I just reformatted my computer. I reinstalled FNV and Steam. All set to go. Clicked to launch and get a Steam screen saying the game will take 2 hours and 25 min to update.

What is that? Is this a patch? I have a DVD, so I'm confused. I never used Steam, but it seems to dominate my experience.

The first time, I clicked "Close" and I got a black screen and forced shut-down, then a screen that included Safe Mode etc.

What is this game up to?

Patching. The Steam servers appear to be downloading a little slow but the collected patches add up to a sizeable download too.

The crash was not caused by the game- that was steam being steam-ish.

The "safe mode" screen is also unrelated to the game. That was caused by the forced shutdown you did in response to the crash- it's not something to worry about.

Yeah it svcks that it's going to take a long time to patch, but the patches are worth the wait. I would suggest using Steam's backup feature once fully patched. If you have an external drive, put it on that. That way if you ever do need to do a complete reformat you won't have to repatch the game entirely.

Also- if you have just reformatted make sure to update graphics drivers, DirectX, and MS Visual C++ redistributable or you will likely be back on the forums with a non-working game that is not giving any helpful error messages. I do wish they could improve the launcher so it would check these things and report issues like:

Directx version
C++ Redistribuitable Version
Graphics Drivers

Before auto-crashing on game launch. These are not hard items to run a check for when it detects your settings...

Thanks so much for your post. Very reassuring, and I was hoping what you said was true.

I know how to reformat and get current, so I'm covered there. I'm just not familiar with Steam's behavior or the patches and upgrades currently being pushed.

Again, many thanks.

Let me tell you a story. A story of high tragedy and great sorrow. Once upon a time, the very game you are currently trying to play came out in stores and steam everywhere. At first, those on the East coast tried to play it upon purchasing it during the midnight release, only to find that to their great impatience, they'd have to wait for several hours for the west coast's midnight to catch up to their's. But still, they waited, and within a few short hours, their great impatience was rewarded with the ability to play. Or so they thought. To their horror, many of the gamers found that the game was incredibly buggy. Crashes abounded everywhere and corrupted saves and lost data were frequent. After several days of moaning and whining, hope shined on the horizon. A patch to fix the issues was being released! Hallelujah! However, fate once more thumbed its noes at them when they discovered that the fixes created new errors which messed with their gaming enjoyability. This story still continues to this day as gamers everywhere lurk in hopes of the once proud and triumphant game being fixed once and for all.

tl;dr
Release version of the game was fairly broken, so they released patches to fix it, and made the patches compulsory so that people didn't keep complaining about stuff they'd already fixed. Patch doesn't fix all the issues though.

There was a 200MB patch for me after UK retail DVD install, 2.5 hours suggests larger patch or slow download speed.

When I attempted DVD reinstall myself it failed at 100MB of the update and started downloading the whole game again, so check how much it is trying.

If it is attempting to download the full game you could try deleting local content via Steam, then reinstall via DVD. This apparently works.
Or just wait it out!

I installed via DVD first, then installed Steam. BTW before my reformat, I had loaded and played the game all the way through....with bugs, but I got it done.

My browser keeps crashing, as I try to do other things while this is loading. Might be a resources problem, although I have a high-end, high RAM, fast machine.

I've had no systems problems until FNV and Steam. I'm getting worried.

You are the controller