Is offline play still online?

[CanadaOne]

Howdy,

 

The other day when I fired up BOX in offline mode, the game refused to launch, saying a newer version was available and had to be installed. This isn't the first time this has happened.

 

Why does logging in offline to play still cause the game to contact the Mother Ship, as it were, and check in?

[unreasonable]

DRM I imagine.  Does it work when the internet is disconnected?  I would check myself, but I might never be able to get it connected again...

Edited September 24, 2017 by unreasonable

[TG-55Panthercules]

Did you start the game with the launcher or directly from the IL-2.exe file?

[CanadaOne]

The launcher is on my desktop, and I have the .exe dragged down to the toolbar as an icon, at the bottom of the screen where it is a single click start.

 

I'm pretty sure it worked when the net was off, but with the net is on, it seems to be making some sort of contact to check if the game is up to date.

 

It probably is DRM, which I don't like, but that's another matter.

[dburne]

Yes starting the game even with the IL-2 exe will notify of any new update and insist on one starting the launcher to get the update.

 

Maybe they just want to make sure everyone is on the same version?

[unreasonable]

DRM I imagine.  Does it work when the internet is disconnected?  I would check myself, but I might never be able to get it connected again...

 

Since my internet has been down for several hours today I can confirm that the Steam version opens offline normally when disconnected.  

[CanadaOne]

Yes starting the game even with the IL-2 exe will notify of any new update and insist on one starting the launcher to get the update.

 

Maybe they just want to make sure everyone is on the same version?

That might be the case.

 

I was just wondering why, if you hit offline, you still connect, assuming a connection is available. If that is the case, then offline isn't offline.

[Sokol1]

If you start the game thinking in play only offline but is connected to Internet, every time will be checked for updates - like most games today, if any is found will prompt for install first, so close Internet connection before launch the game if want play without be bothered with updates - that is not so much frequent, one at ~1/2 mounts with 1/2 fixes  in next days.

[Lusekofte]

DCS got a better feature in this matter , it check for updates and then ask if you want it. If you refuse you still can play, but it might not be competible with servers

[TG-55Panthercules]

RoF had it different/better too - you could stay on an old version as long as you wanted to as long as you never tried to log in online.  Didn't realize they'd changed that for BoS.