TF2 cheat developers have received this message from Steam Support
Source is Tyler McVicker/Valve News Network: https://x.com/Tyler_McV/status/1806415701311430753
Valve has taken a single step on the treadmill. I'm hopeful they'll keep it up, but we saw what happened after #SaveTF2 2yrs ago.
English-speaking population is about 1.5 billion worldwide and 300 million of that is in the US (first language or additional language), so the US is about 20% of the world's English speakers. The 2nd and 3rd countries with the most English-speakers are India and Nigeria, so factor in internet access, and the US is almost certainly >20% of the English-speaking internet.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_English-speaking_population
Looks like Lemmy.world has the entire instance blocked: https://lemmy.world/instances
Was wondering why I hadn't heard of this bot before...
Seems like a peaceful hobby. [email protected] has a whopping 3.4k subscribers, so it seems to be relatively popular around here too.
Not too different. The bot problem started in... early 2020 maybe? Then it took about 2yrs for community leaders to start the first push of #SaveTF2 in 2022. Valve did a little bit back then to help (votekick changes especially helped), and things were good for a few months... but ultimately, things have slowly gotten bad again (if not worse). It's been 2yrs since #SaveTF2, so it was about time for another round, this time rebranded as #FixTF2.
Save.tf has the full rundown. But basically, if you join TF2's casual mode (TF2's most popular game mode), there's a 50/50 chance the server will be overrun with user-created bots. These bots have aimbot, pick sniper, and instantly kill anyone who comes into their line of sight. They also try to votekick real players, and if there are enough bots in the match, usually succeed. The bot hosters are trolls who just want to ruin the game for everyone, and have gone as far as swatting the lead developer of MegaAntiCheat, a user-created anti-cheat for TF2.
There's been a big #FixTF2 / #SaveTF2 social media push recently, trying to push Valve to do anything to try to solve the bot problem. After a day or two of getting no response from Valve, people resorted to review-bombing the game.
I thought this might be a similar situation to Ghost of Tsushima where a PSN account is only required for online play, but Ragnarok has no multiplayer.
I don't understand why Sony is so insistent on this. PSN is still unsupported in 170+ territories; this requirement is just going to turn most of those "would-be" buyers in those territories into pirates.
You didn't list your distro, but I had the same issue on Pop!_OS. I fixed it by modifying the ALSA properties in /usr/share/wireplumber/main.lua.d/50-alsa-config.lua. I'd first try uncommenting headroom and changing it to 1024, then logging out and back in. If that doesn't work, go 2048. If that still doesn't work, then I'd maybe try adjusting period-size.
For me, a value in the ~1200 range for headroom fixed it completely. But it will entirely depend on your sound card/hardware. And note, these values will probably be overwritten with any wireplummer updates.
Also keep in mind, increasing headroom will increase audio latency, so try not to increase it too drastically.
Note the vast majority of these bots are either trading bots or idler bots - NOT the "hacker" bots that infest casual mode. The hacker bots are actually included in the real player counter, and are estimated to be <1000 (from the recent "TF2: Nobody's Home" video).
Ever wondered how many pairs of feet your favourite game is into the grave? Well, now you can with the brand new TF2 Bot Counter!
A website that estimates the amount of bots currently logged in to TF2
Keep in mind this is still in open beta, according to Moonlight.tf's steam announcement. Still, looks fun!
Still exclusive to Google/Samsung proprietary apps. AFAIK they also do extensive SafetyNet attestation checks, so it isn't even possible requires a bit of work (see below) to use RCS on a custom ROM like GrapheneOS, CalyxOS, DivestOS, or LineageOS, or even a rooted stock OS. Unless that does a complete 180°, I'm sticking with Signal
These don't exactly "fit in" with the rest of the list, but on Deck I've personally had a blast with CarX Drift Racing Online and the Sonic &ASRT Collection
This is already fixed in proton experimental bleeding-edge.
mastercomfig 9.10.3 Released
Highlights: optimizations for 64-bit and bug fixes Support me: Learn how you can support more updates to mastercomfig! How to install: Instructions on setting up mastercomfig initially and get it w...
