[INFO] What happened to alternative download links for PlutoIW5?
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In response to Activision closing down BOIII, SM² and X Labs in may 2023, Plutonium decided not to be the next client on their hit list. To ensure that Plutonium even announced ownership checks for the game (discord link) and removed all alternative download links and documentation entries regarding the torrent files used to share clean copies of the game. As of writing this only server owners are affected (discord link) by the game ownership verification.This however can change at any time. The verification itself is very easy to do as outlined in their informational forum post (forum.plutonium.pw).
Due to Activison’s handling of their player base there are a few legit use cases for those torrent files.
If you have one of those copies of the game that lock you into a single language.
Eastern European physical copies that are only being able to download the game in Russian.
And Japanese physical copies are only being able to download the game in Japanese.If you own a copy of the game for Xbox 360, PS3 or even the Wii (U), there is either no way for you to play the game on a new system as it is the case for PlayStation, without any adaptation for your new system as it is the case with Xbox or even worse there is no online mode at all if you have a Wii (U) copy.
And in the case of W@W they also shipped copies of the game which did not need Steam at all to play. Those need to manually be updated through multiple official patches to the latest version in order to be used online again. However they neither offer you those downloads anymore nor give you the possibility to add the game to your Steam Library through the CD-Key which shipped with the game.
Luckily the Wayback Machine did archive the latest version of plutonium.pw/docs ( Wayback Machine | Live ) a few days before X Labs did receive their Cease and Desist letter.
The two most interesting things in those archived copies are probably:
- The old install guide including a basic how to use qBittorrent
- A working link to iw5m_dlcs.torrent
- A working Mega link to IW5’s DLCs direct link
Please be responsible with the provided information and keep your local laws in mind.
Also please don’t ask for support with those copies, be it here or on any Plutonium platform. If it doesn’t work you are either missing something or you broke your PC some time ago.
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