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You would still have your games files and be able to run them. Steam is not a rental or streaming service.

by tokai 4y ago

delecti 4y ago
Many/most Steam games use Steam servers to authenticate ownership. It's a store, but it's also a DRM provider. Many games would require cracking to keep working.
- tokai 4y ago
  >most Steam games use Steam servers to authenticate ownership Not true. Maybe if you mainly play ubisoft tiles.
  - delecti 4y ago
    Can you be more specific or offer any evidence? That Valve offers DRM through Steam is unambiguously true. Here's their developer document on it: https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/features/drm https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/features/drm And here's a list of games which are sold through Steam but which nonetheless do not use Steam DRM: https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/The_big_list_of_DRM-free_games_on_Steam https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/The_big_list_of_DRM-free_g... Why would such a list be necessary if games sold through Steam that used Steam DRM were the minority?
  - Karunamon 4y ago
    Any game using Steamworks behaves this way, which is a pretty massive chunk of them. Ubisoft uses their own DRM which is an entirely different system. I think what you may be saying is the behavior if you open a Steamworks game while Steam is opened, it just executes as normal. Any authentication or nonsense happens in the background. Try opening a Steamworks game with steam closed, it will force steam to open and login before the game can be played.
  - vorpalhex 4y ago
    You can test this. Delete steam, restart your computer and launch a title. You'll get a message about steam.dll missing or being unable to authenticate. You can also sign out of steam, unplug from the internet and try to launch - and again, you won't be able to except this time steam will launch and tell you to login.
- xen2xen1 4y ago
  Or a single last update from the servers that made every server check come back legit.
  - delecti 4y ago
    That's always just been a wishful statement of intent with no legal backing. Valve might be unable or unwilling to actually follow through on that urban legend if they do ever shut down for some reason.
Ken_At_EM 4y ago
Yes but if Steam shut down you’d have no way to get to the installers again and you’d be left crossing your fingers the machine you installed them on doesn’t die.
- tokai 4y ago
  Think it through. Of cause you cant get the games files if the provider goes offline. You can make a backup of any of your games in steam, which will make it possible to install it again offline on other machines.
  - flohofwoe 4y ago
    The game won't run on another machine, at best you have a two weeks time window before the DRM checks start to fail. There's this family sharing thing though, where you can share your Steam library between 5 accounts and up to 10 computers: https://store.steampowered.com/promotion/familysharing https://store.steampowered.com/promotion/familysharing
- shagie 4y ago
  I've bought a copy of Iron Dragon for the PC - I can even find the license key in my ancient google mail. It was published by http://www.antigravitybox.com/ http://www.antigravitybox.com/ and the game's website is http://www.irondragon.org/ http://www.irondragon.org/ I don't see too much of a difference other than Steam has more proven longevity - even if the developers that sold games on Steam don't. I can still download Dungeons of Dreadmor from Steam even though the company appears to have disappeared in 2016.
- xen2xen1 4y ago
  Hacks already exist to make the games not check the servers, and only stop working after new Steam updates. If Steam were to never update again it seems likely the hacked dlls would work forever.
gjsman-1000 4y ago
Not very much - many of those game files actually have Steam Runtime or Steam executables blended in. It is not a strong DRM - but you are still going to need to look for cracked copies if Steam went down.
NikolaNovak 4y ago
That's how GoG works. That's not how steam works on its own. Steam explicitly a service where you buy a defined and limited license for permission to execute the files through proprietary framework that might one day disappear. Don't get me wrong, steam is my preferred digital delivery platform and where I play majority of my games. But I am under no illusion that gives me any sort of permanence (without potential hacking and mods). If I want permanence I get a DRM free downloadable game from GoG.
- tokai 4y ago
  >Steam explicitly a service where you buy a defined and limited license for permission Simply not true. There is really no arguments here. You can run most games directly from the game files without steam. In the cases were you can't you would have issues with DRM in all other venues of purchase.
  - flohofwoe 4y ago
    It may look like that from the outside because you can go to the Steam library directory and double click a game executable directly, but this will still start the Steam runtime and do a DRM check. You can run a game in 'offline mode' for up to two weeks before another online DRM check is required though.
    - jeltz 4y ago
      Not necessarily. The DRM part is optional.
  - anjbe 4y ago
    Runtime DRM is sometimes optional with Steam, but install‐time DRM never is.
- fluoridation 4y ago
  You're not describing how Steam is meant to work, but rather how things are likely to play out for a lot of titles if Steam ever shuts down. Yes, if Steam shuts down, any game that (due to technical requirements) requires Steam to be up will be left unusable, and the customers will be left with pretty much no recourse. Not because legally they're not entitled to the products they paid for, but because it would be impractical to enforce such a right. No, Steam sells permanent licenses.
RGamma 4y ago
Steam DRM might not easily allow this, although I trust in Valve's ethics to permit offline play if shit hits the fan. In fact I remember reading from a community representative that there are plans for this in place (not the best source but whatever https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/18mzcn/i_asked_steam_support_what_happens_to_my_games_if/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/18mzcn/i_asked_steam...)
- Karunamon 4y ago
  It also helps that Steamworks DRM is trivially bypassed. All it takes are a couple of replacement DLL files in the games directory and it runs normally (minus multiplayer support, of course). This isn't even a sketchy crack thing, it's an open source tool. Look up Goldberg emulator.

