Okay, just tested and turns out that you CANNOT join friends with the modified EAC.exe file. It would not even show a friend online playing it. So, I tried putting the original one back in. This time, it did allow me to see the friend playing and it did allow me to attempt joining.
But, it went as far as 80% with the Joining Session screen before it kicked back saying it failed to join. And, then got that stupid warning message about "this account has been flagged cause we're a-holes. so you can't join friends." Verifying the game files with Steam did not solve the issue.
So, looks like once you start the game with that modified EAC.exe file, it phones home and tattle-tales to PCF with your account, regardless.
Well, like everyone else who feels the same way, this is stupid. There's no reason to implement this sort of nonsense. Just let friends join friends, at least. It's not a PvP. I don't see how cheating, no matter how little, would affect someone else's, even a friend's, gameplay. Welp, that sucks.
What cheat options did you use specifically?
That doesn't matter. It's the modified EAC.exe that phones home and tells PCF, "Hey, I've been modified, this person is a cheater!"
It does. Because all I did was give myself resources and I haven't been flagged at all since the demo and even day 1 to replenish what I used.
I've avoided editing my levels/skills/World Tier, as well as the other trainer options.
I'm curious as to what other options you've used?
During the demo: Rare Loot Drop modifier, sometimes One-Hit Kills and Inf Ammo/No Reload, Inf Health/Armor at times.
Full release: Same as above. Used the editor to give myself some more titanium and scrap.
Yea... I've avoided all those options myself.
I think either Infinite Health/Rare Loot Drop Modifier can flag you pretty fast.
I think they have a system in place that if you're not a certain high WT and you're getting Blue's/Epic's like candy. That could flag you somehow.
Also editing your skills can be one too. At level 30 you "only" get 20 skill points. I'm sure they now have a way to track if you go above that threshold and enable more skills than you're supposed to until they increase the level caps.
So far. Editing strictly only resources has been safe for me since demo/full release.
I have been using it since the demo. Didn't even delete my character. I edit skill points, resource, rare loots. Finish the game with friends. So far so good. Not flagged. I'm enjoying this game.
I read through this entire thread. When the demo came out initially. It seemed it was 100% safe to edit all options. They patched the EAC partway through the demo and editing your skills and other stuff now (other than resources), will flag you.
I have been using it since the demo. Didn't even delete my character. I edit skill points, resource, rare loots. Finish the game with friends. So far so good. Not flagged. I'm enjoying this game.
Sure... but you will be flagged in the next patch. The watermark will be visible in the next patch. So far... because on Level 30 you can only get 20 Skillpoints in the whole game. As example...