
The publisher’s instructions then get even more complicated.ĭue to the apparent risk of ‘taking candy from strangers’, it is recommended that players should always back up their save data to an online service (such as cloud saves) or as a direct back-up of the save file to a separate folder/directory (for PC/Steam),” it added. And should players really be punished if a stranger drops an item that was acquired by hacking, even if the recipient is completely unaware? Especially as no warning is given about the possible consequences of using what appears to be a quite standard game feature. Friends are technically free to swap any items they want.

Plus, item swapping – described above as an unknown ‘gift’ – has been a big feature of the game for years. However, the lack of clarity on the issue is leading to all sorts of speculation among the community about an assortment of possible triggers, including third party controller software, a program used to enforce a borderless windows mode, the Steam overlay itself and even that the whole is a side-effect of the game crashing. It may be restricted to the likes of Cheat Engine, in which case great.

Neither Bandai Namco nor developer From Software has given any indication about exactly what software is being flagged up by their systems. At that point the account/profile will either have restrictions placed on it (to limit the online interactions during multiplayer sessions and a further penalty message of ‘You have been Penalized’ issued) or the ‘Invalid Game Data’ warning message removed.ĭuring the time that the warning message is displayed the end user will have a chance to completely remove any such external files, mods, cheats/hacks or delete their game save (if alterations were performed to it or hacked items/equipment were obtained either as a direct cheat/hack or via unknown ‘gift’ from an online player).” The warning message will continue to be displayed until the Dark Souls III server team has determined whether or not a violation of the End User License Agreement (EULA) occurred.
