id Software Clarifies Denuvo Technology Wasn't Responsible For Doom Eternal Issues Following Update 1

[Raevenlord]

id Software's Marty Stratton clarified the issues introduced in Doom Eternal following its Update 1. Via a Reddit post, the developer informed its audience that Denuvo's introduction into the game with Update 1 (a move that sparked a review-bomb on Steam and a quick backpedaling from the company regarding its inclusion) said that the anti-cheat software actually wasn't responsible for the reported issues.

The developer said that the actual performance issues introduced with Update 1 lie in changes in the graphics memory handling code, as well as some bugs introduced alongside customizable skins. The developer also went on to say that the decision to include Denuvo post-release wasn't one forced by publisher Bethesda, but an entirely in-house one, and that the subsequent decision to remove the protection has nothing to do with Denuvo's software quality. Of course, the addition of an always-on DRM solution to Doom Eternal as a post-release patch still stands, as users that previously acquired the game did so without knowledge of its eventual addition. Look after the break for a complete transcript on the comment.

"I want to provide our PC community the latest information on a number of topics related to Update 1, which we released this past Thursday. Our team has been looking into the reports of instability and performance degradation for some users and we've also seen the concerns around our inclusion of Denuvo Anti-Cheat. As is often the case, things are not as clear-cut as they may seem, so I'd like to include the latest information on the actions we're taking, as well as offer some context around the decisions we've made. We are preparing and testing PC-Only Update 1.1 that includes the changes and fixes noted below. We hope to have this rolled-out to players within a week.

Our team's original decision to include Denuvo Anti-Cheat in Update 1 was based on a number of factors:

• Protect BATTLEMODE players from cheaters now, but also establish consistent anti-cheat systems and processes as we look ahead to more competitive initiatives on our BATTLEMODE roadmap.
• Establish cheat protection in the campaign now in preparation for the future launch of Invasion - which is a blend of campaign and multiplayer.
• Kernel-level integrations are typically the most effective in preventing cheating.
• Denuvo's integration met our standards for security and privacy.
• Players were disappointed on DOOM (2016) with our delay in adding anti-cheat technology to protect that game's multiplayer.

Despite our best intentions, feedback from players has made it clear that we must re-evaluate our approach to anti-cheat integration. With that, we will be removing the anti-cheat technology from the game in our next PC update. As we examine any future of anti-cheat in DOOM Eternal, at a minimum we must 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 - like ranked or competitive play - where demand for anti-cheat is far greater.

It is important to note that our decision to include anti-cheat was guided by nothing other than the factors and goals I've outlined above - all driven by our team at id Software. I have seen speculation online that Bethesda (our parent company and publisher) is forcing these or other decisions on us, and it's simply untrue. It's also worth noting that our decision to remove the anti-cheat software is not based on the quality of the Denuvo Anti-Cheat solution. Many have unfortunately related the performance and stability issues introduced in Update 1 to the introduction of anti-cheat. They are not related.

Through our investigation, we discovered and have fixed several crashes in our code related to customizable skins. We were also able to identify and fix a number of other memory-related crashes that should improve overall stability for players. All of these fixes will be in our next PC update. I'd like to note that some of these issues were very difficult to reproduce and we want to thank a number of our community members who worked directly with our engineers to identify and help reproduce these issues.

Finally, we believe the performance issues some players have experienced on PC are based on a code change we made around VRAM allocation. We have reverted this change in our next update and expect the game to perform as it did at launch.

Please stay tuned to the official DOOM Eternal community channels for more on the roll-out of this update. As always, thank you for your passion and commitment to DOOM Eternal.

Marty Stratton
Executive Producer, DOOM Eternal"

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[The Quim Reaper]

id..when you're in hole, stop digging.

 

[Cheeseball]

There are players who cheat in BATTLEMODE? Why? It's not even a true deathmatch gametype (which is why it sucks compared to the classic).

 

[Paganstomp]

So when is this gonna be priced @ five bucks? I hope sooner than later.

 

[Vayra86]

id Software clarified that this shitstorm was nobody's fault and nobody is to blame but the devs themselves. The code was fine, Denuvo is fine, everything is fine. Pulling Denuvo entirely shortly after was also part of the plan. It was just a pilot project to be able to launch some skins, guys, come on!

The guy should go into politics

 

[blobster21]

After Doom 2016 launch, i was totally captivated by the game and finished the game several times in a row.

I have spent around 10-15hours on Doom Eternal, and the last time i played it was....1 month ago. Denuvo or not, it's already forgotten.

 

[phanbuey]

So when is this gonna be priced @ five bucks? I hope sooner than later.

^ 100% agree. After buying DOOM 2016 and clearing out the same (but slightly different) room full of randomly spawning demons for the 300th time in the span of 1.5 hours, $5 is right around the price target for me as well lol.

 

[Deleted member 177333]

id Software clarified that this shitstorm was nobody's fault and nobody is to blame but the devs themselves. The code was fine, Denuvo is fine, everything is fine. Pulling Denuvo entirely shortly after was also part of the plan. It was just a pilot project to be able to launch some skins, guys, come on!

