Getting EAC'd

A false-positive in the anti-cheat implementation of Halo Infinite annoys players.

The Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC) service was implemented into the PC build of Halo Infinite on Mar 19, 2024 with the Content Update 31 patch. Players didn't think much of it until four months later when the Fleetcom Operation Update released on July 30, 2024 and brought with it a bug that would plaque the Halo community ranging from custom game enjoyers to matchmaking grinders.

The bug

After finishing a matchmaking- or custom games match with players running the PC build of Halo Infinite present in the lobby, there is a chance that an error will show up for all players in the lobby:

When this alert happens, some player within the lobby has gotten falsely flagged by the EAC system which prevents a new match from being started within that lobby. This often results in unrest for the players in the lobby as they can't continue to the next match and usually the lobby disbands shortly after. The response to seeing this alert has formed into a new term: "getting EAC'd"

After getting EAC'd

Getting EAC'd can completely stall a lobby and require a rebuild. It usually happens just as you're about to put on the perfect map for a lobby of 16+ players and are just beginning to have fun or during a tournament where maps need to be swapped quickly so the next match can begin.

It happening during the latter example is a devastating experience to players who don't know the temporary workarounds for the issue as it can stall the momentum of a tournament completely with 8 players scrambling and asking for what to do. Some players like MilkshakeFPS who frequently play in these tournaments have begun to accept the EAC bug just as something that is a part of the game now and know how to rebuild a lobby in just 10 seconds from the bug happening.

The EAC bug in the example above caused only a 2-minute delay sitting in the lobby and waiting for players to regroup, which is a result of these players knowing what has to be done to work around the bug. But players who don't know the workarounds may become so confused that the path of least resistance becomes quitting the game for the day.

Workarounds

In order to continue playing (isn't that crazy?), the EAC bug needs to somehow be disabled from affecting the infected players. What makes this non-trivial is that it's not obvious who the infected one is or whether it's multiple players in the lobby. To say the least, none of these workarounds are an enjoyable experience to the players.

Creating a new lobby

The simplest way to reset the bug for everyone in the lobby is for one player to leave the infected lobby, create a new one and have everyone join the new lobby. The quickest way execute this is as follows:

1. A trusted person is promoted as the lobby host.
2. A player leaves the infected fireteam, automatically creating new lobby with just that player.
3. The host of the infected lobby joins the newly created lobby along with the entire infected fireteam using the "Join With Fireteam" button.
4. EAC bug is reset for the new lobby.

Changing the server (Solo)

When playing solo, the fireteam can't be left, so temporarily changing the server to a LAN server and back to Xbox Live will create a new lobby which resets the EAC bug:

1. Navigate to Custom Games > Create Match.
2. Select Server > Local Area Network > Okay.
3. Select the option with your machine's name.
4. Select Server > Xbox Live > Okay.
5. EAC bug is reset for the new lobby.

Thoughts

I really don't get how an issue of this size is allowed to stay in the game for so long. Leaving essentially a "hey, stop playing" message that pops up after a match is not a good look for the developers nor the population of the game. At the time of writing on Nov 28, 2024 it's been four months since it started happening. Within this timeframe Halo Infinite has received a content update that did not include a fix for the bug nor mention it in the known issues list.

That being said, on Nov 15, 2024 Halo Studios announced on their HaloSupport X account that they have identified a potential fix for the EAC bug that–if validated–will be included in the next game update on Dec 3, 2024. But they also released a fix for "an Easy Anti-Cheat error" on Oct 9, 2024, which didn't fix the EAC bug, so it remains to be seen if the upcoming one will either. The referenced error is the same EAC bug, as can be seen from the October 9 Patch section in the Fleetcom Operation Update Patch Notes.