Tutorial; Download Old Big - HWRM/KarosGraveyard GitHub Wiki

To download old pre-v2.0 HWRM .big files (not the entire game/exe):

Download DepotDownloader

Create a text file in the DepotDownloader directory. Call it hwrm.txt and copy the below text into it and save the file. This is a list of all .big files you want to retrieve a previous version of.

hwrm.txt

HomeworldRM\\Data\\Homeworld2.big
HomeworldRM\\Data\\HW1Ships.big
HomeworldRM\\Data\\HW2Ships.big
HomeworldRM\\Data\\HWBackgrounds.big

Create another file in the DepotDownloader directory called hwrm.bat. Copy the below text into the file and save.

hwrm.bat

@echo off
cls
set /p user="Steam username: "
set /p pass="Steam password: "
cls
dotnet DepotDownloader.dll -app 244160 -all-platforms -depot 244161 -manifest 2705039423460849921 -filelist "hwrm.txt" -username "%user%" -password "%pass%" -dir remastered
pause

Run the .bat file from a command prompt, enter your Steam credentials when prompted, and it will download the pre-2.0 versions of the listed .big files. The process will take a lot of time and generate several "error downloading chunk" messages which can be ignored.

Once the pre-2.0 .big files have been downloaded, you can use BigDecrypter to decrypt the .big files. Note: only pre-2.0 .big files are encrypted, post-2.0 .big files are no longer encrypted.

Once the .big files have been decrypted, you can use CFHODEd to open and extract ship models and textures.