Even if you “should have” unlocked the achievement. Even if the game is bugged. Even if the achievement is removed or broken entirely. This is extremely easy to detect because of the way it interacts with game stats in the API pull and is harshly punished. There is NO situation where using SAM-type programs to unlock/relock an achievement is allowed, except for appeals with moderator direction.

Examples: Using SAM to unlock the broken achievement in Hate Plus; using SAM to unlock DLC achievement in a game you previously 100%ed before DLC was added; using SAM to modify a game stat to be 499/500 and then getting the last one yourself; using an achievement locker/unlocker to relock achievements you do not want; etc.

Even if your save got lost/corrupted or you need a save from earlier in the game because you missed something.

Examples: Downloading a clicker game save online; begging a friend to send you his save file because your house burned down and you lost all your PC files; etc.

Do not use other people’s unofficial edits of game code, even if it seems to “fix” a game. If an achievement is broken, please notify the developers of the game and wait for an update patch. Simply assuming developer intent and altering game code to unlock achievements misleads developers with false statistics, and the trade of potentially malicious compiled objects such as .dll and .exe files is a large security risk. Please see Allowed Rule 18 and any relevant Game-by-Game Edge Cases for the only exceptions to this rule.

Examples: Opening up specific game files with a text/hex editor and changing values to what you want; editing properties such as “read-only” for game files; editing TF2 files and pointing it towards a YouTube video you do not own for the YouTube views achievements; swapping certain .dll files or other game files between similar games to attempt to “fix” broken games; editing the images of puzzle pieces in puzzle games to have a number so you see exactly where to put them; modifying an .ini file for a Unity game to change enemy health; etc.

Deleting registry values (without deleting keys) or selectively deleting keys (to get a game in a specific state) counts as editing and is not allowed either. Deleting all registry keys to reset a game is allowed, see Allowed Rule 10.

Examples: Going into the registry folder for a game and updating a registry file that keeps track of how many kills you have to get closer to a “Kill 1000 enemies” type of achievement; etc.

Examples: Using Cheat Engine for anything; downloading a Devil May Cry trainer to enable invincibility/infinite Devil Trigger; downloading and using cheat toolsets or trainers for GTA V; using unofficial mods that act as trainers or debug/cheat toolsets; Game Genie / Action Replay and other such similar cheat tools; etc.

All Steam Workshop mods are allowed except for mods that instantly/directly unlock achievements.

Outside of Steam Workshop, only fully cosmetic mods are allowed. No unofficial mods that alter gameplay are allowed. Please see Allowed Rule 16 and Allowed Rule 17 below for more information on allowed mods.

Examples: Installing unofficial debug-style mods similar to a trainer; Installing unofficial and gameplay-altering mods from sites such Nexus Mods or GameBanana or ModDB or random forums; installing a mod from NexusMods that increases your carry capacity or increases your XP gain or enables fast travel and other such gameplay-altering mods; etc.

Do not use “Achievement Unlocker” type mods that grant options such as a teleport power you can use to go to an achievement room with buttons you simply press for achievements or items you can use that unlock achievements directly/instantly, etc.

Examples: Achievements Unlocked mod for skyrim that unlocks all achievements as soon as you start the game; do not use any mods that allow you to instantly/directly unlock achievements via command/button/power; etc.

These are all advanced scripting of a game far beyond simple tasks (sometimes even synced to clockspeed) to allow complex, unique, and/or non-monotonous/non-repetitive sections of a game to be played without human interaction. (See Allowed Rule 14 below for allowed simple scripts).

Examples: Using a bot for an MMO game to gather resources/level up for you; using a TAS to complete a difficult speedrun or no-death achievement; using a complex script with advanced functionality (such as PixelSearch/ImageSearch, OCR, AI/ML, etc.) and/or decision-making ability; using complex scripts that complete entire games or large portions of games with no human input but requiring many unique actions such as completing Portal 1’s gold challenge rooms; etc.

