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Difference between revisions of "Denuvo"

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{{ii}} Limited to five daily activations per game, which resets 24 hours after the first activation.
 
{{ii}} Limited to five daily activations per game, which resets 24 hours after the first activation.
 
{{ii}} Capable of offline token renewal through a support page (e.g. [https://support.codefusion.technology/mgstpp/ Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain]) if supported by the platform. [[Store:Origin|Origin]] and [[Store:Uplay|Uplay]] titles do not support this as their token generation is handled within the platforms respective internal activation process where offline is not an option.
 
{{ii}} Capable of offline token renewal through a support page (e.g. [https://support.codefusion.technology/mgstpp/ Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain]) if supported by the platform. [[Store:Origin|Origin]] and [[Store:Uplay|Uplay]] titles do not support this as their token generation is handled within the platforms respective internal activation process where offline is not an option.
{{--}} Can increase the difficulty of executable binary modding, due to its obfuscation of certain parts of the executable. Doesn't ''necessarily'' disallow the practice,<ref>[https://steamcommunity.com/app/493200/discussions/0/1291817837616041996/#c1291817837618918468 Already in the third chapter and I can't launch the game on the same computer while my Steam is offline :: Steam Community Discussions]</ref> nor debugging.<ref>[https://steamcommunity.com/groups/SpecialK_Mods/discussions/0/1319962514590954694/?ctp=378#c1480982971162407922 Special K - "Kaldaien's Mod" :: Steam Community Discussions]</ref>
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{{--}} Can increase the difficulty of executable binary modding, due to its obfuscation of certain parts of the executable. Does not ''necessarily'' disallow the practice,<ref>[https://steamcommunity.com/app/493200/discussions/0/1291817837616041996/#c1291817837618918468 Already in the third chapter and I can't launch the game on the same computer while my Steam is offline :: Steam Community Discussions]</ref> nor debugging.<ref>[https://steamcommunity.com/groups/SpecialK_Mods/discussions/0/1319962514590954694/?ctp=378#c1480982971162407922 Special K - "Kaldaien's Mod" :: Steam Community Discussions]</ref>
  
 
===Controversy===
 
===Controversy===
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* Can have a noticeable impact on gameplay performance.
 
* Can have a noticeable impact on gameplay performance.
 
** Denuvo Anti-Tamper functions in a way that is designed to impact performance, which may or may not be statistically significant or noticeable during gameplay. While the company insists<ref>{{Refurl|url=https://www.golem.de/news/denuvo-verdammt-gute-leute-versuchen-unseren-schutz-zu-cracken-1611-124495-2.html|title=Golem.de - 'Endlich mal Fehler einbauen!' - Denuvo: "Verdammt gute Leute versuchen, unseren Schutz zu cracken" (German)|date=2019-05-01}}</ref> that they test to ensure minimal performance impact, they have yet to present their internal performance results for independent verification. Independent testing has also yet to confirm or refute their claims - seemingly entirely due to inadequate test methodology as current independent tests have produced inconsistent results and are sufficiently unreliable to be of no value.<ref>{{Refurl|url=https://www.dsogaming.com/articles/apart-from-initial-loading-times-denuvo-does-not-have-any-performance-hit-in-two-point-hospital/|title=DSOGaming - Apart from initial loading times, Denuvo does not have any performance hit in Two Point Hospital|date=2019-05-18}}</ref><ref>{{Refurl|url=https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2019-devil-may-cry-5-pc-denuvo-protection-tested|title=Eurogamer - Digital Foundry - Devil May Cry 5 PC's Denuvo DRM has a CPU hit|date=2019-05-18}}</ref><ref>{{Refurl|url=https://www.game-debate.com/news/22656/denuvo-pc-performance-impact-tested-doom-benchmarks-with-and-without-denuvo-drm|title=Game Debate - Denuvo PC Performance Impact Tested - DOOM Benchmarks With and Without Denuvo DRM|date=2019-05-18}}</ref><ref>{{Refurl|url=https://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/software/devil_may_cry_5_-_denuvo_performance_impact/1|title=OC3D - Devil May Cry 5 - Denuvo Performance Impact|date=2019-05-18}}</ref><ref>{{Refurl|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jt_B1kat1nQ|title=Overlord Gaming - Proof games perform slower with Denuvo | Devil May Cry 5, Hitman 2, Yakuza 0, F1 2018|date=2019-05-18}}</ref><ref>{{Refurl|url=https://www.pcgamer.com/denuvo-drm-performance-final-fantasy-15/|title=PC Gamer - Tested: Denuvo DRM has no performance impact on Final Fantasy 15|date=2019-05-18}}</ref><ref>{{Refurl|url=https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Denuvo/Performance_Loss_Test/|title=TechPowerUp - Denuvo Performance Cost & FPS Loss Tested|date=2019-05-18}}</ref>
 
** Denuvo Anti-Tamper functions in a way that is designed to impact performance, which may or may not be statistically significant or noticeable during gameplay. While the company insists<ref>{{Refurl|url=https://www.golem.de/news/denuvo-verdammt-gute-leute-versuchen-unseren-schutz-zu-cracken-1611-124495-2.html|title=Golem.de - 'Endlich mal Fehler einbauen!' - Denuvo: "Verdammt gute Leute versuchen, unseren Schutz zu cracken" (German)|date=2019-05-01}}</ref> that they test to ensure minimal performance impact, they have yet to present their internal performance results for independent verification. Independent testing has also yet to confirm or refute their claims - seemingly entirely due to inadequate test methodology as current independent tests have produced inconsistent results and are sufficiently unreliable to be of no value.<ref>{{Refurl|url=https://www.dsogaming.com/articles/apart-from-initial-loading-times-denuvo-does-not-have-any-performance-hit-in-two-point-hospital/|title=DSOGaming - Apart from initial loading times, Denuvo does not have any performance hit in Two Point Hospital|date=2019-05-18}}</ref><ref>{{Refurl|url=https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2019-devil-may-cry-5-pc-denuvo-protection-tested|title=Eurogamer - Digital Foundry - Devil May Cry 5 PC's Denuvo DRM has a CPU hit|date=2019-05-18}}</ref><ref>{{Refurl|url=https://www.game-debate.com/news/22656/denuvo-pc-performance-impact-tested-doom-benchmarks-with-and-without-denuvo-drm|title=Game Debate - Denuvo PC Performance Impact Tested - DOOM Benchmarks With and Without Denuvo DRM|date=2019-05-18}}</ref><ref>{{Refurl|url=https://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/software/devil_may_cry_5_-_denuvo_performance_impact/1|title=OC3D - Devil May Cry 5 - Denuvo Performance Impact|date=2019-05-18}}</ref><ref>{{Refurl|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jt_B1kat1nQ|title=Overlord Gaming - Proof games perform slower with Denuvo | Devil May Cry 5, Hitman 2, Yakuza 0, F1 2018|date=2019-05-18}}</ref><ref>{{Refurl|url=https://www.pcgamer.com/denuvo-drm-performance-final-fantasy-15/|title=PC Gamer - Tested: Denuvo DRM has no performance impact on Final Fantasy 15|date=2019-05-18}}</ref><ref>{{Refurl|url=https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Denuvo/Performance_Loss_Test/|title=TechPowerUp - Denuvo Performance Cost & FPS Loss Tested|date=2019-05-18}}</ref>
** In some instances the anti-tamper protection checks were confirmed to be a part of performance critical functions and had a noticeable impact on gameplay performance on some systems (for example, in [[Tekken 7]]{{Note|name=tekken7speed|note=Where functions related to certain characters' abilities were wrapped in the anti-tamper protection and impacted gameplay performance when used.<ref>{{Refurl|url=https://twitter.com/Harada_TEKKEN/status/984791954872569857|title=Twitter - Katsuhiro Harada - April 13, 2018|date=2019-04-07}}</ref>}})
+
** In some instances the anti-tamper protection checks were confirmed to be a part of performance critical functions and had a noticeable impact on gameplay performance on some systems, as in [[Tekken 7]].{{Note|name=tekken7speed|note=Functions in [[Tekken 7]] related to some abilities of certain characters were wrapped in the anti-tamper protection and impacted gameplay performance when used.<ref>{{Refurl|url=https://twitter.com/Harada_TEKKEN/status/984791954872569857|title=Twitter - Katsuhiro Harada - April 13, 2018|date=2019-04-07}}</ref>}}
 
