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Geek Culture / Now this is how DRM should be done!

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Sid Sinister
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Posted: 11th Sep 2009 18:14
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http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=16224

Quote: "PC games are some of the most pirated software out there, as players look for ways to get the game they want without having to pay the $50 asking price most new games demand.

Eidos, the publisher behind the PC version of Batman: Arkham Asylum, has introduced a deliberate glitch into the game to catch and foil pirates who try and crack the game to play without paying. One person who pirated the game, and was brazen enough to post a help request on the official Edios forums, ahead of the games actual launch mind you, has brought the glitch to the surface.

A poster going by the handle Cheshirec_the_cat posted in a thread requesting help with a problem in the game. The poster wrote, "I've got a problem when it's time to use Batman's glide in the game. When I hold , like it's said to jump from one platform to another, Batman tries to open his wings again and again instead of gliding. So he fels down in a poisoning gas. If somebody could tel me, what should I do there."

An Edios admin going by Keir responded to the thread before it was closed writing, "The problem you have encountered is a hook in the copy protection, to catch out people who try and download cracked versions of the game for free. It's not a bug in the game's code, it's a bug in your moral code.""


It's not exactly a viable way to stop piracy as the title suggested. The crack has already been fixed according to a Kotaku user. But it's still pretty hilarious. I have to hand it to the game developers on this one.

I'm not entirely sure how some of the new DRM tech works, but doesn't this bring up some ideas on how it could? Wouldn't it be possible to wrap some of the game features up (or the whole game for that matter) in code that checks for a valid cd key? You can't hack that! How it would check, I have no idea. A database on their server perhaps? No clue. But if it comes back invalid, the game would just acted glitched. Then you get all the support threads and then BAM! Busted.

Anyway, I'm just playing around with the idea. I'm sure several of you will shoot this full of holes. I just feel like, through their humor, they were onto something here.

"If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants" - Isaac Newton
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David R
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Posted: 11th Sep 2009 18:27 Edited at: 11th Sep 2009 18:30
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http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20011017/dodd_01.htm

^ Similar way of thwarting pirates used in a Spyro game. Really interesting article too (and with more technical info too - albeit for a console)

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Sid Sinister
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Posted: 11th Sep 2009 19:27 Edited at: 11th Sep 2009 19:31
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Excellent article David R, thanks for sharing. The last two pages were especially thought provoking.

I like his closing statement:

Quote: "Reality Check

We may not be able to stop the pirates, but we can have enough of an impact to make pirating a much less attractive option. Given the choice of buying a game or waiting two to three months for a pirated version, a lot of pirates are going to start buying games. Or at least they'll buy their favorite ones."


Piracy will probably never go away, but the first few months of release are the major months for profit for any game company. Why aren't companies putting more thought into better copy/crack protection methods? It seems like a no brainer to me, yet the best thing the industries come up with in a while was Spore's DRM?

The method they used in the Spyro game was genius! And I think they started out on the right foot as well. Instead of saying "We are determined to make our game hack proof" they said "Let's slow these SOB's down so much that they either give up or it takes them past the point were our maximum profits are seen." I think the shining quality of crack protection like this is that it can only be done by a handful of people. They implemented a pretty trough anti-crack/copy system for Spyro, and it's not like anyone can look at it and say "Oh yeah, this is how it's done!" So not only did they slow down the time it took for them to crack it, but they reduced the talent pool.

I think this is the idea game developers should move towards in the future. Sure it costs a little more and takes a little more time (actually, not that much by looking at the cost for Spyro), but the return on profit the first few months will totally undo what it cost you to implement it in the first place.

Improvements to the Spyro anti-crack/copy system?

It sounded to me that they had one checksum for every game they made. Why not use a unique checksum based on every key? The game companies already need to create gamekeys to pass out with the games... why not make the lock AND the key? That way, once one game is cracked, you can't just pass out the crack. The key won't work because it has a different lock. Now, that can probably be bypassed pretty quickly, but in combination with what they did with Spyro, like adding in those check sum checks, it could render the game useless even if they did skip over the copy/crack protection in the beginning (like how they eventually got around Spyro's).

