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If you're here, it's probably because you've already realized that you can't use your favorite addons on official L4D2 servers. This is because Valve, as an anti-cheat measure, decided that they wouldn't work on their servers. But don't worry, because there's a method to make this possible. And by the way, I will clarify many doubts that you probably have.

After watching all the steps, I really recommend you to check the "Questions and Answers" because there´s so much important and there I explain things like install 2 pak01_dir

Note: This step is for people who have the game purchased on Steam. If you don't have it, download and install the program from this link:

The first thing you should do is go to the Steam library, open the search filters, check the "tools" mark and download the Authoring Tools from the search bar, which is at the top.



Open it once and close it again.

We have to go to the root folder of our game and go to the folder "left4dead2" (C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Left 4 Dead 2\left4dead2). There we'll find the file "gameinfo.txt"



We proceed to open it with the notepad and scroll to the bottom where we will see the following lines:





Once there, you must write under the same format "Game" and the name of the folder where you'll save your addons (it can be any; in this case, it'll be "MisAddons") Note: make sure that what you write is inside those keys signs ({ }), that what you write is above all the other routes, and remember the exact name you put for your folder because it will be needed for the next step






Finally, we save and close the file.

Continuing with the previous step, we'll now create the folder where our future pak01_dir will go, in the root folder of Left 4 Dead 2 (C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Left 4 Dead 2)



Note: It's very important that the folder that we have just created is located in this path and that it has the same name that we gave it in step 2, otherwise it will not work

This step is probably the easiest as we simply have to download the mods in the way that we all already know. We go to the Steam workshop, we enter the Left 4 Dead 2 section and we subscribe to the addons that we want in our pak01_dir



If you are a Non-Steam player, we simply download all the addons we want and put them in a folder all together on your desktop to keep them within reach.

If you are a Non-Steam player, you can ignore this step since you don't have to go to that folder where the workshop addons are downloaded. Just have all your addons in one folder.

In this step we simply go to the local files of our L4D2 and go to the folder where the addons are located (C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Left 4 Dead 2\left4dead2\addons\workshop)

Keeping opened the folder of the previous step , we open another tab of the file explorer and go to where our vpk.exe is located, a program that installed with the Authoring Tools (C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Left 4 Dead 2\bin)



I recommend you having both tabs open at the same time as this will greatly facilitate the next step.

Now you'll understand why I want you to keep both tabs open at the same time

We have to drag each vpk file (from our addons folder), to the vpk.exe. By doing this we'll notice that new folders will be created in the addons folder.



We repeat this process with each of the addons.

As the title says, in the addons folder (C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Left 4 Dead 2\left4dead2\addons\workshop), we create a folder called "pak01_dir" (it has to be exactly with this name and in lower case, because otherwise none of this method will work)

Once this folder is created, open another tab of the file explorer and reopen the addons folder (that is, we have to have 2 tabs opened of the addons folder C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Left 4 Dead 2\left4dead2\addons\workshop)



Now we have to drag and drop all the contents of the folders created in step 7 to our pak01_dir folder, one by one.


Sometimes it'll ask you to replace files: don't worry because all the files stay and none are deleted.

!IMPORTANT!

CHECK THE WEIGHT OF YOUR FOLDER, IF IT WEIGHS MORE THAN 1.5 GB ALL THE NEXT STEPS WON'T WORK FOR YOU

AS IT WEIGHS MORE THAN 1.5 GB, YOU'LL NEED TO CREATE TWO PAK01_DIR FILES NOW, CHECK THE Q&A SECTIONS DOWN BELOW SO YOU LEARN HOW

After we have put all the content of the addons folders in our pak01_dir folder, we do the same as in step 7 with this folder (we drag the pak01_dir folder into the vpk.exe). For this we reopen the folder where this was located (C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Left 4 Dead 2\bin) and once opened, we do what is indicated.



After your folder has been processed, you'll find a vpk file in your addons folder called "pak01_dir.vpk".

IF YOU DIDN'T GET A VPK FILE AND INSTEAD YOU GOT A MDBP ONE, IT'S BECAUSE YOUR PAKO1_DIR FOLDER WEIGHS MORE THAN 1.5 GB

YOU NEED TO CREATE TWO PAK01_DIR FILES NOW, CHECK THE Q&A SECTION DOWN BELOW SO YOU LEARN HOW

We are almost done!

Now what we have to do is copy/cut/move that pak01_dir to the folder we created in step 3.

And congratulations, you will now be able to enjoy your favorite addons on the official Valve servers!

