CS.RIN.RU - Steam Underground Community

Never a bad idea to have a backup installation. I have an extracted (emporio) installation as well as a gcf installation

Latest Info as of Jan 17, 2005 _________________________________________

All methods work bots for everybody

Currently Suggested Methods
1. Steam-Down bt H3llBoSS
http://cs.rin.ru/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9562&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
2. PPatcher
http://cs.rin.ru/forum/files/ppatcher__1.6.2005_-_fixed_exe_and_ppc_rar.zip
3. New H3llBoSS GCF Installer
http://cs.rin.ru/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9207



+ Introductary Notes
Note to Creators: I write this to simply inform others new to the art of cracking Valve releases of the differences between the many various exploits, emulators, and launchers available throughout the community. Hopefully, other well knowleged individuals will assist me in opinion and correction. This is in no way to flame releases and their creators. I will edit this top post as corrected and updated

Note: To all newbies, we were noobies once too Please do not mislead by believing everything you read or hear


+ General Explaination of Exploits, Emulators, and Launchers

There are many exploits, lauchers, and emulators available at hand. One of the methods are needed to sucessfully play HL2 based titles on the internet.. What "I" mean by Exploits, Emulators, and Launchers is

Exploit (ex: useing a fake cd key to dl off steam)
Emulator (a simple SteamApp+SteamEngine.exe or SteamEmu)
Launcher (an interface based and running off of Steam itself)


+ Suggested Exploits, Emulations, and Launchers

In the beginning of the HL2 era there was Emporio (http://www.csconditionzero.tk), now known as Provision. Emporio vowed to crack HL2 releases to the end and did a well job so far. Despite the hammer of Valve and pressure of the community, Emporio's releases expanded into the deepest depths of the internet and still to this is probally the most wide spread release yet. Emporio made jacking into Steam possible by creating an emulation based mostly of SteamEngine.exe and SteamApp.cfg. The game data files were also extracted from the original Valve distributions known as GCF. This combination enabled us to play at ease on legitimate Steam servers without ever having to even haveing Steam installed. This method works to this day very sucessfully STRONGLY RECOMMENDED for those who would extract the gcf files anyways for editing purposes.
Homepage: mucho unintelligent members. I recommend staying away from the official Emporio forums.

Following Emporio's sucess there were others who attempted the same road, most even copying the Emporio releases and modifying them as their own. I will not mention the names of these titles due to the poorness of the releases. no recommendations for these releases

The first GCF based release was by a group by the name of Vengeance. The Vengeance release required that Steam be installed and was dependent on an emulation file known as SteamEmu. With the aid of HouTa97's Steam skin, we could have shortcuts acessible from Steam. the Vengeance release also allowed us to play on Steam servers and still works to this day as well with the aid of updated GCF files useing CD key exploit or PPatcher.
Homepage: not available

One wonderful exploit was brought to others knowledge by H3llBoSS. The concept of this method was to rip off or update the games directly from Steam via a fake cd key (lol) the Method was very tedious. Fortuately a few individuals have released automated Steam exploits to enable the downloading or updating of Steam games with ease including S.T.A.R.S

H3llBoSS has recently released an installer for the gcf files obtained useing the CD key exploit. This installer converts your gcf files into an extracted installation very similar to the Emporio releases. Now includes CS CZ patcher, GUI, all game installers, drive selection, cs bots + buyscript, option to install to any folder of your choice, and It works like a charm STRONGLY RECOMMENDED for the 100% noobie.
Homepage: http://cs.rin.ru/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9207

Even more recently H3llBoSS has released Steam-Down (1.12.2005), a 100% alternative to having to update PPatcher with all of the same great features Also eliminates the need for SiX Steam
Homepage: http://cs.rin.ru/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9562&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

PPatcher. PPatcher enables downloading any game on steam in GCF format including HL Source and Source SDK, installing any game on steam, backup of steam games like normal, online and offline mode enabled, all games and all tools work fine including Source SDK, all games are playable on-line on any server, and all of this is done by Steam itself!!!! PPatcher does not require additional cracks. Cheating Death works with CS v1.6 and Condition Zero works properly OFF line and ON line. Easy, Functional, Lovely, Perfect STRONGLY RECOMMENDED for the 150% noobie and even knowledgeable crackers alike
Download: http://cs.rin.ru/forum/files/ppatcher__1.6.2005_-_fixed_exe_and_ppc_rar.zip
Discussion: [url]http://cs.rin.ru/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8616
[/url]


