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Losing Faith In Steam. Refund 500+ Games?

Spacejaws

Spacejaws

Member
Ok so Im at the end of my tether. Basically for a good number of years I've worked on a ship and always made sure to bring a laptop topped up with all tge steam games I want to play.

I used to be able to connect it for short periods of time if I had an issue or if I wanted to reinstall steam or verfiy check a title but since the system changed to 'games have to be fully updated to play in offline mode' and tge removal of only checking for updates when you run a title essentially the moment I run steam online I instantly become locked out of 100+ titles. At sea I'm on expensive satelite internet and work 80 hours a week woth barely any time to hit a local starbucks and use pathetic wifi to update a couple of meg. This is compounded by fairly useless updates such as Bioshock Infinite which had a forced 5gb update for additional languages.

Essentially I'm getting frustrated and seriously considering the refund limitations as the service now doesn't offer me what I really need it for. This has been instigated by now just trying to play Neverwinter Nights 2 and discovering 'cannot contact key server'. Now all of my games that require a CD Key are locked...

What the hell am I suppose to do?!
 
N

Nyoro SF

Member
Sounds like your situation is rather specific... but I will say, Steam no longer allows refunds outside the 2 week window, so unless you went on some super buying spree for the past two weeks, you are out of luck.

akidnamededdy said:
You're already at sea, looks like it's a pirate's life for you matey!
Click to expand...

lol
 
D

Dremark

Banned
I think you can only refund stuff you've bought in the past 2 weeks and played for less than 5 hours or so (Something like that).

Maybe switch to GOG for what you can, sounds like that would fit you better, it's a great service.
 
C

chubigans

y'all should be ashamed
That offline play thing doesn't sound right, are you absolutely sure? That wouldn't make sense if, say, you were on a different branch for some reason.
 
T

texhnolyze

Banned
You can't play games in offline mode if it's not updated? That's weird..

I play MGS V in offline mode sometimes. Even without the (almost) daily update, I can still play it.
 
C

Corpekata

Banned
It's not that you can't play in offline mode folks, what he is talking about is is he goes online randomly and then 100 games want to update. If they have an update queued, he is saying he can't play it offline anymore until the update finishes. So basically he has to stay offline or spend a lot of time updating in the few times he does go online.
 
Zomba13

Zomba13

Member
chubigans said:
That offline play thing doesn't sound right, are you absolutely sure? That wouldn't make sense if, say, you were on a different branch for some reason.
Click to expand...

I haven't updated Payday 2 in months, it's sitting in my update list (I've stopped it from auto-updating) so it's definitely not the latest version. I just put steam into offline mode and launched it no problem.
 
C

chubigans

y'all should be ashamed
Corpekata said:
It's not that you can't play in offline mode folks, what he is talking about is is he goes online randomly and then 100 games want to update. If they have an update queued, he is saying he can't play it offline anymore until the update finishes.
Click to expand...

But it asks if you want to download the update or play it now.

Alternately, turn off "auto updates" for all your games.

Zomba13 said:
I haven't updated Payday 2 in months, it's sitting in my update list (I've stopped it from auto-updating) so it's definitely not the latest version. I just put steam into offline mode and launched it no problem.
Click to expand...

Huh! Yeah OP, I think you may be mixed up with a few of the alerts perhaps?
 
H

Hero_of_the_Day

Member
Corpekata said:
It's not that you can't play in offline mode folks, what he is talking about is is he goes online randomly and then 100 games want to update. If they have an update queued, he is saying he can't play it offline anymore until the update finishes. So basically he has to stay offline or spend a lot of time updating in the few times he does go online.
Click to expand...

I can't imagine that's right.
 
K

Krejlooc

Banned
Spacejaws said:
Ok so Im at the end of my tether. Basically for a good number of years I've worked on a ship and always made sure to bring a laptop topped up with all tge steam games I want to play.

I used to be able to connect it for short periods of time if I had an issue or if I wanted to reinstall steam or verfiy check a title but since the system changed to 'games have to be fully updated to play in offline mode' and tge removal of only checking for updates when you run a title essentially the moment I run steam online I instantly become locked out of 100+ titles. At sea I'm on expensive satelite internet and work 80 hours a week woth barely any time to hit a local starbucks and use pathetic wifi to update a couple of meg. This is compounded by fairly useless updates such as Bioshock Infinite which had a forced 5gb update for additional languages.

Essentially I'm getting frustrated and seriously considering the refund limitations as the service now doesn't offer me what I really need it for. This has been instigated by now just trying to play Neverwinter Nights 2 and discovering 'cannot contact key server'. Now all of my games that require a CD Key are locked...

What the hell am I suppose to do?!
Click to expand...

when you are out on sea, just prevent steam from ever going online, period. Make sure all your titles are updated when you are on land and can get them in a state you can launch them at, launch them all, then go offline, and make an image of your computer. That way, if you ever need to return to an offline state, you can restore from image.

godhandiscen said:
So Steam doesn't really work offline anymore?
Click to expand...