*** Typically fixed in updates as game developers notices the performance bug(s) and solves them by flagging the relevant functions as performance critical to prevent the use of them by the anti-tamper.
 
*** Typically fixed in updates as game developers notices the performance bug(s) and solves them by flagging the relevant functions as performance critical to prevent the use of them by the anti-tamper.
*** Individual developers may also try to rollout their own separate ''additional'' anti-tamper schemes, on top of Denuvo's (with actually poor results usually, as in [[Monster Hunter: World]]{{Note|name=mhwspeed|note=The game is constantly setting debug registers, likely in order to disrupt debuggers<ref>[https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/issues/175#issuecomment-574363949 Monster Hunter World (582010) · Issue #175 · ValveSoftware/Proton]</ref>. This is very costly CPU-time-wise and would look unlike all the other work of Denuvo<ref name=mhwNIH>[https://steamcommunity.com/app/582010/discussions/3/1737760452991488674/#c1735510154208133876 Someone's using exceptions as goto statements :: Steam Community Discussions]</ref>.}})
+
*** Individual developers may also use their own separate anti-tamper schemes in addition to Denuvo Anti-Tamper; usually with poor results, as in [[Monster Hunter: World]].{{Note|name=mhwspeed|note=[[Monster Hunter: World]] is constantly setting debug registers, likely in order to disrupt debuggers<ref>[https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/issues/175#issuecomment-574363949 Monster Hunter World (582010) · Issue #175 · ValveSoftware/Proton]</ref>. This is very costly CPU-time-wise and would look unlike all the other work of Denuvo Anti-Tamper.<ref name=mhwNIH>[https://steamcommunity.com/app/582010/discussions/3/1737760452991488674/#c1735510154208133876 Someone's using exceptions as goto statements :: Steam Community Discussions]</ref>}}
 
** In some instances the bypasses for the anti-tamper checks in illegitimate copies have had an additional performance impact, such as with [[Sonic Mania]]<ref>{{Refurl|url=https://www.reddit.com/r/CrackWatch/comments/908pg1/sega_rushes_the_new_denuvo_in_new_sonic_manias/e2t3ye0/|title=Reddit - /r/Crackwatch - /u/Voksi_RVT comment on Sonic Mania Plus' slowdowns|date=2019-04-07}}</ref> and [[Injustice 2]]<ref>{{Refurl|url=https://i.imgur.com/Cnuzl7x.png|title=Imgur - Injustice.2.Legendary.Edition-CODEX NFO|date=2019-04-07}}</ref>.
 
** In some instances the bypasses for the anti-tamper checks in illegitimate copies have had an additional performance impact, such as with [[Sonic Mania]]<ref>{{Refurl|url=https://www.reddit.com/r/CrackWatch/comments/908pg1/sega_rushes_the_new_denuvo_in_new_sonic_manias/e2t3ye0/|title=Reddit - /r/Crackwatch - /u/Voksi_RVT comment on Sonic Mania Plus' slowdowns|date=2019-04-07}}</ref> and [[Injustice 2]]<ref>{{Refurl|url=https://i.imgur.com/Cnuzl7x.png|title=Imgur - Injustice.2.Legendary.Edition-CODEX NFO|date=2019-04-07}}</ref>.
  
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** On a few occasions the service have also experienced partial service outages that only affects a few players.<ref name="MHW24hours">{{Refurl|url=https://steamcommunity.com/app/582010/discussions/0/1746720717342419456/|title=Steam Community - Monster Hunter: World - Monster Hunter World/Steam problem|date=2019-04-08}}</ref>
 
** On a few occasions the service have also experienced partial service outages that only affects a few players.<ref name="MHW24hours">{{Refurl|url=https://steamcommunity.com/app/582010/discussions/0/1746720717342419456/|title=Steam Community - Monster Hunter: World - Monster Hunter World/Steam problem|date=2019-04-08}}</ref>
 
** Denuvo does not have any public service status page, nor do they publish information for end users when their service experiences outages, leaving players unaware what the issue can be or when the issue is expected to be solved.
 