See Allowed Rule 9 below for allowed date-change rules.

Examples: The Stanley Parable’s achievement to not play for five years; Garry’s Mod/Universe Sandbox achievements to play for one year; Tabletop Simulator’s 1000 hours achievement; Chivalry: Medieval Warfare’s 80 hours achievement; etc.

Examples: aoc_slomo in Chivalry: Medieval Warfare; “survive 100 days” achievement in The Forest; “1001 Nights” achievement in Cities: Skylines; etc.

Do not download old versions of steam games from any source other than steam depots. Depot methods are allowed to be used as described in Allowed Rule 15 below.

Examples: Do not torrent a copy of counterstrike from 2008 in order to have a version that works with gift grab; etc.

Examples: “caqs” in Skyrim and Fallout 4; “unlock ach” in Into The Breach; anything similar to a “unlock_achievement x” type of command; etc.

You must earn your achievements yourself. Letting people earn achievements on your account is not allowed in general and if anyone cheats or breaks the rules on your account, you will still be held accountable.

Examples: Having a friend who is more skilled at a game complete a difficult section for you in a single-player game; letting someone log into your Steam account to beat a difficult part of a game for you on your account; letting your little brother work on a grindy achievement for you; etc.

You’re allowed to complain, ask for changes, leave negative reviews/comments and other such respectful criticisms, but you give all of us in the achievement hunting community a really bad name when you harass/attack developers because of what they did to their game’s achievements. Do not abuse Steam’s refund policy by purchasing a game, quickly 100%ing (hundoing) it, and then refunding it (“refundo”).

Examples: Issuing death threats or flagrant insults to devs because they added achievements to their game that you do not like; using extreme/excessive rudeness while demanding a developer remove or change achievements; etc.

Examples: Teaching someone how to use SAM; sharing a non-allowed complex script; posting on the Steam forums to promote an egregious game file edit method; sending someone a link to Cheat Engine or a trainer; teaching someone how to hide cheating; creating a non-allowed complex script and sharing it around even if you never use it yourself; etc.

Examples: “sv_cheats 1, x, sv_cheats 0”; god; tgm; spawn enemy; npc_kill; noclip; godmode; fly; most Steam console commands; etc.

Examples: iddqd cheat code style commands typed into older FPS games or cheat options unlocked in certain games such as Duke Nukem 3D; speedup options in Steam’s Final Fantasy re-releases; etc.

Examples: breaking out out of normal bounds to avoid enemies; doing something strange inside of a game to “bug a game out” so you become invincible; accessing powerful items earlier than intended; standing somewhere enemies can’t hit you; etc.

Please realize that transferring save files between platforms may cause identical unlock timestamps for the achievements that were imported. Having proof of your original progress is strongly recommended.

Examples: quicksaving/quickloading often; manually backing up a copy of your own save file and moving it back into your save folder after a game had deleted it; manually backing up a copy of your own save file and moving it back into your save folder in order to replay sections of a game before an important story junction; using your own Steam Cloud on multiple PCs to play the same game; transfering your own save file to a new PC; importing your mobile save file for Time Clickers, Final Fantasy Mobius, Realm Grinder, etc. (See: https://goo.gl/imGkqk for a list of mobile games with Steam transfer capabilities); transferring GTA V save between console and Steam; etc.

Examples: Steam guides; youtube video guides; GameFAQs; puzzle solutions; collectible lists; etc.

A clicker is defined as hardware or software that manually or digitally mimics button presses. Clickers/autoclickers typically press one key rapidly or at a specific pace whereas macros might press 3 or more different keys in a specific order again and again. These tools are only allowed if they are for monotonous simple tasks and if they meet the “mechanical” conditions of achievement. This could be a weight on a key, a rubber band on a thumbstick, a turbo controller, an autoclicker program (AutoClicker, NIAutoClicker, FastClicker, etc.), a macro program (Joy2Key, Macro Recorder, etc.), and many mouse drivers come with macro programs installed by default as well.

