These games work great because only diference betwen of these exes are the drm( they are the same). I have play the steam versions for years whiout DRM. I'm talking for experience. I'm have my quake 2, 3, chantelise and reccetear I have on a flash drive to play them everywhere. ;)

When I refering Unreal I can't test it Is because I don't have it on steam to do my trick. But if you have unreal you can download the leatest "official patch" from any fan page... Sorry it official website is shutdown. :/




Note: Sorry if you not understand my English is to bad... :(

OH, I see what the problem is! Thanks for writing that line of code. To get Portal (and the Half-Life 2 games) running without Steam, this is where the command line should go and what it should look like:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Portal>hl2.exe -game portal

I don't think I've ever had Portal install into my username's folder in the Steam install location; check to see if a Portal folder exists in the "common" folder, because that's where it should default to, unless you manually changed it. Also, as suggested above, try to run Portal once through Steam, to make sure everything is running correctly. I didn't have to do this myself, and I even transferred the entire folder to a computer that has never even had Steam installed onto it, but everyone is going to have a different setup.

If that still doesn't work, one more thing you can try is to put " -game portal" (without quotes) at the end of the Target field of a newly-made shortcut to hl2.exe, and it should have the same effect. I can't see why that would produce different results, but it's worth a shot. The Target field would look something like this:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Portal\hl2.exe" -game portal

A lot of the settings are cloud-based, so even in Steam offline mode, Takedown is a nightmare. Makes a buggy game even more buggy.

Is it really that bad? If so, you could add a note to the game on the list.

I tried a bit with Linux games and found following running without Steam:
Bastion
Brutal Legend \m/(-.-)\m/
Gratuitous Space Battles
Proteus
Shatter
Snapshot
Splice
Thomas Was Alone (Yes, it has a linux version)
VVVVVV
__________________________
List of DRM-free games on Steam

I haven't tried recently, but that is how it was at launch. I remember that in some of the patches (6! released already) they changed it so that settings are saved locally.

I have a question here that's quite relevant to this thread. I can't seem to find a decent answer elsewhere. I figured maybe you guys can help me out.

When you say DRM-free games on Steam, how does that go? Isn't it that Steam requires an internet connection to play? Sorry. I have some games on Steam like Bastion but I never claimed at least one of them. See, like what we have here in GOG, I wanted to have my games backed up. Can you do the same thing with Steam games? DRM-free ones, at least. Have them played offline and stored.

If there's already an answer to this, I'd appreciate it if you were to direct me with a link to the solution(s). The answer that I'm looking for is a comprehensive one. Not that I'm really demanding or anything. I mean, like, what can work for every Steam DRM-free games.

All games that require Steam have to be downloaded in Steam. After that, there are diferent situations:

1- Normally, you have to launch Steam to play the game, so the program has to run at the same time as the game, online or offline. Some games require an online connection, but that's mostly MMOs and free games, etc. Out of the games that don't require an online connection (most of them), some might stop working after a certain time (I've noticed about 2 weeks), so you have to reconnect Steam to the internet for verification.

2- There are some games that will run if you click the .exe file, and it won't launch Steam. If the game doesn't require Steam after it's downloaded, it's called "DRM-free". At that point, you can copy the folder wherever you want on your PC or elsewhere and launch it even if Steam is not installed. However, if there is an update, you will have to put the game back in the Steam folder, patch it, then move it out again.

In the attached picture, you can see the red lines represent games bought and downloaded in Steam, but moved out of it, because they don't need the program to run. I could uninstall Steam and still play these games. There was a little trick done so that Batman could work, but the others are just copy/pasted.

Also, you can simply move game folders out of Steam for any game and save them elsewhere. You might not be able to play them, but if you slide them back in, they get reinstalled without problem. I keep everything on an external hard drive and that's what I do all the time. Instead of redownloading, it just sees that the files are there and reinstalls it.
I heard that too but it didn't work for me. Maybe I missed an update. I'll check again.

Wow. You really explained it thoroughly. Thanks, realkman666. Clear as crystal.

I patched the game this morning. The game works, I think that the settings are saved and you can choose your insertion point, but the loadouts are still busted. I wouldn't call if fully functional yet.

Another game for the list: Blood Bowl - Legendary Edition

Just run the exe from the game's folder.

Hi.

Here are some games which I can confirm are DRM free on steam


A valley Without Wind
A valley without Wind 2
A.I War Fleet Command (and all DLC')
Bionic Dues
Shattered Haven
Skyward collapse {+DLC)
Tidalis


it is worth noting that AVWW1, AVWW2, AI war and Tidalis have CD keys however they can be copyed from steam before the files are removed from the steam directory.

Hope this helps with the list and ill check my outher games once I get round to it.

You mistakenly added all the games listed below which it states DO have DRM.

I did not.
First, have a look at the list and check, if all the games you claimed are there. Second, DRM changes in time so a lot of games that needed Steamworks are now completely free to play (e.g. Half-Life 2, Portal). The reference post is from 2012. Third, please check the games on your own instead of simply reposting an old post. There is only one title you claim in our list (FTL), but I think it's DRM-free (the Linux version sure is). I will check it sometimes today if it makes you happy.

Can you explain that a bit more? This is what I assume: You need to play the game once in Steam and at startup a notification window appears with the CD key. You copy it and quit the game again. Now you can play the game without the launcher and with the CD key.
Does the game ask at every startup for the CD key (with/without Steam)?

Enclave works fine without steam.