Important Workshop announcement

Community members and friends! We have an announcement to make about a new policy regarding mods in the Call to Arms - Gates of Hell Steam Workshop. Mod creators and mod users alike should read this without delay.

Recent DLL injection issues

At the moment, LLM vibe coding is leading to users making more 'advanced' mods that hooks engine functions in memory to change things, which regular modding would not allow. Great mods have surfaced, like ragdoll physics, better game features, and so forth. The reason they did not exist before is that AI has lowered the barrier so people without reverse-engineering experience are now producing them.

These mods use application extension files (.DLL (libraries loaded into the game process), .EXE (injectors/loaders) and .BAT (scripts that launch them) containing code, data, and resources that can be used on top of the game. There is a problem with this code when manufactured by AI; it is careless and can lead to severe security vulnerabilities.

There are many examples of tragic accidents happening, almost always unintentionally, when such delicate files are built without proper supervision and released to people who are unaware of the risks involved. Mods for many games — including ones that were legitimate for years — have been used to distribute malware after an author’s account was compromised, and a compiled DLL cannot be inspected by the person installing it.

We therefore can no longer allow hosting of mods that contain .DLL injection files on the Call to Arms - Gates of Hell Steam Workshop (or contain any native executable code or script that acquires or injects those files” ), to protect the community from vulnerabilities that neither the modder nor the end user is aware of. We will be taking appropriate action to enact this policy in the near future.

What you can (and should)do

As with anything you get on the internet, you should be very careful downloading and running mods. This applies to Steam Workshop mods as well, regardless of the coding language they are written in.

Usually, mods require manual installation. Some will ask you to download files from elsewhere, force you to use a custom loader, or tell you to do things that should not be required after clicking ‘Subscribe’ on the Steam Workshop. They can potentially be used to create security vulnerabilities.

If you should encounter any of this, remember that the Steam Workshop has systems in place to flag and report mods.

If you choose to install mods from elsewhere on the internet, check whether the source code is available for public viewing, and whether the files they offer/ distribute can be independently verified. If that’s not the case, be very cautious when installing.

That’s it for now. Thanks for stopping by, and for playing the game safely!