Some kind of legacy client for win 7 users that never updates so we can at least run our games?

[Faust]

I get it, Win 7 is old and decrepit and icky and has cooties, and I love bowing to every whim of our corporate overlords as much as the next lad, but I'm poor, man. My laptop is 12 years old, it couldn't even run win 10 and have it "just werk", and my tech-illiterate self has downright no hope of trying to get anything Linux-based to actually function if even win10 couldn't pull off that mighty feat. I just don't wanna have all my steam games taken away from me. And yes, they're not mine, they're rented, ToS this, own nothing that, yadda yadda yadda. I understand that lowborn peasantry the likes of which I come from has no rights or legal ground to stand on, so I'm more so trying to appeal to whatever semblance of empathy might exist within thine collective consciousness.

Is there any way or chance for windows 7 users to continue running an un-updated client of some kind later down the line when support drops? I can live without fancy new additions, so long as I am merely allowed to run the games I paid for, at least singleplayer ones that won't be bricked because of some steam overlay incompatability or whatever.

[leh2012]

That's the truth! We need some legacy version for fellow Win7 users!

[Wichtelman]

if you can run the games offline why should updates be an issue?

[GOD RAYS ON ULTRA™]

Do you have a lot of space on your laptop? If so, just download most of games and have them updated and at least ran one time so you can play them offline.

The alternative choice (this is what I would do) put together an ultra cheap PC that would literally runs complete circles around your laptop.

Even the most budgeted option would be such a huge jump in performance you actually feel it!

You could get like an i3-12100f or 13100f very cheap and fast, also comes with a CPU cooler, eliminating that cost.

B660 motherboard, the cheaper ones still use ddr4. Ddr4 is so cheap now! 16G for like $30!

The GPU could be a gtx1660 super. These are very fast GPUs that feature high memory performance. These can be found brand new online for about $100-$120 and is an absolute steal for the amount of performance you get.

You still need SSD and PSU, those are affordable though and you might even have a friend that might be willing to give you old parts.

I know I've helped my friends out with upgrades and old PC parts like PSUs and ram.

Whatever you choose, good luck and don't forget you have our help!

You probably didn't want to hear any of that, but that's the stark reality.

[Faust]

Originally posted by nullable:

Just like the legacy client for win98 and XP users? What makes Windows 7 so special again?

I wasn't in the know on the topic so I didn't open my mouth about it. If XP users got locked out of purchased products that don't need live updates - that indeed sounds too unpleasant for me to speak my honest mind about this misfortune without every single letter being replaced by a lil heart, if you get what I mean. Maybe some measures could be taken for them as well. I'm all for it so long as it's feasible. Doesn't hurt to let my metaphorical voice be heard at least, however unlikely the prospect of it being actually heard, let alone listened to, is.

Originally posted by nullable:

Very few people are using Windows 7. All the fuss being kicked up by the minority who doesn't know they're a minority will die down around January 2024 :KentWinning:

Boy, sure do love me some corporate dronery about the obsolence of old cogs in the machine.

Originally posted by Wichtelman:

if you can run the games offline why should updates be an issue?

I 'unno, the official statement claims "In order to continue running Steam and any games or other products purchased through Steam, users will need to update to a more recent version of Windows." Emphasis on "any" and "need". It reads like some kind of killswitch will flip that will make it impossible to run any game on a win7 machine through Steam. If what I'm asking for will already be a possibility - then I guess I'm a tremendous goober that wasted a thread slot on the first page on an obsolete request.

[Lixire]

Just like people in r/WindowsXP came up with workarounds to load up a client that still supports the OS but just in offline mode.
I expect the same to happen with 7 as well in the future

Either way, if modern 10 runs too slowly on your computer then try the older builds like 1507/1607

[Rod]

Valve need to respect ownership of older games and win xp. People did not buy steam to rent games. We expect access to our games forever via offline launchers dedicated to an older os. If thats not doable then screw it lets go back to discs.

[Banana {JESUS IS LORD}]

Originally posted by Rod:

Valve need to respect ownership of older games and win xp. People did not buy steam to rent games. We expect access to our games forever via offline launchers dedicated to an older os. If thats not doable then screw it lets go back to discs.

winxp and win7 games work on win10 and win11 no issues

[Banana {JESUS IS LORD}]

im even running win98 games on win11

[Preacher]

Originally posted by Banana {JESUS IS LORD}:

Originally posted by Rod:

Valve need to respect ownership of older games and win xp. People did not buy steam to rent games. We expect access to our games forever via offline launchers dedicated to an older os. If thats not doable then screw it lets go back to discs.

winxp and win7 games work on win10 and win11 no issues

Not all

[_I_]

you can stop steam from updating

open folder
..\steam\package
delete the 'tmp' folder if there is one

create a file named 'tmp' with no extension

then steam cannot make the tmp folder to update its client files
done

[River]

I upgraded all my Windows 7 and 8 laptops to Windows 11.

[pasa]

Primary purpose of the launchers is to work as SPAM platform.

[Vory]

Originally posted by GOG:

News flash, GOG Galaxy is electron and bundles in the whole chromium also.

I'm simply playing the devil's advocate. Not everything should be turned into a web app, going by the old adage if it ain't broke don't fix it.

GOG itself is publicly owned so I can see to them trying to one-up themselves in order to keep the investors well pleased & appeased with fancy progress charts on a presentation slide that don't mean much else.

Steam, on the other hand, is privately owned. They do not, and should not, be beholden unto anyone or any software made by other companies. What's the point of having a private business model when you just wanna suck up to others?

Cool stories tho. Like I said in the previous comment, it's common knowledge by now. Not so much news flash as to anticipate when to drop support for what. You act like I live under a W7-branded rock. At least for the time being it's still possible to download from GOG and keep the copies free from being nagged that I can't play my games anymore, like Steam will eventually and definitely.

[Standferd007]

It is going to be harder and harder across the board, to be fair depending on how old your system is you may be unable to even get drivers using win10 or 11, which happened to me on 10. Then you are stuck with a generic driver. Its all inevitable.

So to the question:

It may be possible to get a free upgrade to win 10, i paid for full version.

Now i wonder if dual booting win10 and 7 is the easiest route to take. I am aware 11 has old bios issues though.

[JC]

Originally posted by Vory:

On my part I will just either download all games I play and disable updates while waiting for a custom client that doesn't have Google's nuts down its throat, or abandon Steam altogether and jump ship to GOG. Or if God's willing, sail the high sea.

GOG is typically the better way to play old games. They actually update them to work on modern systems. But this issue is not about that, it's about staying on a legacy system which the only thing i can say to this is your going to have to have a Unique steam install with all your games and just set it to off line mode and never update it.

I have an old Win 2k system that is a legacy machine for those bugger of games that are impossible to run on new machines and just because i like it.

I am actually surprised steam is doing this though. In many ways i think they should support win 7 and earlier, because people are right. They bought something to work on a machine, they should not get patches away from using it. I'm also of the mind set that MS should at the very least support these OS"s with security patches for 20-25 years. For example win 95 should be sun setting updates, not win 8.1

The only way this will happen though is if you get congress involved and get them to write a law that says security patches are for the greater good and such.. But good luck with that, but you got my vote!

BTW i'm using win10, but still i agree with the concept.