For anyone wondering why the first-past-the-post voting system (used by most countries) is bad, what the alternatives are, and why those alternatives are better, Nicky Case has an excellent write-up that covers all of that: https://ncase.me/ballot/
There are major cheating and botting issues in Valve's games because Valve has ~360 employees, where a company like Riot has 4,200+, 10x+ Valve's headcount. The manpower issue is the problem, not the lack of kernel-level AC.
I specifically bought a Pixel 5a because it was the last Pixel with a headphone jack. Then after a year, it died on me, and they sent me a 6a as a replacement.
I miss the jack. A lot. But it's hard to justify buying a whole new phone for one. Once this one dies, I don't know what I'll do.
I would check the linux gaming wiki's distro recommendations: https://linux-gaming.kwindu.eu/index.php?title=Getting_started_with_Linux#Recommendations
Mint is fine for daily use type stuff, but there are some odd gaming bugs. IIRC Cinnamon (Mint's default desktop environment) specifically has higher input lag than Gnome or KDE, and Lutris dropped official Mint support due to issues from Mint's tweaks.
I personally use Pop!_OS and it's been pretty good, although I have been a little frustrated about the 22.04 base, as I've noticed some packages (like Mangohud and GOverlay) are very out of date. But aside from that, I have no complaints.
Q&A on reactivating seasons in Deep Rock Galactic
How's this new feature going to work, exactly? Find out right here.
Helldivers 2 will use a rootkit anti-cheat, nProtect GameGuard
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/11594863
> 50/50 chance this breaks Deck and linux support, especially since the commenters' inquiries about it have gone unanswered. > > Bogles my mind why a PvE game needs an anti-cheat at all - let alone something as invasive as a rootkit. > > Source is the dev's post on, unfortunately, reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Helldivers/comments/19dp2qw/helldivers_2_nprotect_gameguard_anticheat/
Helldivers 2 will use a rootkit anti-cheat, nProtect GameGuard
50/50 chance this breaks Deck and linux support, especially since the commenters' inquiries about it have gone unanswered.
Bogles my mind why a PvE game needs an anti-cheat at all - let alone something as invasive as a rootkit.
Source is the dev's post on, unfortunately, reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Helldivers/comments/19dp2qw/helldivers_2_nprotect_gameguard_anticheat/
Looks like Valve is working on a 64bit and Vulkan upgrade to TF2's linux client
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/11085299
> For those unaware, the linux version of TF2 is still 32bit, and runs on ToGL - a DirectX to OpenGL translation layer. > > A few days ago, Valve published a TF2 private branch called "x64_linux_test": https://steamdb.info/changelist/21975149/ > > Then a few hours ago, Valve update TF2's "App Config" to include references to x64 Vulkan TF2: https://steamdb.info/changelist/22010846/ > > Looks like it's coming soon, in theory should bring some nice performance improvements. But "soon" in Valve Time is... who knows
Looks like Valve is working on a 64bit and Vulkan upgrade to TF2's linux client
For those unaware, the linux version of TF2 is still 32bit, and runs on ToGL - a DirectX to OpenGL translation layer.
A few days ago, Valve published a TF2 private branch called "x64_linux_test": https://steamdb.info/changelist/21975149/
Then a few hours ago, Valve update TF2's "App Config" to include references to x64 Vulkan TF2: https://steamdb.info/changelist/22010846/
Looks like it's coming soon, in theory should bring some nice performance improvements. But "soon" in Valve Time is... who knows
Edit: the beta is live
What cat food / brand do you use?
We've been giving our cats a mix of dry/wet food (mostly dry...), but want to switch to 100% wet, since it is better for their kidneys.
We're also trying to avoid Purina/Fancy Feast/Friskies, since they're owned by Nestlé.
Any suggestions are appreciated!
Edit: shoot, apparently Sheba and Royal Canin are owned by Mars, which isn't much better.
FPS benchmarks for some custom HUDs and transparent viewmodels - some interesting results!
