Game currently has always online DRM - *fixed*

[plebian 5]

Was playing story mode, internet connection dropped out then got booted out my game. Same old activation message as GTA V popped up "activation required, your offline data can't be loaded" etc...

 

Connection came back on, so booted the game online then disabled internet to try offline mode and the same old "activation required, your offline data can't be loaded" etc...

 

Edited:

 

The recent update to the R* launcher has resolved the issue for time being. The game can be played offline but still requires periodic activation.

 

 

Edited December 5, 2019 by plebian

[Doc101 143]

Yeah, I know and it's total garbage.

 

I'm fine with a one-time verification but this always on crap irritates me to no end.

[xtracker85 15]

9 hours ago, plebian said:

Was playing story mode, internet connection dropped out then got booted out my game. Same old activation message as GTA V popped up "activation required, your offline data can't be loaded" etc...

 

Connection came back on, so booted the game online then disabled internet to try offline mode and the same old "activation required, your offline data can't be loaded" etc...

 

 

 

 

Same thing happened to me. Had I known this game was going to make it this difficult to play offline in a freakin singleplayer game, I wouldn't have bought it. Ah well, lesson learned. First and last time I'm buying anything from Rockstar. 

[defhed 16]

yea i came home after one of the first days i could get the game to run and my internet was out.. its f*cking bullsh*t. they deserve their game to be cracked.

[Geisterfaust 16,068]

That is exactly the question I wanted to ask. If it's always online, I'm not even going to bother with it now. Can't play at home and it looks like my laptop is going to be paperweight with this approach. Damn, these last AAA titles are getting annoying.

[Dryspace 798]

On 11/26/2019 at 6:09 PM, plebian said:

Was playing story mode, internet connection dropped out then got booted out my game.

Hmmm......I get unceremoniously booted out of my single-player game for reasons beyond my control due to a mechanism that is entirely unnecessary in order to play the game?

 

Let's see.....launch Excel, open 'Game Accession Queue'....Red Dead Redemption 2....Red Dead Redemption 2......Ah, there it is...

 

"Note: Buy when $10 or less." There, that was easy.

 

Now, if only just a solid 30% of the market did the same thing, this kind of garbage would die faster than you can say "Jack Sprat".

Edited November 29, 2019 by Dryspace

[eduazy 27]

This is really sketchy as they don't advertise ANYWHERE that the game requires persistent internet connection.

[UpTheDowngrade 211]

1 hour ago, eduazy said:

This is really sketchy as they don't advertise ANYWHERE that the game requires persistent internet connection.

 It says internet is required for online play, activation, and periodic entitlement verification in the fine print, but I agree it is rather shady belle. It's only in a tiny font and worded in such a way to make you easily pass over it. Something like 'Internet connection required to play red ded online and storymode' at least would be intellectually honest.

Edited November 29, 2019 by UpTheDowngrade

[Dryspace 798]

8 hours ago, UpTheDowngrade said:

 It says internet is required for online play, activation, and periodic entitlement verification in the fine print, but I agree it is rather shady belle. It's only in a tiny font and worded in such a way to make you easily pass over it. Something like 'Internet connection required to play red ded online and storymode' at least would be intellectually honest.

Even if you don't pass over it, it's dishonest all the way around. What does 'periodic' mean? Once every 100 milliseconds? Once per hour? Once per month? If I'm not mistaken, people have said that Steam games can be played offline for a matter of weeks until a verification is required.

 

And besides, did you know there is a difference between 'entitlement', 'digital rights management', and 'license enforcement'? I didn't, lol. If I had to guess, I would have assumed that 'entitlement' referred to an individual's authorization to download and use particular content. But that doesn't seem to be the case if 'periodic entitlement verification' results in a person being booted out of a SP session for simply being offline.

