How much cheating is there in CS2?

With the full release of CS2 last week, we are already seeing a lot of different cheats being used in the new game. The new VAC Live system has detected some of them as seen in a video with Ninjas in Pyjamas’ Fredrik "REZ" Sterner.

The market for cheating software for games is however huge. Back in March 2021, BBC reported about a closure of a multimillion operation in China where the police seized assets worth $46m. The operation was called “Chicken Drumstick” and was selling cheats for several of the biggest videogames on the market. The same media outlet also reported a survey, where around of third of gamers in general admitted to having used cheats online. So yeah, there is a lot of cheating going on.

There have been reports of VAC-ban waves recently, but there are also speculations about Valve's approach to the problem. Is Valve currently letting cheaters cheat to allow their AI tools to detect cheats on a higher level than before?

So, what kind of cheats are being used today? With a quick search on YouTube, we can see a lot of different content creators blatantly advertising for cheats for CS2 while showcasing them. We won’t name them or name any cheats here to not give any unwanted exposure. We do however see, that there are different ways of deploying the cheats.

External cheats vs. Internal cheats

Internal Cheats

Integration: Internal cheats are typically injected into the game process, meaning they operate within the same memory space as the game itself.

Accessibility: These cheats often have direct access to game functions and data, which may provide a wider range of possibilities for manipulation.

Performance: As they operate within the game’s memory space, internal cheats might have better performance and lower latency when interacting with game data.

Risk: Generally speaking, internal cheats may be easier for anti-cheat systems to detect due to their direct interaction with game memory and processes.

Examples of internal cheats could include wallhacks (seeing through walls), aimbots (automated aiming), or other forms that directly manipulate game data and processes.

External Cheats

Isolation: External cheats operate outside the game process. They usually interact with the game by reading its memory and possibly simulating mouse and keyboard inputs.

Safety: They might be somewhat safer from detection since they don’t inject code directly into the game. However, sophisticated anti-cheat systems can still potentially identify them, especially if they manipulate memory or provide obvious unfair advantages.

Limitations: External cheats might be limited in terms of the complexity and scope of cheats they can implement, since they don’t have direct access to game functions and data.

Performance: There might be a performance overhead or latency when compared to internal cheats due to the need to read and write to game memory externally.

Examples of external cheats might include radar hacks (displaying enemy positions on a secondary screen or overlay), triggerbots (automated firing when crosshair is over an enemy), or recoil scripts (controlling weapon recoil).

The YouTuber Sparkles is not promoting any cheats but has instead shed some light on the problem by talking with some of the creators and users of cheats. You can see the video down below.