CS:GO’s new Trusted Mode is Valve’s latest attempt to curb cheating, but does it go too far?
Trusted Mode is now Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s default mode after its arrival in yesterday’s patch. The new mode makes it so that all third-party software is automatically “blocked from interacting with CS:GO,” according to Valve’s patch notes.
“CS:GO now significantly restricts the types of programs and files that can interact with the game,” writes Valve. “By default, players will launch CS:GO in Trusted mode, which will block third-party files from interacting with the game.”
CS:GO will now launch in Trusted Mode by default, although it can be disabled to launch in “insecure” mode via the console. Doing so will negatively affect the player’s trusted score, which is a metric that determines just how likely a player is to use cheating software. If a player’s trust score dips too low, they will be matched with other players that also have a low trust score and are more likely to be using hacks.
Additionally, launching in insecure mode prevents the client from connecting to Valve Anti-Cheat-secured servers.
While Trusted Mode certainly prevents hacks from being used, it also all other forms of third-party software as well. OBS posted to Twitter its game capture mode will no longer operate with CS:GO and streamers will be forced to run OBS in Window Capture mode while playing CS:GO in windowed mode.
Some players are reporting that Trusted Mode is also preventing their game client from launching at all, although those reports are impossible to verify without knowing what other software the player might be using.
Valve does allow third-party developers to make software for CS:GO, but they must have all of their DLLs “digitally signed” by Valve in order for CS:GO to function. If the game detects any unverified code, an error message will pop up and ask the player to restart the game in Trusted Mode, at which point the offending code will no longer function.
Source: Valve
