How do I put Steam into offline mode without first connecting to the Internet?

[shigs]

I've currently found myself between homes and do not currently have a stable Internet connection. I can get some limited access via my mobile phone but some ports are blocked (including the ones that steam uses).

I anticipated this and put Steam into offline mode using these instructions (https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=3160-agcb-2555) before my connection to the Internet was cut. Fine. Everything worked in offline mode for about two weeks (because I was previously connected to the Internet).

When offline mode stopped working and Steam would complain that it was "Unable to connect to the Steam network..." I sent Steam a support ticket asking "How do I get steam into offline mode without first connecting to the Internet?"

Their solution was to reinstall Steam. Obviously that didn't work. Then I was asked to send them a MSINFO32 report which would obviously be no use so I took my PC to a friends house instead and connected to his Internet, connected to Steam, put steam back into offline mode, and came home again.

Now it's happened again and I'm unable to open Steam in offline mode after about 2 weeks of using it offline, and I'd appreciate some public candor about this issue.

Is there some DRM which requires you to connect to steam every 2 weeks? Or a bug which can corrupt offline mode if something goes wrong?

I'm 29 and can't be lugging my PC around the neighbourhood just to play video games, My PC is heavy and I might pull a muscle. Pointing me to this network trouble shooting page every time this happens will get old fast. https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=1456-EUDN-2493

So come on guys, how do you put Steam into offline mode without first connecting to the Internet? I'm on the last level of Max Payne 3 and I've paid good money to see that airport go up in flames.

EDIT: A solution (sort of)
OK for anyone in the same situation. Change the date on your PC.

I kept a backup of my (offline) steam folder incase this happened again. I restored the backup but it was still complaining. So I changed the date on my PC to be a week ago and it worked! I can now get back into offline steam.

So there is time limited DRM on steam offline mode! But this still doesn't answer the question "how do you put Steam into offline mode without connecting to the Internet".

[Τhe Rolling Cheese Wheel]

Next time set your steam to remember password, then set it to offline mode. If you did the offline switch without remember password, the next time the pc reboots, you're not going to be able to get into steam offline without connecting to internet first.. At least this was the case for me.

[shigs]

Thanks for the suggestion but I did that. Steam was workign happily in offline mode for 2 weeks.

[Sloppy Seconds]

As far as I know, you cannot. Steam's offline is borked, ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ awful, and it always has been. All is not lost, since you can play some games by directly launching the game's executable from the Steam folder. My computer (windows 7 on the C drive):

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common

Though you can only play a limited amount of games this way, since a lot of games use Steam as DRM, which require you to launch and play them through the Steam client.

[shigs]

Yeah I thought of that too. I tried to launch Max Payne 3 but it tries to launch Steam first. I'll open another support ticket and hopefully get some more candid advice on this.

[Sloppy Seconds]

Eh, the only other option I see is to try tethering a smart phone to your PC to get Steam into offline mode. I've never had to do it, but I have heard of some people have gotten this to work.

Edit: yeah, nevermind you've already tried this.

[shigs]

heh ;) Yeah T-Mobile block the Steam ports amongst others once you go over 250MB of data (on my contract). So connecting to the Internet is no solution for me.

[Τhe Rolling Cheese Wheel]

Originally posted by shigs:

heh ;) Yeah T-Mobile block the Steam ports amongst others once you go over 250MB of data (on my contract). So connecting to the Internet is no solution for me.

;.; what a shame, you should've gotten the "unlimited dea" for 20 when it was live last year (or the year before that). bad lucks man, hope you find a solution soon.

[shigs]

OK for anyone in the same situation. Change the date on your PC.

I kept a backup of my (offline) steam folder incase this happened again. I restored the backup but it was still complaining. So i changed the date on my PC to be a week ago and it worked! I can now get back into offline steam.

So there is time limited DRM on Steam offline mode! But this still doesn't answer the question "how do you put Steam into offline mode without connecting to the Internet".

[Silicon Vampire]

To answer the original question: you can not put Steam in to offline mode without connecting to the Internet..