I’ve downloaded a handful of games recently because tis the season. They were games that sat on my wishlist for a long time and their sales were too stingy for me. So I decided to sail the seas once more and acquire them. I plan to get a few more to wrap up the last 4 games on my wishlist and I’m done.
What about you?
Can I ask how you safely download games? I’ve only ever done movies and tv
Common Sense. That’s not a joke.
Beyond trustworthy sites how else can you determine this?
Trusted scene releases with sfv checks or trusted repackers, which are usually just the scene release repackaged and thus less safe.
Everyone else, feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.
I’m a very casual downloader. I rarely download and it’s usually older content like movies or retro games. But my personal method has been do a ton of reading. Find chatrooms, forums, etc, where people discuss this topic and read up on the various sites and people’s experiences with them.
Have a separate device if possible. One you’re willing to wipe if something went wrong. I’ve also heard of people sandboxing downloads to try and keep things safer, but I’ve never personally tried it. My assumption is that the older and less complex a download is, the better, but that could be pure ignorance on my part.
For example, if I’m grabbing a GBA game, it’s one single file. There’s less to visually scan, and it’s easy to see if there’s something that looks off. This isn’t always the case, though. For example, one .exe file could ruin your entire machine.
Something newer like a more modern PC game release, I would pick it from a list of sources that people claim are safe, and then basically hope and pray that I didn’t just infect my machine lol. At that point, I try to also look for any suspicious behavior, or if i notice any kind of slowdown, issues with the machine, etc.
Generally speaking, anytime I’ve infected my machine (that I know of), whatever virus protection I’ve been running has caught it and prevented issues. But generally speaking, I would assume that unless you’re downloading simple stuff, you’re taking some risk.
Thanks for sharing! I’m the same as you. Downloaded plenty of retro stuff but never dated modern games.
Those are some helpful tips! :)
Dude, what you speak of is just plain silliness. Do you not understand that in the realm of pirating, you take risks just for simply downloading in what the laws say is ‘illegal’?
There is no such thing as ‘safe’ when it comes to downloading except getting a clue or a suspicion about what you’re downloading and where it’s from.
Again, it is common sense. Pirating is all about risk and reward. Risk, whether you infect your machine or get penalized by your ISP or get fined/jailed for your piracy. Reward, the files you acquire that aren’t a blip on the radar of your ISP and doesn’t contain malware or viruses.
Why the rudeness? I asked a simple question… downloading movies and tv shows is always safe because they are programs. That’s why I asked. Didn’t expect you to be a jerk.
Because your obnoxious obliviousness makes light on the idea of piracy. Like you expect it to hold your hand in every step of the way.
Plus, I am overwhelmingly tired of people like you with that kind of attitude. You’re the kind of pirate that downloads and barely learns. The ones always asking if they need a VPN for the thousandth time when we’ve told you for the thousandth time and more, that you do.
So, no, I do not have to treat you with kindness. Enjoy the block. Keep raining those petty downvotes of yours for all I care.
There’s a few safe(ish) sites. Your best bet is Fitgirl and DODI repacks, and SteamRIP. Make sure you have the correct URLs. Also check out the FMHY wiki.
Keep in mind that not everything can be 100% safe, just lower risk.
It’s not always safe, and they’re not programs (in the computer sense). Despite not being executable files, a malicious media file can exploit a vulnerability in your media player and execute code. For example: https://www.videolan.org/security/sb-vlc3012.html