You can play many Steam games offline — here's how

Edit: Allow me to emphasise that Emuloader's ELDR system is a way to turn your existing rom libraries which are stored in the cloud, as well as publicly available romhacks, homebrew and abandonware into a format more easily manipulated. Think of it as a compatibility layer and stopover tool. As these features become possible natively the ELDR system will be deprecated. It is not to be used for piracy, and I highly discourage it, so much that piracy talk will land you an instant ban in the discord and emuloader subreddit. The download system is just a small part of a robust customisable emulator front end, manager, boxart finder, and sorting tool, please don't think that this is its primary usage, it isn't. I only posted on /roms first because of the large audience.
Emuloader is now available on GitHub!
Introduction:
It's done. No more megathread, no more looks through mega or clicking through adfly links or trying to find the right download button or sifting through malware infested websites. No more download limits, speed caps, broken roms, password protected zips and rars. No more manually updating your emulators every week and moving installs about hoping for nothing to break. No more weird download managers to get things off zippyshare or weird names with 12 different groups and urls in your rom name that you have to manually sift through. No more mixing up regions because you can't tell if (U) means universal or USA. No more looking for boxart sets and carefully cropping and naming each image or searching for missing images because your set was incomplete!
It's like /roms, /emulation, itunes, steam and google drive all mixed into one. 6 months on and I've (mostly) finished what I set out to do.
An all-in-one client that finds, downloads, and plays your backed up games, always with the newest versions of emulators. With some cloud sync magic thrown in! It's got a library manager like itunes, automatic updating, set-up, cloud backups and restores likes steam. And it's all open source.
It will have one click sharing of games saves or homebrew roms with your friends, automatic streaming of local multiplayer games. One-click to join the lobbies of your friends in different emulators through one unified interface.
Features
The featurelist includes:

Sorting of games by region, platform and source.
Supports 17 Platforms via 14 emulators.
Download manager allows downloading of many backups (that you legally own) at once with no captchas.
Allows the queuing of thousands of downloads at once, automatically sorting them as it goes.
Automatically finds boxart for downloaded games on a per platform or per game basis.
Shows verbose network usage statistics and supports download acceleration.
Supports importing of existing titles.
Automatically updates emulators so ensure you always have the latest performance improvements and bugfixes.
Highly customisable theming and banner art.
Prettifies file names automagically giving your collections a clean look.
Offline mode lets Emuloader function without internet acess, tungsten services or external updates and services.
Data hoarder mode allows emuloader to play games stored in .zip, .rar and ,7z archives, saving large amounts of disk space. (Suggested by SuperBio!)
Buy physical copies/soundtracks directly within emuloader, supporting google shopping, Amazon, ebay and more.
Dropbox integration.
Automatically syncs and backs up saves, games and configurations after every session, easily enabled and disabled in settings.
Sorts roms into folders by platform.
Wiki with documentation to help with any confusion.
Modern and simple UI design.
Automatic updating (which you can disable).

Here are screenshots (https://imgur.com/a/QaDsVP7)
Here's the reveal video I posted a few days ago (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQDbhwJoWUk)
I've also made a 30 second feature video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1DRs8CBvRI)
You can find all the information, including the download links here! (https://tungstencore.com/emuloade)
When I started, all I knew was I've seen on discords and even on this subreddit how annoying and frustrating it is when trying to grab your backups off the web and fiddling with which emulator to use and getting boxart and the whole experience and figured that there had to be a better way, kind of like steam where you open the client and its got all your games listed ready to download, with the emulators just as easy to set-up with one click to download and play, but it's become so much more.
Rom sources & .eldrs + Legal stuff:
Obviously I cannot have links to roms hardcoded in and for this I have designed a new way for backups to be shared easily (between yourself and yourself only as we all know sharing roms is piracy and I don't endorse it, but hauling upto hundreds of gigs of backups wherever you go is also stupid) called .eldrs.
.eldrs/sources are files which are basically lists of encoded games, their sizes and the downloads. You import these sources by simply dragging and dropping or importing directly from a link (such as a raw pastebin). and the client is instantly populated! It's built for use with your already existing cloud services, primarily dropbox which it has native support for.
I can't bundle eldrs with the client for obvious reasons but it will help you find some during first time setup, and there's the guide for you to make your own up on the subreddit.
Obvious disclaimer that you shouldn't use it to make your pirating life easier, only use the roms you've legally dumped yourself and don't go around posting .eldrs on the open web. More information on https://tungstencore.com/emuloade#Disclaimer
Fortunately I've had some patrons totalling about $10 a month at peak to help me develop but honestly if I were to continue development and afford finishing off the featureset I do require your help! Please donate to my patreon to help me continue development (Found on the website) and to get extra perks. Also join the discord to be a part of the community and get updates and sources first!
False positives and Open source info:
Although I submitted the app to avast, bitdefender and a few others a few months ago, the codebase had changed significantly and might be detected as a false positive. I know avast reports is because it says the app is rarely used (which of course it is I'm only releasing it to the public now!)
Nevertheless, rest assured that the client code is visible on github, and the python modules were compiled using pyinstaller and so can also be easily decompiled and viewed.
Here is the docs article on false positives https://tungstencore.com/docs/false-positives-with-av/
Patreon and supporting development:
If you've liked the work I've done, and want to help me make it better, round out the features and start adding new ones I'd really appreciate throwing a few dollars my way on Patreon or ko-fi. I can't keep up regular work on this with 5$ a month (although I appreciate it very much!). You don't have to, but it'll help and comes with some extra perks!
Here's my patreon (https://www.patreon.com/emuloader)
And my ko-fi (https://ko-fi.com/tungsten)
Join the Discord server and follow me on twitter!
Join the discord community to receive updates first, report bugs and get troubleshooting help, submit feature requests and join in on game nights and LFG! You'll also be able to get exclusive .eldrs with romhacks and homebrew! Tools to build your own .eldrs are also available exclusively in the discord.
Join the Discord here (https://discord.gg/SJcPwjd)
Follow me on twitter to hear about dumb things and have to say about and not about emuloader and mostly just because I'd appreciate it very much! It'll also help you get early access.
Follow me here (https://twitter.com/drgreenboys)
Early Access:
Via Patreon:

Patrons will get updates 2-3 weeks early. This excludes security vulnerabilities where a patched update will be immediately pushed to the public.
You can also get the following discord benefits:
Discord role, channel and mention in emuloader ‘About’ section.
Prioritised feature requests.

Via Discord & Twitter:

Users who both join the discord and also follow me (@drgreenboys) on twitter will get updates 5 days-a week early. This excludes security vulnerabilities where a patched update will be immediately pushed to the public.
This will be verified in the #verify channel on the discord server.

Useful Links:
https://tungstencore.com/ is my website where you can find emuloader and my other projects, as well as links to discord, patreon and other stuff.
https://tungstencore.com/docs/ contains the wiki for Emuloader.
https://tungstencore.com/emuloade is the project page and has the download link as well as github link.
https://discord.gg/SJcPwjd is the link to the discord server.
https://www.patreon.com/emuloader is the link to my patreon.
https://www.reddit.com/emuloader is the subreddit where updates are posted (usually after discord).
Final Notes:
Thanks for reading and trying out Emuloader! Just remember that I'm one developer, and there will absolutely be bugs and issues even in this full release. Just let me know in the discord or in the comments.
EDIT: As its Christmas I may not reply as much, but I am reading the comments! I’ll begin working on a patch after Christmas and it should release in a few days with a bunch of bugfixes and changes.
EDIT 2: No rest for the wicked, update 1.0.1 is out and your installations will automatically update on the next restart, includes bug fixes and QoL changes.
EDIT 3: 1.1.0 is out with fixes to corrupt emulators, support for DuckStation and prompts for BIOS downloads on certain emulators.

I am tired and exhausted playing video games( Extremely Long)