I can see how making a unique lock and key for every game can hinder mass production capabilities. Part of that because yes, it will take some extra time (isn't it worth it though??), but I think part of it is because the manufacturing process is so slow to change. I think the unique key to unique lock idea could be stream lined a lot more if the factory was setup right.

My idea: But what if it can't? Okay, so manufacturing each game with a strictly unique key would take forever right now. Something to do in the meantime? After you buy your game, developers could make them register with them on their website (requiring all personal info), and then download a patch that would essentially be the unique key to the lock. After the key is used on the lock, the program fires off some data to the game company confirming registration with the key. If the company see's the key being used multiple times, it freezes the key. Why would that work? Because the game would check each time it starts up on the auth server for the game to start. You can't play cracked multiplayer games now. It would the same thing, only single player wouldn't work too.

But wouldn't that frustrate people? People would rebel! No, here's why. The auth is treated like subscription music. You just need to authorize your account online once per two weeks (or some time period).

All this in addition to all the pitfalls the Spyro developers put in place and you get one frustrating game to crack IMO.

So, shoot that idea full of holes! I have a few other ideas, but I'd like to hear some feedback on this one first.

Discuss.

"If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants" - Isaac Newton
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lazerus
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Posted: 11th Sep 2009 20:19
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Very intresting, The lock and key idea could work if it was used on a larger scale, say per thousand games the lock system would be determined, then the next thousand would be differnt and so on, this would further limit the talent pool, though if a single copy was cracked, they could just send out that version. hmm. Linking the main commands in the game with the checksums is a sure fire way, though you would have to riddle the code with it, A distinct lock for each flaw maybe? So as the batman 'glitch' was one, another could be, unless checked with the server on load up, the game freezes.

Thiers hundreds of ways of doing it.

I bet devlopers will have some fun lol.

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zeroSlave
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Posted: 11th Sep 2009 20:39
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ARRRR!!!! No, I'm not a pirate, i just pretend to be because I like the look of an eyepatch.

Quote: "After you buy your game, developers could make them register with them on their website (requiring all personal info)"


I don't like registering things online and giving my personal information out. I don't even like it when I buy a product and it asks me my name when it is installing. And even more, I hate playing a flash game and it asks for a name before I can play it. I usually put, "wfsd" (or whatever other keys my fingers randomly fall on.) Why should anyone selling me something need to know this? (I know why they would want it, but I don't see why they need it.) Why does my software need my name?

I am going to be playing a game, I'm not doing my taxes or filling out an application for a loan. They don't need my address. All they need is a bank receipt showing that they got the money from me. To me, it would be like going to a supermarket and having to fill out a form with your name and address on it before you get to leave with your shopping cart because some people steal. Well, because of this, a lot of stores add a percentage to their goods to cover the loss of stolen goods.

Anyways, I agree with the reasoning behind a lot of the methods of protection when concerning software. Unfortunately, there are people who would rather steal than buy, and it is the software companies' right to protect their investment. By doing this, however, this can also irritate the people who actually buy the software. I travel with my job a lot, and don't always have an internet connection. I was crazy mad when I bought halflife 2 for my laptop and couldn't play it for two weeks because it needed to connect to the internet for me to play it.(I know it is my fault for not paying attention to the system requirements on the box. But, through the god awful act of assuming it would be like any other FPS singleplayer game, I bought it anyway.) I was even more crazy mad when I bought Spore and learned at the time that I could only install it 3 times. *Grrrr* What happens if EA goes out of business and closes down the authorization services and I can't install or play it anymore because of this? Where is the insurance that I will be able to use this product in the future? I think the game developers should give me their personal information to protect my investment...

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Jeku
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Posted: 11th Sep 2009 20:55
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Quote: "My idea: "


That's pretty much how Steam works. You connect and authenticate on their servers before running a game. You *can* go into offline mode though, but the first time you download the game from their servers you have to be authenticated first.


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Sid Sinister
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Posted: 11th Sep 2009 22:02
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Quote: "That's pretty much how Steam works. You connect and authenticate on their servers before running a game. You *can* go into offline mode though, but the first time you download the game from their servers you have to be authenticated first."


Why haven't more companies went this route? I guess it would cost a pretty penny to setup an infrastructure like that, but it's worth the investment and common sense.

