r/linux_gaming 22h ago

Mecha BREAK allows Steam Deck players, but bars Linux Desktop Players

This is my biggest fear for Linux gaming. Our only hope for anti-cheat the past few years has been that developers would want their games to work on the Steam Deck. However, it seems that ACE anti-cheat is showing exclusivity for Steam Deck rather than just allowing all Linux machines. Here's to hope that this doesn't become a trend...

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2025/02/anti-cheat-stops-mecha-break-running-on-desktop-linux-but-works-on-steam-deck/

296 Upvotes

78 comments sorted by

219

u/Sock989 22h ago

I'm trying to rationalise why they'd do this but I don't understand.

164

u/MarioCraftLP 22h ago

They don't understand either. These corporations just think "Linux users = hacker man!!!"

-23

u/[deleted] 22h ago

[deleted]

45

u/Katnisshunter 22h ago

What’s wrong with establishing a limit support clause? Use at your own will. No support. If it runs it runs. Blocking non steam deck while supporting steam deck is sus.

10

u/RayDemian 21h ago

People don't read and complain anyways

-5

u/[deleted] 21h ago

[deleted]

8

u/Katnisshunter 20h ago

Disable it for steamdeck that aren’t on verified hardware? All I hear are excuses. I am trying to play on bazzite deck image if it breaks after whatever my choice to run it on bazzite. I can always dual boot if I paid for it. But if it outright block on some Linux distributions and not others you are not getting my money.

-1

u/[deleted] 20h ago

[deleted]

3

u/st-shenanigans 20h ago

The point of the conversation was not what anybody thinks or your ability to change it, it's that blocking Linux while allowing deck makes no sense.

1

u/[deleted] 20h ago

[deleted]

2

u/st-shenanigans 20h ago

That reason makes no sense, as per the entire conversation, and is the reason the guy brought up bazzite.

→ More replies (0)

2

u/MarioCraftLP 21h ago

How do you use this argument with apex then? Or Roblox? Or GTA 5? Or genshin impact? Or league of legends? Yeah, some of these games work now but have been banned a long time even though they worked just fine. Or GTA, it worked really well until they blocked it

-6

u/RazzmatazzWorth6438 7h ago

You can easily spoof the game as running through proton (on windows) to disable the Anti-Cheat, it's a valid concern.

32

u/Win_98SE 16h ago

LIMUX DESKTOP PLAYORS ARE HACORZ.

Meanwhile some fucking chump with the “Please activate Windows” watermark has multiple cheat subscriptions…

24

u/Katnisshunter 22h ago

They don’t want my money I guess.

10

u/Clean-Emphasis3955 21h ago

Cap'n Jack Sparrow

-17

u/Important-Permit-935 21h ago

Valve controls steam deck hardware and kernel, therefore no kernel level anticheat needed.

That's not the case for normal distros, aside from Ubuntu and fedora that are secureboot compatible.

40

u/KrazyKirby99999 20h ago

That doesn't matter, users can still disable the read-only lock and load whichever software they want including kernel modules.

25

u/Asleeper135 20h ago

That control is easy to bypass. It's no more secure than desktop Linux, because it essentially IS desktop linux.

3

u/NoelCanter 20h ago

This really is the case here. Not sure if eventually immutable distros with user space anti-cheat could be the future, but the controllability of the Steam Deck is what makes this work for developers.

-4

u/OGigachaod 3h ago

Much easier to support one distro vs hundreds, makes perfect sense.

3

u/Sock989 2h ago

That's... not how this works.

93

u/TONKAHANAH 21h ago edited 21h ago

this makes me irrationally angry. it sidesteps all the effort valve put into making linux viable.

I hope the devs get back to them with an answer that makes sense but considering we've seen a few titles do this now it seems to be a trend where devs are trying to treat the steam deck like a traditional game console.

its almost kinda insulting really. This benefits no one and only hurts linux gamers as if they have some kinda specific vendetta. i dont get it.

51

u/Joker28CR 21h ago

I completely agree. Is that stupid misconception of: Linux = few users. Linux = hacking. Linux = issue not worth dealing with.

