QuantumFetcher

A command-line tool that downloads the live-action episodes of Quantum Break into the game folder, where QuantumStreamer plays them offline in the game.

Table of Contents

• Game Info
• Legal notes
• Features
• Requirements
• Installing
• Usage
• File formats
• Development
• Credits

Game Info

Type	Value
Developer(s)	Remedy Entertainment
Publisher(s)	Microsoft Studios
Director(s)	Sam Lake, Mikael Kasurinen
Producer(s)	Miloš Jeřábek
Engine	Northlight Engine
Platform(s)	Windows, Xbox One
Genre(s)	Action-adventure, third-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player

Legal notes

• The project includes no original assets from the game. The episodes are downloaded from the game's own streaming server.
• You need an original copy of the game, such as the one on Steam. The project neither makes piracy easier nor breaks the game's DRM.
• QuantumFetcher is not affiliated with or endorsed by Remedy Entertainment or Microsoft.

Features

• Download the live-action episodes in the chosen video qualities, audio languages and captions for offline playback through QuantumStreamer
• Pick episodes and tracks on the command line with selectors such as best, 1080p, a bitrate, a stream name or a language, or from lists in the terminal
• Open the program from a file manager to be asked for everything a download needs
• List the tracks the episodes offer, with their estimated sizes and the selectors that pick them (formats)
• Resume interrupted downloads from the last whole fragment and keep finished tracks
• Add tracks to downloaded episodes later, such as another audio language
• Download only the captions of an episode, which keeps streaming from the server
• Save captions as SubRip (.srt) files that QuantumStreamer shows instead, optionally with the episode title, without overwriting edited ones
• Dump videoList.rmdj to JSON (videolist dump)
• Patch videoList.rmdj to point the game at a QuantumStreamer compatible server, keeping the game's own list (videolist patch)
• Build videoList.rmdj from JSON, keeping a copy of the list it replaces (videolist build)

Requirements

• Python 3.14+, when installing from the repository
• QuantumStreamer in the game, to play the downloaded episodes

Installing

Portable builds for Windows, Linux and macOS are on the Releases page; the Windows build is code-signed. You can also install the tool from the repository with uv (or pipx):

uv tool install git+https://github.com/GrzybDev/QuantumFetcher

Usage

quantumfetcher --help
python -m quantumfetcher --help

Without a command, as when the program is opened from a file manager, QuantumFetcher runs download with no options, which asks for the game folder, the episodes and the tracks. In a terminal it then waits for a key before it exits, so the window keeps the result or the error on screen.

Every command has its own help, such as quantumfetcher download --help. The commands share these conventions:

• path/to/QuantumBreak is the game folder, the one holding data and videos. When it is left out, the command asks for it in a terminal. Without a terminal it stops with No game folder given, and none is asked for without a terminal, and with download --yes with No game folder given, and none is asked for with --yes, unless the options give every path the folder would be used for. A command counts as run in a terminal when both its input and its output are one.
• The episodes are read from data/videoList.rmdj in the game folder, or from data/videoList_original.rmdj once the list is patched, since only that copy keeps the episodes' own URLs. --videolist-path reads another file instead.
• -e, --episodes takes comma-separated episode IDs, in any letter case, or all. An ID the list does not have stops the command with The video list has no episode <ID>.
• --retries retries requests that fail in a way that may pass (timeouts, lost connections and HTTP 408, 429, 500, 502, 503 and 504) after waiting 1, 2, 4, 8 and 16 seconds, then 30 seconds each time. --workers sets how many requests run at once. Requests identify themselves as QuantumFetcher/<version> (<system>).
• An episode whose manifest cannot be fetched or read is skipped with a warning; when none can be fetched, the command stops with No episode could be fetched.
• Progress, logs and errors go to stderr, results to stdout. Errors are printed as Error: <message> and exit with code 1; invalid arguments, such as a game folder that does not exist, exit with code 2.

Downloading episodes

quantumfetcher download [path/to/QuantumBreak] [-e IDS] [--video SELECTORS] [--audio SELECTORS] [--text SELECTORS] [--extract-subtitles] [--append-episode-title] [-y]

The command fetches the manifests of the chosen episodes, picks their tracks and saves each episode in its own folder, videos/episodes/<episode ID>, where QuantumStreamer looks for it. In a terminal it asks for what the command line leaves out: the game folder, the episodes, the video, audio and caption tracks (listing each option with its estimated size, how many episodes offer it when not all do, and the defaults ticked), whether to save the captions as subtitles and whether to add the episode title to them. With --yes, or without a terminal, it uses the defaults below instead.

