This article goes more into how EAC for Linux is being altered. Basically EAC can run with ring 0 access on windows machines to prevent cheats, but on Linux it doesn’t have the same level of invasive access. This is better for user privacy, but also limits its ability to prevent cheating.
The upcoming EAC Linux v2 will fall into a middle ground between the two, and will require the kernel to be signed with a key Epic recognizes. The system will also have to have TPM 2.0 and secure boot enabled. I recommend reading the article for more details.
This is a good thing. Yes, it’s not perfect. Yes, Fortnite and Epic are not great. But it’s so exhausting when people say “you can’t game on Linux” because games like Fortnite don’t work on Linux. The argument I always make in response is that it’s like saying you can’t game on a Gameboy because it doesn’t have Fortnite.
The main reason for a lot of people not switching to Linux is because they only play games like Fortnite (competitive multiplayer games with aggressive anti cheat) and those games don’t work on Linux. (Marvel Rivals being the big exception to the rule.) Fortnite supporting Linux in some form will bring more users to Linux. More users on Linux will mean more studios view it as profitable to support.
So, yes, this is a good thing. Yes, I fully admit it’s not perfect, but it’s a huge step I think most of us can admit we never saw happening.
A good move from a bad actor. I wonder if they will release a native version or use proton (with another name, because of course).
This and the forced open sourcing of Photoshop is destroying windows moats.
i want epic games to fuck off forever we dont always get what we want
Well well well, fortnite losing tons of players, epic firing thousands of devs … suddenly the people that are switching to linux getting more relevant huh timmy.
You can go fuck yourself tho.
so Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 need to be on
Nah, fuck off and stick to Windows.
Umm maybe it’s just me and my distro, but using secure boot won’t even let my Nvidia drivers run, soooo…
Although I’m not as familiar with the TPM, being knowing that Win11 needed it for some goddamn reason. I’ve never even noticed a setting for it or whether it’s on or off (never had a reason to care).
These are some reasons I stopped using Windows in the first place. I don’t need an evil corpo telling me what settings I must use so they can hide what there doing.
Exactly. When I first switched to Win10 (after it itself was just a free upgrade for me from 7, which I thought was odd for a corporate product), and saw the candy crush thing and (fuck I swear there was a second thing there, but I can’t remember) whatever that other thing was already sitting in the start menu, I knew on day 1 that that was gonna be my last version of Windows.
And then it got worse and worse. Luckily I’m that same time Linux was making huge strides with Wine and other compatibility tricks that by the time I got off the MS train I lost nothing as far as gaming potential, just maybe added a few minor snags to get everything nice.
All you have to do is say fuck almost all the reasons i switched to linux and BAM youll be playing a shitty free2play royal rumble shooter in no time!
Needs TPM, Secure Boot, and restricted Distros. Naw Dawg… I’m good.
Lot of loopholes to jump through for something not many people want
People with Steam decks, for example, would have access to EAC titles. I think it is worth it financially for Epic.
EAC already worked on Linux. Tim Swiney just wants to enshittify Linux because he’s a POS
This article is a giant softball for EGS, and the author should ashamed of it.
Rock, Paper, Shotgun was willing to call them out
No thanks. Piss off Timmy boy
Yeah Sweeny has been an outspoken hater of Linux his entire life. Now that its gaining marketshare, hes flip flopping. Fuck off Timmy boy
OG Unreal Tournament games had native Linux versions, even as late as 2016 when Epic was developing a (now cancelled) 4th UT title.
But then Fortnite happened and Epic switched from supporting Linux to antagonising it as it’s Valve’s platform thus enemy’s platform (his reaction, probably).
Fuck off and do the anticheat server side, stingy cunts.
Cheap bastards can’t even do the shit we were taught in college: always validate inputs server-side too!
Fortnite must be hemmoraging players for them to do this.
No thanks, i dont care for anti-cheat titles to begin with and there is Heroic in case i need to run a game from epic store.
Stick it up your ass, Tim Sweeney (the bitch).
Is the OS remaining secure and private with the anticheat that is requiring tpm, secure boot, etc?
Or like the Windows anticheat is it going to be able to access all the files on the PC?
My understanding is that there’s a systemd service that runs only when the game runs, and that uses ePBF to restrict read/write access to the game files while it’s running (to prevent tampering). The tpm/secure boot/recognized kernel part is to make sure the user doesn’t have a modified kernel that will lie to the anti-cheat.
If everything works like they say, they shouldn’t have access to the non-game files and no direct kernel access. So privacy should be maintained, and theoretically no risk of a EAC bug or exploit causing a full system crash.
Overall it sounds much better to me than windows anti-cheat, but that’s a pretty low bar.
I’m curious how effective it will be, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with leveraging secure boot to verify the kernel is unmodified, but does this mean dkms won’t be supported?
Dkms modules would have to be on an approved list I think.
Agreed to your comment. Only problem i have with it is that i use mainline to get latest kernels, and that wont work (kernel is not signed). Other than that, sounds good tbh
Still not gonna run epic stuff, but technically it sounds goodYou can have multiple kennels installed, so you could normally boot with mainline, but if you wanted to play a EAC game you could reboot with an approved kernel.
Oh i know i can. I always have latest mainline + latest supported incase i run into issues. I just dont want to reboot to play games. Might as well use windows for gaming then :)
If true that does sound like a huge improvement over the Windows anticheat experience.
Overall it sounds much better to me than windows anti-cheat, but that’s a pretty low bar.
I think all the things you are saying are just claims. As far as I understand it, this will be closed source software that runs as root, so basically it’s just trustmebro, the same as on Windows. I’m not a systemd expert, but seems challenging to fulfill the part where it “only runs when the game runs”.
The EBF module can be inspected, and EAC won’t have kernel access, so that limits it significantly. Things like crowdstrike, completely hiding it’s processes, etc shouldn’t be possible without it having kernel access.
The systemd service can easily be confirmed to only run while a game is running as well. You can even restrict the service to be masked except when specific games are running.
EAC having root access is a valid concern though, it will have full access to your entire filesystem. Normally you can restrict what files a systemd service can access, so we may be able to quarantine this to block any privacy concerns. However we’ll have to wait until it comes out to know that part.
Overall it’s not perfect, but users will have much higher ability to audit it on Linux versus the Windows version.
Epic doesn’t care about Linux gamers. This is an AI publicity stunt. The app does not work and probably never will.
Epic doesn’t care about
Linuxgamers. FTFYThis article is about EAC, not their new app.
Same same
