Steam. Offline mode. Malfunctioning. Rage.
 

Yyyes indeed, I recently got the orange box on steam! Not a problem, you say? Why of course not, except for the fact that the PC I intend to play it on lacks an internet connection! Just activate offline mode, you say?
Well, yes.
I've followed all the instructions that steam's website gave me, told steam to save my login details, the works. I attempt to restart steam in offline mode. I get two error messages, first one reading "This operation can not be completed in offline mode" (meaning it probably needs to be online for some part of the login process) and a split second after that one reading "Steam could not connect to the steam network" (meaning that it tried to go online for part of the login process, but failed.)
This makes me very annoyed. Bruce Banner annoyed.

I'm running windows XP on a fairly old PC. None of my friends had advice how to solve this.

Help?

I can't see a way around this other than letting it connect for that brief instant to clear the login shyte.

I hate all this focus on "online only" crap that all the major content distributors are pushing for.

UbiSoft and EA are bastardizing their newer games with that stupid DRM "always on" drivel (Come on, C&C4?) and I weep for the future of gaming.

Steam actually makes up for that by being really convenient, and quite cheap. And being affiliated with valve. Valve>>>>>EA and Ubisoft combined. And if offline mode worked the way it should, I wouldn't need internet at all during the entire process! I could just play my singleplayer games.

As you can see, I'm in favor of steam. EXCEPT FOR WHOEVER DESIGNED OFFLINE MODE.

I might need to get set up with a Steam account myself... I'd like to actually play Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines. I just need to build up some cash so I can pay my bills AND buy games off the internets.

But yeah, Valve is awesome. Boo EA and UbiSoft.

Well, I think you need to be online to register your account before it'll let you play stuff offline. This is their kinda drm. I'd suggest getting like, Netzero and those cheapass free phone internets just to clear the login, so you can then play your game offline.

Pyros is right. You need to be able to connect to the interwebs so Steam can register what games you have to your account. You won't be able to play anything until you send Steam that long access code printed on the leaflet inside the box, and for that, you have to connect to the internet. As far as I know, after installation the actual game disk is useless-- All your games are stored on and run off of the Steam network. Basically Steam is set up so that you can log into your account on any computer with internet access and download/play your games from your save points. (It's also Steam's way of making sure you don't play the game and then give the disk to six of your friends.)

Unfortunately, I think this also means that in order to simply log onto Steam to access your games, you have to be connected to the internet. Once you log on, then you can switch to offline mode. So unfortunately that means you'll have to get yourself an internet-connected computer if you wanna play Orange Box. AND IT IS TOTALLY WORTH IT, for the record. Everything in that box is amazing.

I know how you feel, though: About a year ago I bought Portal and tried to install it on an offline computer. I thought that since it was a 1-player game, I wouldn't have to have internet access. There was so much rage when I found out it wouldn't work.

I've been playing all these games in online mode for a while, no trouble at all. They should all be registered. The trouble is that the PC I usually play on is currently lacking an internet connection. Thus, I thought I'd replay portal and HL2, maybe test the TF2 bots until this state of affairs is remedied. Hence, my frequent attempts to use offline mode. I don't think I did anything wrong, I really think it's just a glitch. I was hoping somebody'd have a way to work around this glitch.

The games have to be reauthorized every 30 days.

I has a Steam account now.

Nothin' on it yet, I'm too broke.

Wait for the free weekends and enjoy, assuming your rig can play whatever is up for grabs.