Game currently has always online DRM - *fixed*

[Zerdical 643]

yes, let's fight piracy by encouraging piracy! 

[Rusev 268]

1 hour ago, Zerdical said:

yes, let's fight piracy by encouraging piracy! 

I don't support piracy, but when, on the other side of spectrum you have:

 

"Let's encourage customers to buy our game by releasing a buggy, finicky, rushed piece of garbage that requires online DRM a year later at full price!"

 

Then it's kinda hard to pick a side. Both sides are destructive.

[plebian 5]

2 hours ago, xtracker85 said:

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.

Either support is clueless or they're trying to get rid of me as I'm a bit persistent on the matter, anyway they didn't acknowledge it to be a bug as I've put forward to them.

 

Or they've decided to flip the switch and implement the persistent DRM, which is beyond me.

 

If you look at the RDR2 Steam page "Network: Broadband Internet connection" is listed under the system requirements, of course this can just be a requirement for downloading the game. Though it wasn't listed as a system requirement at Rockstar: https://support.rockstargames.com/articles/360037044893/Red-Dead-Redemption-2-PC-System-Requirements Neither was it listed as a system requirement on Epic Store, so we will see.

 

Anyway I'm done with the game for now, stressing over the DRM is just not worth my time, there are other games to play. Will check back with RDR2 in a few months time to see what state the DRM is in.

 

I will try to keep the thread up to date if they get back with me and the situation has change or if they retract what they said.

 

Edited December 3, 2019 by plebian

[xtracker85 15]

So, there was a new launcher patch that got released recently and offline mode seems to be working for me now. Here's what I had to do:

 

First, I had to re-log into the launcher (make sure to have "remember me" and "auto sign-in" ticked), then I launched the game and waited till I was in the main menu. I then disabled my internet connection and let the game transition into "offline mode". I then quit the game and relaunched it again to see if it'll work, and thankfully, it did. I even restarted the launcher (including my whole computer) and was surprised to find out that it still worked offline.

 

I'm not sure how long the offline mode will last (or when it might break again), but I'm glad that it's working properly now. Hopefully, it's working for the rest of you all as well.

[plebian 5]

16 hours ago, xtracker85 said:

So, there was a new launcher patch that got released recently and offline mode seems to be working for me now. Here's what I had to do:

 

First, I had to re-log into the launcher (make sure to have "remember me" and "auto sign-in" ticked), then I launched the game and waited till I was in the main menu. I then disabled my internet connection and let the game transition into "offline mode". I then quit the game and relaunched it again to see if it'll work, and thankfully, it did. I even restarted the launcher (including my whole computer) and was surprised to find out that it still worked offline.

 

I'm not sure how long the offline mode will last (or when it might break again), but I'm glad that it's working properly now. Hopefully, it's working for the rest of you all as well.

 

Yep, currently working now, was the buggy launcher all along.

[Dryspace 836]

I noticed earlier that the system requirements on the Steam Store Page list "Broadband Internet Connection" under both Minimum and Recommended, whereas the original requirements--those still listed at https://support.rockstargames.com/articles/360037044893/Red-Dead-Redemption-2-PC-System-Requirements do not.

[Motitax 0]

Nah the game still needs connection to start.

 

PD: I hope that someone launches a mod or something for this because it is very frustrating to have to depend on an internet connection to play a story mode.

Edited November 2, 2020 by Motitax

[Dryspace 836]

2 hours ago, Motitax said:

PD: I hope that someone launches a mod or something for this because it is very frustrating to have to depend on an internet connection to play a story mode.

Mods can only make the UI of Skyrim somewhat less atrocious--it's impossible to fix it completely with mods, and Gamebryo games are the most moddable AAA games that exist.

 

It pains me to say that, regarding real, significant problems with games, the whole "Mods Will Fix It" notion is grossly exaggerated. Now, if your problem is a lack of top hats for your mudcrabs or an excess of clothing for your women then you're pretty much good to go.

 

I'm basically certain that a mod can never do anything about DRM, but I'll keep my fingers crossed nonetheless.

[Motitax 0]

1 hour ago, Dryspace said:

Mods can only make the UI of Skyrim somewhat less atrocious--it's impossible to fix it completely with mods, and Gamebryo games are the most moddable AAA games that exist.

