Well first in the PC version it is like that, you always start with shotgun and pickup the weapons from deads. I hoped you were right but no way
ic hcekced myself. I could pickup and use weapons from deads and tracing through the functions and checks doesnt show something that prevents you from using the weapons u pick up too (which worked for me) im in level 5 actualy with no probs with the RELOADED crack and 2 friends finished the game already also with no probs. So what you wrote is simply wrong.