How to "downgrade" to the pre-Epic version

[Batata]

Hey everyone,
I've been having issues with the game ever since it updated itself to the Re-Elected patch, so after meddling around with Steam for a bit, I managed to downgrade the game to its pre Re-Elected version, without the Epic Games ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, finally making it work again (at least, for me).
Here's my guide explaining how to do it. Workshop and non-Workshop mods work flawlessly alongside DLCs. Hope it works for you all.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2899380550

[Batata]

Originally posted by robgw3:

I will never understand why they allow another game store to force their stuff onto games installed through Steam... I can sort of understand it for games that are only on the maker's platform, but Saints Row was never Epic's...

This has been happening for years with games forcing you to install Origin, U-play, etc., etc. Sadly, it's just an "industry standard".

[bidulless]

Originally posted by rusty_dragon:

Originally posted by bidulless:

Hello
You do not need to do all that if you want to play it solo ... Just delete file epiconlineserviceinstaller.exe from redist folder and launch the game

You do need to do that. Because new version is a mess, which introduced new bugs.

Hello
Played it for 2 hours and a half now and no bugs. If you want to do coop , may be using old steam depot can help if you do not want to use epic service , beside that i do not think it' s nessary.

[rusty_dragon]

Originally posted by bidulless:

Originally posted by rusty_dragon:

You do need to do that. Because new version is a mess, which introduced new bugs.

Hello
Played it for 2 hours and a half now and no bugs. If you want to do coop , may be using old steam depot can help if you do not want to use epic service , beside that i do not think it' s nessary.

Wonder, why I don't believe you? Also you don't tell me what I should or should not do.

[Batata]

Calm down. Some people have been able to play Re-Elected just fine, albeit with some performance drops (at least, from what I've read). A lot of us haven't been able to, or have been able to play with several issues that render the game unplayable, but just because someone claims they could, it doesn't mean they're lying.

[bidulless]

Originally posted by rusty_dragon:

Originally posted by bidulless:

Hello
Played it for 2 hours and a half now and no bugs. If you want to do coop , may be using old steam depot can help if you do not want to use epic service , beside that i do not think it' s nessary.

Wonder, why I don't believe you? Also you don't tell me what I should or should not do.

Hello
This wasn't the remark of my post,i just wanted to inform people that they can play the game without the need to setup epic stuff if they do not want to play coop.

[Batata]

Originally posted by bidulless:

Originally posted by rusty_dragon:

Wonder, why I don't believe you? Also you don't tell me what I should or should not do.

Hello
This wasn't the remark of my post,i just wanted to inform people that they can play the game without the need to setup epic stuff if they do not want to play coop.

Personally, I couldn't even play solo. My game froze during the legal screen. But if it works for you, then that's great. Just one warning though, the Re-Elected version is known to slow down or even crash if you load too many workshop items (the Saints Row: The Third clothing pack is known to almost always crash the game), so if you're planning to use them, I'd suggest you downgrade to the previous build.

[bidulless]

Originally posted by Batata:

Originally posted by bidulless:

Hello
This wasn't the remark of my post,i just wanted to inform people that they can play the game without the need to setup epic stuff if they do not want to play coop.

Personally, I couldn't even play solo. My game froze during the legal screen. But if it works for you, then that's great. Just one warning though, the Re-Elected version is known to slow down or even crash if you load too many workshop items (the Saints Row: The Third clothing pack is known to almost always crash the game), so if you're planning to use them, I'd suggest you downgrade to the previous build.

Hello
First time i play it since i've bought it a long time ago ,)

[ディオゴ・オリベイラ]

Originally posted by funakoshi:

Originally posted by Niko:

The linux version been broken for long time it only worked with proton, hopefuly they make an actual good port this time.

The linux version works fine for me, never tried multiplayer.

i'm using the backup i did before the update

I play with Devuan (testing) and Gentoo

It used to work back in the day, stuttery but it worked, for a while now that it just crashes after the intro even with the steam linux runtime and devuan? You mean debian testing? That at least would make some sense cause it has some older dependencies, all i use is arch or based on it so probably something new broke it.

[rusty_dragon]

Originally posted by bidulless:

Originally posted by rusty_dragon:

Wonder, why I don't believe you? Also you don't tell me what I should or should not do.

Hello
This wasn't the remark of my post,i just wanted to inform people that they can play the game without the need to setup epic stuff if they do not want to play coop.

a) You've claimed that game is absolutely fine, just because YOU have played it for two hours and saw no bugs. Which is a flawed claim, and many people experience all kinds of new bugs within the game. For many game is not even launching at all. That's how bad situation is.
b) You can't play without epic malware setup, because EOS installs automatically. First you need to remove epic after game's installation. And that's definitely not what regular customer should be doing just to play the game.