Examples: Turning on an autoclicker in a clicker game to rapidly click the enemy; making a simple macro that forces your character to jump over and over to earn a “jump x times” achievement; using an autoclicker to rapidly fire your gun in a space shooter style game; letting an auto-clicker rapidly left-click through an entire kinetic novel; etc.

Examples: a skilled friend playing some Payday heists or Killing Floor games with you at a higher level than you could handle alone; a friend inviting you into their Terraria world and helping you kill some bosses; high-level friends donating gear to you; etc.

Note that although this is allowed in general for achievement hunting, many various online game communities are very against this sort of organized farming and will ban you for it.

Examples: trading kills back and forth in a shooter game; camping some location for a special item again and again; having one friend join and leave your game so you auto-win over and over; running a program such as Sandboxie in order to have multiple instances of a game open and farm yourself; etc.

Date-changing is allowed only for date-specific achievements that specify a certain single date. Date changing is not allowed to produce a passage of a specific amount of time (See Not Allowed Rule 9). Changing your OS system clock to complete more “daily challenge” type achievements without waiting is allowed also. Date-changing for date-specific achievements is allowed because of many games having many issues relating to time zones or natural de-sync with PCs, but these issues should not be present for longer-term “passage of time” achievements.

Examples: changing your PC’s date to the twelve dates needed for Calendar Man’s “Storyteller” achievement in Batman Arkham City; changing date to April 29th for “Happy Birthday Pixel!” in Cave Story+; completing multiple LYNE daily puzzles within a single day by changing OS date; etc.

Sometimes games will break or add achievements and require a full reset to unlock further achievements - this is common with idle/spam games where achievements are triggered through registry values. You are allowed to delete the entirety of those registry keys and reinstall the game to re-idle the time and try again to get it to trigger properly. You are not allowed to “edit” registry values to any specific number or value. You are also not allowed to selectively delete keys or delete values only. (See Not Allowed Rule 4)

Examples: Many various spam/idle type games require either a registry wipe or playing on a new PC to “reset” the game and thereby re-idle the needed time (often for newly-added achievements or patches to these types of games); etc.

Note that using one of these may get your game auto-invalidated on AStats since the rules/enforcement on this have been extremely varied on AStats over the years. We will not penalize users for these actions here because this type of action is done fully in-game and we cannot really control what devs add to their games.

Examples: Incredipede; Redactem; Sweatshop; Daily Run; Plandzz; Rogue Legacy; etc.

Examples: Purchasing gems in Crush Crush with real world money; purchasing items/in-game currency with real world money to get a boost in many clicker games and f2p (Free-to-Play) games; purchasing powerful items with real world money in Warframe or TF2; etc.

They still need to follow the other rules in terms of not auto-unlocking achievements, etc.

Examples: Creating or using custom maps in: Counter-Strike Source, CS:GO, Day of Defeat: Source, Pirates vs. Vikings II, Booster Trooper, ORION: Prelude; etc.

“Simple Scripting” is a macro or sequence of commands that helps facilitate “monotonous/repetitive” gameplay but does not entirely replace gameplay. Complex Scripting such as TAS-type scripts or Bots (typically used for MMOs) are not allowed (See Not Allowed Rule 8 above). Many of these simple scripts are written in AutoHotKey (AHK).

Examples: Writing a script to have your second PC and alt steam account auto-join your lobby and ready up so you can farm kills/wins against it; creating a .bat file to open and close a game rapidly for “open game x number of times” achievements as found in Garry’s Mod; simple AHK scripts to click multiple places on the screen at different intervals in clicker games; simple AHK scripts to start/end a game for “play as x character y times” type achievements such as in Metal Slug; etc.

