I thought you could play this game without logging into Steam?

[Beef Hammer]

My ONLY concern about steam is what happens if they file bankruptcy, sell, or otherwise go under some day. There might not be someone who wants to buy it and run it (and why a buyer take on obligations they don't need to - most asset purchases are without the liability). Anyhow, no, I don't know of any real risk of this, but, it's always a possibility for any company.

I've thought about that before, and i concluded that any single player game would be fine as steam would likely go into permanent offline mode. Multiplayer games shouldn't be too affected as many of the games can easily be made to run off private servers, like how games such as counter-strike used to play.

Besides, Valve is a great gaming company and don't see them "going under" anytime soon. I mean when you own some of the greatest FPS games ever made (CC:S, TF2, L4D, Portal and possibly the greatest game ever made Half Life 2) I don't think you have to worry about that kinda stuff. The people waiting on Half Life 3, Portal 2 and any other highly anticipated Valve game are in the millions, easy.

Steam has been my primary gaming platform for almost 6 years, that too will not be changing anytime soon.

 

[fanie]

The problem with steam offline is that it isn't 'off line'. I had a crash in Civ 5 last week-end, and when I restarted Steam informed me that it couldn't connect and asked if I wanted to play off line. If I answered yes, it just crashed, saying it couldn't connect and please to go on line! I finally gave in and used dial-up. Steam had a new release pending and would not work without downloading it first. (Two hours into the down load, and 48% finished, it crashed and re-started.) x 3
Once I returned to the big smoke and broadband, it downloaded and is behaving again. I reported the problem to steam but so far I have not had a reply. Ever the optimist I will keep my eyes glued to my inbox

 

[Varelse]

So long most games now and in the future. It is becoming more and more common to require a one-time internet activation for games (and not just for Steam games).

We're not talking about a one time activation here.

 

[Maniacal]

We're not talking about a one time activation here.

It was one of the issues brought up, and Steam doesn't necessarily require you to ever go online again.

 

[CMKMStephens]

Copy pasted since I didn't get any replies before:

"What do I need to copy from the Steam folders as a backup for my account information?

I'm currently at the end of month 1 of a 6 month holiday, in Greece atm, and Steam ( set to offline mode) periodically loses my account details somehow, and thereby requiring an internet connection to be able to even start the game. Which I don't usually have. It is particularly annoying to keep paying to effectively reactive my damn game.

I really don't want to have to put up with this rubbish for months."

Considering they can post on this site I don't think internet access is the problem.
In many places in the US dial-up is free.

Or people have to go out of their way to pay money to get onto the internet at all so they can complain about Steam and the said situation...

It was one of the issues brought up, and Steam doesn't necessarily require you to ever go online again.

Tell Steam that. I've found that if steam thinks you have an internet connection, Steam won't start Civ until it has successfully attempted to ping the server or something. Which means it either does nothing, or hangs on 'updating'. Assuming Steam doesn't decide to throw out my stored details, the easiest option is to flick the exterior wi-fi kill switch on my laptop. It seems somewhat ridiculous.

 

[Maniacal]

Copy pasted since I didn't get any replies before:

"What do I need to copy from the Steam folders as a backup for my account information?


I'm currently at the end of month 1 of a 6 month holiday, in Greece atm, and Steam ( set to offline mode) periodically loses my account details somehow, and thereby requiring an internet connection to be able to even start the game. Which I don't usually have. It is particularly annoying to keep paying to effectively reactive my damn game.

I really don't want to have to put up with this rubbish for months."

You can right click the game in your list of Steam games and select Back up Data (might be in properties). Or you can go into your Steam folder in Program Files and copy the game's folder under steamapps.

Too bad you're having trouble with it worknig in offline mode, but if turning off your wireless works then just do that. As I've said many times, it would be nice to have a more streamlined way of getting Steam offline, though I've never had an issue.

 

[lifecomp]

So God bless my kids for giving their dad what he really wanted on Father's Day, Civilization V. I quickly opened the box popped out the map and delighted in the fact that my five kids got me, me their old man, a gift he really wanted (oh, I said that).

Then I installed it... #@%*^($) ARRRRG!!!!! WHY OH WHY did this game company come up with this arrangement? This system is a bad idea. Why not consider those folks who have poor performing Internet connections and provide a easy to understand way of playing the game from the disk? My DSL speed (Frontier) is among the poorest in the Nation, and cannot be improved at this time, and they won't install cable in our development. So, I will not get to pay this game at all tonight, because it will take over five hours to download.

Thanks-a-lot 2K and FIRAXIS - Sorry but you guys take the blame as you are associated with this sorry idea. Any of my purchases of PC games that have your names (especially linked to STEAM) will not result in any purchase by me my kids or family. As for my friends I commute with on the train, you can bet that they will hear of this as well.

