Field Guide · Anti-cheat

Tencent Anti-Cheat Expert (ACE)

Anti-Cheat Expert (ACE) is Tencent's in-house kernel anti-cheat, the modern continuation of TenProtect. The kernel driver (ace-base.sys) is catalogued in the Field Guide. ACE is distinct from NetEase's NeacProtect, with which it is commonly confused.

kernel · with gameLoads a kernel-level driver while the game runs, then unloads it when you quit.

How it loads

While a protected game runs

Firmware it asks for

None catalogued

Games catalogued

Catalogued as of

June 2026

What it can and cannot see

Anti-Cheat Expert loads its kernel drivers when a protected Tencent title launches and watches the host while the game runs. It fingerprints hardware and scans memory for cheat signatures during play. It sees the machine it is installed on, to the depth its design reaches; it does not see a second computer or capture hardware outside that machine.

The same boundary applies to every anti-cheat here. Anti-cheat that runs on your PC can examine what happens on that PC, to the depth its design allows. It cannot see a second computer, a capture device, or hardware placed between an input device and the port it plugs into. That is why the presence of an anti-cheat is not, on its own, proof of anything about a player, in either direction. Vera describes what runs; it does not decide what it means.

The kernel driver

The part of this anti-cheat that runs in the Windows kernel, catalogued in the Field Guide's drivers section:

ace-base.sys

The processes you'll see

The user-mode processes this anti-cheat runs, the ones that show up in your own process list. Each is catalogued in the Field Guide's processes section:

sguard64.exe

Games that use it

Delta Force

TiMi Studio Group / Tencent·kernel · with game

Wuthering Waves

Kuro Games·kernel · with game

Source

Catalogued by Vera from the anti-cheat maker's own documentation and named public reporting (Ars Technica, PC Gamer, Eurogamer, BleepingComputer, and others). Anti-cheats change; these notes reflect the public record as of June 2026. What is here is public evidence, never an accusation about a person.