moho25 Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 I'm a relatively casual gamer. I picked up Oblivion a little over a year ago and loved it, modded it, had a ton of fun with it, and have been counting the days for Skyrim's release, looking forward to how much better the graphics will be, and hoping that Bethesda corrected the mistakes in Skyrim that they made to Oblivion. I excitedly pre-ordered my copy from GameStop last week. As I've started to read up on what info is available for the game (avoiding spoilers), I'm finding some scattered info about Steam and "Steamworks". Amazingly enough, I can't seem to find anything about this on he official Skyrim site, but, am I correct in deriving that Skyrim is going to actually require Steam? In other words, I won't be able to bring the game home and install it on my computer without also having to install Steam, which I don't use for anything else, and which won't do anything but clutter up my hard drive and registry? I'm aware you can play in some sort of offline mode, but does this client/program need to run whenever I play the game? The whole reason that I buy hard copies of games is to avoid this entire situation. It's a single player game. If I even concede to the necessity of DRM, I shouldn't ever need the internet except for a simple, quick online activation. Wth? Sigh. I'm so blazing ticked/disappointed about this right now, that I'm seriously considering canceling my pre-order. This is the same BS as Apple trying to shove a software service down your throat just to use their piece of hardware (which, admittedly, imo is pretty awesome). My intention is to not turn this thread into a pro/con Steam thread. I don't know anything about Steam short of the fact that I don't appreciate being required to use a secondary service to play a game that I just bought. So, no trolls or fanboys, please. However, I would like to like to hear from some folks that aren't huge fans of Steam and that tolerate it anyway. Here are some questions: 1. I just bought a brand new gaming/work laptop and am trying very hard to keep it as uncluttered as possible. Having to deal with Steam was not in my plan. What are the common problems that you have had and that I might experience? 2. How invasive is it on your system -- like iTunes10Kregistryentries invasive? 3. How much does it slow down your machine? RAM usage?4. Does wired/wireless network make a difference? 5. Does it need to authenticate every time you start up the game? Or...6. Can I actually play with the service never running, once I activate the game for the first time (short of downloading a patch, etc)? 7. I will likely mod the game and have read about previous problems. Do people expect this to happen again?8. If Steam's service goes down, does that mean I won't be able to play the game, even though I bought my own physical copy?9. Are there any other important pieces of info that I might want to take into consideration?10. Besides a console version, do I have any other options? I appreciate any feedback. Thanks much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hector530 Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 Steam doesn't affect modding just look new vegas nexus. Steam doesn't take a lot of ram no where near what google chrome takes. Steam has to run to run the game it doesn't have be online after you sign in. And I've had no problems with steam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moho25 Posted November 2, 2011 Author Share Posted November 2, 2011 Steam doesn't affect modding just look new vegas nexus. Steam doesn't take a lot of ram no where near what google chrome takes. Steam has to run to run the game it doesn't have be online after you sign in. And I've had no problems with steam Appreciate the information. To clarify, I haven't played New Vegas, or any other game that has required Steam. I can count the number of computer games I have played on one hand, lol (Torchlight, Trine, WoW, Oblivion, and Mass Effect 2). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edlennion Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 Hi, I don't use Steam much (limited bandwidth so I stick to physical discs), but it's really not a problem for me. I can't answer all of these, but I'll try: 1. Never had any problems - works fine2. I've never noticed it being invasive, but I haven't really checked. If you don't have it to start on start-up then you don't notice it3. I don't know exact figures, but it doesn't seem to slow down my computer at all. I only have it running when I'm playing4. Don't know - it should only depend on network speed (wireless tend to be slower/have more latency issues)5. If you play in offline mode, then it doesn't have to authenticate. You'll only need to be online when you first register the game. Then you can set Steam to load in offline mode, so it won't authenticate when you start up6. Games are loaded via Steam - when you load the game, Steam also has to load first, but again, if you're in offline mode this doesn't matter7. No idea8. You can do it in offline mode, so the service being down doesn't matter9. None I can think of10. No, I don't think so, you'll need Steam to activate the game when you first install it. I agree with you that it's really annoying when a game requires a third-party program to run, but Steam's really not a problem. I don't notice it's there unless I load it up to play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sesom Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 Steam doesn't affect modding just look new vegas nexus. I have different perspective on this point. Some examples: File paths get unnecessary long and complicated because of steam. Even if I start Steam in Offline mode it let me wait about a minute to connect my account (interesting how steam wants to connect me without internet connection, I know collecting data for the next online session takes a bit...). Because of steam I have to use the splash screen starter. All of these "features" take a lot of time if I have to get in and out of the game for testing. Working on a mod is a pain this way. That's why I develop the update for my slavery system still in FO3 and maybe port it to "New Vegas". Sure working with "unofficial" versions would prevent this troubles. But I refuse to do this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rydan Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 According to what I've heard about Steam (from forums and blogs), it uses around 5-15 MB RAM when minimized to system tray, 40-60 MB RAM when open in taskbar, and up to 1 or more hundreds of MB when using the store (downloading games). Also there should be an option called "Run Steam when Windows starts" to allow/disallow Steam from starting. That said, I don't have Steam installed on my pc... yet. Thank you, Bethesda.....*sarcasm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anandus Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 Slightly offtopic:Steam doesn't affect modding just look new vegas nexus. I have different perspective on this point. Some examples: File paths get unnecessary long and complicated because of steam. Well that depends where you put the game ofcourse.I have most of my games in C:\Steam\$gamename (eg. C:\Steam\Fallout New Vegas). Tip: Use Steamtool to put games in custom directories.Because of steam I have to use the splash screen starter.That is not true.You don't have to use the launcher. But if you start the game from within Steam, then it'll use the launcher, but if you just use the normal exe you're allright :)Just make a shortcut to the normal exe (eg. fallouNV.exe instead of FalloutNVLauncher.exe).I believe it's not different when using non-Steam Fallout?All of these "features" take a lot of time if I have to get in and out of the game for testing. Working on a mod is a pain this way.I disagree with you on this point as well, to me it's not slower (or faster) than a non-Steam game. But apparently milage varies? :)------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A bit more ontopic:When you've installed Steam you might want to go into settings and turn ads off (of you want), some people don't like it.(Me on te other hand don't want to miss a sale and don't find them very intrusive). Another tip:You can make sure you'll always be offline if you simply block Steam in your firewall, this way you can always use Steam in offline mode. A last tip:Steam might grow on you and you might actually like it :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evilllamas Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 (edited) I'v never had any problems with steam... an extra 4 seconds waiting to get in to your game seems like a very juvanile reason to not buy a game. Edited November 2, 2011 by Evilllamas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macole Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 So unless Steam can be deleted from my PC once it is used to authenticate my game disc I am permanetly saddled with a potential trojan. This along with other concerns is making me very uneasy. It is certainly not a trojan and I think it's offensive to paint it with that brush. In fact spreading such rumors without proof comes very close to advocating piracy, which is a bannable offense here. -myrmaad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fatalmasterpiece Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 Steam doesn't work for a lot of people including myself. My updating doesn't function and I've tried every fix from replacing exe to other files to firewalls which I don't have. Not to mention the only internet connection I have is on my smartphone. Steam is a joke and an insult to legit customers. I would also cancel my preorder if I didn't love Bethesda games so much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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