I forget, does Valve charge for companies to put their stuff on Steam?They don't necessarily need to use Steam, but Steam's idea has worked very well.

@CoughMist: I understand where you are coming from. Part of me agrees, but the other part of me is willing to give up some of my info to better the industry. I'm trying to get into this industry, and I would like to see it profit more and get ripped off less.

Instead of giving out your name, how about your IP and/or MAC address (right?) get's logged after agreeing to the EULA? That's just about as good as giving out your name (probably less prone to BS names too), and is still something that game company can use in the court of law.

I get what your saying about HL2, but you couldn't find a cyber cafe, starbucks, mcdonalds or any other free wi-fi zone for two minutes while it authorizes itself? You could have just switched your Steam client to offline mode after that and been fine.

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BMacZero
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Posted: 12th Sep 2009 06:53
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Quote: "After you buy your game, developers could make them register with them on their website (requiring all personal info), and then download a patch that would essentially be the unique key to the lock. After the key is used on the lock, the program fires off some data to the game company confirming registration with the key. If the company see's the key being used multiple times, it freezes the key. Why would that work? Because the game would check each time it starts up on the auth server for the game to start. You can't play cracked multiplayer games now. It would the same thing, only single player wouldn't work too. "

Checking stuff through secure servers always sounds good, but there is a big weak spot. The hackers would just have to remove the code that interfaces with the server. The game would be registered but the code never got confirmed with the server. You could make the server have to send a message back to complete the authentication, but that part can always be faked, too.

This is an interesting discussion for us, as a community of game developers .



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Lemonade
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Posted: 12th Sep 2009 06:59
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Quote: "This is an interesting discussion for us, as a community of game developers ."


Yes, but I wonder what percentage of these game developers pirate games?

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Herakles
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Posted: 12th Sep 2009 07:20
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As a game developer, I will never use any kind of copyright protection. I'm going to be releasing free and (occasionally) open source games, so what's the point. In the unlikely event that I actually decide to start selling games, I'll use a simple disk check (unless it's through a download service, in which case there will still be no DRM).

As a game player, I really don't give a crap what they do, as long as it doesn't interfere with my ability to play the game. I'm okay with stuff like disk checks and CD keys, but not stuff like you have to activate it online as with Mass Effect. Coughmist said it well:

Quote: "What happens if EA goes out of business and closes down the authorization services and I can't install or play it anymore because of this? Where is the insurance that I will be able to use this product in the future?"


If that happens, then the only way anyone can ever play the game again will be via a cracked version. So that particular form of DRM doesn't fight piracy, it actually encourages it.

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Jeku
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Posted: 12th Sep 2009 08:03
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Quote: "What happens if EA goes out of business and closes down the authorization services and I can't install or play it anymore because of this? Where is the insurance that I will be able to use this product in the future?"


That has NEVER happened yet with any company that I can think of. Also, games like Bioshock and Spore had their DRM patched out months after their release. It is not in the publisher's best interest to keep the DRM in for years after the product is out, so the chance of your scenario happening is next to nothing.


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djmaster
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Posted: 12th Sep 2009 10:01
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For the first year the protection will work but then it will be cracked like any other protection was,for example the worlds annoying Starforce.

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draknir_
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Posted: 12th Sep 2009 13:06 Edited at: 12th Sep 2009 13:09
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Glitch DRM is ineffective, its more of a way to catch out pirates when they ask for support than to actually combat piracy. Crackers will patch these kinds of things just like they patch out key checks and other DRM.

I think online authentication ala steam is the way to go, even with its many flaws. It's rootkit DRM I worry about the most. I hate the idea of software installing something without telling me.
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NeX the Fairly Fast Ferret
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Posted: 12th Sep 2009 13:13
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Quote: "Crackers will patch these kinds of things just like they patch out key checks and other DRM."


Thing is, if I was a cracker and I no-cded an exe, I wouldn't play it all the way through to the end to make sure I missed nothing. Especially in a large sandbox game like Oblivion or Fallout - you can't check everything. I'd probably be satisfied by completing the first level, and the best of these "booby traps" work just after that, not allowing the full game experience but at the same time not being immediately obvious. Going back to Fallout 3, if I was implementing something like this in that game, the moment you got 150ft away from Vault 101's door, the game would autosave and then you would explode with a message onscreen.

