Custom Executable Generation. The executable you need to run the game depends on the machine you install it on. Copying the file will not work.
Can you generate the executable yourself? If you know the algorithm, you can, same way as you can guess a credit card number.
CEG is Steam's DRM scheme. Not all Steam games use CEG. Feel free to ask if you want more technical details.

Are you saying there are no cracks available to beat CEG games on pirate sites that one could copy and use? This would be news to me, as I thought every DRM out there had been "beaten."

Not what I said. There are ways to bypass CEG, which mostly depend on modified DLLs. If you include cracks, then yes, most games (not all) can become DRM-Free.
But just because a game can have its DRM cracked doesn't mean that it is DRM-Free, same as GOG games are not available via torrent, even though you can find them on torrent sites.

Sure it does, essentially, if DRM free means that sometimes the user merely needs to make a few "adjustments" (other than simply installing the game as originally sold). Once you have the crack files, the game operates for all intents and purposes like a DRM free game. So to get non-CEG Steam games to work on another non-Steam machine, one must manually copy and paste some folders and maybe go to a site and download some dependent files (like say runtime or C+++) while for CEG Steam games one needs to go to a different site and download some 'different" files.

From what I've read in this thread I'd have the notion that DRM-Free (in the context of this thread) means that the game has not some code or component put in place to the specific purpose of blocking the game from being run in another computer.

In that sense, there a big difference between a dependency needed to run the game (like one of those Visual C++ libraries) and SecuROM, CEG and the like. Subsequently, I see a big difference between installing such a dependency and craking a game, regardless of the amount of work required.


Also, noted how I said "in the context of this thread".

I don't think the initial purpose of this thread was to define what DRM-Free is. I have wished several times that a different term was used so that people don't feel the need to come and argue about the use of "DRM-Free" and so that this thread would be kept focused on technical and practical things as opposed to semantics.

And I don't. From an end user perspective, I don't see any difference between installing some dependency and installing some crack. They are both additional steps required in addition to simple installation that is required to get the game to run (somewhat) as it was not intended. Steam games are intended to run on the client and require some manual manipulation to get around it and SecuRom games are intended to run with that check in place and require some manual manipulation get around it. From an end user perspective, I don't see the difference, other than perhaps the "morality" or it. And I don't see that either if one has actually purchased the game.

And FWIW, I'm not the one that's been trying to efine (or redefine) what DRM Free means, I'm merely taking the logic argued by others to it's logical conclusion.

I get that "intent" may be important here, and maybe at the end of the day that's really all that separates DRM games from DRM free games. Maybe the fact that a seller "intends" or "doesn't care" if users make one set of "adjustments" to get the games to run in a manner other than which they were intended is all that makes something DRM free while they would object to another set of user "adjustments" to accomplish the same thing. But that frankly doesn't make me feel all warm and cozy inside because consumers should define what DRM Free is.

For me, the end user, I want to be able to install and play my games on how ever many of my machines that I own (and I currently own about six) after initial purchase and download (or trip from store) without any need for any sort of third party check such as a client or internet connection. And for me, the end user, it appears I can accomplish that with Steam games by either manually copying and pasting some folders and maybe some dependencies or by manually copying and pasting or using the necessary crack. So for me, then end user, if the first example is DRM free, then for me, the end user, the second one must be also, since they're both almost identical. The both "alter" the way the game was meant to be played as sold. (Steam games are meant to be played within the client, even if they weren't necessarily meant to played while online).

I never said that you did.
I wrote that because some people have posted in the thread acting all defensive of the term. You saying that now everything is DRM-Free sounded to me as a passive-aggresive version of those posts.


For the record, I don't agree or disagree on wether a game that can be run without Steam is "DRM-Free", I just want to know if that can be done for which games, and the necessary steps,

I guess this is brought on by our conversation in the other thread. Part of the problem there (and here) is that I do not know which definition of DRM you are using. To make it clear, how I see DRM is as follows:

"My definition of DRM is any parts of the product which restricts your use of the software after the point of purchase and delivery. This needs to be purposefully built to control its use, and does not includes a dependency of external factors, such as drivers, libraries or hardware (i.e. needing Windows or DirectX is not DRM, neither is needing CD-Rom, a typical GPU or indeed electricity)."(copy pasta from a previous thread).

Does this seem logical to you, or is there any parts of it you disagree with?

Correction. All dependencies are included in the game's folder. No need to download anything else. You may need to parse a file yourself, but all required data are there.

It is by far the most agreeable / sensible / logical thing I have ever read that was written by you - which as you have managed those things before upon other subjects... is something.
However, I think it would be a better thing to steal and re-use when informing friends if I add the words "DRM is also a bit poo" at the end - some of them watch Jeremy Kyle.

Considering what I tend to write - the bar is not very high...

its still a bloody complement ya fish finger!

Anybody know if The Night of the Rabbit on Steam is DRM-free?

I know I'm jumping into this conversation late, but yes, this is exactly right. I've copied/pasted DRM-free Steam games to an external hard drive, literally built two PCs from the ground up without EVER allowing them to be connected to even a local network, installed Windows, and immediately copied/pasted the backed up games to the new machine without ever putting Steam on there with it. The most I've had to do other than just start the games is to manually install required stuff like DirectX, a setup file of which is always included with any games that need it; I've never had to touch the Internet or the registry.

The same can be said of the games I posted about in my other thread, detailing how to play actual Steam games offline forever. All you need to do is copy your backed up, Offline Mode-enabled Steam folder from one PC to another, and even non-DRM-free Steam games can be played on a brand-new machine without going online or installing anything extra.

Aaaaaahahahaha! Yeah, just keep believing this.. until the offline timeout runs out. It might be a month or so, a sufficiently long period of time like that to keep you falsely content and believing that the game will work forever.. until it doesn't.

The only way to keep Steam games working forever without going online is illegal. If I'm wrong on this, great, that would actually be a good thing. Maybe it works for some games, but I doubt it so strongly that I'm going to discount that possibility entirely.