Another thing that will need to be tested is whether the client, even with "WantsOfflineMode" set to "1", check if the login session is valid, and if it is not, log out the user. In that case, must use firewall or -net_fake_state NoSteam

about the " locked out forever " outcome, would that only last as long as you're trying to log in from the non-current version of steam, or does it affect the account directly?

-- for example, if we were to log in via browser, then try launching the non-current version of steam, would the log in then succeed?

Originally posted by burger boy:

about the " locked out forever " outcome, would that only last as long as you're trying to log in from the non-current version of steam, or does it affect the account directly?

-- for example, if we were to log in via browser, then try launching the non-current version of steam, would the log in then succeed?

No. The only way to log in on the Steam client is to either have a saved login, or to log in as usual through the login window.

It has nothing to do with the version number itself.

The client was programmed to work on a given version of Steam API, and if Valve updates the API for authentication, any version that is very outdated will be unable to use the API again.

If you need a simpler explanation, imagine that Steam online services communicate with the Steam client on Turkish. Eventually, the client and online services implement support to communicate in Italian, and when Italian eventually becomes the only language online services speak to clients, clients speaking only Turkish are unable to communicate at all. However, it is unknown how they will do it, so there may or may not be chaos in the future.

Sorry if my explanation isn't very clear, but in any case, you can't just "log in using a browser" and have the client magically log in too.

Originally posted by lightwo:

Research done.

Setting WantsOfflineMode to "1" inside Steam > config > loginusers.vdf provides proper offline mode and doesn't even try to authenticate. It even works if the user has been logged out.

It's probably a good idea to make it read-only since accidentally using "Steam > Go Online..." will revert this, and making it read-only causes no bad side-effects.

Does doing this ahead of time or while actively online have any effects?

Originally posted by Wiawyr:

Originally posted by lightwo:

Research done.

Setting WantsOfflineMode to "1" inside Steam > config > loginusers.vdf provides proper offline mode and doesn't even try to authenticate. It even works if the user has been logged out.

It's probably a good idea to make it read-only since accidentally using "Steam > Go Online..." will revert this, and making it read-only causes no bad side-effects.

Does doing this ahead of time or while actively online have any effects?

Ahead of time: you can add a line "WantsOfflineMode" "0" if it's missing from the config, but don't activate it yet, there is no need to do that.

While actively online: no difference, WantsOfflineMode is a proper offline mode. It doesn't try to connect at all, from what I can tell.

That's an excellent find then, we won't be locked out of our libraries. Thank you very much for this!

Thanks for this info and the other guide Lightwo!! I was getting very worried. I really only play Skyrim Legendary edition (oldrim, highly modded) anymore, and I always play that w/ steam in offline mode. I had a dual boot w/ win10 on one ssd and win7 on another. Skyrim is on win7. About 2 year ago win10 stopped booting. I’m old and pc illiterate and was afraid to reinstall 10. I didn’t mind as I always liked win7 better anyway and skyrim was on it.

But when I saw the announcement that steam would stop win7 I freaked. Was gonna buy a new pc anyway, (4090, 7800x3d ect) but the holidays and gpu bans have driven up prices to insane levels. Now it seems I can wait a few months for prices to drop. Couple questions if I may…
1- I always have steam in offline anyway. I don’t play online games. Do I need to do any of the steps in your threads here or is offline steam enough?
2- my skyrim starts up w/ a program called SKSE (skyrim script extender), that I think is linked to steam. I also have ENB lighting and a few other dlls for memory management. Will they still work w/ the current state of steam regarding win7? Thanks for everything!

Originally posted by abush:

1- I always have steam in offline anyway. I don’t play online games. Do I need to do any of the steps in your threads here or is offline steam enough?
2- my skyrim starts up w/ a program called SKSE (skyrim script extender), that I think is linked to steam. I also have ENB lighting and a few other dlls for memory management. Will they still work w/ the current state of steam regarding win7? Thanks for everything!

1. In the guide, under Extras, there's a subsection about running Steam offline. Go through it to be absolutely sure that Steam continues to work, since setting up offline mode by itself can fail in the long term if, for example, the client crashes.
   
2. Yes, none of it should stop working if it works now. I assusme none of it is auto-updated either.

Thank you

Unfortunately, I discovered this help too late. I am using the client from 08/23 and would like to switch to an older, lighter client.
I have been in offline mode with the Steam client since 12/31/23 and am wondering if it is still possible to
a) do a downgrade
b) what happens if I do go online.

To be on the safe side, I run the client with RunAsDate and trick it into thinking it's 12/31/23.
RunAsDate.exe /movetime /startin "C:\Program Files (x86)\STEAM" 31\12\2023 00:00:01 "C:\Program Files (x86)\STEAM\steam.exe" -pretendeol-w10

I have blocked with "Firewall App Blocker v1.7" all EXE files of the client in the firewall and deactivated the "Go Online" option in the Steam menu via a skin.
I also set the described SkipOfflineModeWarning option in the Loginusers.vdf file to 1.

I was able to download games with STEAMCMD and STEAMCMDui and successfully integrate them into steam.
https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/SteamCMDui
However, these were games that had already been installed once. The images for the library were therefore already available. I have a script to download the library images for NonSteamGames but at the moment I don't have the power to customize the script.
I would also like to test this manually first.

The library images are saved in the following folder and are saved there with the following naming structure.
...\STEAM\appcache\librarycache
AppID_icon.jpg
AppID_library_600x900.jpg
AppID_library_hero.jpg
AppID_logo.png
AppID_icon.jpg

To add the game to the client, it must be added to the Windows registry.
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Valve\Steam\Apps\APPid]
"Installed"=dword:00000001
"Updating"=dword:00000000
"Running"=dword:00000000
"Name"="App or Game Name"

I haven't tested this at the moment with new games yet, I don't know if it works with every game.
I now buy my games on CD or elsewhere, there's a lot to catch up on from the 90s.

Game keys can be activated via the following link.
https://steamhost.cn/account/registerkey

I hope my experience can be useful to others here.