Option	Description	Default
path/to/QuantumBreak	The game folder	asked for
--videolist-path path/to/videoList.rmdj	The video list to read the episodes from	the game's list, or its _original copy once patched
--episodes-path path/to/episodes	The folder to save the episodes in	videos/episodes in the game folder
-e, --episodes IDS	Comma-separated episode IDs, or all	asked for, else all
--video SELECTORS	Comma-separated video selectors	asked for, else best
--audio SELECTORS	Comma-separated audio selectors	asked for, else enus
--text SELECTORS	Comma-separated caption selectors	asked for, else enus
--extract-subtitles, --no-extract-subtitles	Save the captions as SubRip files, which QuantumStreamer shows instead	asked for when captions are picked, else off
--append-episode-title, --no-append-episode-title	Add the episode title to the saved subtitles	asked for when subtitles are saved, else off
--retries N	Times to retry a failed request	10
--workers N	Requests to make at once	8
-y, --yes	Use the defaults instead of asking	off

A selector picks the tracks it names, in any letter case:

Selector	Picks
best	The track with the highest bitrate in each episode
all, none	Every track, no track
1080p	The video tracks of that height
12000000	The tracks of that bitrate
enus, enus_captions	The tracks of a stream, by its locale or its full name
eng	The tracks in that ISO 639-2 language

A selector that picks no track in any of the episodes stops the command with No audio track matches <selector>; the formats command lists them (or video, or text); best and none are always accepted. An episode in which the selectors pick no track is skipped, and when they pick none at all the command stops with The selectors pick no tracks to download. In a terminal, ticking no episode stops it with No episodes chosen.

Each track is downloaded to a .part file first, so an interrupted download (Ctrl+C included) carries on where it stopped when the command runs again. Tracks whose files exist are kept and not downloaded again.

Once the episode folder holds a video and an audio track, the episode's manifests are written, and QuantumStreamer plays the episode from them instead of the server's. They offer every track in the folder, also those of earlier downloads, so another language can be added later. An episode without both keeps streaming from the server, which lets you download only the captions of an episode to translate them. QuantumStreamer plays an episode from a single server manifest, so any other .ism file in the folder, such as one an older version of this tool wrote under another name, is renamed to .ism.old.

Existing .srt files are never overwritten, as they may hold edited or translated captions; delete one to save it again. With --append-episode-title, the subtitles also show the episode's title while its title card is on screen.

An episode that fails is reported and the others carry on; the command then ends with Could not download <n> of <m> episodes: <IDs> and exit code 1. Otherwise it ends with Saved <n> tracks to <folder>, with <n> of <m> episodes playable offline, counting only the tracks this run saved. Subtitles that cannot be saved leave their episode saved; the command then also reports Could not save the subtitles of <n> of <m> episodes: <IDs> and ends with exit code 1.

For example, to download episode J1A in 1080p at 12 Mbps with English and Spanish (Mexico) audio, English captions and their subtitles with the episode title:

quantumfetcher download path/to/QuantumBreak -e J1A --video 12000000 --audio enus,esmx --text enus --extract-subtitles --append-episode-title

Saved 4 tracks to path/to/QuantumBreak/videos/episodes, with 1 of 1 episode playable offline

QuantumStreamer reads the episodes from its Server.EpisodesPath setting, ./videos/episodes by default; when you save them elsewhere with --episodes-path, point that setting at the same folder.

Listing the tracks

quantumfetcher formats [path/to/QuantumBreak] [-e IDS]

The command fetches the manifests of the episodes, all of them unless -e names some, and prints a table of the tracks they offer: the type, the selector that picks the track, what it holds, its estimated size per episode (averaged over the episodes, from its bitrate and length) and the number of episodes that offer it. Captions get no size estimate, as their declared bitrate is far above what their text takes. best comes first, then video by falling bitrate, then audio and captions in the manifest's order. The command never asks for episodes.

Option	Description	Default
path/to/QuantumBreak	The game folder	asked for
--videolist-path path/to/videoList.rmdj	The video list to read the episodes from	the game's list, or its _original copy once patched
-e, --episodes IDS	Comma-separated episode IDs, or all	all
--retries N	Times to retry a failed request	10
--workers N	Requests to make at once	8

For example, the tracks of J1A, shortened:

quantumfetcher formats path/to/QuantumBreak -e J1A

┌───────┬───────────────┬────────────────────────────────────────┬──────────────────┬──────────┐
│ Type  │ Selector      │ Track                                  │ Size per episode │ Episodes │
├───────┼───────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────┼──────────────────┼──────────┤
│ video │ best          │ The highest bitrate of each episode    │ ~3.8 GB          │ 1        │
│ video │ 20000000      │ 2160p, 3840x2160 H264, 20.0 Mbps       │ ~3.8 GB          │ 1        │
│ video │ 12000000      │ 1080p, 1920x1080 H264, 12.0 Mbps       │ ~2.3 GB          │ 1        │
│ ...   │               │                                        │                  │          │
│ video │ 512000        │ 360p, 640x360 H264, 0.5 Mbps           │ ~96.2 MB         │ 1        │
│ audio │ enus          │ English, AACL 6 ch 48 kHz, 256 kbps    │ ~48.1 MB         │ 1        │
│ audio │ esmx          │ Spanish, AACL 6 ch 48 kHz, 256 kbps    │ ~48.1 MB         │ 1        │
│ ...   │               │                                        │                  │          │
│ text  │ enus_captions │ English, TTML                          │                  │ 1        │
│ text  │ esmx_captions │ Spanish, TTML                          │                  │ 1        │
│ ...   │               │                                        │                  │          │
└───────┴───────────────┴────────────────────────────────────────┴──────────────────┴──────────┘

