Creators Still Having Trouble Streaming CSGO Due to Trusted Mode
The CSGO community is once again criticizing the so-called Trusted Mode, which in theory is designed to detect unwanted software. In practice, the program makes life difficult for streamers and other creators who want to record their screen during gameplay. The problem has remained unresolved for nearly two years.
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Introduced into CS:GO in July 2020, Trusted Mode still isn't working as well as it should. At least that's what some of the members of the community around the game have been saying. Nearly two years after its debut, the Trusted Mode feature is still making life difficult for streamers who want to record videos from the game.
We don't trust Trusted Mode
Yesterday, the topic of Trusted Mode was raided on Twitter by the popular streamer and youtuber TheWarOwl. He stated that CS:GO, despite being a more developer-friendly game than rival Valorant, has a major drawback in the form of Trusted Mode.
Source: Twitter
What is the problem? Trusted Mode is designed to block any external files that interact with the game. Thanks to this in theory anti-cheat should have an easier task, without having to check every application running next to the game. Playing in this mode is optional and it can be turned off, but then we have a greater chance of encountering cheaters. Our Trust Factor may also suffer (more about which here).
Valve explains how Trusted Mode works in detail here.
Unfortunately, playing in Trusted Mode also means that streaming programs such as OBS are treated the same way as cheaters, resulting in bans for players who wish to stream gameplay from CS:GO.
In theory, this problem was supposed to have been solved by patchfrom May 2021, but as it turns out, some players continue to report malfunctioning of this system. The likely reason was given by a streamer named Armeretta:
"Gameplay can only be streamed in native resolution via screen capture. Almost everyone who plays CS:GO are using 4:3 resolution, which means you have to capture the game, and Valve doesn't look at that with a favorable eye. Therefore, most people can't stream."
Blind anti-cheat
Players from the CS:GO community are generally of the same opinion as TheWarOwl. On Reddit you can see statements critical of Valve's policy in the comments.
"It's quite remarkable how the game blocks OBS, even though it doesn't have intrusive anti-cheat. If it had solid anti-cheat protection, you could justify this as a 'sacrifice to prevent cheaters,' but it doesn't," writes user ob_knoxious.
User Lydion spoke in a similar tone.
"It's not even about whether it [the system - ed. note] is solid. Valve's workaround probably took hours for the cheatmakers. Whitelisting was something anti-cheats were already doing a decade ago. Valve is so incompetent that it only harms honest players who try to share content, and by extension, the entire gaming ecosystem."
The developer is known for its tardiness when it comes to fixing particular aspects of Counter-Strike and this is not the first time it has faced criticism. Streaming is one of the important branches of video game popularization, so it would be nice to be able to do it without an unfair ban lurking around the corner.