** Denuvo does not have any public service status page, nor do they publish information for end users when their service experiences outages, leaving players unaware what the issue can be or when the issue is expected to be solved.
** This occurred most noticeably for the [[#Servers/APIs for Warner Bros. titles|Warner Bros. server]] back in December 2017, and prevented some players from playing [[Mad Max]] and [[Batman Arkham Knight]] until the issue was solved.<ref>{{Refurl|url=https://www.dsogaming.com/news/denuvo-server-problems-prevented-players-from-playing-batman-arkham-knight-mad-max/|title=DSOGaming - Denuvo server issues prevented players from playing Batman: Arkham Knight, Mad Max & Shadow of War|date=2019-05-16}}</ref>{{Note|name=DSOGamingOutage|note=DSOGaming's source for the outage also affecting [[Middle-earth: Shadow of War]] is a patch note about fixing an issue with the game that resulted in '''Windows Defender''' blocking access to save files, which resulted in a crash on launch. That game does not rely on <code>revalidate.wbgames.com</code>, which is [[#Servers/APIs for Warner Bros. titles|the online server]] that Denuvo Anti-Tamper in [[Mad Max]] and [[Batman Arkham Knight]] relies upon, and was most likely the one experiencing an outage back in December, 2017.}}
+
** This occurred most noticeably for the [[#Servers/APIs for Warner Bros. titles|Warner Bros. server]] back in December 2017, and prevented some players from playing [[Mad Max]] and [[Batman Arkham Knight]] until the issue was solved.<ref>{{Refurl|url=https://www.dsogaming.com/news/denuvo-server-problems-prevented-players-from-playing-batman-arkham-knight-mad-max/|title=DSOGaming - Denuvo server issues prevented players from playing Batman: Arkham Knight, Mad Max & Shadow of War|date=2019-05-16}}</ref>{{Note|name=DSOGamingOutage|note=DSOGaming's source for the server outage also affecting [[Middle-earth: Shadow of War]] is a patch note about fixing an issue with the game that resulted in '''Windows Defender''' blocking access to save files, which resulted in a crash on launch. That game does not rely on <code>revalidate.wbgames.com</code>, which is [[#Servers/APIs for Warner Bros. titles|the online server]] that Denuvo Anti-Tamper in [[Mad Max]] and [[Batman Arkham Knight]] relies upon, and was most likely the server experiencing an outage back in December, 2017.}}
  
 
* Forced incompatibility with Linux through Wine/Steam Proton, or prevents native Linux ports from being developed and released.
 
* Forced incompatibility with Linux through Wine/Steam Proton, or prevents native Linux ports from being developed and released.
** Because earlier versions of Wine didn't have all the APIs needed by Denuvo Anti-Tamper implemented, the incompatibility was occasionally blamed as an intended consequence of the anti-tamper protection. Said incompatibility should have been fixed<ref name=doom>[https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=40623#c32 DOOM (2016) demo (Steam) crashes on launch due to Denuvo copy protection - WineHQ Bugzilla]</ref><ref>[https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=42716#c23 64-bit MetaTrader5 refuses to start, reports 'A debugger has been found running in your system' (Denuvo Anti-Tamper x64) - WineHQ Bugzilla]</ref><ref>[https://github.com/ValveSoftware/wine/commit/a7858a380032403bac2f52a0245cb28ee6d19592 HACK: steam: Add PE wrapper DLL for lsteamclient. · ValveSoftware/wine - GitHub]</ref>, and Steam Proton [https://steamcommunity.com/games/221410/announcements/detail/1696055855739350561 officially supported two] protected titles on its initial release date ([[Tekken 7]] and [[NieR: Automata]]), with other games, such as [[Hitman 2]] also working on Proton, despite initially having Denuvo Anti-Tamper at launch<ref>[https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=42455 Hitman hangs with 100% CPU usage without showing screen - WineHQ Bugzilla]</ref>.
+
** Because earlier versions of Wine did not have all the APIs needed by Denuvo Anti-Tamper implemented, the incompatibility was occasionally blamed as an intended consequence of the anti-tamper protection. Said incompatibility should have been fixed<ref name=doom>[https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=40623#c32 DOOM (2016) demo (Steam) crashes on launch due to Denuvo copy protection - WineHQ Bugzilla]</ref><ref>[https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=42716#c23 64-bit MetaTrader5 refuses to start, reports 'A debugger has been found running in your system' (Denuvo Anti-Tamper x64) - WineHQ Bugzilla]</ref><ref>[https://github.com/ValveSoftware/wine/commit/a7858a380032403bac2f52a0245cb28ee6d19592 HACK: steam: Add PE wrapper DLL for lsteamclient. · ValveSoftware/wine - GitHub]</ref>, and Steam Proton [https://steamcommunity.com/games/221410/announcements/detail/1696055855739350561 officially supported two] protected titles on its initial release date ([[Tekken 7]] and [[NieR: Automata]]), with other games, such as [[Hitman 2]] also working on Proton, despite initially having Denuvo Anti-Tamper at launch.<ref>[https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=42455 Hitman hangs with 100% CPU usage without showing screen - WineHQ Bugzilla]</ref>
 
** Sometimes issues on game start were blamed on Denuvo Anti-Tamper, even though different components are at fault<ref name=mhwNIH/><ref name=doom/><ref>[https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=45016 Far Cry 5 crashes at startup - WineHQ Bugzilla]</ref>
 
** Sometimes issues on game start were blamed on Denuvo Anti-Tamper, even though different components are at fault<ref name=mhwNIH/><ref name=doom/><ref>[https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=45016 Far Cry 5 crashes at startup - WineHQ Bugzilla]</ref>
 
** The use of Denuvo Anti-Tamper has ''never'' prevented official Linux ports from being developed and released either, as evidenced by [[Hitman]] and [[Rise of the Tomb Raider]] which have both gotten native Linux and/or macOS ports before the protection was removed from the Windows version.
 
** The use of Denuvo Anti-Tamper has ''never'' prevented official Linux ports from being developed and released either, as evidenced by [[Hitman]] and [[Rise of the Tomb Raider]] which have both gotten native Linux and/or macOS ports before the protection was removed from the Windows version.
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====Offline token locations====
 
====Offline token locations====
{{Standard table| Platform | Location{{Note|note=The table is based on testing performed on various titles, including a multitude of Steam-based titles, [[Metro Exodus]] and the demo of [[Heavy Rain]] on Epic Games Launcher, and finally [[Rise of the Tomb Raider]], [[Football Manager 2019]], and [[Metro Exodus]] on the Microsoft Store.<ref name="Aemony">{{Refcheck|user=Aemony|date=2019-06-14}}</ref>}} |content=
+
{{Standard table| Platform | Location{{Note|note=The table of the offline token locations is based on testing performed on various titles, including a multitude of Steam-based titles, [[Metro Exodus]] and the demo of [[Heavy Rain]] on Epic Games Launcher, and finally [[Rise of the Tomb Raider]], [[Football Manager 2019]], and [[Metro Exodus]] on the Microsoft Store.<ref name="Aemony">{{Refcheck|user=Aemony|date=2019-06-14}}</ref>}} |content=
{{Standard table/rowalt| [[Store:Epic Games Store|Epic Games Store]] | {{p|localappdata}}\EpicGamesLauncher\########{{Note|note=As this location is shared it is not immediately clear to the user what file correlates to which game.}} }}
+
{{Standard table/rowalt| [[Bethesda.net]] | {{p|localappdata}}\Bethesda.net Launcher\tokens\########{{Note|As both the locations for the Epic Games Store and the Bethesda.net Launcher are shared among all games on those respective platforms it is not immediately clear to the user which file correlates to which game.|name=EGSBethesda}} }}
 +
{{Standard table/rowalt| [[Store:Epic Games Store|Epic Games Store]] | {{p|localappdata}}\EpicGamesLauncher\########{{Note|name=EGSBethesda}} }}
 
