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Valves new Multiplayer API in public Beta - VAC for "everyone", dedicated servers, IP Hiding

Chairmanchuck (另一个我)

Chairmanchuck (另一个我)

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Oct 25, 2017
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IN BETA We're working on shipping this to the Steam Client and making it available in the Steamworks SDK right now. If you want early access, we have a standalone version of the library you can link with. You can also try out the opensource version.

  • String encryption and authentication. When a player connects, you can be sure that if a certain SteamID is authenticated, that someone who has access to that person's account has authorized the connection. Eavesdropping / tampering requires hacking into the VAC-secured process. Impersonation requires access to the target's computer.
  • Supports relayed connections through the Valve network. This prevents IP addresses from being revealed, protecting your players and gameservers from attack. NAT punching is not attempted.
  • Also supports standard connectivity over plain UDP using IPv4 or IPv6.
  • To participate in Valve's dedicated server hosting program, use of this API is required. (This program is in beta -- contact us if you'd like to participate.)
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Source: https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/api/ISteamNetworkingSockets

Just saw Madjoki posting it.

So apparently Valve will host dedicated servers for dev games, will provide VAC (Anti Cheat system) to every dev and built stronger IP protection systems.

Edit: Whether the dedicated server hosted by Valve are free or not, we do not know.
 
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eonden

eonden

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Oct 25, 2017
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To point out, this has been found (as WIP) in datamining from more than a year ago, and was part of their 2018 in retrospective post.
 
Alvis

Alvis

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Am I reading this correctly? Devs get free dedicated servers for their games AND free anti cheat?

This is fucking awesome.
 
JD3Nine

JD3Nine

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Nov 6, 2017
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This is awesome. Dedicated servers for games is much appreciated. No sub fee for online either. For a company that doesn't do anything, Valve sure does a lot.
 
eonden

eonden

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Oct 25, 2017
17,087
Xharos said:
Am I reading this correctly? Devs get free dedicated servers for their games AND free anti cheat?

This is fucking awesome.
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VAC as an API was already free to implement.

Edit: for instance, COD: Modern Warfare 2 and 3 used it. Most people just choose others because VAC is sometimes not that good.
 
chobel

chobel

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Epic competition doing good.
 
Fanta

Fanta

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May 27, 2018
508
Letting developers host multiplayer on Steam/Valve's servers is a pretty big thing, no?

Seems like you're welcome to use it at no extra cost?
 
BeI

BeI

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Dec 9, 2017
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What's the alternative if you're not getting provided with dedicated servers? Does Epic offer that?
 
Alvis

Alvis

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eonden said:
VAC as an API was already free to implement.

Edit: for instance, COD: Modern Warfare 2 and 3 used it. Most people just choose others because VAC is sometimes not that good.
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My understanding is that MW2's VAC implementation was shit because VAC doesn't work properly with P2P, it needs dedicated servers.
elyetis said:
I don't think your post will be enough to prevent what you think it will.
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People gonna shitpost despite having facts right in their face, sadly. Such is life
 
Arulan

Arulan

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Oct 25, 2017
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That's fantastic for developers. I wonder if this is a prelude to the native crossplay support that is supposed to be coming.
 

Deleted member 13645

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Damn, that's interesting. Valve seem like the masters of getting people into their store ecosystem, and this will just boost that. Developers get free dedicated servers, users get to play on dedicated servers, Valve ensures that players of that game use Steam, which likely means buying games through it. Win for everyone.
 
ASaiyan

ASaiyan

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Oct 25, 2017
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Valve continues to toil quietly in the background, delivering pro-dev and prosumer features that no one else can match.
 
FreDre

FreDre

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Nice!

If multiplayer games such as PUBG & Warframe switches to this system, Proton compatibility could be even better.
 
Iced_Eagle

Iced_Eagle

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Dec 26, 2017
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Where are people seeing that dedicated servers are free? It says use of the API is required to use their dedicated servers. But that doesn't mean the dedicated servers themselves are free.
 
