A relatively new game and an AMD feature don’t seem to be playing well together as Valve announces bans for Counter-Strike 2 players. AMD’s Anti-Lag+ technology is intended to reduce latency, something that FPS players often seek for a competitive edge and improved gameplay. New games are routinely added via updates and the latest appears to have upset Valve’s anti-cheat system (VAC) due to it bypassing the game’s dll functions. This in turn has resulted in players being banned but Valve has said it will work on restoring their accounts once an update fixing the issue is rolled out.
Per Valve (via CS2 social media page):
“AMD’s latest driver has made their “Anti-Lag/+” feature available for CS2, which is implemented by detouring engine dll functions.
If you are an AMD customer and play CS2, DO NOT ENABLE ANTI-LAG/+; any tampering with CS code will result in a VAC ban.
Once AMD ships an update we can do the work of identifying affected users and reversing their ban.“
Anti-Lag+ is causing issues for other games as well
It appears that AMD has more to do in getting Anti-Lag+ to perform as intended. The technology while similar to NVIDIA’s Reflex technology differs in that it operates at a driver level while NVIDIA’s depends on implementation from game developers. Unfortunately, the current driver path can cause issues, including bans.
Per VideoCardz:
“Call of Duty/Warzone:
- MW2 crashing
- Anti-Lag Crashes Warzone/COD
- Warzone 2 Game Crashes with Anti Lag + Enabled in AMD Software
- Game keeps crashing when joining match
- Game crashes when loading into anything multiplayer
Apex Legends
- Account Falsely Banned
- Randomly Banned after not playing for months.
- False Bans in Counter Strike 2 and Apex Legends. Anti-Lag+“
As Valve announces bans for CS2 players using Anti-Lag+ AMD is advising players to not use it in the game until another update addressing the issue is released. In light of the reports coming in about other games having similar issues players should probably exercise caution in using it in general with online games until the next update arrives.