VAC system question

[Yak]

I've seen a few players in the last few days disconnected by Steam for "An issue with your computer is blocking the VAC system".

Any clue what that means?

Is it possible they are indeed hacking and trying to hide from VAC? The system simply disconnects the player vice banning them.

 

[Ani]

The player isn't always hiding from the VAC system. A lot of time, players have simple programs on their computer that cause the issue. Other times, the player alternates files associated with the steam program that causes conflicts with the system.

 

[Simon]

It's not tampering with VAC, it's actually just a bug caused by some Windows settings or programs you can run. It can also be caused by some basic mods or textures.

From the Steam KB Article:

What typically causes this error?
There are a number of common software conflicts that can cause this error. If you are running any of the following software, please disable it while playing:

- CCleaner
- Powershell
- Sandboxie
- Cheat Engine
- IObit Start Menu 8
- Process Hacker
- DLL Injectors
- Hypervisors
- Steam Idlers

While Cheat Engine is listed there, it would be insanely outdated and likely trigger SMAC which would auto-ban them. VAC errors are pretty common and can be a connection issue as well.

Long story short, there is an extremely low chance these users are cheating.

There is also an article for users to fix it here: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=516149301

 

[Yak]

Thanks for the answers! Truly appreciated.

 

[Simon]

No problem man. Valve works in mysterious ways sometimes

 

[explosion]

In my case it was anti-virus programs. Kaspersky did that to me quite many times

 

[I SURVIVED LONDON BLITZ]

But I have noticed VAC does work, I have seen over the last few months players enter and VAC tells us the player is using a cheat and before I can look at the player VAC has kicked him.



LONDON BLITZ

 

[Nidhoegger]

Hello,

this happened to me as well and i guarntee you Ive never cheated in my life (in multiplayer games, in SP games I did that of course (the good old cheatcodes like in Tomb Raider). In fact I thought at first it may be a linux problem and contacted Valve on their Github (your can post Bugs there for the Steam Platform and for Valve Source games).

It seems that there was a server side update that had some issues and still can lead to some issues.

Like I said, I am on a Linux system and there are no such scam tools like CCleaner or Anti Virus Software. In fact VAC on Linux also has some strange issues. Never play as Username "catbot" as this instant VAC bans you .

 

[Simon]

Hello,

this happened to me as well and i guarntee you Ive never cheated in my life (in multiplayer games, in SP games I did that of course (the good old cheatcodes like in Tomb Raider). In fact I thought at first it may be a linux problem and contacted Valve on their Github (your can post Bugs there for the Steam Platform and for Valve Source games).

It seems that there was a server side update that had some issues and still can lead to some issues.

Like I said, I am on a Linux system and there are no such scam tools like CCleaner or Anti Virus Software. In fact VAC on Linux also has some strange issues. Never play as Username "catbot" as this instant VAC bans you .

The catbot think was a hoax

https://www.pcgamer.com/valve-is-ha...o-linux-users-with-catbot-in-their-usernames/

 

[Cubey]

No, these people are not cheating. Basically what is happening is the following:

Valve Anti-Cheats is required to run on VAC-secure servers. Sometimes there is something that is preventing the anti-cheat to run on the computer. As a result the player gets kicked from the server simply because the anti-cheat has failed to load.

For example, you need to give VAC privileges so that it has the ability to run on your computer, if you block those privileges, then you block VAC, but if VAC is blocked on your computer, then you cannot play on VAC-secure servers. Simple as that.

 

[Brewmaster]

just a bug

 

[kYuKi]

I've gotten this error multiple times when using CCLeaner or DiskMax to clear out stuff. CSGO use to have fits with this issue and the only way to fix it for me was to restart the computer and not have either start up when Windows does or if I did use it, to completely restart before entering games. Older games that use VAC don't have the same issues, but it can cause some headaches.

 

[Yak]

Thanks everyone for the info. Learning more than I thought I would on the subject, but the weird part is that it is all quite interesting.