I (turned 18 this October) used to play a lot of games. I was very fond of games since my childhood. I used to play on whatever platform I was offered to play games on. In early childhood, coming from an under-developed/developing Asian country, I had not much to game on other than keypad mobile my parents used to have, T.V, video game that was gifted to me, and later in our PC that was brought home for my sister when I was in grade 3 and used to sneak in and play whenever she was not home.
I was not necessarily the most hard-working student yet I was sharp minded and used to do well in class despite low to no effort and end up being the class topper. I had no PC of mine, I was still sharing PC with my sister until grade 10. As I was going into higher classes, I was being more hardworking and meritorious student. I ended up being a Valedictorian with a GPA of 3.90/4.00. I used to play games like age of empires, CS source with bots, Need for Speed, Road Rash, WWE, GTA, World of Warcraft: Frozen Throne, Diablo 2, FIFA 2005, FIFA 2007, FIFA 2010 etc. which were usually offline. I was extremely fond of each and every game but had limited access and were offline so I wasn't addicted as of that time though I could go hours playing If I had no one home.
I got own smartphone once I graduated middle school and sister already had her own laptop so the PC was also officially mine. Didn't have the latest specs, but was okay enough for moderate gaming. I installed COC in phone once I was done with middle school and played up until TH7 and I was bored and switched to Clash Royale and then comes my first addiction. I was so hooked I used to push ladder, play average of 3-4 hours of Clash Royale daily for 3 months continuously. I did terrible in my exams and my parents knew I was addicted knowing how often they saw me engaged in phone. Also, one day I was hardcore pushing ladder and I lost of game because of internet disconnection and I raged and ended of punching my phone and broke it's screen. I instantly regretted and my parents said they'll have it repaired once I was done with board exams of grade 11. I studied well and scored 3.75/4.00 GPA. My phone was repaired and I was no longer addicted as I knew the game itself wasn't so fun and had me raging most of the time. Maybe the phone broke for good.
I was doing well in studies, had normal life, everything was fine. I wasn't addicted to any specific game but I was addicted to gaming itself. My classmate used to play Counter Strike 1.6 since our PC didn't support CS:GO and we couldn't buy it either. He used to talk about CS and he didn't encouraged me to play, I wasn't pressurized but with my history with CS Source, I wanted to try CS 1.6, play with friends, have fun and be good at it. I started playing CS passionately after I returned home from school for 4-5 hours daily even when I had no friends to play with. Playing random pugs with random people was my daily lifestyle. I started skipping assignments, flunked Chemistry classes and was hooked on CS for so long that I was average/ below average student. I ended up scoring 3.40/4.00 in 12th standard and was disappointed in ownself as well as disappointed my parents.
I was on a vacation there onwards and decided to pursue degree in Computer Science and Engineering. My PC hard disk was dysfunctional suddenly and I only had my phone in the vacation. Again, back to Clash Royale but not as addicted as earlier. Moderate gaming, heavy Youtube and movies. As the vacation was ending and my entrance exams were nearing, my parents bought me a brand new phone, Galaxy S9+ which was latest flagship of Samsung at that time. PUBG mobile was extremely popular and almost every friend were hooked on it and one day I decided to play it ownself too due to peer pressure and wasn't fond of it and didn't play it at all then onwards. I gave my entrance examinations, was enjoying vacations binging web-series and playing Clash Royale once in a while. Did pass the entrance examinations but wasn't eligible for scholarship and coming from upper middle class, my parents could barely afford my education which is quite expensive.
Now comes, MAJOR addictions.
College was about to begin in a month or so and then there was hype of Call of Duty : Mobile and I was also hyped for it and played it in its release of first day and LOVED it and was hooked on then onwards. I was addicted and I knew it and thought I would stop ASAP once the college starts but College started and I was pushing rank in COD : Mobile playing at least 6 hours a day to even 10 hours a day. The addiction was real and I wasn't even well aware of it. Took college lightly and played games after college to late night. My sleep schedule was already messed up since couple of months of vacation and late night gaming. I used to play at least till 12 A.M everyday and sometimes even upto 3-4A.M. Used to fall asleep in class and also scolded by professors and excluded from class. Yet, I played and played. All of a sudden, I lost my phone on my way back home and we did report to police yet it was not to be found. I was super addicted and I had no functional PC and no phone that could run COD: Mobile. I used to sleep most of the time then onwards, started doing assignments due to compulsion yet deep down inside I was desperate AF to play games and had my PC repaired and also upgraded it's graphics card, added extra RAM.
Now comes another tragic addiction. CS:GO was already F2P. I had a lot of my classmates playing it, I/We even used to go to cyber cafes and spend a lot of my pocket money playing CS:GO and lying at home making excuses to waste money and time before I had my own PC rebuilt. I started playing CS:GO and I was super addicted. Board exams of first semester were near and Parents knew I was addicted. They decided to unplug PC until my exams were over. I still procrastinated and didn't study until eleventh hour and studied before 10 days of exam. I did barely enough(results aren't out yet) in the exam as I didn't prepare well. Remaining 5 exams got cancelled due to COVID outbreak.I was actually starting to feel better without any games, frustration of ranking up and without raging. Life was fine, I started talking to a girl I had a crush on. Turned out she liked me too. I started spending my time binging series, building a relationship with her which felt so much better than gaming and it's frustrations. I did almost nothing productive in near 5 months quarantine yet I successfully forged a relationship with her.
Online classes resumed, we had less time to talk. Parents bought me a new laptop, better specs than PC, sister bought herself a new phone and handed her old phone to me which was also S9+. I started playing CS:GO like crazy again. Since we shouldn't be going to college and all day at home, I pened Zoom in background and play CS:GO almost 6-7 hours daily and I even had 128 hours of playtime in two weeks at a certain time , watching live streams, watching every CS:GO event and what not. I was crazily addicted. Semester ended and I had no freaking idea what was taught, paid little to no attention. I did do assignments, but, it was all copied from friends as I was doing it just for the sake of doing assignments and I had no clue what I was being taught. Exams date were published and exams of first semester which was postponed due to COVID outbreak was to be resumed too.
https://preview.redd.it/38bkzex2dc861.jpg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f9ffeff87a8a698a4430e8b5abc7ada811b1dae7
I decided to quit gaming altogether as It brought be no joy and fun playing, constant stimulation of brain, dopamine overdose that I was not a happy person as I used to be, frustrations, rage, lack of sleep, extremely poor academics and pretty much everything was fucked up by now. I stumbled upon this sub reddit and was motivated to quit gaming and I did quit CS:GO but, it lasted only for a week.I played for a week and find it no fun and only frustration and removed steam and every game on my laptop and PC. I still watched live streams since I was easily bored and resisted the temptations to play CS:GO. And now comes another addiction, I stopped playing CS:GO and had no games on my phone either but since It is so easy to remove and reinstall games in phone, I installed COD: Mobile, Clash of Clans and I started playing again. I used to play COC while playing CS:GO too. CS:GO in Laptop and COC in phone. Since, I uninstalled CS:GO, I was hooked to COD: Mobile all over again and started pushing rank not because I was enjoying it a lot but I wanted to achiever top rank(Legendary) which I had already achieved in season 1 and wanted to achieve again and grinded again, everyday 5-6 hours, COC around 1-1.5 hours and social media too.
Coming to present, I have my exams extremely near, to be exact January 14th onwards, and I know almost nothing and how I'll even pass the exams. I played roughly 40+ hours COD this week and I played COD from 8:00 A.M. to 3:12 P.M. with breaks in between and thought I am done with gaming and all this shit dopamine that it releases and frustrations and I'll stop wasting time over it and uninstalled both COD and COC from phone and I have no game in my PC either. Also, I wanted to write this post back then as soon as I stopped gaming yet I wanted to study for a couple of hours and see If I, once a valedictorian, can even study at all and I studied for 30 minutes or so before I was sleepy and had headache due to intense gaming and improper sleep since a week or so.I took a nap, woke up and did little bit of studying , had dinner and posting this right now.
So, I am just 18 year old guy and already in second year of college( I was bright student in childhood so I skipped grade 1 and grade 6 as teachers and parents thought I was capable of recovering by the end of middle school and it'll be better for me in the long run) I am/was in process of ruining my life due to severe gaming addiction of all sort. A lot of damage may have already been done, but, since life is long and I am strongly committed and determined to quit gaming once and for all this time( I actually hate gaming, I don't want to touch games at all, even moderately). My academics are extremely poor and it is my major concern as of now. In the long run, I want to be happy person, , quiz, listening podcasts, improving academics, being more social as I was earlier, enjoy reading books as I used to enjoy before being addicted to gaming.
I have a family that loves me, I have a wonderful girlfriend who loves me, handful of genuine friends. The only problem is with my addiction and my extremely poor academics. I am in the abyss of my life right now.
I feel like shit right now and my exams are from January 14th and there's high probability I may flunk all my exams but I don't want to. Wondering If It's even possible to make it at least barely enough that I don't fail. 15 days preparation leave and then 3 days gap for each exam and total of five tough subjects exam( Jan 14th-Jan 30th) . A lot of damage has been already done and I wonder If I can even recover and how long it may take?
Firstly, I am very glad and thankful to whoever took time to read it and I would like any queries If you have any and also, most importantly advice and suggestions. :)I hope you have a great day ahead. My best wishes are with you. <3
Edit: My eyes hurt and also my shoulder due to heavy screen time and same position. I wish I never played any games :(

Considerations Before Joining Keneti Cluster

This is being posted on reddit as an attempt to allow people to make their own decisions about the claims of admin abuse on the Keneti cluster.
It cannot be handled in the cluster's discord channel as that promptly leads to bans and deletion of any messages debating the matter.
This situation happened over several months and numerous tribes were affected in varying capacities.
There was a previous reddit post made a couple days ago which got removed, but not before it brought up some serious accusations of infractions made by the admin against his own cluster.
This lead to other people investigating or questioning the matter, all of whom ended up banned on the cluster and the entire discord channel where the conversation happened was removed and replaced.

This is not intending to slander any individual.
The goal of sharing this information is for people to have a chance to know what happened and what the accusations are, and hopefully to inspire those still playing on the cluster to push for more transparency, such as admin command logging.
Most of the information shared here was available to the public via the Keneti discord's "general_chat" channel (which is now wiped).
Anything said here has evidence to back it up, and if it was not supplied in the post - feel free to ask.

There is no evidence to suggest that this admin abuse is ongoing, but the admin's inability to leave the information out for people to decide for themselves indicates that they would rather hide from the truth than admit any mistake was made.
They even seem to be unwilling to introduce admin command logging as a way to show their committment to being honest and accountable.

Backstory:
The cluster's alpha was in the close friend group of the admin and his girlfriend on the cluster.
Over a period of several months, the cluster was plagued consecutively by 3 separate tribes that were considered toxic by many players.
These tribes were considered verbally abusive, ruthless and sometimes questionable in their raid tactics. A good few tribes stopped playing on the cluster because of their actions.
Despite this, the admin asked the alpha's tribe specifically NOT to engage these tribes, to encourage other tribes on the cluster to PVP.
One of these tribes just stopped playing (BlackBarbie), the admin said the next tribe stopped playing because one of them was in the hospital (JesusLives), and the last remained active until the following events unfolded (ObeseAF).

Some of the complaints against these tribes were about suspicious ORP removals, being shot via rail gun through tek forcefields, and massive base wipes in time frames that seemed questionable.
Throughout the time on the cluster there have also been numerous complaints or questions surrounding certain privileges of the admin's girlfriend, who they insist is just a player on the cluster, despite being immune to pvp and having permissions for certain admin commands.
Due to the questioning of her admin privileges, the admin created an entire post clearly stating that she had "no permissions to use spawn commands or any like it", and could only perform wild dino wipes or kill the server process.
This post is still available in the announcements discord channel (at the time of this posting).
No evidence was given for how these commands were restricted. It was always a source of suspicion, but they clearly didn't like being questioned about it.

Then towards the end of 2020, it came out on the cluster that the identity of the remaining active member of the last toxic tribe was actually the alpha of the cluster on an alt account.
He got banned for playing on an alt account as soon as this information made it to public discord channels, along with several of his friends (some without any reason given for their bans; they seemed to be banned simply for being his friends).
The banning of the alpha was briefly addressed by the admin, in a rather unclear statement including phrases such as "he broke a very long agreement that we had" and "he has changed his attitude toward inciting issues that are better left alone".
This was in one of the public channels that was recently wiped, but a screenshot of the original post is supplied below.

Our Story:
My tribe was one of the last to be followed and raided by the alpha via his alt tribe (ObeseAF).
Shortly after he was banned from the cluster, we were provided with screenshots of the alpha and the admin's girlfriend discussing our base and her sharing spectator-mode screenshots from inside the base.
In the public channels, the truth of the alt account of the alpha was claimed to be a surprise to the admin and he was written off as being a solo agent.
However at this time, another friend of the alpha, and long time player on the cluster, commented in the discord posting the screenshots of her using spectator mode, and stating that the alpha was actually in all 3 of the toxic tribes with the admin himself in 2 of them and the admin's girlfriend in one.
Those comments were removed and the person posting them was banned within minutes.

These screenshots clearly indicated that she not only knew of the alpha having an alt account (which is clearly against the cluster's rules) but also that she directed him to raid our tribe to regain drakes we had acquired from raiding one of the other inactive tribe bases (JesusLives).
This seemed to make sense, as there was always some level of suspicion to how much inside information she had on players, given she was just a player herself.
While trying to dodge ObeseAF, we watched her on BattleMetrics join the maps we were moving loot to (at this time the server was low pop and she rarely ever frequented these maps so it caught our attention).
This aligned to his claim that she had been watching us for hours in spectate mode and how he, as the alt account, could find our base within minutes despite not having been on that map for months.
She was confronted about this situation and she apologized to my tribe mate via DM for asking the alpha to raid us, admitting her fault in the situation and promising it would not happen again.
In a DM with the admin, he claimed this situation would not happen again as "Spectate mode is now restricted to just myself (as before it was just myself and [girlfriend's username])".
Due to personal concerns, we did not want to push the situation further and decided to give them benefit of the doubt. Both the admin and his girlfriend had assured this would not happen again.

The banned alpha reached out to several people to give his side of the story, ourselves included. He admitted to everything, but claimed that the admin not only knew, but also participated in these tribes.
He said the admin had been his partner in JesusLives, sometimes raiding people with the spawned in gear (such as the original reddit post).
According to the alpha, us being raided was because the admins girlfriend feared we had acquired some spawned in OP weapons from the JesusLives base, which was operated by the alpha and the admin under their alt account.
Alternatively, the admin's girlfriend claimed she asked him to raid us because we had acquired some max level drakes from raiding the inactive JesusLives, and that she didn't want her own high level dinos in anyone's hands.
He stated that the admin was also one of the members of ObeseAF, before he stopped playing Ark as much.
He also had screenshots of the admins girlfriend in a DM talking about using a "red cryopod". Someone had noticed it in a picture she shared, and she admitted it had no cooldown and that she took it from the admin.
It was also supposed to have additional functions such as unlimited dino cloning.

The alpha said he got banned because he and the admins girlfriend had some sort of falling out, and he decided to start talking about the admin abuse to some friends which led to him being banned.
He also showed a screenshot of a chat with him and the admin, where the admin insinuated that his reason for banning the alpha was due to "more the screen sharing of more sensitive things that has ultimately crossed a line and i think you know full well what I'm referring to."

Over the next couple months, things quieted down a good deal on the cluster.
Then on the first of January, there was a 1-day notice server wipe.
Shortly after the wipe, a few people were arguing about a pvp situation, and one of them complained about being tracked by the other players.
The admin mentioned in passing (for the first time in the discord chat history) that there was a beta test site he was working on and "some people" were using it, and shared the link.
He claimed it was an "early tool" that showed various information, in addition to "alternate characters, steam shared accounts etc"
After looking at the beta site, we could see it shared players steam name, character name, tribe name, level, hours played, as well as their maps and online status.
Basically a souped-up stalking site that made BattleMetrics redundant, and it was not ever given to the entire cluster before this, despite the fact that it was already in use by certain players.

This information also fit with the alpha's claims that the admin had been able to mask the fact that he was alting on a shared account.
There was also a discord channel linked to the beta site, and some members showed as having joined at the start of the year, but a few (such as the admin's girlfriend and a couple other of their closer friends) did not have any notification of when they had joined.
When my tribe mate commented that it was good to have this transparent, the admin brushed it off as though nothing was being hidden since it was just in the beta stage.
At that point we reviewed our DMs and realized the admins girlfriend had deleted her messages to my tribe mate, the ones where she was apologizing and admitting guilt.
Thankfully my tribe mate had saved screenshots of the conversation before.

