the platforms respective internal activation process where offline is not an option.
Common file characteristics
Denuvo Anti-Tamper protected games share some common file characteristics:
- For most non-Unity games, there should be one or more large executable (
*.exe) or library (*.dll) file. The size typically ranged from ~80-150M for some old versions and >200M for new versions.
- For Unity games, there can be several protection types:
- If the game compiles its own Unity version, it may use the Anti-Tamper protection in main executable (e.g. Inside).
- If the game uses vanilla Unity with Mono, then some use an Anti-Tamper protected plugin in plugin folder (e.g. Yesterday Origins) while others use the Anti-Tamper's precompile mode (a very large
Native.dll, similar to IL2CPP, e.g. Fe). - If the game uses vanilla Unity with IL2CPP, then most protect the generated IL2CPP dll file (e.g. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown).
- When integrated with Ubisoft Connect and EA app DRM, there should also be
dbdata.dll.
Controversy
- Due to Denuvo Anti-Tamper having seen year-long successes there have been quite a lot of fear, uncertainty, and doubt spread around it as a product. On top of this, the lack of transparency from Denuvo as well as the lack of proper in-depth analysis of its effect from third-parties have also contributed to the speculations and misleading reports spread around online.
- Because of how Denuvo Anti-Tamper works and its functions are unknown to the average consumer, users tend to be quick to blame it for issues that is most likely caused by something else entirely.
- This section strives to be more focused on specific controversies surrounding Denuvo Anti-Tamper. For general DRM controversies, please see the main DRM article.
Examples of controversies:
- Requires a persistent online connection / adds an always online requirement to games.
- This has been found false multiple times as the protection only has a periodic online requirement when the offline token is found invalid and needs to be recreated.
- In the case of Sonic Mania's "always online requirement" on release date, it was discovered to be caused by a bug due to the developers' incorrect use of the Steam API, and could be fixed without ever tampering with the anti-tamper protection of the game.[11]
- Requires an online connection at the first launch of a game, after a game update or some Windows updates, or when changing specific hardware.
- This happens frequently enough for the anti-tamper protection to be described as requiring a periodic online connection every fortnight or so.
- This is generally not an issue or hindrance for those with an always present online connection, but can be an annoyance for people primarily using roaming data. Players gaming offline for a long period of time can also suffer if proper preparations are not made in advance to ensure the validity of the offline token.
- The lack of transparency on storefronts regarding this process from Denuvo Anti-Tamper is a hindrance for potential purchasers, as it means people might not be aware of its presence and periodic online requirement before purchasing a game that, after purchase, the purchaser may find unplayable when an online connection is unavailable.
- Server outages will prevent renewals of the offline token for new and some returning players, thereby preventing play until the outage has been solved.
- The only players capable of continuing to play the game during an outage are those with a valid offline token on their systems already.
- On a few occasions the service have also experienced partial service outages that only affects a few players.[12]
- Denuvo does not have any public service status page, nor do they publish information for end users when their service experiences outages, leaving players unaware what the issue can be or when the issue is expected to be solved.
- This occurred most noticeably for the Warner Bros. server back in December 2017, and prevented some players from playing Mad Max and Batman Arkham Knight until the issue was solved.[13][Note 1]
- Causes excessive HDD/SSD reads/writes which degrades the lifespan of storage drives.
- The origins of this rumor are various user reports from 2014 and "tests" performed using Lords of the Fallen and Dragon Age: Inquisition. This has been denied and debunked multiple times by both Denuvo themselves,[14] publishers/developers, and other users since then. As shown in the technical information section, Denuvo Anti-Tamper performs minimal read and write operations to the drive, and there is no benefit to do additional drive reads or writes in terms of security or performance.[15]
- Can have a noticeable impact on gameplay performance.
