Search the threads about the 1.1 steam patch, there will be mentions of players seeing their performances ingame drastically cut off. There should be threads about the launcher of Steam being stuck on "prepared to launch," not only here on Skyrim boards where nobody brings a solution, but also for other Steam games not related to Bethesda at all. Some from Valve.
For the little story, Skyrim doesn't launch from Steam when Process Guard is active. What Process Guard does is to forbid processes to modify or terminate other processes if they aren't listed in the permissions. Just to be clear, the pre-patch Skyrim executable that would allow you to bypass Steam didn't have any problem to start.

I don't know what proof you need to accept that Steam is modifying Skyrim and can affect the performances, but it's indeed already in the forums. Note that we aren't talking about the application itself. It's in the background and doesn't seem to take much resources.

I'm having trouble finding any because the forums only search 11 and not 1.1 but at least that is pretty verifiable as a steam problem unlike slapping an "I don't know therefore steam" tag on it like some people do and claiming all our woes are caused by steam. That's all I asked for.
Process guard is another third party program no? If it's interfering I think that is unfair to claim as a steam problem even if the pre-patched exe worked fine. Also why not simply list steam in the permissions?

Will Skyrim EVER be available on a format other than Steam? I dont like Steam. I dont have Steam. I wont get Steam. I am ok with not playing Skyrim, but it would be nice to.

Every dlc/content Valve has released is free of charge. There have been countless updates for TF2 since its release and even for L4D2. So I question why you think they add no "meat" to their games.

Steam several years ago was pretty meatless, just like Origin now. I'm quite amazed how much it has improved, like Apple but better instead of dumber.

Who would of thought that the Bioware fourms would actually be a voice of reason since they are outraged that Origin is required for ME3. I think that might be the final bullet for Bioware but we will have to wait and see. I'm pretty disgusted with the PC gaming industry right now, I regret spending the money upgrading my computer since now people have to be treated like criminals in order to just play a game. If only there were more people like CDProjeckt.

or Runic games... but yeah for many it's a sad time to be a PC gamer. not getting games has helped me work on my collection of Transformers though.

CDProject used Securom for The witcher 2 (in all non GOG versions) to make more people use GOG just to let you know.

EDIT: I wouldn't be supprised if they use Starforce (in non Gog versions of their games) to nudge people towards GOG.

I have been meaning to try the Witcher series. & I haven't had an issue with Securom (assuming we're not talking the limited install or other nefarious options)

Wasn't that the publisher's insistence to use DRM? They got sued by the publisher when they removed it.

I am wondering when Steam will stop the spam they are doing with the so called "free game" download? I am forced to go online in Steam for one of their updates and suddenly I have some game called Nation Red in the My Games map that I can download for a certain amount of time. What do you mean My Games? I mean, I only have and want Skyrim, no free cr*p spam game. Don't know how it's called in the US but over here it's called plain spam!
This whole Steam thing is so p*ss*ng me off. It's bad enough Bethesda has chosen Steam, so we are FORCED to use it and FORCED to get spam messages from Steam ........

Spam? Hardly, it's a chance to try out games for free for a couple days. If you don't want to download it nobody forces you to.

I posted this over in the ME3 thread, but I figured here would be a good place to post it as well.

Origin is NOT spyware.

http://www.majhost.com/gallery/RetroCorn/Misc/origin.jpg a screenshot of Process Monitor on my computer. You'll notice that it isn't all over the place like in this http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/323/index/8975536/2#8976097 with so-called "proof" that it is.

Don't believe everything you see on the internet.

Who's to say that EA wouldn't change the EULA, they can do that and you wouldn't be able to do anything about it.

>Implying that spyware always checks all the data all the time

Steam still connects (if it can) even when you set it to "Offline" mode. All Offline mode does is relax the server requirement, and features, for a while.


Nay... A big chunk of rural America has no broadband option ~they cannot buy cable or DSL even if they wanted to; best option for them is satalite for $90 a month and a likely $300 instalation fee. Steam on Dial-up is hell on Earth. Also, some computers are required to be offline; others just are ~for whatever reason, yet they could otherwise be perfectly capable of running the title. I find it discriminatory that Steam is often the only distribution option, and even when purchasing a boxed DVD, the Steam wrapped disc is useless to the customer without them paying $40 a month to some 3rd party ISP.

Valve is big enough to maintain an 800 number for dedicated (and ideally compressed) direct modem access to a [stripped down] Steam server. (Anyone with Dial-up has a modem, and all the required software could be put on the retail disc.)
* In fact... if I had the option for that, I would install an external modem (with an off switch!) and relegate Steam to that connection only.


Does anyone know if 'Steamworks' entangled games work in "Offline" mode?
(More specifically, do they run/play if there is no Internet connection at all when launching?)

Afaik you can play any steam game offline (with no connection at all) so long as you enter offline mode first while you have a connection, "steamworks" just means steam exclusive there's nothing different done afaik.
I'm pretty sure you can put steam into offline mode if you lose your connection while you're connected as well so if your internet went out for whatever reason so long as steam was open and connected at the time you can put it into offline mode and you can still play.

