How to Disable Anticheat

[DSalimander 213]

To play Halo: The Master Chief Collection on Steam, with mods, you must disable Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC) or simply 'anticheat'. If you don't do this, you can get VAC banned on Steam which may lead to consequences like being unable to play multiplayer or worse.

 

Option 1: Desktop shortcut.
Here's how to get a desktop shortcut with the official icon. First get the original game shortcut which can be placed automatically as you install the game, or manually add it later by doing the following:

1. Find Halo: The Master Chief Collection in your Steam games library list and right click it.
2. Select Manage.
3. Inside the Manage sub-menu, click Add desktop shortcut.

Once you have a normal Halo MCC desktop shortcut, do the following:

1. Copy and paste the shortcut Steam made for you, then rename it 'MCC NonAC' or whatever you like.
2. Edit the properties of the shortcut.
3. In the URL field, replace steam://rungameid/976730 with steam://launch/976730/option1. To finish, select OK.

Be careful not to accidentally run the original if you have installed mods. Or just don't have the original at all.

Option 2: Through the Steam games library.

I personally find this method to be annoyingly repetitious but if you have lots of games, this can be a way to keep your desktop clean.

1. Navigate to Halo: The Master Chief Collection in your Steam games library.
2. Launch the game using the big green PLAY button. (Shown in the picture as blue CANCEL since I already clicked it.)
3. Two windows will appear, one is a prompt. In the prompt, select the option that says "Play Halo: MCC Anti-Cheat Disabled (Mods and Limited ..."
4. Press PLAY and enjoy your mods worry-free!

[Zatarita 407]

I also thought I recalled reading something from another source. Decided to do some googling. Supposedly adding option1 to the end of the shortcut URL will do it as well if you wanted to use the shortcut.

 

Quote

steam://launch/976730/option1

 

[DSalimander 213]

I'm pretty old school and like having desktop shortcuts over launching through the Steam library so this is a great solution. I have added that as the primary option.

[Zatarita 407]

6 hours ago, DSalimander said:

I'm pretty old school and like having desktop shortcuts over launching through the Steam library so this is a great solution. I have added that as the primary option.

I haven't actually verified if it works, I would make sure first. It's a "supposedly"

EDIT: Aha! you're a genius. You changed the steamid to launch already.
Good follow up research c:

Edited March 15, 2021 by Zatarita

[Zatarita 407]

Before I get started, I would like to say thank you so much for participating in the contest c: It means a lot to me personally, but also the community as a whole. Without tutorials like these we wouldn't of gotten as far as we have.. With that aside!

While it may seem simple, your tutorial gets straight to the point, presenting the data neatly. Disabling anti-cheat will always be important for a community where modding is the main focus. We feel the information was presented well, the images were relevant and said a lot with only a few.

one minor nitpick a judge pointed out. EAC bans ≠ VAC bans. 
Now that voting is over you are more than welcome to make any changes c:.

Besides this congrats on winning
1st
place with a 9.25/10 c: We will be getting into contact with you in regards to your winnings.

(Also big side note - Thank you for putting in another tutorial besides how to get a refund c; I love the chaotic energy, but the irony would of been strong)

Edited March 24, 2021 by Zatarita

[DSalimander 213]

1 hour ago, Zatarita said:

EAC bans ≠ VAC bans.

Technically this is true. EAC violations are handled differently depending what game it is and what rule it thinks was broken. But generally EAC violations can lead to game bans on Steam, known as VAC bans. You can get false positives or argue that what happened was a mistake to get it reversed, but it's wise to assume the worst if you get flagged and avoid it at all costs.
 

1 hour ago, Zatarita said:

Thank you for putting in another tutorial besides how to get a refund c; I love the chaotic energy, but the irony would of been strong

I enjoy the opportunity to make terrible but technically valid entries in contests. I saw a loophole in the guidelines and wanted to make something funny out of it. Hopefully it was filled with enough jokes to make it entertaining. If an admin wants to delete that thread, I wouldn't object.


Thank you for selecting this one for the winner. I think this topic is something that is always glossed over without much explanation and it really shouldn't be when there are real consequences. Any suggestions for improvements will happily be implemented.