EAC Settings and When to Disable It
What Easy Anti-Cheat does, when you have to turn it off, and what it actually costs you on GameGrid.
What EAC Does
Easy Anti-Cheat is 7 Days to Die's built-in anti-cheat. It blocks memory editors, trainers and code injection.
On GameGrid it is the "Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC)" setting in Settings under Basic, and it defaults to on.
It is restart-required, so when you save a change on a running server the panel restarts the server for you.
With EAC on, a player whose own client has EAC disabled cannot join.
When to Turn It Off
You must turn EAC off to run most mods. Specifically:
Harmony and other DLL mods - EAC blocks the code patching they rely on.
Overhaul packs such as Darkness Falls, Undead Legacy and War of the Walkers - all of them ship DLLs.
XML-only modlets often work with EAC left on. If a modlet is all you are running, try it before turning anything off.
To turn it off: Settings > Basic > Easy Anti-Cheat, switch it off, save. The server restarts itself, and you can then install the mod.
What It Costs You Here
Turning EAC off gives up crossplay - the game requires EAC for it, here as anywhere else. So a modded server is Steam PC only, and a crossplay server is vanilla. Decide which one your community wants before you generate a world. See Crossplay on GameGrid.
So the real trade-off here is narrower than the general guides describe: you give up anti-cheat, and nothing else.
That still matters. With EAC off, a determined player can use trainers and item spawners and the server will not stop them. Run it on a community you know, or expect to moderate by hand.
It saves a little CPU too, which is a small bonus rather than a reason.
EAC Issues
Player kicked for an EAC violation - their client has something EAC objects to, or their game files are damaged. Have them verify their files through Steam.
Player cannot join with EAC on - EAC may not be installed on their side. Verifying game files through Steam reinstalls it.
EAC version mismatch - the client and server are on different game builds. Update the server from the Admin tab's Game Updates card; a restart does not pull a new build.
Server will not start with EAC on and mods installed - that is the conflict this article is about. Turn EAC off, or remove the mods.
EAC changes take a restart. The panel does that for you when you save the setting on a running server, but check the status badge comes back to running before you tell your players.