KEY POINTS
A modder was banned after allegedly releasing mods with malicious codeThree mods associated to the modder have been taken down from SteamThe builders assured customers that there was no malware in any of the present workshop information
Three user-created mods from the Steam Workshop for the city-builder recreation “Cities: Skyline” have been taken down and completely banned following experiences of malicious code that affected sure gamers.
Mod information uploaded by a consumer referred to as Chaos, later referred to as Holy Water, have been faraway from the Steam Workshop after gamers reported suspicious software program conduct that started after sure mods have been put in, in accordance with a report from PC Gamer.
It seems that Chaos uploaded a custom-made model of the modding framework Harmony that was merely referred to as “Harmony (Redesigned).” According to the report, Chaos additionally “redesigned” just a few present mods that listed his model of the framework as the primary prerequisite, primarily forcing gamers to put in it as a substitute of the unique. Harmony is an integral part to many mods, and with out it, gamers won’t be able to make use of sure customized content material.
Later, it was discovered that the redesigned Harmony got here with an computerized updater that would allegedly set up malicious software program like keyloggers, Bitcoin miners and plenty of others. Because of this, Chaos was banned from Steam, and his makes an attempt to return to the platform have been prevented.
Cities Skylines lets gamers create the cities of their goals with practical simulations and administration mechanics Photo: Colossal Order
“Harmony (Redesigned),” the “Network Extensions 3” and the “Update from Github” mods have been additionally banned from the Steam Workshop, in accordance with the “Cities: Skylines” crew. In a latest put up, the builders clarified just a few points relating to the fiasco brought on by the malicious modder.
First, the crew mentioned that not one of the mods within the Steam Workshop have any key logger, Bitcoin-mining software program, viruses, or any related object. However, they talked about that the “Update from Github” mod was eliminated as a result of it might change Workshop subscriptions with out the consumer’s permission, which might doubtlessly result in abuse and the set up of malware onto a consumer’s PC.
Next, “Network Extensions 3” was eliminated over a violation of the Steam Subscriber Agreement. The crew talked about that the mod “discriminated against specific Steam users” because it prevented sure modders and workers of Colossal Order (the builders) from accessing the sport.
Lastly, the builders discovered that “Harmony (Redesigned)” has not been up to date since 2021, however it was nonetheless eliminated as a result of its mod creator was banned.