Denuvo Performance Cost & FPS Loss Tested

[swirl09]

I dont like aggressive (not limited to performance impact) DRM. But what makes me angry is the fact they pretty much always leave it in long after its been cracked.

 

[Night]

I suppose it's possible to make a comparison for Dishonored 2 and Doom 2016, those had Denuvo removed. I guess you could compare the scene releases that have Denuvo bypassed and the Denuvo free executables from Steam.

 

[bug]

I imagine patches would be released to remove activation or auto-activate. It's not like those kinds of things didn't exist already..

So you're at their mercy. Now you see who actually owns the product?

I suppose it's possible to make a comparison for Dishonored 2 and Doom 2016, those had Denuvo removed. I guess you could compare the scene releases that have Denuvo bypassed and the Denuvo free executables from Steam.

The thing is, the patches that remove DRM also come with other enhancements/fixes. So while you can compare performance, you can't attribute the variations you might observe. That's what makes DMCV special, we're looking at the very same version for once.

 

[W1zzard]

The thing is, the patches that remove DRM also come with other enhancements/fixes. So while you can compare performance, you can't attribute the variations you might observe. That's what makes DMCV special, we're looking at the very same version for once.

That

 

[enxo218]

Excellent article! I would love to see more of these technical types of articles.

Maybe we can stop beating the horse that Denuvo destroys gaming performance and now only piss and moan about it being DRM that isn't needed. People that are going to pirate are going to pirate and people that are going to pay will pay. No amount of DRM is going to solve that (even no DRM).

drm is dispised because it dictates the terms of usage and or the very usage itself of a product ie it's about control to the user and the loss of it to the seller who are the only ones financially concerned about piracy or so they keep claiming...

 

[moproblems99]

drm is dispised because it dictates the terms of usage and or the very usage itself of a product ie it's about control to the user and the loss of it to the seller who are the only ones financially concerned about piracy or so they keep claiming...

I'm not arguing in support of DRM. With careful reading, you will see that my view is DRM doesn't solve anything. However, we can now drop the fake argument that it destroys performance and actually focus on why it is stupid.

 

[lexluthermiester]

So you're at their mercy. Now you see who actually owns the product?

The moment they stop is one day before they get sued, worldwide. That class action case would be precedent setting and would easily seriously impact the implementation of DRM.

To be fair, I have not activated a Microsoft product on my personal systems since 2002. I always use work-arounds. So for me, it's never a problem. It's not that I don't buy the products in question, it just that I refuse to acknowledge Microsoft's claim that they have the ability to do so. My way of giving Microsoft the double finger.

Now for my clients, all of their systems get activated the way Microsoft wants.

However, we can now drop the fake argument that it destroys performance and actually focus on why it is stupid.

Not really. W1zzard showed that Denuvo's current implementation in a code for code comparison has only a small affect. That does not mean that other versions of Denuvo and other forms of DRM have not had a larger impact, which has been reported in the past.

@W1zzard
It would be very interesting to see a more broad scoped comparisons of various versions of Denuvo as well as other DRM schemes VS non-DRM versions. Such a task would be very time intensive, I'm sure, but it would also be very interesting and as word of it spread, would generate a ton of traffic for the site. Only an idea..

 

[newtekie1]

@W1zzard
It would be very interesting to see a more broad scoped comparisons of various versions of Denuvo as well as other DRM schemes VS non-DRM versions. Such a task would be very time intensive, I'm sure, but it would also be very interesting and as word of it spread, would generate a ton of traffic for the site. Only an idea..

It's not that it would be time consuming, it isn't possible.

 

[lexluthermiester]

It's not that it would be time consuming, it isn't possible.

Sure it is. You just have to think outside the box. Try it sometime.

 

[newtekie1]

Sure it is. You just have to think outside the box. Try it sometime.

There is not thinking outside of the box here. There is literally no other game where we have the exact same version of the game available with the DRM and without it. Hence, it is impossible to do a similar comparison to this with any other game.

 

[moproblems99]

There is not thinking outside of the box here. There is literally no other game where we have the exact same version of the game available with the DRM and without it. Hence, it is impossible to do a similar comparison to this with any other game.

Unless he is insinuating downloading cracked copies which wouldn't surprise me anymore...

Even that would be likely be impossible to get identical versions.

Not really. W1zzard showed that Denuvo's current implementation in a code for code comparison has only a small affect. That does not mean that other versions of Denuvo and other forms of DRM have not had a larger impact, which has been reported in the past.

Links or it didn't happen.

 

[W1zzard]

cracked copies

Cracked copies don't remove all Denuvo code from what I understand, mentioned this in the article, too

 

[64K]

Cracked copies don't remove all Denuvo code from what I understand, mentioned this in the article, too

From what I understand most cracked games that have Denuvo don't remove the code. In fact Denuvo is still running in the cracked game. The cracker merely fools Denuvo into thinking it's a legitimate copy. There was one game where the cracker completely removed Denuvo though. I can't remember which one. I don't follow the pirate scene.

 

[lexluthermiester]

There is literally no other game where we have the exact same version of the game available with the DRM and without it.

Did I say anything about exact versions? No? We don't need perfectly exact versions to make a relative comparison. Let's face it, most game updates fix glitches/bugs and do little for performance.

Links or it didn't happen.

Google is your friend, ask it a few questions. I'm not going to hold your hand.

Cracked copies don't remove all Denuvo code from what I understand, mentioned this in the article, too

Some of them do, which is why I thought it would be an interesting investigation.

From what I understand most cracked games that have Denuvo don't remove the code. In fact Denuvo is still running in the cracked game. The cracker merely fools Denuvo into thinking it's a legitimate copy.

