Hypothetically, if someone were to download a Steam game from FG what’s the best operating procedure to avoid being Steam banned? For example, I understand that steam_api.dll will often be quarantined by MS Defender because the game uses a modded version of that file. Once it’s restored what steps would you take to proceed? Log out of steam? Disable internet access? Kill all Steam processes?

  • mikezila@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 year ago

    I’ve never heard of a Steam ban for running a pirated game that uses cracked steam_api.dll. The whole point of the cracked .dll is that it doesn’t communicate with Steam anymore.

    • NirodhaAvidya@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      I’m not certain, but perhaps some games are pre-cracked. For instance, some from that girl who’s fit.

      • stevedidWHAT@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I know you’re trying to be delicate, but all this information we’re sharing is publicly accessible and likely indexed by something so you just end up making the conversation harder to follow

        Just my 2 cents

  • pacoboyd@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Never been banned in all my years for using a cracked steam game. Done it 100’s of times and have several thousand dollars in legit games.

    Edit: Never had Defender quarantine then either.

  • insomniaccake@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 year ago

    10+ year steam account. 10+ years of pirating.

    If you start a game that isn’t cracked or doesn’t have a crack applied, Steam will pop up and say you don’t own that.

    Never have gotten as much as a warning for that ever.

    If a game already has a crack applied. You don’t have to worry about bans ever. The whole point is to not communicate with the servers and let you play the game.

    Steam emulators like Goldberg work in very much the same way. Except now you can “crack” most games with a simple dll change.

  • godless@latte.isnot.coffee
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    1 year ago

    Ideally you’d boot into a separate OS without internet connection, or if it’s checking for that, log into a secondary steam account not linked to your original one in any way.

    • NirodhaAvidya@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      So sandbox completely? That’s doable. I imagine to have a Steam account completely separate from your primary account, you’d need to never share libraries and avoid matching IPs. Do you think Steam looks at hardware MAC addresses?

      • RandallFlagg@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        At that point why don’t you just play a pirated version on the game lol it seems like less of a hassle

        • NirodhaAvidya@lemmy.worldOP
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          1 year ago

          I agree with you there. I usually just want to try out the game before I buy the real deal. I don’t do too much online stuff these days, but occasionally I want to jump into a game with a friend and thus need my Steam account.

      • godless@latte.isnot.coffee
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        1 year ago

        Windows 10 already gives you the inhouse option to randomize MACs, and I believe it’s even switched on by default. So even if they check it, it probably wouldn’t do any good. Doubt IP addresses matter since plenty of people use a VPN or shared connections in a house with multiple occupants, student dorm and whatnot, so I don’t think they link those.