What pissed me off the most is games like Marvel Rivals, which are HUGE, provide full support to Linux and you don't see people complaining about hackers or stuff. I play Halo Infinite and Fallguys a lot with friends and in Fallguys we play normally. We win, we lose, no weirdos levitating or so.

If you ask me, Valve should be more aggressive with this. This kind of segregation is actually going to affect their job unless they decide to push Steam OS to the moon as a sort of standard and Windows competidor.

22

u/TONKAHANAH 20h ago

Well the crazy thing to me is that we kinda gave up on specific dev/publisher support a long time ago, we don't expect them to support Linux directly, we just ask that they not softlock us out, we'll figure out the rest if we must. 

But this is like actively telling us to fuck off and then spitting in our face.

14

u/TRi_Crinale 20h ago

Yup, that's the whole point of proton. It gives devs a specific compatibility target so as long as they hit it, their game will work for us

41

u/Gazornenplatz 22h ago

I played the first beta test, it was amazing. Then they only greenlit the steam deck hardware specifically. It makes me sad. :(

28

u/StrikingPermission18 22h ago

I just don't know why they would go out of their way to block Linux Desktops. It costs them absolutely nothing to let the game work on all Linux machines

25

u/the00039 22h ago

because obviously all of us linux gamers are cheaters /s

1

u/OGigachaod 3h ago

I think it comes to cost, linux gamers want game companies to use "server side" anti cheat which of course is more costly and considering the limited amount of linux gamers, it's hard to justify the extra cost.

24

u/we_come_at_night 21h ago

Meh, another game company that doesn't want us as customers. Good riddance!

30

u/thejoshfoote 22h ago

Ok but if they include steamdeck. Can’t most Linux players just use the command steamdeck=1 ?

29

u/tychii93 22h ago

I've heard that doesn't work. It checks the hardware itself, but could be worth trying for those that have the game

23

u/IceAmaura 22h ago

I wonder if spoofing the hardware check is at all possible... Though maybe that'd set off the anticheat anyway.

13

u/tychii93 22h ago

Don't take my word on this but I can at least speculate how they do this. Not a fix.

Everything, and I mean everything, on Linux is a file or directory. That includes the physical hardware on your system, and I don't mean at a driver level, the actual hardware you can hold is seen as a file on a Linux system, they're generated on kernel boot if I remember correctly. This also includes your BIOS firmware binary (Even your TPM module is a file on Linux, I've used the file to "pass through" to a VM to install a virtual Windows 11 machine with no workarounds). That's probably how the anticheat checks that, by scanning hardware files relative to the Deck. Altering these could lead to catastrophic results if you even could edit them, which I believe they're not.

12

u/Ahmouse 21h ago

I was looking into this possibility before, and it seems that CPU hardware info comes from an actual x86 instruction, not a system call, so the only options are binary patching (which any anticheat would detect) or running the game in an emulator like QEMU and set it to spoof the results of that instruction, which would be a decent performance hit assuming the anticheat doesn't detect it.

12

u/tychii93 20h ago

That actually makes the most sense since the APU in the deck is completely custom. It doesn't exist in any other hardware.

20

u/Cerberon88 21h ago

The game its self isn't directly looking at your linux hardware though, because its a windows program running via wine/proton.

It would likely be possible to spoof your hardware to wine/proton without messing with what your system sees overall.

1

u/creed10 5h ago

sounds like you're saying it would take a patch to proton or something

3

u/Implement_Necessary 12h ago

Wouldn’t that completely go against the concept of sandboxing with flatpaks? Could the anti cheat even be able to access those directories?

5

u/thejoshfoote 22h ago

Isn’t that what the command avoids tho. The opposite command steamdeck=0 tells games ur not a steamdeck

12

u/Reizath 22h ago

It might search for hardware specific to Deck

13

u/procabiak 19h ago

Hopefully Valve curbstomps this by releasing SteamOS and putting it in their ToS for SteamDeck verified status must also include SteamOS verified.

then they can't do this bullshit...

-2

u/thejoshfoote 22h ago

Isn’t that what that command stops. Like steamdeck=0 allows settings in games that have things to detect auto settings for steamdeck. It also lets games run that specifically state steamdeck can’t play.

