It is crucial to state that MAXAGENT and SKIDROW are not affiliated with Bandai Namco or FromSoftware. This repack is unauthorized and defeats DRM. However, in the context of software preservation, repacks like these serve a purpose:
That said, supporting developers by purchasing Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin (which often goes on sale for $10) remains the ethical standard.
What made MAXAGENT's repack legendary among budget gamers was the installation process. Unlike modern installers that finish in minutes, MAXAGENT prioritized file size over time. Dark Souls II V.1.06 7 DLC RePack By MAXAGENT SKIDROW
The final size on disk was roughly 12GB, identical to the original retail v1.06 with all DLC.
To the uninitiated, MAXAGENT and SKIDROW are just names. To PC gamers in the 2010s, they were deities. It is crucial to state that MAXAGENT and
Why this mattered: In 2014/2015, many players still had monthly bandwidth caps or slow DSL connections. The original Dark Souls II was ~12GB. MAXAGENT’s repack likely compressed this down to 4GB - 5GB. For a player in Brazil, Russia, or rural America, that was the difference between a 3-day download and a 3-hour download.
To understand the importance of version 1.06, we must look at the state of Dark Souls II upon its original April 2014 launch. The game was plagued by "Soul Memory" (a controversial matchmaking system based on total souls collected, not level), broken hitboxes (looking at you, Pursuer), and overpowered magic. That said, supporting developers by purchasing Dark Souls
Patch 1.06, released in late 2014, was the "game-changer." It was the final major calibration before the Scholar of the First Sin overhaul. Key fixes included:
For players downloading the Repack, V.1.06 was the "Goldilocks" patch—more stable than launch, but before Scholar changed enemy placements forever.