A rumor concerning the secret workings of Ubisoft’s newest Rainbow Six Siege anti-cheat system has begun to provide the brand new tactic a heroic aura on the web. The declare going around on Twitter (opens in new tab) is that Ubisoft is doing one thing deviously easy: updating the Rainbow Six Siege executable each two hours, forcing cheat makers to maintain up with an countless treadmill of cheat-breaking modifications.
There are causes to doubt the specifics of that rationalization, however one anti-cheat professional tells PC Gamer that it really is a viable anti-cheat methodology. And even when Siege is not really being reborn each two hours, one thing comparable could also be taking place.
Ubisoft said final week (opens in new tab) that it is attempting out a brand new anti-cheat approach on PC, however to keep away from giving cheat makers any hints, the corporate will not say the way it works. The proof for the ‘new construct each two hours’ declare comes from posts in a cheat makers’ discussion board in addition to SteamDB logs, which do present that Rainbow Six Siege’s Steam recordsdata are being up to date with stunning frequency.
One poster on that cheat maker’s discussion board describes the system in a different way, nevertheless. Ubisoft is not sending each Siege participant a brand new executable each two hours, they are saying, however as an alternative created a bunch of distinctive executables a number of weeks in the past and has began distributing them to gamers randomly. The precept is comparable: Life will get more durable for skilled cheat-makers as a result of every of their clients might now have a barely totally different model of the sport. A Siege dataminer also says (opens in new tab) that that is what’s taking place.
Paul Chamberlain (opens in new tab), former anti-cheat lead on Valorant and now head of a startup recreation studio referred to as New Avalon (opens in new tab), tells me that the brand new builds each two hours concept is “an honest technique,” however can be “actually time consuming for a developer.”
“I believe we do not see this method from recreation builders fairly often as a result of operational complexity, however I believe it could possibly be efficient,” Chamberlain mentioned. “Even when it would not fully forestall dishonest it does make it tougher and costly to make cheats and raises the talent flooring required for brand new cheat builders to deal with the sport.”
Should you wished to go all out, nevertheless, it could be even higher to provide every participant their very own distinctive model of the sport, “since that’d be the utmost quantity of effort for cheat builders to maintain up with,” mentioned Chamberlain. As interesting as it’s to think about a RainbowSix.exe manufacturing unit that spits out a brand new model each two hours, that context does make the opposite rationalization sound extra possible: Ubisoft made a bunch of distinctive Siege builds (if not going as far as to make one per participant) after which distributed them randomly.
Each concepts are interesting for his or her simplicity. Cheaters preserve selecting your locks? Simply throw new locks at them till they’re buried in them. You do not want technical data to grasp that, and it sounds delightfully like a Sisyphean punishment for cheat makers. Sadly, cheat builders can write instruments that assist them adapt, Chamberlain says, so no matter Ubisoft doing is not going to be the One Easy Trick that thwarts them without end. (We are able to dream, although!)
Ubisoft says it is “assured” in its new anti-cheat methodology, which was developed over current months. The system has reportedly damaged Siege stat trackers, although, and Ubisoft hasn’t mentioned whether or not or not these benign third-party overlays will likely be usable sooner or later. The writer has already mentioned it will not expose specifics about its anti-cheat strategies, however I’ve requested for touch upon the overlay subject.
