Steam to stop working on Win 7 and 8, preparation help?

[e48wh8]

volvo announced that in january they will update the steam client to stop working on windows 7 and 8. not just "no longer supported", but they will literally update it to stop working. i guess this means all those games i stupidly bought that have drm that only lets me play them through steam, ill be locked from playing

how can i continue playing these games without steam, without having to download them all over again from elsewhere? i dont have much experience with pc games outside steam

[Fant0men]

you could always try switching to a recent version of windows (win 11), or you have the option of switching to linux as steam is available there as well and most games will work.

i don't see a reason to use an older OS version like win7 or 8, but since i'm curious, what makes you want to use those versions instead of a newer one ?

[dueda]

Can't answer for the op, but just for sake of information:

My old PCs come with XP or Seven. My hardware has no drivers for Ten or Linux, nor will Eleven run on such old Intel 2nd gen.
I like XP and Seven, and some old games seem to like them, too. Also I can't and I won't buy a new PC just for Win11 pre-requisites.

For those reasons, Steam would be a problem for me. I'm running Win10 now, but it will also come to an end someday.

[e48wh8]

ive been doing lots of research since i posted this

i might have a way to prevent steam from updating, i havent tried any of it yet: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f...2967855237 i might be able to have a backup of it so when that fails i can keep it in offline mode
i can do linux on a usb to ensure access to working steam, but otherwise keep win 7 as my main system (kinda already do but ill need a bigger usb)
i realize now i can download cracks for games instead of downloading the whole thing again and losing saves and settings from here or a similar place
this started at the same time i started upgrading my pc, i will get a new, second hard drive, i can operate 2 at the same time in this pc, so i can download all my steam games

[Fant0men]

@dueda
Yeah, I can understand the part about old hardware and lacking driver support. But still, using older OS versions is a losing battle. Especially for closed source systems like Windows. You get no security updates and no support from Microsoft. The community can only do so much to keep a dying system alive, without access to the source code. That's why I think Linux is the better option for older hardware. Especially these days when most Windows games will run without a problem through Steam and Proton.

Linux tends to run faster, and driver support for old hardware is very good.

It is a huge change and a big learning hurdle though, so to each their own.

@e48wh8
Preventing Steam from updating might be a temporary solution, but it will not keep working indefinitely.

Back when I was on Windows, I always ran cracked versions of games. The issue is usually finding the right version of a crack that will work with your version of the game. If you want to patch the game to the latest version, there might not be a crack available for that.

As sad as it is from a money perspective, I think Steam is the best way to run PC games currently. You always get the latest version through automatic updates, and everything just works. The only downside is it will rape your wallet if you need many games.

Keeping a Linux thumbdrive around is a good idea. Another option is dual-booting, but it's important to keep Windows and Linux on separate hard drives as Windows updates tend to overwrite the bootloader and make Linux unbootable. It's just Windows being a total narcissist and believing it's the only OS in town.

[e48wh8]

@dueda
Yeah, I can understand the part about old hardware and lacking driver support. But still, using older OS versions is a losing battle. Especially for closed source systems like Windows. You get no security updates and no support from Microsoft. The community can only do so much to keep a dying system alive, without access to the source code. That's why I think Linux is the better option for older hardware. Especially these days when most Windows games will run without a problem through Steam and Proton.

Linux tends to run faster, and driver support for old hardware is very good.

It is a huge change and a big learning hurdle though, so to each their own.

@e48wh8
Preventing Steam from updating might be a temporary solution, but it will not keep working indefinitely.

Back when I was on Windows, I always ran cracked versions of games. The issue is usually finding the right version of a crack that will work with your version of the game. If you want to patch the game to the latest version, there might not be a crack available for that.

As sad as it is from a money perspective, I think Steam is the best way to run PC games currently. You always get the latest version through automatic updates, and everything just works. The only downside is it will rape your wallet if you need many games.

Keeping a Linux thumbdrive around is a good idea. Another option is dual-booting, but it's important to keep Windows and Linux on separate hard drives as Windows updates tend to overwrite the bootloader and make Linux unbootable. It's just Windows being a total narcissist and believing it's the only OS in town.

im well aware preventing steam updating wont work forever, i wont rely on that. eventually they will change something that will become incompatible with an old version. i think after learning about this whole drm thing, i shouldnt trust steam in any way

steam is the best way to run pc games until you discover what drm is lol

i considered dual booting as im going to get a new, 2nd hdd anyway, then changed my mind and decided id rather do it with a usb, as long as its a reliable one. i think sandisk is gud quality. that said i dont think i have to worry about windows updates messing with another system lol. no way am i going to a newer windows, if i have to go with anything else, it will be linux. maybe using it more often for access to Hot Water Vapour will allow me to learn more about it so i can be more comfortable in totally moving to it. for now tho im def staying with 7 for as much as i can, im familiar, its good, and ive configured and optimized everything the way i like it over years, and it works with most stuff - steam is the 1st time for me that 7 has had problems with compatibility, other than the usual issues with having to mod and configure games from the late 90s and early 2000s to work properly

