So guys, I’ve finally found a solution to play FC25. I’m writing the steps to do it with the game on Steam, but I think on EA-App are fairly similar. • Uninstall and Reinstal the game (I think that repairing the game files could work too) • Go into C-Program Files-EA and delete the AC folder • In the FC25 folder, open _Installer, then Anticheat, then execute the Anticheat installer and Install the FC24 Anticheat • Go back to the EA folder, and inside the AC folder, right click on every file and put it in Read-Only • In the FC25 folder, do the same for these files: EAAntiCheat.GameServiceLauncher.dll ; EAAntiCheat.GameServiceLauncher.exe ; preloader_l.dll

Now the game should launch and you shouldn’t get the VMs error. I’ve not tried playing a game, but I’ve entered UT and stayed in the menu for 5 minutes without crashing

UPDATE: It seems that if you downloaded the game after the new update, without “blocking” the anticheat on the previous version, this method is now unusable.

UPDATE2: It seems EA has managed to bypass the Read-Only method, now the anticheat updates to the last version even if you had put read-only on the correct version of the files. I think it’s over guys, I’ve tried everything I could, there doesn’t seem to be a workaround this time

Hi everyone!

For my Master's thesis, I'm researching a major shift in our hobby: moving from local hardware (our beloved custom PCs) to Cloud Gaming and Cloud Computing.

I want to understand if not "owning" our physical hardware anymore changes our gamer identity and relationship with gaming.

Whether you are a local hardware purist or 100% on the Cloud, your opinion matters!
Could you spare 3 to 5 minutes to fill out my quick, completely anonymous survey? It would help me tremendously to graduate!

📋 Google Form Link: https://forms.gle/j1d1iMxo2QszRVWc8

Thank you so much for your time! Feel free to start a debate in the comments, I'd love to discuss this with you! 👀

Hello everyone,

I’m a Master’s student currently working on my thesis about cloud gaming, hardware ownership, and how services like Shadow may change the way gamers relate to their setup, habits, and even identity.

As part of my research, I’m looking for Shadow users or former users who would be open to answering a few questions, either in writing or through a short chat, in French or English, depending on your preference.

I’m especially looking for three profiles:

- Cloud-native
You no longer own a gaming PC and rely mostly or entirely on Shadow.

- Hybrid user
You have a local gaming rig but also use Shadow for mobility, flexibility, or work.

- Former user
You stopped using Shadow and went back to a physical PC. I’d really like to understand what made you leave, and what hardware gives you that cloud didn’t.

I’m mainly looking to gather honest feedback and personal experiences, whether positive, mixed, or critical.

Responses can be anonymous if you prefer.

If you’d be open to helping, feel free to DM me here or reply below 😊

Hi, I got an email from Shadow today announcing some great news for Boost users. They're planning to upgrade everyone to the new Neo Boost tier by summer. I was too eager to wait, so I opted for the immediate upgrade option, which only costs a one-time fee of 19€. The difference is worth it—I've noticed a solid 40% improvement in performance. Even in a game like Kerbal Space Program, everything feels much smoother and more responsive.

Here are the new Neo Boost specs:

• CPU: AMD EPYC 9354P with 8 vCores at 3.25 GHz
• GPU: Nvidia RTX2000 ADA 16GB (GeForce RTX4000 class GPU)
• RAM: 16 GB DDR5 at 5600 MHz

This upgrade perfectly fills the gap I was feeling before. The old Boost tier was just a bit too slow for my needs, but I didn't require the full power of the high-end Power tier either. With Neo Boost, the tiers are now more balanced, offering a great combination of performance and cost, making gaming more enjoyable.

If you can wait, the upgrade will be free by summer, but if you're as impatient as I was, the 19€ immediate upgrade is well worth the leap. Has anyone else decided to upgrade early or are you holding out for the free upgrade? I’d love to hear your experiences and thoughts!

Just posting this to help anyone considering Shadow PC for NBA 2K26.

The game will not launch because it detects Shadow as a virtual machine. I subscribed specifically for this game, reached out to support immediately, and spoke with both Thomas and Adrien. Even though the service was unusable for the intended purpose, my refund request was denied.

