0.12.4 Cannot Start Game Without Steam

[mypic_]

Hi,

For reasons like not having my friends and family make smart comments about my playtime in the game (because none of them played Leisure Suit Larry and so the comparison of why I enjoy this game is lost on them), I've been trying to figure out how to play the game independent of Steam. I heard this was possible with the 0.10.4 version but I've seen nothing about getting it to work in the current version. I tried deleting the steam API from the game and whilst the game will start up, it will crash after the initial "warning" message before it has the chance to load to the menu screen.

If anyone has any suggestions on a workaround, I'd very much appreciate it. Thanks!

[peter980]

It's not possible anymore, due to game being tried to Steam Achievements system.

As for the advice, either put your profile private in Steam, so no one can see game playtime, or buy the game on alternate Steam account, and have that profile private.

[eekdon]

Hi,

For reasons like not having my friends and family make smart comments about my playtime in the game (because none of them played Leisure Suit Larry and so the comparison of why I enjoy this game is lost on them), I've been trying to figure out how to play the game independent of Steam. I heard this was possible with the 0.10.4 version but I've seen nothing about getting it to work in the current version. I tried deleting the steam API from the game and whilst the game will start up, it will crash after the initial "warning" message before it has the chance to load to the menu screen.

If anyone has any suggestions on a workaround, I'd very much appreciate it. Thanks!

I haven't tried this in regards to Steam's playtime tracking, but if you start up House Party once, that'll guarantee your story files are up to date. Then quit House Party. You can then try playing via Steam with your friends feature turned off/offline, or if you have to, put your PC into airplane mode or disable your network adapter and force Steam to run in Offline mode. You could also create a temporary firewall rule to cut Steam off from the internet. Whichever is easiest for you (not that either of these is convenient, sorry). To be absolutely sure, you can also try turning off cloud sync within the Steam Options...but otherwise there is no way to launch HouseParty.exe without it also opening up the Steam client.

Have you also looked at the Edit Privacy Settings options in your Steam Profile?