• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Microsoft Has Reportedly Made Changes To Xbox DRM To Allow Offline Play

sachos

Member
1sISlnp.gif
Well, you can on both competitors machines so it should be possible on Xbox too imo.
 

sachos

Member
You have to have a PSN account to buy stuff on the PS Store. Same thing with Nintendo.
Yeah of course, but we are talking about using discs here. You need a MS account to use the console at all, while on the competition you do not if you stick to physical software.
 

Flakster99

Member
A huge positive. My internet isn't the best and yes from time to time signal is intermittent, so excellent news for me.
 

01011001

Banned
TL: DR this update allows you to play your owned Xbox O|X|S games offline

Do Work Offline: Don't need a check-in (owed games)
- Xbox Series
- Xbox One

Don't Work Offline: Need a check-in

- Game Pass
- Xbox 360
- OG Xbox An initial check-in is still needed to play any game


https://gameinfinitus.com/news/micr...de-changes-to-xbox-drm-to-allow-offline-play/

all of these work offline, inlcuding Gamepass games (so no they don't need a "check-in")
this is about INSTALLING not PLAYING.

and Xbox 360 and OG Xbox can never install offline since you download a specialized version of these games and not the exact games on the disc

misleading OP and Thread Title
 
Last edited:

pasterpl

Member
Lol at all the same people here who adamantly claimed Xbox wasn't doing DRM, now find out they were, but are just ignoring that and saying, "wow! Thanks Microsoft! This is great! I can play my offline games, offline now! You spoil us! Also, GamePass is neato!"
There was a different issue related to home(main) console setup.
 

Panajev2001a

GAF's Pleasant Genius
Lol at all the same people here who adamantly claimed Xbox wasn't doing DRM, now find out they were, but are just ignoring that and saying, "wow! Thanks Microsoft! This is great! I can play my offline games, offline now! You spoil us! Also, GamePass is neato!"
Yeah it is awesome that on top of problems that are there they fix problems the ponies simply made up ;).
 
Last edited:

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
There was a different issue related to home(main) console setup.
But this is the DRM issue, in which people had their console set to "home," and it still would not start their single player disc or digital games they owned outright when Live had issues or their own ISP was down.

This guy below is the one that broke the news. It was DRM, as he and others said all along, and MS has finally addressed it. Shades of Xbox One "Always online" reveal.
This guy (the one that broke the news) has great videos explaining what the issues were and what are the issues that still remain. Home Console settings has nothing to do with this new update, Home Console settings is for playing your digital games while offline.

This was the first video where he explained and tested all the issues with Xbox


And this is his new video where he tests this new update
 
Last edited:

reinking

Gold Member
so much misinformation, its hilarious. this isnt about DRM
you could already play your games offline.
this is about first time installs from disc not having to download a compatibility patch before launching,therefore not needing online to play a disc based game right after installing it, because they figured most games dont even need this patch and run fine.
Regardless, this is still something that should have never needed "fixing" in the first place. I am just glad these companies are going to let us install/play games that we have purchased offline. You know? Like we used to be able to do.
 

TLZ

Banned
You could always do that as long as your console is configured as Home console.
Not really my case. Live went down a few times and I couldn't access anything.

What I don't understand is why would you need to be online to play 360 and Xbox games if they're yours to own? If I've already downloaded them, that's all I needed to do. They're mine now. So let me play them offline.
 
Not really my case. Live went down a few times and I couldn't access anything.

What I don't understand is why would you need to be online to play 360 and Xbox games if they're yours to own? If I've already downloaded them, that's all I needed to do. They're mine now. So let me play them offline.
Are you saying that if you have the Xbox /360 disc after downloading the new file you still can't play it unless you are online?
 
I really don't understand what people are paranoid about losing games in the future if the Xbox one goes down permanently. Outside of Kinect games, all other Xbox One games are backwards compatible with the Series consoles. PlayStation 4 games are 99.99% compatible with the PlayStation 5. Now that consoles are pretty much x86 made, it's inevitable that the next Xbox and PlayStation 6 will be compatible the Series and PS5 games and Xbox one and PS4 games. Xbox One games are not going to be lost forever the way you guys think they are going to be. We should be more worried about what happens after Microsoft shuts down the Xbox One servers for multiplayer since majority of the games use Microsoft's dedicated servers. And anyone that complains that you can't download your 360 games and OG Xbox games offline and they need to fix that, that's never going to happen. You need to go online to download the games, the discs are basically just keys to download the versions off their servers.
 
