diff --git a/download-deps.py b/download-deps.py
index 9222eac9fc..bd48c13631 100755
--- a/download-deps.py
+++ b/download-deps.py
@@ -3,6 +3,11 @@
 #
 # ./download-deps.py
 #
+# Download Cocos2D-X resources from github (https://github.com/cocos2d/cocos2d-x-3rd-party-libs-bin) and extract from ZIP
+#
+# Helps prevent repo bloat due to large binary files since they can
+# be hosted separately.
+#
 
 """****************************************************************************
 Copyright (c) 2014 cocos2d-x.org
@@ -29,8 +34,287 @@ OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN
 THE SOFTWARE.
 ****************************************************************************"""
 
-import os
+import os.path,zipfile
+import shutil
+import sys
+import traceback
+import distutils
+import fileinput
+import json
+
+from optparse import OptionParser
+from time import time
+from sys import stdout
+from distutils.errors import DistutilsError
+from distutils.dir_util import copy_tree, remove_tree
+
+class UnrecognizedFormat:
+    def __init__(self, prompt):
+        self._prompt = prompt
+    def __str__(self):
+        return self._prompt
+
+class CocosZipInstaller(object):
+    def __init__(self, workpath, config_path, version_path, remote_version_key = None):
+        self._workpath = workpath
+        self._config_path = config_path
+        self._version_path = version_path
+
+        data = self.load_json_file(config_path)
+
+        self._current_version = data["version"]
+        self._repo_name = data["repo_name"]
+        try:
+            self._move_dirs = data["move_dirs"]
+        except:
+            self._move_dirs = None
+        self._filename = self._current_version + '.zip'
+        self._url = data["repo_parent"] + self._repo_name + '/archive/' + self._filename
+        self._zip_file_size = int(data["zip_file_size"])
+        # 'v' letter was swallowed by github, so we need to substring it from the 2nd letter
+        self._extracted_folder_name = os.path.join(self._workpath, self._repo_name + '-' + self._current_version[1:])
+
+        try:
+            data = self.load_json_file(version_path)
+            if remote_version_key == None:
+                self._remote_version = data["version"]
+            else:
+                self._remote_version = data[remote_version_key]
+        except:
+            print("==> version file doesn't exist")
+
+    def get_input_value(self, prompt):
+        ret = raw_input(prompt)
+        ret.rstrip(" \t")
+        return ret
+
+    def download_file(self):
+        print("==> Ready to download '%s' from '%s'" % (self._filename, self._url))
+        import urllib2
+        try:
+            u = urllib2.urlopen(self._url)
+        except urllib2.HTTPError as e:
+            if e.code == 404:
+                print("==> Error: Could not find the file from url: '%s'" % (self._url))
+            print("==> Http request failed, error code: " + str(e.code) + ", reason: " + e.read())
+            sys.exit(1)
+
+        f = open(self._filename, 'wb')
+        meta = u.info()
+        content_len = meta.getheaders("Content-Length")
+        file_size = 0
+        if content_len and len(content_len) > 0:
+            file_size = int(content_len[0])
+        else:
+            # github server may not reponse a header information which contains `Content-Length`,
+            # therefore, the size needs to be written hardcode here. While server doesn't return
+            # `Content-Length`, use it instead
+            print("==> WARNING: Couldn't grab the file size from remote, use 'zip_file_size' section in '%s'" % self._config_path)
+            file_size = self._zip_file_size
+
+        print("==> Start to download, please wait ...")
+
+        file_size_dl = 0
+        block_sz = 8192
+        block_size_per_second = 0
+        old_time=time()
+
+        while True:
+            buffer = u.read(block_sz)
+            if not buffer:
+                break
+
+            file_size_dl += len(buffer)
+            block_size_per_second += len(buffer)
+            f.write(buffer)
+            new_time = time()
+            if (new_time - old_time) > 1:
+                speed = block_size_per_second / (new_time - old_time) / 1000.0
+                status = ""
+                if file_size != 0:
+                    percent = file_size_dl * 100. / file_size
+                    status = r"Downloaded: %6dK / Total: %dK, Percent: %3.2f%%, Speed: %6.2f KB/S " % (file_size_dl / 1000, file_size / 1000, percent, speed)
+                else:
+                    status = r"Downloaded: %6dK, Speed: %6.2f KB/S " % (file_size_dl / 1000, speed)
+
+                status = status + chr(8)*(len(status)+1)
+                print(status),
+                sys.stdout.flush()
+                block_size_per_second = 0
+                old_time = new_time
+
+        print("==> Downloading finished!")
+        f.close()
+
+    def ensure_directory(self, target):
+        if not os.path.exists(target):
+            os.mkdir(target)
+
+    def unpack_zipfile(self, extract_dir):
+        """Unpack zip `filename` to `extract_dir`
+
+        Raises ``UnrecognizedFormat`` if `filename` is not a zipfile (as determined
+        by ``zipfile.is_zipfile()``).
+        """
+
+        if not zipfile.is_zipfile(self._filename):
+            raise UnrecognizedFormat("%s is not a zip file" % (self._filename))
+
+        print("==> Extracting files, please wait ...")
+        z = zipfile.ZipFile(self._filename)
+        try:
+            for info in z.infolist():
+                name = info.filename
+
+                # don't extract absolute paths or ones with .. in them
+                if name.startswith('/') or '..' in name:
+                    continue
+
+                target = os.path.join(extract_dir, *name.split('/'))
+                if not target:
+                    continue
+                if name.endswith('/'):
+                    # directory
+                    self.ensure_directory(target)
+                else:
+                    # file
+                    data = z.read(info.filename)
+                    f = open(target,'wb')
+                    try:
+                        f.write(data)
