Reverse installing games

[Dutch_Master]

I'm interested in playing Anno 1800, but getting a physical install media (CDR/DVD/BR) is effectively impossible. So the only way to install the game is via Steam. Fair enough. But I do want an offline install media so I can install & play it offline w/o requiring to connect to Valve's servers (I'm only playing single player anyway, I don't like online/multiplayer stuff). So, is it feasible to download the game, copy the game data to an optical media drive as iso and have it installable from that? Obviously this is for personal use only, why would I let you play for free when I had to pay for it  I'm not a philanthropist!

[Needfuldoer]

Even if you copy the game files to a disc, it's still going to have to authenticate against Valve or Ubisoft to make sure you've got a license for the game. You'll only save yourself the time and bandwidth it would take to download the game again should you want to reinstall it later.

 

Or you can play on console if you want a local physical copy. (Unless there actually is a retail boxed copy of Anno 1800 out there, which would also have to authenticate against someone's service.)

 

Anything beyond that is outside the scope of this forum.

[OhioYJ]

With Steam, once you download it, you don't need to download it again. You can just copy those files to another drive, or another computer and still use them again. You just log into Steam, and point it to those files. It will detect them, see that the game is installed, and work.

 

I back up my Steam Library to my NAS, and other HDDs in my PC. Also every time I upgrade my HDD, I copy my game files over. Or when I re-install Windows. Just install Steam, tell it where my Steam Library folder is, done. All my games are installed. 

 

As mentioned, you still need to be logged into Steam, but you won't need to re-download the game. 

[manikyath]

if it's anything like anno1404, you can just carry the game files over to any new system. i've only ever installed anno 1404 off my disk once, and i've reinstalled my pc or replaced it probably close to a douzen times since then.

 

as for playing without any connection.. run the game exe directly, or run steam in offline mode.

[LogicalDrm]

Any other methods than what your chosen platform offers are considered piracy and will not be discussed here. 

 

E: There are couple of the older Anno games available on GOG. 

Edited August 2, 2025 by LogicalDrm

[Mark Kaine]

7 hours ago, manikyath said:

as for playing without any connection.. run the game exe directly, or run steam in offline mode.

The thing is typically you need to be connected at least once for activation basically ... So just run the exe won't work either without internet connection?

 

Plus even if you did run it once with online connection, steam will occasionally still demand a connection (every 3-6 months or so) at least it used to be like that some time ago . 

[manikyath]

18 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

The thing is typically you need to be connected at least once for activation basically ... So just run the exe won't work either without internet connection?

A LOT of games on steam have far less DRM than GOG would like you to believe. excluding the online multiplayer games (because obviously..) i'd say the majority of the games in my steam library will happily run without steam present at all.

 

as it turns out, steam's DRM is very optional, and down to the game dev to decide if they want to bother, and how much they want to bother.

[Mark Kaine]

14 hours ago, manikyath said:

A LOT of games on steam have far less DRM than GOG would like you to believe. excluding the online multiplayer games (because obviously..) i'd say the majority of the games in my steam library will happily run without steam present at all.

 

as it turns out, steam's DRM is very optional, and down to the game dev to decide if they want to bother, and how much they want to bother.

Yeah I mean that's probably true, I was just saying lots of games have this "login every couple of months drm" thing, or sometimes you forget going into offline mode and it doesn't work at all without a connection...

 

That said I'm pretty sure stellar blade worked offline *without offline mode last time I tried, which was weird, I thought it was a fluke, idk.

[menguele]

There are ways to bypass Valve's and Ubi's authentication but your best bet is to create a local copy (just 7z it) or backup through Steam and login with Steam on the offline machine once, there you can just use offline mode and "import" the game