Everywhere I read online, people said custom HUDs made essentially no difference in FPS, and that transparent viewmodels would decrease your FPS. However, I struggled to find real (or up-to-date) benchmarks for it. So, I decided to test it!
The Test Setup ------------------
I run a pretty unique setup, but I imagine most people will still have similar results. I'm on Pop!_OS 22.04 installed on an SSD (but the game is on a HDD), running the mastercomfig medium-high preset (with a few overrides: sprays on, hud player model on, and outlines on high) on a 1440p monitor, with an RTX 2070 Super, a Ryzen 5 3600, and 16GB of 3200MHz DDR4 RAM. I benchmarked using the benchmark guide in the mastercomfig docs (although note that all timedemos created before 7/25/2023 were broken with the TF2 update on that same day, so you have to revert to a beta version of TF2 to run the current one linked on mastercomfig's site). Every time I changed a setting, I would do an initial runthrough of the demo, and then record the results for the next 3 demos. After installing a HUD, I never changed any of the HUD settings.
The Results -------------- On the default HUD:
- Run 1: 187.11 fps ( 5.34 ms/f) 31.199 fps variability
- Run 2: 187.78 fps ( 5.33 ms/f) 30.349 fps variability
- Run 3: 184.47 fps ( 5.42 ms/f) 29.962 fps variability
- Average: 186.45 fps with 30.503 fps variability
With FlawHUD:
- Run 1: 188.19 fps ( 5.31 ms/f) 30.886 fps variability
- Run 2: 189.17 fps ( 5.29 ms/f) 30.780 fps variability
- Run 3: 188.29 fps ( 5.31 ms/f) 30.392 fps variability
- Average: 188.55 fps (+1.13%) with 30.679 fps (+0.58%) variability
With BudHud:
- Run 1: 185.13 fps ( 5.40 ms/f) 31.469 fps variability
- Run 2: 183.33 fps ( 5.45 ms/f) 30.028 fps variability
- Run 3: 186.13 fps ( 5.37 ms/f) 30.122 fps variability
- Average: 184.86 fps (-0.85%) with 30.540 fps (+0.12%) fps variability
I also tested FlawHUD and BudHud with their built-in transparent viewmodel features to see how they performed (this time the performance % will be relative to the custom HUD without transparent viewmodels enabled)
FlawHUD with transparent viewmodels:
- Run 1: 188.87 fps ( 5.29 ms/f) 30.523 fps variability
- Run 2: 189.13 fps ( 5.29 ms/f) 30.972 fps variability
- Run 3: 186.36 fps ( 5.37 ms/f) 31.342 fps variability
- Average: 188.12 fps (-0.02%) with 30.946 fps (+0.87%) variability
BudHud with transparent viewmodels:
- Run 1: 186.83 fps ( 5.35 ms/f) 30.397 fps variability
- Run 2: 183.73 fps ( 5.44 ms/f) 30.183 fps variability
- Run 3: 186.33 fps ( 5.37 ms/f) 30.290 fps variability
- Average: 185.63 fps (+0.40%) with 30.290 fps (-0.82%) variability
Lastly, I decided to test how much my overrides (hud player model and outlines) made a difference in FPS. I unfortunately didn't record the detailed results, but outlines was around a ~1% decrease, and HUD player model was a surprising 3.7% decrease (194.5fps vs 187.5fps).
I use those two settings because they give a slight competitive advantage (outlines let you detect spies a bit easier when respawning, and HUD player model lets you see the weapon you're holding while you're disguised).
My Takeaways ------------------
Anything less than 1% is probably just typical system variation. To my surprise, neither custom HUDs OR transparent viewmodels caused much more than a 1% difference in baseline FPS. This is consistent with what others have said about custom HUDs, but is inconsistent with what others have said about transparent viewmodels. However, it's possible transparent viewmodels only affect GPU performance, but I'm likely CPU-bottlenecked, which could explain why I didn't see a performance difference. If you're GPU-bottlenecked, your mileage may vary.
