Seriously Steam...

[Vigormortis]

snip

Oh, I have a well-good understanding of Steam and Steamguard, but I appreciate your helpfulness
When I tried to log in with the app it sent me a Steam Guard mail which I never really did anything about as I couldn't be arsed. I think I need to use the code and log into my cell with the app, then log back in on my computer, but that is more than I can be bothered to do for the moment.
Thanks again for the helpfulness

You're welcome. Even if I didn't actually (apparently) offer any helpful info.

 

[Spitfire]

All I hear is whine, log in once a month, play offline.

That is entirely an untruth, way to go chastising OP and showing you know nothing of Steam's "offline mode".

Explain.

And when I did get online and try to go offline it says "Your account credentials are not stored on this computer, so you cannot go in offline mode". I log off and on, and it gives me the same message.

Sounds like you need to disable the "Don't store account credentials on this computer" option from Steam's settings.

By this point I don't even bother with offline mode, I just turn my laptop on, start Steam online, and whenever I have to go somewhere with no internet, I just have Steam open.

Ok, I'm confused..

1. Says all OP is doing is "whining" when OP has legit points.

The OP does have legit points, but I was more interested to know why you think that the notion of logging in to Steam once a month, and then playing the rest of the time in offline mode, is untrue. In fact, when I read your reply to "GenericAmerican", I decided to put this to the test. I restarted Steam in offline mode, disabled my internet connection (just to be sure), and then restarted my PC, and with my internet connection still disabled, I managed to start Steam in offline mode, with no problems whatsoever. I did found a couple of games that didn't work, because they weren't properly updated before going into offline mode, but other than that, everything seemed to work fine.
Unless I'm missing something here, it should be perfectly possible to use Steam in offline mode for a month, as "GenericAmerican" claimed, and probably much much longer than that.

2. Might be the case, but makes no sense to me I should disable it, when it is asking me to have it enabled.

When does Steam ask you to have that option enabled? That's odd.

 

[GenericAmerican]

That is entirely an untruth, way to go chastising OP and showing you know nothing of Steam's "offline mode".

The pure retardedness of this "offline mode" makes me think if VALVe even thought of it. Now, don't get me wrong, I love Steam and VALVe, they are huge chunks of my childhood and day-to-day life. But their offline mode is so fucking retarded I cant get over it.

You can start offline mode easily if you are online, but if Steam can't connect to the internet you get this:

"Retry Connection" or "Launch in Offline Mode"

Naturally you press "Launch in Offline Mode" if you know your internet is dead. Guess what:
"Your computer has to be online to perform this action".
Just.. What? And when I did get online and try to go offline it says "Your account credentials are not stored on this computer, so you cannot go in offline mode". I log off and on, and it gives me the same message. By this point I don't even bother with offline mode, I just turn my laptop on, start Steam offline, and whenever I have to go somewhere with no internet, I just have Steam open. For as long as you are in online mode offline, you can still play... Doesn't really make sense to me..

Or am I just missing a bigger picture of this?

Don't call me a liar, there's no easier way to get on my bad side.

And I know steam offline mode entirely too well, from '07 to about a year and a half ago I lived without internet. Playing through steam was inconveniencing but that's it.

I had to borrow a friends broadband adapter, log in, maybe let things update if I had the time and go offline and play. I could stay logged in like that for near a month before it decided I needed to log back in.

If I wanted to play a game online I could do so at about 500ms ping, but I dealt with it.

But even more surprising to people who complain, when I first ever used steam it was for the Orange box. At that time, I had NO internet. At all, not even dial up. I still got HL2 to install and play. . . un-patched wasn't fun though, couldn't see any of the HUD.

The truth is, yes, it can be an inconvenience; but it's a damn sight easier than some alternatives. And acting like it's the worse thing ever, and that it's impossible to play just makes you look like a child.

If you want to play, you'll find a way; so stop complaining about it, and get working.

 

[GenericAmerican]

snip

Thank you for exhibiting common sense, and the ability to test things for yourself.

