What is the command I can use to run them without Steam then? If the game links to a dll that launches Steam and won’t play without it, then that is effectively Drm.

Before I even play the game without Steam: how do I download it without Steam?

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Orygin 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

There are DLLs that remove any check of Steam running. Just keep a copy of one and use that on other games.

Regarding the download, it's the same issue with physical media. If I don't have the DVD, how can I acquire the game?

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righthand 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Oh there are Dlls? And as a non-technical consumer I just know this do I? I know how to dig deep into my file system and copy+paste a dll file into software I can’t/don’t understand? How do I download and install a copy without Steam?

	▲	saghm an hour ago \| parent [-]
		The premise of this hypothetical is Steam's servers going away. Ping me about this if and when it ever happens and I'll write you a tool where you can select the steamapi.dll you downloaded and have it copied to where your games need it. There's a fair chance you might not even need to because someone else will have made it before me.

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inigyou 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

You can download a fake steamapi.dll from a pirate site. It will fill in all the function stubs and it isn't even illegal.

Or so I assume. I have Steam installed, so I wouldn't know.

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wongarsu 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

You download it with Steam, then run Steam's backup function to back up the games you care about to physical media. Or in the vast number of cases you can just copy the game folder

Obviously if you buy it with steam you need Steam. But you only need it at the time of purchase, for the vast majority of titles

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chainingsolid an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I got Kerbal Space Program to run by just copying the entire folder then deleting the Steam dlls. Not sure how many games that will work for though.

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happymellon 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Depends on the game. Stardew Valley can be run outside Steam, and I do it to be able to add mods.

How do you run an application? Depends on the application, as they all have different filenames...