Steam games.

[Wenda]

If I was to buy a Steam game from a brick & mortar store, I realise that I must activate the game online.

BUT....

My question is, do I need to be online to actually PLAY the game, once activated?

Because if so, I won't be purchasing the games.

I was looking at a version of CoD, and another, today, quite reasonably priced.

I do not play online, and do not multi-play. I'm a 'single-player dude'.

My internet connection, while quite fast, has an 8GB/month limit, so online gaming
simply isn't an option.

Thanks.

Wenda.

 

[nomadgamer13]

You can play it offline. If you want to play online you have to change your ISP. Just my 2 cents.

 

[TONSCHUH]

If you like single-player FPS, then maybe have a look into this here:

Steam Search

 

[ddadda82]

If you're into Steam games, you should check these cheap bundles:

The Indie Gala

Groupees

The Chosen Bundle - Indie Royale


And Steam games mostly have description on their Store Page. If it says multiplayer, chances are it will require internet connection to play online Multiplayer (duh.. >.<) after initial activation. Initial Activation is pretty much forced online, as it will be authenticated with Steam Server - if you input a key.

But many Steam games do not require internet anymore after initial activation. And you can only install the game when you're online btw.

Some examples:

Left4Dead 2. Offline can play Single Player campaign (pretty enjoyable but AI is dumb, install better AI from Workshop). Online can net you Versus and Survival Mode.

Trine 2, offline can play campaign all the way to the end. Online will give you coop match with other Trine 2 players.

 

[Allison]

I have a 12 GB/month plan and I can online game in L4D2's co-op quite comfortably. When the game and subsequent patches are installed online gaming for about 40 minutes is 30 MB give or take although your ping factors into it. Steam games however can have some rather large patches that catch you off-guard, for mine it was nearly 8 GB which I had to pause and unpause over two months. And if you were playing single player, your net would simply be on in the background. You can play offline in Steam's offline mode but once authenticated it has to be patched in order to play.

 

[Wenda]

Many thanks for the advice, peoples.

Wenda.

 

[Der Snoober]

Hi Wenda,

Most Steam games can be played while being offline. However you have to be online during installation and activation.

Check your settings very carefully. Most new Steam games have default settings to put the savegames 'in the cloud'. In that case you must change those settings to save local.

Offtopic ==> a 8 gb/month bandwith limit.....ouch!!! That is not funny at all! I do hope you won't have to pay the moon for that internetconnection .

Ps. Check out Steam on a regular basis. Every now and then there is a Steam sale. You can buy games with up to 75% discount during those sales!!!

Cheers!

Rover

 

[Enigma]

Steam does have an Offline Mode, as others have already said. But what I sometimes do is to replace the game's official .exe file(s) with cracked versions. Then you can launch those games without Steam being open at all,nothing will trigger Steam. Just make sure that the exe you download is the right version (i.e the same version as the game). And be careful about doing this with any game that is VAC-enabled, Valve scans for any changes to those games' files and might ban your account. You can check the VAC status of any game, or lack thereof, by visiting that game's store page.

 

[Der Snoober]

But what I sometimes do is to replace the game's official .exe file(s) with cracked versions. Then you can launch those games without Steam being open at all,nothing will trigger Steam.

That's a tricky advice! It can bring you into a lot of trouble with Steam and as a result you can lose all your Steam games etc. It's like you said ==> if you know exactly what you are doing this might be a good option. But for the avarage user I wouldn't recommend this!

 

[Enigma]

@ Der Snoober: Actually, no it cannot. You can modify the files of any games as long as it's not VAC-protected, and Valve/Steam dont care. If that were the case it would ban many mods, including the ones that directly make changes to the game's exe files. Besides, the games are already on your account, so they've already been paid for. Valve has gotten its' profit. I've been doing it for several yrs and never had issues. It's not OK to do it with any VAC game like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, etc.

EDIT: I've got another idea. I've heard how the ISPs in Australia throttle/limit their customers. If I were you I would use something like a coffee shop, library, etc to download your games. Then use Steam's Backup & Restore feature to backup your games to an external HDD. If your games receive updates in the future, then just download that elsewhere, and use your home connection for stuff that's light on bandwidth like Web-browsing, multiplayer, etc. Then you hopefully shouldnt exceed your limits. Here in the States I have Comcast cable internet at home and there is no throttling or bandwidth limits, so I dont have the same issues as you. Just an idea.