Play Old Killing Floor 2 Versions With DepotDownloader

Killing Floor 2 has changed a lot since its Early Access launch, and some players want to see the old look and feel again. Steam stopped allowing old builds to be downloaded through its console, but there is still a way: the open-source tool DepotDownloader pulls any depot manifest directly from Steam content servers, and SteamDB keeps the manifest list for every update. This article is a rewrite of a community guide that explains the whole process. For another take on the same idea see playing old versions via depot download.

Why bother

The author downloaded the very first Early Access build (patch 1002, April 2015) and noticed several differences compared with the modern game:

• Stronger lighting effects and reflections.
• More particles on headshots and more detailed gore, especially visible in ZED Time.
• Fire that looked more alive and interacted better with the environment.
• A Siren scream that disoriented the player.
• Different animations and weapon and ZED sounds; the Crawler was slightly bigger.
• A harder economy: less Dosh, less player damage, faster ZEDs. The Fleshpound had much more health and hit much harder.

These comparisons were made on Ultra graphics and Hell on Earth difficulty.

Step 1: Get DepotDownloader

Download DepotDownloader from its GitHub repository. It uses the SteamKit library, so it needs no Steam console or SteamCMD. It runs on the .NET runtime, which you can download from Microsoft. The repository README documents all options.

Step 2: Open a console in its folder

Extract the program, then open CMD or PowerShell inside that folder (hold Shift and right-click in the folder, then choose to open a command window).

Step 3: Find the manifest on SteamDB

Open the SteamDB page for the Killing Floor 2 depot, log in with your Steam account and pick the manifest ID of the version you want. You must own the game on that account; Family Sharing does not work.

Step 4: Run the download command

Use these parameters:

• -app 232090
• -depot 232091
• -manifest <manifest id>
• -username <account that owns KF2>
• -password <password>

Example for the first Early Access build:

dotnet DepotDownloader.dll -app 232090 -depot 232091 -manifest 5721313031598987261 -username ExampleUser -password ExamplePassword

Press Enter, type the Steam Guard code, and the depot starts downloading.

Step 5: Prepare and launch

1. Go to Documents\My Games, back up your KillingFloor2 folder and delete the original. Old builds can conflict with newer config files.
2. Open DepotDownloader's depots folder, then the folder named after the depot, then the folder with the downloaded build.
3. Go to Binaries\Win64 and run KFGame.exe with Steam open. The game recognizes your account automatically, so your inventory, perks and stats are available.

When you want the current version again, delete the KillingFloor2 folder in Documents and restore your backup.

Playing with friends

Old builds cannot be played on official servers, since none run these versions. To play together, host your own server: repeat the same procedure using the Killing Floor 2 Dedicated Server depot from SteamDB. For server basics see dedicated server with SteamCMD.

Safety tips

Use your own account and a trusted copy of the tool. Never share your password or Steam Guard codes with anyone else.