{{Standard table/rowalt| [[Store:Microsoft Store|Microsoft Store]] | {{p|localappdata}}\Packages\<package-folder>\LocalState\dbdata
 
{{Standard table/rowalt| [[Store:Microsoft Store|Microsoft Store]] | {{p|localappdata}}\Packages\<package-folder>\LocalState\dbdata
 
{{p|localappdata}}\Packages\<package-folder>\LocalCache\Local\Denuvo\######## }}
 
{{p|localappdata}}\Packages\<package-folder>\LocalCache\Local\Denuvo\######## }}
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{{mm}} Older versions of Denuvo Anti-Tamper stored the offline token in a file called {{file|dbdata}}; newer makes use of a file with numbers as the filename. Neither makes use of a file extension.
 
{{mm}} Older versions of Denuvo Anti-Tamper stored the offline token in a file called {{file|dbdata}}; newer makes use of a file with numbers as the filename. Neither makes use of a file extension.
{{mm}} Digit-based filenames differ between versions of the game, so it is normal to have more than one of those files present. Only the latest modified file is actively being used;{{Note|note=This does not apply to Epic Games Launcher which uses a shared location for all protected titles.}} the older ones are inert and can be safely removed.
+
{{mm}} Digit-based filenames differ between versions of the game, so it is normal to have more than one of those files present. Only the latest modified file is actively being used;{{Note|note=The latest modified file being the only actively used offline token does not apply to games on the Epic Games Launcher nor the Bethesda.net Launcher as those platforms uses shared locations for all protected titles.}} the older ones are inert and can be safely removed.
  
 
====Servers/APIs====
 
====Servers/APIs====
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'''Request/Response API'''
 
'''Request/Response API'''
 
{{mm}} The request/response data is structured using {{W|XML}} and encoded in {{W|Base64}}.
 
{{mm}} The request/response data is structured using {{W|XML}} and encoded in {{W|Base64}}.
{{mm}} ''Advanced: The web API expects <code>Content-Type: text/plain</code> to be used in the request message.''
+
{{mm}} ''Advanced: The web API expects <code>Content-Type: text/plain</code> to be used in the request headers.''
 
The online component relies solely on standardized HTTPS communications and a simple web API, and fully respects and makes use of system-wide proxy configuration and internet settings. Basically the client (the game executable) sends the locally generated ''request code'' in the body of a HTTP request message to the online server using the [[Wikipedia:POST (HTTP)|POST method]], and receives the appropriate ''response code'' back in the body of the response message. This single exchange (one sent request, one received response) is all that is needed for the anti-tamper component of the game executable to generate the appropriate offline token for the system.
 
The online component relies solely on standardized HTTPS communications and a simple web API, and fully respects and makes use of system-wide proxy configuration and internet settings. Basically the client (the game executable) sends the locally generated ''request code'' in the body of a HTTP request message to the online server using the [[Wikipedia:POST (HTTP)|POST method]], and receives the appropriate ''response code'' back in the body of the response message. This single exchange (one sent request, one received response) is all that is needed for the anti-tamper component of the game executable to generate the appropriate offline token for the system.
  
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{{Standard table/row| https://support.codefusion.technology/validate/ | Used for the manual activation process.  }}
 
{{Standard table/row| https://support.codefusion.technology/validate/ | Used for the manual activation process.  }}
 
{{Standard table/row| https://srv00.codefusion.technology/ | Unknown usage. Possibly a test server of sorts as it is capable of generating valid response codes for at least Steam-based games, possibly other platforms as well. }}
 
{{Standard table/row| https://srv00.codefusion.technology/ | Unknown usage. Possibly a test server of sorts as it is capable of generating valid response codes for at least Steam-based games, possibly other platforms as well. }}
 +
}}
 +
 +
====Servers/APIs for Bethesda.net titles====
 +
{{ii}} All servers seems to be hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS) datacenters.
 +
 +
{{Standard table| Domain / Website | Description |content=
 +
{{Standard table/row| api.bethesda.net | Only domain used by the protection in Bethesda.net-based titles based on investigating [[Wolfenstein: Youngblood]]. }}
 +
{{Standard table/row| support.codefusion.technology | Responsible for the generic support pages and manual activation pages if api.bethesda.net fails to respond properly. }}
 +
}}
 +
 +
'''Request/Response API'''
 +
{{ii}} Behaves the same as defined in the [[#Technical information|Technical information]] section above, just with different target URIs.
 +
{{mm}} The generic servers for other platforms (such as Steam and Microsoft Store) can be used to generate valid offline tokens if Bethesda's custom server would ever go down.
 +
{{mm}} ''Advanced: The web API expects <code>Content-Type: text/plain</code> and <code>Accept: */*</code> to be used in the request header.''
 +
 +
{{Standard table| Target URI | Description |content=
 +
{{Standard table/row| https://api.bethesda.net/denuvo/api/v2/gametoken | Used for the automatic activation process. }}
 +
{{Standard table/row| https://support.codefusion.technology/validate/10/ | Used for the manual activation process. }}
 
}}
 
}}
  
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{{Standard table| Target URI | Description |content=
 
{{Standard table| Target URI | Description |content=
 
{{Standard table/row| https://revalidate.wbgames.com/ | Used for the automatic activation process of these two titles. }}
 
{{Standard table/row| https://revalidate.wbgames.com/ | Used for the automatic activation process of these two titles. }}
{{Standard table/row| https://revalidate.wbgames.com/validate/ | Used for the manual activation process of these two titles. }}
+
{{Standard table/row| https://revalidate.wbgames.com/validate/ | Used for the manual activation process of these two titles. }}
 
}}
 
}}
  

Revision as of 22:42, 8 February 2020

Denuvo
Denuvo logo.svg
Website
Parent company
Founded

Denuvo Software Solutions GmbH is an Austrian company formed through the management buyout of Sony DADC DigitalWorks, the creators of SecuROM. Despite the management buyout, Denuvo Software Solutions and Sony DADC still have a close working relationship with the latter acting as a reselling partner of the former. Some games making use of the Denuvo Anti-Tamper product will therefore include mentions of this relationship in their EULAs, and refer to the product as one by Sony DADC or similar.[1] In early 2018, Denuvo Software Solutions was acquired by Irdeto.