Then, A Few Days Ago:
A reddit post was made by another player who had, at one point, been raided by the JesusLives tribe.
He was warning people against the cluster, and explained about his tribe getting wiped suspiciously fast, and that he was told the raid was funded and participated in by the admin.
He also mentioned the red cryopod and that the admins girlfriend apparently used it frequently for breeding. She is known to have max level dinos, and has sold them or offered them to friends for raids.
What was particularly interesting is that this post included the admin commands of the Keneti-specific OP weapons that the alpha had talked about months ago.
This reddit post got added to the Keneti discord channel and was removed within minutes. A few people managed to see it however and this started a debate on the reddit post.

Within half an hour of the reddit post being made, there was an unannounced update made to the Keneti Add Ons mod which claimed to be mitigating tek weapon damage to hatch frames.
This came before he responded to the reddit post.
Note that the change log entry for this update was then modified on January 25th, when he made another update to the mod, during which time he added additional comments to describe the changes (before and after pictures will be posted below as well as zips of the mod content).

The admin then posted his response to reddit in discord (as someone had commented about it) - he dismissed it as lies from the alpha, and clearly stated that some of the items existed, but most did not.
He stated that the alpha had been alting on the cluster again, and the admin said he had been watching him on this new alt for a couple weeks.
An argument ensued and the admin insisted the claims were all false, just a personal vendetta of the banned alpha.
The admin first admitted that his girlfriend has used his cryopod and that "it has no cooldown, and that's the only use of it", then minutes later (after being questioned more) admitted that the dino clone worked as well.
This conversation all took place in the general_chat and screenshots will be added below.
The alpha (under his new alt) then began posting screenshots of his conversation with the admin into the general_chat, to support the claim that the admin condoned and participated.
In these screenshots, all of the admins messages had been deleted, but the alpha was clearly talking about his alt character in ObeseAF.
He continued to claim that he and his girlfriend had no idea of the alpha's identity and that the screenshots were photoshopped.
The alpha's alt account stated that he would post a video of the chat log to prove it wasn't photoshopped and he got banned again.

Screenshots aside, we knew firsthand that it was a lie about neither of them knowing of his alt account.
At that point, my tribe member and I stated that this was not true, as his girlfriend had apologized to us for sending the alpha (as ObeseAF) to raid us, which was ignored by the admin.
The admin continued to claim people were speculating without facts. My tribe member stated that he could provide facts and proof, as we had screenshots of the conversation with his girlfriend when it happened (in case she tried deleting the messages, which she did).
My tribe member got immediately banned. I challenged the admin for his reason for this and he claimed he would remove anyone who continued the conversation as he had to go to work.
By the end of this conversation, two other people got banned and the only involvement they had was to agree with comments questioning the situation.
I stated that I'd wait, but I wanted my tribe mate to be unbanned since he didn't break any rules.

We heard about the stealth update to the Keneti Add Ons mod before I turned on my PC, so I was able to disconnect from the internet and launch Ark in offline mode before the mod could be updated.
I wanted to see if any or all of the reddit post commands worked. My tribe mate had the updated version of the mod, so we both launched Single Player to test the commands.
Every single command spawned in an item for me, and worked without the DevKit. For him, only the Keneti C4 could be spawned. We recorded us testing this, and a youtube video is posted below.
You can see the cryopod works perfectly to infinitely clone dinos without ever having a cooldown and the weapons were insanely powerful.

The next day, the admin came back online. He didn't say anything in the chat, but instead was streaming on one of the channels (later stating this was him demoing the devkit functionality of the tools to those in the channel).
I asked if he would reinstate my tribe mate, given that no rule was broken.
Another player who had been banned in game the day before (due to connection to the alpha) was still in discord asking why he got banned in game, but he was promptly banned from discord as well (these are some of the deleted comments being replied to in the screenshots being shared).
He said he didn't plan on unbanning anyone and did not respond to my questions of what the grounds were for my tribe mate being banned in the first place.
He also continued to insist that he and his girlfriend had no clue about the alt accounts, that she did not send the alpha to raid us on his alt.
So I posted the screenshots of her apologizing to us, as well as few screenshots the alpha had found of conversations (before they were deleted!) between him and the admins girlfriend, both of which showed they were aware of who he was and wanted it kept a secret.
His response to all this was "ok, so where is it that i had anything to do with that, where is the admin abuse?" then "i cant even find those in my DMs and cant ever remember seeing those." and that the apology from her to us was "interesting".
I attempted to call him out on it further and of course I got banned as well.
I'm quite certain the only reason I wasn't banned right away as well was due to me being a Patreon supporter of the Keneti cluster, which was refunded shortly before he banned me.
This entire conversation took place in the general_chat public discord channel on the 22nd and the 23rd of January.
This channel and the salty_whiny_chat had chat history going back before the last wipe, with many snippets of information about this situation (including original messages from all 3 of the alt tribes).
After this happened and everyone involved was banned, both the general_chat and salty_whiny_chat got archived with new versions replacing them.

All screenshots, as well as videos of the mod demo before and after the stealth update, are added below in separate comments.
This is only intended to provide people with the information that has been systematically scrubbed from the server's discord.
While the details and validity can be debated on end, one consideration to take is whether any effort has been made by the admin to ensure this situation will not happen again.

As the admin once said, "Power corrupts, but absolute power corrupts absolutely".

Link to Pictures of general chat conversations that were wiped and a summary of evidence to support claims made in this post (see photos numbered 1-20 first):
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1eQtb10PqIsRe8XZ2f_t2DpQC5OYRcHaX?usp=sharing
General chat conversations before they were wiped. Admin denies abuse and bans innocent people for discussing claims of admin abuse:
General Chat Day 1: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1r2Alb8pyepRR4GBO-mH8s5iVpA_QA_3q
General Chat Day 2: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/173xI7hkADYGnAIEgUKjkO7CCt4q15-PG?usp=sharing

Link to video from banned alpha, scrolling through the allegedly photoshopped messages:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWU3RXr_iag&ab_channel=MarkvanderOuderaa

Link to video of the mod being demoed before stealth update:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7C1O5xFpUo8&feature=youtu.be
Link to video of mod being demoed after stealth update:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqvBM-_oHxw&feature=youtu.be

Link to Mod Zip Before Update:
https://mega.nz/file/GJhxzIrB#7wJSEhHcjnxAgqRuklRLKjI3RFCKXzk74CEtxml1tWY
Link to Mod Zip After Update:
https://mega.nz/file/aVpHySwS#-CswdQH0Krs-qMJgU-EhdAhH6mSGws_3pD1fJ7CufJY

Stadia vs xcloud / game pass ultimate vs ps now / remote play vs Luna

Hello Stadians,
First post here. I joined the cult not long ago after extensive research and since my post on red flag deals about Stadia has gained much traction, I decided to post it here for future Stadians or people who might be interested. Information is spread out across many sources, so I am trying to bring all current cloud services together into one giant post. If you want to spread the message to people who are on the fence, please use this post as you like, you are free to share this. Please correct me if I got anything wrong since I am still new to the game. Here goes :
PART #1 :
Stadia is still very new to a lot of people but have gained quite a bit of attention recently due to Google freely handing out hardware. However, it is still largely misunderstood.
Unlike what many people think there it's either one or the other, Stadia is so versatile that it can complement anything (ps5, xbox, pc, mobile gaming). It doesn't have to be one or the other. You can sub, or you can just buy a game and play it whenever and wherever you want as long as you have a stable Internet connection.
The most important thing is to test it out for FREE. Go on your chrome browser, log in with your gmail account, and click on Destiny 2. No downloads, no load times, no patches, no wait times, no hidden fees, no hardware requirements, just play it for free indefinitely on any toaster computer you are running as long as you have a stable connection.
Like it ? Then don't be afraid to buy some games during their sales if they are cheaper on Stadia than other platforms. You will be able to play is as long as you have an stable Internet connection.
Don't listen to people who says Stadia is going away like some of Google's retired products. If anything, it's expanding and the future of gaming is streaming. Say goodbye to overpriced hardwares that expire or games that don't run properly on newer hardwares. Say goodbye to having to buy the same game on xbox, pc, mobile. Say goodbye to load times, storage limits, hardware problems like the ps4 pro making absurb noise.
Don't listen to people wo says Stadia has awful lag - they either have a bad connection or only tested Stadia at launch. With a good reliable connection with at least 35mbps download, there is absolutely no way the input lag will bother you unless you do competitive gaming. Everyone has their own experience with Stadia and best is to try it out yourself and not listen to people - it's free anyway with zero hurdles.
Don't listen to people claiming Stadia has a very limited library. Stadia launched roughly 1 year ago compared to xbox / steam / ps who have been there for ages. Obviously, you won't have the same library. Stadia is about to lock in 400+ games this year alone and more to come. Library size shouldn't matter since you do not have to pay or commit to anything. If you don't like what Stadia has to offer right now, just set it aside - you aren't losing out or anything. Your hardware is not going to expire, you aren't paying a dime to have a Stadia account, you have zero commitment necessary.
I hope this sums up the debate and why everyone should at least give Stadia a chance and try it out on your browser right now and experience the future of gaming. Zero commitment needed.

PART #2 : This is the part where I try to summarize each available streaming service and compare it to Stadia as of today.
PS Remote Play, which has pretty much been given up by Sony because they want to focus on PS5 hardware, is basically a service that allows you to connect to your own hardware to play games you own on your PS4 / PS5. You have the same limitations than your current hardware. Therefore, if your game only runs on 30FPS on PS4, it will only run 30FPS remotely. Your hardware will also eventually expire as new games get developed that require more juice. Last time I checked, remote play on PS4 Pro is capped at 720p. Since the connection has to jump through 2 loops (from your PS to Internet, and from the Internet back to your device), you will definitely feel a latency while streaming your games. Stadia is running off of a dedicated hardware and servers straight to the device you're streaming on, while the PS4/5 remote play has no server and uses your hardware.
PS Now is a service you need to pay either 12.99$ CAD a month or commit to $79.99 CAD for a whole year (20% off during BF sale, good value). It has its own dedicated servers so latency should be better. However, as of now, games are still being streamed at 720p only, and hopefully 1080p soon. A plus side is the access to a bigger library, potentially bigger than what xbox game pass ultimate has to offer. You can also download PS4/5 games to play offline unlike Stadia where a stable connection is required at all times. However, you need an online check every 7 days and the offline service only works on your PS4/5 hardware. if you use this service, some games can leave the platform on a rotation basis (about 10 out of 800 games available) and you don't own any games unless you buy them on the PS store. If your subscription expires, you'll lose access to the downloaded games and any DLC associated with it. As noted by redditors here, you do get plenty of time to finish the game and a notice ahead of time before rotation begins.
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate cost 16.99$ CAD a month and provides the best library of games on a rotation basis, and is now combined with xbox gold meaning you can claim free games every month that you can keep as long as you are subbed, like Stadia Pro. The game selection is arguably better than PS Now, and is much more varied than Stadia. The biggest downside is that Game Pass Ultimate only offers 720p streaming as of now and I have noticed many more players reporting latency issues with Game Pass compared to Stadia. Just like PS now, Game Pass Ultimate is like a rental service where you don't get to keep any games unless you keep paying a fee. The difference with Stadia is that your money is exchanged for games you can keep with regular Stadia. You keep the games you bought and they do offer some free to play games like Destiny 2 and more to come eventually. However, free version of Stadia is capped at 1080p 60fps with stereo sound.
Geforce Now from Nvidia costs 6.49$ CAD a month to play, or offered free but you are limited to 1-hour sessions only, which is quite stressful in my opinion. It basically uses your steam games library and allows you to stream them using their cloud servers. If you have a big library of steam games, I can see a good reason to use Geforce Now. However, their cloud servers are much much smaller than Google (obviously). For new games, you have to wait for them to become available on the service if the game requires different specs, since Nvidia has to make Steam games compatible with their service first. Due to their small servers, 2 years after their launch, they have yet announced support for 4k streaming and yet to have their own exclusives. This is only a good option if you have a huge amount of steam games and want to access those games outside of your PC.
Luna offers game streaming for 7.99$ CAD (note that this is their entry price, and I will guarantee you this price will get a bump once their service is more widely known) . They have a bigger game library than Stadia but a lot of players claim that their games aren't as quality (filled with indie games and less AAA titles). However, Stadia has much better latency because Amazon servers are more tailored towards enterprise usage rather than customer. Another downside to Luna is that it doesn't offer a free service compared to Stadia, but time will tell.
To me, the main selling point for Stadia is this : no commitment required.
With other services, you either have to pay to use their service or buy their hardware, or both. A paywall is the highest obstacle to a new user base and Google knows that. No other services would allow you to create a free account, go on your chrome browser, and play Destiny 2 (other free games will be announced soon) right away without any hardware check. You can play Destiny 2 on a toaster computer, a TV with a Chromecast Ultra dongle and all you need is keyboard + mouse, or any controller you can find. Stadia can accommodate those with little to no interest to build a 1,000 $ CAD PC to keep up with current games (to eventually expire and have to upgrade again) and Stadia doesn't require you to buy consoles, have console hardwares expire, compatibility issues with previous games, update games, run out of storage room.
All you need to ask yourself is : do you want to play this game or not ?
You are not pressured to finish a game before it rotates out.
You are not forced to pay to play - you buy and own.
You don't have to think about compatibility issues nor hardware issues.
If Stadia manages to secure more AAA and exclusive titles, they will be an even more fearful competitor to other game streaming services.
Cloud gaming is still very young but it is the future. We don't know when it will happen, but one day, it will be the Netflix of gaming.