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Thraxas
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Posted: 12th Sep 2009 14:59
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I think eventually big developers will either use Steam or something similar to distribute their PC games or just cut out the PC market altogether.

They're already releasing games on 360/PS3 months before the PC in the hopes that most people will not want to wait to play the game. This means they don't lose out as much to freeloaders.

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Aertic
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Posted: 12th Sep 2009 17:26
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So basically the pirates can install the cracked game, but get stuck in it, like at the start of the game? Sweet.

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draknir_
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Posted: 12th Sep 2009 17:26
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Quote: "Thing is, if I was a cracker and I no-cded an exe, I wouldn't play it all the way through to the end to make sure I missed nothing. Especially in a large sandbox game like Oblivion or Fallout - you can't check everything. I'd probably be satisfied by completing the first level, and the best of these "booby traps" work just after that, not allowing the full game experience but at the same time not being immediately obvious. Going back to Fallout 3, if I was implementing something like this in that game, the moment you got 150ft away from Vault 101's door, the game would autosave and then you would explode with a message onscreen."


Of course it wouldn't be patched on the first release, but these people aren't stupid... Once the complaints are publicly know they will go back and look for ways to patch out the glitch. The developer could resort to increasingly complex systems of possible bugs, errors and glitches to catch out pirates, but this invariably leads to these problems being associated with the game and/or spilling over into legitimate user's gameplay.

It's a temporary solution which doesn't really solve zero day piracy - because those zero day pirates who haven't bought the game will probably just wait for an illegitimate fix.

Also the scenario you suggest (overwriting the save file and then putting a message on the screen - something to the effect of: don't pirate this game) will only make it easier for crackers to locate and remove the protection. Remember, they have full access to your executable on their local machines and with the right tools are able to find the specific machine-code relating to DRM. They might not catch it on the first release, but these groups are active 24/7.
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Sid Sinister
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Posted: 12th Sep 2009 18:32
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Quote: "For the first year the protection will work but then it will be cracked like any other protection was,for example the worlds annoying Starforce."


Like I said above, I think that's the way the developers should approach it. We may never find the holy grail of pleasing the consumers AND having a perfect DRM system. I think it would do them good to put more measures in place to slow them down instead of defeat them all together. Why? Developers see a the largest profit the first few months after release. After a year, I'm sure they won't mind as much having their game cracked. And as Jeku said, it's not even worth keeping up the DRM system in place after a while. It's just not cost effective for long periods of time.

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Jeku
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Posted: 12th Sep 2009 22:03
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Yah, for a big selling PC game, every day that's not cracked is more than $1 million in profit. Or at least that's what I heard when I was in the industry.


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jasonhtml
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Posted: 12th Sep 2009 22:04
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wow, a while ago i thought about ways to stop pirates that were similar to this. but, i ended up concluding that since it seems that no one does it that way, it probably doesn't work very well. i'm glad to see my conclusion was wrong i wonder why more companies aren't trying this?

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Jeku
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Posted: 12th Sep 2009 22:08
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Funny, just about a year ago most of this forum was against Internet activation. And now we're all for it? My how the tides have turned

I guess if you live in an African pit without Internet access, you won't be able to activate your game.


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Mahoney
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At the unexpected support of Steam being shown, I'd like to quote the TweakGuides.com owner:

Quote: "Don't blindly support Steam. Steam is a good digital distribution platform, but at the moment Valve has an effective monopoly on digital games distribution. In the absence of a real competitor, prices will remain high and Valve will have no incentive to pressure publishers to both lower digital prices and remove redundant DRM on Steam-protected games."


(The whole article here: http://www.tweakguides.com/Piracy_1.html )

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draknir_
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Posted: 13th Sep 2009 01:26
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Quote: "Funny, just about a year ago most of this forum was against Internet activation. And now we're all for it? My how the tides have turned "


I'm not sure if that was aimed at me, but I have been a supporter of online distribution for a long, long time.

