Friday February 10, 2012 8:21 PM AEST

How to get gore in the Australian L4D2 demo

By David Hollingworth
13:56 Nov 2, 2009 | 15 Comments
Tags: left | 4 | dead | 2 | oflc | stupid | attorney | generals | game | news
How to get gore in the Australian L4D2 demo

Essential linkage: How to get around the ludicrous censorship in the Left 4 Dead 2 demo.

The slick kids over at Kotaku are always up for delivering delicious nuggets of gaming info, and today there's an excellent news post I think we can all take a little something away from - especially if you want to enjoy Left 4 Dead 2 as the developers intended.

However, some clever types have worked out how to get around the censorship - at least in the demo that is now available. And it just involves a tiny bit of editing to two files. Click the images below to enlarge and follow the instructions here.

The story also points out exactly what has been censored from the local version, including the annoying detail that since the Australian version does not feature the Riot Cop, no game that has even one Aussie player will ever spawn that particular uncommon infected. Now that's just rough. For the full story, click right... here.

 
 
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15 Comments
mp3metalhead
Nov 2, 2009 2:46 PM
Win.
n00bz0r
Nov 2, 2009 2:54 PM
It's still stupid in the sense that L4D1 had gibbs and blood splatter. Why not Number 2? I don't think you would really see the difference if they left it uncut.
nesquick
Nov 2, 2009 3:23 PM
I won't have to worry about a fix being applied to this as I was smart and bought the US version of the game through a steam glitch.
Tezlin
Nov 2, 2009 7:46 PM
nesquick, you naughty, naughty boy! D:
Doc Forrest
Nov 2, 2009 8:26 PM
Nothing wrong with that.
R4nd0M
Nov 2, 2009 10:56 PM
The appid mod works quite well, I've been using it since the weekend. Only issue arises when attempting to play online: you're restricted to playing with only those using the appid mod themselves. Not necessarily a bad thing (especially since I mostly just LAN the game anyway) since you're guaranteed to have the uncommon infected in your game.
Lord_Huggington
Nov 3, 2009 12:09 AM
this method simply doesnt work for me, as soon as I launch the exe it says steam isnt running, even if it is.
nicknet
Nov 3, 2009 12:49 AM
a little off topic I know, but it would be nice to put a face to the names of our OFLC members http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Film_and_Literature_Classification_(Australia) and how the hell they justify their rulings... the Nofx songs Dinosaurs will die doesn't seem to be so correct for gaming and we seem to be getting worse here in aussie land. FFS - recognise - they are just zombies and fictional characters. let us maim them and see them run around on fire
Dysfunctional16
Nov 3, 2009 8:10 AM
nesquick: I also ordered a copy from abroad, but we're not entirely safe, there's still a risk that Valve will detect that you're in Australia using a banned copy of the game. If they do, by law, they will be pretty much forced to 'convert' your copy to the AU censored version, else risk possible prosecution.
Hawkeye
Nov 3, 2009 9:56 AM
nicknet, it's not the OFLC's fault, though their consistency in rulings is certainly suspect. The OFLC does not make law; they only enforce it. The real person holding us back is the South Australian Attorney General.
Timmmmmy
Nov 3, 2009 6:45 PM
Dysfunctional16: We are, they don't have to do anything if we have an overseas copy.
Dysfunctional16
Nov 4, 2009 8:18 AM
It is illegal to have a RC (refused classification) game in Australia. If Valve are aware that you/we have an illegal game through Steam and Valve do not act upon it they would possibly be liable if any sort of AU authority become involved. iinet copyright lawsuit anyone?

I'm not saying that this will happen (and hope it won't), just that it's definitely a possibility. If it does happen we won't have a leg to stand on for argument sake either.
Kastoli
Nov 4, 2009 11:51 PM
Though it is notably more gorey, L4D2's dismemberment & gib system are what i was actually wanting out of the first one. The blood spatter on the camera looks rather annoying, and the melee combat adds an "in your face" aspect to a shooter game, having not played it I can't say that it improves the game or not... but, if the aussie version isn't made alot more gory (to the standards of L4D1 atleast) i certainly won't be buying it.
sicarius123
Nov 5, 2009 8:58 AM
I was under the impression that it was illegal to distribute refused classification games in Australia, but not illegal to own a personal copy.

Personally I refuse to buy anything that is neutered for the Australian market and quite enjoy the extra blood and hooker time in my UK GTA4, I wouldn't of even thought about it or probably even used most of the banned parts of the game if it wasn't refused classification, but be damned if I don't enjoy sticking it to the OFLC every time I play it.
siborg71
Dec 1, 2009 4:19 PM
I did this a while ago when this article was posted. Is there any word on whether or not this works on the full version?
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