How does SAC update?

[´Ami,]

Hey, I got an SAC update just now cool. But am I forced to click the update button every time before I want to play mb2? Plz can you tell me what would happen if I forget to patch my game and connect to an anti-cheat server? Does AC servers kick me after a check or is the admission refused to me? How does the protected servers get SAC updates? Can I play with an up-to-date client on an outdated AC server? Oh so many questions. :(

[Deathspike]

DVersion.exe is a manual version checker, which is only required when something is preventing you from joining the game properly (or you have extremely slow internet).

When you join a SAC-protected server, the server will ask your game client to authenticate itself. To do this, a connection is made to an external server. This server (the master server) will check your version and give a signal to update when it isn't valid. The updating will happen completely when you're happily playing your game, completely transparent (apart from the obvious lag it might cause for a few seconds).

The game servers don't actually update when clients do. This is due to the design made for them. What the game servers actually do is simple. They ask the client to start validation and wait for a response. When they have the response, they ask the master server "Hey, is dude X valid?" and get a response saying yes or no. This way the only updates are done on the client/master, and game servers require little to no maintenance.