2020-11-26 EDIT : Thank you so much for all the feedback guys, I stand corrected on many points you guys put forward and I appreciate the time you put to read through my wall of text.
EDIT 2 : Updated PS Now to include 10 games out of 800 that gets rotated out and library size potentially bigger than xbox's.
EDIT 3 : correction on stadia servers vs amazon luna's

Tips for taking PC offline for a while?

The Definitive Quest Piracy Guide

Offline mode

Why I love DJMAX and some history of it - from Malaysia

Before I begin maybe should let you guys know it's gonna be a long winded story on my encounter with VSRG (vertical scrolling rhythm game) and in nutshell I will explain how glad and thankful I am that DJMAX had finally made it on Steam and also Play Station. If it is really TLDR then just skip to may last point on why you should get DJMAX respect.
I started my first rhythmic game back in around year 2000, and most of you would have probably heard of o2jam. O2JAM was a game created by AmuseWorld at first (if I am not wrong), the very same creator as you would have probably heard of ez2dj (now ez2ac). The game was passed on to be further developed independently by a company called O2media. O2jam back then was a massive game world wide at least I can vouch on that for South East Asia region. All this thanks to game hosting company known as 'e-games' founded by a Japanese establishing the company in Malaysia. I have been playing o2jam religiously for years until one fine day the game has stop development and shut down entirely. I am not too sure the reason behind the shutdown but recently I just found out that there might be something sinister behind this, after so many years.
This may related to Konami, though I am just guessing and 100% based on my opinion and some research. Remember the arcade game EZ2DJ developed by Amuseworld, actually got sued by Konami back in 2007 for imitating their rhythmic game called Beatmania. Apparently their patent hunt did not stop there. I have a very strong reason to believe o2jam has to shut down abruptly (at their peak) to avoid the foreseeable patent lawsuit from Konami.
At this point of time, DJMAX was already in the market but quite reserved only in Korea. I spotted some of the screenshot and was very excited to play this game, but I guess the game company has not much option other than staying low and hide under the radar from Konami. After many years, DJmax's Technika series owned by their subsidiary called Pentavision at that time was sued by Konami (not suprisiong at all). I am not sure about the details but it ended with all Technika's machine in Japan to be handled by Konami's distribution and they kind of kill it off (perhaps intentionally - my guess is the lawsuit ended in distribution right for Konami rather than monetary gain? not too sure) . That's how Technika died in the hand of Konami, even though they have put in the effort to develop a game that is not vertical but sideways, and also touch screen.
Back to my story, it was a miserable years for me after o2jam is gone. I am from Malaysia and this is not a country of economic powerhouse, so consumer spending is not as prosperous compare to Korea, Japan, Singapore and the US. Most arcade business owners in my country can only afford used 2nd hand machines that other countries are throwing them away. I often visit the arcade centers to play some broken ez2dj and beatmania machines which has gone offline and at most time not well maintained and I still need to pay to play as how they say it; beggars cant be a chooser. Songs are outdated, screen is blurry AF. I was also poor AF that I can only save up some college pocket money to play in the arcade.
My wallet dried up so I finally have no choice but to play ROCK FEVER instead - also a VSRG arcade machine developed in Taiwan. Is is kind of affordable because ROCKFEVER is the only game (as far as i know) that allows you to complete the song until the end. They then decide whether you are qualified to go on the next stage, unlike other VSRG that kick you off the game once your HP gauge bar depleted to zero, without completing the song. The game is great but there are no long notes in it. It gets pretty blunt too towards the end. After that I tried SDO (super dance online) on PC but it was only 4 keys - though they have 6 keys now but i have stopped playing long before the 6 keys button arrived.
Of cuz somewhere in the middle I tried OSU and also Stepmania but i dont really like them because they do not have the same VSRG content i wanted - again, not sure about now with all the updates.
When I started my first job, I was still poor AF. I landed on a jailbreak PSP and have DJMAX series in it (pirated version). I am sorry that i have to admit that was the only option for me. I have also stopped playing that after i completed all the song and there was nothing to look forward too. DJMAX continues their development with Trilogy series on PC but only made available in Korean market.
Now I have found DJMAX RESPECT on STEAM and since i was weighed on with my past crime of playing a counterfeit DJMAX, I decided its finally time to pay back the company for good. I bought all the DLCs which i owed them. After all they have game designers and content creators to feed, like everyone of us. If you look back at some of their music video/visual art you can tell the game was created with passion by a group of dedicated folks, they even acted in the music video themselves - i am not sure about this but they do not look like some paid artist, so that has to be my only guess.
And the best thing of all, i know for sure that i am paying for something that is sustainable, because KONAMI cannot do anything to sue any companies that gets in their way. This is what i found on the website - that their patent for rhythmic game has expired and developers can now start creating rhythm game with peace in mind.
<<<< July 31, 1998, marked the beginning of when Konami's patent went into effect — according to various Japanese news outlets, Konami's patent has finally expired. The implications of the patent expiring give designers a greater level of flexibility when creating music rhythm titles.Aug 1, 2018 >>>
I am sorry that i made Konami sounded like some a**hole, i am sure some of you may be a big fan of KONAMI or their games. If you search in the internet you can find out how this company mistreating their staff and also sue-ing all their competitors whenever they can. Also, O2jam shutdown might also be indirectly related to KONAMI that's why i took it quite personally. They sue gaming companies, causing them to stop their sales in different markets, but did Konami provide their gaming services to these markets later on? No. They don't need to, because Malaysia is such a poor market, they don't need us but we need the games for crying out loud! This has also Thailand, Philippine and other SEA regions. I have been searching over the internet till these day and i still cannot find an official reason/response to why o2jam was being shutdown. If someone knows this please share in the comment.
ANYWAY that's what i have to say. In short here are my ten points why you should purchase DJMAX RESPECT

It's affordable - seriously.
There are unbelievable amount of songs in it, from their previous series and also collaborated songs from different rhythmic games like CYTUS, DEEMO and CHUNITHM
Cloud service - sticks to your account in steam whenever you go and also needless to say on your PSN play station - maybe this is not worth pointing out anyway, sorry.... but its still a valid point
Music video/visual art is great. The animation alone is normal but its pretty decent to have some visual backdrop as you are playing the game and its really really nice compared to many other VSRG games i have seen.
Mastery in the game is possible. VSRG is all about practicing and DJMAX respect have tones of song for you to learn patiently. By the time you completed them all, trust me you will be surprised how good you are in this game and how fast you actually pick them up.
You can play competitively and casually. Most VSRG games is all about being the best, but seriously with all the good sidelines DJMAX has to offer, one might just forget about the competition and just enjoy have fun with the game and the music.
All type of song genre - you name it, pop, rock, electronic, metal, jazz, hip hop and many more. Only chapel songs not available.
Respect your time. Yes, maybe that's also the same for other rhythmic game but i just want to reiterate again this is the type of game where you can stop and call it a day, unlike other genre that you need to get hooked up for hours before it ended.
Skill based game. You are how good you are, you cant buy it with money. Whalers have no place in here and whalers themselves probably for once in their life encounter a spiritual awakening and know they worth more than just swiping their credit cards.
Game data is decent. It keeps your record and you can always analyze how well you have been playing, revisit back the songs you have never manage to complete, and start organizing your goals in area you want to improve.

Good offline LAN games? PC

DOOM Eternal Launch FAQ and Known Issues

Hey there, Slayers!
Happy launch day :)
My name is Jonny and I am one of the Community Managers here at Bethesda, here to help you with your DOOM Eternal needs. It's nice to meet all of you!
We just wanted to make this post to ensure you were all aware of the Launch FAQ and Known Issues document that we prepared for the game. I will copy the latest version of it below but be sure to keep it posted to the Bethesda net forum post as that will be updated with new questions/answers and issues as needed.
Should you have any further questions or issues, we will be in these forums as much as possible. Also remember that you can always view our support page and submit a support ticket here if you're encountering problems too.
Thanks so much for reading. Have fun ripping and tearing!
--
3/21 Update: Here are the top searched questions we're seeing through our support FAQ. For additional help, please visit: help.bethesda.net
Top Searched FAQ Items:
1. “ACCOUNT HAS NOT BEEN VERIFIED” - DOOM ETERNAL
If you receive an error stating “This account has not been verified” when creating or attempting to link your Bethesda.net account in DOOM Eternal, this indicates that your Bethesda.net account has not yet been verified. This can also inidicate that you may already have an account created, but not verified through another game, such as Fallout 4 or Skyrim. You can check what account you have linked to your Betheda.net account here: https://bethesda.net/en/accoun...
However, if you have not yet verified your account, you will need to fully verify it before you are able to view the account online. During account creation, a verification email is sent to your Bethesda.net email account. You will be able to verify your account by locating that email and clicking the Verify Account button.
If you have not received the verification email, follow the steps below:
Visit https://account.bethesda.net/.Attempt to sign in to your account.When an error message with a Resend email link appears, click the link to initiate a new verification email. Locate the verification request email in your inbox.Click Verify Account to complete the verification process.Once complete, you will be able to log into your Bethesda.net account.
2. What can I do if DOOM Eternal is crashing on PC?
Please refer to these steps: https://help.bethesda.net/app/...
3. What do I do if DOOM Eternal on PC is having connection issues?
Please refer to our connection guide: https://help.bethesda.net/app/...
4. Why didn't I receive my DOOM Marine skin for linking to Bethesda.net?
Link your Slayers Club account to DOOM (1993), DOOM II, or DOOM 3 classic re-releases, which have the option to link your Bethesda.net account to the game, and receive a retro-inspired DOOM Marine skin and matching nameplate for DOOM Eternal. This will be applied to your account when DOOM Eternal launches and you have linked DOOM Eternal to the same Bethesda.net account. Verify within the classic re-releases that you've both logged in and select "Claim Your Reward."
5. How can I play with my friends in DOOM Eternal?
Please refer to our guide here: https://help.bethesda.net/app/...
Frequently Asked Questions:
What are the supported languages of DOOM Eternal?
The supported languages are listed below:
English/French/Italian/German/Spanish (Spain)/Spanish (Mexico)/Brazilian-Portuguese/Polish/Russian/Japanese - Text and Speech
Simplified Chinese/Traditional Chinese/Korean – Text only
How are languages separated by platform for DOOM Eternal?

