Can I game with no internet?

[SeductivePig]

Right now I use LTE tethering from my iphone, for small downloads and web surfing.

Im considering building a gaming pc but was unsure if I could do the following:

Install all my games on an ssd, take ssd to work, put ssd in work laptop, download games/patches, then swap back into gaming pc when I get home?

Or could I take my macbook air to work and boot the ssd onto my mac (externally) and do the download?

I won't be playing online, this is purely for single player.

 

[Markbnj]

A lot of games need to phone home these days, so it just depends on the title.

 

[KMFJD]

Your options will be limited to mostly older games

 

[Rinaun]

Right now I use LTE tethering from my iphone, for small downloads and web surfing.

Im considering building a gaming pc but was unsure if I could do the following:

Install all my games on an ssd, take ssd to work, put ssd in work laptop, download games/patches, then swap back into gaming pc when I get home?

Or could I take my macbook air to work and boot the ssd onto my mac (externally) and do the download?

I won't be playing online, this is purely for single player.

I'm in the same exact boat as you, and let me just say that while it IS possible to game on LTE, you are going to eat up data so fast it's hilarious. 3 hours of CSGO is around 300mb, and frankly that isn't including any downloads/updates. Without at minimum 30gb a month, I wouldn't be able to do basic web tasks. When I do get to game, I constantly have to be aware of how much bandwidth I'm using in case somehow I'm using too much and screw up how much data I have left for the remaining month.

TLDR yes, it's possible to game (especially single player), but if you plan on doing any bi-daily or more multiplayer gaming, I'd look for a different solution.

 

[shortylickens]

Some games actually let you download a giant executable for the patch. But these days its mostly automated patching thru some sort of DRM service like Steam or Uplay or whatever.

If you are able to just download a file, you dont even need to take your games to work. Just put the patch on a USB thumb drive and you're set.

I recommend GOG.com for games with no strings attached.

 

[Craig234]

Lots of games are still sold on CD.

 

[pathos]

yes, it is possible, but you have to pay attention to each game separately. Sometimes they use drm that makes the game call home, either at the install, or perhaps every time you boot the game. You'd want to avoid titles like that.

Also, some games ship buggy, and rely on patches, either on release day, or shortly afterwards, to make the game playable. Without the internet to patch games, I probably wouldnt preorder anything, I'd rely on reviews to tell me if I was actually going to be able to play the game at all.

 

[SeductivePig]

I'm in the same exact boat as you, and let me just say that while it IS possible to game on LTE, you are going to eat up data so fast it's hilarious. 3 hours of CSGO is around 300mb, and frankly that isn't including any downloads/updates. Without at minimum 30gb a month, I wouldn't be able to do basic web tasks. When I do get to game, I constantly have to be aware of how much bandwidth I'm using in case somehow I'm using too much and screw up how much data I have left for the remaining month.

TLDR yes, it's possible to game (especially single player), but if you plan on doing any bi-daily or more multiplayer gaming, I'd look for a different solution.

Nice insight. Can I do what I mentioned with my ssd though?

 

[Fire&Blood]

Some games have DRM that objects to hardware changes, swapping your drive in and out frequently could be interpreted by DRM as hardware changes/new installs and you could run out of activations and get locked out of these games.

 

[MistaFreeze]

Lots of games are still sold on CD.

Still have to watch out with those disc games because some of them still require a connection for you to play. Pretty dumb :/

 

[frozentundra123456]

I play my Steam games in offline mode. The problem is, you have to go online to go into offline mode, not to mention downloading the game itself. Not sure if you set up offline mode on one computer you can still us it in a different computer.

BTW, doesnt your work have restrictions on using the internet for this type of thing, and using your time to set up games?

 

[gorcorps]

too much of a hassle IMO

Most games have some form of DRM on them, which would require Steam, Origin, and/or Uplay installed and running to work. Yes, you could use them in offline mode but you have to be online to activate.

I don't see any way of downloading or updating the files via an external drive and having everything work properly. These programs aren't available on Mac for the most part, and if the drive letters are going to keep changing when you swap the drive in your computer you're going to have all sorts of issues.

Simply not worth it.

 

[xantub]

Two things:
- First, you mentioned building a 'gaming PC', which I assume is a Windows PC, and your laptop is a Mac? Doubt you'll be able to swap the SSDs then, as they're different systems.