- Denuvo Anti-Tamper functions in a way that might impact performance, which may or may not be statistically significant or noticeable during gameplay. While the company insists[16] that they test to ensure minimal performance impact, they have yet to present their internal performance results for independent verification. Independent testing has also yet to confirm or refute their claims - seemingly entirely due to inadequate test methodology as current independent tests have produced inconsistent results and are sufficiently unreliable to be of no value.[17][18][19][20][21][22][23]
- In some instances the anti-tamper protection checks were confirmed to be a part of performance critical functions and had a noticeable impact on gameplay performance on some systems, as in Tekken 7.[Note 2]
- Typically fixed in updates as game developers notices the performance bug(s) and solves them by flagging the relevant functions as performance critical to prevent the use of them by the anti-tamper.
- Individual developers may also add their own DRM in addition to Denuvo Anti-Tamper; usually with poor results, as in Resident Evil Village[25] or Monster Hunter: World.[Note 3]
- Performance differences between the original Denuvo Anti-Tamper protected copy of a game and their illegitimate bypassed alternatives are often down to other factors as anti-tamper bypasses in illegitimate copies typically work by dynamically decrypting and patching the original code at runtime, resulting in an additional overhead in such copies.[28][29]
- A consequence of this approach of dynamically decrypting code during runtime means that in some instances the bypasses for the anti-tamper checks in illegitimate copies can have an additional performance impact compared to the original version, such as with Sonic Mania and Injustice 2.[28][29]
- Illegitimate copies may also include additional optimizations, fixes, or changes to non-Denuvo Anti-Tamper related code. These changes can result in a noticeable performance impact for the illegitimate version compared to the original version, making Denuvo Anti-Tamper focused benchmark comparisons between such versions false and misleading as the changes in question can often also be implemented in the original version with similar effects.[Note 4][Note 5]
- As of 2023 only a single full DRM removal of Denuvo Anti-Tamper has been performed and allows for an almost direct 1:1 comparison. This occurred for Assassin's Creed Origins, where Denuvo Anti-Tamper as well as the other DRMs of the game (VMProtect and Uplay's platform DRM) were removed as a proof of concept, which reportedly only brought a noticeable improvement in loading times.[32][33]
- Official DRM-free provided copies are also not guaranteed to perform better than their protected copy as those might include additional changes compared to the protected version, including a lack of optimization or new performance bugs/issues. This was most noticable for NieR: Automata whose DRM-free copy provided by QLOC in 2021 lacks various build/compile optimizations and performs worse as a result compared to the original Denuvo Anti-Tamper protected copy from 2017.[34]
- Relies on the SSE4.1 CPU instruction set, causing incompatibility with AMD Phenom 2 and earlier CPUs.
- Based on a cursory inspection into whether players were able to play many of the latest protected games on older CPUs or not, Denuvo Anti-Tamper does not seem to showcase on its own any reliance on the SSE4.1 instruction set,[35] which suggests that the requirement is caused by something else, such as the game code itself.
- Game developers often track down and fix the issue in the game code without removing the anti-tamper protection.[36][37][38]
- Ubisoft stands out in that many of their modern titles require the SSE4.1 instruction set[35], even going as far as to specifying it in their minimum requirements for games.[39][40][41]
- Other standard x86 instructions may nonetheless be employed,[42] but even if unusual they are still a core part of the CPU architecture specified in the minimum requirements.
- Forced incompatibility with Linux through Wine/Steam Proton, or prevents native Linux ports from being developed and released.
- Because earlier versions of Wine did not have all the APIs needed by Denuvo Anti-Tamper implemented, the incompatibility was occasionally blamed as an intended consequence of the anti-tamper protection. Said incompatibility should have been fixed[43][44][45], and Steam Proton officially supported two protected titles on its initial release date (Tekken 7 and NieR: Automata), with other games, such as Hitman 2 also working on Proton, despite initially having Denuvo Anti-Tamper at launch.[46]
- Sometimes issues on game start were blamed on Denuvo Anti-Tamper, even though different components are at fault.[27][43][47]
- The use of Denuvo Anti-Tamper has never prevented official Linux ports from being developed and released either, as evidenced by Hitman and Rise of the Tomb Raider which have both gotten native Linux and/or macOS ports before the protection was removed from the Windows version.
- Makes use of kernel-level drivers/services to function.
