Steam Offline & Skyrim

[gloomfrost]

No matter what i try i can't get steam to go into offline mode.

I recently upgraded my gaming rig and reinstalled Steam and Skyrim.

After the usual problems with a new gaming rig i think i finally have my hardware problems sorted out but not steam.

Let me explain.

When it first installed steam, then Skyrim from my DVD and then all the DLC's i own auto downloaded from Steam i was able to go into offline mode.

I must of uninstalled and reinstalled steam 20 plus times by now, over the past 4 days trying to get offline mod to work.

I have precisely follwed steam own FAQ here

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=3160-AGCB-2555


Steam Offline Fix by Sagittarius22 on the nexus, which no longer works because steam no longer uses the winui.gcf file as i've been researching

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/19347/

i have looked all over these fourms and many other forums for a solution

 

this solution also does not work creating a steam.cfg file http://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Steam#Always_Force_Offline_Mode

this is my third day with no answer from steam tech support

I know all about how to delete steam, everything but the steam.exe and steamapps folder move it to a new location and have steam re-download to a new location.

under my games list in the steam client it says Skyrim is ready to play

everytime i verfiy the intergrity of game cache it says

"1 file failed to validate and will be reacquired" i have no idea the one file that keeps getting reaquired

I can run the verfiy the intergrity of game cache process again and again right after each other with or without closing steam and the same file is always reaquired

I've tried making Skyrim.ini and SkyrimPrefs.ini read only

i have tried installing Skyrim from my DVD copy, completely from steam no DVD,

 

I've tried acesssing the router, disabling unplugging the network cable (no wifi) at different times trying to force offline mode (steam used to allow access like this a while ago) nothing works

 

I've tried reinstalling steam, changing directories, deleting steam registry entry and reinstalling

Nothing works. Any ideas?

Please help me.

The only thing that DID work was configuring windows 8 firewall for allowing both public and private acess to steam and a new update occured but that didnt help the situation

I'm running windows 8 pro 64bit

 

the only thing i can think of doing is completely reinstalling the OS but thats a huge hassle and the only back up of my OS i have is steam already installed

[NemesisTheWarlock]

Don't bother with Steam support, contact Bethesda instead, explain the problem to them and they should be able to sort you out. Make sure to let them know all the info you provided above.

[korun]

you've almost done every thing it can be so far^^

 

is there a possibility that you've check (in the account tab) the box for "not registred your account data on this computer" as recommended for public computer if so un connected feature won't work.

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Edited March 22, 2013 by korun

[gloomfrost]

you've almost done every thing it can be so far^^

 

is there a possibility that you've check (in the account tab) the box for "not registred your account data on this computer" as recommended for public computer if so un connected feature won't work.

@@

 

thanks but that's one of the first step in the FAQ i mentioned i already tried above

[raatorotta]

Have you tried editing windows register? There is registerkey that tells if steam is offline or online. If you change that to 1, steam should start in offline mode. Open windows start menu, type "regedit" on either "search" or "run" depending on what windows you have. Go "hkey_current_user\software\valve\steam" folder, there should be registerkey called Offline, right click it and click change binary, change it to 1. Close regedit and start steam, it should be now offline. I hope this helped.

Edited March 23, 2013 by raatorotta

[gloomfrost]

raatorotta thanks for the info in all me research i never saw anything about offline values in the registry so thanks again for the explanation and the pointer.

 

your definitely onto something. In that registry folder is both offline and offlineAFS.

 

When i choose 1 value for both or either steam still gives me same message

 

" Steam - Error
Unable to connect to the Steam network. 'Offline Mode' is unavailable because there is no Steam login information stored on this computer.

You will not be able to use Steam until you can connect to the Steam network again."

 

 

HOWEVER look at this

 

when i reopen regedit the values for both offline and offline AFS have been both RESET to 0 by the steam client.

 

I wish there was a way i could read only their values and force this into offline mode ;)

 

 

 

 

 

Well i bit the bullet and reinstalled my OS fresh, hours later after Skyrim is ready to play the exact same problems is happening.

I'm out of ideas, this is a brand new system install and its simply refuses to go offline stating


I heard back from steam and all of there recommendations are worthless.

I'm kind of stunned how poor Steam tech support is, for all the games the distribute i thought they would have really good tech support and even a phone number but, wow there just terrible.

Guess im stuck with online play only until someone comes up with a surefire way to play offline.

Someone said on another thread to contact Bethesda tech support, i think i will bet i get a live person.

 

 

Anyways this whole thing has really fascinated me and infuriated me, i guess i will keep searching for answers.

