With consideration of the remaster of the trilogy coming up, I thought I'd revisit a problem I had some years ago that still has me stumped.

I asked about this over on Steam since my copy comes from there, and I have yet to have an answer directly from anyone for any idea, and it would be unlikely to get any higher ups to deal with it given the current climate. I figured, what is one more shot at it over here if I can get it to someone's attention?

Short story is: I cannot get Tomb Raider: Legend to run on Windows XP without Steam. This shouldn't have been a difficult thing to implement, but alas.

The thing is, I like how original games are played, and this is why I like playing them as is, and avoiding modifications (unless I need to make it work). I have games on GOG here too, so it's a no-brainer I am here. Further, I try to run it on the OG machines since they run them best, so nothing fancy here. Any weird problems I have, usually are easily fixed. GOG is usually more friendly to me with this in that respect, but seemingly Steam is a hit and miss sometimes for whatever reason. Still, it was no reason not to try.

In this case, I installed Tomb Raider: Legend from Steam (esentially, just making a copy of the entire folder - this is the only way to do it) from my current machine, to the XP one. It is the last game I have from the OG series and the last one which theoretically should have no problems running in itself. Despite the files looking like the OG files as they are, when I go to run it, it says it requires Steam to run. Not "your OS is incompatible" (which is absurd in itself). It literally says Steam needs to run.

It's at this point I am truly perplexed.

I don't have Steam to run, and I wouldn't run it anyway, for better or for worse. You can forget about that. I shouldn't need to, especially for such an old game. Yet, somehow Steam's DRM is hidden in it I guess. AFAICT, there are no proprietary Steam files attached to it. This is the strangest part.

So, the biggest question is how it can be run without Steam? Why even, anyhow?

According to the last time I looked up Steamless, this game is not supposed to have DRM. And my last theory was shot when I thought the executable might've had been modified for such DRM, that when I tried to replace it, it still didn't work. Unless it's a different file I overlooked or something else I need to fix, I have no idea where to begin. Again, it's clearly not a compatibility issue with the OS, and that essentially shouldn't be the case, it's the DRM which absurdly is out of place. All of the last 6 games I have could be installed with no issues and do not have DRM. So, what gives?

Consequently, I've never been able to get it to run without Steam, and I have exhausted everything I could think of that I could feasibly do. I'm certain someone here has better computer-fu than I do. It's no issue if I never get an answer, I tried long ago. If I were trying to do the same thing on a modern machine anyway, and just didn't want it to run through Steam (as some people do), I see no reason it should come up either. I'm just baffled by this. Is there a more knowledgavle person here who might have an idea how to make this work?

If you have the game ONLY in steam, you need steam to play. Why you don't buy the game from gog? You can download the offline files and play without any drm.

I shouldn't need to. I have already explained this. This is a useless answer. I'm not paying extra money on something I have just for the unnecessary DRM.

I've just now had a crack at it and somehow got it to run by some miracle to get Steam "running". The sacrifices I have to make, I guess.

steam = drm , you should know this before purchase any other game. If you don't like drm, buy on gog instead.

I think you have learned this lesson.

Using a crack? I hope you have some AV installed.

This is a condescending remark.

Once again, the older TR games DO NOT have DRM. So "Steam = DRM" is not universal. There's no reason I should have assumed DRM in a 2006 game. As it turned out, they put a rudimentary DRM in it and it was apparently abandoned without elaborating as to the point of it. There's no "lesson" to be learned here. I'm an adult. I didn't even really purchase this game either in the first place, and that is yet none of your business.

Don't give useless advice such as "just buy it somewhere else" when over time, I have rare games you cannot find anywhere else to have that luxury to solve problems. There are needs far greater than having to pointlessly overpay something just to get where I am to even try. There are people who do these things for a reason, and expecting that someone should turn to another source for things that can turn out absurdly simple to resolve is a waste of resources.

I asked for problem solving ideas, not ways to run away from it.

I didn't even need a crack and I avoid that entirely. You do not know how my system works to make any sort of judgment call, nor did you need to think you needed to "teach a lesson". I would ask that you refrain from doing so.

On sale, the Tomb Raider games on GOG can be had for less than €1. Even without a discount, Legend is €6.99. The GOG versions usually have fixes that the Steam versions don't have. I think it's worth not having to hassle with DRM or other nonsense to just buy the games again on GOG.

I can understand not wanting to buy the same game twice (although I understand that you didn't pay for the game in the first place?), but when the costs are as low as they are...

I do NOT care!!!

You think I am NOT ALREADY AWARE of what GOG has? Do you think I came here for that? It doesn't matter if I paid for anything. You think I care to pay at all for something I already have, like should I have to? Do you think I came here to talk about what to buy over something I already have and need to get fixed?

No.

That isn't even just pointless, but that is useless to my question. I have just explained this to the guy above. I am not looking to avoid the problem. I am looking to solve it direxctly. Stop telling me to BUY BUY BUY BUY!

Enough!