- Second, if you like strategy games (or if you're willing to give them a try), like Crusader Kings 2 or Europa Universalis 4, you should be fine as, once downloaded you can play whenever you want while offline. They're also available for Macs and Linux.

 

[SeductivePig]

Two things:
- First, you mentioned building a 'gaming PC', which I assume is a Windows PC, and your laptop is a Mac? Doubt you'll be able to swap the SSDs then, as they're different systems.

- Second, if you like strategy games (or if you're willing to give them a try), like Crusader Kings 2 or Europa Universalis 4, you should be fine as, once downloaded you can play whenever you want while offline. They're also available for Macs and Linux.

Well I could also use my work laptop which is windows based.

It already has a SSD so swapping isn't an issue.

Oh, and nobody monitors stuff at work. Even if they did, I could just say I was downloading something for home use, not a big deal.

Honestly I don't care much for multiplayer - mostly interested in singleplayer RPGs and FPS. Possibly strategy.

 

[psychosiz]

As other have stated you can do this dependent on the game. However its also another hoop to jump through in a sense and ultimately another expense. When you purchase games, you will need to check the requirements to if an internet connection is required.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Well I could also use my work laptop which is windows based.

It already has a SSD so swapping isn't an issue.

Oh, and nobody monitors stuff at work. Even if they did, I could just say I was downloading something for home use, not a big deal.

Honestly I don't care much for multiplayer - mostly interested in singleplayer RPGs and FPS. Possibly strategy.

Not sure I understand what you are saying. Even if both are SSDs, I dont think you can take the boot drive with a windows install and switch it into another computer. I believe the windows install recognizes the motherboard and will see it as a non-valid license. Or are you talking about using it as a secondary/external drive?

Really, as someone else said, this seems like not a very practical situation unless you are willing to limit yourself to games that dont require online activation.

 

[mmntech]

Steam used to let you make offline backups. When I was in college (god, five years ago now), I used to download games at school, back them up to a DVD, and install them at home. I'm pretty sure you can still do that.

The issue is that the OP's laptop is a Mac, so it would download the Mac versions. You'd have to install Windows on a Boot Camp partition (which is what I did).

 

[tential]

Day 1 updates?
So probably not.

 

[DaveSimmons]

GoG.com games are safe to play offline if you download the full installs.

It's mostly classic older titles but there are some newer games too, especially indies.

Almost everything else you buy, including disc-based games, will need Steam or Origin.

 

[sweenish]

The short answer is yes.

 

[jana519]

I've done this before when I didn't have an ISP, only a data plan. Yes, it works for only single player games. It's actually not too hard:

1. Go to public library or wifi hotspot.
2. Download Steam
3. Download game you want, go home, play game.
4. Repeat

That's basically it. Limited to single player games which is fine for some people.

 

[BFG10K]

Lots of games are still sold on CD.

I doesn't matter - pretty much all of them just deliver a physical payload of DRM which ends up needing a connection to Steam/Uplay/Origin.

You'll either need cracks, or the likes of GoG.com which has no DRM.

 

[frozentundra123456]

I've done this before when I didn't have an ISP, only a data plan. Yes, it works for only single player games. It's actually not too hard:

1. Go to public library or wifi hotspot.
2. Download Steam
3. Download game you want, go home, play game.
4. Repeat

That's basically it. Limited to single player games which is fine for some people.

But you have to play the game on the computer you downloaded it on, no? Or can you transfer the downloaded game to another computer? If you use a different computer, I think you would have to at least go on line briefly to put steam into offline mode on the second computer. Also, isnt the internet usually pretty slow in public access points? You could have to sit there for a long time to download a AAA game of 20 to 50 gb. I know even on my home internet DA:I too something like 12 hours to download.

 

[exar333]

I definitely don't support illegal pirating, but I have helped a few people I know download pirated versions of games they did purchase so they can play offline. They were both military guys who wouldn't have had reliable internet access otherwise.

Other than this, the above option about downloading via Steam and playing offline is a solid choice. Also you can purchase physical copies of games, install in a similar environment, and then take it home and play. Don't worry about patches and so forth unless something is critically wrong. You can also wait 4-5 months after initial release to make sure critical bugs have mostly been patched too.

 

[TeknoBug]

Most games these days even single-player need to connect to some kind of service, it's ridiculous really. Even if you play on a locally saved city in SimCity 2013, you still have to connect to Origin, EA and SimCIty services.

There's very few games that'll actually launch when you set Steam to offline, PES 2015 won't even launch in offline mode.