For various reasons, I have spent a quarter of this year without internet in my home, all my steam games worked fine without internet.

This person's specific problem is that he is out at sea and can connect to the internet for short periods of time, but not long enough to download the updates he needs. So when he goes online, steam notices that games X, Y, and Z need to update, but he can't download the update, so when he switches to offline mode, they won't run. If he never goes online while out to sea after updating all his games, this won't happen.

Basically, he needs to prevent steam from realizing there is an update in the first place.
 
Spacejaws

Spacejaws

Member
chubigans said:
But it asks if you want to download the update or play it now.

Alternately, turn off "auto updates" for all your games.
Click to expand...

'Fraid not friend. Auto updates only do not download the updates automatically. It still notifies the client an update is available and locks the game until you have it updated.

You use to be able to turn it off so it wouldn't look for an update until you ran the game but that is no longer the case. It would not be an issue if steam was stable but sometimes you have to reinstall the client or find a game that needs a verify and you need to go online to do it.
 
D

DownGrader

Member
I recommend you switching to GOG.com. I've fully abandoned Steam in favor of it. For me, Steam looks like nothing that made PC gaming great in 1990s - it became its own (and very locked-down) gaming platform instead of game distribution service.

Shame you can reclaim, like, three to six titles.
 
N

Naminator

Banned
akidnamededdy said:
You're already at sea, looks like it's a pirate's life for you matey!
Click to expand...

LMAO!

To the OP.

In your particular situation I think the best thing to do is to get yourself a decent Anti virus/malware and start looking for cracks of your games.

Besides, I doubt that Valve will let you refund even a quarter of the 500 titles you own.
 
H

Hero_of_the_Day

Member
Spacejaws said:
'Fraid not friend. Auto updates only do not download the updates automatically. It still notifies the client an update is available and locks the game until you have it updated.

You use to be able to turn it off so it wouldn't look for an update until you ran the game but that is no longer the case. It would not be an issue if steam was stable but sometimes you have to reinstall the client or find a game that needs a verify and you need to go online to do it.
Click to expand...

You are having weird issues. I have never had an issue that made me reinstall the Steam client, ever, in all my years of using it. Also never had any issues not being able to start a game in offline mode, which I do constantly.

Not at all implying you're lying. But, there is definetly something up with you having to reinstall Steam from time to time.
 
T

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
godhandiscen said:
So Steam doesn't really work offline anymore?
Click to expand...

It does and doesn't. They changed a lot of things to where it's harder to be "offline" for it. The forced updates is one of the royally stupid things for the sake of trying to "protect consumers" from bug and glitches that people can exploit before going online. It isn't like the exploits can even be rolled back to (unless people back it up) because Steam doesn't have consecutive patches like Sony/PS3 does. So, I dunno why they don't allow you to skip the update and just play it offline unless you attempt to go online in a Steamworks game where it'll force the update on you by "if you want to go online, please update your game: >Ok" prompts.
 
N

Nickle

Cool Facts: Game of War has been a hit since July 2013
Change Steam to offline mode, it can't update if it doesn't know that there are updates available.
 
Spladam

Spladam

Member
Hey, I used to have the same problem, and had a running one year battle with Steam support over it, in which they would never admit to it being a real thing, although they new it was happening. I figured out that the "update" thing was an excuse, and it was actually part of the DRM to keep people from loading machines with games, hacking the steam client to remain offline, and selling the machines as loaded game rigs

I am in a situation now where I am on-line all the time when I'm not traveling for work, but here's the deal. It would happen to me if I kept Steam offline for approximately two weeks, after the 14 days, Steam would lock me out of my games, not shitting you. Nothing I would do (including keeping Steam in offline mode all the time) would work until I found my own fix.

So, try this next time you are off-shore. Keep your machine off-line, when you start it up, key into the bios (Delete or F2 for most PCs and laptops) and set your system clock to the day you left, every time you boot up. Do not let the clock advance itself more then a week and try to set it to the same day every time. I think this might help you from not getting locked out of your games, it worked for me before December of last year, I used this for like 8 months. I don't have that issue as much anymore as I've been pretty busy, and last time I researched this topic an insider (programmer at valve) claimed on the Steam forums that they had like 5 games to update to some "new system" and this would not happen anymore, good luck dude. Steam is full of shit, and I'm pretty sure this is still part of their DRM.

Also, there are a bunch of Steam games that you can launch from the EXE in the game folder without even starting the client, there are not that many, but this might help with the game of your choice, try it and see if it runs.

If you search google for "Steam games offline not working after two weeks", you will see this has been a long standing point of contention for many users in your same situation. Soldiers too.

