Cant play this game on Steam without internet access

[nats]

Yesterday my internet went off for most of the day (typical Sky rubbish service) and I was surprised to find that I couldnt play this game offline without the internet access. Everytime I tried to run the game I got an error. Are the developers aware of this? Certainly other Slitherine games I play like Strategic Command play fine offline. But this one doesnt. I think it may be the loading of the marketing relating to the expansions that are available or something on the main menu screen? But tioerh way everytime I got the launcher window or to the main menu screen (using a Steam launcher command to bypass the launcher screen) it crashed with an error. The game requirements should be changed to reflect the need for internet access in order to play this game.

The strange thing was I had the game running whilst my internet went off and I continued to play that battle just fine. It was just when I quite the game and restarted without internet that it crashed. Very frustrating!

[MVP7]

The issue could be the launcher being unable to fetch the latest news rather than the game itself needing internet access.

[Mord]

That's bizarre because I just had the game running Thursday for about six hours offline, it worked fine. Steam didn't give you the option to run in offline mode?

Mord.

[stockwellpete]

It might be worth re-booting your computer and then trying to access the game offline. The Steam offline option appears when I do this for a different game.

[nats]

If it happen again I will try rebooting my computer to see if that fixes it. But I did have the game running fine offline beforehand as the internet went off in the middle of a battle, it was only when I exited the game and tried to restart it that it crashed at the main menu. I've looked and there are no loaded adverts on that menu page that would seem to stop it loading so I dont know why it crashed.

[MVP7]

If it happen again I will try rebooting my computer to see if that fixes it. But I did have the game running fine offline beforehand as the internet went off in the middle of a battle, it was only when I exited the game and tried to restart it that it crashed at the main menu. I've looked and there are no loaded adverts on that menu page that would seem to stop it loading so I dont know why it crashed.

Ah I misunderstood you. I previously had some issues with the launcher when my firewall was blocking it but if the game was only crashing in main menu then that's not the issue.

[nats]

It may well have been a one off issue caused by the internet going off whilst I was in the middle of the game. Then when I exited and tried to restart wihtout internet access its possible the computer/Steam/the game thought I still had internet access and tried to load the adverts etc as normal. Whereas maybe when you boot up Steam in offline mode from the start maybe it stops any in-game web link fetching attempts? I dont know.

It does seem like its a one off though because I tried it again yesterday by putting Steam offline (I did have to restart Steam to do this, which seems to indicate the problem was with the internet going off mid game) and the game ran fine offline then. Probably fairly easy to replicate by switching off the internet whilst in the middle of the game.

Not sure whether this would be classed as a bug, because it could well be an issue with Steam not detecting the loss of internet and resetting itself/any running games, rather that it being a problem with the game itself.

[nats]

If it happen again I will try rebooting my computer to see if that fixes it. But I did have the game running fine offline beforehand as the internet went off in the middle of a battle, it was only when I exited the game and tried to restart it that it crashed at the main menu. I've looked and there are no loaded adverts on that menu page that would seem to stop it loading so I dont know why it crashed.

Ah I misunderstood you. I previously had some issues with the launcher when my firewall was blocking it but if the game was only crashing in main menu then that's not the issue.

It did crash in the launcher as well trying to load the adverts. I tried bypassing that using a Steam launch command to get to the main menu of the game, but it still crashed.

[rbodleyscott]

The issue could be the launcher being unable to fetch the latest news rather than the game itself needing internet access.

I think the issue is with STEAM off-line access, the on-line news/adverts do not stop the game working without internet access, the adverts just don't load. This does not stop the non-STEAM version of the game launching when the internet is off line, so I think it is a red herring regarding the issue you had with running the STEAM version off-line.

I was under the impression that you had to set STEAM up in advance to run a game off-line. I don't know the details of how to do this, so I have passed the issue on to support@slitherine.co.uk.

[zakblood]

Code: Select all

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

here you go

How to setup Offline Mode
Please follow the instructions below to successfully configure Offline Mode on your PC:

Start Steam online - make sure the "Remember my password" box on the login window is checked.
Verify that all game files are completely updated.
Launch the game(s) you would like to play offline to verify that there are no further update or installation requirements. Shut down the game and return to Steam once you have confirmed that the game can be played.
Go to Steam > Settings > Account to ensure the "Don't save account credentials on this computer" option is not selected
From the main Steam window, go to the Steam menu and select Go Offline
Click Restart in Offline Mode to restart Steam in Offline Mode.

[nats]

The issue could be the launcher being unable to fetch the latest news rather than the game itself needing internet access.

I think the issue is with STEAM off-line access, the on-line adverts do not stop the game working without internet access, the adverts just don't load. This does not stop the non-STEAM version of the game launching when the internet is off line, so I think it is a red herring regarding the issue you had with running the STEAM version off-line.

I was under the impression that you had to set STEAM up in advance to run a game off-line. I don't know the details of how to do this, so I have passed the issue on to support@slitherine.co.uk.

Yes I think that was the case. If you lose internet access mid-game it seems you need to choose the offline mode in Steam first before trying to play any more games, and this requires restarting Steam first.

[rbodleyscott]

The issue could be the launcher being unable to fetch the latest news rather than the game itself needing internet access.

I think the issue is with STEAM off-line access, the on-line adverts do not stop the game working without internet access, the adverts just don't load. This does not stop the non-STEAM version of the game launching when the internet is off line, so I think it is a red herring regarding the issue you had with running the STEAM version off-line.

I was under the impression that you had to set STEAM up in advance to run a game off-line. I don't know the details of how to do this, so I have passed the issue on to support@slitherine.co.uk.

Yes I think that was the case. If you lose internet access mid-game it seems you need to choose the offline mode in Steam first before trying to play any more games, and this requires restarting Steam first.

Glad to hear it. We would be most grateful if you could edit your original post on STEAM (including the title) to avoid giving people the wrong impression.