Why FitGirl won't die: The repacker millions of gamers depend on in an age of surveillance
Ask almost any PC gamer from Asia to South America, and they will tell you the same thing: FitGirl is the one name in piracy that everyone recognises
Note plenty FitGirl repacks are lossless; as in, she isn't taking less important files out of the game, she's compressing it better. 90GB→35GB seems accurate; you often see ~1/3 of the original size, like this. And it shows plenty game devs
And then those same developers get amazed at the fact FitGirl is so popular. "Maybe we're doing something wrong? ...nah."
It's more likely that the devs are not being given the time or resources to do this kind of thing properly. Their bosses are too concerned with what will save money and generate shareholder value.
Fair point. I guess it would be more accurate to say "development studios" (you know, the organisation... including the bloody boss) instead of "game devs".
Gamedev is notorious for basically having permacrunch so this is the most likely reason
It's basic math for these executives, the cost of bandwidth is magnitudes less than than the cost to pay someone to reduce it. They do not care about the cost to gamers.
absolutely this.
I wouldn't really say that. The kind of extreme compression Fitgirl does comes with the tradeoff of really long decompression times. Depending on which games, nearly 45 minutes (with a 7800x3D)
Some games lack compression but I would not want those long install times by default, if you have a speedy internet connection they usually take longer to install than to download. Don't get me wrong, for people with really slow internet those repacks are a godsend but they are not "better" on every aspect.
Honestly I can't remember the last time a fitgirl release took longer to install than an 'official' copy.
And pretty much as long as I've had a computer it's been "bottom of the barrel" hardware.
The thing about compression is you have to process it to decompress it. It may be benificial to people with limited bandwidth, or for peer-to-peer sharing, but it's probably better for most users for someone like Valve to share the uncompressed version. Bandwidth isn't the issue it used to be.
It also makes progressive updates harder. The best you can do is compress each update individually, not the whole package.
I'm aware that compression rates are a trade-off between space and processing time, and that there's some balance to be had. However, I don't see this balance from plenty commercial games; what I see instead is disregard.
Here's a made up example. Suppose you have a choice between compressing a game:
FitGirl will consistently pick the later option. And it would be fine if devs picked the former, or a middle ground... but they don't. Instead, often you get a 10 GiB file that takes 10 min to unpack, the worst of both worlds.
And it isn't just a matter of the compression algorithm. The developers also have the freedom to choose how they split files; but they often create 9001 files the size of an ant, that is going to hurt decompression times. (Paradox Interactive, I'm looking at you.)
Tagging @fiestorra@discuss.tchncs.de, as it addresses what they said too.
do an extremely bad job at basic tasks like compression
I've installed one game from FitGirl so far. It took three hours to unpack while hammering all the cpu cores, failed, and required another three-hour go to install properly.
So you're saying that all games should install like this?
A lot of devs stopped giving a flying fuck to disk space and performance a long time ago. "32GB of RAM and 500GB of disk space? Don't mind if I do!" - for a pixel art 2D platformer
It's so infuriating I've either got 3 brand new games or 30 older games installed on to my device.
Even mobile gaming is getting out of hand
The EA/Ubisoft/Rockstar servers are so shit and their games so large that it's actually near impossible to download their games on a slow internet connection, because they would just timeout after 3~4 hours.
Downloading a cracked, compressed FitGirl repack over P2P and just ignoring the crack was unironically the only viable way to legally enjoy the games I had purchased back when I had slow internet.
The repacks are windows .exes, yet even work flawlessly via wine. FitGirl truly GOATed.
The downside of the compression is the install can take way longer than the download. But if you're on a slower connection the smaller download would be a big benefit.
Yesterday I tried to mod persona 4 golden on Linux. After a couple hours of headaches and some help from the developer, I finally managed to fix the problem and launch persona aaaaand denuvo shut it down.
Denuvo literally shut down my legal version of P4G because I used one too many versions of proton. This is why I support fitgirl
Yeah, Denuvo registers every version of Proton as a different computer. So when you cycle through a bunch of different versions, Denuvo sees you booting it on a bunch of different computers back-to-back. IIRC Denuvo’s ToS allows for 5 different computers to boot a game within 24 hours. So it locks you out for 24h, as an anti-account-sharing measure. It has hit the spotlight a few times recently, because of the Steam Deck users needing to cycle through Proton versions.
Same thing happened to me with Street fighter 6. I was just trying to get it to run and kept switching proton versions and it got locked.
They still pay for Denuvo for Persona 4? What a waste of money.
Atlus, like many Japanese companies, is very protective of their ips, for worse. There is no better
Euy even buy games anymore if you can't play them?
If you paid, it's not really yours.
it's consistent, quick, and dependable. There's no reason to use anything else. I get the original purpose was for people in countries with slow internet connections but now everyone just uses it.