I really don't understand what people are paranoid about losing games in the future if the Xbox one goes down permanently. Outside of Kinect games, all other Xbox One games are backwards compatible with the Series consoles. PlayStation 4 games are 99.99% compatible with the PlayStation 5. Now that consoles are pretty much x86 made, it's inevitable that the next Xbox and PlayStation 6 will be compatible the Series and PS5 games and Xbox one and PS4 games. Xbox One games are not going to be lost forever the way you guys think they are going to be. We should be more worried about what happens after Microsoft shuts down the Xbox One servers for multiplayer since majority of the games use Microsoft's dedicated servers. And anyone that complains that you can't download your 360 games and OG Xbox games offline and they need to fix that, that's never going to happen. You need to go online to download the games, the discs are basically just keys to download the versions off their servers.

PS2 game was made compatible with PS1. PS3 was initially as well. Then we lost that.

Companies change thier minds constantly. You can never tell when BC will be important or when it won't. Expecting it to always be around is silly as we have been shown, time and again, that companies don't give a shit about the customers - they just want money. And if BC doesn't make them money, they won't focus on it.
 
PS2 game was made compatible with PS1. PS3 was initially as well. Then we lost that.

Companies change thier minds constantly. You can never tell when BC will be important or when it won't. Expecting it to always be around is silly as we have been shown, time and again, that companies don't give a shit about the customers - they just want money. And if BC doesn't make them money, they won't focus on it.
PS3 had the hardware to run PS2 and 1 games, they cut it out to make the system cheaper to complete with the 360. Starting with the Xbox One and the PS4, they are using the hardware like PC is now. Microsoft will do BC, they have said they care about preserving older games and they will get too much backlash if they do cut it out. Honestly I can see Sony doing it though and that's just because of greed.
 
PS3 had the hardware to run PS2 and 1 games, they cut it out to make the system cheaper to complete with the 360. Starting with the Xbox One and the PS4, they are using the hardware like PC is now. Microsoft will do BC, they have said they care about preserving older games and they will get too much backlash if they do cut it out. Honestly I can see Sony doing it though and that's just because of greed.

Microsoft has said much over the years and went back, changed their mind, or dismissed their previous claims. Companies aren't to be trusted, mate.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Not really my case. Live went down a few times and I couldn't access anything.

What I don't understand is why would you need to be online to play 360 and Xbox games if they're yours to own? If I've already downloaded them, that's all I needed to do. They're mine now. So let me play them offline.

It’s literally in the OP.

Removing the one-time authentication for XBO/Series games is the news here, OG/360 games aren't a factor there since you need to download them anyway, you don't really run what's on the disc.

Once that is done, you can put your console offline and play OG/360 games. I'm literally doing it right now with Portal 2 to test and able to run it with my system offline.
 

HoodWinked

Member
MVG also on this change/fix.




i assumed this was always the case.

looks to be for specific use cases. prior, games would still work offline but just had to be installed with an internet connection so that the compatibility layer could be verified. a bit of a "worse than it sounds" headline since games did work offline prior to the recent change.

MVG says Series Only games already installed/worked offline.

But it does make sense why Microsoft did this, they didn't want people playing Xbox One versions of games on Xbox Series consoles then having people compare them to PS5. This essentially prevented people from making falsifying comparisons for the first couple years. It's much less of an issue now since people already know these consoles are mostly comparable.

basically to prevent this:
maxresdefault.jpg
 
Yet people still remember what they did at the start of the Xbox one Gen. They aren't going to back away from BC in the future.

We literally have people defending and dismissing the DRM fiasco they *just* brought back. Something they tried their hardest to move away from after the Xbox One Fiasco. You are only further showing they can’t be trusted and that they don’t keep their word literally a generation later.
 
We literally have people defending and dismissing the DRM fiasco they *just* brought back. Something they tried their hardest to move away from after the Xbox One Fiasco. You are only further showing they can’t be trusted and that they don’t keep their word literally a generation later.
This isn't a DRM issue, it was a backwards compatibility issue. Someone that works for the Xbox team came out and said majority of the games did not need to have a check but there are some that will probably need to be updated to play on the Xbox series family.
 
This isn't a DRM issue, it was a backwards compatibility issue. Someone that works for the Xbox team came out and said majority of the games did not need to have a check but there are some that will probably need to be updated to play on the Xbox series family.

Mate, you are acting like a flat earther. Denying reality, dismissing what is right in front of you, the numerous videos All showing this was a DRM issue that the ”HOME” ‘fix‘ didn’t fix. It was DRM, plain and simple. Trying to deny it is no different than denying reality.
 
Mate, you are acting like a flat earther. Denying reality, dismissing what is right in front of you, the numerous videos All showing this was a DRM issue that the ”HOME” ‘fix‘ didn’t fix. It was DRM, plain and simple. Trying to deny it is no different than denying reality.
And let me guess you're one of those people probably believe DRM is behind the 360 backwards compatibility then right? This is not a DRM issue.
 