Also, in the future (I know this doesn't help you with what you've already bought, but if you want to give a FU to Steam...) buy your games from here: https://www.gog.com/
No DRM, no lockout, back-up any way you want.

-Edit: Hahaha, and ONE final thing (my third edit), you can try this little app, I've never used it, but read about it on Forums, it lets you launch programs with a set system date without changing your system clock. Don't worry about using it on individual games, try using it to launch the Steam client, just might work: http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/run_as_date.html
 
T

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
Zomba13 said:
I haven't updated Payday 2 in months, it's sitting in my update list (I've stopped it from auto-updating) so it's definitely not the latest version. I just put steam into offline mode and launched it no problem.
Click to expand...

7IfvLOz.png


?
 
Spacejaws

Spacejaws

Member
Krejlooc said:
when you are out on sea, just prevent steam from ever going online, period. Make sure all your titles are updated when you are on land and can get them in a state you can launch them at, launch them all, then go offline, and make an image of your computer. That way, if you ever need to return to an offline state, you can restore from image.



For various reasons, I have spent a quarter of this year without internet in my home, all my steam games worked fine without internet.

This person's specific problem is that he is out at sea and can connect to the internet for short periods of time, but not long enough to download the updates he needs. So when he goes online, steam notices that games X, Y, and Z need to update, but he can't download the update, so when he switches to offline mode, they won't run. If he never goes online while out to sea after updating all his games, this won't happen.

Basically, he needs to prevent steam from realizing there is an update in the first place.
Click to expand...


My specific problem at the moment is an error 'key server not found'.

I've actually had a few years of contracts successfully playing in offline mode, I've encounted a few games that I felt needed and intergrity check and I had one time where I had to delete the client.blob or whatever because steam didn't recognize any of my games installed.

My specific problem is if I ever have a problem with steam (like I have now)the way to fix it is quite normally going online, something I cannot do without locking me out of my games. I'm contemplating trying it and hoping the games that need updating are ones I'm not interested in, if not then maybe I'll just take a backup of the steam folder and revert it back...that has caused me trouble in the past though...

But the low down is I want to be able to play my games offline like I used to without having to jump through hoops or worry. It just sucks that I decided to sit down and play a game that I'd started offline during my last contract and now it and about 40 others I've tested (anything with a cd key) are giving me this error :(

Gaben my faith has fallen!
 
T

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
TheSeks said:
?
Click to expand...

0tOjTSx.png

QZMNtXR.png

uVn76x6.png


Note: It'll boot, but probably because I still have an internet connection. I should see if taking the ethernet cord out of my PC/disconnecting my connection will still let it boot.

Otherwise: It seems to be a game-by-game basis. I dunno why Payday 2 would prompt with an update and still allow booting instead of just booting though without the notification, but I'm not sure all titles will do this and the ones that don't probably will demand an update before booting.
 
K

Krejlooc

Banned
Spacejaws said:
My specific problem at the moment is an error 'key server not found'.

I've actually had a few years of contracts successfully playing in offline mode, I've encounted a few games that I felt needed and intergrity check and I had one time where I had to delete the client.blob or whatever because steam didn't recognize any of my games installed.

My specific problem is if I ever have a problem with steam (like I have now)the way to fix it is quite normally going online, something I cannot do without locking me out of my games. I'm contemplating trying it and hoping the games that need updating are ones I'm not interested in, if not then maybe I'll just take a backup of the steam folder and revert it back...that has caused me trouble in the past though...

But the low down is I want to be able to play my games offline like I used to without having to jump through hoops or worry. It just sucks that I decided to sit down and play a game that I'd started offline during my last contract and now it and about 40 others I've tested (anything with a cd key) are giving me this error :(

Gaben my faith has fallen!
Click to expand...

As I said, your best option might be to buy a removable harddrive and just make periodic images of your harddrive when everything is updated and working. That way, if anything ever breaks or needs revaildating, you can restore from image and go back to that state. When you make your image, set steam into offline mode first and run some problem games and make sure they launch.

I do this myself. It's time consuming, so I automated it as a task to create backups on thursday nights when I'd be asleep.

If there is a concern about losing save game data this way, you can add a second automated task to routinely back up the specific folders where games save to onto a thumb drive.
 
M

Mivey

Member
You should try to switch to fully DRM free stuff, in your specific situation. The offline mode in Steam was never really meant as a month long thing, only for short temporary loses of internet connection, as it happens from time to time.

Switch to GOG.
 
Spacejaws

Spacejaws

Member
Krejlooc said:
As I said, your best option might be to buy a removable harddrive and just make periodic images of your harddrive when everything is updated and working. That way, if anything ever breaks or needs revaildating, you can restore from image and go back to that state. When you make your image, set steam into offline mode first and run some problem games and make sure they launch.

I do this myself. It's time consuming, so I automated it as a task to create backups on thursday nights when I'd be asleep.
Click to expand...