 

In my opinion, the only non-dishonest way of communicating this information is thus:

 

Minimum Specifications:

• OS:  Windows 7 - Service Pack 1 (6.1.7601)
• Processor:  Intel® Core™ i5-2500K / AMD FX-6300
• Memory:  8GB
• Graphics Card:  Nvidia GeForce GTX 770 2GB / AMD Radeon R9 280 3GB
• HDD Space:  150GB
• Sound Card:  DirectX compatible
• Internet Connection (For both Story Mode and Red Dead Redemption Online)

[Candy_Licker 369]

On 11/27/2019 at 2:46 PM, defhed said:

yea i came home after one of the first days i could get the game to run and my internet was out.. its f*cking bullsh*t. they deserve their game to be cracked.

 

Sadly, this bs is probably the reason it won't get cracked. This really really sucks for honest gamers but it's very effective.

[xtracker85 15]

31 minutes ago, Candy_Licker said:

 

Sadly, this bs is probably the reason it won't get cracked. This really really sucks for honest gamers but it's very effective.

Well, it's effective at pushing genuine customers away as well. It is my first time buying a game from their Rockstar launcher and it's already left a sour taste in my mouth compared to any other launchers out there (poor customer support, buggy launcher that causes crashes, over-the-top always online DRM)  I'm staying away from any future products of theirs from now on. I'd rather spend my money on better devs/publishers that don't treat their customers like trash.  

Edited November 30, 2019 by xtracker85

[Candy_Licker 369]

26 minutes ago, xtracker85 said:

Well, it's effective at pushing genuine customers away as well. It is my first time buying a game from their Rockstar launcher and it's already left a sour taste in my mouth compared to any other launchers out there (poor customer support, buggy launcher that causes crashes, over-the-top always online DRM)  I'm staying away from any future products of theirs from now on. I'd rather spend my money on better devs/publishers that don't treat their customers like trash.  

 

Indeed, everyone has to decide how far they let themselves push by the publishers. Sadly, only few people are as strong as you in that regard.

That's why CD Project Red is so revered, they are (atleast for now) one of the last few paragons left when it comes AAA gaming.

Edited November 30, 2019 by Candy_Licker

[Dryspace 798]

8 hours ago, xtracker85 said:

I'd rather spend my money on better devs/publishers that don't treat their customers like trash.  

You have my thanks for doing your part to prevent our hobby from degrading beyond all recognition. You're doing the only thing a gamer can be expected to do (Media personalities can be expected to do a lot more, but most aren't).

 

One thing on which some may disagree with me is that I don't think it's strictly necessary to boycott. If a $60 game is associated with harmful practices, I believe that putting that game on my "Interest List" and waiting until it is $20 max--with all content included--has the same impact to the company as if I don't purchase it at all.

 

The way I look at something like this is by asking, "Well, what would happen if everyone did what you do?". I believe that if everyone did the same, companies would be forced to change their practices overnight, just the same as if we refused to buy their games at all. I really think that if even a solid 30% of the market did exactly the same thing starting tomorrow, the financial impact would be big enough to force change.

[Rusev 269]

I will not have respect for anyone who tries to defend a triple AAA company that not only has billions, but one that also uses anti-consumer tactics when releasing their games.

You'd think that with all of that money they'd start focusing on valuing their customers to keep them coming back instead of using BS tactics such as online DRM, delayed/rushed releases and what not... but guess not.

 

Their sole redeeming factor is the fact that their games are good. Just packaged with bloatware. It's like reverse EA. Good games. sh*tty practices. Then again, EA doesn't have good practices either. Who am I kidding.

Edited November 30, 2019 by Rusev

[D1rtyD1g1tal 25]

What about consoles? Do they always have to be online as well? My PS4 is put away in the closet at the moment so I can't check, and when I did play RDR2 on it I always had it plugged into the net.

[Slappy212 220]

Well this is complete bullsh*t.

[Dryspace 798]

12 minutes ago, D1rtyD1g1tal said:

What about consoles? Do they always have to be online as well?

Isn't that what Microsoft tried to do with the XBox One, and was forced to trot right back to the drawing board?

[Yoona 1,816]

31 minutes ago, D1rtyD1g1tal said:

What about consoles? Do they always have to be online as well? My PS4 is put away in the closet at the moment so I can't check, and when I did play RDR2 on it I always had it plugged into the net.

