Usually the Blizzard app will allow you to start in Offline mode if you don’t have an internet connection. Have you tried disabling your network adapter completely to see if that does it?
You can also try launching Starcraft 2 directly, although I can’t guarantee this will allow offline mode to work.
Using File Explorer navigate to the Starcraft 2 directory, by default it is:
C:/Program Files(x86)/Starcraft II
Open the Support64 folder
Double click on SC2Switcher_x64 to run it
This should bypass the Blizzard app and launch the game client directly.
Nyope. Its still trying to connect to Blizzard Services and Authenticate. And now its just freezing. It seems every time it tries to connect to blizzard, the program just goes unresponsive. And it wants to connect to Blizzard. There’s no script in this program to let the user block the first attempt to connect. Because if I could do that, this wouldn’t happen.
I’ve run this game before while online. It is installed with expansions. But I can’t play it.
Switching it to an online network makes it run fine. Running in an offline network causes all this to happen.
The game really isn’t worth this much of my time at this point.
SC2Switcher_x64 gives a different login screen, but its the same problem.
I’m also unable to play the game offline (for a different reason), and I run into the same issue whether I use the launcher normally or the SC2Switcher_64 executable. I had a limited window of time today to play SCII before work, but it just happened to be during the maintenance, which SHOULD NOT be an issue if I’m just trying to play the campaign. However, every time I try to follow Blizzard’s guide on how to play offline (for up to 30 days), I get a message saying that I need to have been online to authorize my account (was online yesterday), have a character account with purchased content (I have no idea what this means, but I bought the Battlechest with all 3 campaigns), and I need all the files installed locally (which I always default to when installing a program because I don’t want to have to deal with issues like this). As a result, I don’t get to play this game I’ve purchased, and, instead, have to waste my limited downtime asking Blizzard for permission to access the game.
Really disappointed in this DRM tactic, Blizzard. And, apparently, this is a known issue from as far back as 2017 that still hasn’t been fixed (SC2 Forums).
Please fix this. Some of us who purchased the game would just like to play the campaign because we were fans of the campaigns in SC and SC:BW. I don’t care about the online aspects. I would happily install a patch disabling all online multiplayer if it meant that I could get rid of this always online requirement.
offline mode will not only help those people with unstable internet connection, but also provide a way to play campaign when Blizzard servers are down. currently the only option to do that is to download the game from the torrents lol. no way it’s a DRM technique anymore since the game is F2P now, not sure what exactly stops Blizzard from making such a great opportunity.
update: offline mode exists, but the game offers it at probably at the latest stage of loading. previously when auth servers were down I could not launch the game offline.
same here, im new in starcraft 2 and a week after I installing the game, everything just fine. but after I clean the cache, I cant play offline anymore.
I just gave this a try and was able to play offline. Here are the steps I took:
[Clicking the images will enlarge them]
Using the BDA to launch
I disabled my network adapter. This forced the BDA offline as expected.
I clicked the “Play” button to launch SC2. When it launched, it sat on this screen for a little while, probably looking for Battlenet:
Eventually, it moved on to this screen. My account address was already filled in (I removed it for the picture):
I clicked “Play Offline” and the game opened:
Using SC2Switcher_x64.exe to launch
I got the exact same results with the executable as when using the BDA.
I can confirm that launching SC2 from an offline BDA while the system is still connected to the internet does not work. And obviously using SC2Switcher_x64.exe while the system is connected will do the same thing. In both instances, the game client itself just looks for (and finds) Battlenet on its own. It seems you have to prevent SC2 from finding Battlenet, and breaking the computer’s connection to the internet is the way.
UPDATE: See my next post for more info.
[The quotes below are only to trigger a notification for the thread participants to see if this can help them out.]
I tried to run the same steps on my laptop and found it did one thing differently, despite both the laptop and desktop having the current version of SC2.
The difference was on the second screen. It was missing the account email field, and this time I couldn’t get past it.
However, I cancelled out of everything and connected to Battlenet in case it had been 30 days since the last login. For good measure, I started a campaign mission to ensure the client had indeed communicated with Battlenet.
I then went to open while offline again. This time it let me into the game without issue. It appears that it did just needed to reauthenticate.
