node-globaloffensive, inspectItem - Parsing masked inspect links

[stepan__sykora]

Hey, wassup,

have a quick question, please. I'am trying to parse out item information from an inspect link, for my project. Parsing out normal links isn't an issue at all. The issue comes when I want to parse out custom generated, masked inspect links, just like this one

steam://rungame/730/76561202255233023/+csgo_econ_action_preview%2000180920D8022806300438FF8AE9D90340E30213DDF8BB

Since there are no S A D M params, it can't be processed via the inspectItem function.

I did some digging and it seams like these links are made using this code base
https://github.com/Helyux/cs2inspect
Where it gets the base item information, which is then coded into the link using hex parsing and protobuf (I think).

Since this kind of link still works and opens up the game client, I was wondering, if the item information can still be gathered?
If so, how?

Thanks in advance for a reply ❤️

[stepan__sykora]

Really noone knows a single thing about this one, please? Would help me alot ❤️

[Matt]

You're correct that it's a hex string of the protobuf object bytes. To parse it, just drop the leading null byte and trailing four checksum bytes, then deserialize to the CEconItemPreviewDataBlock proto object. See here for an example using SteamKit.

Note that not all fields are optional still. For example, CSFloat appears to remove the itemid to help preserve a hidden seller's identity.