No they don't have to, and PS4 doesn't even force you to download game updates unlike Xbox One.

[StuntMaster100 68]

On 11/27/2019 at 6:39 AM, plebian said:

Was playing story mode, internet connection dropped out then got booted out my game. Same old activation message as GTA V popped up "activation required, your offline data can't be loaded" etc...

 

Connection came back on, so booted the game online then disabled internet to try offline mode and the same old "activation required, your offline data can't be loaded" etc...

 

 

 

 

That's weird. I'm playing offline for hours with no problems.

[Candy_Licker 369]

13 hours ago, Dryspace said:

You have my thanks for doing your part to prevent our hobby from degrading beyond all recognition. You're doing the only thing a gamer can be expected to do (Media personalities can be expected to do a lot more, but most aren't).

 

One thing on which some may disagree with me is that I don't think it's strictly necessary to boycott. If a $60 game is associated with harmful practices, I believe that putting that game on my "Interest List" and waiting until it is $20 max--with all content included--has the same impact to the company as if I don't purchase it at all.

 

The way I look at something like this is by asking, "Well, what would happen if everyone did what you do?". I believe that if everyone did the same, companies would be forced to change their practices overnight, just the same as if we refused to buy their games at all. I really think that if even a solid 30% of the market did exactly the same thing starting tomorrow, the financial impact would be big enough to force change.

yep. I mean we all know we all heard of the statistics that say it's not even sure if piracy really affects sales that much negatively. And so do publishers. If a critical mass would boycott that practice that they really felt it in their revenue + a good old sh*tstorm they would think twice.

 

Of course there's always the danger that companies would push into online games even more to save themselves the hassle, but there can only be so many online games.

Sadly, the practice is already so established that "we" sheeple don't expect anything other anymore.

[Jutland 158]

13 hours ago, Dryspace said:

The way I look at something like this is by asking, "Well, what would happen if everyone did what you do?". I believe that if everyone did the same, companies would be forced to change their practices overnight, just the same as if we refused to buy their games at all. I really think that if even a solid 30% of the market did exactly the same thing starting tomorrow, the financial impact would be big enough to force change.

You have identified the problem right there, however, because not everyone will do this. 
 

That’s the problem with consumer boycotts. Not everyone agrees with us, or with the need for a boycott, or can be bothered, and so most consumers continue purchasing as normal, and companies survive.

 

Analogy, subject to all the normal issues with analogies: plastic bags in the UK. Environmentally conscious consumers have been banging on about the evils of plastic bags for years, and boycotting some shops in doing so, but it had zero effect. Then the government slapped 10p on each plastic bag, and suddenly consumers didn’t want them, the number of plastic bags has dropped by 80% or something. Crazy really. A family’s groceries shopping trip can be a hundred quid, a few plastic bags is just a few pence, but consumers stopped getting them.

 

The way to stop always-online DRM is probably to have a government tax on always-online DRM. Then DRM games would visibly cost more in shops than offline-playable games, and then consumers would think twice before purchase.

[xtracker85 15]

2 hours ago, StuntMaster100 said:

That's weird. I'm playing offline for hours with no problems.

The problem here isn't about whether the game can be played offline, it's about getting the game to start in offline mode. Their launcher is incredibly strict on when and how it allows you to do so. Every time you restart your computer/launcher, it forces you to log online again to re-verify before it'll allow you to launch in offline mode, which is silly because if my internet is working in the first place, I wouldn't need to go offline. Their entire system contradicts itself. It seems like they threw in this handicapped "offline mode" just to appease everyone and say "Yeah, we do have an offline mode" without telling us there's a catch.

 

If they're really so insistent on keeping these "always online DRMs" to combat piracy, they can at least have it for the first 2-3 months of release and put out a patch later to remove it once the sales have died down. That way, they can limit piracy without causing too much inconvenience to genuine customers and making all of us feel like we're constantly being treated as pirates.  

[plebian 5]

2 hours ago, StuntMaster100 said:

That's weird. I'm playing offline for hours with no problems.