You now stand head and shoulders above most people here.

I award you +1 internet.

EDIT: just another tidbit. As far as I remember, you can only restart your computer within a certain time frame *a week maybe* before it forgets you were logged into steam. To go beyond that, just put the computer to sleep or hibernate. And it should remember for much longer.

Losing power usually kills offline mode too.

 

[Dr Jones]

If you want to play, you'll find a way; so stop complaining about it, and get working.

Uhm.. Steam is a product that is used by many, many games on PC. Really in some cases you can't get a game unless you use Steam. Me having to work around it to play offline properly shouldn't be a thing. When I want to go to offline mode, Steam doesn't let me. Doesn't matter whether I am offline or online at the moment, it wont let me. People come with stories to me of "oh you suck, it works for me!!11!", well that may be all well and good, but it doesn't work for me, which is why I have a problem with it. And if I wanted to "find a way" so bad I would probably just resort to pirating the games I have already bought (but as you would see if you read my posts, I did find a way, just be online when you lose the internet connection. Though that shouldn't be necessary).

All I hear is whine, log in once a month, play offline.

That is entirely an untruth, way to go chastising OP and showing you know nothing of Steam's "offline mode".

Explain.

And when I did get online and try to go offline it says "Your account credentials are not stored on this computer, so you cannot go in offline mode". I log off and on, and it gives me the same message.

Sounds like you need to disable the "Don't store account credentials on this computer" option from Steam's settings.

By this point I don't even bother with offline mode, I just turn my laptop on, start Steam online, and whenever I have to go somewhere with no internet, I just have Steam open.

Ok, I'm confused..

1. Says all OP is doing is "whining" when OP has legit points.

The OP does have legit points, but I was more interested to know why you think that the notion of logging in to Steam once a month, and then playing the rest of the time in offline mode, is untrue. In fact, when I read your reply to "GenericAmerican", I decided to put this to the test. I restarted Steam in offline mode, disabled my internet connection (just to be sure), and then restarted my PC, and with my internet connection still disabled, I managed to start Steam in offline mode, with no problems whatsoever. I did found a couple of games that didn't work, because they weren't properly updated before going into offline mode, but other than that, everything seemed to work fine.
Unless I'm missing something here, it should be perfectly possible to use Steam in offline mode for a month, as "GenericAmerican" claimed, and probably much much longer than that.

2. Might be the case, but makes no sense to me I should disable it, when it is asking me to have it enabled.

When does Steam ask you to have that option enabled? That's odd.

Still doesen't work for me. I am on Steam every moment on my computer. It starts automatically on my computer. I have not once heard the "once a month" thing ever in my life. Either that is because it is (as I thought) and untruth, or Steam is just piss-poor at explaining offline mode (which I have found they are).

And about the option, I meant disable as in: disabling my computer from saving my credentials, should have worded it better, sorry.

I think my problem with Steam stems from Steam Guard, which I support, but in this case is a bit of a pain.

You're welcome. Even if I didn't actually (apparently) offer any helpful info.

It's the thought that counts

 

[GenericAmerican]

snip snap snippity snip

I'm sorry, but if you have internet. . .why play offline? If you don't want your friends bothering you just set your community status to offline.

Unless you're on a laptop, if so, shame on you those things never work and have been nothing but a money sink for me.

And quit calling it an "untruth" just because you can't get it to work.

I have 3 separate people playing on my account in offline mode. Because sharing is caring, and for some reason it seems I'm the only person on this planet capable of figuring out how to make it work.

I guess that makes me valuable, or more knowledgeable with this stuff.

 

[Something Amyss]

This right here is why I hate Steam: it's one of the most intrusive forms of DRM on the market. The sale that's going on right now is an example of why I love it -- the whole lifetime rental aspect hurts less when you pay what would be a weekend rental anywhere else. But yeah, Steamworks sucks. People give the DRM a free pass, apparently because they've never had to use offline mode -- or at least, never had to use it without time to plan ahead, like going to a LAN party someplace with crappy internet or something.

