How to Play CS2 While VAC Banned — Is It Possible?
Valve Anti-cheat is a long-time protector of CS2 matches, working tirelessly to keep games fair on both official and custom servers. After recklessly downloading and running cheap, easily detectable software, cheaters are quickly greeted with a CS2 VAC ban message. While frantically trying to save their inventories, which are now locked as a consequence of their actions, they are probably wondering, “Can I play CS2 if I’m VAC banned?”
How does one get banned, can it be removed, and can you play CS2 with a VAC ban at all? Read on to find out the answers to all these questions.
HOW TO PLAY CS2 WHEN VAC-BANNED
First things first, let's deal with the question of whether it is possible to play CS2 having a Valve Anti-Cheat ban. The answer is yes, but there are several complications—you won’t be able to play on the official CS2 servers and any servers with VAC protection. However, there are community-run platforms where this protection is disabled. While it’ll resolve your issue of how to play CS2 while VAC-banned, needless to say, these servers are usually in a constant state of total chaos, as most of the players are cheaters who are VAC-banned, too. If you play with cheaters, you need to know how to kick yourself in CS2 to avoid being banned for leaving the game.
If you want to know how to play with a Valve Anti-Cheat ban in CS2 without being restricted to those hellholes, then there is only one solution. As the VAC ban targets a specific account, you can always create a new one (as long as you don’t care about your collection and achievements). You will only need to get a new email address, and you are ready to go.
What can you get a VAC ban for?
As claimed by Valve, the only reason for a VAC ban is if you're caught using cheats. In practice, however, any third-party software that interferes with the CS2 files can also easily result in account freezing. Moreover, even inactive cheats that are just installed on your computer might be detected by the system and lead to permanent restrictions.
So, if you don’t want to search “how to play Counter Strike 2 when VAC-banned” all over again, be careful — it’s really not that hard.
Is It Possible to Remove a VAC Ban?
Valve is constantly improving its protection software and claims that the probability of false calls is close to zero. However, history knows cases where players got VAC bans by mistake due to server problems. Those were of course soon unbanned, and these are the only instances when such restrictions were ever removed. In all other cases, a VAC ban is issued automatically and permanently for the account associated with the cheater, and Steam support does not even consider complaints about removing it. Therefore, your options are to create a new account or to learn how to play with Valve anti-cheat ban in CS2.
Note: Do not trust any “VAC ban remover” software or services—there is no such thing as a VAC removal program, so the ones you can find on the web are probably malware that preys on desperate players. The answer to the question of how to avoid VAC ban in CS2 can be found in our separate article.
Can I Play CS2 If I Was Banned In CS:GO?
A lot of people thought that their VAC ban would simply vanish after the game engine change. Nuh-uh. Since CS2 is technically the same game, the ban carries over from CS:GO. So, if you are in such a situation, you'd better get used to the thought that it would be permanent and consider alternative ways to play.
