2023 came, the Steam client is about to stop working in Win7 and some of us refuse to switch to later, nastier versions of Windows. While I'm slowly adapting to Linux I'm not ready to jump into it all of a sudden, so I have a (temporary) deadline to play the few DRM'd games that I have on Steam and not on Gog.

This method will extend that deadline as far as my hardware can run. So THANK YOU OP. Time has validated this thread.

Everything is fine with windows 10 just use "ooh shut up" program https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10 .

I will only quote this:

Yeah, you might not know this but that comment aged like fine milk. But it's not my place to speak for mrkgnao. Ask him yourself if you want to know more, I'm sure he won't mind speaking his decisions and the motives behind them.

I don't know this program you're recommending but I just will not push Win10 into my hardware, thank you.

same to you : )

Recently, I tried to run Pinball Arcade offline, and I was told I couldn't run it offline because it needed an update from Steam.

hmm isnt offline mode supposed to be indefinite? I wonder if there is a limit...

Usually ... yes.
But a game might have strong online connectivity, with seasonal events or challenges that only last for a couple of days or weeks and then need to be updated.
That's nothing that we can blame on Valve.

For those who are in need to change to Win10 like I do, here are the links to somewhat dificult to get LTSC version of Windows.
https://github.com/massgravel/mas-docs/blob/main/windows_ltsc_links.md

From the Microsoft website you can only download the "demo" version without paying the Volume Licensing fee, wich cannot be activated.
Infortunatelly, OOShutUp10 cannot remove or disable some Windows components to the best of my knowledge. I use NTlite (free to use without some features) to strip most stuff out and create a new ISO before running OOShutUp10.

It's actually scaring reading some descriptions on what some services do in Windows. It makes me think how da heck did we get to this point.
Glad there's no delete button :)

Thanks for this thread!

There is a proposed solution to that on Reddit, I'm not sure if it works or not.
It doesn't hurt to try though.

"You can block Steam from updating altogether if you wish, Steam versions tend to continue working fine for many years after they cease to be supported so that would buy you a few extra years if need be.

Create a file in the steam directory called steam.cfg
NOT steam.cfg.txt, you will need to show the full file extension to name it properly
Inside that file put
BootStrapperInhibitAll=Enable

Done, now you'll remain on a version of the client that supports Win7 until you remove the file."

https://www.reddit.com/r/lowendgaming/comments/13bksm4/steam_will_stop_working_on_windows_7881_as_of/

Pinball Arcade hasn't received any updates for a very long time, AFAIK.

No weekly challenges or anything?
(I don't own the game)


On steamdb.info I saw that a couple of days ago they removed a flag from the game and about two weeks ago they altered some product bundles, but that should not affect the installed files.

No need to resort to other sites or guessing if this works. I've tested all this and wrote about it just two pages ago: https://www.gog.com/forum/general/how_to_run_steam_games_offline_forever_tutorial/post74

You should always disable Steams update check in offline mode. See my mentioned post before on how to do that.

Hi. Hope everyone is fine.

My method of preserving DRM-Free (and not so DRM-Free games [explanation below]...) games I bought from Steam is using Steam CMD to download them without the need to install Steam in itself.

I recommend reading everything before attempting this yourself, because there are some useful information that are not necessarily in chronological order all over the 'guide', lets say.

On Linux debian/ubuntu based distros, you can easily install steamcmd: Then you must run the program for it to update to the most recent version: After it updates, which is fairly quick, you have two options:

1. Inside the program (after running steamcmd), type in: If you choose to only login to Steam public servers as an anonymous entity, you will still be able to download all free games and most Steam Workshop mods which are marked by their creators as possible to download without having the game, in this case, this means that you can download many Steam Workshop mods without the necessity of being logged in for confirmation that you own the game.

2. Inside the program (after running steamcmd), type in: SteamCMD will then ask for your password, which you will need to to confirm through Steam's second step authentication by email.

Warning 1: I do not recommend doing this if your Linux PC is a server, because there are risks involved in setting your Steam credentials in a server machine. Valve itself do not recommend people that run servers on their machines to login in their main Steam accounts. That's why 'login anonymous' is an option. Albeit with it, you cannot download your owned games and workshop items which require authentication.

Warning 2: I do not recommend you to run SteamCMD as a root/admin user, for obvious reasons. Some people also recommend to create a new local account in your Linux PC only for this. Its up to you.

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After login in by one of the options above, you may want to change the directory/folder to which SteamCMD download your games/mods/files, but this is not necessary, because SteamCMD will download them to steam common directory paths which I believe you can find in your own in your Home folder if you're on Linux. Valve recommends that you set the install directory before logging in for security reasons.

After you've set up your install location, or not, which will download files to Steam common folders, you must find your game's Steam App ID, or your mod's Workshop Item ID, which can be found in SteamDB site:

steamdb.info

Now you can download your game typing in the following command inside SteamCMD:

- For a Game: - For a Workshop item: -
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By default, SteamCMD will download the game/workshop item based on your current system, but you can also change that, depending on the game, if it have Linux/Windows/Mac versions. For example, you are following this guide in a Linux machine, but you want to download a Windows version of the game, instead of the Linux version of it.

This can be done by setting this command in SteamCMD before downloading.

- Set platform: - For example: - You can also change the games bitness: -
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Now to the second part, which may be a risk to say around here, I guess? So no links.
But anyway, you can make most of your Steam games DRM-Free easily using:

Steamless
Goldberg Emulator

You can search for them, as they're easily found because they're fully open source and not illegal.

This is by no means a way to help cracking, no, Im just saying that people can preserve their games that they LEGALLY BOUGHT using free tools created by the community to study Steam DRM and to be able to play them offline, without Steam launcher online.

Not all games can be made DRM-Free though, because some use layers of DRM in the game's exe, which cannot be broken legally.

And of course, you can always use:

https://steam.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_DRM-free_games

To find what game is DRM-Free and which method can be used to turn your legally bought copy 'launcherless'.

Does this still work nowadays?