- Denuvo Anti-Tamper does not nor have ever relied on kernel drivers/services to function[48] as such a requirement would provide no additional security benefits and only negatively impact end users.[Note 6] This misunderstanding seems to have become more and more common in 2023/2024, most likely because people mistake it for its Anti-Cheat sibling where that requirement exists.[49]
Technical information
- A flowchart of the procedure can be found further up the page.
Based on data gathered from protected titles on Steam, Epic Games Launcher, and the Microsoft Store[Note 7] by monitoring external operations performed by the anti-tamper component through the use of Process Monitor, Fiddler, and in some instances also Wireshark, they all follow the same general procedure and makes use of the same servers and APIs in their online communication. A basic overview in how the anti-tamper components interacts with the system is quite minimal:
- At the launch of a game a validation of the offline token is performed.
- If the offline token is invalid or missing, an appropriate request code is generated based on the system environment and sent to an online server.
- The online server responds with a corresponding response code.
- The local anti-tamper component uses the response code to write a new valid offline token to the local storage drive.
- The game continues to launch along with the now valid offline token.
- On subsequent launches the anti-tamper protection will automatically load and make use of the offline token stored on the storage drive, up until said token is made invalid again.
If the online connection fails the user will get a manual "offline" activation option where they can make use of a secondary online connected device to retrieve the corresponding response code, an option not available for either EA app, Ubisoft Connect, or possibly other supported platforms either. The availability of this second option means a local token generator is theoretically possible for a fully offline procedure, as was confirmed in 2017 with the release of an unofficial offline token generator for Dishonored 2.[50]
- Beyond the mentioned online connection above, as well as the drive read, and drive write if the offline token is invalid, no other online connection nor drive reads/writes are performed during play.
Offline token locations
| Platform | Location[Note 8] |
|---|---|
| Bethesda.net | %LOCALAPPDATA%\Bethesda.net Launcher\tokens\########[Note 9] |
| Epic Games Store | %LOCALAPPDATA%\EpicGamesLauncher\########[Note 9] |
| Microsoft Store | %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\<package-folder>\LocalState\dbdata %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\<package-folder>\LocalCache\Local\Denuvo\######## |
| Oculus Store | %LOCALAPPDATA%\dbdata\<unique-16-digits-long-app-id>\######## |
| Steam | <Steam-folder>\userdata\<user-id>\<steam-appid>\dbdata <Steam-folder>\userdata\<user-id>\<steam-appid>\######## |
| Ubisoft Store | %LOCALAPPDATA%\Ubisoft Game Launcher\cache\ownership\######## |
| EA App | %PROGRAMDATA%\Electronic Arts\EA Services\License\########.dlf |
- Older versions of Denuvo Anti-Tamper stored the offline token in a file called
dbdata; newer make use of a file with numbers as the filename. Neither make use of a file extension. - Digit-based filenames differ between versions of the game, so it is normal to have more than one of those files present. Only the latest modified file is actively being used;[Note 10] the older ones are inert and can be safely removed.
Servers/APIs
- All servers seem to be hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS) datacenter EU West 1, Ireland.
| Domain | Description |
|---|---|
| support.codefusion.technology | Responsible for the generic support pages and manual activation pages for the anti-tamper protection as well as Redeem.exe. |
| srv01.codefusion.technology srv02.codefusion.technology srv03.codefusion.technology |
These domains are the primary ones used to retrieve a valid token in Steam, Epic Games Store, and Microsoft Store-based games. If srv01 does not respond with a proper response code, srv02 is used instead. If srv02 also fails, srv03 is used instead. If all three fails, the user receives instructions on how to perform a manual "offline" activation using the relevant support.codefusion.technology page. Advanced: Load-balanced between two AWS instances using round-robin DNS. |
| srv00.codefusion.technology | Unknown usage. Possibly a test server of sorts as it is capable of generating valid response codes for at least Steam-based games, possibly other platforms as well. |
| srv04.codefusion.technology srv05.codefusion.technology |
These two domains are also registered, but their use is currently unknown to this article. Advanced: Points to the same two aforementioned AWS instances. |
| srv03.antitamper.net | A domain being used in newer titles, such as Forspoken, seemingly as a fallback if the main domain is blocked.[52] |
Request/Response API
- The request/response data is structured using XML and encoded in Base64.