People give it a free pass because the games are cheap. And then yes, only complain when something bad happens to them.

People don't care about a loss of freedom or rights as long as it looks like it doesn't apply to them. And a good way to do that is to have 75% off sales.

 

[BodomBeachChild]

Sunshine in england? I sense sarcasm. =p
You can play Steam offline. Sometimes it likes to ***** at you but just slap the ho and it should work eventually.

 

[Denamic]

Steam is an online distribution platform with online credentials as DRM.
This is kind of the point of steam, and something you agree to when you sign up.
The offline mode is a luxury that they don't even have to provide in the first place.

 

[Dr Jones]

snip snap snippity snip

I'm sorry, but if you have internet. . .why play offline? If you don't want your friends bothering you just set your community status to offline.

Unless you're on a laptop, if so, shame on you those things never work and have been nothing but a money sink for me.

And quit calling it an "untruth" just because you can't get it to work.

I have 3 separate people playing on my account in offline mode. Because sharing is caring, and for some reason it seems I'm the only person on this planet capable of figuring out how to make it work.

I guess that makes me valuable, or more knowledgeable with this stuff.

Did you notice the part where I said that what you said wasn't necessarily an untruth, and I actually said (as I thought), which means "As I thought in the moment I wrote the post". I am on a laptop, as I believe I have already said before. And even if I did have a desktop, that does not excuse the horrible UI of the offline mode. Never have I seen the things that many in here claim have to be done to access offline mode. If my internet was to die right now, and I wasn't on Steam, I wouldn't be able to play my games or launch Steam in offline mode. Which is why it is a problem for me.

It really is that simple, I can't understand why people are so quick to attack me for being an idiot, when really my gripe with Steam is just that offline mode does not work, even after I have done all you suggested, if you read my other post, you would also see I blame the problem for something entirely else, Steamguard.

 

[Something Amyss]

Sunshine in england? I sense sarcasm. =p
You can play Steam offline. Sometimes it likes to ***** at you but just slap the ho and it should work eventually.

God, I love it. When Origin has problems, it's fine to ***** at them. But when Steam has problems, "it should work eventually."

Assassin's Creed 2 has always-on DRM that can potentially ruin your gameplay experience? BOO! Steam has DRM that if you're not already running in offline mode can potentially ruin access to all your games? Meh!

EA or THQ or Ubisoft or Activision strengthens DRM because "piracy?" Damn them! Valve strengthens DRM, making it harder to use their offline mode due to piracy? Well, that's just understandable.

 

[NotALiberal]

Everyone in the thread, please read this [http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showpost.php?p=29406104&postcount=27] thread.

It shows how, no, it isn't DRM. It is in fact, a bug caused by Steam not shutting down properly the last time the PC was closed.

Good DRM: A Disc check, a CD Key, or at the absolute most, an online validation that only occurs once per installation. Not once per time you log into the internet, once per installation. Really good DRM: None at all.

If what you're saying about offline mode is correct (which, by the way, it's not. I did some research and it turns out that the issue we're discussing is actually a bug with a highly non-intuitive workaround. It involves making a backup copy of a .GCF file, and otherwise never shutting down your computer without first shutting down steam separately. It's discussed <link=http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2569938>here and explained <link=http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showpost.php?p=29406104&postcount=27>here),
how is it /not/ intrusive DRM? On the contrary, it makes it highly intrusive. It means that you have to keep re-validating your games. And don't feed me that BS about being able to log into offline mode after buying the game and never logging into online mode again. Even if that were possible (and it's not, you have to re-validate everything once a month or so), you'd be crippling your games intentionally. Offline mode is meant to be used when something has gone wrong. It's not meant to be the default setting for Steam.

How I just described to you is how offline mode is designed to and how it NORMALLY works, and funny enough how it has worked every time I have used it. If it isn't presently working that say due to a bug that is an entirely separate issue and why in the world are we bothering to discuss it.

