"
Trivia
Q: How do you determine if a game is Launcher-free on Steam? A: Simple: install the game and launch it once (this step is important, because this finalises the installation). Shut down Steam and temporarily move all the files in the root Steam folder somewhere else. Locate game folder, locate the .exe, run it. Either you get an error message (or it does nothing at all), or the game just runs. If it just runs, it is Launcher-free."
What if the game uses DRM that doesn't need the Steam client to function? Have you tested that with all the games on the list?
What if say a game uses constant online DRM but work fine without the Steam client? Such a game would work fine if it was copied to a different directory so long as you had a working internet connection. You have to physically disconnect the machine from the internet to ensure this is not the case, yet that is not part of this guide. Have you tried that with all the games?
What about games that require hardware authentication and/or limit authentications and/or installs, could those games not work fine if you just copy them to a different directory? Does this list take that into consideration?
88.85.52.191 05:36, January 1, 2014 (UTC)
Yeah, here is a Talk page!
That description/guide is somewhat old, but the status quo should be playing the copied games on a new PC without Steam, but not everybody has another installation. To check if a game needs the CEG component from the Steam client, you can simply rename the steam.exe, then launch the game.
The games on the list should be third party DRM-free but there are a few DRM methods that are not that obvious. Big things such as GfWL, Uplay, login with a user account on the developer servers shouldn't be on the list, though.
Internet connectivity is such thing, mostly it's for multiplayer games but I cannot ensure, that all games are tested without. You don't have to physically disconnect the machine, simply deactivating the network is enough, but you have to do things manually.
What do you mean by hardware authentication especially? Thingies such as SecuROM? Limited Authentications should not happen for games on Steam, it's essential service from Valve that you can install your games on every device and every time. Some games need CD activation keys, so you need to enter the provided CD key on every new installation which will create a registry entry. But sure, it could not work on a new device. I don't know enough about Steam, but the installation of games is normally just copying the game data in the directory and then install things such as directX. Sometimes the game uses a shared library from Steam so it won't run without copying that file in the game directory.
I can't test all the games on this list because I don't own all the games on this list but the few I tested can be flawed. I will test them for Windows on a new installation but same hardware soon again (should trigger hardware authentication and installation need).
As for Linux, is there something as hardware authentication available? It also does not have a registry, so there are no "installations" and a lot of DRM methods do not exist there, too.
Most indie games do not use any DRM and it's safe to assume they work flawless if only copied to another directory (Yeah, I'm a bad person, but I will test them again on a clean device).
FF80C38 (talk) 09:13, January 1, 2014 (UTC)
Thank you very much for your reply FF80C38. It it much appreciated.
" it's essential service from Valve that you can install your games on every device and every time."
Actually some games on Steam DO have limited activation via Securom and other services as 3rd party DRM. Including Crysis and Crysis Warhead:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/17300
"3rd-party DRM: SecuROM™
50 machine activation limit"
and:
"3rd-party DRM: SecuROM™
5 machine activation limit"
From http://store.steampowered.com/video/17330
Warhead has actually been updated to a 50 machine limit as well. They just forgot to update the Steam store page. But 5 or 50, an activation limit is still DRM.
Max Payne 3 actually has an unspecified number of activation limits and they don't even list the existence of 3rd party DRM at all on the store page. So yeah a game being on Steam is no guarantee it doesn't have limited activiations or hardware based DRM. Sadly :(
88.85.52.191 19:35, January 2, 2014 (UTC)
There are? I thought the ugliest 3rd party DRMs were GfWL and SquareEnix... :(. I haven't seen this field with the DRM ever in my lifetime o.O.
Does Valve announce all 3rd party DRMs on the webstore? If so, it should be easy to filter all games with 3rd party DRM out.
FF80C38 (talk) 20:07, January 2, 2014 (UTC)
Games such as Trackmania which cannot be moved to a new machine without reactivating the game with Steam should not be eligable for this list and should be removed.
2604:2000:DFC0:106:3512:997D:359C:355A 00:45, April 1, 2018 (UTC)Wowfunhappy
Cases Where Games Work But Only Partially
I've found some cases where a game I tried would launch and the game would remain open, but would not load into the actual game.
Two games I found would launch into the game, but would have no graphics, just a black screen, while main menu noises played.
Another, Little Witch Academia: Chamber of Time, would just load infinitely.
Does anyone know a possible way to fix these cases? PrinzessinK (talk) 01:10, September 11, 2018 (UTC)
Some cleaning up proposals
Maybe I'm a bit too OCD-inclined, but I think this page (which I'm a big fan of, and use it frequently) needs some re-formatting in order to keep consistency between and within its tables. That's why I've made some edits, but before going any further I'd like to know what do the regulars think about it.
Basically, the changes I've made (and intend to keep making, if there are no objections) are:
- Sorting games alphabetically: some cases are obviously errors, but others may need a consensus. E.g. do articles (both definite and indefinite) belong to the game name? I.e. should A Good Snowman Is Hard To Build go between A Bird Story and A Hat in Time, or between Good Robot and Goosebumps: The Game? I tend to favor the former since, after all, articles do serve a grammatical function (and anyway, most of the games whose title begins with The are already grouped together).
- Removing obsolete links for games that are no longer available on the Steam store. They serve no purpose anymore since they just redirect you to Steam's main page. On the other hand, this way the steamID info is lost... Maybe we should note the steamID in the Remark column, along a warning that the game is no longer for sale? Or perhaps replace the link to Steam for a link to SteamDB?
- Noting in the Remark column when a game is free, so they can be easily discovered and enjoyed.
There are other things I'd like to reach a consensus about, like e.g. in the Remark column, when there are notes for more than one OS sometimes the OS name is in bold face and sometimes not. I think it would be clearer to put them all in bold face but, again, maybe it's just my OCD creeping too much on me.
What do you think about all this? Should I keep editing the page according to the criteria exposed above? Or should I just shut up and revert all the changes I've made? :P
muntdefems 23:05, September 25, 2018 (UTC)