Playing downloaded games without internet

Can you not play steam purchased or direct2drive purchased games without an internet connection? Im pretty unimpressed if that's the case. I was planning on ordering a laptop with no optical drive and on getting my games online, but Im not interested in being held hostage by an internet connection to play single player games...

Tried firing up steam in "offline mode" to see if the games would still work, except it then informed me that it still could not due to network problems. Good to hear offline mode also requires a connection.

 

You can generally fire up Offline Mode just fine if your network adapter is turned off. It's a PitA, to be sure, and one of the things I hate most about Steam (along with the fact that sometimes it just doesn't start up and you're totally SOL for the time being), but this is usually a usable workaround. Once you're in Offline Mode you should be clear to play anything that doesn't include a "must be connected to the internet to play" DRM module.

 

Yea, it sucks. You have to make sure to remember to go into offline mode while still connected to the internet, or you won't be able to later. I can now finally access most of my games after waiting 2 months for a connection

 

Tried turning off my network adaptor (i disabled, maybe you meant another way?) and also going into offline mode while still connected, but I still got the same message. It almost seems laughable that people paying for a game are more restricted than people who choose to pirate .

Gcrussells, are most games with DRM publicized as having it? I thought Ubisoft had a big issue with online verification in their games, put i dont know anything about other developers.

Is their a reliable workaround to get onto offline mode and still be able to access games, or is it sorta black magic haha.

 

I got irritated by Steam's Offline Mode last month while I didn't have a permanent internet service. I didn't find out until later, but one of the client updates I happened to download didn't like the username for logging in to have any uppercases so whether I started Steam offline or online, I couldn't switch to offline mode when I know I wouldn't have net access soon.

 

Looks like you were right GamingACU, I just didnt do as you suggested properly. Looks like as long as you go into offline mode with fully updated games before you lose your connection, you can still play them. That said, what a poorly designed system... Like Prydeless mentioned, if you dont know when you wont have a connection (or you forget to disconnect) you're basically SOL.

Glad to learn that it is still a somewhat reliable service, but im still put off by that condition. Can anyone that has direct2drive games let me know how their system works for offline play?

 

Steam's offline mode works fine for me, whether I start it when I have internet or otherwise...when you have internet, try deleting "clientregistry.blob" in your Steam folder and restart Steam.

 

Steam offline can be tricky sometimes after client updates, but generally it does work. For most users, myself included, the option "keep games up to date automatically" is checked so as soon as you connect to steam, if there is an update it will download and apply it... and if you can't get on the net, it can't check your version vs the updated one, so everything should still be fine. I guess problems happen if you lose net connection halfway thru downloading a large update and don't get it back for a while but that really doesn't happen often!

And for d2d, d2d offers nothing more than the game installer downloads, it isn't an online client like steam, it is an online distributor only.

 

I think any single-player game that requires an internet connection to play will tell you so - Ubisoft stuff like AC: Brotherhood is all I know of. I also don't know if they still do that or if the angry mob of torch- and pitchfork bearing villagers around their HQ got them to back off.

And I don't know about anyone else's experience, but I was definitely able to jump into offline mode the last few times I needed to by turning off my network adapter (disabling or just using the Envy 14's function key for turning it off), no previous switch to offline mode required. I got the tip from a thread in Steam's forums and it worked fine for me. I don't remember if the ethernet adapter could be running or not, I feel like my Envy hasn't recognized that port since I reinstalled the OS upon receiving it, so maybe that's your issue.

It's also possible that you have to enter offline mode while you're online once to set up offline mode - that's something they say, but I'm not really sure exactly what the parameters are (i.e. get everything updated, go offline, then you can always go offline, or do you have to switch from online to offline mode every time there's an update?).

Best advice, follow the advice in this article, then once you've successfully entered offline mode from a connected computer, try starting up with your network connections disconnected/disabled.

 

thanks gcrussell