Like i already said I suggest you take some time to read up on what DRM is as you seem a little confused.

Also you should go & stroke some Puppies or take up Yoga, just do something...anything that relieves your stress levels as you get very aggressive for no real reason. It would probably help if you went outside into the real world & interacted with other humans & learnt how to have a discussion, that way you might also learn what civility is.

Goodbye, enjoy the rest of your day

You make no sense and are clueless to how ADVERTISING WORKS.

Let me clear this up and make this really simple for you because you're babbling about something that has nothing to do with anything.

If you purchased the game through Steam (The game cannot be installed, launched, or played WITHOUT STEAM). So therefore it is IMPOSSIBLE for a game that is being advertised as being DRM free, to be DRM free, when you just made the game now have DRM.

I short, you cannot advertise sell a game on a service in one place, and then advertise and sell that same game somewhere else as BEING DRM FREE.

If you don't understand that, then you are an idiot!

Q: How do you determine if a game or software is Launcher-free on Steam?
'A:' Simple: install the game or software and run the first time instillation (this step is important as this finalizes the installation). Shut down Steam and temporarily move all the files in the root Steam folder somewhere else. Locate game folder, find the program launcher .exe and run it. Either you get an error (or if your computer crashes) . If the game runs fine and steam is not started the game is steam works DRM free.

Some games can be run without steam - but to install AND patch them you still need steam, your steam account, internet connection, then steam checks if you are in correct region to launch your game... I dont understand how this is DRM-free lol/
I had some pretty bad experience with steam so please dont call this abomination drm-free.

People are clueless and are completely confused to the problem with this situation. The issue currently being discussed by me has nothing to do with where you purchased the game, or if that game needs a service or not.

THIS IS ABOUT ADVERTISING SOMETHING INCORRECTLY.

People are trying to use where a game is purchased to negate how the game is being advertised.

You cannot advertise and sell a game on a service (Which creates DRM) in one place, and then advertise and sell that same exact game somewhere else, as BEING DRM FREE.

DRM free means exactly that ANY VERSION OF THAT GAME REGARDLESS OF WHERE YOU PURCHASED IT FROM, will not require any form of restriction/service usage..etc. Doing otherwise means it's not DRM free.

It really is that simple!

You are correct...two recent games, PoE & Witcher 3, are sold DRM-free on Steam--meaning Steam does not have to be running in order to play the games (does not have to be in offline mode, either) and that the games will run from any location, can be backed up to disk, etc. Most Steam games do force some DRM on the user, however--but some don't--and these two games do not (Thanks to CDPR & Obsidian.)

There are apparently, however, some people who confuse a clear benefit of Steam/Gog with "DRM"--and that benefit is that once you own the game it stays forever in the Steam or GOG library and you can download it and install it whenever you wish--so if you lose your disk copies for some reason (natural disaster, fire, etc.) you can always re-download them and install them later from either Steam or GOG, depending on where you bought the game. That's the whole idea--aside from immediate availability of the software via the Internet.

When games are patched the usual procedure is that you obtain patches from the purchase source, as game developers no longer place game patches on their game sites for download by the public. I think the only way someone might call that "DRM" is if they're miffed that it makes it a bit more difficult/less rewarding to pirate...

As far as I'm concerned, if the game allows you to physically move the files anywhere and run it and the game will run by itself without any online requirement whatsoever, it is DRM-free...

Adding a game that isn't in your Steam library to Steam does not add the game to your Steam library--it only lets you *run* the game from your Steam library page... You cannot update it or re-download it from Steam if you did not buy it through Steam--that's not DRM of any kind--that's just common sense...;) (IE, if you buy a game from Origin, or GOG, what would ever make you think you should be able to download it from Steam, etc.?)

BTW, Hah-ha...BTW, the guy who so unwisely wrote below that I didn't know what I was talking is 100% wrong, in case you wondering...;) (Where do these people come from? Does he really think I would have written what I wrote without testing it myself, thoroughly? Sheeesh.)

Not only have I turned Steam completely off and run these two games without a problem, but I even copied the entire game directories and moved them outside of the Steam directory structure & they run fine from there, too--no Steam required. Sometimes people can be their own worst enemies...;)

That is 100% false. You saying that proves you have absolutely no idea WTF you're talking about. No game purchased through Steam can be run without it. Because there is no way to sell a game through Steam and not have that game REQUIRE STEAM to use..It's simply impossible.

GTA V proves this:
Divinity Original Sin Proves this
Assassin's Creed IV Proves this
Watch Dogs Proves this.

So do a lot of other free to play games as well.