- Advanced: The web API expects
Content-Type: text/plainto be used in the request headers.
The online component relies solely on standardized HTTPS communications and a simple web API, and fully respects and makes use of system-wide proxy configuration and internet settings. Basically the client (the game executable) sends the locally generated request code in the body of a HTTP request message to the online server using the POST method, and receives the appropriate response code back in the body of the response message. This single exchange (one sent request, one received response) is all that is needed for the anti-tamper component of the game executable to generate the appropriate offline token for the system.
| Target URI | Description |
|---|---|
| https://srv01.codefusion.technology/ https://srv02.codefusion.technology/ https://srv03.codefusion.technology/ |
Used for the automatic activation process. |
| https://support.codefusion.technology/validate/ | Used for the manual activation process. |
| https://srv00.codefusion.technology/ | Unknown usage. Possibly a test server of sorts as it is capable of generating valid response codes for at least Steam-based games, possibly other platforms as well. |
Servers/APIs for Bethesda.net titles
- All servers seems to be hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS) datacenters.
| Domain / Website | Description |
|---|---|
| api.bethesda.net | Only domain used by the protection in Bethesda.net-based titles based on investigating Wolfenstein: Youngblood. |
| support.codefusion.technology | Responsible for the generic support pages and manual activation pages if api.bethesda.net fails to respond properly. |
Request/Response API
- Behaves the same as defined in the Technical information section above, just with different target URIs.
- The generic servers for other platforms (such as Steam and Microsoft Store) can be used to generate valid offline tokens if Bethesda's custom server would ever go down.
- Advanced: The web API expects
Content-Type: text/plainandAccept: */*to be used in the request header.
| Target URI | Description |
|---|---|
| https://api.bethesda.net/denuvo/api/v2/gametoken | Used for the automatic activation process. |
| https://support.codefusion.technology/validate/10/ | Used for the manual activation process. |
Servers/APIs for Warner Bros. titles
- Currently only known to be used for Mad Max and Batman Arkham Knight.
- All servers seems to be hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS) datacenter US East 1, Virginia.
| Domain / Website | Description |
|---|---|
| revalidate.wbgames.com | Only domain used by the protection in the Steam-based copies of Mad Max and Batman Arkham Knight. Advanced: Load-balanced between two AWS instances using round-robin DNS. |
| https://revalidate.wbgames.com/madmax/ | Support page for Mad Max. |
| https://revalidate.wbgames.com/bak/ | Support page for Batman Arkham Knight. |
| https://support.codefusion.technology/madmax/ | Secondary support page for Mad Max, hosted on the generic Steam-based server. |
| https://support.codefusion.technology/bak/ | Secondary support page for Batman Arkham Knight, hosted on the generic Steam-based server. |
Request/Response API
- Behaves the same as defined in the Technical information section above, just with different target URIs.
- The generic servers listed above can be used to generate valid offline tokens if Warner Bros. custom server would ever go down.
| Target URI | Description |
|---|---|
| https://revalidate.wbgames.com/ | Used for the automatic activation process of these two titles. |
| https://revalidate.wbgames.com/validate/ | Used for the manual activation process of these two titles. |
Denuvo SecureDLC
Launched in June 2022[53] the SecureDLC product is described as preventing unauthorized DLC access in games by relying on its own small API-based implementation that secures and revalidates the platform API before access to the DLC is granted.
The protection requires minor modifications to the source code of the game, as opposed to the anti-cheat and anti-tamper products which does not require such changes.
Redeem.exe
- Official support page
- Adds a requirement of having an optical disc drive available when purchasing physical copies of games to obtain the Steam key.
- Also known as GIP or GIP Client.
This is a DRM scheme employed on the retail discs of some games (e.g. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, NieR: Automata) in some regions and is used to authenticate the physical disc as well as a one-time serial key located on a leaflet in the disc case. After the authentication of both, a Steam activation key for the game is redeemed from an online database and granted to the user in the application window, which can then be used in the Steam client to unlock a copy of the game.
