Skyrim & Steam

[Arion]

Well I don't know what the patch was for but now I'm having a bunch of CTD and my first ever Blue Screen.

Just couldn't leave well enough alone I suppose.

[InsanitySorrow]

The patch was just for more DRM stuff, makes sure you always have to load up steam before playing. Does nothing useful

[Xinimator]

Aw man...does that mean the patches are mandatory now? Forget that, I'll just mod the heck out of Oblivion.

_{At least until the price comes down to a reasonable level, maybe...}

*sighs* Well, I guess my PlayStation's going to be playing a lot more games from now on...

[InsanitySorrow]

You can turn off auto-updates, but as soon as a decent patch comes out you'll get all the updates you were trying to avoid.

[Arthmoor]

Actually a lot of folks had their game updates turned off already. This patch was forced outside the normal system just because you logged in to Steam. Good thing I never do and have no intention of doing so unless a patch comes along that has a good reason to put up with it. I'm not exactly pleased with the fact that doing so will expose me to massive CTDs like everyone seems to get from it.

[Arion]

Well I'm wondering what the effect is going to be now that you don't have a choice but have to go online to steam even if its in off-line mode. What happened to the fact that this was supposed to be connect to the internet, get activated and then not have to connect anymore? Sort screws you if you only have limited access to the internet or went to a friends house to activate. NOT everyone has internet and now you lose because you can't play without internet. Might as well have made a mmo out of the stupid game. *barf*

[Khettienna]

I've never had trouble with Steam. I dislike the whole policy of it, but on a practical note, if you just leave Steam running in offline mode and use it to launch Skyrim (instead of launching Skyrim to launch Steam) it might be more stable. I'm wondering if application focus is a culprit - Steam getting launched second takes the focus away from Skyrim long enough to cause general instability. I know, I'm reaching, but Steam in offline mode just sits there and does nothing with no footprint, so I can't think of why it would cause issues otherwise.

[donnato]

...Bottom line...Why do I even have to think about this. Playing a game is supposed to be..: Load disc....escape RL for awhile....wash, rinse, repeate as desired...Ok, I love the Elder Scrolls but, I cannot in good conscience recommend this to...well...anyone really...bummer.

[Arthmoor]

Well I told 3 buddies who make most "steam haters" look like angels about the bypass and they bought the game. I of course warned them not to log into Steam or it would break their game. That's 3 sales Bethesda got because of the bypass. Mistake or otherwise, those guys would not have bought the game if Steam needed to be launched even in "offline" mode (which is a joke).

Several people who specifically set Steam to offline mode still had this patch forced down their throats and hadn't thought to backup their unmodified EXE file. There really is no good reason we should be beholden to a company that has zero stake in any of this. Much less put up with them violating their product terms and conditions. In some countries this patch is straight up illegal because it installed new software without obtaining consent first.

[_echo]

I've never had trouble with Steam. I dislike the whole policy of it, but on a practical note, if you just leave Steam running in offline mode and use it to launch Skyrim (instead of launching Skyrim to launch Steam) it might be more stable. I'm wondering if application focus is a culprit - Steam getting launched second takes the focus away from Skyrim long enough to cause general instability. I know, I'm reaching, but Steam in offline mode just sits there and does nothing with no footprint, so I can't think of why it would cause issues otherwise.

I duno about you, but 40MB of memory usage while idling isn't exactly "no footprint" to me.

I would much prefer the option of running a game along with steam rather then steam HAVING to run with the game. If it weren't for the deals (and Steamworks games) I wouldn't even use Steam.

[The Vyper]

Well I told 3 buddies who make most "steam haters" look like angels about the bypass and they bought the game. I of course warned them not to log into Steam or it would break their game. That's 3 sales Bethesda got because of the bypass. Mistake or otherwise, those guys would not have bought the game if Steam needed to be launched even in "offline" mode (which is a joke).

Several people who specifically set Steam to offline mode still had this patch forced down their throats and hadn't thought to backup their unmodified EXE file. There really is no good reason we should be beholden to a company that has zero stake in any of this. Much less put up with them violating their product terms and conditions. In some countries this patch is straight up illegal because it installed new software without obtaining consent first.

It's for this type of thing that Bethesda has permanently lost me as a customer. I will never play another Bethesda game, and I'm seriously considering the complete removal of my mods from TESA & Nexus. I see no reason why I should continue to support a company that screws over its customer like this.

[vometia]

At least Steam is giving me a taste of nostalgia, there's an element of early '80s computer games here: the "preparing to launch" box is just like loading a game off cassette tape, because it takes ages and there's no guarantee it'll work at the end of it. Of course that's the sort of nostalgia I could do without, especially every time...

[The Vyper]

At least Steam is giving me a taste of nostalgia, there's an element of early '80s computer games here: the "preparing to launch" box is just like loading a game off cassette tape, because it takes ages and there's no guarantee it'll work at the end of it. Of course that's the sort of nostalgia I could do without, especially every time...

At least there was an excuse in the '80s: poor technology. There is absolutely no excuse for the absurdly draconian measures taken by Bethesda in forcing PC gamers to use Steamingpileofcrap for anything. Not only does it not come anywhere near preventing piracy, it actually encourages it.

[vometia]

At least there was an excuse in the '80s: poor technology. There is absolutely no excuse for the absurdly draconian measures taken by Bethesda in forcing PC gamers to use Steamingpileofcrap for anything. Not only does it not come anywhere near preventing piracy, it actually encourages it.