Not sure about that myself, but I'll take your word for it.


But who wants to maintain a dial-up modem for a minority of people who have no internet connection? Also, from what I hear, the game software itself is on the disk, and it's possible to force it to install from disk and only validate online, instead of actually downloading online. Not sure if that's correct, but I suppose others do.

Anyway, no game company is going to waste the effort to maintain a direct modem connection. The last time I dealt with direct modem connections was in the late eighties, when the BBSes I'd go to would have their own dedicated phone number. If that means that Valve would have to maintain umpteen dedicated phone lines to connect multiple people at once, they're just not gonna go through that. It would be wasted money chasing after a very small slice of the game market.

Anway, as I've said, if you don't have an internet connection, haul your laptop somewhere that does. How many people not only don't have their own internet access, but don't even have access to internet access, whether at a friend's house or a public library or some business that maintains one for their customers, like Starbucks or some McDonald's? Go buy a cup of coffee and download your game. If you're truly so far out in the sticks that you have neither your own internet connection nor access to somebody else's, you're simply living so far from civilization that no game company is gonna bend over backward to accomodate the handful of people in your situation.


They do. I just put Steam in Offline Mode and played Supreme Commander 2. Then I turned off my WiFi connection completely, cutting off my internet connection as a result, and started Skyrim. So yeah, there's no problem there at all. All people need to do is validate their game and get it updated with the latest patches, then they're good to go.

You don't even have to enter offline mode first. I just saw your post, then experimented again.

I left Steam in online mode, and switched off my wifi. With no internet connection but Steam in online mode, I started Supreme Commander 2 - no problem. I then started Skyrim. It paused just a second, then informed me I wasn't able to synch with the Steam Cloud or whatever, and that if I had played the game on another computer my settings and whatnot might not be as they were before. It then let me proceed to the game. So no problems there either. Even if you validate elsewhere (Starbucks, or a friend's house) and take your laptop home but forget to put Steam in offline mode, or if you somehow turn it from offline to online, you can still play your games with no problem.

Yeah, weirdly I just edited that in lol
I meant if you have no connection at all and steam wasn't open an connected before you lost your connection you won't be able to connect. It'll give you an option to open in offline mode but it will say "can't connect" or whatever.
However if you have it in offline mode you can close it and open it without a connection with no issues.

Let me try that then.

They eventually removed the securom with a patch post-release.

I don't know.

Lies and propaganda.

Yeah, actually you can. You can always uninstall the software and decline the new EULA. But as for the program right now, it's not spyware.


I've checked it numerous times today, all shows up in exactly the same way. I'll continue monitoring it, but after well over 24hrs I think it's very safe to say that it isn't spyware.

I was under the impression that Steam was the online distribution method ~and a kind of DRM by proxy; but that Steamworks was in fact full blown DRM.

Well I notice that Steam has no qualms with downloading a Steam update while being set to Offline mode.

I would prefer if it was a cost of doing business.

What I hear is that there is a sizable chunk missing from the disc (on purpose); this requires an online connection to retrieve, and complete the install.


ISP cd's can contain a dialer for an 800 number to facilitate ordering DSL or cable from the ISP's website. Steam could easily do the same for the cost of an 800 number, and at the same time offer a bandwith-lite authentication server. Anyone restricted to Dial-up would not be buying a lot from Steam, but then anyone using the connection is a customer that otherwise would not have spent money with them but did. Also this would mean that any Steam subscriber could use their game on a Dialup only PC in rural America. Its not so much of a minority as you may think. DSL has a practical limit of 18,000 feet from the last switch of the ISP's. Often Cable companies won't run cable down a rural highway ~and everyone there has DishTV or the like.

Its not a practical option to haul a PC to the public library, and gaming at Starbucks would cost more than $40 a month (not counting gasoline and travel to and from cutting a chunk from your leisure time).

Well, that may well be. I don't keep Steam offline so I honestly wouldn't know, myself.


But it isn't; it would only be a cost of doing business of a fairly small slice of the computer gamer market. I'll Google around to see if I can find out what percentage of the country only has dialup as a means of getting on the internet.


That might be, but so long as it isn't huge, you could install the bulk of the game quickly via the CD and then download that final bit online, meaning you wouldn't need much online time for the purpose.


Didn't know anybody did things that way these days. I've had cable internet for years now, and I always just called the cable company to come out for an install.


Well, I suppose it might be a fairly low-cost option, I'm just figuring they aren't likely to put forth the effort for what isn't likely to be a large percentage of their potential market anyway.


I'll look and see about the numbers.


Oh, I'm not talking about going down there regularly to play, I'm just talking about getting the game authenticated.

Also, in other news, I closed Steam, turned off the WiFi, and started Steam again. It reported I had no internet connection, and gave me the option to start in offiline mode. I did so and both Supreme Commander 2 and Skyrim started with no problems.

I'll try turning off the WiFi switch, rebooting and then seeing Steam's reaction.