Denuvo’s new Unreal Engine Protection may make it harder to mod some PC games

Security software company Denuvo Software Solutions has introduced a new feature that could theoretically make it harder to mod some PC games.

The company’s Anti-Tamper technology, which is designed to stop players making ‘cracked’ bootleg copies of games, has proved controversial among some players due to its requirement that players go online to activate it, as well as its alleged high CPU usage during gameplay, which has been claimed to significantly affect performance and frame rates.

Now the company has added two new features to the software, one of which is called Unreal Engine Protection.

As reported by Wccftech, Denuvo’s Unreal Engine Protection feature is “designed to prevent malicious users from manipulating games created using Unreal Engine”.

It can be integrated into the game on a binary level, which can lead to “effectively thwarting data mining attempts and creating formidable barriers against cheat creators, pirates and fraudsters”.

Although the software’s main aim is to make it harder to create pirate copies and implement cheats that give players an unfair advantage online, the new feature could also make it harder for fans to create non-malicious mods for some future games.

Denuvo says the feature “shields Unreal Engine game data files against decryption, blocks the use of in-game debug consoles, and conceals entry points to deter game modification”. While this may mean malicious modification, in theory it could make it harder for players to access data needed for other game mods too.

VGC has contacted Denuvo for more clarification on whether its Unreal Engine Protection will also block non-malicious mods, and will update this article should we get a response.