@Mahoney: The guy has a very valid point, but offers no alternative. I don't 'blindly' support Steam, it's just the best platform out there currently. If the game industry wants to avoid a Valve monopoly they need to get together and develop a free alternative. With proper publisher support (and those publishers also withdrawing from Valve) Steam could very quickly find itself with much better competition.
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Darth Kiwi
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Posted: 13th Sep 2009 01:58
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Quote: "at the moment Valve has an effective monopoly on digital games distribution."


Greenhouse and Gametap are both digital distribution systems that seem to be on par with steam. Although I suppose neither are as big as steam.

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Jeku
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Posted: 13th Sep 2009 19:29
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Quote: "Don't blindly support Steam. Steam is a good digital distribution platform, but at the moment Valve has an effective monopoly on digital games distribution. In the absence of a real competitor, prices will remain high and Valve will have no incentive to pressure publishers to both lower digital prices and remove redundant DRM on Steam-protected games."


The fact that Steam constantly has insane deals (like BioShock for $5), I'm not worried that they will artificially keep prices up.


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the_winch
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Posted: 13th Sep 2009 21:53
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Quote: "The fact that Steam constantly has insane deals (like BioShock for $5), I'm not worried that they will artificially keep prices up."


The argument sounds like a load of rubbish to me. If valve can reduce what they pay to a publisher then they can keep prices the same and take a larger cut. Or reduce prices taking the same cut hoping the reduced price will increase sales.
Same with DRM. If DRM is losing sales then valve clearly have an incentive to lean on publishers.

After all itunes appeared to be pretty successful in reducing digital music prices and getting rid of DRM. Would they really have had such an influence if they where only one of many much smaller systems?

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Jeku
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Posted: 13th Sep 2009 22:23 Edited at: 13th Sep 2009 22:24
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The thing is the publisher's state their Steam prices, *not* Valve, and the publishers are in bed with Gamestop, EB, and WalMart/Target. They will not put the online price cheaper than the brick and mortar retail outlets just yet, which is why we're still paying $50-$60 for brand new games on Steam.

It's more or less in the publisher's best interest for customer's to buy on Steam, because they can't resell the game, but they can't screw the retail shops because that's still the primary place people go to buy games.

And Steam does NOT have a monopoly. There are several other services that do the same thing, just not as good in my opinion.


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David R
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Posted: 13th Sep 2009 23:27
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Steam does not have a monopoly yet but it has enough critical mass to end up with one in the next few years

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Sid Sinister
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Posted: 14th Sep 2009 16:38
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Quote: "I think online authentication ala steam is the way to go, even with its many flaws. "


What sort of flaws does Steam have? I wasn't aware it had any.

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Mahoney
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Posted: 14th Sep 2009 18:04 Edited at: 14th Sep 2009 18:05
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My, my, the tide has turned on this forum, Jeku.

If I'm not mistaken, that article was originally written almost a year ago, and I believe Steam did have something close to a monopoly then (note the word "close"). My only point in quoting it was to point out how odd the overwhelming support of Steam is. I wasn't trying to be conspiratorial or anything.

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Jeku
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Posted: 14th Sep 2009 21:19 Edited at: 14th Sep 2009 21:19
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Quote: "What sort of flaws does Steam have? I wasn't aware it had any."


The only flaw Steam has is once in a while I get a "server busy" error when I want to start downloading a game. It can be quite annoying waiting for it to calm down before downloading a game I just bought!

But that's it. Other than that, Steam is *perfect* for what I need.


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draknir_
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Posted: 14th Sep 2009 21:52
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Quote: "What sort of flaws does Steam have? I wasn't aware it had any."


Perhaps 'many' is an exaggeration.

The flaws, IMO:

* It's still possible to pirate games with fake steam clients.
* Prices for Europe and in some cases the U.K. are distorted to match retail pricing resulting in huge price mark ups compared to the US. I'm not sure what the solution is, but it doesn't feel fair.
* It's Valve controlled, they have the ultimate say on everything. I like Valve, they're a great company, but they're still a company like any other and are there for the money.
* During new game releases and other busy periods Steam can get very very slow.
* Games bought at retail can not be fully integrated into your Steam account. You can add a launch shortcut to your game list, but the game will not have access to steam community features such as shift-tab.
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Sid Sinister
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Posted: 14th Sep 2009 22:17
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Quote: "Games bought at retail can not be fully integrated into your Steam account. You can add a launch shortcut to your game list, but the game will not have access to steam community features such as shift-tab."


