Skyrim does NOT need Steam : V

» Thu May 10, 2012 12:19 pm

No idea why but the game works fine without Steam running in the background, we just have to launch directly the TESV exe. Looks like the Skyrim launcher is hooked to the Steam client but the game executable is not. It's the very first Steam game I see working this way, no idea if it's a bug or if it's intentional.

» Thu May 10, 2012 11:59 pm

That's amazing. I may actually consider buying it for the PC in the future now that I know I don't have to use Steam.

» Thu May 10, 2012 4:07 pm

If true I will reconsider my decision not to purchase.

» Fri May 11, 2012 12:45 am

Confirmed, this does work. Just launch the executable. NO STEAM!

» Thu May 10, 2012 2:05 pm

I hope Bethesda doesn't "fix" this.

» Thu May 10, 2012 12:20 pm

Yep, I'm a little nervous everytime someone mentions this.

» Thu May 10, 2012 11:12 pm

Seriously don't understand the Steam hate, but I can confirm it works.

» Thu May 10, 2012 7:14 pm

So will not work the achievements... but a lot don't care, so good news still! :celebration:

» Thu May 10, 2012 4:40 pm

Just to point out.

You'll still need to have Steam installed in order to authenticate and install the game.

You'll still need to have Steam installed to play.

Attempting to remove Steam will ALSO remove the game and it's registry entries as everything is installed via Steam even with the retail.

Chances are the exe still checks to make sure Steam is present.

» Thu May 10, 2012 1:42 pm

Seriously don't understand the Steam hate, but I can confirm it works.

I don't like the idea of my games floating out in a digital wonderland that someday might just disappear. I want a disk that I can put in and play. I don't like Steams ludicrously long updates every weekend. I don't like the fact that I have to have extra software on my computer to launch a game, when the way I did it for the first 4/5ths of my life was by installing a game and playing it.

The one good thing I will say about Steam is that it has free games, unfortunately you only get one good free game every 5 years after it's already washed up. (ie: TF2)

» Thu May 10, 2012 2:49 pm

Why the Steam hate? I can understand if there was something incredibly wrong or inconvenient but I've been using it for about a year with no troubles at all. Their holiday sales are enough of a reason to have Steam despite how much you don't like the client.

» Fri May 11, 2012 12:47 am

Why the Steam hate? I can understand if there was something incredibly wrong or inconvenient but I've been using it for about a year with no troubles at all. Their holiday sales are enough of a reason to have Steam despite how much you don't like the client.

Most people don''t but a minority who have some small internet, hardware or software issue which hasn't ever been a problem for anything else has unexpectedly caused enormous problems for them. We have two PCs in the house same internet with steam ( soon three when my new one arrives) on one it works like a dream , on the old one, its a complete nightmare

Some people also object to it on ethical grounds also. There is a series of threads in the community section if you're really interested.Which is where any such discussion is expected to take place.

» Fri May 11, 2012 3:14 am

Why the Steam hate? I can understand if there was something incredibly wrong or inconvenient but I've been using it for about a year with no troubles at all. Their holiday sales are enough of a reason to have Steam despite how much you don't like the client.

Have you been on their Forums lately ? (OOH thats right you can't because they were hacked and every bit of personal info including all of the credit card and personal info that all of the users had to enter to register there was compromised ( sure they say it was encrypted but that doesn't ensure that it can not be used at some point !) -- So why make people that want to play a single player game on their system have to input all of that info to a non secure site ?)

Notification from their Forum :

Originally Posted by Gabe Newell

Dear Steam Users and Steam Forum Users:

Our Steam forums were defaced on the evening of Sunday, November 6. We began investigating and found that the intrusion goes beyond the Steam forums.

We learned that intruders obtained access to a Steam database in addition to the forums. This database contained information including user names, hashed and salted passwords, game purchases, email addresses, billing addresses and encrypted credit card information. We do not have evidence that encrypted credit card numbers or personally identifying information were taken by the intruders, or that the protection on credit card numbers or passwords was cracked. We are still investigating.

We don’t have evidence of credit card misuse at this time. Nonetheless you should watch your credit card activity and statements closely.

While we only know of a few forum accounts that have been compromised, all forum users will be required to change their passwords the next time they login. If you have used your Steam forum password on other accounts you should change those passwords as well.

We do not know of any compromised Steam accounts, so we are not planning to force a change of Steam account passwords (which are separate from forum passwords). However, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to change that as well, especially if it is the same as your Steam forum account password.

I am truly sorry this happened, and I apologize for the inconvenience.

Gabe.

