Previous version of the game replay cannot be watched

Technical Support
1

I found that I can’t watch the video of the previous version of the game now
Is this a bug that was not explicitly stated in the update log

2

I think it started before the most recent version was released.

3

It’s a bug, I’m guessing they skipped some kind of build/deployment step, by a result, the 5.0.13 SC2 binary, has no metadata about prior build, thus it doesn’t know to which version to swap to.

There’s a workaround to it, that amounts to forcing SC2 to launch as 5.0.12 directly, and then proceeding to offline mode… I’ll try to explain some basic steps for anyone interested, as to how to do that:

  1. Ensure Battle.net app is not running nor anything related - SC2, Agent.exe etc.

  2. Ensure that the only binary within the Versions folder is 91115 (you might acquire it using CASCView [3] - using feature that downloads from CDN).

  3. Rename StarCraft II/Support/BlizzardBrowser/BlizzardBrowser.exe to BlizzardBrowser.exe.bak or something like that, to prevent SC2 going into login screen upon launch - this will give you a popup with Play offline.

  4. Replace the .build.info file in the root StarCraft II directory with the following content [1]

  5. Launch SC2 with using switcher with following parameter (hash of ROOT file from previous data build) SC2Switcher_x64.exe -dataversion 7857A76754FEB47C823D18993C476BF0. (The parameter might not actually be necessary, if you replace the .build.info metadata as in the example, and you’re using it on the same SC2 installation that was patched previously and has all the config files in SC2Data folder).

  6. Done, see the end result [2].

[1] .build.info

Branch!STRING:0|Active!DEC:1|Build Key!HEX:16|CDN Key!HEX:16|Install Key!HEX:16|IM Size!DEC:4|CDN Path!STRING:0|CDN Hosts!STRING:0|CDN Servers!STRING:0|Tags!STRING:0|Armadillo!STRING:0|Last Activated!STRING:0|Version!STRING:0|Keyring!HEX:16
us|1|51dfb8730d960b7914d59ef9841f29ee|4ab97171951b5fd4071ee3ce23f91a1e|06e931af72abd6f062324d830ff094ae||tpr/sc2|level3.blizzard.com us.cdn.blizzard.com|http://level3.blizzard.com/?maxhosts=4 http://us.cdn.blizzard.com/?maxhosts=4 https://blzddist1-a.akamaihd.net/?fallback=1&maxhosts=4 https://level3.ssl.blizzard.com/?fallback=1&maxhosts=4 https://us.cdn.blizzard.com/?fallback=1&maxhosts=4|Windows code US? acct-POL? geoip-PL? enUS speech?:Windows code US? acct-POL? geoip-PL? enUS text?|||5.0.12.91115|3b938eed7536396b1d7a000ca9b2cd39
eu|0|08b331b39d9fbe95c338ec370e63f2e2|083ccbd7178f03f16a4011dc01f94ce9|||tpr/sc2|level3.blizzard.com eu.cdn.blizzard.com|http://eu.cdn.blizzard.com/?maxhosts=4 http://level3.blizzard.com/?maxhosts=4 https://blzddist1-a.akamaihd.net/?fallback=1&maxhosts=4 https://eu.cdn.blizzard.com/?fallback=1&maxhosts=4 https://level3.ssl.blizzard.com/?fallback=1&maxhosts=4|Windows code EU? acct-POL? geoip-PL? enUS speech?:Windows code EU? acct-POL? geoip-PL? enUS text?|||5.0.13.92028|3b938eed7536396b1d7a000ca9b2cd39

[2] https://imgur.com/a/jMCufAX
[3] http://www.zezula.net/en/casc/main.html

I’m aware that this process might be a bit complex for average user, and could use a more detailed instructions, but that’s what I can provide at the moment. If there are questions about it, I’ll try to clarify it, as time allows.

Also, this method really works for all past versions of SC2 - since they switched to CASC. It’s just that one has to know the hashes for ROOT file data builds, up to date CDN config and that corresponds to the build - it contains archive layout of a CDN, so that SC2 knows which files to fetch, if there are any missing ones… and possibly the past build config for that release… there’s many methods to acquire these files/hashes, I’ve it listed somewhere in my notes. Along will full backup of online CASC storage.

But most of this data can be found in following repos:

  • https://github.com/mdX7/ngdp_data

  • https://github.com/mdX7/ribbit_data

4

Thank you Talv,

I’ve tried to follow the steps, but I might be missing something because at the end of the steps, I get a message saying to reinstall SC2.

As I have made a backup of the steps I didn’t need to reinstall, but I still can’t figure out what I’m missing on the steps you have provided.

Would you be able to help?

Thank you!

Kind regards,
Ignis

1 Like
5

If you find - how to watch 5.0.12 rreplay’s - wisp me pls)
Own tour (Gentlemen’s Cup) on youtube can’t go to grandfinal))

6

I think I should probably just pack up a full copy of SC2.5.0.12.91115 for people to download, that would’ve been easier (although it’s ~30GB :s).

But I think I’ve now realized that my step 2. is kinda wrong:

  1. Ensure that the only binary within the Versions folder is 91115 (you might acquire it using CASCView [3] - using feature that downloads from CDN).

This build seems to be missing on CDN too, heh (so it’s impossible to download missing files using CASC Viewer)… Here’s a mirror: https://mega.nz/file/l24RDaLJ#k1wJBIDrkHxh6waYRJ-8n4k-gt4MJDXRd1Gzv2jfhDM - it should go to Versions folder.

Please try again (don’t forget the other steps too!), if that won’t work then ping me here again - I’ll check the forums again in couple of days, and will try to upload said copy of SC2 from previous patch as a last resort.

7

I tried following your steps but got an “error occurred” popup box. Any other ideas?

8

It’s difficult to say why… if not further info is given, then it’s worth checking at which stage of SC2 launching the error is given. Like is it immediately, after few seconds etc. Also what’s the status of SC2_x64.exe and SC2Switcher_x64.exe in the task manager - are the processes alive, how much memory have they consumed etc.

But anyway, the whole problem is that Blizzard periodically rotates CDN hashes. So the one included in my .build.info config are already out of date.

There are always one thing you need to edit in the .build.info to force 5.0.12.91115. It’s so called build key, first hash. It should be 51dfb8730d960b7914d59ef9841f29ee. The next column after that is CDN Key. If your SC2 installation is missing essential files from the previous build, it’ll have to fetch them from the CDN. And for that you need to put up to date CDN Key. It can be found on this site for instance:
https://blizztrack.com/view/s2?type=versions

Specifically in this place:
https://i.imgur.com/sVGVjI8.png

At the time of writing this message it’s ebcfa13950b14eff61302317b356613e. But it’ll change in a matter of weeks.

Also, another problem I’ve noticed is that when SC2 is launched offline, it will refuse to download map’s “dependencies”. So basically a map file, and it’s mod dependencies (like a Void Multi / balance data). If you already have them in your Battle.net cache folder, it won’t be an issue… if you don’t then you’ll have to acquire them manually unfortunately. I wish there was a smooth method to get it all setup, but it’d likely require cracking the .exe and possibly adding some 3rd party programs into the mix, to completely “resurrect” 5.0.12.91115 build…

9

Still unable to load only 5.0.12 replays. Older or newer works perfectly.

1 Like
10

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