Host_InitError: can't initialize cl_dlls/client.dll

[Qiguang]

Environment: Window10 Game: CS 1.6

I want to play CS1.6 using xash3d-fwgs.

• I built xash following the instructions of the readme.md of this repo.
• Installed Counter-Strike 1.6-original.exe downloaded from [REDACTED]
• Copied cstrike/ and valve/ folders from CS1.6 game folder to xash3d.exe folder.
• When I launch xash3d.exe, it prompt "Host_InitError: can't initialize cl_dlls/client.dll"

Following is the log snippet about this error from engine.log printed by command "xash3d.exe -dev 2 -log":

[23:52:37] Sys_LoadLibrary: Loading avifil32.dll[2020:11:09|23:52:37] - ok [23:52:37] Sys_LoadLibrary: Loading msvfw32.dll[2020:11:09|23:52:37] - ok [23:52:37] Sys_LoadLibrary: Loading msacm32.dll[2020:11:09|23:52:37] - ok [2020:11:09|23:52:37] Using SDL audio driver: wasapi @ 44100 Hz [23:52:37] cl_dlls/client.dll it's not a valid executable file[2020:11:09|23:52:37] ^2Note:^7 cl_dlls/client.dll uses Windows API for mouse input [2020:11:09|23:52:37] LoadLibrary: Loading cl_dlls/client.dll - failed [2020:11:09|23:52:37] Host_InitError: can't initialize cl_dlls/client.dll:

I opened the valve/cl_dlls/client.dll as HEX, and these are the first serveral bytes of the file:

 00000000: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................ 
 00000010: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................
 00000020: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................
 00000030: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 4000 0000  ............@...
 00000040: 7856 3412 fd5d b40b 60bb 1269 05b6 3eec  xV4..]..`..i..>.
 00000050: b8d3 7a99 ddfd c03e 9c82 715a b900 e75f  ..z....>..qZ..._
 00000060: b64d a100 b1a8 2283 42c9 2077 ce25 7cd3  .M....".B. w.%|.
 00000070: 2ad1 bd15 6c23 fb52 156c e23b ec5a fe57  *...l#.R.l.;.Z.W
 00000080: ae05 5cb3 0a51 7fd7 aea2 075e b5ac 035a  ..\..Q.....^...Z

And I checked the source code of xash3d, in file engine/common/filesystem.c

 3215 /* 
 3216 ==================
 3217 FS_CheckForCrypt
 3218
 3219 return true if library is crypted
 3220 ==================
 3221 */
 3222 qboolean FS_CheckForCrypt( const char *dllname )
 3223 {
 3224     file_t| *f;
 3225     int|key;
 3226
 3227     f = FS_Open( dllname, "rb", false );
 3228     if( !f ) return false;
 3229
 3230     FS_Seek( f, 64, SEEK_SET );|// skip first 64 bytes
 3231     FS_Read( f, &key, sizeof( key ));
 3232     FS_Close( f );
 3233
 3234     return ( key == 0x12345678 ) ? true : false;
 3235 }
 3236

It means the client.dll is encrypted.

How to fix this issue?

BTW: I find the open issue #188 maybe the same issue as this one. But it just provided very few info.

[nekonomicon]

It means the client.dll is encrypted.

1. Currently, client.dll from the latest steam version of CS 1.6 is not encrypted.
2. CS 1.6 uses vgui2 library which xash3d does not support.

[a1batross]

Original build of Counter-Strike 1.6 is unsupported.

We have reverse engineered client.dll of Counter-Strike but only legacy sources are available. I'm not giving any support on this pile of code and don't really want to see it again.