A new feature for AMD graphics cards, Anti-Lag+, was introduced in September 2023. However, shortly after, thousands of players in Counter-Strike 2 were banned for this reason. AMD disabled the feature again. But Anti-Lag+ is expected to return.
Frank Azor, Chief Architect, Gaming Solutions and Marketing at AMD, explained in a Twitter post in response to an inquiry that AMD’s Anti-Lag+ will return soon. The feature caused a lot of trouble in the past, both for AMD and many players.
Thousands of players were banned in Counter-Strike 2, AMD removes feature
What was the problem? With Anti-Lag+, AMD introduced a new feature for graphics cards. Anti-Lag+ was supposed to work like Nvidia’s Reflex and reduce latency in games. Latency is simply defined as the time it takes for your mouse click to be displayed on the screen.
However, AMD’s feature reportedly intervened actively in the game code to reduce latency. And that did not sit well with anti-cheat systems. Thus, Valve warned against using the feature in Counter-Strike 2 and threatened players with a ban. Valve issued thousands of VAC bans for this reason, the strictest ban you can receive on Steam. However, the ban was later lifted.
The problems extended so far that not only Counter-Strike but also numerous other games like Apex Legends and Call of Duty on Steam were affected.
What happened next? AMD then pulled the emergency brake and disabled the feature after the problems mentioned above occurred. However, this topic does not seem to be over, as can be inferred from the post by Frank Azor. Anti-Lag+ is set to return in an improved version.
More about AMD: AMD has introduced a new patent for graphics cards. This could mean a performance boost and other benefits in the future, significantly narrowing the gap to Nvidia. MeinMMO explains what it entails and what we can look forward to:
AMD’s new patent could finally offer what Ryzen has done for AMD’s CPUs for graphics cards
