Urgent Help Required With @~£$%^R&% STEAM.

[MatTheCat]

I am about to embark on a 6 week stint at sea. Not all is lost, cos I invested in a gaming laptop to keep me amused in my spare time.....except STEAM went and tried to log on in online mode, the vessel's internet server obviously refused the connection, which caused the log in to fail, and now I can't get into Steam and am therefore locked out of all my games....that I paid money for.

There is clearly just a nasty little reg entry somewhere preventing me from getting into my Steam account in offline mode. Can anyone point me to where this is and/or what I need to do get back into my Steam account without logging into their servers?

 

[MatTheCat]

Do you reckon that a system restore would do the trick?

I would only want to try this as a last resort as I have been touching cloth racing against time to get another ratty DRM infested scum Apple IPod, that I bought in an emergency when I realised I had left my friendly trad drag n drop files mp3 player at home. I finally managed to itunes on my PC and also got my iPod sync'd with my PC on the ships internet. A restore means I would lose all that and would only risk doing that if I thought the pay-off was going to be getting access to my games.

 

[MatTheCat]

Chill, steam's down for maintenance.

So how should that prevent me from logging in in Offline mode?

 

[MatTheCat]

It's back up.

Jeeezus...

That was close....vessel steaming out to North Sea and Steam lets me back into Offline Mode.......Question is, how the hell did STEAM servers being down result in me not being allowed to log into 'Offline Mode'.

Will have to make damn sure that Steam doesn't try to phone home ever again for the rest of this trip.

Also, workaround for me was to go to gamecopywolrd and download cracks. Only managed to get Saints Row 4 crack through the vessels firewall but having that would certainly much better than having big phat phuvk all.

I have had big issues with steam shafting me before with it's offline mode but I thought they had fixed it...seems they haven't.......cracks all the way for me from now on I think.

 

[MatTheCat]

You have to connect to steam once before you can start using offline mode. Now that its set to offline it will not try to connect.
However i think it has a time limit (like 30 days) before it will require another connection to authenticate.

Wrong.

It will try to connect.

17 days into my latest stint offshore, Steam tried to connect, couldn't connect, and now I am prevented from playing all my games on my laptop until I get back on 6th May.

I would like to rip off Gabe Newell's head and take dump in the hole where his neck used to be. I won't let this happen to me ever again with any DRM system. I will acquire cracks for all my existing single player offline games, and I know which 'version' of games I shall be downloading in the future.

 

[MatTheCat]

You have to be online to choose to go offline first, as it changes some files to work, it wont bother you after that, but every new game requires it.

What are you talking about?

I have just stated that Steam, which has not been able to connect to the internet since April 2nd, has just blocked me from playing all my games, until it can connect to the internet again.

Clearly Steam doesn't offer a true offline mode, but allows the paying customer to be offline for a short period of time, before requiring the PC to 'phone home' and verify itself.

So that is the sort of hassles that punters like me who spend a few hundred quid on games every year have to put up with. Meanwhile, all the pirates get to play for free and don't suffer any such issues.

I would like to continue to pay for games (especially those that I enjoy) but Nazi DRM like Steam and now Rockstar Social Club are really forcing my hand in a certain direction.

 

[MatTheCat]

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=3160-agcb-2555
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=9828-SFLZ-9289

This is no excuse.

Valve are the ones holding all the aces. Steam is their cash cow. It is up to them to make sure it works as intended.

I have had issues with being blocked from offline mode before...but they said that they fixed it....but if it's functionality can be so easily broken, then it is their system that is broke......and besides....I don't believe that is quite how it works at all. What I have been doing is turning off my Laptop's WiFi each and everytime before I log into Steam...but this time I forgot. Steam made some sort of contact with 'home', but couldn't connect fully and therefore has blocked me from my games until it can re-verify itself with Valve's servers.

For all the hate that Origin gets, it's offline mode has never failed me. Never. How can it be so hard to get something like this right, especially considering the income stream Valve generates from simply offering a DRM platform for other publishers work?

 

[MatTheCat]

If you're going to be disconnected from the internet for long periods of time, your only real option is to avoid using Steam. Places like GOG, Origin, Rockstar Social Club etc. have more reliable ways of allowing you to play offline.

Rockstar Social Club? Are you sure?

My finger was hovering over the BUY button for a DVD version of GTA V, for when I get back, but I did my homework and have discovered that GTA V has the very worst of Always On DRM systems.

 

[MatTheCat]

I'm sorry that your games aren't working, that must be frustrating, but ****** and blinding about steam, Gabe Newell (i mean, what?) and life in general, as well as dismissing people's links that literally show you what's going wrong is surely not filling that gap for you?

There is squat I can do about the info contained within the links my friend, as Steam has locked me out and I can't do anything about that until I am back onshore.

Still, good information for 'next time' I suppose, if I am prepared to risk letting myself in for another 'next time'.