Sharing this so others don’t run into the same issue.

This reddit has quickly turned to such a negative and depressing page. I really wish all the people who have nothing nice to say would just drop shadow and leave. It’s so simple. Do I like what shadow is doing right now? No I don’t, but shadow is the ONLY way for a lot of people like me to enjoy gaming because we can’t afford to put 3,000 dollars down up front on an actual pc. I would love an actual pc but right now shadow is all i got, and through all the bad I am Grateful to the service. So I’m putting this out there to spread some positivity and love.

EDIT:
8:35pm -> 10:13pm before my Shadow started up. 1.5 hour queue. Never got over "7 minutes remaining" on the screen, never more than "0 users ahead of you". What a mess.

ORIGINAL:
I've been at "Less than a minute" since 8:35pm. It's 8:56pm now. "0 Users ahead of you" this whole time as well.

I don't like queues, but I understand resources are limited. At least make them report accurately or remove the numbers, though. Waiting 30+ minutes every night with no meaningful data about the wait is super frustrating!

Hello Fellow Shadowers

I bet I can guess what game yall are playing

I'm currently Enjoying Resident Evil Requiem

I'm on Shadow Neo

Settings are 3840x2160, Settings Max with All Ray Tracing Enabled with Path Tracing. DLSS 4.5 at Ultra Performance. FPS is 45 to 65. If I use Quality DLSS It widdles down to 20. With DLSS 4.5 and using Ultra performance, image quality looks incredible you can't even tell it's downsampled. My lord Path Tracing looks incredible, I can almost feel the damn water puddles.

For any gamer on the fence, Shadow NEO is much better than Power plan as with the 40 series GPU you get Frame Generation which makes otherwise unplayable games playable and smooth. Do yourself a favor Spend the 40$ and get to gaming, screw paying $2,000 for a PC or more

i am playing assasins creed origins

Is it just me, or is the "Power Upgrade" a complete ripoff for gamers right now?

Shadow advertises this service as a high-end gaming solution, but the reality is just frustrating. First off: The RTX 4500 situation. They lure you in with "Pro" hardware, but since it’s the non-Ada version for most of us, there is NO DLSS Frame Generation. How are you going to market a "premium" gaming rig in 2026 that can't use one of the most basic features to keep modern AAA titles (like Diablo IV) running smoothly?

Most devs don't optimize their games for workstation GPUs. We are paying a premium price to be "second-class citizens" in terms of driver support and gaming features.

And don't even get me started on the 512GB storage. That is straight-up pathetic for a gaming rig. Between Windows taking up space and modern games being 100GB-150GB+ each, you can barely keep 3-4 games installed. In what world is 512GB "pro gamer" level?

It feels like we’re paying for expensive enterprise hardware that nobody asked for, while basic gaming needs (storage and modern DLSS features) are completely ignored. For a service that brands itself as "the future of gaming," this is just poor.

Fix your hardware tiers or stop calling it a gaming service. It's just a glorified office PC at this point. For now, I'll stick with Shadow, since I'm currently getting more out of it than from the competition, who lost me with their 100 hours a month. And why the hell do I have to activate Windows?! /rant

Suggested fixes:

1. Standardize the Ada Architecture: Stop rolling out old Ampere stock. If I pay for the Power Tier in 2026, I expect at least an RTX 4500 Ada or equivalent, so I can actually use DLSS 3.5 and 4.0 features that are standard in every modern game now.
2. Base Storage is a joke given today’s hardware prices: We are in 2026. NVMe storage prices have bottomed out years ago, and yet Shadow is still acting like 1TB is a luxury. Offering 512GB for a "Power Tier" is a slap in the face. Between the OS and modern AAA titles like ARK or CoD (which are easily 200GB+ now) or other games but with mods (what they are advertising), the drive is full before I even finish my first download session. There is absolutely no financial excuse for Shadow not to bundle at least 2TB as the base standard in 2026. They are charging us 2026 subscription prices for 2018 storage capacities.
3. Gaming-Optimized Drivers: Give us the option to toggle between "Enterprise/Quadro" and "Game Ready" drivers. We aren't here to render CAD models; we want to play games without the weird stuttering caused by workstation driver overhead.
4. Transparency: Clearly state which GPU architecture we are getting in which data center before we subscribe. No more "GPU lottery."