Which is kinda positive because that mean faster torrents
It's harder to use on Linux, and lower-performance devices. I would prefer prefer having dumps of the pre-installed game folder to use on a steam deck, for example.
You're missing the point. The other user is highlighting why your typical player would go with those repacks. And, well, your typical player doesn't use Linux (...yet - Microsoft is fixing this real fast.)
(I typically use johncena141, but I don't recall having problems with FitGirl.)
I'd suggest having a look into LinuxRuleZ! repacks, maybe not for lower performance devices but at least it's like 2 clicks and you're up and running for basically any game.
Even games that are notoriously difficult to make work pirated, like Forza Horizon 4 and 5.
They seem to work fine for me on Linux? Only thing is that stupid isdone.dll error but that's easily fixed using a different runner
I also have problems on Linux. I’ve tried a few different methods, but ultimately, they always end up seeming to freeze and make no further progress after a certain point.
Folks here are like "everyone uses it. Eventually all gamers realize it's better"
Me, having never even heard of this in my 30 years of gaming: 🫣
It's a catch 22. If everyone uses it, game companies get it shut down, and then it doesn't exist, and then nobody uses it. The only existing methods of piracy are little known. That you've never heard of it is expected.
I was so upset when the vault got dmca'd
I mean, do you pirate games? If you've never gone to a torrent site in your life it's not surprising, but FitGirl's repacks are so numerous that it's hard not to notice them if you do pirate.
I used to torrent frequently, but rarely software.
\
Since I graduated and started making adult money I haven't really at all. When I want to vote with my wallet, I just don't play it at all (usually these are live service games anyways).
Although I'm going to start torrenting music and video again on principle.
I am so wary of downloading them though, exe files are scary for fools like me
If you can afford it
Might be a better option, or least send the devs some support while using repacks. It's sort of like a thrift store when you find something you really wanted maybe a game you didn't even know of, and it means a lot more because it feels like finding a treasure.
I actually didn't know that the whole point of fitgirl was for compression, I've been blessed with massive hard drives. I think I took my 4tb ssd for granted. Not everyone has even an extra $5 .
I actually didn’t know that the whole point of fitgirl was for compression
The whole point of view of the article is about people from countries that can't afford the modern AAA price, internet bandwidth... and even PC capable to run the game decently (AAA the full price always take in account hardware that runs on "Ultra settings"; not the customers running it at very low).
As aside note, piracy isn't even about piracy itself anymore: someone who buy an AAA videogame on "exclusivity store" (such as Epic)... soon or later will discover that's easier to store a fitgirl copy of his purchase to run the same game seamelessly across all the PC in their household (good old: Install > Next > Next > Finish) ... rather having set up those 2+3 launcher per PC.
If you can afford it. Might be a better option, or least send the devs some support while using repacks.
Honestly, I think this is a case-by-case basis. I don't weep for EA losing money when people acquire The Sims for example. The people that did the heavy lifting already got paid, and the less money that's going into the Trump Empire and Saudi Arabian pockets the better.
That's almost besides the point, though. We're living in a time where if you buy something you for the most part don't own it. Buy an EV? Then the battery is rented. Buy an iPhone? You don't get to choose what software or hardware to put in it, only Apple batteries are acceptable else your screen/camera/faceID array will magically stop working. Android phones are barking down the same route.
Buy an eBook/Audiobook from Amazon? Well they can edit and redact it whenever they please. A film from iTunes? DRMed, bound to die whenever Apple decides to no longer support your platform. Video game? You get a license to run the software, nothing more.
There are studios I feel happy supporting, ones that treat their customers and their workers right. Don't think a single one of them is a AAA studio though. Like, why should I pay Bethesda when they don't pay their musicians?
My logic is buy the game, now you have a perpetual license. I bought Abe's Oddysee on the PS1, I can now download any roms, any re-releases, any ports. Buy all new games, and if it gets taken off of steam, free reign to pirate.
It probably has the same deals as your website, but I use https://gg.deals/. It shows keyshops with the various risks that might be associated with them, too
The best option is piracy. Do not engage in capitalism where you can avoid it.
Excluding Indie devs, sure. Stardew Valley will always have my full support.
I don't know which stores exactly are listed there. But at least with some shady key resellers, piracy might actually be better than buying from them according to some indie devs: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-48908726
Isthereanydeal don't list those shady resellers.
I suspect FitGirl is a morbidly obese 58 year old man with a twisted sense of humor.
Omg He's just like me fr fr
Nah its a Russian women.
Hopefully less old. We want him to keep them repacks coming
I used fit girl for a game I didn't know if my first pc build would run a game I wanted to buy. It didn't work, I upgraded my pc and tried it again and then it worked.
I'm glad they are around now that I'm trying to learn about pc gaming.