This is a valid method of obtaining older or unique versions of games directly from Steam. This method is allowed because we can accurately determine where these files were sourced from (Valve) and obtaining them through Steam directly instead of a third party warez/torrent site does not break any copyright law, TOS, GNU/GPL, or SSA. Instructions on how to revert a steam game to a previous version - for whatever purpose the player wishes - can be found here.

Examples: Ubinota - A March 28th, 2015 patch to the game seemingly broke the functionality for the achievement “Challenge n°1”, preventing the trigger from working properly. You can depot back to the March 4th, 2015 version of the game where the achievement functionality works; Asseto Corsa - Revert to a previous version of the game with different game engine changes to make some achievements easier/possible; etc.

Steam Workshop mods are considered official and generally allowed (even Steam Workshop mods that alter gameplay) except in the case of “Achievement Unlocker” mods (See Not Allowed Rule 7).

Examples: Installing and using most Steam Workshop mods, as long as they do not grant you ways to instantly/directly unlock achievements (Not Allowed Rule 7); installing official, dev-provided H-patches (Hentai / Adult Content patches) which were downloaded outside of Steam in games where this is required for an achievement (many VN hentai games); downloading and using dev-provided accessory tools/patches to games; etc.

100% cosmetic-only mods are allowed, as long as they completely do not alter gameplay - this includes: texture packs, accessibility mods, mesh/lighting mods, nude mods, character portrait mods, mods that change how your player character looks, widescreen/aspect ratio mods, FoV mods, UI mods, HUD mods, and graphics overhaul mods. Unofficial mods that enable see-through walls/doors, wallhacking, outline/glow of enemies/items/etc. are not considered “cosmetic” and not allowed. Note that using any mods at all for online games might get you banned or VACed.

Examples: Installing high-resolution texture pack mods or lighting fixes for The Witcher 3 is allowed; changing the character portrait artwork for the villagers in Stardew Valley is allowed; reskinning your Skyrim character into a beautiful naked magical hentai pony is allowed; etc.

Certain games contain Initialization files (.ini file type extension) which may be the only way to configure what would be considered a standard in-game option in most games.

Some games (namely Source engine games) may also use .ini files which can mimic “Launch Options” under a Steam game’s Properties, or can auto-launch standard console commands upon running the game.

In rarer cases, there may be non-standard exceptions that are allowed to .ini files.

Standard Exceptions For .ini Edits

• Resolution
• Aspect ratio
• VSync
• Windowed/fullscreen mode
• DirectX version
• Audio settings
• Standard keybindings
• Console commands
• Launch options
• Etc…

Non-standard Exceptions For .ini Edits

• Changing an https to http or vice versa

Unless there is a specific game-by-game rule, modifying any other .ini file values is not allowed and will be considered as game file editing.

Examples:

• In an .ini file, setting the exact 4:3 resolution your older monitor needs because the in-game settings only allow for widescreen;
• In an .ini file, enabling VSync because it lacks an in-game setting;
• In an .ini file, forcing DirectX 9 because the game crashes in DirectX 10;
• In an .ini file, changing https to http in a URL to access a game’s online mode;

As long as you are not modifying any actual game file or game code, you are allowed to open game files/registry entries and simply read them. Unzipping/decompiling/decrypting a game file in order to read it is allowed as long as it does not violate either the game’s or Steam’s Terms of Service.

Examples: Opening up a ren.py Visual Novel game’s text file to see when a certain achievement unlocks; etc.

In certain cases, it will be allowed to change the numerical value of the appID contained in steam_appid.txt located in the game’s directory.

This method should only be used to obtain broken achievements if they are working normally in another version of the same exact game with a separate appID on Steam. It is also acceptable to use this rule to switch regional variants of the same exact game in order to play through games in your own language if that option does not naturally exist in the game’s settings as long as both game variants have the same exact achievement list (ex. Borderlands 2 & Borderlands 2 RU).

