My Line in the Sand: Why I Stopped Buying New Games on Steam

[NicWelds]

This thread got me thinking about archiving my favourite steam games for future offline use in the event of some sort of large internet outage or something like that.

Let's say I install steam with Lutris, then install the game in question, run it and verify that it works in offline mode. Could I just package up the entire Wine prefix in an archive file for storage and future use? Just unpack it and add it back to Lutris whenever I want.

 

[kibasnowpaw]

This thread got me thinking about archiving my favourite steam games for future offline use in the event of some sort of large internet outage or something like that.

Let's say I install steam with Lutris, then install the game in question, run it and verify that it works in offline mode. Could I just package up the entire Wine prefix in an archive file for storage and future use? Just unpack it and add it back to Lutris whenever I want.

Yes and no. Archiving the complete Wine prefix can preserve a working installation, but whether the game remains playable depends on how that particular Steam release is built.

Some Steam games do not use Steam’s DRM wrapper and can be started directly from their executable after installation. For those games, the archived prefix may work without launching Steam at all. Other games use Steamworks or the Steam DRM wrapper and deliberately start or check the Steam client before launching. Valve documents that its DRM wrapper verifies ownership and launches Steam with the game.

For games in the second group, keeping Steam inside the prefix and preparing it for Offline Mode may work during an ordinary internet outage. I would launch each game online once, switch Steam to Offline Mode, disconnect the network completely and test it before creating the archive. Valve also makes clear that Offline Mode only works for compatible games and that the client and game must be fully updated beforehand.

The archived prefix would preserve the installed Steam client, game files, Wine registry and most local configuration, but it would not magically turn a Steam-dependent game into a completely independent copy. It may also be worth preserving the exact Lutris Wine runner, DXVK/VKD3D versions, launch settings and saves alongside the prefix. Otherwise, restoring it years later with a different runner or configuration could produce different results.

Unofficial cracks exist for some Steam games and can remove the requirement to launch Steam, but I would not base a preservation system around them. Their legality depends on the jurisdiction and what protection is being bypassed, distributing them is another issue entirely, and files from unofficial sources can introduce malware or compatibility problems.

Personally, when the same game is available on GOG, I think buying the GOG version is the cleaner solution. GOG provides separate offline installers, and GOG Galaxy is optional. Once the installer has been downloaded, it can be archived and used without installing through a client or connecting to GOG again.

That is why I download my GOG installers and make my own archive discs from them. It gives me a legitimate, client-independent installer instead of relying on an installed Steam prefix remaining authenticated forever.

So the Wine-prefix approach is still useful, especially for a temporary internet outage. I would just separate the games into three groups:

1. Games that launch directly without Steam.
2. Games that work through Steam Offline Mode.
3. Games that require Steam, another launcher, periodic authentication or permanent servers.

The first group should be the easiest to preserve. The second can probably be preserved as a tested system snapshot. The third cannot be made permanently independent merely by compressing the Wine prefix.

 

[Trml]

A little off-topic regarding Games - I saw an odd product in a bookstore a few months ago. They had a spinner of miniature books with classic binding, at least from a few feet. Looking at them it turned out to be printed plastic moulds and what did they have inside? A QR-code that guides your smartphone to a custom ebook reader of the publisher. You are supposed to install a custom app which provides you with a purchased book in a non-free ebook format and the fancy packaging was only to put on your shelf at home. Very odd, though probably the strangest part for me is to see it in a regular bookstore. Clearly, they can earn some recurring revenue by customers perusing the one spinner for new releases at times, but only some. Most will get the next ebook per direct-online, probably triggered by in-app ads and newsflash items.

On another note closer to the above discussion of product costs:

I recall reading a Game magazine article about big publisher new Game releases, the big ticket games, maybe six or seven years back. It was astonishing just how much turnover of an anticipated new big ticket game appeared in the first month. I don't recall the exact numbers, but they dissected the achieved turnover of a new boxed game per month prior (pre-ordering) and after release; by far most was sold in the first quarter (some differences if the release was mid year, with coming holiday season always spiking sales).

You can add different perspectives to that. E.g. it means they certainly had a hard time predicting the exact amount of physical media they needed to meet the initial sales surge, while not over-producing boxes they have to discount later. The article argument went that after the pre-ordering 'early-birds' might have shared their views, it may continue to sell or just the opposite. Likewise, if they were too frigid in ordering boxes, production slots may be full and they run out of stock in the holiday season, the competing publisher pushing their new title meanwhile, etc. Just some thoughts on the production of physical media, which does require a lot of coordination to get right. I'm more firm with music media (produced in the same factories) and there was a long trend of facilities fading away. Add to it that switching a CD/DVD production line from one release to the next is, of course, standard twice-daily procedure, but the smaller the quantities, the higher the unit costs.

The sad point with music as well is that the online salesfront always earns more than any artist (take aside the top ten). I do resist streaming, because it does not cater for my consumption pattern (I started to prefer listening to full albums many years ago and am a snob for audio quality; no mp3). For a long time, there was a GOG equivalent startup called bandcamp. They are still thriving, but are on the way to revamp their business model / revenue splitting with artists after having been bought out by VC. The fairness towards artists they always put forward is not gone, but I've noticed some respective clauses in their TOS do. On a positive note, they continue to provide non-DRM media downloads for your own library in the highest quality - something few (any?) of the mega-music store/streaming-apps do. But I digress. The main point was that online stores do add to the flexibility of publishing - music or games. They do offer small game studios reliable avenues to reach their customers, and to my understanding Valve can take credit for democratising and offering fair conditions particularly for the smaller independents. The more critical points for games will indeed be to operate the additional infrastructure needed for multi-player, which is a dimension needed for some genres to stay relevant, as you explain. Sadly moderation appears more and more needed as well (not in terms of inproper gaming, but mainly scamming and speculation with in-game items - see the currently vaded NFT market, simpler scams, same principle), another point that makes it increasingly difficult. Though it is probably due to the thirst of publishers for the extra recurring revenue to prolong an otherwise short half-life of their big up-front investments. I do not know a lot about gaming, but it's a very interesting thread you started to educate, @kibasnowpaw.