You would still have your games files and be able to run them. Steam is not a rental or streaming service.

by tokai 4y ago

You would still have your games files and be able to run them. Steam is not a rental or streaming service.

Many/most Steam games use Steam servers to authenticate ownership. It's a store, but it's also a DRM provider. Many games would require cracking to keep working.

tokai 4y ago
>most Steam games use Steam servers to authenticate ownership Not true. Maybe if you mainly play ubisoft tiles.
- delecti 4y ago
  Can you be more specific or offer any evidence? That Valve offers DRM through Steam is unambiguously true. Here's their developer document on it: https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/features/drm https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/features/drm And here's a list of games which are sold through Steam but which nonetheless do not use Steam DRM: https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/The_big_list_of_DRM-free_games_on_Steam https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/The_big_list_of_DRM-free_g... Why would such a list be necessary if games sold through Steam that used Steam DRM were the minority?
- Karunamon 4y ago
  Any game using Steamworks behaves this way, which is a pretty massive chunk of them. Ubisoft uses their own DRM which is an entirely different system. I think what you may be saying is the behavior if you open a Steamworks game while Steam is opened, it just executes as normal. Any authentication or nonsense happens in the background. Try opening a Steamworks game with steam closed, it will force steam to open and login before the game can be played.
- vorpalhex 4y ago
  You can test this. Delete steam, restart your computer and launch a title. You'll get a message about steam.dll missing or being unable to authenticate. You can also sign out of steam, unplug from the internet and try to launch - and again, you won't be able to except this time steam will launch and tell you to login.
xen2xen1 4y ago
Or a single last update from the servers that made every server check come back legit.
- delecti 4y ago
  That's always just been a wishful statement of intent with no legal backing. Valve might be unable or unwilling to actually follow through on that urban legend if they do ever shut down for some reason.

Ken_At_EM 4y ago

Yes but if Steam shut down you’d have no way to get to the installers again and you’d be left crossing your fingers the machine you installed them on doesn’t die.

tokai 4y ago
Think it through. Of cause you cant get the games files if the provider goes offline. You can make a backup of any of your games in steam, which will make it possible to install it again offline on other machines.
- flohofwoe 4y ago
  The game won't run on another machine, at best you have a two weeks time window before the DRM checks start to fail. There's this family sharing thing though, where you can share your Steam library between 5 accounts and up to 10 computers: https://store.steampowered.com/promotion/familysharing https://store.steampowered.com/promotion/familysharing
shagie 4y ago
I've bought a copy of Iron Dragon for the PC - I can even find the license key in my ancient google mail. It was published by http://www.antigravitybox.com/ http://www.antigravitybox.com/ and the game's website is http://www.irondragon.org/ http://www.irondragon.org/ I don't see too much of a difference other than Steam has more proven longevity - even if the developers that sold games on Steam don't. I can still download Dungeons of Dreadmor from Steam even though the company appears to have disappeared in 2016.
xen2xen1 4y ago
Hacks already exist to make the games not check the servers, and only stop working after new Steam updates. If Steam were to never update again it seems likely the hacked dlls would work forever.

gjsman-1000 4y ago

Not very much - many of those game files actually have Steam Runtime or Steam executables blended in. It is not a strong DRM - but you are still going to need to look for cracked copies if Steam went down.

NikolaNovak 4y ago

That's how GoG works. That's not how steam works on its own. Steam explicitly a service where you buy a defined and limited license for permission to execute the files through proprietary framework that might one day disappear. Don't get me wrong, steam is my preferred digital delivery platform and where I play majority of my games. But I am under no illusion that gives me any sort of permanence (without potential hacking and mods). If I want permanence I get a DRM free downloadable game from GoG.

tokai 4y ago
>Steam explicitly a service where you buy a defined and limited license for permission Simply not true. There is really no arguments here. You can run most games directly from the game files without steam. In the cases were you can't you would have issues with DRM in all other venues of purchase.
- flohofwoe 4y ago
  It may look like that from the outside because you can go to the Steam library directory and double click a game executable directly, but this will still start the Steam runtime and do a DRM check. You can run a game in 'offline mode' for up to two weeks before another online DRM check is required though.
  - jeltz 4y ago
    Not necessarily. The DRM part is optional.
- anjbe 4y ago
  Runtime DRM is sometimes optional with Steam, but install‐time DRM never is.
fluoridation 4y ago
You're not describing how Steam is meant to work, but rather how things are likely to play out for a lot of titles if Steam ever shuts down. Yes, if Steam shuts down, any game that (due to technical requirements) requires Steam to be up will be left unusable, and the customers will be left with pretty much no recourse. Not because legally they're not entitled to the products they paid for, but because it would be impractical to enforce such a right. No, Steam sells permanent licenses.

RGamma 4y ago

Steam DRM might not easily allow this, although I trust in Valve's ethics to permit offline play if shit hits the fan. In fact I remember reading from a community representative that there are plans for this in place (not the best source but whatever https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/18mzcn/i_asked_steam_support_what_happens_to_my_games_if/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/18mzcn/i_asked_steam...)

Karunamon 4y ago
It also helps that Steamworks DRM is trivially bypassed. All it takes are a couple of replacement DLL files in the games directory and it runs normally (minus multiplayer support, of course). This isn't even a sketchy crack thing, it's an open source tool. Look up Goldberg emulator.