List of acceptable uses:

• A base game, and its demo version.
• A base game, and a regional variant of the same game.
• A base game, and a separate version of the same game for a different operating system.
• A removed game, and a re-released version of the same game published under a separate appID.
• An original game, and its remastered version.

An acceptable example of using the rule:

Call of Duty: Black Ops - Multiplayer, The achievement for In The Money (Finish 5 Wager Matches “in the money.”) is unobtainable on PC because the wager match servers no longer exist. However there is a separate Steam game and appID for Mac users, Call of Duty: Black Ops - Multiplayer OSX, which has working wager match servers and includes the same achievement (In The Money). Under this rule you would be allowed to modify the Mac edition folder by adding a steam_appid.txt file inside the game directory containing the numerical Steam appID of the Windows version (42700). When launching the game from the .exe file, you will play the OSX version of the game, but Steam will see the game as the Windows version running. This allows players to obtain the broken achievement from the Windows version while playing the OSX version after meeting the same requirements.

✅ AStats allowed for the renaming of one file. Without the renaming of that file, all achievements do not trigger. The game calls the triggers to a steamwrapper.dll that is misnamed. Going to C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\common\airforte\data and renaming the .dll from steamwrapper.dll to steamwrap2.dll will allow the game to properly trigger achievements. The file in question is still the file the game comes with and not a file from any other game. We will not penalize users for doing this because this is a long-established, unique AStats ruling.

✅ AStats allowed the copy and pasting of an identical “sister” file “Assembly-CSharp.dll” from aMaze Achievements: Forest to “fix” aMaze Achievements: darkness by replacing the “Assembly-CSharp.dll” file in Darkness without penalty. AStats allowed this due to previous rulings on other games that involved copying files you own from one game to another version of the same game, specifically Red Orchestra 2 Single Player into Multiplayer. We will not penalize users for doing this because this is a long-established, unique AStats ruling.

❌ Use of the Steam Workshop Mod “Achievement M.10 - Zero-Risk Market Unlocker” is not allowed as it exhibits SAM-like behavior in auto-unlocking an achievement upon loading a map.

❌ The workshop mod for “You Used All The Glue on Purpose” (the wand achievement) is not allowed as it uses a custom skill tree and does not meet the criteria of the achievement (repair 500 wands with the n-Dimensional Lathe).

✅ What Have You Done Achievement. It requires you to edit a mock, fake .txt file with any text and save it to then trigger the achievement the next time you start the game. We allow this as it is required for the Achievement and does not interact with any other configurations for the game. The fake empty .txt file was put there specifically by the developer to use for this achievement.

✅ On Christmas Eve, 2015 a large amount of achievement hunters were tricked by a “fake Garry” in a public server who was actually a hacker troll granting people the “Yes, I am the real Garry!” achievement. Typically this would be against the rules for achieving something via hacking instead of fulfilling the real requirements, but since so many achievement hunters were affected that day, it was deemed to be allowed for this one case.

✅ “Gimli that Axe” achievement requires obtaining the “Not a warhammer” achievement in Dwarfs?!. However, bugs in the game code and formatting changes in the steam API prevent this achievement from triggering. It is allowed to use a tool that doesn’t modify the game code, such as this one to unlock this achievement if the requirement in Dwarfs?! has also been completed.

✅ Clarification: Dedicated servers do not disable achievements and perk progression while using any mutators, including Steam Workshop mods. This is permitted under Allowed Rule 3 and Allowed Rule 16.

More Info: Killing Floor 1 has a somewhat unique system of whitelisting mutators/mods (See: KF1 Mutator Whitelist). In solo mode and listen server mode the whitelist is properly applied and non-whitelisted mutators will disable achievement and perk progress. However, dedicated servers do not disable achievement and perk progress when using non-whitelisted mutators/mods, possibly due to a bug.