Also the re-validating after a a month or 2 is and has been for as long as I can remember a myth. I have heard of a bunch of people staying in offline mode for months on end, sometimes a year or more and some people have reported it cuts out after a day. If you have any kind of official report that says otherwise, or states that you cannot remain in Offline mode indefintly, feel free to enlighten me but I have never heard of one.

And really overall, lets say I concede to these problems..what else would you suggest as an alternative. There are very very few other large scale services like Steam that exist and none of the others worth noting have no DRM. On top of that, none of the other services offer anywhere near a comparable service to Steam. You can say what you like about Origin, but it doesn't have the game selection, it doesn't have the sales and cheap prices and it lacks basic features we are all used to. Retail has bad prices and most games have their own DRM systems anyway, OR are connected to Steam or another service. DRM free is basically limited now to isolated games, and those games are now starting to appear on services like Steam ANYWAY. And funny enoguh, I would rather have The Witcher 2 on Steam than a standalone copy even it its DRM free. Arguing about the issue is fine, but it seems like arguing for arguing sake when you offer no alternative or solution to the problem.

Impulse, Gamer's Gate, GoG, Desura, and Capsule are all direct competitors to Steam, and they all have one thing in common: No platform specific DRM. In fact, Steam and Origin are the only two DD stores that have heavy DRM. DRM is unnecessary. It only punishes paying customers, never pirates. Heavy handed DRM is even worse.

As for the bug: the functionality you're describing is the bug. The workaround I found gets it to work in the situations you're saying it shouldn't.

This thread is for you. You need to chill a bit, I'm by no means a Valve "fanboy", but I think you're being a bit overzealous there, almost like you're an anti-fan or something.

 

[Daveman]

It's not that bad a system. It's only preventing you from playing if the internet is going to be down when you don't know about it. That's one scenario. In your case steam isn't stopping you, it's just 1) you didn't prepare for the internet to be down by switching to offline mode beforehand and 2) you have to move your computer to connect it to the internet temporarily.

If you're so used to playing offline one wonders why you were online at all. Was it perchance to take advantage of the steam sales?

Yeah. Anyone who goes on, say, a cabin trip and wants to play Steam games on their laptop during the trip should obviously turn on Offline Mode when they're at home, then bring the laptop with them and not turn the laptop off for the next week. I mean, that's entirely reasonable, right?

Ok, yeah, I thought this was puzzling so I tried it out. I turned off my computer and internet then restarted and ran steam. It said would I like to start in offline mode. I said yes. It started.

Remind me... what's the issue here?

 

[Spitfire]

1. Says all OP is doing is "whining" when OP has legit points.

The OP does have legit points, but I was more interested to know why you think that the notion of logging in to Steam once a month, and then playing the rest of the time in offline mode, is untrue. In fact, when I read your reply to "GenericAmerican", I decided to put this to the test. I restarted Steam in offline mode, disabled my internet connection (just to be sure), and then restarted my PC, and with my internet connection still disabled, I managed to start Steam in offline mode, with no problems whatsoever. I did found a couple of games that didn't work, because they weren't properly updated before going into offline mode, but other than that, everything seemed to work fine.
Unless I'm missing something here, it should be perfectly possible to use Steam in offline mode for a month, as "GenericAmerican" claimed, and probably much much longer than that.

2. Might be the case, but makes no sense to me I should disable it, when it is asking me to have it enabled.

When does Steam ask you to have that option enabled? That's odd.

Still doesen't work for me. I am on Steam every moment on my computer. It starts automatically on my computer. I have not once heard the "once a month" thing ever in my life. Either that is because it is (as I thought) and untruth, or Steam is just piss-poor at explaining offline mode (which I have found they are).

The once a month thing is just an example. What I was trying to demonstrate, was that it should be perfectly possible to run Steam in offline mode for an indefinite amount of time, including, but not limited to one month.

 

[Naeras]

It's not that bad a system. It's only preventing you from playing if the internet is going to be down when you don't know about it. That's one scenario. In your case steam isn't stopping you, it's just 1) you didn't prepare for the internet to be down by switching to offline mode beforehand and 2) you have to move your computer to connect it to the internet temporarily.