 

It pains me to say that, regarding real, significant problems with games, the whole "Mods Will Fix It" notion is grossly exaggerated. Now, if your problem is a lack of top hats for your mudcrabs or an excess of clothing for your women then you're pretty much good to go.

 

I'm basically certain that a mod can never do anything about DRM, but I'll keep my fingers crossed nonetheless.

And once they crack it nothing can be done either?

 

Sorry for my English..

Edited December 9, 2019 by Motitax

[Dryspace 836]

1 hour ago, Motitax said:

And once they crack it nothing can be done either?

 

Sorry for my English..

I honestly don't know the details of cracking a game, but I would assume that cracking alone would take care of the issue of needing an online verification.

 

Also, your English is at least better than that of the average U.S. native.

[YourMothersFace 0]

I am also having this problem. I am sure its an installation issue, but it seems to me in 2020 with a game this age there ought to be a way to play sp without hassle. A cracked launcher at least. I paid 50 bux for this half assed game after waiting YEARS to buy it, a month later the rotten bastards dropped price to 25 bux. The game has 3 underdeveloped characters, 5 heists ffs, zero f*cking interiors, broken as f*ck over the top nazi cops, and all the same as ever broken game and control mechanics. If i had kept track of it, i know i have spent more time f*cking with and troubleshooting their broken over the top launcher than i have plaid this horribly underdeveloped overrated title with the character that steers like trying to drive a bus. Its as bad as the broken camera in like vice city. That and the constant chase cam management it makes it all but unplayable. I shouldn't have to drag my pc tower back to my sisters where is my only internet access point right now, to manage another 7 disc reinstall, and the 18 hours to redownload 18 more gigs that are already on my f*cking hdd just cause their flaky drm nazis out on me all the time. In fact id go as far as to say rockstar owes me part time wages for how much of my life I've wasted on rockstar error codes 1-150,000,000 trying to play a sp game I've more than f*cking paid for. Not since my big bro and i threw our atari and nes pads at the old vacuum tube have i been so p psychologically captive. Requirements might as well require periodic waterboarding while naked ffs.

[The007connoisseur 40]

On 12/3/2019 at 3:37 PM, xtracker85 said:

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.

They're DRM system might be a joke but is sure as hell good, no one has managed to crack it yet so far. 

[Western Gunslinger 1,987]

On 12/10/2019 at 2:13 AM, Motitax said:

PD: I hope that someone launches a mod or something for this because it is very frustrating to have to depend on an internet connection to play a story mode.

There's someone at CS.RIN.RU that managed to bypass the activation, problem is the game has infinite loading screen bug. so it's still impossible

[ant_sh 19]

I confirm that game currently works offline. Offline method for RDR2 from EGS, troubleshooting section may be useful for any other RDR2 launcher.

[Dryspace 836]

10 hours ago, ant_sh said:

I confirm that game currently works offline. Offline method for RDR2 from EGS, troubleshooting section may be useful for any other RDR2 launcher.

And how long until the Eye of Rockstar hones in on that, and a new patch is pushed out?

 

I mean, I consider this good news...but I'm not getting my hopes up regarding its permanency.

[ant_sh 19]

9 hours ago, Dryspace said:

And how long until the Eye of Rockstar hones in on that, and a new patch is pushed out?

I doubt that they will completely disable ability to play offline. It was a dealbreaker when game was released on PC a year ago and since then they only improved this feature in RGL.

 

As for patches, first, as long as it is offline it will not be patched. Second, they may reduce interval between mandatory online entitlement checks in a subsequent patch but it is not a problem for those who bought the game, they'll just redo online steps and continue to play offline. So I think the method will still work.

[Dryspace 836]

15 hours ago, ant_sh said:

So I think the method will still work.

That's great if it's not Always Online. I had gotten conflicting information, and thought I heard people saying that they were getting booted out of Story Mode for losing an internet connection.

[ant_sh 19]

8 hours ago, Dryspace said:

That's great if it's not Always Online. I had gotten conflicting information, and thought I heard people saying that they were getting booted out of Story Mode for losing an internet connection.

If you read my blog post you will see that recent EGL version explicitly supports offline mode and EGL RDR2 story mode can now be started without internet connection using only saved RGL/RGSC credentials. Moreover, it can be started from desktop shortcut for PlayRDR2.exe (it is Epic's RGL redirector) without running EGL at all as long as PlayRDR2.exe shortcut has correct saved EGL credentials as parameters (they can be obtained from EGL logfile).