Cool down :)

He made a logical point, as Gog often puts some Tweaks into the Games that can solve the Problem you have.
So it is not only buying a Game, but also a Solution to Problems they solved to make the Games run.

But i think that one of the Problems could be, that the Game is patched to a certain Point that it just doesn't run on XP.
I did run into that Problem myself with some Games.

I would suggest:

- Try cracking it. A Crack sometimes helps skiping some stupid checks the Exe does, as what OS you are running.
- Try an older Version. Maybe the newest does just not support XP and was made for newer Windows Versions, DirectX etc.

I would suggest NOT telling me to cool down once I've already explained it the first time around. I do not need two other people saying the same thing and missing the point.

It is NOT a logical point. It's naïve. It AVOIDS facing the problems one wants to solve. I am NOT buying something to avoid problems with things I already have. I posted this to SOLVE the problem directly; not "buy more things and then not doing anything to it". Ludicrous.

The rest of your comment needs further refreshing on the scope of this situation, as it's showing you do not fundamentally understand what is going on here. I have no problem running the game. My issue is NOT the OS. Please read the first post and process certain facts before making absurd comments.

This is a Windows 2000 (and XP) game, not a Windows 7 remaster. I have repeatedly pointed out that I have a DRM issue where the DRM is tied to running Steam (literally, it's telling me Steam needs to run. Says nothing about OS issues), so reading and having knowledge is fundamental here.

Also, suggesting buying from GOG does not necessarily entail being free of Steam DRM. It's not entirely true if the DRM for whatever reason does still exists in games from GOG (let alone the fact that the fixes and packaged files from the good graces of GOG does end up on Steam). Luckily in that example it may not do anything. However, in my case, there is something. Even if not Steam DRM, the same principle can apply to other issues, and so you would have problems on both platforms.

In that case, it isn't relevant to whatever GOG may have patched and whether that isn't upodated on Steam. If it's not solving the same core problem, it's still the same core problem, and suggesting purchases on other platforms with the same core copies will be pointless.

Considering all that, again, I don't know how many times I must stress that I do not care for buying extra products that I don't need for solving a problem with the product directly itself! I don't need to be playing Russian roulette with my money. Evidently, the DRM still does show up in games on GOG. Therefore on principle, buying elsewhere does nothing for me. Meaningless. Stop telling me to calm down! I made my point the first time, the next two of you repeating it when I made it CLEAR that is not an option, you've successfully pissed me off. Stop telling me to buy. I've givren you enough reasons here that it would be a fruitless endeavor, that it bears not repeating the same suggestion further.

Again, i do not want to buy. I want to fix it. Here's the thing: Telling me I should crack vs how to remove the DRM are two very different things.

I've checked out all things Steamless. From what I read, its goal of plucking the DRM out of it does not mean it would come without a convoluted process. Namely, the potential that I have to run an emulator. That would essentially mean swapping what I am already using, which is no solution at all, especially if I can't get that to work. I am not equipped to tackle this on my own (which is why I am even here in the first place). Thus far there is no alternative, especially that I am not seeing suggestions of actual solutions here.

Secondly, there is no "older version" that I can grab at this point. Odds are certain that the DRM has been there since Day Zero. The DRM on this particualr game is a primitive iteration of SteamStub when the game was published through Steam. There's no point in wasting all that effort that is not going to work.

Otherwise, if you do not know of how to get this to work, and you're still gonna suggest purchasing things on principle when I may be facing the same problems, refrain from making any sort of feedback. It's not a solution.

Well, this is certainly a thread, isn't it?

You claim to have a copy of Legend from Steam. But the issue is that you want to run this game OUTSIDE of Steam (which apparently leads to a problem) and you also want to run it on an outdated OS that is no longer supported, to wit: Windows XP. You claim that this is because the game runs best on Windows XP. Could be, because XP was in use back when Legend was released in 2006, but there are some caveats.

I played it back in the day, when it was new, and it ran exactly the same as it does on my current Windows 11 machine. So I don't think the idea that the game "runs best" on Windows XP holds any water.

Incidentally, back then, I bought the game on disc, back when those were sold in DVD covers (which replaced the earlier boxes with CDs). It most definitely did not require Steam to run! Eidos didn't start using Steam until 2007. In any case, I did later buy the game again on Steam when that became big and I figured having it run without a disc was convenient (remember those days?), and then bought a new copy on GOG to have it DRM free (yay to offline installers). I don't think that was a great expense, and the game goes on sale regularly for less than a Euro/dollar/whatever.

The simple reason is that many games -- not all! -- that you buy on Steam will have Steam's DRM to contend with. As we have tried to explain in this thread, exerting all this effort to get your particular copy of Tomb Raider: Legend, taken from Steam, to (a) run outside of -- i.e. bypass -- Steam and (b) run on Windows XP seems, well, rather silly and stupid. No doubt that will anger you and you will feel the need to storm back into this thread and complain about how we're not being helpful.

