Introduction: Left 4 Dead 2 - Valve Gift Grab 2011 - L4D2 Achievement in 2015

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Hello everyone,

are you an achievement hunter like me? Then you may know that some achievements can be a real pain to get. Like the achievement "Valve Gift Grab 2011 - L4D2" from Left 4 Dead 2. You could only get this achievement by playing a versus game, killing special infected and collecting the gifts they dropped on December 15th, 2011. (As far as I know) That means I can´t get this achievement anymore, right? Wrong!

There is still a way to get this achievement in 2015!

I found this video here which explained how this is done and it worked! And I will explain all necessary steps in detail so you can get this achievement too.

Sources:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiimO8TU75s

Step 1: Start Steam

First things first. You need to start your Steam Client and log into your account.

Maybe you are asking: Why do I tell you to start your Steam Client?

Well, I had some problems to log into my account after Step 2 so make sure to log in before Step 2 or you might run into problems too.

Step 2: Set the Date on Your Computer to the 15th December 2011

Next step. Since you can get this achievement only on December 15th, 2011 we need to make your computer think today is December 15th, 2011. And this is pretty simple. Adjust the date by doing the following:

  • Right click on the computer date and clock area in the lower right corner of your Desktop
  • Click on Adjust date/time
  • Now click on Change date and time...
  • Set the date to December 15th, 2011 and click on OK

That´s it. Your computer will now think its December 15th, 2011.

Step 3: Turn on the Console of Left 4 Dead 2

Next we need to enable the developer console in Left 4 Dead 2. The simplest way to do this is to automatically open it when you start the game. To do this do the following:

  • Right click on Left 4 Dead 2 in your Game library and click on Properties
  • Now click on SET LAUNCH OPTIONS...
  • Now write -console into the textbox and click on OK

Ok. Now you can start Left 4 Dead 2.

Step 4: Start L4D2 Versus Game and Collect 3 Gifts

After the game has started we need to start a versus game so you can collect the necessary gifts. To setup a versus game against bots you need to do the following:

  • Enter the following command in the grey console window and press ENTER:
    • ss_map c5m2_park versus
    • You can replace c5m2_park with any map you want to play but I think that this map works best for this achievement since there are quite a lot of hiding places for the special infected to spawn in a small area

After you pressed ENTER the game will begin to load. After the game started you can finally earn the achievement by doing the following:

  • Important: You must spawn as a survivor otherwise you need to restart the game. I will show you in the next step how to do this.
  • When you spawned as a survivor quickly grab a weapon and leave the Safe Room
  • Kill every special infected as quickly as possible.
    • Not every special infected will drop a gift. You will need to kill a bunch of them before you will be able to collect a gift
    • It does not matter if you or a bot kills the special infected. The gifts will drop with the same probability.
  • Quickly collect the dropped gifts
  • After you have collected the third gift you will receive the achievement

And that´s it. You now have the achievement "Valve Gift Grab 2011 - L4D2" :)

Step 5: Issues

Since you might run into some issues I thought I should tell you how to deal with them.

Issue #1: You spawned as a special infected

Since you cannot get the achievement playing as a special infected you need to do the following:

  • Press ESC
  • Now enter the command ss_map c5m2_park versus again in your console and press ENTER
  • Repeat these steps till you spawn as a survivor

Issue #2: Server Shutting down

After some minutes the server you opened will shut down since there are no human players on the other team. Don´t worry, all gifts you collected will still count. All you need to do is to open the server again by entering the command ss_map c5m2_park versus again and collect the remaining gifts.

I think those were all issues I ran into. Nothing serious but still annoying. But fortunately you can easily solve them.

Step 6: Afterwards

Now that you have the achievement you should verify the integrity of the game cache to avoid problems when playing online and you should set your clock back to the current date.

To verify game cache:

  • Right click on Left 4 Dead 2 in your Game library and click on Properties
  • Click on LOCAL FILES
  • Now click on VERIFY INTEGRITY OF GAME CACHE...
  • Wait till the process is finished and everything should be ok

Now set your clock back to the current date and time by following the steps described in Step 2 of this Instructable.