The guy should go into politics

lol yep, pretty much my feelings on this as well.

It's funny to me - the pirate copy has been out since day 1 and has NO DRM...yet they are still messing around with Denuvo in the legit copy. As usual, the only people who suffer are the ones who legitimately bought the product. The pirate copy is superior. I'm really glad I never bought this game. I thought about it, too.

 

[robot zombie]

Im starting to wonder if DRM is 80% of the reason for piracy to stay relevant.

Damned if they do, damned if they dont. Got piracy? Add DRM to try and protect sales. But then people pirate your game in protest of DRM basically making it unplayable without a crack.

Strange times we're living in, where devs and publishers are creating incentive for pirates to play Robin Hood, by essentially punishing those who go the legit way.

 

[neatfeatguy]

What I don't understand is that they "made changes" to the "VRAM allocation" and it was causing some issues so now they're removing those changes so the game can play as well as it did before this last update with the DRM?

Is that.... *sniff* *sniff* ....bullshit I smell?

Sounds like a bunch of PR spin crap to try and save face, but then again, what do I know?

 

[Tartaros]

Sounds like a bunch of PR spin crap to try and save face, but then again, what do I know?

It's not only about bugs, Denuvo is intrusive. Still, if they really believed in their project of pushing mp and Denuvo really isn't at fault of bugs, why to go back then? Have Denuvo only for people who want to play mp in competitive or tell that a kernel level anti cheat is imperative and they will implement it like it or not.

So, yeah. Sounds like bs.

 

[Mistral]

They simply don't get it, do they..?

 

[Mega-Japan]

I try not to buy any game with DRM unless I REALLY like the franchise I'm buying into.
Otherwise, stay away from anything-DRM, and support the likes of CDPR and their GOG platform which is 100% DRM-free.
DRM's can go to hell.

 

[zlobby]

So when is this gonna be priced @ five bucks? I hope sooner than later.

For as long as it has this stuff, I ain't touching it even if they pay me to.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

They‘ve lost their marketing edge. “We added this software to leverage all those CPU cores you have now. You don’t want them to be idle do you? DO YOU?! Go ahead, waste your money!”

 

[lexluthermiester]

Im starting to wonder if DRM is 80% of the reason for piracy to stay relevant.

Damned if they do, damned if they dont. Got piracy? Add DRM to try and protect sales. But then people pirate your game in protest of DRM basically making it unplayable without a crack.

Strange times we're living in, where devs and publishers are creating incentive for pirates to play Robin Hood, by essentially punishing those who go the legit way.

TRUTH! Talk about nailing it!

They simply don't get it, do they..?

Seemingly not.

I try not to buy any game with DRM unless I REALLY like the franchise I'm buying into.
Otherwise, stay away from anything-DRM, and support the likes of CDPR and their GOG platform which is 100% DRM-free.
DRM's can go to hell.

OH hell yes. This too!

 

[TheUn4seen]

This really sounds like corporate damage control. I don't think people were criticizing Denuvo for the one percent performance hit as much as they did for it being a shady ring 0 thing which can access anything on their system and make it unstable. Not dissimilar to a complex rootkit, and this part was carefully ommited in the usual "Some users noticed we did something bad and/or stupid. We're sowwy, won't do it again, pinky swear!" piece.

 

[Decryptor009]

The best answer is to stop releasing games on PC, no cheaters then.

 

[lexluthermiester]

The best answer is to stop releasing games on PC, no cheaters then.

What a load of nonsense. Seriously with that?

 

[Decryptor009]

What a load of nonsense. Seriously with that?

How is it nonsense?

It's not something that can be magically stopped, just don't release the game on PC and they have no need to worry about cheaters.
Sadly humans are flawed and many think it is ok to cheat.

 

[trparky]

They simply don't get it, do they..?

Nope.

But did you really expect them to? Uh... Nope.

 

[Vayra86]

Im starting to wonder if DRM is 80% of the reason for piracy to stay relevant.

Damned if they do, damned if they dont. Got piracy? Add DRM to try and protect sales. But then people pirate your game in protest of DRM basically making it unplayable without a crack.

Strange times we're living in, where devs and publishers are creating incentive for pirates to play Robin Hood, by essentially punishing those who go the legit way.

It was never any different. Steam is the main contributor for a downward trend in illegal software downloads. Spotify and itunes did it for music and Netflix for film...

DRM is like a mouth mask, answers to primal instinct of protection but almost fully counterproductive.

 

[lexluthermiester]

How is it nonsense?

It's not something that can be magically stopped, just don't release the game on PC and they have no need to worry about cheaters.
Sadly humans are flawed and many think it is ok to cheat.

Wait so you're saying that you think a good solution to the problem of online cheaters is to cut off the whole of all PC gamers? That's a bit like cutting off your nose to spite your face, which is just as equally short-sighted and foolish.

 

[Decryptor009]

Wait so you're saying that you think a good solution to the problem of online cheaters is to cut off the whole of all PC gamers? That's a bit like cutting off your nose to spite your face, which is just as equally short-sighted and foolish.

Not really, you can just go buy a console.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Not really, you can just go buy a console.

Ahh, you're being a troll. Gotcha.