Mounting CS:GO assets properly after CS2 is released.

Download and mount CS:GO assets manually without also having CS2 installed. (not switching to "csgo_demo_viewer" beta)

Intro

So Valve has killed CS:GO, and even if you do not care for the game itself, you cannot use it's assets in gmod anymore by default. That also means that things that relied on them in GMod broke.

Simplest way to get cs:go assets back is to switch CS2 to the beta branch "csgo_legacy", which includes both CS2, and a neutered version of CS:GO (no matchmaking etc.) intended for watching demos. The branch has the last CS:GO version released and includes all CS:GO assets. (Also you should be able to play CS2 too on it.) See this guide if you do not know how to switch to betas on games:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3042829127

However if you do not have any intention to play CS2, and want to save on disk space/bandwidth, you can download only the CS:GO assets and mount them manually.

This guide explains the process to do so.

Preparations

First, you need the right depot id & manifest id, for example steamdb[steamdb.info] lists them, but I have already found them.

Listed below are depot ids & manifest ids from CS:GOs last update (on 2023-08-31)
CS:GO has split it's data into multiple depots, but these are the ones we are interested in, they are actually the original CS:GO depots, despite their current names listed on steamdb.

descript  depot   manifest
common    731     718406683749122620 
bin_win   732     2224497558453288476
bin_mac   733     7173575548168592307
bin_linux 734     3106517550092294329

Downloading the files

Actually we are mostly interested in the "common" depot (731), it contains the common assets (.vpks, maps, models etc.). The other depots contain the application binaries (executables like cs2.exe + libraries/.dll etc.) for each platform, but no assets, so not necessary for use with GMOD only.

The total size after downloading will be just over 30GB. Download size is less than that, as it is compressed.

To download this depot, you have atleast 2 options:

1. Steam clients command "download_depot" (but you cannot choose download location.)
   
2. https://github.com/SteamRE/DepotDownloader/

Download using DepotDownloader

Listing this first because you can choose where to download the depot, as well as this having more feedback on download status.

1. Download DepotDownloader from github releases: https://github.com/SteamRE/DepotDownloader/releases/latest
   (If you are on Windows. On linux you might need to build it, on Arch Linux I got it from AUR[aur.archlinux.org])
   
2. Run the tool with command:
   

   dotnet DepotDownloader.dll -app 730 -depot 731 -manifest 718406683749122620 -username <username> -dir <path to dl location>

   Substitute <username> and <path to dl location> with your username and desired path, It then asks for password if necessary (and steam guard code)

(Sidenote: Not sure if username is necessary for these depots, as CS:GO/CS2 is f2p game)

Download using "download_depot"

Not necessary to install anything extra, but you cannot change where steam downloads the depot.

1. Launch steam with argument "-console" to enable steam client console:
   https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=873543244
   
2. Use command below in console:
   

   download_depot 730 731 718406683749122620

   (syntax for the command is:)
   

   download_depot <appid> <depotid> [<target manifestid>] [<delta manifestid>] [<depot flags filter>] : download a single depot

It should start downloading. There might not be a progress indicator AFAIK, but it should print a path where the depot was downloaded when download is finished.

Mounting in Gmod

Edit mount.cfg in "SteamApps/common/GarrysMod/garrysmod/cfg/mount.cfg", insert the following:

For example, if path to the downloaded depot is: "D:\Games\global_offensive", you need to mount the "csgo" folder inside:

"mountcfg"
{
	// "cstrike"	"C:\steamcmd\steamapps\common\Counter-Strike Source Dedicated Server\cstrike"
	// "tf"			"C:\mytf2server\tf"
	"csgo"			"D:\Games\global_offensive\csgo"
}

The resources are then usable in gmod.

Extra notes

• IIRC In game the models are not listed under CS:GO in the spawnmenu, but all stuffed under Garrysmod, but atleast you have the assets back.
  
• You can mount other source games the same way, for example I have mounted Black Mesa: Source to gmod that way.

[What's App]

A note for others doing this now:
1. You do not need to login in order to download the common depot.
2. Use this command if you're using DepotDownloader on Windows:
DepotDownloader.exe -app 730 -depot 731 -manifest 718406683749122620 -dir <your_path>

[PendantEagle129]

tldr

[Okxa]

The automatic spawnlist for CS:GO might not appear when doing it this way, but models should show up in search etc.

[Pablo's Borger]

After following your instructions closely, I only got the maps to show up in my game. Any ideas on what I could've done wrong, and how to fix it?

[Some Dude]

nvm my internet is just shit

[Some Dude]

is it normal that the console doesn't tell me where it installed to?

[Okxa]

updated the guide and changed the beta branch name

(Side note, it seems that "csgo_demo_viewer" just got renamed to "csgo_legacy", still seems to include CS2 etc. so if you do not want extra downloads you can still use this method described in this guide.)

[Father Andrew]

Yep, its csgo_legacy now in the beta tab.

[Father Andrew]

I think its csgo_legacy now

[Father Andrew]

i think you need to set it to demo AGAIN