I don't need convincing: in spite of my humorous spin on the problem, I do think it's absolutely ridiculous and find the constant assertion of "you're probably a thief, so we need to keep checking you out to determine your innocence; so you'll have to wait" to be frankly rather offensive. Seems like an idiotic way to treat customers if they want to keep them.

What really gets to me is how many people are sold on the idea and have swallowed all the guff about all PC gamers being pirates who need to be treated accordingly. Sad, and actually a little scary.

[Hanaisse]

And people wonder why I haven't bought Skyrim.

This ..... is all I have to say.

Wonder how soon we'll see copies in the bargain bins at Walmart. *IF* I ever do decide I want to slay dragons, I'll buy myself the xbox version for Christmas.

[Arthmoor]

Best be sure it's the XBox version too, because the PS3 version appears to have gotten shafted hardcore again. They're raging out of control on the official forum over it. Far more than PC gamers are raging over getting the finger with the DRM update.

[HeyYou]

Do we see a pattern emerging here? First, there was FO:3, with GFWL. That was a major fiasco. Untested software for the PC market. I note that it was the only game Beth published that required it. Although, it WAS possible to bypass it in various ways. Then, we had FO:NV, and steam..... patches were still available elsewhere, and you could bypass the steam requirement by launching the game .exe directly. No updates screwed that up. Then comes Skyrim, which, initially was the same as NV, but then.... we get a stealth update, that totally hoses one of the major fixes the community had come up with, and makes 'stability' a thing of the past. The 4gb patch got a workaround, in the form of another launcher... but, that doesn't seem to have been as effective as the LAA patch applied via CF explorer.....

As far as steam being a form of DRM, that's a lost cause. The cracked game was out on pirate sites within hours of release. The xbox version had been leaked, cracked, and uploaded a week BEFORE it released. Beth pisses and moans about "pc games are pirated too much." but, completely ignore the fact that xbox games are as well. Not to mention that Beths insistence on using some third party software tends to ENCOURAGE the very behavior said programs are supposed to circumvent..... and here we see the reasons why. Will this change their behavior at all? I doubt it. The bean-counters and corporate big-wigs that make these decisions, apparently have zero conception that what they are attempting is a lost cause right out of the gate.

I am curious if the folks attempting to file an FTC (federal trade commission) suit are having any success against valve. I hope they are.....

[vometia]

Talking of bean-counters, I'm always amazed that the corporate variety seem to have absolutely no concept of basic ideas such as investment and not alienating your customers. I don't know what they do know, but the practical application of their knowledge seems to be rather ineffectual.

[Johnn123]

I have to admit this little "update" was the first time Steam has pissed me off. Luckily I figured beforehand when I saw you could circumvent Steam that it would be patched so I backed my original .exe up and installed it as soon as the update came out. If Steam keeps pulling stunts like this I'm out.

[Arthmoor]

I haven't quite figured out why people are using the LAA patch. I have no such thing in place and the game has had all of one CTD in 110 hours of play. At Ultra settings with some ini stuff slightly over the default limits.

I don't doubt that the DRM update really did introduce crashing. It wouldn't be the first game to suffer something like that. Pools of Radiance on PC was a disaster of CTDs and in-game lag until Ubisoft relented and patched the DRM out. The game suddenly sprang to life and was smooth as butter. You'd think after repeating the same mistake over and over again that the industry would finally get it. Students of history they are not.

People also insist Bethesda had to push this update, but every indication I see says Valve did it because Bethesda's people act like they haven't pushed anything. Including direct responses from their email and phone support people who insist the second patch is still being worked on. Nobody seems to know about the DRM update. If they're all lying then Bethesda has somehow mastered the art of effective conspiracy and cover up. Something that's highly unlikely to happen.

[WillieSea]

The first thing I did was turn off all the bean keeper functions in steam. Nobody needs to know how badly I am doing in a one player game. And I have no 'friends' and have never visited the shop. Its only there in off-line mode while I play the game.

[vometia]

I haven't quite figured out why people are using the LAA patch. I have no such thing in place and the game has had all of one CTD in 110 hours of play. At Ultra settings with some ini stuff slightly over the default limits.

I had constant problems with CTDs, absolutely dozens of them; I applied the LAA patch at the same time as running TESV.exe directly so I'm not sure which is responsible (probably both), but having read the forums, my experience was far from unique: it was a very real problem and these actions did all but fix it. Edit: just to be clear, this was before the update and sans mods.

Edited November 27, 2011 by vometia

[Johnn123]

I haven't quite figured out why people are using the LAA patch. I have no such thing in place and the game has had all of one CTD in 110 hours of play. At Ultra settings with some ini stuff slightly over the default limits.

I would crash every half hour without it. With it enabled I my game never crashes. However with the new update Steam won't let you apply it so it becomes unstable once again.

[vometia]

I would crash every half hour without it. With it enabled I my game never crashes. However with the new update Steam won't let you apply it so it becomes unstable once again.

There's the 4GB Launcher that works with the Steam-infected executable, though I've gone back to using the old Steam-free exe until a proper patch appears.

[Arthmoor]

Patch 1.2 is announced. Unless there's more to this in typical Bethesda non-documented fashion, it appears 1.2 will be something to skip.