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Does Steam actually have a 2 week limit for offline mode? (Answer: NO)

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Not open for further replies.
W

whitehawk

Banned
I'm done some Googling and can't seem to find a concrete answer. I've read on GAF some people saying that Steam will only let you run it for 2 weeks in offline mode. I've read conflicting reports through other sites (like steam support forums) saying yes and no to this.

So, does it actually? I wasn't aware of this, and might stop buying games off of steam if this is the case.
 
S

scott!

Neo Member
No idea!

When you and your laptop crash land on that desert island, the battery won't last long enough for it to matter, though.
 
H

Holly Caust

Banned
I went without internet for a month on a desktop and was still able to play games. All it did was tell me it couldn't connect to steam servers and asked me if i wanted to load offline mode every time.

So I would assume its a lot longer than 2 weeks?
 
L

Lissar

Reluctant Member
I've read it's around a month.

Checking once a month is not something I have a problem with, since Steam allows you to load your games onto any PC as long as you've confirmed it. Makes sense in that case to check back "home" once in awhile.
 
P

Prophet Steve

Member
I don't think so, but it doesn't always work too consistently. It might be that it checks for updates though or something as soon as you have a connection and it will not work before you updated it. Not sure about that though.
 
A

alexandros

Banned
No, my netbook has been at times in offline mode for as long as two months without a problem. I think people are confused because there have been a couple of instances where Valve issued a patch and it borked offline mode for a few hours.
 
P

pa22word

Member
I lost internet at my home for over 2 months earlier this year and had no problem booting steam into offline mode during that time.

That said, It won't let you boot games in offline mode if you never did it while online
Click to expand...

Completely false.
 
S

Syphon Filter

Member
Nah it works offline for good. i have steam on my laptop which is never online and still can play games offline months and years later.
 
F

Family Fry

Member
Serious question, why haven't valve just said it's "xx" days? It's obviously there somewhere already, surprised at how many different answers there are and no specific right answer.
 
P

Papercuts

fired zero bullets in the orphanage.
Offline mode seems wonky as fuck with what it allows for some people compared to others, I was never able to get a concrete answer for this either. It doesn't seem like there is meant to be a limit at all. That said, It won't let you boot games in offline mode if you never did it while online, and it may run into issues as well if the game isn't updated to the most current version.
 
R

RedSwirl

Junior Member
Off-topic, but to my knowledge Origin doesn't do this either. I played through most of the PC version of Mass Effect 3 totally offline. This was over a period of about two or three weeks. I had to repeat a lot of online content checks whenever I booted up the game, and when I initially lost internet I think I was booted out of the game, but I was still eventually able to get in and complete the game without internet.
 
S

Syphon Filter

Member
Papercuts said:
Offline mode seems wonky as fuck with what it allows for some people compared to others, I was never able to get a concrete answer for this either. It doesn't seem like there is meant to be a limit at all. That said, It won't let you boot games in offline mode if you never did it while online, and it may run into issues as well if the game isn't updated to the most current version.
Click to expand...

Not true because if steam detects no connection there is a button that puts you into offline mode.
 
S

ScepticMatt

Member
After half a year I'm getting the following message:
But that could be due to Steam Guard.

steamerror1vdud.png
 
T

tokkun

Member
I researched this topic a few weeks ago.

The best information I could find is that there is a timeout for offline mode, it is not the same for everyone. According to Valve, it is based on multiple factors, which they did not disclose.

The time seems to range from as little as a week to 2 years+.
 
S

Syphon Filter

Member
tokkun said:
I researched this topic a few weeks ago.

The best information I could find is that there is a timeout for offline mode, it is not the same for everyone. According to Valve, it is based on multiple factors, which they did not disclose.

The time seems to range from as little as a week to 2 years+.
Click to expand...

I think its just a bug some have,i heard some issues were fixed though. i have a laptop with steam since 2004 and it never connects online and i can still play half life 2,just checked.
 
K

kase23

Member
I play Crusader Kings II and the new x-com on a modest laptop that I use for field work that hasn't connected to steam since early January, the only place I've seen a time limit mentioned is here on neogaf, which is a 100% incorrect fact that probably evolved from someone reading about the old buggy offline modes and placing their own false conclusions.
 
N

neorej

ERMYGERD!
Jesus, Microsoft fanboys are really grasping for straws now and trying to point the finger at others "bu bu bu bu but they do it toohoohoohoohoo", aren't they?
 
L

lingiii

Banned
whitehawk said:
I'm done some Googling and can't seem to find a concrete answer. I've read on GAF some people saying that Steam will only let you run it for 2 weeks in offline mode. I've read conflicting reports through other sites (like steam support forums) saying yes and no to this.

So, does it actually? I wasn't aware of this, and might stop buying games off of steam if this is the case.
Click to expand...

Liar
 
A

ambientmystic

Member
neorej said:
Jesus, Microsoft fanboys are really grasping for straws now and trying to point the finger at others "bu bu bu bu but they do it toohoohoohoohoo", aren't they?
Click to expand...

Lol. So many of them are newly registered juniors too!

Can't wait to see the bishoptl's E3 smackdown :D
 
N

need4speed

Banned
Honestly, offline mode has never worked for me. My internet was off for a couple of month s and When I wanted to log in It said you need to be online first, oh well.
 
F

feel

Member
ScepticMatt said:
After half a year I'm getting the following message:
But that could be due to Steam Guard.

steamerror1vdud.png
Click to expand...
I got that after 6 hours without internet a couple of weeks ago, I dunno what triggered it, but it pissed me off hard.

Otherwise I've gone multiple days in Offline mode no problem.
 
D

darklin0

Banned
I gave my brother my old laptop over a year ago. It has not been connected to the internet since then and he can sill play games perfectly fine in offline mode.
 
