Steam won't let me sign on

[el Chi]

Right, for some reason Steam has decided not to let me play in offline mode. My PC isn't connected to the 'net, so it gives me "omg - something's wormng! lol" message with the retry and offline options. If I click either, it comes up with some different message saying "Whoops! Either you're not connected or Steam's network isn't working properly!"
Yes, I KNOW that my connection isn't working because I was the one who disconnected it, dammit.
Yet it still doesn't seem to work.
I only just re-installed it (new PC) and I never had this problem before, ever.

Any thought, folks?

 

[Stucco]

Ahh, the good old "even though you just want to play a single player game, offline, WE have decided it's about time the 3rd party sofware WE forced you to install, (steam) checks for updates. And we won't let you play the game you payed for untill you update it, even if you don't give a flying f**k if it is up to date or not" trick.

 

[Cormeh]

Awww, boo-hoo Stucco. ;(

Anyway, el Chi, is your computer not on t'internet full stop? As I remember it you need to first connect via the internet before attempting offline mode... I think Steam needs to be restarted with the "Begin in Offline mode" option checked.

 

[Laivasse]

Have you got your old, fully updated Steam install backed up somewhere? If so, then copying that across identically - DVDs or big zip drive needed - into the same folder paths should allow you to play in offline mode without having to connect to the net. Other than that I'm not sure if there's a way of solving this other than getting that PC connected to the net at least once. Steam still stinks.