Anyone who's taken the Steam Deck traveling

[Quadsword]

How long were you able to play it offline before it required you to connect to the internet?

I ask because I'm going out to sea relatively soon and could go weeks without internet. I'm going to be pretty disappointed if my Steam Deck becomes dead weight just a few weeks in.

[Za Za Bazaar]

its not much good without internet

[Voodoopopeye]

Just like a PC, you'll need to be online to download games and play online multiplayer games. Once a game is installed on disk, you can play while Steam Deck is offline unless the game requires an internet connection.

[ZombieKidzRule!]

As long as you have the games already downloaded and the game itself doesn't require an internet connection, you can play indefinitely.

You won't get any updates to the game and your time won't be tracked.

I have heard many people comment that they play offline in their regular computers.

[PopinFRESH]

Originally posted by ZombieKidzRule!:

As long as you have the games already downloaded and the game itself doesn't require an internet connection, you can play indefinitely.

You won't get any updates to the game and your time won't be tracked.

I have heard many people comment that they play offline in their regular computers.

And you've launched the game at least one time. Many games on Steam will require you be online on first launch to decrypt the exe. Once you've launched the game at least once you should be able to play Offline pretty much indefinitely.

[nicoper]

Make sure that no games you want to play use Denuvo or some other invasive DRM that stops you from playing if you haven't had an internet connection for a week or whatever.

[PopinFRESH]

Originally posted by nicoper:

Make sure that no games you want to play use Denuvo or some other invasive DRM that stops you from playing if you haven't had an internet connection for a week or whatever.

This too, I guess the root of the advice here is that "it will vary" based on the game, and whatever DRM (if any) it has implemented. Games that Only use Valve's CEG shouldn't have any issues playing offline indefinitely after they've been launched at least once.

Games with 3rd party DRM may, and often will, require the DRM to "phone home".

You can check your games on their store page; as an example the new Sonic Superstars, to see if they use any 3rd party DRM.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2022670/SONIC_SUPERSTARS/

Sonic Superstars, unfortunately, uses Denuvo which is why I sadly did not buy it. It looks like a great return to classic 2D side-scrolling Sonic with modern 3D rendered graphics; but until they patch it to remove Denuvo it won't get a purchase.

[nicoper]

Originally posted by PopinFRESH:

Originally posted by nicoper:

Make sure that no games you want to play use Denuvo or some other invasive DRM that stops you from playing if you haven't had an internet connection for a week or whatever.

This too, I guess the root of the advice here is that "it will vary" based on the game, and whatever DRM (if any) it has implemented. Games that Only use Valve's CEG shouldn't have any issues playing offline indefinitely after they've been launched at least once.

Yeah, Denuvo is majorly annoying. Locked me out of playing P5R for a day once because I was switching between Proton versions to determine which one worked best and each time you do that it apparently counts as another machine activation, of which you only have five per 24 hour period.

[lukaself]

I still don't understand how games with Denuvo can get Steam Deck certified...

[ZombieKidzRule!]

Ah, yes. You must also launch the game first. Thanks for pointing that out. I always do that when I download new games to my Steam Deck. I launch them just to get them loaded once and then they are ready to play offline.

[adventureFAN]

Yes I played it on Train, Car (back seat =P) and Plane so far =D
For wifi I can use the hotspot feature of my mobile phone (except on Plane =P)

[ReBoot]

Last time I've spent a significant amount of offline time with my Deck was a week.

[Mahjik]

Originally posted by lukaself:

I still don't understand how games with Denuvo can get Steam Deck certified...

Verification does not qualify if a title can be played offline or not.

[lukaself]

Originally posted by Mahjik:

Originally posted by lukaself:

I still don't understand how games with Denuvo can get Steam Deck certified...

Verification does not qualify if a title can be played offline or not.

If a game can't be played offline for extended periods of time then it doesn't qualify as playable on the go on a portable device. I don't know what need is there to argue here.

[PopinFRESH]

Originally posted by lukaself:

Originally posted by Mahjik:

Verification does not qualify if a title can be played offline or not.

If a game can't be played offline for extended periods of time then it doesn't qualify as playable on the go on a portable device. I don't know what need is there to argue here. :clickbutton:

The fact that Valve doesn't use that as a qualifier in their verification process. There is nothing to "argue" Mahjik just stated a fact of Valve's verification process.

https://www.steamdeck.com/en/verified

[lukaself]

Originally posted by PopinFRESH:

Originally posted by lukaself:

If a game can't be played offline for extended periods of time then it doesn't qualify as playable on the go on a portable device. I don't know what need is there to argue here.

The fact that Valve doesn't use that as a qualifier in their verification process. There is nothing to "argue" Mahjik just stated a fact of Valve's verification process.

Well, I know they don't, that much is obvious. That doesn't answer my criticism at all, though. I still don't understand how Valve can consider a game that won't start if you're not online as playable on a portable console.

If you think it's ok to certify the working condition of a title that doesn't work in a normal use case of a portable device, I don't know what to tell you. There's not even a warning...