If you're so used to playing offline one wonders why you were online at all. Was it perchance to take advantage of the steam sales?

Yeah. Anyone who goes on, say, a cabin trip and wants to play Steam games on their laptop during the trip should obviously turn on Offline Mode when they're at home, then bring the laptop with them and not turn the laptop off for the next week. I mean, that's entirely reasonable, right?

Ok, yeah, I thought this was puzzling so I tried it out. I turned off my computer and internet then restarted and ran steam. It said would I like to start in offline mode. I said yes. It started.

Remind me... what's the issue here?

..what? For me (and everyone else I've talked to) it refuses to run offline mode unless I can connect to the internet before I turn on offline mode.

If the offline mode was that easily accessible I would obviously not be complaining.

 

[Daveman]

It's not that bad a system. It's only preventing you from playing if the internet is going to be down when you don't know about it. That's one scenario. In your case steam isn't stopping you, it's just 1) you didn't prepare for the internet to be down by switching to offline mode beforehand and 2) you have to move your computer to connect it to the internet temporarily.

If you're so used to playing offline one wonders why you were online at all. Was it perchance to take advantage of the steam sales?

Yeah. Anyone who goes on, say, a cabin trip and wants to play Steam games on their laptop during the trip should obviously turn on Offline Mode when they're at home, then bring the laptop with them and not turn the laptop off for the next week. I mean, that's entirely reasonable, right?

Ok, yeah, I thought this was puzzling so I tried it out. I turned off my computer and internet then restarted and ran steam. It said would I like to start in offline mode. I said yes. It started.

Remind me... what's the issue here?

..what? For me (and everyone else I've talked to) it refuses to run offline mode unless I can connect to the internet before I turn on offline mode.

If the offline mode was that easily accessible I would obviously not be complaining.

Similarly you can understand why I'm perplexed by people complaining. I know it does happen to me occasionally but I think it's to do with steam updating which means so long as you aren't off for quite a long time (like more than a couple of weeks). I'm not sure if it was that or just my uni internet being a dick occasionally but that's where I've had issues.

 

[Naeras]

Similarly you can understand why I'm perplexed by people complaining. I know it does happen to me occasionally but I think it's to do with steam updating which means so long as you aren't off for quite a long time (like more than a couple of weeks). I'm not sure if it was that or just my uni internet being a dick occasionally but that's where I've had issues.

I'm fairly certain that's not the case, as I have an internet connection most of the time myself, yet offline mode refuses to start even though I was on the online mode less than an hour ago, if I turn my computer and Steam on without an internet connection.

I've heard someone claim that what you're experiencing is actually a bug. In which case it's probably the most awesome bug in gaming history. I've got no actual way of verifying that claim, though, but like I said, it seems to be far more common that offline mode can't be accessed without having a connection first.

 

[Zebidizy]

well this is interesting..
first England has more sun than Northern Ireland, and it was quite warm when I left it and came back to rain rain and more rain
second feck is not fuck its acceptable on its fucking own thank you very much.
third thanks for all the helpful stuff and I think steam is one of the best things to come out of the gaming world never hated it and probably never will. Plus its not as if it was the end of the world. I have other things in my life that can keep entertained for the next month or so.
fourth cant do any changes in this house... I am a guest after all and only here for 2 months.
finally as wonderful as Google is I'm a lazy **** and it is alot easier to just ask..plus as I said I needed the rant... but to all the people who have kindly helped me thanks. If I ever meet you I'll buy you a pint, or a drink of your choosing.

 

[Dr Jones]

Snip

I shouldn't have to make it work. Steam is a product that is pretty much unavoidable if you want to play computer some of the most recent, biggest PC games. I have never done anything to tamper with the offline functionality of it, and I stated before that I have a theory as to why it doesen't work (Steam Guard) but the problem just is, that I shouldn't have to make it work. It should just work from the beginning.

 

[dfphetteplace]

As long as you have played the game once online, you can play it in offline mode as long as the game maker hasn't put any further DRM in place. Problem solved.