+ Others You May Not Need to Know About

Six Steam is simply equivilant to a combination of PPatcher, and a skinned steam launcher but does add the nice ability to "verify" the GCF files. It is a program like Steam Fuckered by Emporio. No need of extracting the GCFs. Just download the game and play. You can play all Valve game.
Homepage: http://www.six-steam.tk/
Tutorial: http://www.hyper-host.net/sixsteam/tuto ... index.html
Discussion: http://cs.rin.ru/forum/viewtopic.php?t= ... sc&start=0

d4rkm4nx's SteamEmu v4.70 is simply hCUPa's emu 2.33 packed along with steamapp.exe (steam.dll launcher in server mode) and custom modifications to improve AI, engine glitches, stutter fixes, and a "SteamApp.cfg" Generator. It is recommended especially for those who downloaded an original single player release version of HL2 by Emporio and do not want to update it to enable online play but still want the AI and other misc fixes.
Homepage: http://planet.nana.co.il/jenier86/main.htm?

Cracked-Steam is a bullshit clone of the Steam_Down application. It was obviously skinned and the code was directly copied. Also the dipshit compiler left his real Steam account information in the application (:)). Dont support this one. Stay away from it just to be safe


+ General Conclusion

My best advice to anybody new to the various exploits, emulators, and launchers is to stick with one of the mentioned releases above. There have been many releases throughout the HL2 era thus far. Most seem to be clones of the well known releases and have no benefit whatsoever. Most ANY release will work as long as the directions are followed correctly. However Help is always a "search" away.

Ofcourse the most fail safe way to assure that you will be able to play HL2 and all of its companions on legitimate Steam servers through the ages of Updates is to buy the original retail release.

+ What Do I DO if My Account is Banned?

Useing an exploited form of Steam always opens your self to the risks of being exposed or banned. Steam is a "call home" program. If your account is banned, simply start a new one. This can be done without deleting or uninstalling your previous installation! For SteamApp and SteamEmu forms (Emporio, Vengeance, and related releases) just replace your old user name and password! For GCF / Steam installations, just create a whole new account .


+ Cause and Effect: Legal Notes

I am not one to preach of LEGAL issues and consequences of useing pirated software titles. However there are legal issues you should be aware of. At the same time, even the pirate has defence at their side. KNOW YOUR RIGHTS

Yes all of the above mentioned methods are illegal.... Even for a Legitimate Steam Account or User! Many paranoid theories are rampid mostly considering Valve and the ability to prosecute for reasons of SUSPECTED piracy. and the possibility of it. Yes I am afraid it may one day be a possibility. But I am not one to be paranoid enough to choose not to participate.

About Tracking Piracy: Recently found out by hCUPa and a "nameless" individual, it is possible for Valve to ban IP's of fake steamusers (and by that I mean people that use ppatcher and such). For some this might not be a problem (thanks to dynamic IP) but for others, true IP addresses are unmaskable. This cause may effect in Valve choosing to permanently banning IP addresses instead of accounts. If so, that would result in one time pirates not being able to register a legitimate copy of any product.


I hope this article helps you all understand better the options and methods better in a more correct and direct manner be well

Actually there were only 2 emulators:
1) steam+steamy from emporio's releases. It emulates small subset of steam functionality that is needed to run games having your files extracted from gcf.
2) steamemu. Emulates larget subset of steam functions, fully emulates interface to game files stored in .gcf

SteamEngine/SteamApp is not an emulator. Its Valve's application, just a replacement for steam.exe (imagine steam.exe w/out gui), that starts steam.dll in 'server' mode (yeah, you should know that steam.dll can act as client or as server depending on how is used)

You are missing quite popular type of applications that I call 'installers'. What's that? Oh, its easy.. take emporio's modified game dlls or steamemu (or both), write bat file/vb script/own steam skin/just pack em in sfx archive. Give it name like 'Steam-Kicker', 'Steam-Destroyer', etc. And release. Simple, eh?

As a final note: Extracted versions DO NOT RUN BETTER THAN GCF ONE. I explained that once, please look for my post.