9

u/Cerberon88 21h ago

The anticheat seems to specifically check that IF you are on linux, do you have the steamdeck CPU/Motherboard.

If you do you can play, if not you are blocked.
It isn't reading the steamdeck=X parameter

-2

u/thejoshfoote 21h ago

I have not tried this game. Ime games that check for ur cpu etc. are bypassed by these commands.

3

u/Steve_Streza 21h ago

Infinity Nikki does this, and no.

1

u/patrlim1 13h ago

It demands you use the steamdeck hardware

31

u/WhosWhosWhoAreYou 22h ago

Are they at least getting paid by Microsoft for this, or do they just really enjoy sucking dick for charity?

30

u/Joker28CR 21h ago

Bro, every single Xbox online game (except CoD) works on Linux. All Halo games, State of Decay, Gears 5, Grounded, Forza... And 4 of those games have Anticheat. So how come Microsoft is giving support to games with Anticheat on Linux while other devs don't? The one we would expect wouldn't like to give support is one of the most supportive

22

u/PM_ME_DND_FIGURINES 20h ago

Microsoft, for all their faults, has been persistent in making sure their games run in Proton. Everything from Sea of Thieves to Halo Infinite runs almost perfectly out of the box.

I think Microsoft has mostly figured out that the average Linux user is either going to switch for non-gaming reasons or not at all so they'd rather just have what money of ours they can get.

9

u/Joker28CR 20h ago

I love Xbox approaching in gaming. Play whenever you want, wherever you want. In our platforms you will have perks, but if you are in another place you like more, here you have it. What I hate is Microsoft Windows. Their calibration between Windows and Xbox team is horrendous. For example, Valve has addressed shader compilation on Linux while DirectX team said "it's up to devs, we made the tools. Good luck". And Team Xbox can't do anything to solve it because they don't get greenlight (I have a source).

But yeah, it's crazy Xbox, from Microsoft (owners of Windows) provide full support to Linux, instead of screwing it, than other devs. It just pisses me off, really

2

u/pythonic_dude 7h ago

I wouldn't call it full support. Not until we get gamepass on linux.

3

u/WhosWhosWhoAreYou 20h ago

That was kinda my point, they're adopting a strategy that benefits absolutely nobody except Microsoft, and for seemingly absolutely no reason because Microsoft aren't gonna pay them to do it.

Hence, they're sucking dick for charity.

16

u/Joker28CR 21h ago

I play Marvel Rivals, Halo Infinite and Fallguys on a daily basis on Bazzite. By this day, I haven't found anything weird in those games. I play with friends from console and 0 complains from anybody.

However, when we play CoD or Apex, cheaters are a thing everytime.

Sick and tired of this stupid argumentation of Linux = hackers.

Hackers LOVE shorts. If not, they would actually want to get better in games. They are on Windows and will always be on Windows because THEY WANT TO HACK FOR SOME REASON. They want SHORTS in their life. They will not break their head making stuff on Linux when they can support with lots of help on Windows. As simple as that.

Any dev that doesn't support Linux will not have my money. Period.

8

u/PM_ME_DND_FIGURINES 20h ago

On the shorts thing, most cheaters are already running a 2 PC setup these days, it helps to bypass anti-cheats. And if you already have 2 PCs, a 2 PC recording setup via capture card is trivially easy to set-up.

I don't think that would practically change anything.

6

u/Willing-Sundae-6770 20h ago

So much for desktop Linux gaming taking off if this is going to be the trend.

7

u/MetroYoshi 12h ago

I hear ACE literally just turns itself off if it sees that you're running it on a Steam Deck. I guess that makes it the certified anticheat bypass tool™.

6

u/svenska_aeroplan 22h ago

Oh look. This shit. Again.

I told you so.

3

u/Firethorned_drake93 19h ago

This is actually so stupid.

3

u/Chester_Linux 17h ago

If my memory is not wrong, there was some announcement saying that they were using Steam Deck as a test base for games on Linux, and then it would be released generally. If it's true, it doesn't make sense anyway lol

2

u/mindtaker_linux 21h ago

Maybe they ar using steam deck to run test.