On Xbox One and PC (Steam and Bethesda.net), there is a single, worldwide version that includes all supported languages.
On PlayStation 4, there are four regional versions, each supporting a different set of languages:
- Americas - [English, French-Canadian, Brazilian-Portuguese, Spanish (Mexico), Korean]
- EU - [English, French, Italian, German, Spanish (Spain), Russian, Polish, Japanese] JP - [Japanese, English]
- CH - [English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Korean]

What are the technical specs for DOOM Eternal?
Please refer to our full launch guide on Bethesda.net
What are the recommended drivers for DOOM Eternal? (Updated March 20)
Download and Install the latest drivers (based on manufacturer).
NVIDIA:

DOOM Eternal release driver version: 442.74
Download URL: https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/news/doom-eternal-game-ready-drive

AMD:

DOOM Eternal release driver version: 20.3.1
Download URL: https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/release-notes/rn-rad-win-20-3-1
Win 8 - Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.10.1 AMD: AMD Link

Where is PC Data stored for DOOM Eternal?

Steam directory is located here: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\DOOMEternal
Steam saves are located here: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\userdata
Bethesda.net directory is located here: C:\Program Files (x86)\Bethesda.net Launcher\games
Bethesda.net saves are located here: C:\Users\\Saved Games\id Software

Can I link my Slayers Club (Bethesda.net) account to my console/PC copy of DOOM Eternal to receive my skins immediately?
You can connect your Bethesda.net account to your preferred platform(s) on this linking site.
I see the “Empowered Demons” settings option, but don’t see them in the game.
The Empowered Demons feature will be enabled in a future update. We’ll let you know once this new feature is enabled!
What do I do if I haven’t received my preordedeluxe edition items in DOOM Eternal?
First, ensure that you have redeemed all applicable codes. You may have received a code from your retailer (sometimes printed on the receipt itself). For physical copies, you may want to check with your retailer. If you still have not received your items, you can enter the Bethesda.net settings menu in-game and claim items by selecting Reconcile Entitlements.
What do I do if I see a black screen on PC?
A black screen on launch typically is a result of your graphics card drivers not being up to date, your machine not meeting the minimum system requirements, or an Anti-Virus program blocking or quarantining DOOM Eternal. You should first check to ensure that your machine meets the game’s minimum requirements here and make sure to add Doom Eternal as an exception to your Anti-Virus software.
Download and Install the latest drivers (based on manufacturer)

What can I do if DOOM Eternal is crashing on PC?
We recommend keeping reviewing this helpful article with troubleshooting tips if you’re experiencing issues on PC.
What do I do if I get a black screen in DOOM Eternal on Xbox One? We recommend power cycling your Xbox One if you are stuck on a black screen. To power cycle your Xbox One console:

Turn the console off completely by holding down the power button for three seconds.
Once complete, unplug your power supply from the wall and from your console.
Leave everything unplugged for a few minutes.
Plug your console back in and turn it on.

How will I receive the exclusive DOOM Eternal skins that come from linking the Bethesda Account to DOOM, DOOM II, and DOOM 3?
These items will be granted to the Bethesda Account when DOOM Eternal launches. Be sure you use the same Bethesda.net/Slayers Club accounts on both your classic DOOM titles and DOOM Eternal.
What do I do if I can't progress in an objective in DOOM Eternal?
Sometimes you may be near an objective marker, but it could be on a higher or lower platform. Check your Map to make sure you are at the correct location.
If you are currently blocked by a Demon Gate, a demon may have escaped the area. In most cases they will return to the main arena shortly. If they do not return, restart from an earlier saved checkpoint by selecting Load Checkpoint from the Pause Menu.
If you are unable to load your previous checkpoint, you will have to select Reset Mission or Exit to Main Menu.
How do I use Photo Mode in DOOM Eternal?
Photo Mode is currently in Beta and only available in Mission Select after you have completed a mission in the Campaign mode. You must first enable Photo Mode from the settings menu. Once Photo Mode has been enabled you may press Right-Alt on a keyboard or Down on the D-Pad of a controller to access Photo Mode during gameplay. You can move the camera’s position and view the Slayer in third-person mode. You can also view the Slayer wearing skins that you’ve unlocked.
Known Issues for DOOM Eternal (all platforms):
Gameplay:
Issue: I noticed that my XP was negative after completing a campaign level or a BATTLEMODE match at one point, probably on a Thursday. Does this mean that I lost progress?
Resolution: You didn't lose any progress. This is a cosmetic issue that occurs if you complete a campaign level or a BATTLEMODE match while we are deploying a new Series. We will be correcting this issue in a future patch.
Issue: I've noticed that some of my customized DOOM Slayer skins aren't showing up correctly in BATTLEMODE lobbies and podium screens. Is there anything I can do about this?
Resolution: Resetting all weapon skins to default and reselecting your Slayer and weapon skins from the BATTLEMODE Customization menu will resolve this issue. This issue can also be avoided this if you select your DOOM Slayer character and weapon skins from the main menu's Customization sub-menu before entering BATTLEMODE.
Issue*: I just finished playing a Ripatorium session from the Fortress of DOOM. Can I play another one right away?*
Resolution: You can only play one Ripatorium session per visit to the Fortress of DOOM.
Issue: I'm on my first play-through of the campaign and the Slayer Gate Keys aren't appearing. Is there anything I can do about this?
Resolution: Deactivating Cheat Codes in the Mission Select menu will resolve this.
Issue: I am getting the following message: "No username specified. Please complete account verification." What does it mean and what can I do?
Resolution: There are two possible causes for this message. The good news is that you can continue into the game unimpeded for both cases. 1) Users who have created Bethesda.net accounts without specifying a username in another Bethesda title will see this message. For these users, you will need to complete the steps outlined in the Account Verification email that Bethesda.net sent you at the time of account creation in order to dismiss this message. 2) Some users who have created Bethesda.net user names are also reporting they are seeing this message. This user group is experiencing a delay in backend services that we are working dilligently to resolve. We apologize for the inconvenience and want to remind this user group that they can excuse the message and play the game unimpeded.
Issue: Pinned Weapon challenges on HUD are removed after reloading a checkpoint.
Resolution: Re-pin the Weapon Challenge. This will be addressed in a future patch.
Issue: Weekly Challenges must be re-pinned after beginning a Mission from the Fortress of DOOM.
Resolution: Re-pin the Weekly Challenge. This will be addressed in a future patch.
Issue: Sentinel Status is not always removed consistently from players.
Resolution: Re-accessing the Social Menu will correctly display the Sentinel Status of selected players. This will be addressed in a future patch.
Issue: Saves on Ultra-Nightmare difficulty are not deleted if the game is closed on the Game Over screen.
Resolution: This is an intended function of the Ultra-Nightmare experience. Although the game cannot be progressed on a given save after dying, saves will only be deleted with user permission.
Issue: Player is unable to access the Weapon Wheel if the Weapon Wheel function is bound to the Photomode key (D-Pad down)
Resolution: Do not assign Weapon Wheel to the same function as Photomode.
Issue: Why aren’t my friends receiving my Party invites?
Resolution: In some situations, delivery of party invitations may be delayed. Re-send a party invite if it fails to arrive after a minute or two.
Issue*: I’ve killed all the Demons in the current arena, but demon gates are still blocking me.*
Resolution: Demons may escape from their gates in rare situations. In most cases they return to the main arena shortly. However, if they persistent, restarting from the previous saved checkpoint resolves this issue.
Issue: Can I play a BATTLEMODE match with a friend on another platform?
Resolution: DOOM Eternal currently does not support cross-platform multiplayer
Issue: Can I invite my friends to a private match or party from [Xbox One/PS4/Steam/Bethesda.net/Stadia] system software?
Resolution: You can only currently invite friends to private matches and parties via the in-game Social Menu. Will be updating DOOM Eternal to support system software invites in the near future.
Issue*: The TAB key will stop functioning as a keybind for opening the dossier if the user minimizes the game window with alt-enter.*
Resolution*: In order to restore this functionality, the user needs to first maximize the title, then alt-tab out of the game and alt-tab back into the game.*
Issue*: I have the Bethesda.net PC version of the DOOM Eternal. Is there a way for me to add or remove friends in game or on the Bethesda.net launcher?*
Resolution: The Bethesda.net launcher does currently not have a friends management feature. If you play with users in BATTLEMODE matches you can add them as a "Favorite" and they will show up in the Favorites tab and invite them through the Social menu.
Accounts/Entitlement Redemption:
Issue: My Milestones don't show up when I change save game slots. Is there anything I can do?
Resolution: This is by design. Your Milestone progression is unique to each save game slot.
Issue: Milestone rewards don’t unlock if the player is offline when the Milestone is achieved.
Resolution: This will be addressed in a future patch.
Issue: Is there a way to link my Bethesda.net account out of the game?
Resolution: You can link your Bethesda.net account on the web here: https://bethesda.net/
Issue: I'm on my first play-through of the campaign and the Slayer Gate Keys aren't appearing. Is there anything I can do about this?
Resolution: Deactivating Cheat Codes in the Mission Select menu will resolve this.
Stadia:
Issue: Why am I seeing "This account is already online with DOOM Eternal on another device" on Stadia?
Resolution: In periods of heavy traffic, Stadia players may need up to 3 minutes before being able to access the title on another device with their same account. Close the play session on your current device and wait several minutes before accessing on a second device.
Issue: When I move from one device to another while playing on Stadia, I get a message saying "This account is already online with DOOM Eternal on another device. Please exit DOOM Eternal on other devices and retry." Is there anything I can do about this?
Resolution: Try again in 3 minutes. There is currently a 3 minute cooldown when switching devices while playing DOOM Eternal on Stadia.
PC Technical issues:
Issue: When playing BATTLEMODE as a Pain Elemental on PC, the Lost Souls move erratically when using the Soul Shield ability. Is there anything I can do about this?
Resolution: This happens for some PC users when they are playing with V-Sync disabled. Re-enabling V-Sync should resolve the issue.
Issue: UI elements appear too dim or bright while playing in HDR mode on PC. Is there anything I can do about this?
Resolution: This issue happens when Windows is not set to HDR display mode. Enabling HDR display mode in Windows should mitigate the issue.
Issue I am playing the game on PC and frequently encounter connection lost messages in-game? Is there anything I can do to resolve this?
Resolution: First, make sure you follow standard internet connection troubleshooting steps (ISP service issues, poor WiFi connection, etc.). You will also want to make sure that your Windows Date and Time are set automatically (located in the lower right-hand corner of your Windows task bar).
Issue*: I have an NVIDIA GPU and experience a flickering effect with HDR enabled on my HDR-supported monitor? Is there anything I can do about this?*
Resolution: To resolve this issue, please download and install NVIDIA GPU drivers version 445.75 from the links below:
Win 7: https://www.nvidia.com/Download/driverResults.aspx/159086/en-us
Win 10: https://www.nvidia.com/Download/driverResults.aspx/159091/en-us
Issue: The Automap appears dark on my PC's HDR-capable monitor when HDR is enabled? Is there anything I can do about this?
Resolution: We apologize for the inconvenience. We are working to address this in an upcoming PC patch. If you make heavy use of the Automap, we recommend you play with HDR disabled in the interim.
Issue: When I try to run DOOM Eternal on PC, I get the following error: "The server is not reachable, check your internet connection and click "Retry"". What do I do?
Resolution: To resolve this issue, head to the Control Panel on your computer, go to "Internet Options", select the "Advanced" tab, scroll down to "Security", enable "Use TLS 1.2", and then click "OK".
Issue: I meet the minimum system requirements and have the latest GPU drivers installed, but am experiencing performance and/or stability issues. Are there any troubleshooting steps I can take to ensure the game runs as expected on my system?
Resolution: First make sure that your system actually meets the minimum system spec requirements and has the latest GPU drivers installed. That information is available elsewhere in this FAQ.Users who have confirmed they meet the minimum system requirements and have the latest GPU drivers installed will experience performance and possibly stability issues if they are running settings that are inappropriate for their PC configuration.For best resultsusers who have a GPU that has no more than 4GB of dedicated VRAM should run the game at 1080p at Low Quality settings. Users who have a GPU that has no more than 8GB of dedicated VRAM should run the game at 1440p at High Quality settings (monitor permitting).Because there are so many possible PC configurations, you may need to take a trial and error approach to get the very best reslts for your PC configuration. Reducing Texture and Shadow Quality will be the first option you'll want to experiment with if you are looking for custom game settings.
Issue: I am encountering audio issues (i.e. dropouts, missing audio) when using a bluetooth headset on my PC. What can I do?
Resolution: Your issue may be resolved by turning off "handsfree telephony" on your PC. Head to the "control panel", "view devices and printers", double click the headset you're using, open "properties", select the "services" tab, untick "handsfree telephony" and then select ok.
Issue: Verifying the integrity of game files will cause the game to shut down when loading classic DOOM II from the in-game Hub.
Resolution: We're working on resolving this in a future update. In the meantime, we recommend users avoid using this Steam option unless required to as part of troubleshooting.
Issue: Why am I seeing poor performance while using G-Sync or Freesync?
Resolution: For best performance with these features, enable V-sync from the in-game graphics settings. Note that 3rd party tools configured to limit frame rates may adversely impact performance.
Issue: I have an AMD GPU and HDR monitor, but the game won't run in HDR display mode. What can I do to resolve this?
Resolution:To run the game in HDR display mode on supported monitors, players with AMD GPUs need to have the official DOOM Eternal release drivers (20.3.1). Download them here: https://www.amd.com/en/support...
Issue*: I have the latest GPU drivers installed and meet minimum system specs, but the game doesn't launch correctly or crashes on launch. Is there anything I can do?*
Resolution: For some users, there's a chance you don't have all of the required DirectX files installed. Reinstalling the DirectX runtime libraries from the following location may resolve this issue: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=8109If reinstalling the DirectX runtime libraries doesn't resolve the issue, there's a chance your motherboard BIOS or CPU drivers are out of date.
For AMD Ryzen CPU users, updating your motherboard's BIOS and Ryzen chipset drivers may resolve this issue. The BIOS and chipset drivers are the links between your hardware and the operating system. Updating to the latest software ensures users have the latest performance and stability enhancements for the platform. To prevent the game crashing on your Ryzen system, please update your BIOS to the latest version using the files and procedures found on the motherboard manufacturer's website. Additionally, you will need to update your chipset drivers which can be found here.
Issue: The specifications published online don’t match the specifications on my boxed copy. Will my PC be able to run DOOM Eternal?
Resolution: Performance optimizations during development resulted in the expectations for performance on the minimum specification to increase for the majority of players. PCs that meet the published back-of-box specifications will still run at those settings, but most users will be able to run at more graphically intensive settings.
Issue: DOOM Eternal fails to launch or crashes while launching on my Laptop.
Resolution: We do not officially support laptop hardware. Laptops that conform to the supported hardware specifications may run DOOM Eternal.
Issue: Game window is resetting to default resolution after removing monitors while game is running.
Resolution: Issue is caused by changing hardware while title is active. Add/remove hardware before launching the game.
Issue*: Does DOOM Eternal support Crossfire for AMD or SLI for NVIDIA GPUs?*
Resolution: DOOM Eternal does not support Crossfire for AMD or SLI for NVIDIA GPUs. If you play the game with Crossfire or SLI enabled, you will experience performance issues or even crash. If you have dual GPUs on your PC, plug both monitors into the primary GPU before you play DOOM Eternal.
Issue*: Game crashes when changing settings to Ultra, Nightmare, or Ultra-Nightmare on some systems using only 8 GB of system RAM with Nvidia GeForce RTX GPUs.*
Resolution: When playing the game on these cards, keep settings at High or increase system RAM to at least 16 GB.
Issue: Game does not launch on Windows 8 with an AMD GPU installed.
Resolution: The latest AMD drivers are incompatible with DOOM Eternal on Windows 8.1. Install the AMD Radeon driver version 19.10.1 in order to play DOOM Eternal.
Issue: Game or PC crashes when turning off Vertical Sync while OBS is open.
Resolution: The DOOM Eternal game-ready drivers from AMD resolves this issue. This can also be worked around setting V-Sync to “On”, “Adaptive”, or “Triple Buffered” on older AMD GPU driver releases.
Issue: Game crashes when launched on Intel or AMD integrated graphics chipsets.
Resolution: Integrated Graphics options are not supported.
Issue: Some areas of the screen are obscured by large numbers of black particles.
Resolution: If the issue is encountered, assuming you are able to run the game, disabling the Depth of Field option will resolve this issue.
Issue: Game loads to a black screen when launching in full-screen mode.
Resolution: This issue is caused by the DOOM Eternal executable getting quarantined by an Anti-Virus program. Add an exception to your Anti-Virus program to resolve.
Issue*: The game won't launch on my laptop.*
Resolution: Make sure that the laptop uses its dedicated GPU and that the laptop is plugged into power. (This may also help with some desktops that use mother boards that have integrated GPUs.) Your NVIDIA driver needs to be setup to pick the dedicated GPU.
Issue: Game performance is degraded while playing with external software overlays enabled, such as MSI Afterburner, ReShade and others. There is also a known issue with the Steam overlay that can result in performance degradation.
Resolution: Disable any external software overlay to improve performance. You may also want to try disabling the Steam overlay. Please use the in-game performance metric display to track FPS and other valuable runtime performance metrics.
Console Known issues:
Issue: DOOM Slayer fist remains on screen and player is unable to change to any weapon
Resolution: Reloading the previous checkpoint resolves the issue.
Issue*: I'm a console player and the game crashes when I try to play the original DOOM or DOOM II from the Fortress of DOOM. Is there anything I can do?*
Resolution: We appologize for the inconvenience. We are working to address this in our next console update. Stay tuned for more details.
PS4 Known issues:
Issue*: I'm encountering an error that says "You do not have permission to access this content."*
Resolution: Check your "addons" in DOOM Eternal and make sure the campaign is downloaded. If it is and you can't access the game, go into PS4 Settings > Account Management > Restore Licenses. Once the licenses restore you should no longer see this message and can play the game.
Xbox One Known issues:
Issue*: For physical copies of DOOM Eternal on Xbox One, users must download the available patch which allows users to properly unlock achievements. It is highly recommended that owners of physical copies download that update. If a user with a disc copy of DOOM Eternal bypasses the update, achievements will not be unlocked.*
Resolution*: To prevent the issue, please ensure you have downloaded the patch (1.0.0.6). Digital copies of DOOM Eternal will automatically download the patch.*
If you’ve bypassed the patch and have played the game, in order to resolve the issue, the user must delete all title-associated save data from 'Manage games' and repeat the achievement criteria in an online state to unlock achievements after this issue occurs.
Issue: Pre-Order / Deluxe items purchased from the Xbox One store may not immediately appear in game.
Resolution: Items are guaranteed to be awarded over a period of time, but to speed up this process, players can enter the Bethesda.Net settings menu and claim items by selecting the “Reclaim Entitlements” option.
Issue: The initial chunk for the game has installed, but I’m unable to launch the campaign
Resolution: DOOM Eternal requires the title to be fully installed before starting a new campaign. Please wait for the install to complete and try again.
Issue: I’ve installed the DOOM Eternal (Campaign) from disc, why can’t I start a new campaign?
Resolution: In order to play the campaign, all components of DOOM Eternal must be installed from disc (both BATTLEMODE and Campaign). After inserting the disc, select ‘Install All’ to ensure your ability to play.