[shade00]

Originally posted by bidulless:

Hello
You do not need to do all that if you want to play it solo ... Just delete file epiconlineserviceinstaller.exe from redist folder and launch the game

hmm but normally when a program installs it adds registry files among others.
so epic is most likely still there.
some have said you can avoid epic, some said you can but to play requires.
if installed at all, then its in your registry files, and even an uninstall sometimes leaves behind registry files.
which is why there is uninstaller programs to clean uninstall

[Batata]

Originally posted by shade00:

Originally posted by bidulless:

Hello
You do not need to do all that if you want to play it solo ... Just delete file epiconlineserviceinstaller.exe from redist folder and launch the game

hmm but normally when a program installs it adds registry files among others.
so epic is most likely still there.
some have said you can avoid epic, some said you can but to play requires.
if installed at all, then its in your registry files, and even an uninstall sometimes leaves behind registry files.
which is why there is uninstaller programs to clean uninstall

In order to fully delete the Epic stuff you need to delete the following files: SaintsRowIV.exe, sr_hv.exe, SaintsRowIV.ini & EOSSDK-Win64-Shipping.dll. You need to use the old SaintsRowIV.exe to fully remove EOS' traces from the game.
Aditionally, you can also delete binkw64.dll & steam_api64.dll, since they're used for x64 applications; since the original SaintsRowIV.exe is a x32 application, they go unused.

[shade00]

Originally posted by Batata:

Originally posted by shade00:

hmm but normally when a program installs it adds registry files among others.
so epic is most likely still there.
some have said you can avoid epic, some said you can but to play requires.
if installed at all, then its in your registry files, and even an uninstall sometimes leaves behind registry files.
which is why there is uninstaller programs to clean uninstall

In order to fully delete the Epic stuff you need to delete the following files: SaintsRowIV.exe, sr_hv.exe, SaintsRowIV.ini & EOSSDK-Win64-Shipping.dll. You need to use the old SaintsRowIV.exe to fully remove EOS' traces from the game.
Aditionally, you can also delete binkw64.dll & steam_api64.dll, since they're used for x64 applications; since the original SaintsRowIV.exe is a x32 application, they go unused.

this sounds like easy access data, but there is still registry files left behind yes?
as every game adds registry files, i have an uninstaller program that checks for items left behind, often is registry files left behind.
thank you for the in depth on accessible files, ive never used epic before
but that should vastly help those wanting to clean it.

another route is iobits uninstaller program which will find everything for you
thats if epic was installed, but just incase would go your route and double check too.

[bidulless]

Originally posted by shade00:

Originally posted by bidulless:

Hello
You do not need to do all that if you want to play it solo ... Just delete file epiconlineserviceinstaller.exe from redist folder and launch the game

hmm but normally when a program installs it adds registry files among others.
so epic is most likely still there.
some have said you can avoid epic, some said you can but to play requires.
if installed at all, then its in your registry files, and even an uninstall sometimes leaves behind registry files.
which is why there is uninstaller programs to clean uninstall

Hello
what kind of registry ? if you delete the file before the first run and deny steam to make some change on your system, it can't be installed xd

[shade00]

Originally posted by bidulless:

Originally posted by shade00:

hmm but normally when a program installs it adds registry files among others.
so epic is most likely still there.
some have said you can avoid epic, some said you can but to play requires.
if installed at all, then its in your registry files, and even an uninstall sometimes leaves behind registry files.
which is why there is uninstaller programs to clean uninstall

Hello
what kind of registry ? if you delete the file before the first run and deny steam to make some change on your system, it can't be installed xd

again read what i said, some have said you can avoid installing epic, others said you cannot
some have said they tried and they cannot hit play without having epic installed.
information ive gathered is half and half on if its required.

if it does a pre launch install, or adds the files during the game install process.
i dunno, i dont feel much up to speaking i just woke up and mind is foggy
i cannot explain well right now.

[rusty_dragon]

Originally posted by bidulless:

Originally posted by shade00:

hmm but normally when a program installs it adds registry files among others.
so epic is most likely still there.
some have said you can avoid epic, some said you can but to play requires.
if installed at all, then its in your registry files, and even an uninstall sometimes leaves behind registry files.
which is why there is uninstaller programs to clean uninstall

Hello
what kind of registry ? if you delete the file before the first run and deny steam to make some change on your system, it can't be installed xd

And every user must now go and do that? Maybe you can explain, why I can no longer play multiplayer with my friends?