You could have saved yourself a heck of a lot of trouble by just buying a copy of GOG's version of Tomb Raider: Legend and installing that on your regular Windows machine. It works flawlessly and is, to my knowledge, the only version of the game that still receives some kind of support. This is the "fix" that everyone is suggesting in this thread. That is, frankly, the ONLY thing that is going to fix your problem, because removing Steam + getting it to work on Windows XP is pretty difficult. Unnecessarily so, in fact.

But hey, man, if you want to get in a huff again and jerk people around and complain that we don't understand what you want and that we are being unreasonable in suggesting all of this: go knock yourself out.

The issue is NOT that it doesn't run on XP. I am NOT contending with that. That has no relevance.

It runs on XP just FINE!

The issue is that the only way it runs is that the DRM is the thing that prevents it starting up because it needs Steam to run. Apples and oranges.

It is not about XP's capability of running the game. It's the DRM. It's functionally that Steam has to start up while Steam itself virtually does nothing else in the background and is not online. It still passes the check and runs the game - and that can only happen when I have to get Steam started up. The DRM they used here is obsolete and useless at this point. Meanwhile, there is no other TR title that I have after Legend that runs on XP that required such DRM. There is no point for it. Legend is somehow some magical exception for something that essentially makes no difference. It's just asking to hog more resources than needed, and that's what I needed to get around.

And for that matter, it is not crucial what OS this is being run on. This is not about what OS this is being run on. I put that up there for context, but this is not the core issue. The issue of the DRM is still the same.

I've been able to figure out how to run some retail games on modern systems on my own in the most minimal effort without issue. That is a whole other thing in itself. Yet I certainly didn't need to buy a second copy anywhere. I don't see how this is at all relevant or heartwarming. I really am not concerned with that, and that's not helpful to me at all.

You are not helpful because you are off base on the issue and what I was asking. It's clear at this point that you should not be the one complaining.

I do not want, nor need, to buy another copy. You know what happened last time I ended up with a situation that I had to replace a copy of a game? The game still had the same fault, and that could have been resolved by solving the problem directly, rather than thinking that my original copy was in itself a dud. That was a waste of time.

I am NOT going to repeat myself, and I do NOT want to see anyone repeat this. There will be no purchases. Again, as pointed out, even GOG games have Steam DRM, so there is a flawed premise to assume it's guaranteed advice, especially one that I already made clear that this was not accepted. You are not solving a technical problem that I'm asking about. You are replacing a like product with more money thrown at it, when I could have solved this for free. I asked that people NOT to further argue on that matter, yet you did. It's not bypassing anything. That is about buying and trying to use a (presumptively) different version of what I want to use. That is not the same nor does it address what I was here for.

You are aware this is my thread and that I asked a very specific question? You are aware that I am the one asking and seeking very specific questions within very specific parameters, and that you are not answering that question, but rather making suggestions about things I would not pursue because that is out of the scope of said parameters? You are aware you're characterizing my responses as "storming into the thread", the one that I specifically created with a specific purpose? Do you not realize that when I gave clear reasoning and explanations that I was not accepting nor heeding those suggestions because it was not what I was seeking, that you're the one antagonizing me about it?.

You could have saved yourself the time and not waste mine in arguing when i asked not to, and you've disrepected that request. I have already said that purchases are off the table. That is final. You are not seeing how that suggestion is absurd, and you are totally avoiding the issue I was asking about itself. You are being condescending while you're telling me I'm jerking people around in a huff when I made my point clear in what I was seeking and that I said no to that in the first place with several reasons. You continue to harass me about it.

Again, the issue is not about it running on XP. The issue is about starting up because it has the DRM. The DRM it doesn't really need. While I'm at that, the real solution would also be useful for people I know about who have been asking around to run games without running steam on modern systems (because that is their thing). I respect that style. That would be the point of this here.

I don't care whether the other copy runs "flawlessly". That is not relevant to me. This one in itself runs fine. There is one flaw. I'm just stuck with a parasitic conjoined twin, which is the point here. If you've focused on that problem. masking it by swapping copies is not even necessary, and I would've saved the headache. As it is, there is no point in you arguing further.

Sure, whatever you say. The GOG version doesn't have Steam, so...

It is currently on offer for €1.59. But do keep banging your head against the wall about making your Steam copy of the game run without Steam -- on the GOG forums.

https://www.gog.com/game/Tomb_Raider_Legend

I have asked that be stricken from a suggestion as I have clearly stated my purposes for posting this and do not need further harassment about this absurdity. It will NOT WORK for what I am trying to achieve.

Subsequent such suggestions will be reported for removal.

Man, you must be a troll. Feel free to "report" me. I need the laugh!

Bypassing Steam clearly isn't working for you and why would it? Also, the Steam version is not the "original" version of the game, so who cares? The original version came on disc and didn't need Steam. Go to eBay and get a copy of the second-hand disc there. Otherwise, there is a perfectly good version that functions just as well and gives the exact same experience as you had in 2006 right here on GOG. And unlike Steam, GOG actually puts in some effort to make sure older games run on modern systems.

The fact that we keep saying the same thing is because the obvious solution is the one you don't want to accept. Your problem, not ours.