IMPORTANT: Do we have to be online to play the game now?!

Please help if you can - I've installed the game via Steam [after hours & hours of yesterday's palava] and now can't seem to find the FM logo to stick on my desktop, you know just to open the game... the only way I can open it is to log into Steam - which can take an age - and launch the game that way. It's a real hassle to do that everytime. But more importantly, does this mean I have to be connected to the internet to play the game?! What if my net is down at the house - and what about all those long train journeys I usually play the game on?? There must be a way around that is there??

Any info appreciated....

Chris [a disgruntled Saints fan!]

are you on vista?

The FM program will be installed in your Steam directory (cant remember where, have a root around). Once you find it make a shortcut and you can load the game from there, Steam does not need to be connected to the internet, but needs to be running.

No you don't. Open Steam, click 'File' and the 'Go Offline'.

Well i have managed it without steam running and i downloaded it from them.

As said above find the steamapps folder in there go in common folder and open fm2009 folder.

Copy fm2009 icon to desktop.

Close steam in your bottom right corner thingy.

And then play no need for steam to run.

It probably loads in the systray anyway

C:\Program Files\Steam\steam\games is the default route to the place where you will find FM has been installed to.

Actually when I launch FM2009 from the desktop on Vista or the Games Explorer it doesn't launch Steam like other games do. And you absolutely can play without being connected to the internet.

This is where my game is, yours should be the same unless of course your hard-drives are names differently

(C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\football manager 2009\fm.exe)

There is a tools in the Football Manager 2009 folder inside the common directory in steamapps and that is where you will find the editor

Hope this helps

Thanks - I've just tried that but when I open FM from desktop it says "The application has failed to start because saAuditMD.dll was not found. Re-installing this application may fix this problem." Then when I click ok it says "Football Manager 2009 has stopped working..."

OK. Then go into Steam (I assuming it loads up when you start your system). Find the game in the list, right click and set it to Go Offline.

I don't seem to have a fm.exe.There is a file with the fm logo but that is an application file

Thanks for the help - all sounds promising anyway that we can use it without being online - was worried for a moment!

Still getting the error message when opening from the desktop, whether Steam is online or offline. I can open the game directly from the SteamApps folder but not when I have copied the same .exe file to desktop. Strange that, but maybe it'll be ok after a re-boot later.

For now I just want to get my game started, forget about the whole Steam mess and concentrate on turning things round after a 3-0 pre-season friendly defeat at Inverness......

You should be making a shortcut to take to your desktop, not copying the game exe.

Does anyone else feel they have been bullied into installing steam? I expected it be a case of logging in to steam to get the updates but other than that it would leave me alone and let me get on with the game. I don't like steam and the ONLY pc game I ever ever play is the latest incarnation of FM. Don't feel I need it but SI have forced me to in a sense.

You should be making a shortcut to take to your desktop, not copying the game exe.

Thanks - that's fixed it, silly me!