Cover-Credits:
The DWM_Lut tool is effectively a code that applies a color grading to the player’s monitor and helps alter the appearance of the pixels in the images that one sees on the screen. LUT is short for Look Up Table and it is widely used by streamers to make their streams look nice. However, it only works on PCs. Thanks to a video by YouTuber and streamer Trey24k, Escape from Tarkov players were running DWM_lut in the game to brighten dark corners and remove fog from maps. The tool seemingly helped players get a better perspective on the game and naturally, it started getting used extensively. This meant that players who use this tool had a significant advantage over those who did not run it.
On 13th February, Battlestate Games announced that it has officially blocked DWM_lut. Here’s all you need to know about the ban.
Battlestate Games blocks DWM_lut
The DWM_lut filter or tool has no real interaction with Escape from Tarkov itself but only makes changes to the player’s monitor. Battlestate Games and Escape from Tarkov tweeted, “DWM_lut is now officially blocked due to a large number of uses of specific filters to obtain an unfair advantage. If you are having problems with launching the game - remove DWM_lut/files from the PC, otherwise, the game will be unavailable.”
Additionally, the developer said, “There will be no bans for using DWM_lut. Using any similar program in the future will be considered as a breach of the Terms of Service and result in a ban.”
Talking about the filter on Reddit, one user commented, “It [DWM_lut] literally cannot remove render fog. It can only change its [fog’s] color.” Another user seconded and said, “Exactly, it fixed their terrible lighting issues. Nothing was removed. It was a color grading.”
Notably, Escape from Tarkov drew comparisons to when Battlestate Games blocked Reshade, another advanced post-processing tool that allowed elevating gameplay and visual performance of the game. In 2019, Battlestate Games had a similar reaction. It tweeted, “Reshade is now officially blocked due to a large number of uses of specific filters to obtain an unfair advantage. We will provide additional visual enhancing filters later directly in the game,” adding that using such software will result in a ban later on.
One Redditor recalled this event and said, “Basically like Reshade. When BSG banned Reshade the subreddit had the same reaction.” To this, another user commented, “Not really. Reshade needed to mess with the game files for the filters to work, it ended up being abused by cheaters. All LUT did was apply a filter to your display. No messing with game files.”