It is an idea I've considered. I bring too many hard drives as it is though and I like to pack them in my hand luggage for the flight to the ship (too nevous to place them in my suitcase. I've seen what happens to them) but I might invest in a way of securing them safely in my luggage.
 
R

RiverBed

Banned
OP, that is bullshit and I've experienced the same thing. When I travel, I have no internet access. So one time I d/l a few games on a laptop and left for a few days. When I tried to play later, Steam told me to run Steam in offline mode, you have to ,get this, go online first (to log out or enable the feature or something). Pissed me off. Fucking seriously?!

To a lesser extent I had the same thing with an offline mobile game (PvsZ2). It's one of only 3 or so games I have. But every now and then, it says "can't download" or something. Once it smells a wifi signal, it takes less than 3 seconds. I don't think it downloads anything seeing how shitty wifi around me is. So I never trust it now. I used to have to try and play that game around wifi just before I left to just in case.
 
M

Muskieratboi

Member
I'm not going to provide links, nor do I really even know the specifics of it, but there are indeed system-wide cracks for Steam and alternative clients.

So, i guess look for those? i mean, you own those games, right?

Of course, GOG is an option, too.
 
S

Sijil

Member
Mivey said:
You should try to switch to fully DRM free stuff, in your specific situation. The offline mode in Steam was never really meant as a month long thing, only for short temporary loses of internet connection, as it happens from time to time.

Switch to GOG.
Click to expand...

GOG.com isn't an ideal alternative when it comes to AAA games, no MGSV or Mad Max for example, unless OP doesn't care about AAA games then sure.
 
C

CouchMaster

Member
As someone who is in similar profession I'm in the same boat (no pun) as you OP. Which is why it frustrates me when some people try to champion online only gaming/systems.
 
L

lifeexpectancy

Member
Get a console. At least then you can play your games offline whether they're updated or not. But if nothing else I'd definitely drop Steam in your case since you are so limited on internet uptime and bandwidth.
 
Z

ZombiePlatypus

Member
akidnamededdy said:
You're already at sea, looks like it's a pirate's life for you matey!
Click to expand...

My god, so good.

As another poster said OP, I think you need to make sure Steam doesn't connect online after you updated while you could. This way, it doesn't realize there are new updates missing.

I'd drop Steam all together cause fuck DRM that basically acts like a virtual vault between me and my games that I paid for, but that's just me.
 
N

nakedeyes

Banned
OP should google software that prevents certain apps from using the net connection. I have used this type of software before and it's not hard to set up.
 
S

Stallion Dan

Member
TheSeks said:
0tOjTSx.png

QZMNtXR.png

uVn76x6.png


Note: It'll boot, but probably because I still have an internet connection. I should see if taking the ethernet cord out of my PC/disconnecting my connection will still let it boot.

Otherwise: It seems to be a game-by-game basis. I dunno why Payday 2 would prompt with an update and still allow booting instead of just booting though without the notification, but I'm not sure all titles will do this and the ones that don't probably will demand an update before booting.
Click to expand...

Could this be Steam offering publishers differing levels of DRM?
 
P

Prototype

Member
I lost faith in steam when the sales they have are never any good. Pretty much everywhere else has way better sales, way more often. Green Man Gaming and Humble Store, both consistently out offer steam on discounts.

As a newer PC player, I was pretty let down by the summer sale (my first steam sale) and have zero excitement for the Winter sale. Chances are anything that is on sale there will have even deeper price cuts elsewhere.

The hype about steam sales I've read for years was pretty much just a wash. Huge letdown.
 
G

Giever

Member
Prototype said:
I lost faith in steam when the sales they have are never any good. Pretty much everywhere else has way better sales, way more often. Green Man Gaming and Humble Store, both consistently out offer steam on discounts.

As a newer PC player, I was pretty let down by the summer sale (my first steam sale) and have zero excitement for the Winter sale. Chances are anything that is on sale there will have even deeper price cuts elsewhere.

The hype about steam sales I've read for years was pretty much just a wash. Huge letdown.
Click to expand...

But, I mean, the better sales you get elsewhere are still generally for Steam keys, which is only possible anyway because of Valve allowing developers to freely produce and sell keys to whoever they want.
 
Spacejaws

Spacejaws

Member
Ayt said:
I hope you don't seriously think Steam will issue a mass refund to you.
Click to expand...

No I'm not really serious, but at this point if I could I would and rebuy my entire catalogue elsewhere. For a 10+ year user that still counts for something right?
 
H

HK-47

Oh, bitch bitch bitch.
Spacejaws said:
No I'm not really serious, but at this point if I could I would and rebuy my entire catalogue elsewhere. For a 10+ year user that still counts for something right?
Click to expand...

You should definitely look into GOG for any games you want that might be on the service.
 
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