Issues fixed
Currently your game purchase cannot be re-validated successfully
- Full error message: Currently your game purchase cannot be re-validated successfully, please wait 24 hours and try again.
| Wait 24 hours before trying to launch the game again[12] |
|---|
|
Cannot start Redeem.exe on retail discs
- Please see the game-specific articles for available workarounds for various issues affecting Redeem.exe, such as for Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.
- If no workaround is available, the official support page can be used instead to make a manual redemption.
Refresh the offline token
- Requires an online connection.
- This procedure results in the offline token being refreshed and generated anew.
- While forcing a refresh manually typically is not needed, it can be useful in troubleshooting purposes or as preparation before going offline for an extended period of time.
- The procedure is confirmed working for Steam titles,[54] it may work on Epic Games Launcher and Microsoft Store titles as well.
| Refresh the offline token[55] |
|---|
|
List of games using Denuvo Anti-Cheat
- This list is auto-populated. To add a game, update the game-specific article with
Denuvo Anti-Cheatin theanticheatparameter of the Middleware section. - Total number of games: 8
| Game | Series | Developer | Publisher | Released | OS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EFootball | Pro Evolution Soccer | PES Productions | Konami | 2021-09-30 | |
| Fishing Planet | Fishing Planet LLC | 2017-08-28 | |
||
| Marauders | Small Impact Games | Team17 | |
||
| Rise of Eros | The Shadow Studio | Pinkcore | 2023-07-17 | |
|
| The Finals | Embark Studios, Entrophy Games | Embark Studios, Tencent Games | 2023-12-08 | |
|
| Tribes 3: Rivals | Tribes | Prophecy Games | |
||
| Vail VR | AEXLAB | 2024-02-15 | |
||
| Zero Hour | Attrito M7 Productions | 2024-09-09 | |
List of games formerly using Denuvo Anti-Cheat
- This list is auto-populated. To add a game, update the game-specific article with
{{Removed Middleware|Denuvo Anti-Cheat}}in theanticheat notesparameter of the Middleware section. - Total number of games: 1
| Game | Series | Developer | Publisher | Released | OS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Doom Eternal | Doom | id Software | Bethesda Softworks | 2020-03-20 | |
List of games using Denuvo Anti-Tamper
- This list is auto-populated. To add a game, update the game-specific article with
{{DRM|Denuvo Anti-Tamper}}where appropriate, e.g. in the Notes field of the availability row for the Steam release. - Denuvo Anti-Tamper is only available on Windows, so native ports of other operating systems does not make use of it.
- Total number of games: 272
List of games formerly using Denuvo Anti-Tamper
- This list is auto-populated. To add a game, update the game-specific article and replace
{{DRM|Denuvo Anti-Tamper}}with{{Removed DRM|Denuvo Anti-Tamper}}where appropriate. Do not use on availability rows where Denuvo has never been present (e.g. on GOG.com releases). - Total number of games: 146
Notes
- ↑ DSOGaming's source for the server outage also affecting Middle-earth: Shadow of War is a patch note about fixing an issue with the game that resulted in Windows Defender blocking access to save files, which resulted in a crash on launch. That game does not rely on
revalidate.wbgames.com, which is the online server that Denuvo Anti-Tamper in Mad Max and Batman Arkham Knight relies upon, and was most likely the server experiencing an outage back in December, 2017. - ↑ Functions in Tekken 7 related to some abilities of certain characters were wrapped in the anti-tamper protection and impacted gameplay performance when used.[24]
- ↑ Monster Hunter: World is constantly setting debug registers, likely in order to disrupt debuggers.[26] This is very costly CPU-time-wise and would look unlike all the other work of Denuvo Anti-Tamper.[27]
- ↑ Resident Evil Village makes use of a separate proprietary DRM solution by Capcom which caused stutters at various points during gameplay. These were fixable using REFramework or Special K with the original copy, or by using an illegitimate copy as those included similar fixes as well.[30]
- ↑ Illegitimate copies also void most platform related code such as the Steamworks API. This alone can have a noticable impact on performance if the original game code is unoptimized. This was seen with Final Fantasy XV where unthrottled Steamworks API callbacks[31] in the Steam version caused noticeable microstutters and prolonged loading times. These could also be fixed by using Special K or a copy from another storefront.