Denuvo Anti-Cheat

Despite being listed on the official website since at least January 2017, this product from Denuvo does not seem to have received much fanfare or use among video games publishers. In August 2018, Irdeto announced the Anti-Cheat technology would soon launch as a full end-to-end solution. The following year, on 20 March 2019, a launch announcement was made about the new product. According to the announcement, Denuvo Anti-Cheat combines machine learning of game agnostic process metrics with the latest hardware security features[2] offered by Intel and AMD to detect and prevent cheating. The protection supposedly operates on the binary, not the source code, and integrates directly into the product build process, and also does not interfere with debuggers, instrumentation tools, or profilers, nor does it require additional APIs or SDKs to implement. Since it uses hardware-backed security, the protection goes beyond that which is offered by simple Windows kernel-mode drivers.

With this renewed focus on the Anti-Cheat product, it is expected that at least some upcoming games will make use of the technology.

Denuvo Anti-Tamper

Flowchart over launch procedure for Steam titles.
Flowchart over launch procedure for Steam titles.

Denuvo Anti-Tamper is the current de-facto standard for securing DRM schemes on modern titles. Since its original release back in 2014, it has been used to strengthen the DRM of over 150 titles; some with great success, others less so. At its core, it uses various obfuscation techniques, such as unique hardware-based code paths, virtualization, and more, to make tampering with the account-based DRM protection of a game (e.g. Epic Games Launcher, Microsoft Store, Origin, Steam, or Uplay) harder in an attempt to delay piracy. It is embedded in the executable of the game, and only stores licensing data (the "offline token" used to launch the game) separately on the storage drive. This licensing data is typically a couple of kilobytes in size, and is (re)created when the system environment changes enough to necessitate a new token.

A consequence of its use of unique hardware-based code paths, Denuvo Anti-Tamper requires an online connection periodically as the system environment of the operating system changes with new hardware and/or Windows updates. While everything that might invalidate the token stored on the storage drive is not fully known, this happens frequently enough for the anti-tamper protection to be described as requiring a periodic online connection every fortnight or so. This is generally not an issue or hindrance for those with an always present online connection, but can be an annoyance for people primarily using roaming data. Players gaming offline for a long period of time can also suffer if proper preparations are not made in advance to ensure the validity of the offline token. The lack of transparency on storefronts regarding this process from Denuvo Anti-Tamper is a hindrance for potential purchasers, as it means people might not be aware of its presence and periodic online requirement before purchasing a game that, after purchase, the purchaser may find unplayable when an online connection is unavailable.

Limited to five daily activations per game, which resets 24 hours after the first activation.
Capable of offline token renewal through a support page (e.g. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain) if supported by the platform. Origin and Uplay titles do not support this as their token generation is handled within the platforms respective internal activation process where offline is not an option.
Can increase the difficulty of executable binary modding, due to its obfuscation of certain parts of the executable. Does not necessarily disallow the practice,[3] nor debugging.[4]

Controversy

Due to Denuvo Anti-Tamper having seen year-long successes early in its product life there was and have been quite a lot of fear, uncertainty, and doubt spread around it as a product. On top of this, the lack of transparency from Denuvo as well as the lack of proper in-depth analysis of its effect from third-parties have also contributed to the speculations and misleading reports spread around online.
Because of how Denuvo Anti-Tamper works and its functions are unknown to the average consumer, users tend to be quick to blame it for issues that is most likely caused by something else entirely.
This section strives to be more focused on specific controversies surrounding Denuvo Anti-Tamper. For general DRM controversies, please see the main DRM article.

Examples of controversies:

  • Requires an online connection at the first launch of a game, after a game update or some Windows updates, when changing specific hardware, or the built-in expiration[citation needed] (if used) has passed.
    • This happens frequently enough for the anti-tamper protection to be described as requiring a periodic online connection every fortnight or so.
    • This is generally not an issue or hindrance for those with an always present online connection, but can be an annoyance for people primarily using roaming data. Players gaming offline for a long period of time can also suffer if proper preparations are not made in advance to ensure the validity of the offline token.
    • The lack of transparency on storefronts regarding this process from Denuvo Anti-Tamper is a hindrance for potential purchasers, as it means people might not be aware of its presence and periodic online requirement before purchasing a game that, after purchase, the purchaser may find unplayable when an online connection is unavailable.
  • Can have a noticeable impact on gameplay performance.
    • Denuvo Anti-Tamper functions in a way that is designed to impact performance, which may or may not be statistically significant or noticeable during gameplay. While the company insists[5] that they test to ensure minimal performance impact, they have yet to present their internal performance results for independent verification. Independent testing has also yet to confirm or refute their claims - seemingly entirely due to inadequate test methodology as current independent tests have produced inconsistent results and are sufficiently unreliable to be of no value.[6][7][8][9][10][11][12]
    • In some instances the anti-tamper protection checks were confirmed to be a part of performance critical functions and had a noticeable impact on gameplay performance on some systems, as in Tekken 7.[Note 1]
      • Typically fixed in updates as game developers notices the performance bug(s) and solves them by flagging the relevant functions as performance critical to prevent the use of them by the anti-tamper.
      • Individual developers may also use their own separate anti-tamper schemes in addition to Denuvo Anti-Tamper; usually with poor results, as in Monster Hunter: World.[Note 2]
    • In some instances the bypasses for the anti-tamper checks in illegitimate copies have had an additional performance impact, such as with Sonic Mania[16] and Injustice 2[17].
  • Requires a persistent online connection / adds an always online requirement to games.
    • This has been found false multiple times as the protection only has a periodic online requirement when the offline token is found invalid and needs to be recreated.
    • In the case of Sonic Mania's "always online requirement" on release date, it was discovered to be caused by a bug due to the developers' incorrect use of the Steam API, and could be fixed without ever tampering with the anti-tamper protection of the game.[18]
  • Relies on the SSE4.1 CPU instruction set, causing incompatibility with AMD Phenom 2 and earlier CPUs.
    • Based on a cursory inspection into whether players were able to play many of the latest protected games on older CPUs or not, Denuvo Anti-Tamper does not seem to showcase on its own any reliance on the SSE4.1 instruction set,[21] which suggests that the requirement is caused by something else, such as the game code itself.
    • Game developers often track down and fix the issue in the game code without removing the anti-tamper protection.[22][23][24]
    • Ubisoft stands out in that many of their modern titles requires the SSE4.1 instruction set[21], even going as far as to specifying it in their minimum requirements for games.[25][26][27]
  • Server outages will prevents renewals of the offline token for new and some returning players, thereby preventing play until the outage have been solved.
    • The only players capable of continuing to play the game during an outage are those with a valid offline token on their systems already.
    • On a few occasions the service have also experienced partial service outages that only affects a few players.[28]
    • Denuvo does not have any public service status page, nor do they publish information for end users when their service experiences outages, leaving players unaware what the issue can be or when the issue is expected to be solved.
    • This occurred most noticeably for the Warner Bros. server back in December 2017, and prevented some players from playing Mad Max and Batman Arkham Knight until the issue was solved.[29][Note 3]
  • Forced incompatibility with Linux through Wine/Steam Proton, or prevents native Linux ports from being developed and released.
    • Because earlier versions of Wine did not have all the APIs needed by Denuvo Anti-Tamper implemented, the incompatibility was occasionally blamed as an intended consequence of the anti-tamper protection. Said incompatibility should have been fixed[30][31][32], and Steam Proton officially supported two protected titles on its initial release date (Tekken 7 and NieR: Automata), with other games, such as Hitman 2 also working on Proton, despite initially having Denuvo Anti-Tamper at launch.[33]
    • Sometimes issues on game start were blamed on Denuvo Anti-Tamper, even though different components are at fault[15][30][34]
    • The use of Denuvo Anti-Tamper has never prevented official Linux ports from being developed and released either, as evidenced by Hitman and Rise of the Tomb Raider which have both gotten native Linux and/or macOS ports before the protection was removed from the Windows version.