Additionally, the 3.7% FPS decrease with the HUD player model enabled is certainly making me question if it's worth the extremely small competitive advantage it provides when playing spy...
If you notice any errors or have any suggestions, please let me know!
Apex Legends is, yet again, falsely banning linux players
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/3398415
> This was a big issue ~5 months ago, and they ended up unbanning all of the linux players (I know reddit sucks, I'm sorry, but it's currently the best source of info I could find): https://www.reddit.com/r/apexlegends/comments/11gaefo/ea_is_falsely_massbanning_steam_deck_and_linux/ > > However, three reports from this morning (including myself) just rolled in, as well as a few others from the past month (check recent replies): https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues/Linux-players-getting-banned/td-p/12338557 > > One of the banned players from this morning was also banned (then unbanned) when this was an issue 4-5 months ago. > > More recent reddit posts about it: https://www.reddit.com/r/apexlegends/comments/15uqt7w/linux_users_getting_falsely_banned_again/ > https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/15ur654/apex_legends_linux_users_getting_falsely_banned/ > > Valve's github issues: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/issues/4350#issuecomment-1684189384
Apex Legends is, yet again, falsely banning linux players
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/3398415
> This was a big issue ~5 months ago, and they ended up unbanning all of the linux players (I know reddit sucks, I'm sorry, but it's currently the best source of info I could find): https://www.reddit.com/r/apexlegends/comments/11gaefo/ea_is_falsely_massbanning_steam_deck_and_linux/ > > However, three reports from this morning (including myself) just rolled in, as well as a few others from the past month (check recent replies): https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues/Linux-players-getting-banned/td-p/12338557 > > One of the banned players from this morning was also banned (then unbanned) when this was an issue 4-5 months ago. > > More recent reddit posts about it: https://www.reddit.com/r/apexlegends/comments/15uqt7w/linux_users_getting_falsely_banned_again/ > https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/15ur654/apex_legends_linux_users_getting_falsely_banned/ > > Valve's github issues: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/issues/4350#issuecomment-1684189384
Apex Legends is, yet again, falsely banning linux players
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/3398415
> This was a big issue ~5 months ago, and they ended up unbanning all of the linux players (I know reddit sucks, I'm sorry, but it's currently the best source of info I could find): https://www.reddit.com/r/apexlegends/comments/11gaefo/ea_is_falsely_massbanning_steam_deck_and_linux/ > > However, three reports from this morning (including myself) just rolled in, as well as a few others from the past month (check recent replies): https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues/Linux-players-getting-banned/td-p/12338557 > > One of the banned players from this morning was also banned (then unbanned) when this was an issue 4-5 months ago. > > More recent reddit posts about it: https://www.reddit.com/r/apexlegends/comments/15uqt7w/linux_users_getting_falsely_banned_again/ > https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/15ur654/apex_legends_linux_users_getting_falsely_banned/ > > Valve's github issues: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/issues/4350#issuecomment-1684189384
Apex Legends is, yet again, falsely banning linux players
This was a big issue ~5 months ago, and they ended up unbanning all of the linux players (I know reddit sucks, I'm sorry, but it's currently the best source of info I could find): https://www.reddit.com/r/apexlegends/comments/11gaefo/ea_is_falsely_massbanning_steam_deck_and_linux/
However, three reports from this morning (including myself) just rolled in, as well as a few others from the past month (check recent replies): https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues/Linux-players-getting-banned/td-p/12338557
One of the banned players from this morning was also banned (then unbanned) when this was an issue 4-5 months ago.
More recent reddit posts about it: https://www.reddit.com/r/apexlegends/comments/15uqt7w/linux_users_getting_falsely_banned_again/ https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/15ur654/apex_legends_linux_users_getting_falsely_banned/
Valve's github issues: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/issues/4350#issuecomment-1684189384
mastercomfig 9.10.2 Released
Highlights: performance optimizations and various adjustments Support me: Learn how you can support more updates to mastercomfig! How to install: Instructions on setting up mastercomfig initially a...
