Steam Downloading

LostCorkGuy

Yo !

Basically I'm behind a fire wall and I can't connect steam to the internet in my college accommodation and I was wondering was there any way of downloading games from my browser and not from the steam client ?:D

Wossack

unfortunately, I think it has to be done via steam

you can download them elsewhere, and copy them across via USB drive/DVD etc and the steam backup feature

BizzyC

Most Steam games wont be accesible without an internet connection anyway...

marco_polo

BizzyC wrote: »

Most Steam games wont be accesible without an internet connection anyway...

Except for the 1000s of single player games.

tampler

marco_polo wrote: »

Except for the 1000s of single player games.

You would still have to run them once online to autherize them for offline mode.

Unless thay made changes to how offline mode works, in which case, Hallelujah...

BizzyC

Anything with a multi-player option becomes unusable.
Even The Witcher 2, which is single player only becomes unavailable if steam cant connect.

When my internet went down for a few days a while ago, I wasn't able to access any of the games in my steam library.

runawaybishop

LostCorkGuy wrote: »

Yo !

Basically I'm behind a fire wall and I can't connect steam to the internet in my college accommodation and I was wondering was there any way of downloading games from my browser and not from the steam client ?:D

Have you tried contacting the IT department about it?

Calhoun

BizzyC wrote: »

Anything with a multi-player option becomes unusable.
Even The Witcher 2, which is single player only becomes unavailable if steam cant connect.

When my internet went down for a few days a while ago, I wasn't able to access any of the games in my steam library.

I guess that offline mode they have in steam is for jokes? If you lose internet connection it may not work but once you set it to offline mode you should have no issues.

marco_polo

tampler wrote: »

You would still have to run them once online to autherize them for offline mode.

Unless thay made changes to how offline mode works, in which case, Hallelujah...

You don't have to do anything with the games to run in offline mode, just launch the client that way.

As for the games themselves the backup method will work just fine it for any existing games on the account even if you have never downloaded them before, because you can simply perform the once off install authentication on the machine you downloaded the game from, and then do the backup.

The only thing that will not work are any new games added to the steam account since the other client was last online, as it will not be aware of their existence.

The Witcher 2 issue is a CD Project red bug.

http://en.thewitcher.com/forum/index.php?/topic/24684-steam-version-doesnt-start-in-offline-mode/

5uspect

I remember using a proxy back in the day (when HL2 came out) to reroute everything through port 80. Was super slow tho. I'm sure there are similar, and better services today.

Also wasn't the plan for steam to eventually move to port 80 for downloads?
http://store.steampowered.com/news/5856/

balkieb2002

runawaybishop wrote: »

Have you tried contacting the IT department about it?

i'm presuming the OP is staying in accomdation that is on the campus or something similar.

Most of those are locked down i.e. block ports for certain online games and other applications to stop people using bandwidth which is what OP is trying to do so he most certainly ain't gonna get help from an IT department.

"Honestly, I need to use steam for college work!!"

Only option would be to download your games from somewhere else (using Steam Backup) onto a HD and then restore them into Steam. You could prob use a proxy or the like to get steam working to start the process.

runawaybishop

balkieb2002 wrote: »

i'm presuming the OP is staying in accomdation that is on the campus or something similar.

Most of those are locked down i.e. block ports for certain online games and other applications to stop people using bandwidth which is what OP is trying to do so he most certainly ain't gonna get help from an IT department.

"Honestly, I need to use steam for college work!!"

Only option would be to download your games from somewhere else (using Steam Backup) onto a HD and then restore them into Steam. You could prob use a proxy or the like to get steam working to start the process.

Depends on policy and, more importantly, who you speak to. I've had success getting college IT to open ports before, specifically for gaming.

BizzyC

Offline mode doesn't seem to work at all for me.

marco_polo

BizzyC wrote: »

Offline mode doesn't seem to work at all for me.

It can be buggy enough to be fair but most games should work no problem, aside from Witcher 2 what sort of issues are you seeing?

LostCorkGuy

Yup , they've blocked steam in the accommodation


One really annoying thing about Steam though is playing Company of heroes , it'll launch through steam in offline mode perfectly fine , then I'll ask you to insert the disk to verify the game

So basically I can't play COH with out internet access at all times

BizzyC

Problem I see in general is games not launching in offline mode.

Like the above, authenticating the game seems to be the biggest problem.

Zillah

LostCorkGuy wrote: »

Yup , they've blocked steam in the accommodation

That's kind of obnoxious. Is this a free service that they provide for the students, or is it part of your rent? If the latter, was this clear when you agreed to it? There's a huge difference between blocking games on the college network and deciding that someone can't play games from the comfort of their own home.

Anyway, I'd imagine a VPN would solve your problems but they cost money.