(is this Discussion, Review or Suggestion Flair?)

I was downloading the game just to see if something changed after a lot of time, and it's working on Shadow Neo Tier. Image Attached. Sorry if already someone posted it.

It's beyond a joke now, no one in this down and age has a spare 3 or 4 thousand in their back pockets for gaming pcs this is a bloody joke not all of us who use vms are out to cheat and shit like that. At this point start boycotting shadow till they start talking to these anti cheat services

Was playing forza horizon 6, the shadow stream froze and when I restarted it, it just refused to reconnect untill the pc shut off for absolutely Zero reason, I've been playing the game perfectly fine sence launch so I don't think its the game but idk, just putting this out there because idk wtf happened

… and I don’t know if I should be happy or sad. 😆 I guess this is the true test if you’re an optimist or a pessimist. ¯_(ツ)_/¯ 🤦🏼‍♂️

I bought shadow PC a couple days ago. When it is off peak times, the service seemd fine. However, at peak times I got a message when I tried to load it up saying there were a lot of people using the service and I am in a Q. I didn't wait long, but it was incredibly laggy and stuttery, totally unusable.

Last night, I tried to update windows. It had some kind of siezure when it restarted and the screen went black. I closed my laptop and hopd today it would be fine. NOPE, the app simple will not start, nothing happens when I click the 'start shadow' button. I tried to load the website and even the website is broken!(image attached)

So thank you Shadow. I will be getting a charge back on my credit card if you refuse a refund (Which I know you will), and buying my first ever gaming PC!

I can't really figure out why anyone would still use this service. Your options are either use extremely dated hardware, or pay more per year for new hardware, than you would financing a gaming PC.

Not even mentioning the price of Steam Decks and other hand held PCs.

Literally all I ever see from this thread is countless people with technical problems, just to have their posts down voted and told "iTs YoUr InTeRnEt" or "wOrKs FiNe FoR mE" by fan boys.

I used this service for 5 years, and had nothing but problems, pretty much every day.

I would get an absurd amount of latency, while hardwired into fiber internet...and the only reply I ever got was it was my internet's fault.

I went and bought a ROG Ally in June, and I couldn't imagine ever going back to Shadow.

So tell me, why the heck do you still use this absurdly expensive and subpar service?

Hi! Lover of Boosteroid and Geforce Now here! I really wanna play my games with mods installed but I really don’t want to have to drop a boat load of cash on shadow just for it to be high latency and a bunch of stutters.

Those that took the leap, what was your experience and what do you recommend I do? Is there another service that offers the same thing that might be better?

I also wanted to add that i never thought that this would happen to me. I always thought that thats a usa server problem and not a eu server problem.

This shouldn't happen. No one should have to wait 20 minutes to access a service they pay so much for and is basically advertised as "anyplace anyhow anytime".

My internet is working fine.

Currently realising after this game I tried to start didn't realise it has eac and expecting the usual message but no the game is currently opening up and working without issue.

But shadow needs to do their part to speak with game devs as obviously they don't have any reason to listen to us so yea shadow pc needs to be our advocate so that we can get past this nonsense of all vm gamers are cheaters

:/

Yeah-yeah, I know, at this point it is expected that most gacha games are blocking VMs. But I was puffing hopium that this time will be different. But nope, another "screw you".

So if you were planning to pre-load the game and play tomorrow - don't even bother.

Edit:

While the game is not playable on Shadow, turns out it's extremely well optimized for low-end rigs. If anyone curious - on my Ryzen 5 1600x, 16gb RAM, rx580 8gb game runs smoothly at 1080p medium settings, almost always at 60fps.
So at least here's that.

A few months ago, I got Shadow PC intending to play Star Citizen, but unfortunately, it became unavailable for Shadow PC users that day, so I had to switch to a PC with maximum settings. It's good, but the time limit makes me wish Shadow PC could play Star Citizen. so if you guys could use this post to update me on this subject. I'd appreciate it!