Not an idiot...it's just weird...I remember when I ordered my CD, and I checked the forums, and it was in the sticky at the top: http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1242199-skyrim-and-steam/ once it's installed, you can play in "offline" mode.

Ah you're all right, it does say on the back of my game case that you must have internet and install steam

Also minou its best to start a new topic instead of using a previous topic.
Reasons
- People start reading from the top when your problem is halfway down
- Seeing so many posts people might just decide they don't want to read it all and they're too far behind to help you
- If this was a new topic you'd be stealing someone elses help

its a retail copy....same as the one i bought ..Day of release...doesn't anyone recall the retail game shipped without the Steam /drm/crap...and that there was a stealth update to the game?

That was version 1.1 ...the Game as Shipped. I still have the original version dated 11/11/11 and it does NOT require steam running and you can run the EXE at will.

As this is the truth ..i don't expect to get a warning ..

But ...on the Box it does state that Activation IS required to play , that would also include the CK they gifted us. And Activation requires a steam account.

@Xtynct: Understood. I will start a new topic from now on. I was thinking in a different direction. Thank you for taking the time to clarify that for me.

@ camaro-69_372: Interesting. Thanks for posting that. I am still going to the place I got my copy and see what they have to say. I don't want a stolen copy, if it turns out that's what it is.

Edited: Because I can't seem to post a comment without going back to edit some small thing.

Probably not so much "stolen" as "hacked" - I'm betting your version doesn't get paches, because you can only patch the game through Steam.

Even the Day of release copy had to install and create a STEAM account in order to activate the product -- the DISK was encrypted and needed to download some files from STEAM in order to decrypt the files that are on the DVD -- So without those you could not install which means one of 2 things --- either you did this without realizing it (in which case you are not so careful about what was installed) or you got a copy of the files that someone else had already decrypted in which case were using a pirated copy of the game ( the use of which is not allowed to be discussed on these forums)

Yes the DVD can be decrypted without using STEAM but doing so requires using a third party program that violates the Bethesda EULA and in order to continue to use the program after the patches requires running STEAM or Hacking the game executable to remove the STEAM DRM which also violates the EULA and is not allowed to be discussed on the forum -- So to answer your question YES STEAM IS REQUIRED TO PLAY THIS GAME --- Even though the original retail release states it is only used for activation they after the fact Bait and switched the product so that it requires you to always have steam running on the system in order to run the game even though the retail product clearly states that it is only required for activation !

Have you all forgotten? In the release version you could start TESV.exe and play the game, only SkyrimLauncher.exe checked for Steam.

This was fixed with the day one patch, but if you never connected to steam...


Edit: Oops, JDFan is right: you needed Steam to activate the game, but then you could start it without Steam.

You could start it and play, yes, but you still had to use the launcher for installation, which did the initial Steam verification.

you need to have a steam account and internet to install the game initially , but after that all you have to do is put steam in offline mode and it will run skyrim and the ck without the internet

The CK is only on steam, but you are not required to have steam in online mode to use it. You do need it online for any updates though. That being said, Steam isn't as bad as (formally I) some others made it out to be. As long as you don't do anything to get your account banned(which means you lose all your games) you're good to go.


Mass ninja'd. What I get for not reading the whole thread lol.

@ Redwood Elf: Ironically, I haven't yet even tried to update my game; I always like to wait through a few patches until things seem a little less hinky. I played TS3 at a friend's home (too $$ for me, and not one I want to own anyway) and was amazed at the fact that each patch broke as much as it fixed. So I always wait...otherwise I might have figured it out. *Might* have.

@ TerraNova: Regarding your edit, I suppose that's my fault, for not starting a new topic. I apologize.

My copy does have the language on the back of the box about needing Steam, now that I have checked, but I never even looked when I got it. Of the few games I have purchased, Morrowind and Oblivion were two, and I just couldn't wait to play Skyrim.

But I am dragging this out, so I will stop. Thank you all so much for your help. Now, I have a gaming shop to visit this morning, so off I go.