FH: Detailed Analysis of Error Code 7-00000004 with Causes and Possible Solutions (see video). Warning: Not a light read

Foreword: As the end of October 2020 nears, this issue has been springing up at an alarming rate. This Group Leader bug and related Error Code have been around since the game's release. Over the years, I've tracked it's occurrences and related causes, provided in depth troubleshooting to many redditors here (both to gather info and experiment with solutions), and tested the problem myself on those very rare times it came my way. I've already known what the cause is, just not the technical reasons of why. In fact, there's many different things that can cause this issue, from the home network, the ISP network, Gaming Platform networks, to Ubisoft's network, but it all ends up being one end result related to one specific reason. Since these problems are becoming more and more pervasive, I thought I'd share some of my thoughts on it. WARNING: Huge amount of text, only for the most inquisitive. TLDR: Watch the linked video

Potential Temporary Fix to the Group Leader Bug and Error Code 7-00000004 Problem

Watch Video Reference: Possible Temporary Group Leader Bug Fix

What is Error Code 7-00000004? According to Ubisoft's Support Page, it's "an error about your connection to the Ubisoft servers." Pretty vague, but one needs to understand what servers those are. There's match servers (Data Centers) in every region, but this isn't about those. This is about the Ubisoft Account servers everyone globally connects to, those are in Montreal Canada. This hasn't changed since the game was made, regardless of dedicated servers. However, it's a bit more complicated than connecting to them because eventually one can get through with this error code, but then has the Group Leader Bug (they're connected to the game, but not able to access any modes).
What is the Group Leader Bug (GL Bug)? This has been called that because once a player that has connection issues to the Account servers finally gets through, there's a synching issue that doesn't properly authenticate them. So, the game modes are all locked with messages saying "Requirements Not Met" on the game mode and a sub window stating Group Leader Only even though you're in a Group of one, yourself. Even the player's own emblem in the UI group section (next to NAT) is empty, indicating they're not loaded into their own group. The player is effectively groupless. The messages and locked modes shown is the exact thing players see when in a group, but not the group leader (ie the one able to select the modes to play).

Group Leader Bug History

The beginning: The GL Bug has been around since release. However, there's so many things that can trigger it, it never got narrowed down to it's cause. Or more aptly, maybe the end cause was known, but couldn't be outrightly fixed. In the past, a common cause was the synching of multiplayer requirements (Mission 1.1 and the basic tutorial). This part is key to my thinking. Cycling through those and then going back to the War Map synched the Account back up (see article). In past Patch Notes, they addressed certain issues about the GL Bug and also changed the multiplayer requirements later on (Mission 1.1 was no longer required). While that workaround was no longer needed, players soon found other instances where the GL Bug popped up.
GL Bug after 2018: As time went on and during these instances where individual players got it, the old method proved ineffective. Applying basic troubleshooting steps did provide a solution, namely rebooting one's RouteModem. Why? Because a proper reboot of both the router and modem clears it's internal cache of stale or corrupted entries that may be conflicting with connections and refreshes the connection to the ISP. Going a step further, sometimes clearing the gaming platform's own Temp Cache was needed (same principle as the router, just on the gaming device). Notice that most things listed are on the individual's end. However, sometimes those workarounds didn't work and the GL Bug remained a mystery, to both players and devs.
Massive number of cases being reported at once: Everything above talks about instances of individual cases, where it's not a widespread issue. Sometimes large amounts of players can get this. Some are regional (parts of a country or a whole continent), some were platform related (PSN, XBox, Uplay), and sometimes globally. Now this is where all troubleshooting steps prove ineffective as the issue is at a higher level of networking. Sometimes, it's not directly a Ubisoft issue, those can last days, weeks, or more. Over a three day period, all Comcast Internet players in the US were unable to access Ubisoft servers after Comcast had major outages. A player next door on another ISP could log in just fine, only Comcast customers were affected. This was particularly interesting. Another instance was in Singapore, where only those players got the GL Bug even though the match servers Database is located there. The same thing happened to Australia. All during 2020.
Other networks: This wasn't simply a matter of the internet being out, that's not the case at all in those examples. In all those cases, the internet outage was fixed and players would then get the Error Code and or GL Bug, despite no other issues with their internet. They were able to login to other sites and play other games. It caused confusion as to why, and more importantly, other unaffected regions had no issue with logging into the game. That showed that the issue wasn't on Ubisoft, but still at the regional level. How?
External Issues: In the case of Singapore, it was their biggest company's DNS outage that affected players. In the case of Australia, those outages resided where their Tier 1 hubs are in and around Sydney, there's only so many cross-oceanic lines. For Comcast, they own their own network lines and while most of the country was fixed, those areas leading to and around the Canadian border were still being affected. In all cases, all internet lines leading to and from those region's Data Centers also had outages (Sydney, Singapore, Portland, OR, Richmond, VA). Once signing in, does it simultaneously try to synch that player's Data Center (speculating, haven't done a traceroute for this yet)? What happens if it can't? What is known is these players couldn't access the game after their internet was restored. A player's signal is affected by every network along the route, even if it's a thousand miles away from their own unaffected areas. Even though Ubisoft wasn't the cause of those outages, there was still an issue with accessing those Ubisoft Account servers from anywhere within that region.