Technical information

A flowchart of the procedure can be found further up the page.

Based on data gathered from protected titles on Steam, Epic Games Launcher, and the Microsoft Store[Note 4] by monitoring external operations performed by the anti-tamper component through the use of Process Monitor, Fiddler, and in some instances also Wireshark, they all follow the same general procedure and makes use of the same servers and APIs in their online communication. A basic overview in how the anti-tamper components interacts with the system is quite minimal:

  1. At the launch of a game a validation of the offline token is performed.
  2. If the offline token is invalid or missing, an appropriate request code is generated based on the system environment and sent to an online server.
  3. The online server responds with a corresponding response code.
  4. The local anti-tamper component uses the response code to write a new valid offline token to the local storage drive.
  5. The game continues to launch along with the now valid offline token.
  6. On subsequent launches the anti-tamper protection will automatically load and make use of the offline token stored on the storage drive, up until said token is made invalid again.

If the online connection fails the user will get a manual "offline" activation option where they can make use of a secondary online connected device to retrieve the corresponding response code, an option not available for either Origin, Uplay, or possibly other supported platforms either. The availability of this second option means a local token generator is theoretically possible for a fully offline procedure, as was confirmed in 2017 with the release of an unofficial offline token generator for Dishonored 2.[35]

Beyond the mentioned online connection above, as well as the drive read, and drive write if the offline token is invalid, no other online connection nor drive reads/writes are performed during play.

Offline token locations

Platform Location[Note 5]
Bethesda.net %LOCALAPPDATA%\Bethesda.net Launcher\tokens\########[Note 6]
Epic Games Store %LOCALAPPDATA%\EpicGamesLauncher\########[Note 6]
Microsoft Store %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\<package-folder>\LocalState\dbdata %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\<package-folder>\LocalCache\Local\Denuvo\########
Oculus Store %LOCALAPPDATA%\dbdata\<unique-16-digits-long-app-id>\########
Steam <Steam-folder>\userdata\<user-id>\<steam-appid>\dbdata
<Steam-folder>\userdata\<user-id>\<steam-appid>\########
Older versions of Denuvo Anti-Tamper stored the offline token in a file called dbdata; newer makes use of a file with numbers as the filename. Neither makes use of a file extension.
Digit-based filenames differ between versions of the game, so it is normal to have more than one of those files present. Only the latest modified file is actively being used;[Note 7] the older ones are inert and can be safely removed.

Servers/APIs

All servers seems to be hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS) datacenter EU West 1, Ireland.
Domain Description
support.codefusion.technology Responsible for the generic support pages and manual activation pages for the anti-tamper protection as well as Redeem.exe.
srv01.codefusion.technology
srv02.codefusion.technology
srv03.codefusion.technology
These domains are the primary ones used to retrieve a valid token in Steam, Epic Games Store, and Microsoft Store-based games. If srv01 does not respond with a proper response code, srv02 is used instead. If srv02 also fails, srv03 is used instead. If all three fails, the user receives instructions on how to perform a manual "offline" activation using the relevant support.codefusion.technology page.

Advanced: Load-balanced between two AWS instances using round-robin DNS.
srv00.codefusion.technology Unknown usage. Possibly a test server of sorts as it is capable of generating valid response codes for at least Steam-based games, possibly other platforms as well.
srv04.codefusion.technology
srv05.codefusion.technology
These two domains are also registered, but their use is currently unknown to this article.

Advanced: Points to the same two aforementioned AWS instances.

Request/Response API

The request/response data is structured using XML and encoded in Base64.
Advanced: The web API expects Content-Type: text/plain to be used in the request headers.

The online component relies solely on standardized HTTPS communications and a simple web API, and fully respects and makes use of system-wide proxy configuration and internet settings. Basically the client (the game executable) sends the locally generated request code in the body of a HTTP request message to the online server using the POST method, and receives the appropriate response code back in the body of the response message. This single exchange (one sent request, one received response) is all that is needed for the anti-tamper component of the game executable to generate the appropriate offline token for the system.

Target URI Description
https://srv01.codefusion.technology/
https://srv02.codefusion.technology/
https://srv03.codefusion.technology/
Used for the automatic activation process.
https://support.codefusion.technology/validate/ Used for the manual activation process.
https://srv00.codefusion.technology/ Unknown usage. Possibly a test server of sorts as it is capable of generating valid response codes for at least Steam-based games, possibly other platforms as well.

Servers/APIs for Bethesda.net titles

All servers seems to be hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS) datacenters.
Domain / Website Description
api.bethesda.net Only domain used by the protection in Bethesda.net-based titles based on investigating Wolfenstein: Youngblood.
support.codefusion.technology Responsible for the generic support pages and manual activation pages if api.bethesda.net fails to respond properly.

Request/Response API

Behaves the same as defined in the Technical information section above, just with different target URIs.
The generic servers for other platforms (such as Steam and Microsoft Store) can be used to generate valid offline tokens if Bethesda's custom server would ever go down.
Advanced: The web API expects Content-Type: text/plain and Accept: */* to be used in the request header.
Target URI Description
https://api.bethesda.net/denuvo/api/v2/gametoken Used for the automatic activation process.
https://support.codefusion.technology/validate/10/ Used for the manual activation process.