 

Similar technique may probably work with Steam RDR2 although I cannot test it as I don't have access to Steam launcher's logfiles and don't know its mechanics.

[Dryspace 836]

13 hours ago, ant_sh said:

If you read my blog post you will see that recent EGL version explicitly supports offline mode and EGL RDR2 story mode can now be started without internet connection using only saved RGL/RGSC credentials....

I did check it out, which is why I gave that post an up-thumb, and why I said it's great if it's not Always Online.

 

To be clear though, I can play offline with the Rockstar Games Launcher? Your instructions only mention the Epic version, but I assume that the RGL version can also be played offline, since Epic simply launches it by proxy. Is that correct? It wouldn't make sense if RDR2 can be played offline with the Epic launcher, but not without it.

 

I always purchase my games for the Primary DRM scheme, as I do not want to deal with having multiple overlapping DRM systems and applications.

[ant_sh 19]

14 hours ago, Dryspace said:

To be clear though, I can play offline with the Rockstar Games Launcher? Your instructions only mention the Epic version, but I assume that the RGL version can also be played offline, since Epic simply launches it by proxy.

 

You probably can.  I think there is only one DRM scheme here and it is RGL/RGSC, all other stores (Steam, Epic) just augment it with their RGL-integrated entitlement checks.

 

I run Procmon trace to find out the mechanics of offline launch and updated my blog post, I encourage you to peruse updated Troubleshooting section .

[ant_sh 19]

On 9/27/2020 at 9:41 PM, Dryspace said:

I assume that the RGL version can also be played offline, since Epic simply launches it by proxy.

 

My latest discovery is very promising - I managed to launch RDR2 directly through RGL alone with Epic credentials on command line (without any Epic's wrappers  - EGL and PlayRDR2.exe). Once again

• new very elegant desktop shortcut solution for subsequent offline play without admin privileges and without UAC prompt (it is a thing of beauty)
• added screenshot illustrating RGL-only offline start through this shortcut to the end of Troubleshooting section

It all means that offline entitlement checks are handled by RGL/RGSC internally using saved offline profile. Now I am failry certain that RGL and Steam versions can also be run offline through RGL only.

[StyxTx 2,307]

On 11/29/2019 at 2:57 AM, eduazy said:

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

Many developers leave out information that would hurt sales. 2k, MLB the Show, they are all pretty shady. That's why I no longer preorder games.

[ant_sh 19]

On 9/25/2020 at 10:31 PM, Dryspace said:

I mean, I consider this good news...but I'm not getting my hopes up regarding its permanency.

You were right. Latest game update was followed by RGL/RGSC update and offline mode no longer works. I guess it was good while it lasted.

[Dryspace 836]

22 hours ago, ant_sh said:

You were right. Latest game update was followed by RGL/RGSC update and offline mode no longer works. I guess it was good while it lasted.

That's just one of the reasons that the price of RDR2 still isn't low enough for me yet.

[ThereIsNoBathroom 3,260]

The game is now cracked, RIP

[Electric_Spectral 806]

Well you can now play it offline by using a crack.

[ThereIsNoBathroom 3,260]

24 minutes ago, Electric_Spectral said:

Well you can now play it offline by using a crack.

Makes me wonder how better framerate is now without that DRM bullsh*t

 

 

[Gforce 608]

Finally able to play offline without having to use always online garbage

Edited October 22, 2020 by Gforce

[Dryspace 836]

11 hours ago, ThereIsNoBathroom said:

Makes me wonder how better framerate is now without that DRM bullsh*t

Unfortunately, cracking a game doesn't necessarily remove the DRM. I know at least one game simply had the online checks bypassed, but the DRM was still functional.

 

Some types of DRM that are built into the game's executable may not be able to be removed. That's probably the case with VMProtect, which is the only type of DRM I'm aware of that likely has a significant effect on performance.

 

Ubisoft denies it, but it doesn't make any sense that running code in a virtual machine is not going to have a negative effect on performance. One could argue that it's only a tiny amount of code actually running in the VM, and thus the performance impact is negligible, but if that's the case, why are games, at 60 fps, maxing CPUs that have 10 times the power of an XBox One CPU?

[Electric_Spectral 806]

17 hours ago, ThereIsNoBathroom said:

Makes me wonder how better framerate is now without that DRM bullsh*t

 

 

Performs the exact same as it did with DRM.