On a side note, despite being able to get both systems to open the game offline, I’m not sure why there’s a difference in that second screen between my desktop and laptop though.
i have the same problem as well.why blizzard can’t provide a nice and clean offline mode for the game?
we have steam games like Dota 2 which have this option and you don’t have such troubles to play offline.
Thank you very much for your reply: I had actually stopped checking for a response after a month .
Since you are able to get this to work, it seems you’ve met all the conditions to enable offline play. As such, I was hoping you might be able to give me some insight as to what I’m missing. I have always been able to get to the same “Play Offline” screen as your laptop (whether starting with the app or with the SC2Switcher_64 executable). The problem is that, once I click “Play Offline”, I get the following error message:
“AUTHORIZATION REQUIRED: To enable offline play, connect to Blizzard services to authorize your game client. You also need at least one StarCraft II character on the account with purchased content. All data files must be fully downloaded to play in offline mode.”
To be clear, I own the Battlechest with Wings of Liberty, Heart of the Swarm, Legacy of the Void, and 7 co-op commanders. I just beat the second campaign yesterday while connected to the servers, so my client must have been authorized at the time. And, with regards to all data files, I fully installed the game; it’s fully patched; the “Scan and Repair” function has found no issues with my install, nor has it added or replaced any files. Thus, to the best of my knowledge, I’ve met all three of the criteria listed in the error message.
Unfortunately, I don’t know how to post a .jpg or .png in a post on this forum, but I did grab a screenshot of the error today anyway. Also, I did make sure I disabled my network adapter and unplugged the ethernet cable prior to trying both the app and the SC2Switcher_64 executable methods today.
At any rate, if you have any idea what it is I’m missing or if I’m misunderstanding the error message, any help would be most appreciated.
That sounds like the region data that loads up while online vs. while offline don’t match (meaning, not the same region). Trouble is, when offline the SC2 (and desktop launcher) client does not make it easy to tell which you are loading into.
So to ensure the desktop launcher region (online) and game launcher (offline) match, try these steps while online:
With the internet connected, launch SC2 via the SC2Switcher_64.exe. (For now, don’t use the launcher in these steps.)
You should get the game’s standard login screen
In the left panel, check to see that the “Region” is set the same as your desktop launcher. (What is displayed there can be trusted only when you are online.)
A) If it is not the same, correct it and log in. Since it now matches the region your launcher uses, you should be able to get in without any issue. Exit the game. Skip down to step 4.
B) If it is the same, change it to something else and log in. If you have never logged into this new region before, you’ll need to create a character. Logout using the game menu, then change the Region back to the correct one and log in. Again, it should let you without any issue. Exit the game.
Now, disconnect your internet and launch again using SC2Switcher_64.exe. (Ignore what is displayed under “Region”, it can’t be trusted because you are offline.)
Go through the offline steps you tried before and see if it lets you in.
If this works, I recommend using SC2Switcher_64.exe for all offline play. Because the launcher also is pretty bad at indicating which region data will load, it just adds a new level of variables that you can simply avoid. You can make a shortcut to SC2Switcher_64.exe and place it somewhere convenient for easy launching.
Thank you very much for the reply! I’ve now successfully been able to play SC2 offline, and, though the issue I was running into was slightly different than the issue you outlined, finding the solution was definitely due to your help. So thank you again.
For users encountering the same abovementioned error message in the future, the issue, for me, stemmed from differences in authorization between the launcher and the SC2Switcher_64 executable. Essentially (and this was probably really silly on my part), I only ever played online through the launcher, so the client that the launcher accesses was getting authorized regularly. However, I only used the SC2Switcher_64 executable when I was trying to run SC2 offline. As such, the SC2Switcher_64 executable itself never authenticated itself with Blizzard’s servers, requesting my log in information. Accordingly, when I ran the SC2Switcher_64 executable while online, I was prompted to log in and was then authenticated by the servers. From here, I exited SC2, disabled my network adapter, and ran the SC2Switcher_64 executable again. Once I clicked the “Play Offline” option (as has been pictured in Leviathan’s earlier posts), I was good to go.
TL:DR
Try running the SC2Switcher_64 executable while online and logging in that way (I assume once every 30 days). This will, hopefully, enable offline play.
If that doesn’t work or you’ve already tried that
See Leviathan’s post above about region mismatches
Thank you again, Leviathan, sincerely.
[As Leviathan did before, the quotes below are only to trigger a notification for the thread participants to see if this can help them out.]
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