A Lucky friend got the pre order early. He tried to Install Skyrim even though he knew that he cannot play it until friday because of Steam. He found that he couldn't install it and claimed that there is nothing on his disk, no game files, nada.

Are the game files just encrypted to avoid illegal hackzors or is the purpose of the disk really only to install steam and force you to download the entire game once available?

It should contain the game files, so if it looks empty then possibly they have some kind of encryption I guess :S

People are probably about to flame the crap out of you my friend.

I gather it's a PC copy? Well steam won't let you before Friday that is why.

all I can say is try again friday

Did he buy it from a retail shop or some guy on the street (being serious)?

The day one patch really must be a biggy, then.

He wasn't very clear, but I think he got it online via Amazon or something. So I think the better question to ask, is what is the actual procedure of installation when you put in the CD.

It should tell you to install steam and login. It will probably then install to the steam games folder and activate the key on your account.

He'll probably just have to wait 'til Friday. I got FNV a couple of days early and only got an error message trying to install it before the release date, I know others have been getting the same thing with Skyrim.