- ↑ Relying on kernel-level drivers/services typically requires the game to be launched with elevated privileges on each launch, which would prevent standard users and limited users from playing the game. It would also introduce additional and unsolvable Linux and Wine/Steam Proton incompatibility issues, which as evidenced from the controversy bullet above does not exist.
- ↑ While newer Microsoft Store titles make use of the same offline activation window Steam and Epic Games Launcher titles use, Rise of the Tomb Raider on the Microsoft Store make use of a variant where a local HTML page is created and stored in
%LocalAppData%\Packages\<package-folder>\LocalState\codefusion\index.html, and opened in the default web browser. The local webpage then connects to support.codefusion.technology, retrieves a valid response code, generates a valid offline token, and finally generates anEnable Game.batfile that creates the necessary dbdata file for the user. - ↑ The table of the offline token locations is based on testing performed on various titles, including a multitude of Steam-based titles, Metro Exodus and the demo of Heavy Rain on Epic Games Launcher, and finally Rise of the Tomb Raider, Football Manager 2019, and Metro Exodus on the Microsoft Store.[51]
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 As both the locations for the Epic Games Store and the Bethesda.net Launcher are shared among all games on those respective platforms it is not immediately clear to the user which file correlates to which game.
- ↑ The latest modified file being the only actively used offline token does not apply to games on the Epic Games Launcher nor the Bethesda.net Launcher as those platforms uses shared locations for all protected titles.
References
- ↑ Electronic Arts - User Agreement - last accessed on 2018-12-12
- "EA utilizes certain technical or content protection measures to prevent piracy and the unauthorized copying or use of an EA PC Product. EA PC Products use Origin Online Activation and also may use Sony DADC Austria AG's Denuvo content protection technology."
- ↑ Irdeto Perspective - Denuvo Anti-Cheat goes LIVE! A message to DOOM Eternal fans and gamers - last accessed on 2020-05-15
- ↑ Irdeto - Datasheet: Anti-Cheat - last accessed on 2019-04-07
- ↑ Steam News - DOOM Eternal - DOOM Eternal Update 1 - last accessed on 2020-05-15
- ↑ Eurogamer - Doom Eternal's Update 1 out on all platforms, adds Empowered Demons and more - last accessed on 2020-05-16
- ↑ PCGamesN - Doom Eternal adds a kernel-mode driver for Denuvo anti-cheat - last accessed on 2020-05-16
- ↑ PCGamer - Doom Eternal's first update includes Denuvo Anti-Cheat - last accessed on 2020-05-16
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 TechRaptor - Doom Eternal's New Anti-Cheat Breaks Game For Some, and Raises Concerns - last accessed on 2020-05-16
- ↑ Reddit - /r/Doom - Latest Information on Update 1 & Anti-Cheat - last accessed on 2020-05-20
- ↑ Verified by User:Aemony on 2025-01-11
- Note that these services are not visible in services.msc; use sc.exe to interface with them.
- ↑ Steam Discussions - Sonic Mania - Fix for "Steam user must be logged in to play this game" - last accessed on 2019-04-07
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Steam Community - Monster Hunter: World - Monster Hunter World/Steam problem - last accessed on 2019-04-08
- ↑ DSOGaming - Denuvo server issues prevented players from playing Batman: Arkham Knight, Mad Max & Shadow of War - last accessed on 2019-05-16
- ↑ DSOGaming - Denuvo: SSD Rumor Is False, No System Is Infallible, Striving To Be A Step Ahead Of Pirates - last accessed on 2017-09-01
- "Completely wrong rumor which is repeated over and over although many 3rd party tests (as well as we) state that our solution does not perform read / write operations to the HDD (hence we have no negative impact on the lifetime of SSDs or any other hardware component)."
- ↑ Irdeto - Video Games - Denuvo FAQ - last accessed on 2019-04-07
- "DOES DENUVO ANTI-TAMPER CONSTANTLY ENCRYPT AND DECRYPT DATA ON STORAGE MEDIA? No, Denuvo Anti-Tamper does not continuously encrypt and decrypt any data on storage media. To do so would be of no benefit in terms of security or performance."