And another simple test is to do this:
Take any game purchased through Steam and removing the game itself from the the Steam directory so it's just that games folder, and then put that game onto an external drive that has NOTHING STEAM ATTACHED TO IT, Then take that external drive and plug it into a computer that is not connected to the internet and HAS NEVER had Steam installed on it or anything Steam related on it ever, and then try to launch the game with just the game itself. You will be in for a very rude shock to find out you need Steam in order to even launch the game Try and remove any steam.dll files as well and you won't be able to run the game either. The game's launcher is specifically written to require Steam and the only way to bypass the need for Steam or to launch the game that is through illegal means, or to use Steam.

So please stop spreading false information waltc.

Hi tx -

Get your .exe yet?

It's harder than one thinks to get to -100 rep, isn't it?

This clown conveniently forgot to mention that when you buy them through Steam you will have to use Steam when installing, launching and playing any of those games. He's somehow is under the delusion that games which use the Steam client to download will somehow all of a sudden somehow magically not need Steam. That's because he's confusing where you get a copy of a game from, with what's needed in order to run it. Unless by illegal means once a game has been downloaded through Steam it cannot be detached from Steam. If Steam isn't needed then it wouldn't be distributed on Steam and the website would have it's own client download.

Also notice how he used Wiki information which is exactly like posting a link to urban dictionary.com

Anyone that seriously thinks they are able to download a game through Steam (Free or not) and not have to wind up using the Steam client to install, launch, and play that game. Is going to be in for a very rude surprise.

Steam is not one of these things you can just choose to use at will on whatever you feel like, and it's too bad that morons like this, simply refuse to accept that.

Anyone who wants to download a game through Steam and then try to sue it without Steam, be my guest, but realize that when you have to use Steam, then just remember this conversation.

Thanks for your reply. But I'm not a clown. As I said before: believe it or not, I don't care.

First part of the wiki:

"This is a list of games and software available on Steam that do not use any third party DRM (e.g GFWL, Uplay, ...) or the Steamworks CEG ("Custom Executable Generation") component, making them effectively Launcher-free once installed. This means that you can copy the game folder anywhere you want and launch the .exe program directly without being online or having Steam or a third party software running."
Source: http://steam.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_DRM-free_games

And of course you only can do it with games with no DRM on Steam. Just look on the list. Have a nice day!

Don't feed the troll, he's just trying to get a reaction.

You cannot do it with ANY game on Steam because you cannot detach the game from Steam once you download it through the Steam client and of course not one of you trying to say otherwise has actually bothered to download any game on that list and then tried to run it without Steam so you can see first hand how incorrect you really are. Instead you all continue throwing out a wiki page that has a false statement and is worded to be misconstrued and not understanding how you're reading it is incorrect and that's really sad how even after you've been corrected, you still think you're reading things correctly, on top of not even doing any testing to see you're wrong.

List of DRM-FREE games available on Steam. does not mean you can download them through the Steam client and then not have to use Steam in order to install, launch, and play them.

What it actually says is
Here is a list of games that have versions AVAILABLE to buy that do not include DRM. There are also Steam versions of those games available on Steam.

You guys are misunderstanding how that's worded, so you're having problems comprehending what it actually says and only using what you THINK it means.

It's the same exact reason why people don't understand why when Valve advertises a free weekend, that it's worded so the game is yours to keep forever as long as you downloaded it during the time frame it was free for.

Wording it like this:
"The game is free for the weekend" <------- This says it's yours to keep by getting it during that time frame
IS NOT THE SAME THING AS WORDING IT LIKE THIS:
"The game is only free to download and play until the weekend is over" <-----This says it's not yours to keep forever

But of course people will still try to argue against this because they don't understand that how the wording on how something has been advertised, is all that matters.

Look, your examples of games that "proves" that it doesn't work are NOT on the list of DRM free games. Those games use Steamworks DRM. Most games on Steam do. Just because most games bought from Steam also require Steam to run DOES NOT mean that ALL games require it. That is why people make a handy list like that one that was presented to you.

Go ahead and try it and you'll see. If you really think that a bunch of people who have tried something and reported it working are morons because you haven't tried it but don't believe them, then you definitely are the moron.


I'll not reply to every point you attempted to make, I'll just say that you are wrong 100% about everything you have ever said in this thread. I have indeed played games purchased from Steam without using Steam to do anything other than download them. I have put the game on external media and played them on another computer that did not have Steam installed. It works, and it works great, but only with certain games. More than a year before Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition was availble on GOG, I owned it on Steam and played it on my laptop connected to my TV, that was not connected to the internet or had ever had Steam installed on it. I did not use any third party software to "hack" the exe, did not delete any steam dlls in the directory (because these games don't have any steam dlls in the directory since they don't use Steamworks).

Now shut the fuck up.