 

I'm currently communicating with R* support and nothing has fixed the 24/7 DRM. Hoping it's just a bug just like with GTAV which took over 2 months to fix for the Steam version.

 

Do you have other R* games installed which require social club?

 

Do you have two Social Club folders? One under "Program Files\Rockstar Games" and the other under "Program Files (x86)\Rockstar Games"?

 

Is RDR2 installed on the same drive as Rockstar launcher and Social Club or a separate drive?

 

 

 

 

[plebian 5]

2 hours ago, xtracker85 said:

The problem here isn't about whether the game can be played offline, it's about getting the game to start in offline mode.

The game won't even boot in offline mode for me regardless if I've gone online to verify and I get kicked out the game in online mode if my internet connection drops.

 

This is what happens: https://youtu.be/bSV5OoEWbiU

Edited December 1, 2019 by plebian
typo

[xtracker85 15]

1 hour ago, plebian said:

The game won't even boot in offline mode for me regardless if I've gone online to verify and I get kicked out the game in online mode if my internet connection drops.

 

This is what happens: https://youtu.be/bSV5OoEWbiU

Yeah, their launcher is incredibly buggy and finicky. I noticed that it doesn't transition well from online to offline mode seamlessly and you'll usually get the activation error. What I had to do is log online normally on the launcher (And make sure you have the "auto sign in" and "remember me" checkbox ticked. The game would not let me play offline if I didn't tick those options for some reason). Once you've signed in (and you might have to launch the game once), close the launcher, disconnect your internet and reopen the launcher in "offline mode".  Only then did it work, for me at least. Try it and see if it works for you.

 

Update: Ok so I tried connecting offline just now and for some reason, I can't seem to do so anymore. I don't know what the heck Rockstar did with the recent patch, but it removed my ability to play offline. Keeps giving me "Activation required." *SIGH* I really really regret buying this game, and no longer have the motivation to continue playing it.

Edited December 1, 2019 by xtracker85

[StuntMaster100 68]

6 hours ago, plebian said:

 

I'm currently communicating with R* support and nothing has fixed the 24/7 DRM. Hoping it's just a bug just like with GTAV which took over 2 months to fix for the Steam version.

 

Do you have other R* games installed which require social club?

 

Do you have two Social Club folders? One under "Program Files\Rockstar Games" and the other under "Program Files (x86)\Rockstar Games"?

 

Is RDR2 installed on the same drive as Rockstar launcher and Social Club or a separate drive?

 

 

 

 

- I have GTA 5

- Yeah there are two Social Club folders

- Social Club is on C drive, RDR 2 is on E. Have you installed both on the same drive? That will cause problems.

 

Which version do you have? I bought it on Epic Store.

 

Make sure you have the auto sign in and remember me checked on R Launcher.

 

6 hours ago, xtracker85 said:

The problem here isn't about whether the game can be played offline, it's about getting the game to start in offline mode. Their launcher is incredibly strict on when and how it allows you to do so. Every time you restart your computer/launcher, it forces you to log online again to re-verify before it'll allow you to launch in offline mode, which is silly because if my internet is working in the first place, I wouldn't need to go offline. Their entire system contradicts itself. It seems like they threw in this handicapped "offline mode" just to appease everyone and say "Yeah, we do have an offline mode" without telling us there's a catch.

I had this problem earlier but after the latest patch it starts offline even after restarting pc. I switch off pc every night so i turned it off last night and booted up this morning and played a bit of RDR 2 offline and it started no problems.

 

Maybe there's some problem with your installation.

3 hours ago, plebian said:

The game won't even boot in offline mode for me regardless if I've gone online to verify and I get kicked out the game in online mode if my internet connection drops.

 

This is what happens: https://youtu.be/bSV5OoEWbiU

Yeah that happens if you are inside the game. This was happening to me earlier. You have to turn off the internet in the main menu (don't load the game) and then it will reload into offline mode. Then you can start playing offline.

