Fitgirl repack? What exactly is it?

I apologize if this is already answered somewhere but I'm curious what exactly a fitgirl repack is? I know it's a pirated version of a game but like is it just an installer or something? And if you imported the game into steam for example can you be "banned" or VAT (idr the term)

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is it just an installer or something?

It's a compressed installer to be precise. Usually crackers only put up the patch files, which is pretty useless for anybody wanting to pirate a game. Fitgirl repackages (and compresses) the game files together with the crack patches into a cracked installer, hence "repack".

And if you imported the game into steam for example can you be “banned” or VAT (idr the term)

Nope, though it will look funny in your Steam Status there is nothing to worry about. After all for all Valve knows you could be using a renamed version of a legitimate App, for non-steam entries in steam only the .exe name is known, nothing else.

Just a word of warning: be careful when torrenting the games, while Valve will not ban you for using them game publishers are known to sue when catching you torrenting them (usually the upload part in the torrent is what gets people but the downloading is not 100% safe either). You should definitely look into how to safely torrent stuff before committing to it in order to avoid any nasty cease-and-desist letters flying in your door.

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- The warning part totally Depends on where you are . I'm not American nor Europeans. I'll continue sailing the high seas 😎
  
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  Arr, me heart be green with envy, it be!
  
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- I never torrent unless my windscribe is on which is bound to qbittorent
  
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  A man of culture. Whatever we write on th wind is anonymous.
  
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The compression was already explained - I would add that if you're not deep into scene groups, popular repackers are in general a safe choice, i.e. no malware included. Of course it's never 100% safe, but in my opinion safer than picking from a list of torrents what could be the scene release.

I never had issues with fitgirl and Dodi, maybe other users can drop some more names that have proven to be reliable over a long time.

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I'll add that if you want to archive games forever, storing repacks is a good idea because of their extreme compression. From what I've observed, Fitgirl trends towards heavier compression while DODI trends towards faster install times.

KaOsKrew is another respected repacking group that you can trust.

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- Idk man dodi's releasees seem to have the same size as fitgirl while also install faster and less CPU intensive when installing
  
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  No way we're downloading the same repacks, it's rare to see anything as small as fitgirl's releases in my experience. Your CPU had better be ready to step up to the plate though.
  
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  I've had random errors, lock ups, etc. with Fitgirl's repacks, however Dodi's repacks have been incredibly smooth. Miles Morales installed in less than 4 minutes, using his repack.
  
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- So I should get games from kaoskrew?
  
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  They're available as an option. You can source from any of Fitgirl, DODI, or KaOs if they have the game you want. Other repackers do exist and they're all generally trustworthy, but those 3 put out a lot of content and have a good track record. ElAmigos is another good one that puts out a lot of releases.
  
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It's a cracked version of the game that has been heavily compressed to reduce download size. This is why the installer will eat a lot of CPU resources during installation. While you probably won't be banned, I would generally avoid playing these games through steam as a precaution. Usually multiplayer doesn't work normally anyways.

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- Playing through steam might be useful for linux users, because proton is on there (but idk if it works with self-added games).
  
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  It works amazingly well for me, I install fog games with proton and it just works.
  
  I tried with lutris and bottles but I was always having issues.
  
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  Fitgirl repacks rarely work with Linux
  
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- +Patches provided with the one installer versus having to download multiple torrents with some of the patches not being actively shared.
  
  +Lots of people sharing FitGirl repacks so better chance of finishing for those a little bit harder to find releases. This could just be a function of me using only public sites.
  
  +Ease of install. It just works. I don't think I've ever had a FitGirl install go bad. Or Dodi. But it can take for-fucking-ever especially if you choose the low ram option (I've tried it a couple of times).
  
  If you get from a reputable site like 1337x.to you don't have worry as long as you are also downloading from one of their reputable uploaders.
  
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Do you want a simple answer?

fitgirl repacks attempt to stress your cpu/gpu to the maximum and try to overheat your beloved PC, by making the data for the game astronomically compressed to the point where the decompression time can actually take longer than the time to download the original crack on USENET by as much as 4-8x.

If you have USENET, don't even bother. If you have unlimited Data on your ISP, just torrent the un-"packed" version. You will thank me in the longer time. Its not worth it in most cases.

Here is an example of a 75GB repack that makes it 56GB:

Did the time it took you to save <20GB download save you the additional 1.5 hrs to decompress?!

Okay, if the repack is under 20-30GB, its probably worth a shot. But even then...

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- Fair point if you have a high speed connection. But if your system overheats during decompression, the fault lies with your shitty technical skills instead of the repack. Clean your rig, man.
  
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- According to your example anyone with a Download rate below 3.5MB/s would still benefit from the compression. The 4-8x is also a lot of BS, assuming 10MB/s you'd be looking at 3x. For 4-8x you'd need 12-24MB/s. It's pretty ignorant to assume those speeds are common, let alone the standard for most people.
  
  Besides what kind of potato CPU do you have that it takes 1.5hrs to decompress a 56GB repack? A quad core from 2013? That's about how long it takes to compress that amount of data to that extent, decompression is usually a lot faster.
  
  Edit: looking at your screenshot instead of just the text, my quad core assumption was right on the mark.
  
  Pretty, hypocritical to assume metropolitan internet speeds paired with a potato PC to make your point seem better than it is no?
  
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  I couldn't find the example I had in mind, but it was something that was over 120GB. and the unpack was 8+hrs on what is arguably a reasonable PC.
  
  You forget most people do not have a CPU that has 24 threads, 12 cores. And on top of that, the amount of RAM required can be questioned. If you think your 64GB RAM and 16/32 CPU are "normal" then you are just kidding yourself, and its probably not your money you are spending on it to but it.
  
  Then on top of that, most people have an ISP that can reach far higher speeds than you propose. Mine is a basic minimum of 25MB/s as a basic minimum. I'm sorry to hear that you cannot get even that, but that is as common as muck in most western civilised worlds.
  
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- Based on the response to your answer I think I'll disregard what you said entirely
  
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  Well to be fair compression/decompression is EXTREMELY CPU intensive even on newest hardware. It was always that way and will always stay that way probably. The more you compress the longer and more CPU intensive it is to decompress No matter if your pc is 10 years old or if it's a rack server with newest hardware
  
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- Depends on one's downloading speed and cpu, Id much rather use a repacker on ADSL with a good pc
  
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