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Stem offline mode?

Cienja

Cienja

Senior member
What happens if my Internet connection goes down and I want to play a Steam game? I read about their "offline" option and wonder if any of you have used it. What changes by using the offline mode (besides the inability to play multiplayer, etc.)

Thanks!
 
Nothing changes other than you cant play MP. Lets say your net connection is down or you have just unplugged your cable from back of the PC for whatever reason. Maybe the room the PC is in doesnt have internet connection. You start your game and you'll get a pop up saying STEAM cant connect. It asks if you want to try connection again or 'Play In Offline Mode'. It also asks if you want to cancel. Clicking cancel just cancels the whole process of starting the game. To play your steam game you click play in offline mode and the game begins as normal. At least this is what I get when playing ETW. Which is the only game I have with steam so far. As long as your game isnt MP exclusively you should be able to play it as a normal non steam game.

I've always been leery of STEAM and Steam games in the past because of all its bad press but I'm actually happy with it so far. I have yet to have a problem (knocks on wood). The biggest negative I have seen is if you dont want the game to patch or want to stay on an older patched version of a game then you can run into a problem since Steam does an auto update upon start up. Only way around this that I know of is to not have internet hooked up or blocked while playing your game so it doesnt update.
 
Makes sense to me. I play all Steam games "online" but have a situation that has come up where I can't be online, so this helps. Thanks for your input!
 
Originally posted by: masteryoda34
In Steam, you can click File > Go Offline to force it offline manually if you want to test it.
Click to expand...

You also have to do this at least ONCE before you lose connectivity to "activate" offline mode.

Otherwise, you'll just get an "unable to connect to STEAM" error, and Steam will shut down.


Skott: You can chose to have a game not update in the properties window of the game. You won't be able to play on updated servers till you update, though.
 
Originally posted by: Raduque
Originally posted by: masteryoda34
In Steam, you can click File > Go Offline to force it offline manually if you want to test it.
Click to expand...

You also have to do this at least ONCE before you lose connectivity to "activate" offline mode.

Otherwise, you'll just get an "unable to connect to STEAM" error, and Steam will shut down.


Skott: You can chose to have a game not update in the properties window of the game. You won't be able to play on updated servers till you update, though.
Click to expand...

Fvckin' Steam! My DSL modem died and guess what happened when I tried to start up a single-player session of Titan Quest last Friday? Yeah...

Valve could've at least made it the default or an installation option to not require online access. :|
 
Saying you need to set it to offline mode before you lose connection is entirely untrue. If you leave your pc plugged into a router, Steam thinks there is a net connection but it keeps timing out. It will keep trying to connect. Unplug the network cable from your pc or disable the network adaptor and Steam will ask you on startup if you want to play in offline mode.
 
Originally posted by: dguy6789
Saying you need to set it to offline mode before you lose connection is entirely untrue. If you leave your pc plugged into a router, Steam thinks there is a net connection but it keeps timing out. It will keep trying to connect. Unplug the network cable from your pc or disable the network adaptor and Steam will ask you on startup if you want to play in offline mode.
Click to expand...

Second this, I had never set it to offline mode before and when I moved into my new apartment it worked just fine in offline mode.
 
Originally posted by: dguy6789
Saying you need to set it to offline mode before you lose connection is entirely untrue. If you leave your pc plugged into a router, Steam thinks there is a net connection but it keeps timing out. It will keep trying to connect. Unplug the network cable from your pc or disable the network adaptor and Steam will ask you on startup if you want to play in offline mode.
Click to expand...

Actually, no, it doesn't.

I know this firsthand. After I moved, I was without internet for a week. I didn't even have my router unpacked, much less connected to my PC. Steam never prompted for offline mode.
 
Originally posted by: Raduque
Originally posted by: dguy6789
Saying you need to set it to offline mode before you lose connection is entirely untrue. If you leave your pc plugged into a router, Steam thinks there is a net connection but it keeps timing out. It will keep trying to connect. Unplug the network cable from your pc or disable the network adaptor and Steam will ask you on startup if you want to play in offline mode.
Click to expand...

Actually, no, it doesn't.

I know this firsthand. After I moved, I was without internet for a week. I didn't even have my router unpacked, much less connected to my PC. Steam never prompted for offline mode.
Click to expand...

It does for me, I load it with my router unplugged and it works. Something must have been different with your PC's configuration.
 
Originally posted by: Raduque
Originally posted by: dguy6789
Saying you need to set it to offline mode before you lose connection is entirely untrue. If you leave your pc plugged into a router, Steam thinks there is a net connection but it keeps timing out. It will keep trying to connect. Unplug the network cable from your pc or disable the network adaptor and Steam will ask you on startup if you want to play in offline mode.
Click to expand...

Actually, no, it doesn't.

I know this firsthand. After I moved, I was without internet for a week. I didn't even have my router unpacked, much less connected to my PC. Steam never prompted for offline mode.
Click to expand...

Actually, yes it does. Just because you did something wrong or you have a problem doesn't mean everyone has the problem. I've been without internet a couple times. Start up Steam and the first thing it does is ask me to run it in offline mode.
 
Yeah, yeah, Stem. I figured that would be the first comment when I realized it...

Anyway, it plays fine in "offline" mode. I just went into the settings changed it to offline. As long as the game is updated 100%, it works just fine.
 
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