.exe

.exe

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Oct 25, 2017
22,241
Really looking forward to VACnet (Valve's deep learning anti-cheat) also becoming available to all games. Heard about it in one of the recent episodes of the Crate and Crowbar podcast, and it sounds absolutely amazing.
 
Armaros

Armaros

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Iced_Eagle said:
Where are people seeing that dedicated servers are free? It says use of the API is required to use their dedicated servers. But that doesn't mean the dedicated servers themselves are free.
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Literally one of the final bulletpoints is 'participation in Valve's dedicated hosting program, the using of the API is required'

Why would they require the API if that is all they are providing
 
BeI

BeI

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Dec 9, 2017
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So if servers will be on Valve's end, does that mean that multi-player servers for games could end up lasting longer than before because Valve personally maintains them?
 
RionaaM

RionaaM

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That's great, it's nice to see these features being offered to everyone. These are the things that benefit both devs and customers.
 
TioChuck

TioChuck

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BeImonkey said:
So if servers will be on Valve's end, does that mean that multi-player servers for games could end up lasting longer than before because Valve personally maintains them?
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As I understand, just my assumption, Valve has the numbers of how many people are playing the game, and can suply enough servers to alocate every person playing. For example, 10 years for now, if enough people wants to play a dead game, Valve can flick a switch and start a server for that game. Prety nice stuff.
 
Ketch

Ketch

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Oct 25, 2017
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This doesn't make sense to me on a surface level. Servers aren't actually free, so unless valve just plans a footing a massive bill then free dedicated servers for everybody either can't actually be for everybody or can't actually be free.

There's a LOT of games on steam
 
andshrew

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BeImonkey said:
So if servers will be on Valve's end, does that mean that multi-player servers for games could end up lasting longer than before because Valve personally maintains them?
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Valve would provide the physical infrastructure, but they're not going to be the ones maintaining the software a developer puts on there.

I think there's a bit of jumping to conclusions this is going to be free. Free to use the API, player connection routing, maybe. I'd be very surprised if it was free to spin up as many dedicated server instances as you like.
 
CommodoreKong

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eonden said:
To point out, this has been found (as WIP) in datamining from more than a year ago, and was part of their 2018 in retrospective post.
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Valve was even planning on doing this as early as 2016:


This is from Steam Dev Days 2016. About a minute in one of the Valve employees says they're planning on hosting third party games on Valve servers. It just took Valve time to get it done.
 
Futaleufu

Futaleufu

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The only downside I see to this is that VAC bans will have more consequences, unless there are VAC bans "zones" segregated by dev/publisher/game
 
jasius

jasius

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Oct 28, 2017
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VAC is what Counter Strike uses right? But Counter Strike is filled with hackers right?
 
Fanta

Fanta

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Ketch said:
This doesn't make sense to me on a surface level. Servers aren't actually free, so unless valve just plans a footing a massive bill then free dedicated servers for everybody either can't actually be for everybody or can't actually be free.

There's a LOT of games on steam
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I think Steam offers up to 100GB? on cloud saves per game per user if that's anything to go by, I think they'd be crazy enough to also offer free servers to developers just for using Steamworks.
 
Futaleufu

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Crayon

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Dedicated servers for everyone? How nice. I guess that's smart because they have a bunch of servers everywhere anyway.
 
smuguire

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Futaleufu said:
I'm all for banning cheaters, but they still should be able to play a game they purchased, like in a separated server with all the other cheaters. Valve running the servers means those other servers may be harder to find.
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No they absolutely should not. Cheating almost certainly violates any game's ToS/EULA.
 
Cenauru

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Futaleufu said:
I'm all for banning cheaters, but they still should be able to play a game they purchased, like in a separated server with all the other cheaters. Valve running the servers means those other servers may be harder to find.
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So people should think about that before they cheat.
 
dex3108

dex3108

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Joshii said:
I think Steam offers up to 100GB? on cloud saves per game per user if that's anything to go by, I think they'd be crazy enough to also offer free servers to developers just for using Steamworks.
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Valve has different tiers for cloud saves, it is up to the developer to choose. But they are free no matter what as far as i know.
 
Netherscourge

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chobel said:
Epic competition doing good.
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