Dumping the video list

quantumfetcher videolist dump [path/to/QuantumBreak] [-o path/to/videoList.json]

The command decrypts the video list and prints it as JSON indented with four spaces, or saves it to the file -o names, as UTF-8 with a line end after the last line. Once the list is patched, it dumps the kept original, which holds the episodes' own URLs; give --videolist-path to dump another file, such as the patched list.

Option	Description	Default
path/to/QuantumBreak	The game folder	asked for
--videolist-path path/to/videoList.rmdj	The video list to dump	the game's list, or its _original copy once patched
-o, --output path/to/videoList.json	The JSON file to save to, or - to print	print

For example:

quantumfetcher videolist dump path/to/QuantumBreak -o videoList.json

Saved 45 episodes to videoList.json

Patching the video list

quantumfetcher videolist patch [path/to/QuantumBreak] [-s HOST:PORT]

The command points every episode of data/videoList.rmdj at a QuantumStreamer compatible server, as http://HOST:PORT/<episode ID>/manifest. The first time, it keeps the game's list as data/videoList_original.rmdj, where QuantumStreamer and the other commands read the episodes' own URLs from. Patching again starts from that copy, so it can point the list at another server. To undo the patch, copy videoList_original.rmdj back over videoList.rmdj or verify the game files in Steam.

QuantumStreamer patches the list itself when the game starts unless its VideoList.PatchFile setting is off. With it off, set QuantumStreamer's Server.Port to a fixed port, since its default of 0 picks a free port at every start, and patch the list with that port.

Option	Description	Default
path/to/QuantumBreak	The game folder	asked for
--videolist-path path/to/videoList.rmdj	The video list to patch	data/videoList.rmdj in the game folder
-s, --server HOST:PORT	The host and port of the server	127.0.0.1:10000

For example:

quantumfetcher videolist patch path/to/QuantumBreak -s 127.0.0.1:10000

Pointed 45 episodes at http://127.0.0.1:10000, keeping the list as videoList_original.rmdj

Building the video list

quantumfetcher videolist build path/to/videoList.json [path/to/QuantumBreak]

The command encrypts a JSON object that maps episode IDs to manifest URLs, in UTF-8 or UTF-16, and saves it as the video list the episodes are read from: data/videoList_original.rmdj once the list is patched, else data/videoList.rmdj. The first time it replaces a list, it keeps that list beside it as <list>.old, such as videoList.rmdj.old. A file that is not such an object stops the command with an error that names it.

Option	Description	Default
path/to/videoList.json	The JSON file to build from	required
path/to/QuantumBreak	The game folder	asked for
--videolist-path path/to/videoList.rmdj	The file to save the list to	the game's list, or its _original copy once patched

For example, to put back a list dumped earlier, in a game whose list is patched:

quantumfetcher videolist build videoList.json path/to/QuantumBreak

Saved 45 episodes to path/to/QuantumBreak/data/videoList_original.rmdj

File formats

Each episode is saved in its own folder, videos/episodes/<episode ID> in the game folder, laid out as QuantumStreamer reads it. For J1A:

File	Content	Format
J1A_video_<bitrate>.ismv	A video track	Track files
J1A_<stream>_<bitrate>.isma	An audio track, such as J1A_enus_256000.isma	Track files
J1A_<stream>_<bitrate>.ismt	A caption track	Track files
<track file>.part	A track being downloaded	Track files
J1A.ismc	The client manifest QuantumStreamer serves to the game, offering the saved tracks	Client manifest
J1A.ism	The server manifest naming the client manifest and the file of each track	Server manifest
<stream>.srt	Subtitles QuantumStreamer shows instead of that caption stream's, such as enus_captions.srt	Subtitles
<name>.ism.old	Another server manifest, moved aside

The JSON that videolist dump writes and videolist build reads is the decrypted content of videoList.rmdj: one object that maps each episode ID to the URL of its client manifest. videoList.rmdj describes the encryption, the layout and the copies the commands keep beside the list.

Development

uv sync
uv run pytest
uv run ruff check
uv run ruff format --check
uv run mypy

The tests use invented data and need neither the game nor a network connection.

Credits

• GrzybDev

Thanks to:

• r00t0 (for help with decoding videoList.rmdj)

Special thanks to:

• Remedy Entertainment (for making the game)
• Microsoft Studios (for publishing the game on PC)