PUBG's New Anti-cheat Patch Goes Live Today, Blocks ReShade

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is continuing the crackdown on cheaters by rolling out a new update later today with improved anti-cheat measures.

As detailed in an announcement post from a PUBG community manager, the anti-cheat update will go live on Feb. 5 at 6PM PST, Feb 6 at 3AM CET / 11AM KST. The servers won't be taken offline for the patching process, so players will be able to continue playing throughout the update.

The core aspect of the game that this update changes is the use of third-party programs that give players a slight advantage over their opponents, sometimes in the form of better graphics. One such program that's being blocked is ReShade, a tool that changes color saturation in games to allow for enemies to be spotted easier.

"The new anti-cheat feature will block different helper programs that alter the graphics or aid in gameplay in some way," the announcement post read. "What these programs have in common is that they all hook into our game and transform game files. Programs that are not used to gain an unfair advantage can also be blocked if they behave like cheats.

"One of the popular programs that will be blocked is ReShade. You will not be banned for having it on system but you will no longer be able to play PUBG while it is installed. Please uninstall ReShade (or any other blocked program) and launch the game again. Some players may find that reinstalling PUBG is also necessary."

There are several other programs such as NVIDIA ShadowPlay and some capture programs that'll be temporarily disabled as well so that the PUBG team can "hone the new anti-cheat features." Some programs may be blocked accidently that truly don't have an impact on games, but those can easily be brought to the attention of the developers by filling out a quick form.

It seems that the new anti-cheat measures couldn't have come at a better time as well with cheating still a widespread problem in PUBG. Earlier today, it was also reported that the anti-cheat service known as BattlEye that monitors PUBG and other games had banned over a million players from the game in the month of January alone while adding that there's still plenty more to do.