And I think I do have a right to spit on Steam. I have paid nig bucks for this gaming laptop and invested yet more money and time upgrading to the GTX 980M. I have shelled out yet more hard earned on a big bunch of games and this bloody poxy DRM system won't let me play with them. For the wise sage who suggested that I only buy physical copies of games. I practically only ever buy physical copies of games, but low n behold, they force me to use Steam. So Instead of chilling out in my free time I am tearing my hair out trying to download cracks that work from the odd dodgy site that slips through the firewall I am behind, but without much success. STEAM is forcing me towards piracy.



btw...if anyone knows a good source for 'files' that will help me get a game or two working please do PM me with the details.

MatTheCat is regularly having these sorts of problems. It's PEBCAK most of the time, I think he just likes ranting and foaming at the mouth, then proclaiming that piracy is the solution to the problems he usually creates for himself.

Perhaps I am regularly having these sorts of problems because I am regularly gaming in the absence of a solid internet connection to which I have unlimited access. Perhaps I am also regularly having these problems because despite telling myself that piracy is the answer, I never actually do and keep paying for games, the majority of which force me to use Steam. Perhaps now I will finally learn the damn lesson?

 

[MatTheCat]

This probably happened 8+ times in 3 months.

I think a lot of people who say it works fine haven't actually experienced it in periods longer than 2 weeks offline.

Precisely. Only those who are actually relying on Steam's Offline mode doing what it says on the tin, realise that it bloody well doesn't do as it says on the tin and even when it connects in 'offline' mode, it will still want to periodically phone home. This way, this nasty little piece of DRM junkware gives the impression of actually allowing for a true offline mode, whilst secretly relaying information to the 'mother ship' without the end user being aware of it.


......and 8 times in 3 months is roughly once every fortnight!

This is utter horse*faeces* and sneaky as hell to boot.

Cracks all the way for me from now on. Steam has convinced me that piracy is the only way forward (for all games that require trash DRM junkware).

 

[MatTheCat]

Ironically I only discovered Steam because I bought a hard copy of a game and it promptly told me that I needed a Steam account when installing. Before that I had never heard of it.

Yeah...I never considered the

"Why don't you just buy a physical copy of the game" suggestion worth responding to.

It has been at least 7-8 years since it has become almost impossible to get games that don't require STEAM drm or some alternative form of the same kind of thing. Under what sort of rock has any gamer been living who would suggest "just buy physical copy of games".

Roll on The Witcher 3.....that will be my game for my next trip and with the added bonus of No DRM.

This is why I shall buy the Witcher 3 (already pre-ordered) and why I will steal GTA V (was about to order until I discovered it had Always On DRM).

 

[MatTheCat]

But as someone else has shown you, if you maintain correct exiting procedures with Steam, you won't get the issue where your Offline Mode fails.

What the hell are you talking about and what exactly is your role in life?

How many people have you seen who have came forward and suggested that only people who don't really *need* a proper offline mode believe that Steam's offline mode does what it says on the tin.

How many people have stated that they have discovered much to their chagrin that even in offline mode, Steam will want to phone home at least once a fortnight and that if it can't, then no more gaming for Johnny Nae Internet Connection?

Why do you feel compelled to side with a big dirty money grabbing company and shower condescension and derision on the little guy who is getting **** upon and having the gall to complain about it?

Steam's offline mode is time limited. Even if they say it isn't. It actually is. I know this. Other people who have been in similar positions to me know this and in the off chance that it really is down to Steam not being exited properly, than that is just not bloody good enough. Computers crash. Laptops especially crash often. Sometimes the end user just doesn't have time to manually close everything. Sometimes Alt-F4 is the only way. Sometimes the power button is the only way, or even taking the battery out.

I am sure there are bigger nastier companies than Steam that you can go and join intellectual forces with in a crusade against some little guys. Is there not some oil company sponsoring a civil war in Africa or something? Clever mulitnational corporation! Stupid uneducated bushmen!

Go and find a 'better' cause.

 

[MatTheCat]

Doppelpost

 

[MatTheCat]

If you were surrounded by nothing but sea, I am sure you would soon lose interest in your photography habit.

 

[MatTheCat]

Can you use your phone, or another crew members', as a wifi hotspot to allow Steam to connect to do what it needs to do??

Ya dont get mobile phone signals or WiFi hotspots out in the middle of the North Sea....just the vessel's internet, which is obviously restricted....(and a nightmare in general)

 

[MatTheCat]

'Offline mode' but they sneak into Steam every now and then anyway. It's hilarious that poor Microsoft initially wanted to do the same with their Xbox but it hurt their image badly so they scrapped the idea.
Valve has been doing it for years and no one says a thing. Cheeky gits.

I would go further than that and suggest that M$'s Always On DRM plans actually completely blew the launch of their (inferior anyways) console right out the water.

I remember the Christmas after these consoles launched. PS4's were like hen's teeth and the XBones were piled up high in every retail outlet you care to name.

I suppose Steam doing this isn't such a huge deal as PC gamers can get cracks or indeed just outright pirate any offline game that they wish. I know that I will have cracks for all my games from now on and for this reason, I amn't likely to rage and rant much about Steam and their scummy underhand deceitful DRM platform.