Okay, so I'm thinking about purchasing a hard copy of FO: NV from a store, and I'm just wondering if Steam enters the picture at all. Because from what I understand, you only have to deal with Steam if you digitally purchased New Vegas. Some enlightening on this question would be great. :]

I have a physical copy and still need to go through Steam.

Yes, steam. Its been a pain for alot of people.

Steam is required for all PC copies of New Vegas, digital and physical.

Steam is the Digital Rights Management and patch/content delivery system.

Steam must be installed and remain installed for the game to work, but you don't have to be online once activation is completed (except for patching).

Okay, good to know. I'm not much of a PC gamer (360 is my main console), but I want to take advantage of the various mods out there. How come Steam has been a pain for people, though?

Not everyone has a good internet connection.

I wonder that myself. I've been using Steam since it was released, and I haven't had a single problem with it for a very long time. I've got 150 or so games on Steam, and they're always ready and waiting for me with no fuss.

Basically, you have to be logged into the internet for Steam to work, so if you don't have a fairly solid internet connection, you may have some problems.

Personally, I've been using Steam for a little over a year now and have never had any problems with it.

so in other words, steam is a mixed bag depending on various different factors that may or may not be controllable. i have a good internet connection, though, so i shouldn't have an issue there.

This my only problem with Steam, you need internet to get the patches

Only problem i've had is that it chews up my processing power.

Although my computer svcks so bad.

There were some problems when Steam first came out. Heck, the Friends feature didn't even work for a good 2 years before they finally fixed it. A lot of its bad reputation is left over from the early, shaky days. It's come a long way since then, but obviously, as with any software, some people are still going to run into problems.

The good news is that the Steam forums are very active and there are some very helpful people who frequent the boards just for the purpose of making your experience a better one, should you have problems.

I'm a middle-aged old fart who doesn't like the digital trend, so I resist things like Steam. But I gritted my teeth and installed it (first time since Half-Life2) again for NV. It's somewhat improved from the early days and hasn't given me too much trouble personally. I did buy the digital download version because I figured since I had to have Steam anyway, why bother with a disc.

But yes, there are still people in the world with slow 'net connections etc. Also, the forced downloading of patches with no easy way to revert back to a non-patched version if you wish is something I consider be an infringement on my ability to play the game I purchased in the manner I desire. I used to keep all the patch versions for Diablo2 so I could play that game with all its different incarnations. Can't do that with Steam. But, sigh, welcome to the new world of gaming.

well, i plan on installing New Vegas on my laptop, and im on the second floor of my house and the modem is downstairs. my laptop also apparently is able to run fallout 3 smoothly (looking up requirements confirmed this), so New Vegas shouldn't be an issue. who knows. most likely, when i get the damned thing, and if im having issues, i guess i'll know why :shrug:

@ LadyCrimson: Your latter reason is why I tend to avoid PC gaming, but for New Vegas I'm making an exception because I want to try and make a machinima in addition to having access to a large array of mods. I do remember hearing that Steam was pretty bad in its early days, though, so it's good to know it's improved since its inception.

If you buy the physical copy, you will be able to install from the disc and forgo the long download. You will need to be signed into your Steam account before you install, but after that it will install from the disc. Then, you'll only need to download the patches (small download), and you'll be able to play offline if you want.

Playing offline will disable achievements, though, if that is something that interests you.

Enforced patches aren't (or weren't) common to singleplayer PC gaming. It's mostly Steam (or similar services) or always-online games that tend to make worldwide changes at a constant rate, that do that.
Also, my digital download copy has no issues with mods/GECK etc, so no concern there if you're wondering. The mods do make the game much more fun/long-lived, imo.


Yes, that's a reason for many. Also ISP download limits are another valid reason. Don't have limits and my connection had me ready to play in an hour, tho, so it's not that big a deal. And later you can 'backup' your Steam game and reinstall from that so no big download (tho you do have to be in 'online mode' to do it), which means only thing you have to download are the patches.

If you're curious, you can download Steam from Steampowered.com, then select a demo or two to download and try out.

Good chance you'll find any serious problems you may have with Steam itself by doing that.

There's a setting that will prevent automatic updating.... but it seems to "forget" that it was set to it a lot. An awful lot. With patches sometimes making things worse instead of better, automatic updating is something that should never be forced, especially for a single-player offline game.

that actually sounds like a pretty good idea, i hadn't thought about that. i'mma get on that right now...

Can only speak for NV since I have no other Steam game, but this ability has never worked for me. I think as soon as you go back online (or a game crashes, maybe) it reverts to default setting, which means auto-patching since you can't get to the menu option to disable it fast enough. heh

the only thing i'm worried about is the game itself acting up and being dumb. with the xbox 360 version, I've had very little issues save for freezing in one spot, and the occasional radscorpion/other miscellaneous creature being stuck in the ground. hopefully there won't be any problems with the PC version I get, knock on wood.

I make a backup of the launcher and main executable each time there is a patch. I can revert to that if I have to. ESM/ESP updates and I can always fix myself in the GECK if something goes wrong.

NV is the single [and resentful] reason that I have Steam installed ~when I uninstall that, Steam is as good as gone.
(The three other games that I have I'll abandon; or possibly buy again in the non Steam version).

well ive downloaded Steam. tried out two demos (Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light and Mafia II), and the download time wasnt that bad for me at all and everything ran smoothly. It's good to know that New Vegas' downloading time won't be that long considering I'll be doing a hard install.