Although for some of us this is a well-known problem, it has appeared again with the release of DOOM: The Dark Ages so it's worth a quick PSA to remind people about Denuvo activation limits with Proton on Linux, SteamOS / Steam Deck.
I actually doubt it’s an easy fix. The issue is that each version of proton looks like a different machine. So when Denuvo only allows you to boot on [x] machines in [y] days, it’s easy to get locked out of a game simply because it looks like you booted it on a bunch of different machines.
Some of the game streaming services have this same issue. Nvidia has that thing where you can boot it on Nvidia’s servers, then stream it. But the issue is that when you boot it, you don’t get the same server each time. So if you’re playing a game that is prone to crashing, you can easily eat through your [x] machines count quickly. Not because you were playing it on different machines, but because it was booted on a different server each time you launched it.
I would have thought it would be a client side patch rather than server side, but surely it’s a case of taking whatever Proton is changing out of the machine “fingerprint” when generating it on a Steam Deck. There’s plenty of other things they can use to identify a machine.
Steam deck is a thing now.
Whine at the developer and Valve. They will whine at Denuvo. Chances are it’s something Denuvo haven’t checked for and can fix quite easily.
Especially on a “Steam Deck Verified” game.
I actually doubt it’s an easy fix. The issue is that each version of proton looks like a different machine. So when Denuvo only allows you to boot on [x] machines in [y] days, it’s easy to get locked out of a game simply because it looks like you booted it on a bunch of different machines.
Some of the game streaming services have this same issue. Nvidia has that thing where you can boot it on Nvidia’s servers, then stream it. But the issue is that when you boot it, you don’t get the same server each time. So if you’re playing a game that is prone to crashing, you can easily eat through your [x] machines count quickly. Not because you were playing it on different machines, but because it was booted on a different server each time you launched it.
I would have thought it would be a client side patch rather than server side, but surely it’s a case of taking whatever Proton is changing out of the machine “fingerprint” when generating it on a Steam Deck. There’s plenty of other things they can use to identify a machine.