 

Thanks to anyone who can help

[Katriana]

Don't waste your time contacting Bethsoft Support. I have the exact same problem as you and tried the exact same fixes including some odd ones, I've deleted and reinstalled a total of six times (thanks to some of the alleged fixes). For weeks I had no prob playing offline, even started several new Skyrim games with different mods, but then Steam decided to do an ipdate (a patch) and voila she is no longer working the way she is suppose to. I can only play online now. I get the error message "no steam login information stored on this computer". I contacted Bethsoft and was directed to those same fixes in the Steam pages and recieved a mini lecture on my firewall setting. Uh nope same settings, nothing changed on my end so not my fault, prob started with Steam's update. I sent a reply back on the email that was sent to me and I received a prompt response, "Unfortunately the issue you are experiencing is a Steam issue which we outside of the support already provided can not troubleshoot. We recommend contacting steam at the following link: https://support.steampowered.com/newticket.php ."

 

I'll contact them eventually but I am not going to hold my breath waiting (I have a feeling they will just refer me back to those same help pages).

[gloomfrost]

Thanks for the response Katrina, im sorry your having troubles, but its nice to know im not the only one. Steam was of no help at all, i tired all of their recommendations and finally had to reinstall, with the same result, no offline mode.

 

This is the response from steam i got after a 3 day wait

 

"Hello,

A staff member has replied to your question:

Hello XXXX,

Thank you for contacting Steam Support.

If you are currently running Vista or Windows 7, please complete the instructions in the following link:

Title: Windows 7 and Vista Troubleshooting
Link: http://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=5688-IFHZ-2170

If you are running in Windows XP, take the following steps:
1) Exit Steam.
2) Go to the "Start" menu, select "Run", type "regedit" and click "OK".
3) Navigate to the following registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\

VALVE
4) Right click and select "Permissions"
5) Check the "Allow" boxes for "Admin" and "System" for both "Full control" and "Read".

The remaining steps apply to *all* versions of Windows.

Please also verify the GCF for this game as outlined here:

Title: Verifying Game Cache Files (GCF)
Link: http://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=2037-QEUH-3335

Note: Files may fail to verify. This is normal and can be ignored.

Then test the issue.

If you still have difficulty, you may also need to manually run secondary installers required by this game.

Exit Steam entirely.

Browse to your Skyrim installation folder (Usually C:\Program files\Steam\Steamapps\common\skyrim\)

Run the following installers:

...\Steamapps\common\skyrim\DirectX10\dxsetup.exe
...\Steamapps\common\skyrim\DotNetFX\dotnetfx35setup.exe
...\Steamapps\common\skyrim\VCRedist\vcredist_x86.exe

Reboot your computer and test the issue again.

If the issues persist, please complete these guides:

Title: This game is currently unavailable
Link: http://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=4595-WEXN-6831

Title: Games do not run after 'Preparing to Launch'
Link: http://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=6218-USFX-5568

Further support for this title is handled by a third party support department - please follow the instructions below to contact the support provider to troubleshoot this issue:

Title: Skyrim, The Elder Scrolls V
Link: http://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=5580-WEID-4389 "

 

 

as you can see this is essentially a canned response and in no way helped me.

 

Amazing we have to depend on each other for trying to figure out these problems rather then these HUGE RICH companies. No one wants to take responsibility for their product...sigh....

 

thanks again for the response

 

[Katriana]

I'm at wits end. I think once a computer gets this particular error it becomes firmly rooted in the Steam files (their end). No fix seems to work, Steam reverts the changed files on your computer back to the original (which contains the bug for lack of better wording) when you go online which you have to do if you want to set up offline. Sigh, a vicious circle. Last night I even updated my nvidia driver (I know I'm really reaching now), no change, no surprise. Double checked the firewall yet again as per the lecture received, etc. nothing, nada, zip. I have no desire to yet again reinstall the game so I officially raise the white flag of surrender and will play online until either a fix is issued via a patch or I get bored of the game and relegate to the bottom of the drawer or dustbin.

 

One can't help but put on a tin foil hat and think of back room conspiracies. I can just picture a clique of nerdish people (who got repeatedly beat up as kids for being overly smart by their school chums) rubbing their hands together laughing over a cola and burger "add another check mark to the list Eugene we've got another one ready to use the game disc as frisbee material ha ha ha (mad laughter)",

[Jubilost]

Do you guys know that there isn't just an application anymore, it's also a 'service' (like printer or network share service)?

 

In case you want to stay offline, you should try setting the 'Steam Client Service' to 'Manual Startup'. I honestly have no clue if that's going to help but I think it's a starting point...

Edited March 23, 2013 by Grappa's Hammer