TLZ

Banned
Removing the one-time authentication for XBO/Series games is the news here, OG/360 games aren't a factor there since you need to download them anyway, you don't really run what's on the disc.

Once that is done, you can put your console offline and play OG/360 games. I'm literally doing it right now with Portal 2 to test and able to run it with my system offline.
But why does it say it still needs online checks? :/

Or is this just the first time?
 
Last edited:
But why does it say it still needs online checks? :/

Or is this just the first time?
It did need the online check to make sure it was going to work. They removed it because majority of the games didn't need it according to the Lead engineer at Xbox. They removed it so now you can install Xbox One games without having to go online to play them now. OG Xbox and 360 games still need to be logged in because you have to download the game off their servers. Now the big issue they need to fix is where you have to go online for the first time.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
But why does it say it still needs online checks? :/

Or is this just the first time?

For original Xbox and 360 games, you *must* be connected just for the very first time.

The reason is that the emulation is not actually reading what's on the disc. The disc is just for licensing. You will download an Xbox One formatted version of the game, which is what is played.

Once your first time check/download is done, after that you can run the game even without internet. It's just the very first time you need to be connected so your system can actually download the game itself. Again, the disc is there just for licensing. Xbox One/Series doesn't actually play the game from the OG or 360 discs.

This is strictly talking about the OG Xbox and 360 games only.
 
Last edited:

TLZ

Banned
For original Xbox and 360 games, you *must* be connected just for the very first time.

The reason is that the emulation is not actually reading what's on the disc. The disc is just for licensing. You will download an Xbox One formatted version of the game, which is what is played.

Once your first time check/download is done, after that you can run the game even without internet. It's just the very first time you need to be connected so your system can actually download the game itself. Again, the disc is there just for licensing. Xbox One/Series doesn't actually play the game from the OG or 360 discs.

This is strictly talking about the OG Xbox and 360 games only.
Ok that's what I wanted to confirm. Thanks. So this should mean all my already downloaded Xbox and 360 games don't need online checks. Good.
 
Last edited:

01011001

Banned
But this is the DRM issue, in which people had their console set to "home," and it still would not start their single player disc or digital games they owned outright when Live had issues or their own ISP was down.

that's simply not true tho.
whatever these people did, they did something wrong.

proof of me playing games offline, even gamepass games, all with a new account that I am adding and made specifically for this video.

I start Bridge Constructor Portal, a gamepass and Xbox One game,
I start Elden Ring, an SX game,
and I start Crazy Taxi, a 360 game

all while being offline



this is also an old video btw. I planned to post in an older thread but never did because I just wasn't in the mood to argue with all the Sony fanboys at the time.

so this is not the new updated either

I was in the situation a few weeks ago as well where my ISP had a massive outage and I was stuck with no internet for about 30h, I had no issue playing my games
 
Last edited:
Seems like a great first step. Now just make it possible to play gamepass games work offline until the next subscription month starts 😁.
 

TLZ

Banned
that's simply not true tho.
whatever these people did, they did something wrong.

proof of me playing games offline, even gamepass games, all with a new account that I am adding and made specifically for this video.

I start Bridge Constructor Portal, a gamepass and Xbox One game,
I start Elden Ring, an SX game,
and I start Crazy Taxi, a 360 game

all while being offline



this is also an old video btw. I planned to post in an older thread but never did because I just wasn't in the mood to argue with all the Sony fanboys at the time.

so this is not the new updated either

I was in the situation a few weeks ago as well where my ISP had a massive outage and I was stuck with no internet for about 30h, I had no issue playing my games

I had an ISP outage a good while back and I couldn't play anything. Of course my Xbox was set as home console. I also only have one console. I found many on Reddit that time with the same issue and we couldn't do anything. I tried all types of games and none worked.

I think I even posted a thread about it here once, not sure. If not a thread, it was defo a post.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
I had an ISP outage a good while back and I couldn't play anything. Of course my Xbox was set as home console. I also only have one console. I found many on Reddit that time with the same issue and we couldn't do anything. I tried all types of games and none worked.

I think I even posted a thread about it here once, not sure. If not a thread, it was defo a post.
MS must be fixing nothing then.
Sassy Red Wine GIF by Married At First Sight
 
  • Thoughtful
Reactions: TLZ

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
In my case and many others I sure hope they did. I'm taking adamsapple adamsapple word for it.

So, just took clarify, this new update that they rolled out only affects the Xbox one, and the Series X games. The original Xbox and the 360 things have not changed at all, they're still the way they always were.
 
Top Bottom