Edited December 1, 2019 by StuntMaster100

[plebian 5]

57 minutes ago, StuntMaster100 said:

- I have GTA 5

- Yeah there are two Social Club folders

- Social Club is on C drive, RDR 2 is on E. Have you installed both on the same drive? That will cause problems.

 

Which version do you have? I bought it on Epic Store.

 

Make sure you have the auto sign in and remember me checked on R Launcher.

 

Maybe there's some problem with your installation.

Yeah that happens if you are inside the game. This was happening to me earlier. You have to turn off the internet in the main menu (don't load the game) and then it will reload into offline mode. Then you can start playing offline.

 

I have Social Club on C and RDR2 on E drive too. My version is Rockstar Launcher only, activated with game key.

 

Even if I disable the internet to load the game I'm still presented with the activation required screen.

 

Bug probably doesn't affect the Epic Store version.

Edited December 1, 2019 by plebian

[Dryspace 798]

On 12/1/2019 at 2:57 AM, Jutland said:

You have identified the problem right there, however, because not everyone will do this. 
 

It seems you misunderstood my point. I was explaining a mental exercise I use to determine whether a behavior is good or bad. E.g., some people try to defend playing games without paying for them (usually by claiming the company deserves it because they're greedy/unethical--the irony is palpable). I simply ask myself, "What would happen if everyone did this?".

 

The answer is that AAA video games, and almost all Indie games, would disappear, because not only are companies not getting any money, they have no reason to believe that anyone ever would give them any money. There is literally no market. No one in his right mind is going to risk $100M+ on a project in the hope that most of the pirates are suddenly going to start coughing up--much less paying full price.

 

On the other hand, if everyone started waiting until a game is a fraction of full price, I believe the message would be loud and clear: "We want to buy great games, but we're not going to spend any more on them until you get rid of the practices that have no effect except to maximize profits at the expense of deliberately compromised, mediocre experiences." In this case there's still a market, it's still the same size--companies would simply have to deliver better products in order to "LEVEL UP!" and unlock more of their customers' money.

 

Quote

That’s the problem with consumer boycotts. Not everyone agrees with us...

Of course not everyone agrees. Fortunately, boycotts do not require 100% market participation. It's only necessary to significantly affect a company's bottom line. A 1% decrease is not significant, but a 30% decrease is more than significant enough. You don't need to worry about what other people do, you just have to follow the advice of Mother Teresa and be the change you want to see in the world. I mean, I don't think she had GTA and DOOM in mind, but still...

 

Quote

The way to stop always-online DRM is probably to have a government tax on always-online DRM...then consumers would think twice before purchase.

Right, right. And the way to make people stop drinking so much soda is to tax sodas larger than 12 oz. And the way to stop people from using so much fuel is to tax the crap out of it. And the way to stop societies from being productive is to tax CO2, even though CO2 is what plants breathe, and the more CO2 in the air, the larger and faster plants grow, which means an increased reduction of CO2 as it is converted into oxygen, until equilibrium is reached. This is what the earth was like 65M years ago, when it was far warmer, the seas far higher, and plants far larger.

 

If taxes are used to punitively control behavior, you know that you're no longer truly free, because you're obviously not punishing yourself--your master is punishing you.

Edited December 6, 2019 by Dryspace
Clarification, Spelling

[plebian 5]

R* support confirmed the game should have access to the internet all the time to play: https://imgur.com/r7M0Z0g

Edited December 3, 2019 by plebian

[xtracker85 15]

57 minutes ago, plebian said:

R* support confirmed the game should have access to the internet all the time to play: https://imgur.com/r7M0Z0g

The stupid thing is, there are other players who claim they can run the game in "offline mode" without issues. It's even stated in the patch notes that there is, and here, customer support claims we need a constant internet connection to play. They are contradicting themselves.

 

And what's even more frustrating, if this is indeed a bug, they are not willing to acknowledge it and believes everything is working as intended, leaving some people able to play offline and some who can't. Their whole DRM system is a joke.  One of the worst launchers I've ever experienced.

Edited December 3, 2019 by xtracker85