TrueMrReset: @Alexrd
Indeed, I switch off the network, and AC works!
So does this means AC has DRM incorporated???
Alexrd: Apparently yes, lthough I'm not sure it can even be considered DRM. Either way, it shouldn't be present on an allegedly DRM-free version.
P.S: If you don't want to turn off your internet connection to play the game, add the following IP addresses to the "hosts" file on "C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc":
216.98.48.18 127.0.0.1
216.98.48.53 127.0.0.1
216.98.48.57 127.0.0.1
216.98.48.133 127.0.0.1
216.98.48.134 127.0.0.1
TL;DR -- these are the actual hosts file entries you want:
127.0.0.1 gconnect.ubi.com 127.0.0.1 uts.ubi.com --
As this is still a problem in 2022, and a number of other posts directly or indirectly link here, I wanted to briefly clear up this invalid hosts file set that's perpetuated for nearly a decade both here and over on Steam.
The above hosts file entries are not only invalid, but if they
did work as they're written, they would actually send more traffic to Ubisoft's servers (because they're written backwards). However, they seem to work on Windows due to an apparent bug in Microsoft's hosts implementation.
The hosts file, located at
C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts on Windows and at
/etc/hosts on Linux,
does not map IP addresses to one another. It simply bypasses DNS and directs domain requests in the second column to the IP address listed in the first column.
If you inspect the Ubisoft request packets from Assassin's Creed using a network packet analyzer, you'll see that the requests are being made via domain name, not IP address. Though the requested domains have
resolved to the aforementioned IP addresses in the past, there's no guarantee they will continue to do so in the future...
...so you want to block the request domains, not their temporarily associated IP addresses.
The requested call-home domains are
gconnect.ubi.com and
uts.ubi.com -- so those are the domains you want to redirect back to your local loopback address (127.0.0.1).
Therefore, you only need to add the following two lines to your hosts file to stop AC1 from calling home and keep the game from crashing:
127.0.0.1 gconnect.ubi.com 127.0.0.1 uts.ubi.com Note: If you're on Windows, you should restart after making the above hosts file change, or manually flush your DNS cache with the following terminal command:
ipconfig /flushdns If you're on Linux, the hosts file update should be immediate and no restart is required.
Supplementary: If someone notices down the line that additional domains are being requested during cut scenes or the like, let me know and I'll gladly update this post accordingly.
