Sometimes, don’t you just feel like kicking back and enjoying a game without getting noticed?
The problem is that your profile status changes to ‘available’ as soon as you log in, making it super awkward to ignore those party queue invites!
This begs the question:
How to Appear Offline on Epic Games on PC?
There are currently three methods to appear offline in Epic Games on PC. The first is to turn on the Epic Games Offline Mode Browsing feature in the Settings Menu. The second involves logging out of the Epic Games Launcher altogether. And the last method is to enable the ‘Do Not Disturb’ mode to silence messages, invites, and friend requests.
How to Use Epic Games Offline Mode
The following is a breakdown of each method, including the potential drawbacks.
Method #1: Select the Epic Games Enable Offline Mode Option
The first (and easiest) method is to enable the Epic Games’ Enable Offline Mode option within the Epic Games Launcher. To do so, follow these simple steps:
- Launch the Epic Games Launcher and log in to your account.
- Click on your user profile icon at the top-right corner of the launcher and select Settings from the drop-down menu.
- Under Preferences, look for an option called Enable Offline Mode Browsing
- Click on the Enable Offline Mode Browsing option.
- Close the Epic Games Launcher and disconnect from the internet.
- Finally, relaunch the Epic Games Launcher, select Continue in Offline Mode, and you’re good to go!
Enabling offline mode in Epic Games allows you to play single-player-only games without an internet connection.
With this option enabled, the Epic Games launcher authorizes each game’s online DRM (Digital Rights Management) request instead of relying on Epic Game’s online game servers.
However, your PC must be connected to the internet to enable this feature; otherwise, it may not work as intended.
Method #2: Use the Epic Games Launcher for Offline Mode
The second Epic Games offline mode fix involves logging out of Epic Games Launcher for a ‘true’ offline gaming experience. Here’s how to log out of the Epic Games Launcher on Windows:
- Click on your account logo at the top-right corner of the screen.
- Select the option Sign Out from the drop-down menu and close the Epic Games Launcher.
- Now relaunch the Epic Games Launcher application, sign in, and select Sign in Later at the bottom of the screen.
- Now go into your game Library and start playing.
- You’ll see a banner at the top prompting you to sign in to your account to access all Epic Games features; ignore it.
Note: some of these steps may vary depending on the platform (PC, Mac) and the version of Epic Games Launcher installed on your device.
Drawbacks
Unfortunately, there are a few drawbacks to logging out of Epic Games. These include:
- You won’t be able to play any game in multiplayer mode since that requires an internet connection.
- You won’t be able to view the scoreboard or upload your game achievements to Epic Store servers.
- Your saved game files won’t be uploaded to Epic Games’ cloud servers.
- You can’t boot your previous saved game file, meaning you might have to start a game from the beginning.
- Pending game updates and in-progress downloads will be paused until you’re back online.
- In-game purchases, as well as some other game-specific features, might be unavailable in offline mode.
- Some games may not launch due to compatibility issues or technical limitations, most notably third-party DRM.
Method #3: Enable ‘Do Not Disturb Mode’
Lastly, the Do Not Disturb Mode allows players to temporarily turn off instant messages, notifications, game invites, and friend requests for a distraction-free online gaming experience.
Here’s how you can enable this feature for Windows:
- Start the Epic Games Launcher like you usually would.
- Click on the Friends icon at the screen’s top-right corner, right beside your profile icon.
- Select the Gear icon from the Friends tab to go into Settings.
- In Settings, select the Do Not Disturb option.
Now, your status won’t appear online, and you won’t receive chat notifications or game invites!
Play Epic Games Offline – Shown With Examples
Many users have tried searching for Epic Games’ offline mode Reddit solutions, but the answers tend to leave some readers more confused than before!
Because certain games rely on an internet connection to grant access to game-specific features, there’s no universal answer to this particular query.
Having said that, we’ve found ways to reliably run and play the two most popular games on Epic Games Store, Fortnite and Grand Theft Auto 5, without an internet connection and in offline mode.
Epic Games Offline Mode GTA 5
One way to play Grand Theft Auto 5 offline is to modify the commandline.exe text file in Grand Theft Auto 5’s root directory and insert the -scOfflineOnly flag into the file.
Sounds complicated? Don’t sweat it; it’s simple. Just follow these instructions:
- First, locate the Epic Games folder. You can use Windows Search if you aren’t sure where the folder is located. In our case, it’s located in partition ‘E.’
- Double-click the Epic Games folder.
- Now Select GTAV to access your GTA V root directory.
- This folder contains all the game files needed to run Grand Theft Auto 5. What we’re interested in is a text file named ‘commandline.txt.’ If you can’t find it – or it doesn’t exist in the root directory – just create a text file and rename it to “commandline.txt” (without the quotes).
- Click on the ‘commandline.txt’ file to open it. You can use any word processor to open this file. In this example, we used Windows 10’s built-in Notepad application.
- Insert the flag “-scOfflineOnly” (without quotes) in the empty text field, as shown in the picture.
- The last step is to click on the File option and hit Save from the drop-down menu.
- Now, you should be able to launch and play Grand Theft Auto 5 without an internet connection!
Note: RockStar may disable this ‘hack’ in a future patch. If it does, we’ll update this article and let you know. Also, this method may not work with Steam and retail versions of Grand Theft Auto 5.
Epic Games Offline Fix for Fortnite
To appear offline in Fortnite, follow these simple steps:
- Launch Fortnite and click on the three horizontal lines located at the screen’s top-left corner.
- Click on your game profile.
- Search for an option called Online Status in the settings menu.
- Change your online status from Online to Offline.
And that’s it – from now on, you can log in anonymously.
Conclusion
The Epic Games offline feature is a great way to play your favorite titles without an internet connection and unwanted distractions.
Want to make your gaming sessions more enjoyable? We recommend a soft and cozy reclining gaming chair with footrests for the ultimate solo gaming experience!
