Left For Dead 2 - Unlock Australian Censorship

I have purchased a copy from Steam and it has all of the visual gore taken out.

I'd rather play the game as it was intended and not be at the whims of some politician who thinks all Australians should be treated like children when it comes to gaming.

How can I edit, crack, or hack this game into removing the censorship?

EDIT:

So far the solution by Nick T has the most success, but internet play does not work due to steam connection issues. Is there is some way around this (dedicated server?).

This is probably an "at your own risk" thing, I doubt this would make VAC go after you, but who knows.

Originally posted by ArchAngel-au on the CyberGamer Australia forums

Enabling gore in the censored Aussie versions of the L4D2 demo is as easy as editing 1 character in 2 text files:

Change the app id 590 to 510 in these two files:

Save them and run the left4dead2.exe executable directly (not through steam icon/games list). This should be located in a directory like C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\left 4 dead 2 demo, just like the first file above.

Your status will say that you're playing "Left 4 Dead Dedicated Server", but the L4D2 Demo will start and you'll be able to play with gore enabled (no more disappearing zombies, more blood, decapitations/dismemberment, splatter on the screen, etc.!)

You will also still be able to start lobbies, invite friends and join games in progress on servers.

When using Steam, the games you own get the regional specialities of the person who bought them. That means, if someone outside Australia buys them for you as a gift, you should get their version, not the Australian one.

Of course this doesn't really help you, as you already have the game on your account and you can't buy/redeem the same game twice on Steam. You could, however, create a new account.

IANAL and I have no idea how legal this is -- but it seems to be openly discussed everywhere and it probably falls under the case of "it is as if someone brought you a physical copy of his version."

Since September 4, 2014, you can install the Left 4 Dead 2 - Uncensored DLC on Australian copies to unlock the censored content.

If you are outside of Australia and your copy of L4D2 is still censored, you can install the Left4Gore mod to restore the cut content.

Change country and or buy a foreign copy.