Offline mode does not work when Steam log in servers are offline.

[WolfEisberg]

Thankfully the log-in servers were only down for a few minutes this time, but this issue isn't the first time this has happened.

So when ever Steam's log in servers go down, and you are greeted with the box to either try again or go into offline mode, so I choose go into Offline mode and none of my games that use Steam DRM will run at all, Steam client tells me to go online first.

Now, this ONLY happens when Steam tries to log in and fails due to the log in servers being down, and I choose to go into offline mode. But if my internet is down, and I get that same box and I choose to run in offline mode then my Steam DRM games will run in offline mode.

[Dr.Shadowds 🐉]

Tuseday maintenance day,

If the game doesn't call for online usage such as CSGO, or etc that needs online connection the game should start without an issue.

If the game has an pending update from before, and didn't update it, either update when get the chance to get the latest version, or edit the game .acf to tell Steam client that game is updated, and not pending update state.

Games that rely on in-game online connection outside of Steam may get problems if not updated depending on the game, such as not being able to connect to instore online, or not able to use certain things due to it's in-game drm from it's own servers.

[Dr.Shadowds 🐉]

Servers can go down this late in the day, not the first time they been doing this.

Yea that how game clients works, when you launch them they try to connect to the server, and download latest version if it sees one.

Yes Steam auto connect online if you were already running it in online mode, when you run it in offline mode it won't connect online until you restart the client.

[Snapjak]

Originally posted by Eisberg:

Originally posted by Dr.Shadowds 🐉:

Tuseday maintenance day,

If the game doesn't call for online usage such as CSGO, or etc that needs online connection the game should start without an issue.

If the game has an pending update from before, and didn't update it, either update when get the chance to get the latest version, or edit the game .acf to tell Steam client that game is updated, and not pending update state.

Games that rely on in-game online connection outside of Steam may get problems if not updated depending on the game, such as not being able to connect to instore online, or not able to use certain things due to it's in-game drm from it's own servers.

I doubt it was due to maintenance this late in the day.

Also this issue has nothing to do with pending updates on the games.

Yes, games that don't need an online component should start without issue, but this issue is clearly a bug with Steam that Valve needs to fix.

They have a bug where if their log in servers are down, and Steam tries to log in, games that require Steam DRM will not run until you are able to log in again. This issue does not exist if the internet is down, games will work in offline mode just fine, this issue is ONLY when Steam log in servers are down and you go into offline mode after Steam tried to log in.

Remember that Valve is in Pacific time. It is currently not even 6pm there and it wasn't even 5pm when you posted this one (not the OP).

[Dr.Shadowds 🐉]

If game has 3rd party DRM such as Denuvo may need internet connection for verification at least occasionally, which ruins this not being able to run said game.

You can try to force Steam to launch in offline mode and skip the warning by playing with some settings:

Open Steam/config/loginusers.vdf in an editor such as notepad.

Find the account you want to force into offline mode (if there are multiple associated with this Steam installation). This should be easy because each entry has "AccountName" which is the name used to login and "PersonaName" which is the display name.

Set "WantsOfflineMode" to "1". 0 is false and 1 is true, so changing this to 1 will make it launch in offline mode.

4a. If you want to skip the "Go Online/Start In Offline Mode" dialog on startup add an entry below "WantsOfflineMode": "SkipOfflineModeWarning" "1" where the whitespace between the key ("SkipOfflineModeWarning") and value ("1") is 2x 'tab's. The tabs between key and value are required for the file to be parsed properly; without them it may fail, and Steam may ignore/invalidate the entire file causing the need to login again, fail to open, or etc. This entry can automatically be added by opening the Steam client and pressing "Go Offline".

4b. Change "SkipOfflineModeWarning" back to "1" each time you start Steam to continue to skip the warning.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2283633229

[lukaself]

Edit: I guess there are a few misunderstandings as to what's happening here judging by some of the answers in this thread: To be extra-clear... Going offline when your own connection is down still works fine but If you're online and not the Steam server you're trying to reach, offline mode stops working and you cannot launch Steam at all until the servers are up again.

Had it happen a few times to me too. It's because Steam wipes your offline credentials as soon as it attempts contacting a server, even a down one which is then unable to validate your credentials again for offline mode. This unfortunately makes the workaround in the above post irrelevant. Outages on their end are rather rare but still, they happen and the offline mode is meaningless if the only time you really need it leads to being completely cut off in the event of Valve having a lasting server failure in the future. They should probably fix that as that unplanned inconvenience may turn some people away from the client.

Despite having strong protections laws in the EU if such a failure were to happen, it's one of the reason I buy more and more DRM-free games lately. These kinds of events are a significant wake up call regarding digital product ownership.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Bug reports...

https://steamcommunity.com/groups/SteamClientBeta/discussions/0/

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Originally posted by Eisberg:

That's to report bugs in beta version of Steam client.

That's where you can post bugs for all builds.

Either that or Help & Tips where your previous thread is.

[Dr.Shadowds 🐉]

If the client not keeping your account login details then few things can try checking out, to see if can fix this issue.

- Ensure that "Don't save account credentials on this computer" is not enabled under Steam settings. As this will delete your credentials.

- When logging in, ensure that "Remember me" is checked when you login.
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=3160-agcb-2555

- If Steam fails to read key files such as loginusers.vdf that be possible why need to relog into account. This can happen either corrupted file, game client is corrupted, or that using 3rd party software that causing interference with application functionality, or permissions for it.

If Steam client corrupted, simply visit Steam folder, delete everything except for two things "Steamapp" folder, and "Steam.exe", once everything else deleted, simply run "Steam.exe" and it will redownload client, then test to see if issue resolved.