Once the game has started, you don't have to do anything(this pak01_dir will not appear in the add-ons section of our game; everytime we open the game they are going to activate automatically) but desactivate the addons you subscribed to from the game menu (since in step 4 we subscribed to the addons, that means you'll still have them in the addons section, so you must disable them from there or it could cause conflicts when you want to play a game)

Next, I leave screenshots as proof that this method is 100% functional (in these screenshots you can see how my graphics addons are active even though I'm in a versus game on an official Valve server)

Is this bannable?

No, it isn't bannable. Leaving aside that Valve's anti-cheating service is dead, speaking from my experience, I have used this trick for a long time and I have never been banned (many other users also use this method and haven't been banned).

My pak01_dir gives me crashes/bugs when playing. How do I solve it?

As a recommendation, before you can do all this, download your addons in the traditional way and test them in the solo campaign. Play several campaigns and make sure this combination of addons is stable (I emphasize in several campaigns because sometimes a set of addons can work for you on one map but not on the next). If these aren't stable installed in the traditional way, much less will they be installed in a single vpk file..

Do I have to stay subscribed to my addons for my pak01_dir to work?

No, if you want you can unsubscribe from these. At the end of the day, all that addon data is already in your pak01_dir.

If I want to install a single addon, do I have to do all these steps?

Luckily for you, there's a super easy method that will save you a lot of time. All you have to do is follow steps 2 and 3 (which means that you have to modify your "gameinfo.txt" file, and then create the folder where you'll put your pak01_dir). Once this is done, drag your addon to the created folder and change its name to "pak01_dir" (your file should look like this: pak01_dir.vpk). And you are ready to play!

When I drag my pak01_dir folder into vpk.exe, why does it give me an mdbp file and not a vpk?

What happens is that your pak01_dir folder is larger than 1.5 GB, that's why it won't give you a vpk file. Does that mean we have to limit ourselves to just 1.5 GB of addons? Of course not! There's a method to be able to install a pak01_dir that is larger than 1.5 GB: install more than one pak01_dir at the same time.

How can I install more than one pak01_dir at a time?
It's much easier than you think, because the method is practically the same as what we have done here. The steps are the following:

1) Install the L4D2 Authoring Tools. Open it once and close it.

2) We modify the "gameinfo.txt" file adding the necessary search paths according to the total weight of our addons (as the maximum weight of your pak01_dir folder can be 1.5 GB, for every 1.5 GB of addons you must create an extra path. For example, if the total weight of your addons is 3 GB, you must create 2 paths; if the total weight of your addons is 4.5 GB, you must create 3 routes)



As the total weight of all my addons is 3 GB, I had to create 2 routes (in this case, "MisAddons" and "MisAddons2"

3) Drag all our addons to the vpk.exe file to create the addons folders (step 7)

4) Create the pak01_dir folders according to the number of search paths you created (since you cannot have 2 folders with the same name in the same path, you can create one folder "pak01_dir" and the other with any other name, which, once converted into vpk and placed in its respective folder, you can change the name to "pak01_dir")


For example, I created a folder "pak01_dir" and another called "pak02"

5) Fill each "pak" folder with 1.5 GB of addons since that is the maximum weight that each pak01_dir can have (for this you can gradually fill a folder with addons until it reaches the limit. Once that limit is reached, start fill the following folder with the addons. The weight of each folder can be monitored by right clicking on the folder and clicking on properties)



As you can see, each folder weighs less than 1.5 GB. This is why the pak01_dir can be created this way when we drag our folders to the vpk.exe


6) Drag the pak01_dir folder to the vpk.exe file, to get our multiple pak01_dir, with different contents each (step 10)

7) Move each created "pak" file to its respective folder (step 11)

8) Once the files are inside their respective folders, rename both to "pak01_dir". Each vpk, even knowing that they have different contents and are in different folders, must have the same name or else the game will not detect these vpks.




As you can see, both vpk files are called "pak01_dir" and are located in different folders

9) Enjoy!

This guide took me a long time to make, but I think it was worth it as it is valuable information that the entire Left 4 Dead community should have. I apologize for some misspellings, English ain't my main language.

As a conclusion, it can be said that:

1) pak01_dir folders cannot be larger than 1.5 GB

2) Regardless of how many pak01_dir you create, once they are in their respective folders, they should be called pak01_dir

3) If you still have the addons you used to create your pak01_dir active, disable them from your game menu to avoid conflicts

Thank you very much for your attention! You would support and encourage me a lot by sharing and rating this guide.