- ↑ Golem.de - 'Endlich mal Fehler einbauen!' - Denuvo: "Verdammt gute Leute versuchen, unseren Schutz zu cracken" (German) - last accessed on 2019-05-01
- ↑ DSOGaming - Apart from initial loading times, Denuvo does not have any performance hit in Two Point Hospital - last accessed on 2019-05-18
- ↑ Eurogamer - Digital Foundry - Devil May Cry 5 PC's Denuvo DRM has a CPU hit - last accessed on 2019-05-18
- ↑ Game Debate - Denuvo PC Performance Impact Tested - DOOM Benchmarks With and Without Denuvo DRM - last accessed on 2019-05-18
- ↑ OC3D - Devil May Cry 5 - Denuvo Performance Impact - last accessed on 2019-05-18
- ↑ Overlord Gaming - Proof games perform slower with Denuvo - last accessed on 2019-05-18
- ↑ PC Gamer - Tested: Denuvo DRM has no performance impact on Final Fantasy 15 - last accessed on 2019-05-18
- ↑ TechPowerUp - Denuvo Performance Cost & FPS Loss Tested - last accessed on 2019-05-18
- ↑ Twitter - Katsuhiro Harada - April 13, 2018 - last accessed on 2019-04-07
- ↑ Resident Evil Village PC is fixed - but players still deserve better | Eurogamer.net - last accessed on 2025-06-29
- ↑ Monster Hunter World (582010) · Issue #175 · ValveSoftware/Proton - last accessed on 9 June 2023
- ↑ 27.0 27.1 Someone's using exceptions as goto statements :: Steam Community Discussions
- ↑ 28.0 28.1 Reddit - /r/Crackwatch - /u/Voksi_RVT comment on Sonic Mania Plus' slowdowns - last accessed on 2019-04-07
- "It's cracked, but still running. Can't be removed completely.
The slowdown itself it caused by my code running on top of Denuvo, when Denuvo tries to decrypt hwid checks, so my code can catch and patch them. Although I optimized it as much as I can, it still causes a little slowdown when Denuvo decrypts more than several encrypted checks consequently. Most of those checks are in loading screens or on non-critical game functions, but since SEGA fucked up implementing denuvo properly, the encrypted checks are all over the place, which slowdown the legit version as well, of course. But they execute faster on legit, since they don't go though my code."
- "It's cracked, but still running. Can't be removed completely.
- ↑ 29.0 29.1 Imgur - Injustice.2.Legendary.Edition-CODEX NFO - last accessed on 2019-04-07
- ↑ Resident.Evil.Village-EMPRESS - last accessed on 2023-04-15
- "All in-game shutters the one from when you kill a zombie are fixed becase Capcom DRM's enty points are patched out so most of their functions are never executed anymore."
- ↑ PCGamingWiki - Final Fantasy XV - Special K - FFXV Mini-Mod - last accessed on 2023-04-15
- "Lowers the Steam API overhead of the game; provides more stable frame render times and shorter loading times on certain hardware configurations."
- ↑ Assassins.Creed.Origins.The.Curse.of.the.Pharaohs.Crack.Only.READNFO-CODEX - last accessed on 2023-04-15
- "We noticed faster loading times"
- ↑ Web. Archive.org: Reddit - /r/CrackWatch - A non misleading benchmark of Denuvo in AC Origins - last accessed on 2023-04-15
- "I consider them to be within margin of error of each other, the only meaningful difference being the difference in score between the Denuvo and Codex No-DRM at 540p, but it's a difference not seen on average CPU frametime, average CPU usage, nor max CPU usage. All of the runs have similar framerate and frametimes, without any strange spikes nor stuttering. There seems to be visually no difference between them."
- ↑ GitHub - emoose/NieRAutomata-LodMod -Issues #5 - Worse performance/latency in 2021 compared to 2017 - last accessed on 2023-04-15
- ↑ 35.0 35.1 Verified by User:Aemony on 2019-05-16
- For an updated list of currently checked games, see this Google Sheets document.
