Cheating has long been a problem in competitive online games, and Counter-Strike 2 is no exception. Wallhacks are some of the most frustrating to deal with, and possibly the hardest to detect (when someone knows how to hide it well). They allow players to see enemies through walls, giving them an unfair advantage by revealing positions that should normally remain hidden.

VAC (Valve Anti-Cheat) remains the anti-cheat solution in CS2, and you’ll often find players complaining about its usefulness. Even cheat developers have said it’s easy to bypass, but one Counter-Strike 2 player believes they’ve found a way to significantly reduce the effectiveness of wallhack cheats. It’s called CS2FOW, which refers to a ‘Fog of War’ style system.

Anti-wallhack for CS2 available on GitHub

If you’re unfamiliar with the term ‘Fog of War’ in gaming lingo, it’s used in real-time strategy games and MOBAs to refer to the darkened or foggy area of a map where you currently do not have vision, usually due to being out of range. With CS2FOW, this kind of logic is being applied to the FPS genre, preventing player models from being rendered when they don’t need to be.

The creator recently shared CS2FOW on Reddit and GitHub, an open-source server-side plugin designed specifically to combat wallhack cheats on Counter-Strike 2 community servers. CS2 normally sends information about every player to each client, even if those players are completely hidden behind walls. While legitimate players can’t see that information, wallhack software can read it and display enemy positions through solid objects. CS2FOW changes that behavior.

Instead of sending data for every enemy, the plugin checks whether a player is completely hidden behind solid map geometry. If they are, the server simply stops sending that enemy’s position to the client. Since the information never reaches the player’s computer, wallhack software has far less data to work with.

CS2FOW is a Metamod server plugin for community and dedicated servers. Players do not install it, and it cannot be used on Valve official matchmaking unless Valve implements something similar inside the game.

There is no expected VAC risk from CS2FOW itself. It runs on the server, does not modify client files, does not inject into the client, and does not ask players to install anything.

Source: GitHub

This approach means players aren’t required to install anything on their end. Everything runs on the server, meaning community server owners can add the plugin while players join normally. It supports both Windows and Linux servers and works with official maps, custom maps, and Workshop maps. Joining servers with this plugin should pose no risk of being VAC-banned either.

An interesting benefit of this plugin is improved performance. Since the client receives less unnecessary data about hidden players, the creator claims some systems can see around a 20-30% FPS improvement, depending on the map, player count, and hardware configuration. The developer also mentioned that the plugin doesn’t interfere with normal game mechanics, meaning bullets, wallbangs, damage, movement, and hit registration all continue to work exactly as they should.

It is, however, important to keep in mind that CS2FOW currently only works on community and dedicated servers using Metamod. It cannot be used in Valve’s official matchmaking or Premier mode unless Valve decides to implement similar technology directly into CS2 or via the Valve Anti-Cheat.

About the Author

Abdul Haddi

Abdul is a tech writer and Editor for PC Guide, specializing in all things tech, gaming, and hardware.