Valve Reveals New Anti-Cheat Option ‘Trusted Launch’ to Combat Hackers in CS:GO
- Valve has revealed a new anti-cheat option called 'Trusted Launch' which is currently in beta.
- The additional option has been designed to combat the increasing number of cheaters in CS:GO.
- It will be working in conjunction with VAC by monitoring third-party applications that interact with CS:GO directly or indirectly.
CS:GO developers have been busy pushing out a lot of content recently to better serve the player base in all ways possible, but the only constant demand that came from the community’s side was to better handle the plethora of cheaters ruining the whole Counter-Strike experience. So yesterday the developers finally acknowledging this plea released an optional beta setting called ‘Trusted Launch’ as a part of their continued fight against cheating.
What Is Trusted Launch?
‘Trusted Launch’ is an optional setting which is currently in beta. It was launched yesterday by the developers to work in conjunction with the Valve Anti-Cheat (VAC) to bolster their fight against cheaters.
Those players who actually want to try it out and cannot wait for the official release can do so by opting into the associated beta depot. For those who don’t know how to opt into a specific beta program can 'click here' to know more.
What Does Trusted Launch Do?
Enabling the ‘Trusted Launch’ setting significantly restricts the types of programs and files that can interact with the game. What programs and files are being talked about here has not been specified.
Basically, the ‘Trusted Launch’ setting works similar to ‘Vanguard’ which is the anti-cheat system used by the tactical shooter VALORANT.
It might not be as effective as Vanguard though when it comes to blocking suspicious third-party software interacting with the game directly or indirectly, as it does not enforce kernel-level access into the user’s system to operate. But it is certainly more user friendly as it is an optional setting and can be turned off by a user if they are facing too many issues with it.
How Does Trusted Launch Work?
If the ‘Trusted Launch’ option is enabled, it will monitor the user’s system and check what third-party programs and files are interacting with the game. If everything is in the green then the user will not face any issues and can proceed to play the game normally, but in case an incompatible program or file is detected the user will receive a warning indicating the same and may also be blocked from joining VAC-enabled servers.
The only solution provided by the developers at this point seems to be very basic and quite counter-productive for the user itself.
“To resolve the issue, you can disable the ‘Trusted Launch’ in your game settings, however, this may temporarily impact your trust score.”
The developers have also added additional requirements which will impact all third-party programs that interact with the CS:GO executable process. A warning was also issued stating that trusted and verified programs and files might still be blocked “if their functionality interferes with the game in any way.”
While at first sight, the ‘Trusted Launch’ might look like a ripoff of ‘Vanguard’ it is actually quite different in the way it functions. It might not be as aggressive in nature than the latter, but it gives the user more control over how they choose to use it.
Nothing solid can be stated about its performance and effectivity at the moment as it is still in beta, as the developers work to perfect ‘Trusted Launch’ before its official release. Finally granting the community some joy who have been pleading Valve to take some action against the increased volume of cheating in CS:GO.