 

[The_J]

In the case that something goes wrong with the download, take a look here.
You should be able to install the game from DVD, without downloading the whole thing (but you'll have to download a patch afterwards).

 

[Maniacal]

I don't think he's ever coming back The_J, little alone looking for help. Otherwise there are several things he could have done to fix his problem.

 

[The_J]

You might be right, but maybe someone else will google the same issue and will exactly find this post. Would be a shame if then there was no solution for the problem.

 

[civ_king]

I don't think he's ever coming back The_J, little alone looking for help. Otherwise there are several things he could have done to fix his problem.

I think he's downloading patches

 

[fanie]

The on-line off-line bug in steam has still not been fixed. If you power down whilst on-line, and then power up without being connected to the net, it is not possible to start steam. It asks if you want to start off-line, and if you indicate 'yes', it then attempts to contact the servers and crashes. If you go off-line whilst connected to the net, it all works fine. Waiting for a huge download over dial-up just to go off-line sux. When will steam fix this?

 

[timtofly]

It seems to me that it will stay in offline mode as long as it does not "sense" an internet connection. All bets are off if it does. I do not think it is a bug. I think that steam is constantly monitoring activity. It gets really bad, when more than one user has to log out of their account, in order for you to log into yours. It does not defualt to offline mode, but goes into online mode, because the last user was in online mode. They should let you do the game itself in offline mode, so other users do not mess things up. It should also default to offline mode and only try to go online after you say yes twice. If you say no then it should not matter, but it does, because they still check to see, and if there is no network connection, you cannot play the game until there is one.

They need to make it so, steam stays in offline mode even if you have a high speed connection. If there is a setting in steam that does that, I cannot find it. It seems you can stay in offline mode as long as there is no internet connection, but lots of people have high speed connection for other things besides playing V or even using steam.

On a lighter note, after finding 96 "unverified" files I played for 3 hours before the game crashed on a huge map between turns 190 and 250.

 

[fanie]

The points is that I do not have an internet connection at the time. If I want one I have to use dial-up, which is a real pain. But then I guess steam (and Firaxis) is really not interested in solving the problems of a small minority of users

 

[timtofly]

Make sure you are in offline mode. Bring steam up and verify that it says offline. Disconnect from your dial up. Steam should stay in offline mode. If you close steam and it opens back up make sure you stay in offline mode. If it was in offline mode when you closed, it should be kept that way even if you are offline. It should not check when you reopen steam. If it does ask, keep it in offline mode. It works for me, it should work for you. The problem happens when you are in online mode and try to go offline without be connected to the internet.

It also will mess up if you log out of steam and try to log on as another user. Do not log out of steam. Also make sure that it remembers your log on. That way when steam starts it automatically "logs" you in without being online.

 

[Justicex]

To all the rich es out there....

I am happy the economy hasn't hurt you at all and you can afford to look down your noses at people that haven't shared your luck.

Me? I'm posting this from my iPhone before that gets disconnected as well. For my Internet needs, I have to go to the library for 2hrs max per day; and that's assuming there isn't already a line up out the door before you get there.

A quick explanation. I have been looking for work for 13 months now. My little nestegg is long gone. My Internet was disconnected for non-payment and the phone is close behind. I can jus barely afford rent, food, and hydro.

Now, when I say Steam is evil, I mean exactly that. I paid good money for a game I love that i can no longer play since I do not have access to the Internet to put Steam in offline mode and it refuses to default with no Internet connection detected.

Now, whose fault is this? Both mine and Steam's. Steam's for not releasing a manual for their product that clearly states that you will be locked out of your game if you don't follow these instructions. It's mine as well for not doing somekind of search for FAQs, how-tos, etc. and assuming things are a certain way without verification.

Will Valve do anything about this? No. There is no money in helping the poor and they already have my money; it doesnt matter to them if I can play my game or not. Does my ignorance absolve them of stealing from me? Nope.

So to all you lucky people that aren't in a situation like mine and can afford to not have to worry about things like this I hope your luck continues. All I ask is you tilt your head down a little to see that not everything is as perfect as you think it is either.

 

[ditchhook]

You can right click the game in your list of Steam games and select Back up Data (might be in properties). Or you can go into your Steam folder in Program Files and copy the game's folder under steamapps.

Too bad you're having trouble with it worknig in offline mode, but if turning off your wireless works then just do that. As I've said many times, it would be nice to have a more streamlined way of getting Steam offline, though I've never had an issue.

I'm having these same problems now and I can't seem to follow your advice. Where exactly do I right-click? I thought I was in the right position (library under steam) but nothing happens with a right-click. I'm also not sure exactly which file I'm supposed to copy in the game's folder, and what to do with it when the problem re-occurs.