Servers/APIs for Warner Bros. titles

Currently only known to be used for Mad Max and Batman Arkham Knight.
All servers seems to be hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS) datacenter US East 1, Virginia.
Domain / Website Description
revalidate.wbgames.com Only domain used by the protection in the Steam-based copies of Mad Max and Batman Arkham Knight.

Advanced: Load-balanced between two AWS instances using round-robin DNS.
https://revalidate.wbgames.com/madmax/ Support page for Mad Max.
https://revalidate.wbgames.com/bak/ Support page for Batman Arkham Knight.
https://support.codefusion.technology/madmax/ Secondary support page for Mad Max, hosted on the generic Steam-based server.
https://support.codefusion.technology/bak/ Secondary support page for Batman Arkham Knight, hosted on the generic Steam-based server.

Request/Response API

Behaves the same as defined in the Technical information section above, just with different target URIs.
The generic servers listed above can be used to generate valid offline tokens if Warner Bros. custom server would ever go down.
Target URI Description
https://revalidate.wbgames.com/ Used for the automatic activation process of these two titles.
https://revalidate.wbgames.com/validate/ Used for the manual activation process of these two titles.

Redeem.exe

Official support page
Adds a requirement of having an optical disc drive available when purchasing physical copies of games to obtain the Steam key.
Also known as GIP or GIP Client.

This is a DRM scheme employed on the retail discs of some games (e.g. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, NieR: Automata) in some regions and is used to authenticate the physical disc as well as a one-time serial key located on a leaflet in the disc case. After the authentication of both, a Steam activation key for the game is redeemed from an online database and granted to the user in the application window, which can then be used in the Steam client to unlock a copy of the game.

Issues fixed

Currently your game purchase cannot be re-validated successfully

Full error message: Currently your game purchase cannot be re-validated successfully, please wait 24 hours and try again.
Wait 24 hours before trying to launch the game again[28]
This error message is given when the daily limit of five activations is reached for the user for the particular game, at which point no new activations will be granted until 24 hours has passed.
If this issue persists the system might be in a state of flux and require constant renewals of the offline token of Denuvo Anti-Tamper. Ensure that the system have been restarted recently and verify that the operating system and drivers are up-to-date, and no installations or updates are pending.

Cannot start Redeem.exe on retail discs

Please see the game-specific articles for available workarounds for various issues affecting Redeem.exe, such as for Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.
If no workaround is available, the official support page can be used instead to make a manual redemption.

Refresh the offline token

Requires an online connection.
This procedure results in the offline token being refreshed and generated anew.
While forcing a refresh manually typically is not needed, it can be useful in troubleshooting purposes or as preparation before going offline for an extended period of time.
The procedure is confirmed working for Steam titles,[37] it may work on Epic Games Launcher and Microsoft Store titles as well.
Refresh the offline token[38]
  1. Ensure that the system has been restarted recently and verify that the operating system and drivers are up-to-date, and no installations or updates are pending.
  2. Navigate to the offline token location and locate the file of the current token.
    • For a Steam game, use SteamDB to retrieve the app ID when unsure about its location.
    • If there are multiple applicable files, locate the active file by checking the modified timestamp to find the latest/newest file.
  3. Move the file to another location, such as a temporary subfolder, so the file is available if it would need to be restored in case of an issue.
  4. Launch the game as usual. The game should connect online, retrieve a new offline token, and store it in the location with the same name as the old one.
    • If an issue occurs, simply move/delete the new offline token and restore the previous one from where you temporarily moved it.
  5. The previous offline token can now be safely removed.

List of games using Denuvo Anti-Tamper

This list was last refreshed on March 28, 2024. Purge the page to refresh it.
This list is auto-populated. To add a game, update the game-specific article with {{DRM|Denuvo Anti-Tamper}} where appropriate, e.g. in the Notes field of the availability row for the Steam release.
Denuvo Anti-Tamper is only available on Windows, so native ports of other operating systems does not make use of it.
Total number of games: {{#ask: Uses DRM::Denuvo Anti-Tamper |format=count }}

{{#ask: Uses DRM::Denuvo Anti-Tamper

|?Part of series=Series
|?Developed by|+limit=1
|?Published by|+limit=1
|?Release date#ISO|+limit=1
|?Available on|+order=desc
|format=template
|limit=500
|template=Denuvo/t
|introtemplate=Denuvo/ti
|outrotemplate=Denuvo/to

}}

List of games formerly using Denuvo Anti-Tamper

This list was last refreshed on March 28, 2024. Purge the page to refresh it.
This list is auto-populated. To add a game, update the game-specific article and replace {{DRM|Denuvo Anti-Tamper}} with {{Removed DRM|Denuvo Anti-Tamper}} where appropriate. Do not use on availability rows where Denuvo has never been present (e.g. on GOG.com releases).
Total number of games: {{#ask: Removed DRM::Denuvo Anti-Tamper |format=count }}

{{#ask: Removed DRM::Denuvo Anti-Tamper

|?Part of series=Series
|?Developed by|+limit=1
|?Published by|+limit=1
|?Release date#ISO|+limit=1
|?Available on|+order=desc
|format=template
|limit=500
|template=Denuvo/t
|introtemplate=Denuvo/ti
|outrotemplate=Denuvo/to

}}


Notes

  1. Functions in Tekken 7 related to some abilities of certain characters were wrapped in the anti-tamper protection and impacted gameplay performance when used.[13]
  2. Monster Hunter: World is constantly setting debug registers, likely in order to disrupt debuggers[14]. This is very costly CPU-time-wise and would look unlike all the other work of Denuvo Anti-Tamper.[15]
  3. DSOGaming's source for the server outage also affecting Middle-earth: Shadow of War is a patch note about fixing an issue with the game that resulted in Windows Defender blocking access to save files, which resulted in a crash on launch. That game does not rely on revalidate.wbgames.com, which is the online server that Denuvo Anti-Tamper in Mad Max and Batman Arkham Knight relies upon, and was most likely the server experiencing an outage back in December, 2017.
  4. While newer Microsoft Store titles make use of the same offline activation window Steam and Epic Games Launcher titles use, Rise of the Tomb Raider on the Microsoft Store make use of a variant where a local HTML page is created and stored in %LocalAppData%\Packages\<package-folder>\LocalState\codefusion\index.html, and opened in the default web browser. The local webpage then connects to support.codefusion.technology, retrieves a valid response code, generates a valid offline token, and finally generates an Enable Game.bat file that creates the necessary dbdata file for the user.
  5. The table of the offline token locations is based on testing performed on various titles, including a multitude of Steam-based titles, Metro Exodus and the demo of Heavy Rain on Epic Games Launcher, and finally Rise of the Tomb Raider, Football Manager 2019, and Metro Exodus on the Microsoft Store.[36]
  6. 6.0 6.1 As both the locations for the Epic Games Store and the Bethesda.net Launcher are shared among all games on those respective platforms it is not immediately clear to the user which file correlates to which game.
  7. The latest modified file being the only actively used offline token does not apply to games on the Epic Games Launcher nor the Bethesda.net Launcher as those platforms uses shared locations for all protected titles.