✅ The “Brick your game (intentionally)” achievement requires you to open a game save file and type some gibberish and then open your game, which will result in crashing the game and earning the achievement - this is normally disallowed game file editing (Not Allowed Rule 3) but is allowed in this case. (Steam Guide)

✅ Use of Visual HUD mods/UI Improvement mods are allowed (HoxHUD/WolfHUD). While Payday 2 does not use Steam Workshop, a good amount of these mods have been “approved” by the developers.

❌ This does not allow other lua scripting/mods that alter the game in other ways outside of HUD/UI and do things such as: auto grant XP, increase XP gain, despawn enemies, grant achievements directly, allow more players in a game, allow players to carry more bags, increase loot, grant infinite ammo, grant invulnerability, etc.

❌ Playing with hackers or people obviously using these types of game-altering mods mentioned in point 2 above is not allowed. Please leave the game as soon as possible after noticing a hacker and realize that playing with a hacker may render your entire game invalidated as it will make your achievement and/or in-game stats appear as cheated.

✅ Deleting a local copy of a file used to store Christmas event “advent calendar” data allowed users to gain near-infinite amounts of in-game currencies such as hints and golden puzzle pieces. While file deletion was “okayed” by AStats mods, users went further by changing file properties (specifically, making the file read-only), to speed up the process of deleting the save file again and again. This breaks the standard “do not edit game files” rule but is allowed in this one case.

✅ This is just a clarification that what is describe here is allowable. The game uses a GUI to change level settings and game settings. Within that function you can also import scripts. In imported scripts you can do much more and have many more options that can be changed than what the GUI or game documentation states. An in-game editor simply serves as an interface for a user to edit the script in a more comfortable fashion, and it being feature-incomplete does not necessarily represent those features being intentionally unsupported/denied. This is written just to clarify that using the import function built into the game for scripts and doing more than what the GUI says is available is allowable as long as those scripts do not auto unlock/trigger achievements directly like SAM or SAM-like mods would function.

✅ The Developers, Tripwire removed the Singleplayer mode from the Base Game of Red Orchestra 2, now renamed Red Orchestra 2 Multiplayer, and moved it to Red Orchestra 2 Singleplayer. The achievements still exist in the base game achievements list. AStats allowed users to copy the SinglePlayer folder entirely over to the root folder of the Multiplayer Game to allow for play and earning of Singleplayer Achievements. We also allow it and will not penalize users for this.

✅ My Steelport Emulator is allowed for the Steam Version of the games for obtaining the achievements ‘Jumped In’ & ‘Saintified’. Unlike most ‘achievement fixing’ mods, this one DOES NOT modify any game files.

❌ My Steelport Emulator for the GOG version of the games is not allowed as the method for it includes file editing.

✅ Downloading the non-Steam Workshop “Skyrim Script Extender” for use with various official mods, including SkyUI, is allowed.

❌ Due to historic AStats rulings, achievement servers in this game which unlock achievements for you (automatically, by typing a chat command, pressing a button, etc) are not allowed - but they only count as a game invalidation, not as an NA-1/NA-3 profile ban.

✅ Ted by Dawn’s exe is actually a .zip compressed file not a traditional exe. Within that .zip folder is a steamapi.dll. This dll is outdated and does not properly trigger achievements. AStats allowed users to open that exe/zip and replace the dll with a working dll from any steam game available, usually the steamapi.dll from “Super Blue Boy Planet” a free to play game and dll downloaded directly from steam. Create new text file with name “steam_appid.txt” and insert value to file “381090”, then save.

❌ There is an unlisted API that is used by RedLynx to grant the “True Fan” achievement. It is NOT allowed for non-RedLynx employees to use as per Not Allowed Rule 1.

✅ BFF Achievement. AStats allowed you to use a console command to unlock this achievement. We do not allow use of console commands to directly unlock achievements, but we will not penalize users for this specific achievement as this AStats rule has been established too long for us to effectively disallow it. We do discourage users from doing it. All other console commands that directly unlock achievements in a “get.achievement()” fashion are disallowed (See Not Allowed Rule 12).