Steam offline mode issue

[hillc87]

Today i have turned on my mac to play fm13. When i tried to load up fm13 steam said it could not find any log in details stored on my mac. However I have been playing every day for last 2 weeks or so in offline mode due to having no internet until 7th feb. every day before today I managed to play in offline mode and steam recognised that I had account details stored on the mac but why today is it not doing it? I have tried to turning on and off few times to see if steam relocates my stored log in details but no luck. This has happened before and i solved it by putting the mac in the car driving 11 miles to the parents to use there Internet connection but I'm not doing that everytime!! I have also tried tethering an Internet connection through my iPhone but steam doesn't respond to that either.

Plus this always happens on a Saturday when my game has been called off and I have the day to myself to play fm13 all day!

Has anyone experienced this before and tell me how I can sort this without an Internet connection?

Thanks is advance

[Kriss]

I don't think you can sort it without a net connection, it is a Steam problem and from what I can gather is not uncommon.

You'll find more on it on the Steam forums.

[Gazza88]

Take it to family or friends and borrow a connection. I had to take mine to the local Wetherspooons and use their free wifi.

What people fail to realise is steam need to sell games to stay alive. They can't sell games if people aren't connected to the Internet.

Do you connect your phone to your computer and use you mobile Internet? I do that and eevery time I'm using it and start fm I get this error because steam detects and Internet connection but cannot connect to steam because the ports are blocked by my operatorso it thinks you are trying to trick it.

Your login details are not lost, it can find them because as soon as you connect to the Internet with a steam compatible connection you log in now problems.

Top and bottom of it is steam want you on the net so they can try and sell games to you and mske sire you aren't trying to pirate games.

[Leftism]

steam want you on the net so they can [...] make sure you aren't trying to pirate games.

lol? Steam only needs a connection for the activation process but it's not a bloody Ubisoft inspired software where you need an internet connection all the time. The selling games part I won't deny - it IS a Store afterall!

Anyway, here is the Steam support article on Offline Mode which should help you a bit more about Steam's offline mode. I don't tend to use that part of the service myself as I usually make an effort to hook the PC up to the internet since I play a number of online games via Steam, anyway.

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

Most other articles just detail the same as this one. I did however find this little gem of a post on the Steam User forums:

"Alright, so I've seen a lot of misconceptions about how Steam's offline mode is supposed to work, and whether it actually does work. So I've put together this post to try and explain the main problems and how you can avoid them.

Myth: You must be online to use offline mode

Due to the Steam support article only giving instructions to use offline mode when you are already online, many people think that this is the only way to use it. Luckily, this is false, as an offline mode like this would be rather useless. If you start Steam without an internet connection you will be given the option to start in offline mode.

Fact: If you don't exit Steam manually, offline mode may not work.

Unfortunately, this may not always work due to a bug. When Steam starts in online mode, it modifies a cache file called winui.gcf. When Steam shuts down, it changes it back. However, if Steam is running whenand means the process is not given the chance to change the file backfile is not changed back. On startup, Steam detects that this cache was not shut down properly, and attempts to fix it. However, this process requires an internet connection, so if you are starting in offline mode, Steam will fail to open and will display this error message.

Myth: Offline mode works fine for me, so there isn't a problem!

Not everyone experiences this problem. I have found that on some computers, the cache file is not detected as damaged after a forced shutdown and offline mode will work normally. If you're one of these people, then you're lucky, but that doesn't mean it works fine for everyone else. Some people are also lulled into a false sense of security by testing offline mode after disconnecting from the internet. As they manually exit Steam before trying the offline mode, the cache file is shut down correctly and offline mode will work. Then when they actually need to use it, they find that it does not work.

How to ensure you can get into offline mode 100% of the time

1. Back up winui.gcf

Manually close Steam by right-clicking on the notification area icon and slecting Exit. Go into the Steam/steamapps folder and look for a file called winui.gcf. Right-click on it and select Copy, then right-click on an empty area of the folder and select Paste. This will create a file called winui - Copy.gcf. If you ever need to use offline mode and you encounter the problem, just delete the old winui.gcf file and rename the copy to winui.gcf before trying to start Steam again.

2. Exit Steam manually

As long as you remember to manually exit Steam before shutting down your PC you will always be able to use offline mode. Of course, there is always a possibility you may forget, so it is a good idea to make a backup as well as detailed above.

3. Disconnect from all networks

If you are connected to a local network, but not the internet, you may find that Steam hangs at the Updating Steam... dialog. To get around this problem, just disconnect from the network."

Source: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?p=31953036

People seem to be quoting this article on a number of forum topics about this so hopefully it should fix any future problems.

Hope all this helps.

[Kriss]

Leftism, thanks very much for that, I'll ask that it's included in the FAQ or other appropriate place for reference.

[Leftism]

I should note that the quoted post is for future use for hillc87.

It won't work on his PC at the moment and will need to login properly again for Steam to work offline.

Any offline users should remember to exit out of Steam PROPERLY (Either Right Click the Toolbar Icon > Exit or Top Right in the Steam Window > "Go Offline..>" or "Exit"). Clicking "Shut Down" with Steam still open is NOT a reliable way of ensuring you can use offline mode when you next reboot as Windows doesn't allow Steam to perform it's exiting procedures.

[hillc87]

Leftism, thank you very much for your reply explains everything brilliantly. The first time inexperienced this problem was after a power cut so steam was never shut down properly so this all makes sense. Also last night when I shut down my computer i don't think I closed steam down so it all adds up. From now on I will ensure that I close steam down before shut in the computer down and I will regularly back up the steam chase file as precaution. Thanks for your help.

[Gazza88]

Thanks for that, i shall definitely use that.

Although I do usually exit steam properly as described but there are instances where it wasn't and still worked fine.

Going Wetherspooons for dinner today so I tested this out and it certainly helps. Everything I can chuck at it making a backup restores functionality.

I would recommend though I'd to create a folder somewhere away from steam and create a copy in that folder just so you can copy and known working copy from another location so you can just delete the old and copy the new file over. Saves time renaming files.