» Fri May 11, 2012 12:38 am

So you still need to install the mandatory update though?

» Thu May 10, 2012 11:41 am

Have you been on their Forums lately ? (OOH thats right you can't because they were hacked and every bit of personal info including all of the credit card and personal info that all of the users had to enter to register there was compromised ( sure they say it was encrypted but that doesn't ensure that it can not be used at some point !) -- So why make people that want to play a single player game on their system have to input all of that info to a non secure site ?)

Only the forums were hacked. Different account required to that on Steam itself.

And only idiots would just the same username and password for both..........but it happens.

They do say a database was accessed that shows purchases, but no credit card info was compromised. How accurate that is, well thats unclear. But certainly a good reason why using paypal is preferable, extra layer of security.

» Fri May 11, 2012 3:31 am

Steam haters are pretentious and stuck up with their posh holier than thou attitudes. Let them have their little victories in life, you've got to find them somewhere I suppose.

» Thu May 10, 2012 9:41 pm

Only the forums were hacked. Different account required to that on Steam itself.

And only idiots would just the same username and password for both..........but it happens.

They do say a database was accessed that shows purchases, but no credit card info was compromised. How accurate that is, well thats unclear. But certainly a good reason why using paypal is preferable, extra layer of security.

Perhaps you missed reading this part of the Notification :

We learned that intruders obtained access to a Steam database in addition to the forums. This database contained information including user names, hashed and salted passwords, game purchases, email addresses, billing addresses and encrypted credit card information. We do not have evidence that encrypted credit card numbers or personally identifying information were taken by the intruders, or that the protection on credit card numbers or passwords was cracked. We are still investigating.

So Yes it includes the STEAM account info not just the Forums and YEs Credit card info was taken (whether it willl be used or not is unknown for now !

» Thu May 10, 2012 10:14 pm

Steam haters are pretentious and stuck up with their posh holier than thou attitudes. Let them have their little victories in life, you've got to find them somewhere I suppose.

And even though I'm an avid supporter of Steam......remarks like that aren't going to help things.

» Thu May 10, 2012 11:43 pm

They do say a database was accessed that shows purchases, but no credit card info was compromised. How accurate that is, well thats unclear. But certainly a good reason why using paypal is preferable, extra layer of security.

Visa gift cards all the way.

» Thu May 10, 2012 10:20 pm

Steam haters are pretentious and stuck up with their posh holier than thou attitudes. Let them have their little victories in life, you've got to find them somewhere I suppose.

That post was quite pretentious. And no, that's not true at all.

There's reasons I can barely use mandatory Steam. I'd be willing to bet your opinion would change if you had to live without your decent internet.

» Thu May 10, 2012 6:39 pm

Perhaps you missed reading this part of the Notification :

Acknowledged here akshully.

They do say a database was accessed that shows purchases, but no credit card info was compromised. How accurate that is, well thats unclear. But certainly a good reason why using paypal is preferable, extra layer of security.

Note the bolded bit. I did acknowledge that part, but as you say we don't know how true it is on whether the details have been compromised. Depends on how good their encryption for that is.

» Thu May 10, 2012 4:59 pm

Have you been on their Forums lately ? (OOH thats right you can't because they were hacked and every bit of personal info including all of the credit card and personal info that all of the users had to enter to register there was compromised ( sure they say it was encrypted but that doesn't ensure that it can not be used at some point !) -- So why make people that want to play a single player game on their system have to input all of that info to a non secure site ?)

You don't have to provide your CC info to Steam unless you buy the game from them. Even then, you can decline to allow them to store it.

» Thu May 10, 2012 5:32 pm

this doesnt work for me? I launch the exe then it wants me to log into steam.

» Thu May 10, 2012 2:16 pm

I think Steam has it's uses. I like it for the DLC. But I absolutely hate it for the initial install. The main reason being it takes so long. This is the third game I've gotten that used Steam that has taken 18+ hours to install. Right now I'm at 76% after 18 hours. I don't see the point in buying the game on disk if it doesn't actually install from the disk. Couldn't they save money on material if they just sold the install code instead if they are going to require Steam installs? It's extremely frustrating for me.

» Thu May 10, 2012 1:30 pm

Back on topic, early posts by dAb, Gun Owner, and SomeWelshGuy indicate that, once authenticated, you can run Skyrim directly (without launching through Steam). However, the more recent post by Ataleo says he had to log onto Steam to play.

Can someone confirm what dAb, Gun Owner, and SomeWelshGuy said. If true, that's the least intrusive use of Steam I've heard of. It would mean you would only need to log onto Steam initially and, probably, for updates.