Yes it does. I can shift tab during WOW and talk to my steam friends. I think (don't quote me on it) it even shows how long I've played WOW on my community page.

Quote: "During new game releases and other busy periods Steam can get very very slow."


I experienced that during the Americas Army release (the game sucked :/), and it was pretty annoying. I ended up switching my download server to some weird country and it finally downloaded. Yeah, the definitely need to find a solution for that.

Quote: "It's Valve controlled, they have the ultimate say on everything. I like Valve, they're a great company, but they're still a company like any other and are there for the money."


Well yeah, who wouldn't be. Then don't over price though. Their prices are the same price I would buy a game in a store for, if not cheaper because of the awesome deals they run.

"If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants" - Isaac Newton
Current Project: http://strewnfield.wordpress.com/ (Last updated 06/11/09)
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draknir_
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Posted: 14th Sep 2009 22:45
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Quote: "Yes it does. I can shift tab during WOW and talk to my steam friends. I think (don't quote me on it) it even shows how long I've played WOW on my community page.
"


It certainly doesn't do it for every game. I bought CoD4 at retail and it doesn't integrate at all. It rejects my CD key and only lets me use a launch shortcut. Same for Oblivion and CoD5. I haven't tried installing UT3 to see if it will integrate, but my friend who tried it (already a while ago, it may have changed since) couldn't get it working.
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Jeku
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Posted: 14th Sep 2009 22:57
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Quote: "* Prices for Europe and in some cases the U.K. are distorted to match retail pricing resulting in huge price mark ups compared to the US. I'm not sure what the solution is, but it doesn't feel fair."


Game prices on Steam are not dictated by Valve. It is entirely up to the publisher's discretion.

Quote: "* It's Valve controlled, they have the ultimate say on everything. I like Valve, they're a great company, but they're still a company like any other and are there for the money."


You're kidding. A commercial company is in it for the money? Sorry to tease, but what's the problem? They innovated on Steam.

Quote: "* Games bought at retail can not be fully integrated into your Steam account."


Why should they be? Valve would not see a penny. I've heard other people complain that if you buy a game on retail shelf you can't add it to your Steam account to auto-patch, download, etc. That would NOT make business sense for Valve, would it?

Why would Valve use up their bandwidth and resources for patching a game they didn't get a penny for? That's like buying a computer from HP and expecting Dell to support it.


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Insert Name Here
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Posted: 14th Sep 2009 23:06
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Overwhelming support of a good thing is never odd or surprising.

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draknir_
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Posted: 15th Sep 2009 23:09
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@Jeku: You're missing my point clearly, that I would prefer Steam not to have anything to do with Valve.

I am aware that publishers get to set the prices, I'm not blaming Valve for that.

Games should integrate fully with Steam so that I, the end user, can enjoy the best experience. I know, I know: I want something for nothing.
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Sid Sinister
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Posted: 16th Sep 2009 00:42
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Quote: "You're missing my point clearly, that I would prefer Steam not to have anything to do with Valve."


If not Valve, then it would be some other company. As you state, you want something for nothing. No one is going to give you what Steam has for free.

Can you at least use the overlay in CoD4? I'm confused on the definition of fully integrating with Steam means after you mentioned having to put in cd-keys and what not. I didn't have to do that with WOW but I can use the overlay.

"If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants" - Isaac Newton
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Jeku
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Posted: 16th Sep 2009 02:22
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Quote: "that I would prefer Steam not to have anything to do with Valve."


Good luck with that. It's like saying you want Windows without Microsoft.


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Mahoney
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Posted: 16th Sep 2009 02:55
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Quote: "Quote: "You're missing my point clearly, that I would prefer Steam not to have anything to do with Valve."

If not Valve, then it would be some other company. As you state, you want something for nothing. No one is going to give you what Steam has for free."


I think he means that he would like to see Steam become independent of Valve, working with all companies on equal footing. But, Jeku's right in saying that'll never happen.