V

vazel

Banned
neorej said:
Jesus, Microsoft fanboys are really grasping for straws now and trying to point the finger at others "bu bu bu bu but they do it toohoohoohoohoo", aren't they?
Click to expand...
Why so defensive? There's a lot of confusion around offline mode. It hasn't worked right for many people in the past. Take a chill pill and breath in deeply bro. ͡ ° ͜ʖ ͡ °
 
W

whitehawk

Banned
So it seems there's no actual limit to offline mode, but there are some glitches that can apparently mess things up and temporarily block offline mode. Good to know!
 
G

Grief.exe

Member
Once you have downloaded and ran the game to finish installation, you can go to offline mode and remain there indefinitely.

It can still be a little glitchy at times, with some of the old Steam bugs popping up here and there. Valve has really been focusing on updating and fixing the client in the past year, so hopefully we continue to see improvements.
 
H

Htown

STOP SHITTING ON MY MOTHER'S HEADSTONE
Papercuts said:
Huh, it used to not work for me but just checking now it did. Weird.
Click to expand...

they fixed a bug with it a few months back, which fixed the problem for a lot of people

whitehawk said:
So it seems there's no actual limit to offline mode, but there are some glitches that can apparently mess things up and temporarily block offline mode. Good to know!
Click to expand...

yep, sounds about right
 
D

drizzle

Axel Hertz
ScepticMatt said:
After half a year I'm getting the following message:
But that could be due to Steam Guard.

steamerror1vdud.png
Click to expand...

This happens when the file that holds your "login information" gets corrupted.

So, here's the thing. You need to run your game online at least once before it's available offline. When that happens, Steam writes a file on HDD that tells itself that this game is available for you to play in Offline mode.

The problem is that Steam itself, sometimes, corrupts this file when it's not shutdown properly. In events where you shut down windows and Windows decides that the Steam application is taking too long to close gracefully and then fully forces it to close.

It's the same issue with custom shortcuts and categories. If Steam doesn't close gracefully, there's a chance that those files will be corrupted. And if the file that gets corrupted happens to be the one that keeps tack of your Offline-enabled games (for a lack of a better term), you won't be able to run Steam in offline mode.
 
A

alexandros

Banned
whitehawk said:
So it seems there's no actual limit to offline mode, but there are some glitches that can apparently mess things up and temporarily block offline mode. Good to know!
Click to expand...

It used to have problems. One that I confirmed myself was that the Steam client couldn't start in offline mode if it was stopped without a proper shutdown, for instance due to you shuting down your PC without first closing the Steam client. This has been fixed since last August and nowadays the Offline Mode is solid and reliable, as long as you remember to save your login credentials. You'd surprised by how many people don't save login information and then can't use Offline mode.

After that the only case of Offline Mode failing was a beta patch around December (I think( that botched offline for three hours of so until it was patched. But I'm certain that there never was an offline timer.
 
G

Grief.exe

Member
drizzle said:
The problem is that Steam itself, sometimes, corrupts this file when it's not shutdown properly. In events where you shut down windows and Windows decides that the Steam application is taking too long to close gracefully and then fully forces it to close.
Click to expand...

alexandros said:
It used to have problems. One that I confirmed myself was that the Steam client couldn't start in offline mode if it was stopped without a proper shutdown, for instance due to you shuting down your PC without first closing the Steam client. This has been fixed since last August and nowadays the Offline Mode is solid and reliable, as long as you remember to save your login credentials. You'd surprised by how many people don't save login information and then can't use Offline mode.
Click to expand...

It always has to do with Steam shutting down incorrectly.

Just about every issue seems to stem from that.
 
T

TheD

The Detective
I have had my steam in offline mode for something like 8 months.
The only thing to look out for is that steam deletes the file that stores the offline mode info when it runs and rewrites it when it shuts down, so you should backup that file to be safe.
 
V

Visualante2

Member
vazel said:
Why so defensive? There's a lot of confusion around offline mode. It hasn't worked right for many people in the past. Take a chill pill and breath in deeply bro. ͡ ° ͜ʖ ͡ °
Click to expand...
Not working for "many" people in the past (probably years ago) has led to this widespread miscommunication of a false truth.
 
R

RibbedHero

Member
tokkun said:
It doesn't explain the policy at question. It says that you don't need to connect to Steam "every time" in Offline mode, not that you never need to connect.
Click to expand...

You don't ever having to connect, unless there's a bug and your details aren't saved or a file gets corrupted.
 
E

elementalsin

Member
ScepticMatt said:
After half a year I'm getting the following message:
But that could be due to Steam Guard.

steamerror1vdud.png
Click to expand...

I still get this 99% of the time. I'm really tired of people acting as if this problem doesn't exist or is 'overblown' as there are a lot of people that this is a REAL issue for. But hey, xbone.
 
B

Blizzard

Banned
I seem to recall a set of steps to make offline work in that situation. Unplugging the network cable is what I would probably try first, but there maybe some arcane magic.

I wish Valve would make such information public aside from the general concept that offline is supposed to work if you close Steam cleanly before shutting down your PC, but Valve is probably one of the last companies that's going to make that sort of thing public. :p
 
H

Htown

STOP SHITTING ON MY MOTHER'S HEADSTONE
elementalsin said:
I still get this 99% of the time. I'm really tired of people acting as if this problem doesn't exist or is 'overblown' as there are a lot of people that this is a REAL issue for. But hey, xbone.
Click to expand...

Firstly, that sucks that you keep running into that. How often do you update your client? Do you usually shut down your computer without exiting steam? Does actually clicking "go offline" work?

Secondly, you do realize there is a difference between an unintentional bug and a set corporate policy, right?
 
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