So....if I buy from Steam it works with the retail version right?

Oh man, the chaos on the forum is awesome, one MOD locks one thread only to direct it to another LOCKED thread......chaos...

The retail version for PC is Steam. All PC versions are Steam. There is only one version for PC.

Wrong?

I bought my Skyrim from a real shop, it came on a real disc, with a real box.

Then I had to get Steam....

Leave that stuff out, please.

Can't you only get Dawnguard off Steam?

Yes, you had to get Steam. It is the same version. It performs identically. Steam does not distinguish between the two. Mine is also a retail copy, from Amazon.com. It is identical to the Steam version except that I can load the files off of the disc instead of downloading them. But there are not separate versions like for some games.

Ohhhh, right I see, I misunderstood. Sorry.

Still cringe every time I have to use Steam. Just for one game..

That's ok; I could have been clearer. It's just for games that don't require Steam, you wouldn't want to use Steam DLC for a non-Steam game. But because Skyrim requires Steamworks, all the versions are the same and the Steam DLC works fine on a retail copy.

Put it this way, Steam is the lesser of evils when it comes to PC DRM these days. I'm very grateful they didn't use Windows Live.

To be fair, if they had used Games for Windows Live, we might have benefited from the exclusivity agreement... maybe.

That didn't even cross my mind o.o

I hate all forms of DRM.

So, dawnguard won't be available to PC on a disc? Like in a shop? Cos, well, I ain't buying from Steam. I like to support my local game store, not many going these days. (I mean like a family run business, no companies or anything, they can support themselves well enough without my input.)

Reason is, my mum ran a game shop, and I'd rather support families than mega corps. Sometimes have to wait a little longer for special orders but it's worth it to me.

It's likely that there'll be a 'Game of the Year' edition at some point including all DLC, but if so then that won't be until many months after they're done releasing DLC. That'll probably be the only way to buy the DLCs on a disc. Generally individual DLCs aren't sold on a disc, it's called Downloadable Content for a reason.

Ah okay.

Can't make payments on the net anyway, so guess GOTY it is.

They did sell hard copies with Oblivion DLCs, but that a long time ago.

For me to buy Dawnguard from Steam, three conditions need to be met:
- The core game must first work properly, without navmesh or dialogue bugs or such. Otherwise I just don't see any point in adding content.
- The price must come down from the current € 20, because I am not really all that interested in the theme of vampires and vampire hunting, which I find a bit silly and childish. At a clearly lower price I might still buy it just to complete the set.
- I must figure out a way to buy it from Steam without having my credit card details stored in yet another on-line store. There may or may not be a way to do that, but at least so far I haven't been motivated enough to even study the issue, having originally bought a retail copy of Skyrim.

If these condition are not met. I might possibly return to the issue if and when I find a retail GotY edition in some discount bin at a later date.

Yeah and I believe that was before Beth were bum buddies with Valve.