The use of no-cd on Voobly is a requirement of the anti-cheat -- the anti-cheat checks that all users have exactly the same game. Without enforcing a consistent executable the anti-cheat would be less effective. Voobly does not support and does not help piracy as all pirated versions of the game come included with no-cd already.

Is using a no-cd illegal? No, it's 100% legal if you own the game. Further, Forgotten Empires team also uses a no-cd (FE rights are now owned by Microsoft).

Anti-Cheat Details

Voobly is designed to provide the most secure anti-cheat solution possible. Voobly does not support piracy.

We had three options when designing the anti-cheat:

1. Use a secure anti-cheat, make sure users have the *exact* same exe and other data files.
   
   Use the 10+ year exe that shipped with game. This would prevent most of the current players in the game from using Voobly -- including many players who bought the game 10+ years ago. Voobly would die if this option was chosen as most players wouldn't be able to use it!
2. Use a secure anti-cheat, make sure users have the *exact* same exe and other data files.
   
   Use a modified exe that is compatible with all players: shipped games, scratched/broken disk users, and pirated versions.
   
   Further, the approach we took is NO different than what FE used
   
   It doesn't help piracy as all pirated versions of the game come included with no-cd already.
3. Use a less secure anti-cheat.

The only real choice we had was #2, and it didn't help piracy, and obviously clearly done for anti-cheat reasons -- which is a *good* thing for *everyone*.

FAQ

Q: Wouldn't Microsoft care about this?
A: Microsoft linked to Voobly from [You must login to view link] for many years. This approach doesn't help piracy and is only good for the users. If they cared they change [You must login to view link] and would email us and asking us to change. If needed, we'd switch to a less security anti-cheat technology. It would be harmful to the users and likely result in less sales in the long run, so we hope it wouldn't come to that.

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