[Fant0men]

im well aware preventing steam updating wont work forever, i wont rely on that. eventually they will change something that will become incompatible with an old version. i think after learning about this whole drm thing, i shouldnt trust steam in any way

steam is the best way to run pc games until you discover what drm is lol

DRM has been in widespread use since the 80s when it comes to games. Steam didn't invent it. It's just a consequence of the overall economic system we exist in. People need to get paid, and companies think DRM will help them to secure their profits. Whether it actually makes them more money in the end, I doubt it has ever been actually looked at. It's impossible to know, as you would need to investigate 2 parallel timelines, one that has DRM and one that doesn't. I think they probably waste more money on creating and deploying their DRM than they are making money from preventing piracy. Not to mention, their customers are the ones who suffer the most. People who just pirate the games get the better experience.

It's a matter of picking your poison. The only way to be truly DRM free is to get a copy from the developer before DRM has been added to the game. After it has been added, it's just a matter of trying to disable it or hack around it. I'm not really comfortable with using cracks, as I'm sure at least some of them come with Russian or North Korean malware, so Putin and Kim Jong Un can watch you masturbate to hentai porn through your webcam.

Even beloved publishers like GOG don't actually get rid of the DRM, but they use patches and cracks created by the community. The disc images and game data you get from GOG is the same as you would get just buying a physical copy yourself. They don't have any special access to magical copies of the games that lack DRM. It's all one big joke, and sadly people buy into it cause they don't know how any of this works.

[RodneyYouPlonker]

If you want my opinion, I think that Windows 11 is now the best Operating System that you can get.  Windows 11 works very well and I have to say when I first started using it I thought it was amazing and it's just such a great platform to use and has moved on such a long way since the days of Win7 and 8.  I couldn't go back to those days now and I certainly wouldn't want Linux either because it's a free OS and is full of all kinds of bugs and problems.

I don't understand how people always want to take back steps instead of forward steps but each to their own it's not really my cup of tea, I know my path and I'm Win11 all the way..

[Fant0men]

I couldn't go back to those days now and I certainly wouldn't want Linux either because it's a free OS and is full of all kinds of bugs and problems.

I don't understand how people always want to take back steps instead of forward steps but each to their own it's not really my cup of tea, I know my path and I'm Win11 all the way..

There's no magical property of commercial software that makes it more secure than open source software. You could just as easily argue the opposite point, that it's easier for companies to hide flaws with the software since they don't have to show anyone else the source code. You'd be surprised how many shortcuts are taken when profits is the only motive. That's how companies operate. So your claims are just blatantly false, and again motivated by some personal grudge you have against Linux users. By making the source code widely available, more eyes have gazed on the code, and more bugs, security flaws etc. are found and fixed because of that.

Though I agree that it makes no sense to use older OS versions. I always use the latest version of everything. I think if people are going to claim that Windows is the greatest thing since sliced bread, they should all be using Windows 11 as that's the flagship product of the company they love and worship so much. By using an older version, people are implicitly saying that Windows isn't actually that good, because if it was good they'd be on the latest version.

[e48wh8]

im well aware preventing steam updating wont work forever, i wont rely on that. eventually they will change something that will become incompatible with an old version. i think after learning about this whole drm thing, i shouldnt trust steam in any way

steam is the best way to run pc games until you discover what drm is lol

I'm sure at least some of them come with Russian or North Korean malware, so Putin and Kim Jong Un can watch you masturbate to hentai porn through your webcam.

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If you want my opinion, I think that Windows 11 is now the best Operating System that you can get.  Windows 11 works very well and I have to say when I first started using it I thought it was amazing and it's just such a great platform to use and has moved on such a long way since the days of Win7 and 8.  I couldn't go back to those days now and I certainly wouldn't want Linux either because it's a free OS and is full of all kinds of bugs and problems.

I don't understand how people always want to take back steps instead of forward steps but each to their own it's not really my cup of tea, I know my path and I'm Win11 all the way..

privacy is the reason, windows 10 and 11 even more is hella bugged, and by bugged i mean like, wiretap bugged. its not as good as 7 otherwise but still alright, but to me, how good it is doesnt matter with what i just said

i set up win 10 once, spent a few days researching and doing the work to rid it of all the spying/analytics stuff, then it was for nothing because there was this one program i couldnt do anything with, that would automatically check if updates were working, then fix it, then it would update and put back all the spying stuff lol. i would have been able to finish it properly if it was the professional version. i dont want to have to pay for professional windows, and after the research ive done i dont want to mod it either, AND i dont want to install another windows only for steam to break on it too a few years later anyway

havent experienced any bugs with linux but only because i havent used it much and havent tried anything other than the basics, havent touched any settings or whatever

summary: bill gays can watch you masturbate to hentai porn through your webcam

bill gays when he sees my hentai porn folder: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNJ1RHUnX9s