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Toasty Fresh
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Posted: 16th Sep 2009 03:04
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I freaking hate Steam for about a thousand reasons. Mainly because I have to be connected to the internet just to play my games, which is, needless to say, bloody annnoying when your useless ISP decides to cap it to less than a kilobyte per second for no apparent reason. I mean, I payed for the damn things, I have a right to actually use it whther I'm connected to the net or not! And also that it insists on searching for new game updates when there hasn't been one in about three years.
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BiggAdd
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Posted: 16th Sep 2009 03:21 Edited at: 16th Sep 2009 03:26
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Quote: "I freaking hate Steam for about a thousand reasons. Mainly because I have to be connected to the internet just to play my games, which is, needless to say, bloody annnoying when your useless ISP decides to cap it to less than a kilobyte per second for no apparent reason. I mean, I payed for the damn things, I have a right to actually use it whther I'm connected to the net or not! And also that it insists on searching for new game updates when there hasn't been one in about three years."


Offline Mode

You can play any steam game offline.

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Toasty Fresh
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Posted: 16th Sep 2009 03:24
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I've tried that, doesn't seem to work. I always get some message about 'cannot perform this action in offline mode'.
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Jeku
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Posted: 16th Sep 2009 03:24
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Quote: "I think he means that he would like to see Steam become independent of Valve, working with all companies on equal footing."


Ahh, but how are they not? This is a real question. I have over 100 games on Steam, and 95% of them are non-Valve. They all appear to be on equal footing, and are promoted just as fairly as Valve's own titles as far as I can tell


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BiggAdd
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Posted: 16th Sep 2009 03:27 Edited at: 16th Sep 2009 03:33
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Quote: "I've tried that, doesn't seem to work. I always get some message about 'cannot perform this action in offline mode'. "


I think it needs to be 100% ready, if its halfway through an update, I don't think it will play.

Quote: "You can add a launch shortcut to your game list, but the game will not have access to steam community features such as shift-tab."


Actually you can Shift+Tab any game added to steam (this might be a recent addition), but I've used it on Diablo 2 and WoW.
Probably uses a similar system to Xfire.

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Posted: 16th Sep 2009 03:33 Edited at: 16th Sep 2009 03:35
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I have a question. Say I backup all of my steam games by going into the program files and copying them all into an external hard drive. Then pretend my computer explodes from overuse or something like that and I lose all of my steam files on the internal HDD. If I copy and paste all of those Steam files into the Steam folder on another computer so that they are supposedly back to the original location but on a different computer. Will all of my games still work?

EDIT: @Biggadd: These are for 100% ready games. I really don't understand, and it seems that I can't even open Steam to view my games list or open Steam in offline mode. The only exception is Far Cry 2; I can run that directly via the executable without Steam open at all.
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ShaunRW
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Posted: 16th Sep 2009 04:45
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I'm having a bit of trouble with steam aswell. But that my internet connections fault. i bought bioshock and its not downloading, just stays at "Download staring..." or "Downloading: 0%".


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Sid Sinister
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Posted: 16th Sep 2009 10:25
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Quote: "I have a question. Say I backup all of my steam games by going into the program files and copying them all into an external hard drive. Then pretend my computer explodes from overuse or something like that and I lose all of my steam files on the internal HDD. If I copy and paste all of those Steam files into the Steam folder on another computer so that they are supposedly back to the original location but on a different computer. Will all of my games still work?"


Why would you even need to back up a steam game? If your computer explodes, download steam again, login, and redownload what you've purchased...

As for offline mode, not sure what the problem is. All my games work fine in offline mode.

"If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants" - Isaac Newton
Current Project: http://strewnfield.wordpress.com/ (Last updated 06/11/09)
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Toasty Fresh
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Posted: 16th Sep 2009 11:02
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Quote: "and redownload what you've purchased..."


What, the entire 87.6 gigabytes? Not gonna happen. For one I can't possibly download even one GB on 1.4kbps and also it would just take forever.
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Benjamin
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Posted: 16th Sep 2009 11:15
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Quote: "I have a question. Say I backup all of my steam games by going into the program files and copying them all into an external hard drive. Then pretend my computer explodes from overuse or something like that and I lose all of my steam files on the internal HDD. If I copy and paste all of those Steam files into the Steam folder on another computer so that they are supposedly back to the original location but on a different computer. Will all of my games still work?"


There is an official way to backup games, although I'm not sure if you can transfer them to another computer this way.
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