- ↑ Hitman Forum - Technical Support - Hitman 2 content is crashing on Phenom 2 CPUs - ioi_jonasm (Jonas Meyer) reply - last accessed on 2019-04-07
- "Hi!
Just to clear things up it is not Denuvos fault.
I know because its my code that is causing the crash. I’m sorry for causing you to wait - Please be rest assured that this will be fixed as soon as possible.
-Jonas
[...]
Heres some more details:
One of the things we added for Season 2 was a software rasterizer to aid in culling objects that are not visible.
The code we based it on used a few(3!) instructions categorized under SSE4.1. Phenom only supports SSE3.
The reason it does not crash on Season 1 & Sniper challenge is that those levels use the previous occlusion system, which means never runs the code that is incompatible with Phenom."
- "Hi!
- ↑ Steam Discussions - Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain - Official 1.002 patch release - last accessed on 2019-04-07
- ↑ Steam Discussions - Final Fantasy XV: Windows Edition - 22/03/18 - Patch Notes - last accessed on 2019-05-15
- ↑ Ubisoft Support - AMD processors and SSE4.X support - last accessed on 2019-05-18
- ↑ Ubisoft Support - System requirements for Far Cry 5 - last accessed on 2019-05-18
- ↑ Ubisoft Support - System requirements for Assassin's Creed Origins - last accessed on 2019-05-18
- ↑ OpcodeDispatcher: Implement SGDT by Sonicadvance1 · FEX-Emu/FEX - last accessed on 9 June 2023
- ↑ 43.0 43.1 DOOM (2016) demo (Steam) crashes on launch due to Denuvo copy protection - WineHQ Bugzilla
- ↑ 64-bit MetaTrader5 refuses to start, reports 'A debugger has been found running in your system' (Denuvo Anti-Tamper x64) - WineHQ Bugzilla - last accessed on May 2023
- ↑ HACK: steam: Add PE wrapper DLL for lsteamclient. · ValveSoftware/wine - GitHub - last accessed on 9 June 2023
- ↑ Hitman hangs with 100% CPU usage without showing screen - WineHQ Bugzilla - last accessed on May 2023
- ↑ Far Cry 5 crashes at startup - WineHQ Bugzilla - last accessed on May 2023
- ↑ Denuvo Anti-Tamper - FAQ - What is the difference between DRM and Anti-Tamper? (archived) - last accessed on 2023-05-17
- "Anti-Tamper stops the reverse engineering and debugging of the DRM solution, but it has no effect or limitation on the legitimate consumer. Anti-Tamper is completely transparent to legitimate game buyers and does not in any way impose activation limits, install drivers, or require a gamer to be “always on.”"
- ↑ Verified by User:Aemony on 2025-01-01
- Having followed and documented the development of Denuvo Anti-Tamper for years as well as detail how it interacts with the operating system (see the technical information on this page), and doing the same for their Denuvo Anti-Cheat product, the claim of the Anti-Tamper solution having ever used or relied on a kernel driver has always been unsubstantiated, and can be easily confirmed by anyone who knows of tools such as InstalledDriversList. If it relied on a kernel driver, we would've detailed the kernel driver name (its service name) on this page, same as we are already doing for the Denuvo Anti-Cheat product which actually has that dependency.
- ↑ DISHONORED.2-STEAMPUNKS - NFO - last accessed on 2018-12-12
- "STEAMPUNKS are proud to bring you the first release including a real Denuvo license generator with untouched game executable. Your license will be regenerated if needed (hw change, os updates)."
- ↑ Verified by User:Aemony on 2019-06-14
- ↑ Verified by User:Aemony on 2023-01-26
- Identified and confirmed its presence through Forspoken.
- ↑ Irdeto Press Release - Denuvo by Irdeto launches Denuvo SecureDLC, the industry’s first solution to protect downloadable content against piracy - last accessed on 2023-06-27
- ↑ Verified by User:Aemony on 2019-06-14
- I have done this multiple times.
- ↑ Steam Community - Sonic Mania - Game Can't Get Past Menu Screen! Help! - last accessed on 2019-05-21