Ubisoft Accounts: Always On DRM and Ubisoft Club

So, we've established that we connect to the Account servers in Montreal. Also, as part of Ubisoft's Network, there is a heavy reliance on DRMs. For Honor is just one of their games with an Always On DRM (AO DRM). A player can't even access the game, let alone play the Story Mode offline, unless there's an active internet connection. It shouldn't be an issue since this is a multiplayer game, but it is. Not only is this a multiplayer game where an online connection is mandatory anyways, but the AO DRM proceeds to continually provide authentication checks to still make sure you're on an internet connection on a verified account. Logging in and passing a preliminary authentication the first time isn't enough. Why? Yet another added layer to prevent piracy, the CEO even thinks 95% of players pirate content. On one hand, DRM makes sense to protect their products, but on the other, it becomes intrusive and can conflict with gameplay whenever there's internal problems (ie hello lag spike that results in a disconnect and no ability to rejoin the match because it has to go through the whole logging back in phase). Let me drop this link about how Ubisoft said they weren't going to use Always On DRMs anymore for their PC games, back in 2012 (the year FH started development). Well, we know how that turned out.

Important for Wifi Users: The Always On DRM is THE number one reason why a wired connection should be used. Any slight interruption of the connection or failure of meeting those authentication checks due to lag spikes will result in a disconnection. Other devices on the Wifi network will affect your connection. This game is horrible for Wifi use. The simple fact is, the majority of connectivity issues happen to Wifi users (outside of the problems described in this post). If traditional wiring isn't an option, look into using a Powerline Adapter.

I won't go too in-depth on DRMs (looking at you Denuvo), but their Always On DRM isn't their only one. Login credentials are one. Product Keys are another. Multiple things can be a DRM, even without it being called a DRM, there's all different types. It's all to verify who you are, validate your access, and prevent intrusion/piracy on their networks or games. What else can a DRM do? Collect stats, gaming habits of players, tracks progress, alerts for intrusions and hacks, and other information. Some DRMs provide a means for devs to track game information from one source without having to spend resources to build their own in-game data collections process. It's one of their selling points to developers so they can focus resources and time elsewhere in a project, much like using an already developed game engine than having to create one internally. Like social media, it's tracking more than one thinks, which companies can then use that data (inputs, gaming habits and patterns, progress, game requirements completion, rewards, stat tracking, IP collection, etc). While also using Denuvo, EAC, and other DRMs, Ubisoft has also created their own proprietary DRM system within their network. They are the leading company for DRM abundant products, imo.
What else could be another DRM of Ubisoft? Ubisoft Club. What has it done since the beginning? Track your progress, your game stats, your account. What is it synched to? Logging into your account. What was the original requirements for multiplayer? Mission 1.1 and the tutorial. Could it have been used for tracking completion of multiplayer requirements? Possibly. Is it still in-grained into the game? Yes. Is it a gatekeeper for online access? Maybe, if it's part of the system of checks and authentication (see link at the end of this paragraph). A player doesn't need to download Ubisoft Club for it to be part of their system, it already is on the back end of things. One will notice that these current issues of GL Bug and Error Code 7-00000004 are happening during the timing of revamping Ubisoft Club into Ubisoft Connect, come Oct 29th. Ubisoft Club was introduced in 2015, how in-grained is it within the game and what repercussions will happen once Ubisoft Connect roles out? Spaghetti code gonna spaghetti code (looking at you, Rate This Match). If Ubisoft Club servers went down, weren't all games affected?
DRMs, DRMs, DRMs (Opinion): How many is too much? Product Keys, Uplay sign-in, Steam sign-in, PSN sign-in, XBox sign-in, Ubisoft account verification, EAC, Denuvo Anti-Tamper, Always On DRM, each platform's other internal DRM systems (Steam, Uplay, PS, etc), Ubisoft Club (which may or may not be related to one of the others), and other DRMs are all used. The Ubisoft Account servers in Montreal are the DRM servers, any issues there affects players everywhere. Some systems are redundant and overlapping. While the reasons of DRMs are understandable (some more than others) to prevent piracy, it's also known that they can adversely affect the gameplay for legitament paying customers. If those systems aren't functioning perfectly, then it's only the players that are getting screwed.
After all of those steps for verification to play, as stated before, simply being connected online isn't enough for Multiplayer. One also needs to pass the continual authentication checks of the Always On DRM, being disconnected mid-match isn't a rare occurrence, it's so common it's a meme at this point. It's no secret certain DRMs can impact performance, let alone game access. For Honor is four year's old, no one is trying to crack it's code or pirate the game. It's essentially a free to play game in all but name at this point (multiple free periods on all platforms, sales for $7-8, main revenue comes from mtx). The game would function far better without it's Always On DRM requirement, there's already enough DRMs.

What the fuck does all of this mean?

The Group Leader Bug and Error Code 7-00000004 are symptoms of a synching issue with the Account Servers, the DRM Authentication, and quite possibly related to Ubisoft Club. A player can get past the Error Code (hard stop from accessing account) and log into the game, but either doesn't pass the authentication or it's not synched to recognize it right away. Or it passed the login authentication, but didn't connect properly to the Ubisoft Club portion (still unsure). So, the game treats the player like they're not part of their own group, unable to access modes. They become an unknown entity in their own game session. After a bit of time, there's a failure of passing the next authentication check, which boots the player back out, with the attached Error Code message given to start the process all over. Again.
Any synching issue of that process results in not being able to access the game itself or game modes if they manage to get through, imo. It could be on the individual player's end (router or gaming platform). It could be an issue with the ISP (local, regional, or higher level). It could be within the networking structure of the end destination, Ubisoft. It all boils down to the signal, reaching those Montreal servers, and being synched properly. Incomplete or lost packets along the way won't be helping (traffic logjam on any networks from beginning to end).

What causes the synching issue and what can players do?

Besides the causes of incomplete or lost packets due to massive outages (signals being re-routed to crowded network pathways)? Nothing can be done about that, but if it's just on an individual's network level then they should run through their Troubleshooting Steps (see below). Unfortunately, players are finding times when reboots, reinstalls, cache clearing, and other methods aren't working. Usually, that's when there's a massive outbreak of these cases on a wider scale and not isolated incidents. Fortunately, I was able to run numerous amounts of attempts to test this myself.
Evolving Theory, Testing, and Results: There's another factor within Ubisoft's internal networking structure, I think it's that DRM component(s). My best guess is that it tracks and "associates" (caches) the IPs of players' accounts and somehow that list can get stale or corrupted and it causes a conflict when authenticating (maybe failed returns from outages or DNS issues, like in those instances described). Over time, it likely refreshes on it's own. It also wouldn't affect new IPs that the account uses, which is why what's shown in the video works. Why do I think that? Along with everything stated above and below, but also because the problem is sometimes per account on that specific connection, not necessarily the connection itself. I could also log into some of my older FH Accounts during my testing and they had no issues on the same problematic connection, on the same device. This needs further confirmation from others though, I'd like to see more results. I've previously theorized that IPs were part of it, even tested it and gathered data from others. I even thought in the past that Ubisoft Club had some type of an impact. Those ultimately are still theories and far beyond my means of figuring out technically. What I do have are tests and results, see paragraphs below.
Initial conflicts of that theory: Everything in that above paragraph could make sense, except for one thing: Public IPs and Private IPs. My earlier version of this theory was based on previous testing that was limited in scope and collected information from players that had this issue that lasted for weeks or more. That earlier thinking was centered on the Public IP Addresses, in that case, it's feasible. For this recent iteration of the problem, I was able to gather more information and have hours to replicate the problem and run various scenarios to see the outcomes. However, these were all based on the device's Private IP Address. Two different things.

Public IPs vs Private IPs sidenote: Public IPs are what's assigned to the router from the ISP, it's what is used when connecting to the internet. The router than assigns Private IPs to the home network's devices. The devices connect to the router that connects to the ISP's network and beyond. This works the other way, with external connections only communicating to the router (Public IP) and the router then communicates to the devices (Private IP). The router's firewall essentially protects the Private IPs from the outside world, hence Private (also called Internal, Local, or LAN).

Making sense of that Theory: The outside world can't "see" the home network's devices' Private IP, which throws a wrench in my theory. Or so I thought. It does appear one can get the Private IP from an internal network. Mozilla's browser tools can detect a device's Private IP and Whatsmyip can exploit that to show Private IPs behind the Public IP. Now, this can explain that discrepancy and the theory makes more sense. If Mozilla can do that from their browser, then so can Ubisoft from a downloaded game. I would assume it's either part of the game's hidden DRM or directly from Ubisoft Club, since Uplay isn't part of the console version. Private IPs might possibly be cached, whether it's intentional or an unintentional by product of their authentication process. How intrusive is Ubisoft's propriety DRM and/or Ubisoft Club? Ubisoft has been infamous for it's many DRMs and is also infamous for it's many connectivity issues in all of it's games. Also in all of it's games is Ubisoft Club. Still just a theory though. I do think my Call For Fire is near the target though, enough to say Fire For Effect.
Recent Testing: What I do know however, is that I had this issue and was able to bypass it by changing my IP Address on my gaming device. I had a few hours to test various things when this issue came about late October when this problem hit a mass amount of players (to include all Troubleshooting Steps that proved ineffective, such as Router Reboot, Temp Cache clearing, etc.). I could replicate the problem by using my old IP Address any time I input it in. I could fix it by switching it to any other number. I also had an extremely easier time when also switching my DNS Server, but it didn't matter which DNS Server I switched to, just that I had to switch them (ie, they themselves weren't the issue, but using the one associated with the old IP was). I used Google's and Cloudflare's, both of which are fine and great to use. Changing the DNS wasn't enough though, the Static IP had to be changed everytime (along with game restart).

Don't forget: While I couldn't use that bad IP on that FH Account from that point on, I could for another account. I could use another older FH Account (unused in a year) on the same PS4, with that same bad IP Address, and have no problems logging into the game and play matches (theory of accounts cached with IP data).

Steps used for this specific result (when all other attempts have failed). See video link above:

Completed Troubleshooting Steps first (see below)
Leave game open, access Network Settings
Change Static IP (last set of number's only)
Change platform's DNS Server
Test Connection, Restart game
If game opens, allow few minutes to populate
If no change, restart process again

Previous Testing: I also know that switching the home network's Public IP Address works too. A player with these issues can take their PS4 to their neighbor's that uses the same ISP and have no issues logging in. They can use their mobile hotspot and log in with no issues. Sometimes, one can use another internet connection, then log back into their own internet and the issue resolves. Somehow, it tricks the servers into gaining them access again. Otherwise, they just can't use their own IP, unless it changes or whatever issue on the higher end is resolved. I have a theory that another cause of the issue is whenever an ISP re-assigns a customer's Public IP (they're not static and can be changed by the ISP). That problem can last weeks and months and might explain how singular people get this problem when there's no mass occurrences. However, switching the home network's Public IP Address is faaar harder to do and in a lot of cases, not possible. Each ISP is different. Switching the device's Private IP with changing the DNS Server produced immediate results (restarting the game before logging in was needed for the change).

Is that result guaranteed?

Nope, but it was for me. Consistently. You can see the video showing it producing positive results (video linked at the top). I did it multiple times to verify and track differences of application. As discussed, there's so many factors within that signal pathway and so many unknowns at the end destination, that there hasn't been a total fix to the problem from the devs. If it's DRM and/or Ubisoft Club related, it's probably so in-grained with the spaghetti code, that maybe they can't reliably fix it (see Rate This Match). The video only highlights one way that I've tested that has worked. This post is to help spread some awareness about it and what to do. Ultimately, if it's a major networking issue, there isn't much players can do, but wait. Sometimes, some players will be affected, while others won't be. This post describes why that is and steps one can take, if it's possible. And be weary of issues that may come Oct. 29th.
Also of note, other possible solutions: It has been reported that a viable option is for players with the GL Bug to accept an invite from another player, this puts them into a functionable group. However, this won't work if the player can't access the game with Error Code 7-00000004. VPN: Can bypass all the issues and reconnect to the game servers (different IP), unless there's a major outage on Ubisoft's end vs. non-major networking issues. Not a readily available option for console players though.