This is true in some cases. In others the code is still there, but doesn't run. In others, the code is removed. There are a wide variety of quick and relatively easy ways to defeat DRM, which is a perfect example of why it's so pointless.

 

[W1zzard]

Some of them do

Which?

 

[moproblems99]

Cracked copies don't remove all Denuvo code from what I understand, mentioned this in the article, too

As far as they can tell, and my experimentation, you have two choices: smoke and mirrors or stopping the check.

Google is your friend, ask it a few questions. I'm not going to hold your hand.

See here's the thing, I'm not here to prove or disprove your points. If you want to make an argument, back it up. Otherwise, it didn't happen. You said you were an attorney, you don't walk in and tell the jury: 'All the evidence is in plain site to corroborate my client's innocence - go look for it. I rest my case.'

I understand this is not a court room but a forum but in order to have a dialog one party can't just shit out the answer: 'I'm right and you're wrong' all the time. So, until you provide evidence, it didn't happen.

Which?

The answers are on Google, he isn't going to hold your hand.

/s

 

[lexluthermiester]

Which?

See here's the thing, I'm not here to prove or disprove your points. If you want to make an argument, back it up. Otherwise, it didn't happen.

Here's the problem, to provide links to that info forum rules would have to be disregarded. Not gonna do that. However, that information is not difficult to find.

 

[Waldschatten]

I've not noticed any performance hits with Denuvo games.

What I have seen, however, is obnoxious levels of failed authentication if I'm offline (which I typically am when playing single player titles) resulting in games using Denuvo being little better (at least you don't get booted mid-game) than jokes like Diablo III.

I could deal with this if everyone would patch the games after a period of time but, as proven by Mad Max or Rise of the Tomb Raider or Dragon Age: Inquisition, many companies refuse to ever remove the DRM leaving users like me with wasted money and hard drive space for an unplayable game.

Capcom has patched a few, Sega is going on a patching spree, indie devs are usually pretty good at this, and even Funcom (for all the fit they pitched about complaints) have removed it from Mutant: Year Zero as well as even releasing via GOG completely DRM-Frre soon.

If these behaviors became standard, rather than a welcome exception to the rule, I think a lot of the complaints about Denuvo would disappear.

 

[moproblems99]

Here's the problem, to provide links to that info forum rules would have to be disregarded. Not gonna do that. However, that information is not difficult to find.

Considering W1zzard asked, I bet you could PM the info and it would be much appreciated.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Considering W1zzard asked, I bet you could PM the info and it would be much appreciated.

I could, but it was only an idea. If he agrees and wants to take a stab at it, he'll need to do the research for such an article anyway, and I bet he'll know better what to look for. However, if he wants that assistance, I would be happy to help.

 

[newtekie1]

Did I say anything about exact versions? No? We don't need perfectly exact versions to make a relative comparison. Let's face it, most game updates fix glitches/bugs and do little for performance.

No, for a proper test you need the exact same version. Anything else is not a good test, and gives useless results. And you know darn well that there are often huge performance improvements between different versions of a game.

 

[W1zzard]

I could, but it was only an idea. If he agrees and wants to take a stab at it, he'll need to do the research for such an article anyway, and I bet he'll know better what to look for. However, if he wants that assistance, I would be happy to help.

I think mentioning the game names shouldn't be a problem, I'm all for a civil discussion of piracy anyways but my mods tell me that just attracts tons of drama (and they're right )

 

[Space Lynx]

I think mentioning the game names shouldn't be a problem, I'm all for a civil discussion of piracy anyways but my mods tell me that just attracts tons of drama (and they're right )

Just not a link @moproblems99 @lexluthermiester

Seems to be some confusion amongst the 3 of you, for some reason they want to give a link, and not just write down a few names for you here.

So to be clear, I think Wiz is saying, share a few names here, but not a link.

Not complicated.

Also, I wouldn't be disrespectful to the CEO of our website here if it were me, that's just my two cents.

 

[lexluthermiester]

I think mentioning the game names shouldn't be a problem, I'm all for a civil discussion of piracy anyways but my mods tell me that just attracts tons of drama (and they're right )

And I agree with the mods on that. However, you're the owner and you've made the request.

There have been many games over the past few years but the most recent ones that I have are Wolfenstein 2, Wolfenstein The Old Blood, FarCry 5 and a few others. These are all in my Steam library, but I run the "patched" versions to remove the annoyances of the DRM involved. I personally have experienced a level of performance difference between the original and "patched" versions, though it is not dramatic. The only game which had a noticeable improvement when using the "patched" version was not what one would consider a AAA title. The "patched" version fixed a few minor issues the devs didn't bother with, which makes that version favorable and preferred.

The only service I use that has DRM is Steam, so I can only talk about those experiences. However, there are sites which provide "patched" versions of game EXE's without including the whole game. Those versions are not limited to Steam and include games from Origin, BattleNet, Epic and a few others. Effectively, I buy the games, but use the "patched" versions.

 

[64K]

I think mentioning the game names shouldn't be a problem, I'm all for a civil discussion of piracy anyways but my mods tell me that just attracts tons of drama (and they're right )

Well, from what I've seen on this site there is a considerable bit more emotional maturity and self-control with the members here than you find on a gaming site but from the dozens and dozens of discussions that I have been involved in on piracy over the years they all seem to go the same way. People enter the discussion with a firm opinion on piracy and after many, many comments and back and forth everyone leaves the discussion with the exact same opinion that they came in with.

The discussions do turn ugly at times and I have seen a few in particular on a PC gaming site that I visit where the site owner has a policy that anything goes where it has turned into a shit-storm.