+                    finally:
+                        f.close()
+                        del data
+                unix_attributes = info.external_attr >> 16
+                if unix_attributes:
+                    os.chmod(target, unix_attributes)
+        finally:
+            z.close()
+            print("==> Extraction done!")
+
+
+    def ask_to_delete_downloaded_zip_file(self):
+        ret = self.get_input_value("==> Do you want to keep '%s'? So you don't have to download it later. (yes/no): " % self._filename)
+        ret = ret.strip()
+        if ret != 'yes' and ret != 'y' and ret != 'no' and ret != 'n':
+            print("==> Cache the dependency libraries by default")
+            return False
+        else:
+            return True if ret == 'no' or ret =='n' else False
+
+    def download_zip_file(self):
+        if not os.path.isfile(self._filename):
+            self.download_file()
+        try:
+            if not zipfile.is_zipfile(self._filename):
+                raise UnrecognizedFormat("%s is not a zip file" % (self._filename))
+        except UnrecognizedFormat as e:
+            print("==> Unrecognized zip format from your local '%s' file!" % (self._filename))
+            if os.path.isfile(self._filename):
+                os.remove(self._filename)
+            print("==> Download it from internet again, please wait...")
+            self.download_zip_file()
+
+    def need_to_update(self):
+        if not os.path.isfile(self._version_path):
+            return True
+
+        with open(self._version_path) as data_file:
+            data = json.load(data_file)
+
+        if self._remote_version == self._current_version:
+            return False
+        return True
+
+    def load_json_file(self, file_path):
+        if not os.path.isfile(file_path):
+            raise Exception("Could not find (%s)" % (file_path))
+
+        with open(file_path) as data_file:
+            data = json.load(data_file)
+        return data
+
+    def run(self, workpath, folder_for_extracting, remove_downloaded, force_update, download_only):
+        if not force_update and not self.need_to_update():
+            print("==> Not need to update!")
+            return
+
+        if os.path.exists(self._extracted_folder_name):
+            shutil.rmtree(self._extracted_folder_name)
+
+        self.download_zip_file()
+
+        if not download_only:
+            self.unpack_zipfile(self._workpath)
+            print("==> Copying files...")
+            if not os.path.exists(folder_for_extracting):
+                os.mkdir(folder_for_extracting)
+            distutils.dir_util.copy_tree(self._extracted_folder_name, folder_for_extracting)
+            if self._move_dirs is not None:
+                for srcDir in self._move_dirs.keys():
+                    distDir = os.path.join( os.path.join(workpath, self._move_dirs[srcDir]), srcDir)
+                    if os.path.exists(distDir):
+                        shutil.rmtree(distDir)
+                    shutil.move( os.path.join(folder_for_extracting, srcDir), distDir)
+            print("==> Cleaning...")
+            if os.path.exists(self._extracted_folder_name):
+                shutil.rmtree(self._extracted_folder_name)
+            if os.path.isfile(self._filename):
+                if remove_downloaded != None:
+                    if remove_downloaded == 'yes':
+                        os.remove(self._filename)
+                elif self.ask_to_delete_downloaded_zip_file():
+                    os.remove(self._filename)
+        else:
+            print("==> Download (%s) finish!" % self._filename)
+
+
+def _check_python_version():
+    major_ver = sys.version_info[0]
+    if major_ver > 2:
+        print ("The python version is %d.%d. But python 2.x is required. (Version 2.7 is well tested)\n"
+               "Download it here: https://www.python.org/" % (major_ver, sys.version_info[1]))
+        return False
+
+    return True
+
+def main():
+    workpath = os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(__file__))
+
+    if not _check_python_version():
+        exit()
+
+    parser = OptionParser()
+    parser.add_option('-r', '--remove-download',
+                      action="store", type="string", dest='remove_downloaded', default=None,
+                      help="Whether to remove downloaded zip file, 'yes' or 'no'")
+
+    parser.add_option("-f", "--force-update",
+                      action="store_true", dest="force_update", default=False,
+                      help="Whether to force update the third party libraries")
+
+    parser.add_option("-d", "--download-only",
+                      action="store_true", dest="download_only", default=False,
+                      help="Only download zip file of the third party libraries, will not extract it")
+
+    (opts, args) = parser.parse_args()
+
+    print("=======================================================")
+    print("==> Prepare to download external libraries!")
+    external_path = os.path.join(workpath, 'external')
+    installer = CocosZipInstaller(workpath, os.path.join(workpath, 'external', 'config.json'), os.path.join(workpath, 'external', 'version.json'), "prebuilt_libs_version")
+    installer.run(workpath,external_path, opts.remove_downloaded, opts.force_update, opts.download_only)
+
+    print("=======================================================")
+    print("==> Prepare to download lua runtime binaries")
+    runtime_path = os.path.join(workpath, 'templates', 'lua-template-runtime', 'runtime')
+    installer = CocosZipInstaller(workpath, os.path.join(runtime_path, 'config.json'), os.path.join(runtime_path, 'version.json'))
+    installer.run(workpath, runtime_path, opts.remove_downloaded, opts.force_update, opts.download_only)
 
 # -------------- main --------------
 if __name__ == '__main__':
-    os.system("git submodule update --init --recursive --depth=1")
+    try:
+        main()
+    except Exception as e:
+        traceback.print_exc()
+        sys.exit(1)
diff --git a/external b/external
deleted file mode 160000
index e6fb852cc0..0000000000
--- a/external
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Subproject commit e6fb852cc071f8603666c170639604d9c83a35c3