References

  1. Electronic Arts - User Agreement - last accessed on 2018-12-12
    "EA utilizes certain technical or content protection measures to prevent piracy and the unauthorized copying or use of an EA PC Product. EA PC Products use Origin Online Activation and also may use Sony DADC Austria AG's Denuvo content protection technology."
  2. Irdeto - Datasheet: Anti-Cheat - last accessed on 2019-04-07
  3. Already in the third chapter and I can't launch the game on the same computer while my Steam is offline :: Steam Community Discussions
  4. Special K - "Kaldaien's Mod" :: Steam Community Discussions
  5. Golem.de - 'Endlich mal Fehler einbauen!' - Denuvo: "Verdammt gute Leute versuchen, unseren Schutz zu cracken" (German) - last accessed on 2019-05-01
  6. DSOGaming - Apart from initial loading times, Denuvo does not have any performance hit in Two Point Hospital - last accessed on 2019-05-18
  7. Eurogamer - Digital Foundry - Devil May Cry 5 PC's Denuvo DRM has a CPU hit - last accessed on 2019-05-18
  8. Game Debate - Denuvo PC Performance Impact Tested - DOOM Benchmarks With and Without Denuvo DRM - last accessed on 2019-05-18
  9. OC3D - Devil May Cry 5 - Denuvo Performance Impact - last accessed on 2019-05-18
  10. Overlord Gaming - Proof games perform slower with Denuvo - last accessed on 2019-05-18
  11. PC Gamer - Tested: Denuvo DRM has no performance impact on Final Fantasy 15 - last accessed on 2019-05-18
  12. TechPowerUp - Denuvo Performance Cost & FPS Loss Tested - last accessed on 2019-05-18
  13. Twitter - Katsuhiro Harada - April 13, 2018 - last accessed on 2019-04-07
  14. Monster Hunter World (582010) · Issue #175 · ValveSoftware/Proton
  15. 15.0 15.1 Someone's using exceptions as goto statements :: Steam Community Discussions
  16. Reddit - /r/Crackwatch - /u/Voksi_RVT comment on Sonic Mania Plus' slowdowns - last accessed on 2019-04-07
  17. Imgur - Injustice.2.Legendary.Edition-CODEX NFO - last accessed on 2019-04-07
  18. Steam Discussions - Sonic Mania - Fix for "Steam user must be logged in to play this game" - last accessed on 2019-04-07
  19. DSOGaming - Denuvo: SSD Rumor Is False, No System Is Infallible, Striving To Be A Step Ahead Of Pirates - last accessed on 2017-09-01
    "Completely wrong rumor which is repeated over and over although many 3rd party tests (as well as we) state that our solution does not perform read / write operations to the HDD (hence we have no negative impact on the lifetime of SSDs or any other hardware component)."
  20. Irdeto - Video Games - Denuvo FAQ - last accessed on 2019-04-07
    "DOES DENUVO ANTI-TAMPER CONSTANTLY ENCRYPT AND DECRYPT DATA ON STORAGE MEDIA? No, Denuvo Anti-Tamper does not continuously encrypt and decrypt any data on storage media. To do so would be of no benefit in terms of security or performance."
  21. 21.0 21.1 Verified by User:Aemony on 2019-05-16
    For an updated list of currently checked games, see this Google Sheets document.
  22. Hitman Forum - Technical Support - Hitman 2 content is crashing on Phenom 2 CPUs - ioi_jonasm (Jonas Meyer) reply - last accessed on 2019-04-07
    " 
    Hi!
    Just to clear things up it is not Denuvos fault.
    I know because its my code that is causing the crash. I’m sorry for causing you to wait - Please be rest assured that this will be fixed as soon as possible.
    -Jonas
    [...]
    Heres some more details:

    One of the things we added for Season 2 was a software rasterizer to aid in culling objects that are not visible.
    The code we based it on used a few(3!) instructions categorized under SSE4.1. Phenom only supports SSE3.

    The reason it does not crash on Season 1 & Sniper challenge is that those levels use the previous occlusion system, which means never runs the code that is incompatible with Phenom."
  23. Steam Discussions - Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain - Official 1.002 patch release - last accessed on 2019-04-07
  24. Steam Discussions - Final Fantasy XV: Windows Edition - 22/03/18 - Patch Notes - last accessed on 2019-05-15
  25. Ubisoft Support - AMD processors and SSE4.X support - last accessed on 2019-05-18
  26. Ubisoft Support - System requirements for Far Cry 5 - last accessed on 2019-05-18
  27. Ubisoft Support - System requirements for Assassin's Creed Origins - last accessed on 2019-05-18
  28. 28.0 28.1 Steam Community - Monster Hunter: World - Monster Hunter World/Steam problem - last accessed on 2019-04-08
  29. DSOGaming - Denuvo server issues prevented players from playing Batman: Arkham Knight, Mad Max & Shadow of War - last accessed on 2019-05-16
  30. 30.0 30.1 DOOM (2016) demo (Steam) crashes on launch due to Denuvo copy protection - WineHQ Bugzilla
  31. 64-bit MetaTrader5 refuses to start, reports 'A debugger has been found running in your system' (Denuvo Anti-Tamper x64) - WineHQ Bugzilla
  32. HACK: steam: Add PE wrapper DLL for lsteamclient. · ValveSoftware/wine - GitHub
  33. Hitman hangs with 100% CPU usage without showing screen - WineHQ Bugzilla
  34. Far Cry 5 crashes at startup - WineHQ Bugzilla
  35. DISHONORED.2-STEAMPUNKS - NFO - last accessed on 2018-12-12
    "STEAMPUNKS are proud to bring you the first release including a real Denuvo license generator with untouched game executable. Your license will be regenerated if needed (hw change, os updates)."
  36. Verified by User:Aemony on 2019-06-14
  37. Verified by User:Aemony on 2019-06-14
    I have done this multiple times.
  38. Steam Community - Sonic Mania - Game Can't Get Past Menu Screen! Help! - last accessed on 2019-05-21