Game won't start if steam is offline?????? WTF

[SickGuy]

So, today my internet went off because a storm... So I guess F for my ranked game, let's kill some demons to liberate the stress and guess what... If steam is OFFLINE (no internet) you can't start the game... WHAT THE ACTUAL ♥♥♥♥?? Why do I need internet connection for a singple player game?

[vk^4@]

Agreed about the Microsoft Offline spyware. Doesn't make sense as this a Single player game only. Sadly there are a very few games left out there that don't condone this practice.

[alex010300]

What ??? Doesn't steam have an offline mode ?

[SickGuy]

Originally posted by alex010300:

What ??? Doesn't steam have an offline mode ?

It does, i'm going to test it if with that mode the game start, but so far, without internet connection you cant play this game...

[Rocketd00d]

Can confirm Doom will not allow you to open/play without an internet connection. Notification pops up on the screen telling me how to 'Go Online' via Steam software menuing. Super annoying and makes no sense why an exclusively single player game would require it. Bethesda's own website says an internet connection isn't required..

[I HeaR vOices]

Just shut my internet off, opened steam afterwards, and checked. Unless I'm missing something here, It works fine.

[RodroG]

According to this:

https://help.bethesda.net/#en/answer/69468

An Internet connection and sufficient storage are required to download and install the game and certain features/content (including mandatory content updates, which may download automatically and require additional storage).

Once downloaded, DOOM: The Dark Ages can be played offline.

So, we should be able to play it offline after downloading and installing the game (and maybe after a first boot time?). I'm curious. I will check it on my end.

UPDATED:

I just checked it with my Ethernet adapter disabled, and I can confirm I can launch and play the game offline without any issues.

As @I Hear vOices mentioned, the offline play works fine on my end. The game can be played perfectly offline.

[[ITH] DropsiK`]

It uses Denuvo. Stop buying games infected with this crap!

[XELA]

I play on xbox game pass offline is work fine I don't even need to turn on Xbox game pass launcher but If game have update patch I need to run game online one time for offline working

[RodroG]

Originally posted by XELA:

I play on xbox game pass offline is work fine I don't even need to turn on Xbox game pass launcher but If game have update patch I need to run game online one time for offline working

Yes. This game is perfectly playable offline. Of course, an online connection is needed for patches, updates, and features like cloud saves and achievements.

[lukaself]

Originally posted by ITH DropsiK`:

It uses Denuvo. Stop buying games infected with this crap!

That's the best answer.

Denuvo uses a system of offline tokens which allow you to play offline for a while - which is why not everyone will be affected in the same way: some events such as game updates, Windows updates, Steam updates, changing Proton layers, moving to the Steam Deck, changing the system clock... may invalidate that token.

Once that token expires, you need to go online again or your game won't start. If Denuvo's servers are offline or overloaded, your game won't start. When Denuvo servers close and Denuvo isn't removed, the game will be permanently disabled. (although Id seems to remove it eventually but it's not set in stone).

Maybe some companies believe that we don't own our games, but Denuvo makes sure it's extra inconvenient...

[SickGuy]

Originally posted by XELA:

I play on xbox game pass offline is work fine I don't even need to turn on Xbox game pass launcher but If game have update patch I need to run game online one time for offline working

Not sure on xbox game pass, on steam it isn't working.

Originally posted by I HeaR vOices:

Just shut my internet off, opened steam afterwards, and checked. Unless I'm missing something here, It works fine.

I tried this today and still don't let me start the game, the scenarios:

1) Steam connected to the internet, plugin off the ethernet connection to the router, started the game: Nothing, wont open.
2) Closing steam, starting it without internet connection, launch the game: Same result, game won't open.

Originally posted by RodroG:

Originally posted by XELA:

I play on xbox game pass offline is work fine I don't even need to turn on Xbox game pass launcher but If game have update patch I need to run game online one time for offline working

Yes. This game is perfectly playable offline. Of course, an online connection is needed for patches, updates, and features like cloud saves and achievements.

Again, not sure on xbox, but in steam, the game won't launch if it is without internet.

[min3r95]

Seem like there still lot people who don't know about Denuvo.

Denuvo implemented games rely on 3rd party DRM server to generate authorization tokens in order for the games to be launchable(forced online authorization). These tokens are expirable and can be break under circumstances(reinstalling/update OS/driver,switching Proton(Linux), changing hardware) render the games useless.

The tokens won't be automatically acquired by themselves, you need to launch the games in online mode for them to be acquired.

The tokens can only be acquired for a limited number of times(usually 5)per 24 hours, once you reach the limit for whatever reason, you will be blocked out of your games, and will need to wait until the next day to be able to "activate" the game again.You need to ask for permission to play the game you paid for.

You can play Denuvo implemented games in offline mode, but it won't be indefinitely.

In fact you can't play the games at all if there's no token or for some reason it's cannot a token(server outage) regardless of whether you're online or offline.

TLDR

Denuvo erodes customers'ability to play the games they paid for without any restrictions, to have reliable, unrestricted access to their games, free from factors that are outside of their control.

[min3r95]

Originally posted by RodroG:

According to this:

https://help.bethesda.net/#en/answer/69468

An Internet connection and sufficient storage are required to download and install the game and certain features/content (including mandatory content updates, which may download automatically and require additional storage).

Once downloaded, DOOM: The Dark Ages can be played offline.

So, we should be able to play it offline after downloading and installing the game (and maybe after a first boot time?). I'm curious. I will check it on my end.

UPDATED:

I just checked it with my Ethernet adapter disabled, and I can confirm I can launch and play the game offline without any issues.

As @I Hear vOices mentioned, the offline play works fine on my end. The game can be played perfectly offline.

This is because your authorization token is still intact while his is definitely gone or expired by the time he try to run the game.

What interested me most is how Bethesda support page doesn't mention the game(or Denuvo) require a mandatory online check for it to even run.

[HeideKnight]

Aside from this Denuvo thing it can also be Steam itself that won't start a game in offline mode due to the following scenario:

If Steam is in online mode and even if you disabled to automatically update game files it will always update the description files located in C://.../Steam/steamapps/ called appmanifest_<id number>.acf. There was a patch for the game recently and if you launched Steam in online mode the last time when the patch already arrived Steam will have made an update of all the files of the games which have newer patches. And if then for some reason the internet connection breaks you can't play the game in offline mode anymore, because the id number of the game does not match the one in the description file.

I am not sure if that is what happened here, but it is one of the possible cases where a Steam game can not be played in offline mode anymore.

[min3r95]

Originally posted by HeideKnight:

Aside from this Denuvo thing it can also be Steam itself that won't start a game in offline mode due to the following scenario:

If Steam is in online mode and even if you disabled to automatically update game files it will always update the description files located in C://.../Steam/steamapps/ called appmanifest_<id number>.acf. There was a patch for the game recently and if you launched Steam in online mode the last time when the patch already arrived Steam will have made an update of all the files of the games which have newer patches. And if then for some reason the internet connection breaks you can't play the game in offline mode anymore, because the id number of the game does not match the one in the description file.

I am not sure if that is what happened here, but it is one of the possible cases where a Steam game can not be played in offline mode anymore.

Steam offline was designed to last indefinitely, and the transition is seemless too, it's automatically put itself in offline mode when needed.
The only time I found that I can't play offline is either when the game detected an update for itself and require update or in a middle of an update.

If you download a singleplayer game then try to launch it in offline mode immediately, it'll work, unless it have Denuvo and require you to be in online mode.

In OP's case the game require internet to launch not to update which is a signature feature of Denuvo.