Is Hamachi VAC-safe?

[Ulrich]

A friend of mine and I recently got Hamachi to play Terraria together. Using Hamachi for that game made me think: "Hey, I wonder if I could use this to host a server in other games without having to forward ports?"
We tested it in Garry's Mod, and it worked wonders. He was able to connect and there were few to no lag problems.
However, I'm curious if Hamachi will be picked up as a hack, or some form of modification to the game, by VAC. I've read in another thread that it's "Not been known to cause problems," but I'd like to get a more sure answer from more people (preferably a Steam admin) before I use it in games like TF2 (that I play far too often to risk a ban for using Hamachi to host a server).
So, is Hamachi VAC-safe, since it's just a LAN simulator? Or is it possible that it will cause VAC problems in games with VAC?
Thanks in advance for any and all input.

[Nekomancer]

It's just a VPN service, which tunnels LAN over the internet. Totally harmless. But to be honest, also pretty crappy, had a lot of lags and connection problems with it. Also some games did not work with it. I prefer Tunngle, no lags and every game i threw at it worked. I use it for games that don't have any internet support (older ones).

Port forwarding is pretty easy.

[Ulrich]

Yeah, I've had some problems with Hamachi in terms of lag on Terraria, but the times we've tried it in Garry's Mod, it seemed to work better (which, quite frankly, is the exact opposite of what you'd expect).
I've actually been looking for something to replace it, though, so thanks for that suggestion. I'll have to give it a try.
And yeah, port forwarding is easy, but I have too many people here that'll blame me for any slight problem they'd encounter if I did change any port forwards. Plus, I only ever host with small groups, so things like Hamachi get the job done for when I want them to.

[Cp6uja_]

100% safe. Its only LAN emulating software, and its not modifying .DLL or .EXE files in any way.

[Teh_Guy]

It's just a VPN service, which tunnels LAN over the internet. Totally harmless. But to be honest, also pretty crappy, had a lot of lags and connection problems with it. Also some games did not work with it. I prefer Tunngle, no lags and every game i threw at it worked. I use it for games that don't have any internet support (older ones).

Port forwarding is pretty easy.

the lag depends on everyone's connections and locations as it is.. not that much different from an actual server.. (although, I need to figure out why my friend who only lives down the street gets like 200 ping and another in a different sub-division gets around 10-20)

[sebastiannielse]

Actually, its not permitted to use Hamachi according to Steam user agreement. ALL use of VPN/tunneling software is expressly forbidden when running Steam.

E. Restrictions.
...

You are entitled to use the Software for your own use, but you are not entitled to: (i) sell, grant a security interest in or transfer reproductions of the Software to other parties in any way, nor to rent, lease or license the Software to others without the prior written consent of Valve; (ii) host or provide matchmaking services for the Software or emulate or redirect the communication protocols used by Valve in any network feature of the Software, through protocol emulation, tunneling, modifying or adding components to the Software, use of a utility program or any other techniques now known or hereafter developed, for any purpose including, but not limited to network play over the Internet, network play utilizing commercial or non-commercial gaming networks or as part of content aggregation networks, without the prior written consent of Valve; or (iii) exploit the Software or any of its parts for any commercial purpose.

[IceDragon]

Actually, its not permitted to use Hamachi according to Steam user agreement. ALL use of VPN/tunneling software is expressly forbidden when running Steam.

E. Restrictions.
...

You are entitled to use the Software for your own use, but you are not entitled to: (i) sell, grant a security interest in or transfer reproductions of the Software to other parties in any way, nor to rent, lease or license the Software to others without the prior written consent of Valve; (ii) host or provide matchmaking services for the Software or emulate or redirect the communication protocols used by Valve in any network feature of the Software, through protocol emulation, tunneling, modifying or adding components to the Software, use of a utility program or any other techniques now known or hereafter developed, for any purpose including, but not limited to network play over the Internet, network play utilizing commercial or non-commercial gaming networks or as part of content aggregation networks, without the prior written consent of Valve; or (iii) exploit the Software or any of its parts for any commercial purpose.
That's for Steam, not games.

[Teh_Guy]

Actually, its not permitted to use Hamachi according to Steam user agreement. ALL use of VPN/tunneling software is expressly forbidden when running Steam.

E. Restrictions.
...

You are entitled to use the Software for your own use, but you are not entitled to: (i) sell, grant a security interest in or transfer reproductions of the Software to other parties in any way, nor to rent, lease or license the Software to others without the prior written consent of Valve; (ii) host or provide matchmaking services for the Software or emulate or redirect the communication protocols used by Valve in any network feature of the Software, through protocol emulation, tunneling, modifying or adding components to the Software, use of a utility program or any other techniques now known or hereafter developed, for any purpose including, but not limited to network play over the Internet, network play utilizing commercial or non-commercial gaming networks or as part of content aggregation networks, without the prior written consent of Valve; or (iii) exploit the Software or any of its parts for any commercial purpose.

Well, my LAN doesn't like to be nice straight out, so I have to sometimes use Hamachi and whatnot. Not like VALVe is going to bust down my door :|

[slayvus]

Actually, its not permitted to use Hamachi according to Steam user agreement. ALL use of VPN/tunneling software is expressly forbidden when running Steam.

E. Restrictions.
...

You are entitled to use the Software for your own use, but you are not entitled to: (i) sell, grant a security interest in or transfer reproductions of the Software to other parties in any way, nor to rent, lease or license the Software to others without the prior written consent of Valve; (ii) host or provide matchmaking services for the Software or emulate or redirect the communication protocols used by Valve in any network feature of the Software, through protocol emulation, tunneling, modifying or adding components to the Software, use of a utility program or any other techniques now known or hereafter developed, for any purpose including, but not limited to network play over the Internet, network play utilizing commercial or non-commercial gaming networks or as part of content aggregation networks, without the prior written consent of Valve; or (iii) exploit the Software or any of its parts for any commercial purpose.

The Software(Aka Steam) is allowed to be used by you, the user, but you agree that you shall not redirect the communications protocols used by Valve in the Software(Aka Steam) through tunneling software.

All in all, that's means you can use tunneling software with Steam, but not FOR Steam.

So I could use use Steam to launch TF2 and run a TF2 server through Tungle, but Steam is still sending it's information through my regular internet connection.