diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
deleted file mode 100644
index ba66d79ff..000000000
--- a/.gitmodules
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-[submodule "deps"]
-	path = deps
-	url = https://github.com/ethereum/cpp-dependencies
diff --git a/cmake/jsoncpp.cmake b/cmake/jsoncpp.cmake
index 79ce4c5f8..6ddf4c74c 100644
--- a/cmake/jsoncpp.cmake
+++ b/cmake/jsoncpp.cmake
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ endif()
 
 ExternalProject_Add(jsoncpp-project
     PREFIX "${prefix}"
+    DOWNLOAD_DIR "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/deps/downloads"
     DOWNLOAD_NAME jsoncpp-1.7.7.tar.gz
     URL https://github.com/open-source-parsers/jsoncpp/archive/1.7.7.tar.gz
     URL_HASH SHA256=087640ebcf7fbcfe8e2717a0b9528fff89c52fcf69fa2a18cc2b538008098f97
diff --git a/deps b/deps
deleted file mode 160000
index e5c8316db..000000000
--- a/deps
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Subproject commit e5c8316db8d3daa0abc3b5af8545ce330057608c
diff --git a/scripts/install_deps.bat b/scripts/install_deps.bat
index 512a28dfa..d02005ccd 100644
--- a/scripts/install_deps.bat
+++ b/scripts/install_deps.bat
@@ -58,4 +58,4 @@ REM
 REM Copyright (c) 2016 solidity contributors.
 REM ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-cmake -P deps\install_deps.cmake
+cmake -P scripts\install_deps.cmake
diff --git a/scripts/install_deps.cmake b/scripts/install_deps.cmake
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d1284b9e5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/install_deps.cmake
@@ -0,0 +1,99 @@
+get_filename_component(ROOT_DIR "${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/../deps" ABSOLUTE)
+
+set(CACHE_DIR "${ROOT_DIR}/cache")
+set(PACKAGES_DIR "${ROOT_DIR}/packages")
+
+function(download URL DST_FILE STATUS)
+  set(TMP_FILE "${DST_FILE}.part")
+
+  get_filename_component(FILE_NAME ${DST_FILE} NAME)
+  if (NOT EXISTS ${DST_FILE})
+    message("Downloading ${FILE_NAME}")
+    file(DOWNLOAD ${URL} ${TMP_FILE} SHOW_PROGRESS STATUS DOWNLOAD_STATUS)
+    list(GET DOWNLOAD_STATUS 0 STATUS_CODE)
+    if (STATUS_CODE EQUAL 0)
+      file(RENAME ${TMP_FILE} ${DST_FILE})
+    else()
+      file(REMOVE ${TMP_FILE})
+      list(GET DOWNLOAD_STATUS 1 ERROR_MSG)
+
+      message("ERROR! Downloading '${FILE_NAME}' failed.")
+      message(STATUS "URL:   ${URL}")
+      message(STATUS "Error: ${STATUS_CODE} ${ERROR_MSG}")
+      set(STATUS FALSE PARENT_SCOPE)
+      return()
+    endif()
+  else()
+    message("Using cached ${FILE_NAME}")
+  endif()
+  set(STATUS TRUE PARENT_SCOPE)
+endfunction(download)
+
+function(download_and_unpack PACKAGE_URL DST_DIR)
+  get_filename_component(FILE_NAME ${PACKAGE_URL} NAME)
+
+  set(DST_FILE "${CACHE_DIR}/${FILE_NAME}")
+  set(TMP_FILE "${DST_FILE}.part")
+
+  file(MAKE_DIRECTORY ${CACHE_DIR})
+  file(MAKE_DIRECTORY ${DST_DIR})
+
+  download(${PACKAGE_URL} ${DST_FILE} STATUS)
+
+  if (STATUS)
+    message("Unpacking ${FILE_NAME} to ${DST_DIR}")
+    execute_process(COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E tar -xf ${DST_FILE}
+        WORKING_DIRECTORY ${DST_DIR})
+  endif()
+endfunction(download_and_unpack)
+
+# Packs installed package binaries and headers into an archive.
+function(create_package NAME DIR)
+  message("Creating package ${NAME}")
+  file(MAKE_DIRECTORY ${PACKAGES_DIR})
+
+  # To create an archive without addicional top level directory
+  # (like package-X.Y.Z) we need to know all top level files/dirs.
+  # Usually it is just "win64" dir.
+  file(GLOB TOP_FILES RELATIVE ${DIR} "${DIR}/*")
+
+  set(PACKAGE_FILE "${PACKAGES_DIR}/${NAME}.tar.gz")
+  execute_process(COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E
+      tar -czf ${PACKAGE_FILE} ${TOP_FILES}
+      WORKING_DIRECTORY ${DIR})
+endfunction(create_package)
+
+# Downloads the source code of the package and unpacks it to dedicated 'src'
+# dir. Also creates 'build' and 'install' dir to be used by a build script.
+function(prepare_package_source NAME VERSION URL)
+  set(PACKAGE_NAME "${NAME}-${VERSION}")
+
+  set(PACKAGE_DIR "${CACHE_DIR}/${PACKAGE_NAME}")
+  set(SOURCE_DIR "${PACKAGE_DIR}/src")
+  set(BUILD_DIR "${PACKAGE_DIR}/build")
+  set(INSTALL_DIR "${PACKAGE_DIR}/install")
+
+  if (NOT EXISTS ${SOURCE_DIR})
+    download_and_unpack(${URL} ${PACKAGE_DIR} STATUS)
+    file(GLOB ORIG_SOURCE_DIR_NAME "${PACKAGE_DIR}/*")
+    file(RENAME ${ORIG_SOURCE_DIR_NAME} ${SOURCE_DIR})
+  endif()
+
+  file(MAKE_DIRECTORY ${BUILD_DIR})
+  file(MAKE_DIRECTORY ${INSTALL_DIR})
+
+  # Export names and dirs to be used by a package-specific build script.
+  set(PACKAGE_NAME ${PACKAGE_NAME} PARENT_SCOPE)
+  set(SOURCE_DIR   ${SOURCE_DIR}   PARENT_SCOPE)
+  set(BUILD_DIR    ${BUILD_DIR}    PARENT_SCOPE)
+  set(INSTALL_DIR  ${INSTALL_DIR}  PARENT_SCOPE)
+endfunction()
+
+set(INSTALL_DIR "${ROOT_DIR}/install")
+set(SERVER "https://github.com/ethereum/cpp-dependencies/releases/download/vc140/")
+
+function(download_and_install PACKAGE_NAME)
+  download_and_unpack("${SERVER}${PACKAGE_NAME}.tar.gz" ${INSTALL_DIR})
+endfunction(download_and_install)
+
+download_and_install("boost-1.61")