At what point did I say the check involved the internet? At what point did I imply the check was for a currently valid, up to date subscription? Again, the problem is that uploaders are faced with a choice: They can upload a nonfunctional build, they can find a way to crack the security on Patreon versions, or they can upload the build with compromising information that ensures they get banned from the game's Patreon. Your personal ability to continue to run a copy you paid for is neither relevant to that problem nor unintended by the developers, since the purpose of the check is to prevent people from sharing the game to places like this and ban the ones who do. And it's working exactly as intended for that purpose.
Also, the game's registry stuff is 100% standard garbage. The Windows "an exe was detected here," "a sound setting was changed there," and "this is the program's uninstall information." If it wasn't running without that stuff, it's either an issue with Unreal engine (hard to believe, that kind of stuff should be automatic), or Windows itself trying to protect you. Assuming the laptop is on Windows 11, an exe copied from another computer will be blocked by the OS until you claim ownership of it. (Which, coincidentally, creates some of that standard garbage I mentioned up above).
The actual relevant security checks are performed on information the launcher stores in AppData. This information includes patreon userId, patreon screen name, subscription tier, and more. And just to be clear, this is what happens if the game runs properly but fails to detect that information:
View attachment 1641155
That is the protection I've been referring to the entire time, that needs to be removed if a functional Patreon build is going to be uploaded to this site without making use of throwaway accounts. (Amusingly, I forced that screen to show up right now by deleting the appdata account storage.)