VOGONS


First post, by Marek

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I noticed that on some Steam DVD's, there are backup files of the game older than the game's release. But when installing the DVD, Steam downloads the latest version of the game anyway.

I know, you can find the depot and manifest ids of old version on https://steamdb.info/ and download them on the Steam console. However, some DVD's have pre-release versions with files older than the oldest manifest in the database with a manifest id not even there.

For instance, I tried to install a depot present on the Computer-Bild-DVD of Deponia Doomsday with:
download_depot 421050 421051 3153975998130986159
but Steam's only reaction is:
Depot download failed : Failed downloading 1 manifests (No connection)

Manifest ids present on a DVD can be find in sku.sis.

Is there any known way to extract the game from these Steam backup files without automatically installing the latest version of the game? Just going offline won't work, since Steam needs to get the depot key from the server.

The only reason to find out is for curiosity. Of course, I have all my Steam DVD's already in my Steam library. No piracy involved or intended.

DOS-PC: DFI k6bv3+, Pentium 200mmx, 64 MB RAM, Terratec Maestro 32 sound card, Roland MT-32 + SC-155, Winner 2000 AVI 2MB, Voodoo 1, Win98SE
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Reply 1 of 3, by DosFreak

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You can try sisInstall from cs.rin.ru
Be aware you'll need a steam emulator so: SSE, Original goldberg, goldberg fork, revemu, etc
Also try steamless as well, games that old may not need a steam emulator if they can be patched with steamless.

There aren't really any Steam DVD games on this list (I stayed away from Steam until there were ways to run the games without Steam) but it may be helpful
https://github.com/vogonsorg/OfflineGames
https://github.com/vogonsorg/OfflineGames/blo … es_03052025.txt

How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
Make your games work offline

Reply 2 of 3, by xtreger

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DosFreak wrote on 2025-09-20, 19:15:
You can try sisInstall from cs.rin.ru Be aware you'll need a steam emulator so: SSE, Original goldberg, goldberg fork, revemu, e […]
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You can try sisInstall from cs.rin.ru
Be aware you'll need a steam emulator so: SSE, Original goldberg, goldberg fork, revemu, etc
Also try steamless as well, games that old may not need a steam emulator if they can be patched with steamless.

There aren't really any Steam DVD games on this list (I stayed away from Steam until there were ways to run the games without Steam) but it may be helpful
https://github.com/vogonsorg/OfflineGames
https://github.com/vogonsorg/OfflineGames/blo … es_03052025.txt

Is the original goldberg emu available anywhere? I tried finding it, in order to use with Left 4 Dead, but i can only find the gitlab page for goldberg emu and I'm guessing those are the newer versions

Reply 3 of 3, by DosFreak

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This is the latest release but goldberg stopped working on it quit awhile ago. I still use it and only use the fork when a game doesn't work. I may switch all my games to the fork eventually as long as I've tested it has the same OS compatibility

https://mr_goldberg.gitlab.io/goldberg_emulator/

The fork is
https://github.com/Detanup01/gbe_fork/releases

Either only work on Vista+ (it's certainly possible Vista/7 support is broken in the fork, I haven't tested).
For XP you have to use OneCoreAPI WS2_32.dll files alongside the emu (Only tested with the original goldberg) or use the goldberg XP fork (I haven't tested it) https://gitlab.com/this_isnotme/winxp-goldberg-emulator

How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
Make your games work offline