[2021] How to play ANY old version of PAYDAY (w/Multiplayer)

Want to hop into a time machine and experience a PAYDAY 2 long gone? Want to see Overkill be the hardest difficulty? Want to feel old One Down? With one click this can become a possibility! Let me be your gateway to a time passed. Salem's guide sadly stopped working so I figured it would be time for a new one.

Tools you'll need

1. A legit copy of PAYDAY 2. It will not work with pirated copies!

2. The SteamRE DepotDownloader from GitHub, it can be found here[github.com]

3 .net Core Runtime SDK from Microsoft, it can be downloaded here[dotnet.microsoft.com]

And that's all you'll need!

Finding your version

To download any version of PAYDAY 2, or games in general, you need a manifest ID. This ID tells Steam which specific files to download. A spreadsheet of PAYDAY 2 manifest ID's can be found here[docs.google.com]. For versions newer than 134.1 you may need to do some digging yourself. If anyone has a link to a complete manifest ID list please link it in the coments!

No clue which version you want to download? The PAYDAY wiki has an overview of PAYDAY 2's update history, including changelogs. Looking here[payday.fandom.com] may help you decide which version to download and try out.

General Stuff you need to be aware of

Watch the Steam updates!

No one wants to sit through an hour long download just for Steam to delete your files because it recognizes them as outdated. To stop this annoyance from occuring either only start PAYDAY 2 through Steam in offline mode or (and what I recommend) run it from the directory/via a shortcut of the .exe file and not via Steam, this will stop Steam from updating.

For extra safety do not install your old version into the same directory as your regular PAYDAY 2 installation. This way running PAYDAY 2 via Steam will start the most current version and all steps to prevent automatic updates can be skipped. However, moving save files around and disabling cloud saves is still necessary.

Back up your saves

Instead of deleting your save files, simply remove them, all of them, from your AppData and Userdata directory to avoid losing any progress. You may be able to carry over saves from a newer version and therefore your level and money as long as you unequip all boosts and weapons from AI, unequip all suits and gloves, sell all your weapons and select an OG perk deck like Armorer. However, being a higher infamy than present in your selected version and generally possessing something from a future date will cause the save to never load.

Safes

It is not possible to obtain safes or drills from older versions, even if they were present. These drops are handled by Steam servers. You will get a daily skin drop still regardless of your version. These card drops may either appear as just a solid color or crash your game. If this happens, check your Steam notifications! If it tells you you got a new skin then just start the game back up. You only received your daily crash, everything still works.

Mods

If you can find an old enough BLT hook and the old versions of mods you can still use them. Mods made for current versions and the current BLTHook are not compatible.

Bugs, bugs, bugs

Running an old version is not easy, down in the comment section you will find countless comments of people running into issues. A documentation of issues and fixes can be found further down the guide.

Mutiplayer

Thanks to PAYDAY 2 being peer-to-peer playing with others is as simple as it is in the current version. Just create a lobby. It will now be visible to everyone browsing CrimeNet in your version.

Downloading and installing a Manifest

1. Extract the files of the DepotDownloader into any folder

2. Press Shift + Right click in the folder and click "Open PowerShell Window here"

3. Type in "cmd" and hit enter

4. Now type this: "dotnet DepotDownloader.dll -app 218620 -depot 218621 -manifest (ID you found) -username (steam username) -password (steam password)"

5. Hit enter.

6. You may need to verify your Steam login via a code sent to your E-Mail. If so, copy the code and paste it into the PowerShell window and hit enter.

7. The DepotDownloader will now download the manifest, it will take some time. The download may sometimes look stuck, if that's the case, try typing any thing into the window. If it doesn't let you type, the download is still going. If it does or the download should crash, just repeat step 1 to 6. Your porgress is saved, if you downloaded 50% of the manifest the download will start at 50% when resumed.

8. After the download has finished go into the "depots" folder which should be where you extracted the Depot Downloader to. Here you will find your old version ready to play.

Avoiding the Grind

Want to get to max progression immediately instead of grinding your way through the sluggish level curve of old PAYDAY 2? Understandable. If you don't plan to exclusively play an old version for 40 or 50 hours with or without friends but rather just want to have a quick look you can get yourself to level 100 with tons of cash rather quickly.

Do note this may not work for any version lacking infamy since by default you will be put to infamy 5 as well.

1. Download Classic Heisting Reborn
2. Launch modern PAYDAY 2 with Classic Heisting installed
3. Go to options, advanced and tick the box for max progression
4. Exit the game
5. Go to your save file location
6. Find Classic Heisting's save file
7. Rename it to save098.sav

Next time you launch your old installation it will load from the save file you just renamed, you will have 1 billion spending, 10 billion offshore, 120 skillpoints, infamy 5 and 10 of each weapon mod. I would recommend this method over going through the hassle of trying to make your save file of the newer version work.

Troubleshooting

Should any issues pop up they and their solutions will be documented here

My game crashes upon start up/Freezes on "Press any key"

Did you remove all save files and the renderer_settings.xml from AppData > Local > PAYDAY 2 and Steam > userdata > (Your ID) > 218620 > remote?

I did!

Are Steam cloud saves disabled? If not go to your library, right click on PAYDAY 2, go to properties and untick the box asking you if PAYDAY 2 should use cloud saves right in the first window.

I did this but it still doesn't work

Try and remove the remote and saves folder completely and create a new, empty one.

My game does not move past 'Press Any Key' at all no matter what I try!

The only known fix is to create a new Steam account and share PAYDAY 2 with it. It is a Steam issue.

Help, I get a popup saying 'The framework 'Microsoft.NETCore.App', version '5.0.0' was not found.'

Download .net version 5 from the link in the guide and install it

The .exe doesn't start!

Run it in admin mode, if in the depots folder, move it to a different folder. If that doesn't do the trick move your old installation to a different hard drive than your main PAYDAY 2 folder.

[Jomamoon]

you can direct download old game version without login steam id and pw, by entering win+r and input steam://nav/console, then input download_depot 218620 218621 2703995013139322193 (game version code u want)

[Toasty Haymaker]

If anyone is here to undo U240.3 and get the broken achievement System Shock (and I think Human Torch) here's the most recent manifests
https://steamdb.info/depot/218621/manifests/
Gonna try using 2703995013139322193

[savimbi]

My game won't even start

[Afganistanley]

when I restart the game, it resets my progress and options.

[Antoniopop123]

You've done god's work boys, congrats on the accomplishment!

[RedCobra1246]

You have to replace the steam folder contents with the depot ones

[Michael]

The game start from current version when I try to run it from depots folder

[RedCobra1246]

You have to do "cd <folder where the .exe is>"

[TTimerr]

powershell is saying that depot downloader doesn't exist

[RedCobra1246]

It should. I would redownload. It should continue where it left off.