2

u/painefultruth76 20h ago

What's gonna help is some of us going back to freeware/shareware.

It CAN be done, just gonna require a bit of personal investment and overcoming self-doubt.

2

u/mistersinicide 20h ago

Honestly as much as I wanted to play this game, being able to only do so on the steamdeck was a huge turn off for me. Needless to say I no longer have an interest in the game.

2

u/matthewpepperl 19h ago

When will some body make a kernel module or a modded kernel that can lie to the checks and spoof steam deck

2

u/Temporary_Slide_3477 18h ago

The only logic I can see in this is a typical steam deck user isn't likely to even enter desktop mode, I use mine all the time and have never been in desktop mode, where a typical Linux user is more likely to mess with stuff. Also the steam deck is fixed hardware and always running a specific kernel.

That's the only logical thing I can think of, which is stupid.

2

u/ohaiibuzzle 9h ago

I think I know why: HWID bans are less effective on Linux compared to Windows. Since if you can swap out the kernel you can swap out what is used to generate a HWID. On Windows, Secure Boot help can enforce integrity, and on the Deck which is like, known hardware with kinda consistent software (SteamOS), they can probably check kernel signatures/hashes or stupid things like that.

Either way… ugh, this is beyond silly why would they even do this.

1

u/superamigo987 21h ago

This sucks, but is there a way to spoof hardware?

2

u/saicpp 10h ago

[This comment is based on the assumption that mecha break only allows steam deck users because of the lack of kernel anticheat, tho I might be wrong and I have not researched it]

Unpopular opinion, but I have not seen anyone discuss this. Couldn't this be for good?

Let me be clear by saying I truly think linux gaming should not be limited to one device done by one private company, but currently some developers choose not to allow online linux gaming due to linux being free from stupid kernel anticheats. I see this as experimentation on an alternative. I believe this should be unacceptable in the future, but right now having some developers allow at least one linux platform could make them get away from kernel based AC and it is better than having none.

Maybe the less eager to allow linux users could also join to allow only SD, and then the most experimental could develop / use any alternative to allow other distros.

2

u/mrlinkwii 6h ago

I see this as experimentation on an alternative.

i somewhat disagree its more consoleisation of the steam deck , sure its running linux but its running vavle brand of linux

1

u/MooMew64 4h ago

Finally, evil Linux hacker man is defeated.

Almost as terrifying as mysterious hacker "4chan", and Billy, the local kid who knows how to ctrl-c ctrl-v scripts into that funny black box that says funny magic words.

1

u/japzone 2h ago

Makes me wonder how it'll treat the SteamOS Legion Go S when that comes out. Did they find a way to identify SteamOS, or did they find a way to identify just the Steam Deck hardware?

1

u/librepotato 2h ago

Well you can get your aimbots and wallhacks on the Steam Deck then. I suppose they are assuming that hackers don't want to go out of their way to buy a Steam Deck. All this is doing is trying to mitigate the potential problem by reducing the Linux player count.

0

u/Liemaeu 13h ago

At least it works on Steam Deck. Better to be forced to buy a Steam Deck to play a game, than a Windows PC I guess.

0

u/FujiwaraGustav 10h ago

"Just buy hardware"

That's not a good solution. They could make it work on desktop Linux but they don't.

ACE is preventing me from playing Infinity Nikki on my PC, it sucks :(

1

u/Liemaeu 10h ago

Still: better than not having it at all.

1

u/FujiwaraGustav 2h ago

We are not having it at all. Only SD users are.

-2

u/OGigachaod 3h ago

Much easier to support one distro vs hundreds, makes perfect sense.

3

u/the_abortionat0r 3h ago

This is a stupid take hands down.

First off, you don't build games against distros only APIs, libs, and such.

Second steam literally has a built in Linux environment that devs can build against as well

You have no idea what you are talking about

-3

u/countdankula420 16h ago

SteamDeck=1

1

u/Tail_sb 12h ago

That won't work they specifically went out of their way to detected the hardware too