Same here. The problem was that I needed more RAM. 🙃
Piracy is the response when companies refuse to serve market needs.
I mean, there will always be people trying to get something for free when they normally have no problem affording it or obtaining it personally. It’s why the Parasite Class continue to drive down wages while raising prices for that sweet labour-free profit margin, even though they already have obscene amounts of wealth. Their boundless greed demands they squeeze even more out of the Working Class whose labour is the source of all wealth.
So yeah, there we’ll always be some people who will pirate purely for the fish.
But in the end, any significant piracy is 100% the fault of those very companies that complain about it.
I am in the process of moving to pc from ps. I wont buy the same games again, it doesnt make sense to me. Where it is cheap and easy I have done but I feel I bought the right to buy them and also I hate some of the features with logins and always on connections.
The repacker* is great but there’s also ElAmigos and DODI.
I only use DODI when there is no Fitgirl release. DODI torrents are always behind spam/scam link gates and the installer is horrible. In the DODI installer to start it for some reason you have to press the up arrow or something. Just... why? It's like he saw that feature on his phone lock screen and decided to add it without asking himself what purpose it serves. The installer is also totally broken if you have changed windows scaling so every time I want to use it I have to go into the properties and disable scaling.
DODI works better on Linux tho
Ah, alright alright
DODI torrents are always behind spam/scam link gates
There’s a bypass script for this and should be on the DB0 megathread list (or at least in the PiratedGames megathread).
and the installer is horrible. In the DODI installer to start it for some reason you have to press the up arrow or something. Just... why?
Honestly, I never found this to be an issue. But can understand it could be a bit annoying.
God bless Fitgirl
As a Loonix enjoyer I prefer a pre-installed game folder compressed in a 7z archive or whatever instead from cs.rin.ru, it just werks. In Lutris.
Back in my day, we had RELOADED, Razor1911, DEViANCE! Haven't pirated games in forever though, I mostly buy "indies" today and steam + gog facilitate that nicely.
I only pirate games that I wouldn't mind playing but also hate the publisher, or the publisher makes the games annoying to play despite steams easy UI and setup.
Games from EA, Ubisoft, Rockstar, etc I will pirate with no remorse and then place the launcher link in my steam library.
i'm surprised, i just thought if you couldn't afford a game these days you waited till it was 90% off on steam
I thought there was something like patient gamers who only played games a year after release or something like this but I can't find it
Steam doesn’t release every game in every market, do they?
That's me, I have a MASSIVE wait-list on Isthereanydeal.com and buy most games at around $5, including triple A games, assuming I haven't already gotten them for free from Epic, Amazon or Good Ole Games.
However, if I know it's NEVER going to go down or it's from Nintendo, torrents all the way.
Still is more than a dollar so would rather play first and pay later when I'm not having to go to the food bank.
I was checking this year and most of the things I want from a few years ago are still at 50%. But I don't have enough time to play everything so I won't likely pirate new stuff even though I very much know how to do so safely.
Hell, new games aren't even competing with just each other- I've had a blast playing a lot of PS2 and PSP this year. When you don't give in to hype and peer pressure, you've got near limitless options for entertainment.
Maybe fitgirl is the bbw porn actress named fitsidney or fitsid for short.
Both are girls.
One fucks on camera. One repackage games. Same thing probably.
Think about it.
Edit: I'm doing a thorough and deep investigation of her videos for any clues and I'll report back on any findings.
Edit2: the results are inconclusive and I'll need to perform more research. It's worth mentioning that fitsid is adorable and very enthusiastic in what she does, and is also kind of adorable much like fitgirl's photo of Amelie. But, like, with cum involved.
For science to be accurate we need a peer-review, we need all hands on deck for this one.
I've had a lot less of a desire to pirate games after moving to Linux full time a few years ago. But FitGirl has been the one reliable place for public torrents, compaed to chancing it on the third Google Link or scrolling through the Russian CS-Rin-Rulette forum to find links.
Why would you ever use google to find torrents?
I've never had a single problem with cs-rin and I'd be surprised if the average person ever would.
Wait fitgirl is actually a female? Been using those repacks for a very long time. A legend among the scene.
Yep, she was super happy when another girl came upon the scene, Empress. They collabed on a big release one time and I remember her saying "Girl power!", then not long after Empress had a big ego trip and falling out with the repackers.
That's some lore I didn't know. Pirates and egos, an iconic duo.
I love fitgirl.
Truly fighting the good fight.
I have zero trust installing pirated software, especially when they go out of their way to break it when using wine on Linux or running it in a vm.
They don't go out of their way to break it, they just don't pay attention to it (yet). There was an interesting interview here a few months ago: https://lemmy.world/post/32441387
You must’ve stumbled on some bad sources I’m afraid.