Simple Troubleshooting Steps

What all players should do for any type of connectivity issues is follow these troubleshooting steps. Check the game in between most steps. Players need to start on their end before branching out, process of elimination.
1. Restart game
2. Test internet connection, see if home or ISP related
3. Check related Server status and Support sites
4. Restart platform
5. Reboot Router and Modem (unplug 30 sec)
6. Console: Clear Temp Cache, PC: Verify Files
7. Don't use Wifi, test it wired. Works horribly with FH.
8. Change Static IPs up
9. Consider Forwarding Ports
10. Reinstall (last option, other things are quicker)
11. Important: Then at this point, if it's a higher level issue, don't just post on Reddit. Contact their Support Channels. Post on their Twitter feeds. Make the issue known there too. The Devs don't read Reddit at 6pm, let alone 2am. Make those companies aware of issues that are outside of your control, just see about your end first. The more awareness on their end, the quicker the fix. If it's a region wide, platform wide, or site wide problem, go to their Ubisoft Support and Twitter sites so it makes them take notice. If no one creates reports through official channels, the less visibility they get. Otherwise, if only a few report something that is actually affecting thousands, then they'll think it's just a few players with problems, on Wifi, that didn't troubleshoot their connectivity problem. Reddit is not an official Ubisoft site, nor used reliably for reporting issues.

Ubisoft FAQ References:

1. Static IP for PS4
2. Static IP for Xbox
3. Static IP for PC
4. PS4 Connectivity FAQ with Ports
5. XB Connectivity FAQ with Ports
6. PC Connectivity FAQ with Ports

**CURRENT FAQ AS OF JULY 2020! PLEASE READ BEFORE MAKING A NEW THREAD**

If you discover any dead links or information you believe to be incorrect/outdated please comment or message me. Previous FAQ threads are available here.

Current State Of Affairs/Quick Questions Thread

Please use the search function before posting a question. Most relevant topics are discussed in the PS4Homebrew Wiki & FAQ. Please confine basic questions to this thread. I will update it reasonably often. Redditors who would like to answer questions will be appreciated, please visit this thread frequently and help us keep the subreddit clean. I will update this post as questions are asked and answered.
If you have a technical question that you feel merits more visibility you may post it in the main subreddit but keep in mind it may be removed and repeatedly doing so may result in further action. Feel free to use modmail to pre-approve technical questions.

Exploitable Firmware Versions

Currently, there are only 5 main firmware versions with publicly available exploits. Firmware versions above 6.72 are not currently supported and are not likely to be for some time. Subscribe and visit frequently for news.
- 6.72
- 5.05 (5.07 is compatible as well, although it is uncommon.)
- 4.55
- 4.05
- 1.76 (Version 1.76 and lower may be valuable for research purposes.)

Useful Links

Frequently Asked Questions

- How do I know if a console has an exploitable firmware version? Well, looks like KiiWii has once again heard your pleas and has got you covered. PS4IDENT is a tool that aims to make identifying PS4's with vulnerable firmware easy. Please check it out, and if you find any of his tools/contributions helpful show your appreciation. The only other way to reliably identify lower firmware consoles is by the particular console bundle. There are various incomplete lists around the internet such as this GBAtemp thread. You can also check the release date of a firmware here and compare it to the release or "stock date" of a console you're looking to buy to determine what firmware it may come with. None of these options are guaranteed. You will ultimately have to do your own footwork, but this gives you a couple ways to start.
- Is there a Guide? There will be many guides available both on the wider internet and posted in this subreddit, this one on GBAtemp is well maintained. You can also subscribe to ModdedWarfare on youtube. Keep in mind most 'guides' on youtube are fake so watch out. Right now the 6.72 exploit is fairly new so things will be updated as time goes on and more guides will be out.
- Can I download/play games for free? We neither condone nor support piracy. Any links to pirated material will result in a ban. Piracy may be discussed in the meta, but any questions regarding where to find pirated materials or how to use them will be removed and could result in a temporary ban.
- Can I play "X" game? How do I know what firmware a game requires? Check out kiiwii's tool here for a list of games and thier respective firmwares. Alternatively you can just google the release date of a game and compare it to the release date of a firmware which you can find here. This won't be perfectly accurate, but it should give you a good idea.
- Is there a 6.72+ exploit/When will there be one? No system is entirely secure. It is a cat and mouse game with security researchers and hackers constantly playing catch-up. As long as interest remains (which is almost certain for the PS4, long past its EOL) newer firmware will be exploited. If Jailbreaks/HomeBrew are important to you, the golden rule is, do not update.
- Is it possible to downgrade from {my firmware version} to {insert exploitable version here}?
Yes. Only under specific circumstances though. You can find information about that from this thread and this tweet. The main points are that you need to have backed up some data from your ps4 before you updated to whatever firmware you are on right now. Also this method requires some soldering skills and some extra equipment at the very least. A full explanation is a little beyond this FAQ.
- How do I update to 6.72? Download the relevant file (available here) and copy it to a USB drive, then update your console from the downloaded .pup. This is not a tutorial, for detailed instructions see here.
- Can I play Online still? You can not access the PlayStation Network without being on the current firmware. You can use Linux and access Steam, that may be some consolation.
- Should I try the ☆Delete Save Function on my games thumbnail? No.
- What's the difference between Mira and Hen? HEN means Homebrew ENabler and is a piece of software that allows your system to run unofficial software (or homebrew).
The Mira Project/MiraCFW is a set of tools that aim to grant you more power and control over your jailbroken PlayStation 4. Like HEN, Mira also enables you to run unsigned software but will include other features such as an app store like interface to download homebrew directly from your PS4. So Mira is a homebrew enabler, but HEN is not Mira.
-Help my console says it's on a higher firmware, but HEN is still running, what do I do? There is a spoofer payload that now runs automatically with some versions of HEN. If you restart your console then it will go back to whatever firmware you were previously on. There is no way for your console to update without restarting.
- Where Can I Get an ESP8266? These chips are both inexpensive and incredibly common. They're usually around $5-10 USD and a quick search on Amazon, AliExpress, eBay or Google will bring up pages of them. Here is one from SeeedStudio for ~$9.00 USD and one from GearBest for less than $4.00 USD as examples.
- How Can I Help? I know it may surprise you, but this is not a frequently asked question. You can help by subscribing (if you haven`t already) and becoming part of our community. For those of you who have already subscribed, this subreddit is what we as a community make it. If you see something that is interesting to you regarding PS4 hacks it is likely interesting to most of us as well, so don`t be afraid to post it. If you learn something new, make a quick post or even better, write a guide.
Console hacking comes with no guarantees, voids your warranty, breaks Sony's user agreement (EULA) and could even lead to PSN bans. Use at your own risk.
Thanks For Reading,
The Moderation Team.

Emuloader 1.0 Release Post (mirror)

Sorting of games by region, platform and source.
Supports 17 Platforms via 14 emulators.
Download manager allows downloading of many backups (that you legally own) at once with no captchas.
Allows the queuing of thousands of downloads at once, automatically sorting them as it goes.
Automatically finds boxart for downloaded games on a per platform or per game basis.
Shows verbose network usage statistics and supports download acceleration.
Supports importing of existing titles.
Automatically updates emulators so ensure you always have the latest performance improvements and bugfixes.
Highly customisable theming and banner art.
Prettifies file names automagically giving your collections a clean look.
Offline mode lets Emuloader function without internet acess, tungsten services or external updates and services.
Data hoarder mode allows emuloader to play games stored in .zip, .rar and ,7z archives, saving large amounts of disk space. (Suggested by SuperBio!)
Buy physical copies/soundtracks directly within emuloader, supporting google shopping, Amazon, ebay and more.
Dropbox integration.
Automatically syncs and backs up saves, games and configurations after every session, easily enabled and disabled in settings.
Sorts roms into folders by platform.
Wiki with documentation to help with any confusion.
Modern and simple UI design.
Automatic updating (which you can disable).

Patrons will get updates 2-3 weeks early. This excludes security vulnerabilities where a patched update will be immediately pushed to the public.
You can also get the following discord benefits:
Discord role, channel and mention in emuloader ‘About’ section.
Prioritised feature requests.

Via Discord & Twitter:

Users who both join the discord and also follow me (@drgreenboys) on twitter will get updates 5 days-a week early. This excludes security vulnerabilities where a patched update will be immediately pushed to the public.
This will be verified in the #verify channel on the discord server.

can you play steam games offline without internet video

How to play Steam games offline. 1. Open Steam. If you're on a PC, in the toolbar at the top of the screen, select "Steam." If you're using a Mac, select "Account." 2. Select "Go Offline." Make sure to have steam closed before you begin and just to be safe go into your downloads tab in steam, pause and delete the update for the game you want to play 1. Go into your steamapps folder, you should see a bunch of .ACF files labelled 'steammanifest_(the game id number here)' I was just wondering if games bought off steam are playable without an internet connection. I'm in the process of moving and I probably won't have internet for a little bit. I'm guessing not because you have to log in to play. Any help is much appreciated! The client will ask if you are sure that you want to start Steam without access to the network. Click the Reset button in Offline Mode. And that’s it. After restarting, Steam will run without internet access. Limitations for offline play on Steam. For security reasons, many games that do not require a constant connection need to be started at least once with Steam online. most games bought on steam need steam to run, though some - mostly older - titles can be run without it. you can run steam-dependent games without net as well if you use offline mode but it's a bit wonky and to be able to use it, you need to be online first and make sure all the games are updated and stuff, only then will you be able to run them offline. This also means that you can’t play games that requires internet to work like online multiplayer. Some games will continue working even when Steam is on Offline Mode. Offline Mode allows you to play games through Steam without reconnecting to the Steam Network every time you wish to play - this is particularly useful if you do not plan on playing over the internet and would prefer not to download new updates for your single-player games. Gamers can enjoy the full version of offline games without an internet connection. To play offline casino slots, you have to load the game on your device while connected to the internet. Once loaded, you can play offline slots games for free by scrolling to the interface and clicking on instant play. No download free casino slot games to play offline run fully on Android devices, iPhones, iOS, Windows, and PCs. Steam offline mode enables you to play games without using the active Steam network. When you have a limitation on Internet access, you can start Steam in offline mode. Note: Please bear in mind that you should connect to the active Steam Network and test all the games that you want to play in offline mode. 1. Firstly, this option is for the cases where game play is installed offline and being played against artificial bots. But, you can always move multiplayer games to single player campaigns and then continue your enjoyment offline.. Steam client has a strict rule not to bypass the login phase even in the offline mode.

You can play many Steam games offline — here's how

can you play steam games offline without internet

can you play steam games offline without internet - win

Emuloader 1.0 released!, No more megathreads, dodgy sites, ads or captchas

I am tired and exhausted playing video games( Extremely Long)

Considerations Before Joining Keneti Cluster

Stadia vs xcloud / game pass ultimate vs ps now / remote play vs Luna

Tips for taking PC offline for a while?

The Definitive Quest Piracy Guide

Offline mode

Why I love DJMAX and some history of it - from Malaysia

Good offline LAN games? PC

DOOM Eternal Launch FAQ and Known Issues

FH: Detailed Analysis of Error Code 7-00000004 with Causes and Possible Solutions (see video). Warning: Not a light read

Potential Temporary Fix to the Group Leader Bug and Error Code 7-00000004 Problem

Watch Video Reference: Possible Temporary Group Leader Bug Fix

Group Leader Bug History

Ubisoft Accounts: Always On DRM and Ubisoft Club

What the fuck does all of this mean?

What causes the synching issue and what can players do?

Is that result guaranteed?

Simple Troubleshooting Steps

Ubisoft FAQ References:

CURRENT FAQ AS OF JULY 2020! PLEASE READ BEFORE MAKING A NEW THREAD

Current State Of Affairs/Quick Questions Thread

Exploitable Firmware Versions

Useful Links

Frequently Asked Questions

Emuloader 1.0 Release Post (mirror)

can you play steam games offline without internet video

can you play steam games offline without internet top