Workaround Found for Intel Alder Lake-S Denuvo Bug!

Back in mid-October, rumours began to appear on the internet that Intel’s new Alder Lake-S processors were having something of a problem with older games that featured DRM anti-piracy protections. Put simply, due to the unusual way in which the CPUs operate (with its big.LITTLE core structure) it was understood that this may have inadvertently have been tricking the game into thinking it was a bootleg (pirated/cracked) version.

With the release of Alder Lake-S earlier this week, therefore, it didn’t take long before this issue was confirmed. In addition, though, this wasn’t just a problem with the CPUs on Windows 11 either as the bug was also found to exist on Windows 10.

While many of the gaming titles affected by this are getting an official fix, however, following a report via PCWorld, there might be a rather unusual workaround if you’re finding this more than a little irksome!

Intel Alder Lake-S – Piracy Problems!

As part of the latest information from both developers and the gaming community, it has been confirmed that the issue with Alder Lake-S and piracy protections currently exists on the following titles (those in bold are already confirmed to have an official fix from the developer on the way):

Windows 11

• Anthem
• Bravely Default 2
• Fishing Sim World
• Football Manager 2019
• Football Manager Touch 2019
• Football Manager 2020
• Football Manager Touch 2020
• Legend of Mana
• Mortal Kombat 11
• Tony Hawks Pro Skater 1 and 2
• Warhammer I
• Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla
• Far Cry Primal
• Fernbus Simulator
• For Honor
• Lost in Random
• Madden 22
• Maneater
• Need for Speed – Hot Pursuit Remastered
• Sea of Solitude
• Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order
• Tourist Bus Simulator
• Maneater

Windows 10

• Ace Combat 7
• Assassins Creed Odyssey
• Assassins Creed Origins
• Code Vein
• eFootball 2021
• F1 2019
• Far Cry New Dawn
• FIFA 19
• FIFA 20
• Football Manager 2021
• Football Manager Touch 2021
• Ghost Recon Breakpoint
• Ghost Recon Wildlands
• Immortals Fenyx Rising
• Just Cause 4
• Life is Strange 2
• Madden 21
• Monopoly Plus
• Need For Speed Heat
• Scott Pilgrim vs The World
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider
• Shinobi Striker
• Soulcalibur VI
• Starlink
• Team Sonic Racing
• Total War Saga – Three Kingdoms
• Train Sim World
• Train Sim World 2
• Wolfenstein Youngblood

And, in something akin to Lord Voldemort, it appears that ‘Denuvo’ (which appears to be the primary common factor in all of these titles), is the one thing to not be named. In a nutshell, though, the list does appear to confirm that the issue predominantly resides in titles utilising older/specific versions of this highly notorious anti-piracy software.

A Workaround?

Although it does require a little legwork, it does appear that the PC gaming community may have found a potential workaround to the gaming issues with Alder Lake-S. I haven’t tried this myself, and more so, if you haven’t experienced any issues on your Alder Lake-S CPU, then you’re probably best off ignoring this. – The following, however, is said to (perhaps bizarrely in some aspects) solve the problem:

• Enable ‘Legacy Game Compatibility Mode’ from within your motherboards BIOS
• Save the configuration and reboot the system
• Once Windows 10/11 is loaded, ensure that the ‘Scroll Lock’ is turned on

Admittedly, the methodology is odd. Particularly the part that requires you to turn the ‘Scroll Lock’ on. I have absolutely no idea what this achieves, but apparently, it is a critical step in the workaround solution. – Rest assured though that many of the above-listed titles, fixes will be provided either from the developer as an update, or perhaps more likely, a permanent solution via a Windows 10/11 update.

For the moment though, if gaming has been a problem for you on Intel Alder Lake-S, this workaround (while not guaranteed) does at least seem to be worth a shop as a short-term solution.

What do you think? – Let us know in the comments!