dealing with steam issues and taking control of patches

[tsais]

I think Skyrim is a great game, kudos to the creative team.

For me at least, on the PC, the number of bugs are acceptable for a 1.0 version, I've seen worse.

 

Where I must scold Bethesda management is forcing us to use Steam. There's several things wrong with Steam:

 

1) Eliminates the consumer's right to pass the game to their nephew when they're done with it, unless they make a separate new steam account for every game they buy.

 

2) Steam's offline mode is unreliable, many people can't get it to work; you may not be able to play your game without internet. Stupid, since there's no multi-player function whatsoever.

 

3) Unless you take the precautions listed below, you loose control over what patches you want to install or avoid.

 

4) If you buy the game in the U.S. and god forbid, you travel overseas, Steam will not let you play the game you paid for, cause you're in a different "region" This insanity goes even beyond the region locking of DVD movies, cause I can still watch my movies as long as I play them on my own laptop, which matches the region I bought my DVD's in. Steam just uses your current IP address, so if you go anywhere, you're instantly up sh*t creek.

 

:wallbash:

 

Skyrim's 1.2 patch makes a perfect example for the need to control what patches you install. For most people it broke more things than it fixed. A lot of people are now unable to kill dragons at all, cause they fly backwards and away, which kinda takes away the headline feature of this game.

 

:facepalm:

 

 

How to take control of patching:

 

1) If you already installed Steam, uninstall it and delete the Steam folder or rename it to something like "steam-old" then re-install Steam.

2] After installing, run it, let it update itself as needed, register Skyrim (if you haven't) but don't install the game yet.

3] Tell Steam to save your account info and password, then tell it to go into offline mode.

4] While you're still on the internet, test if it starts properly in offline mode, then close it again.

5] Disconnect internet and/or block both Steam executables with your firewall.

6] Install Skyrim version 1.0 from your DVD.

7] before letting Steam online again, backup your entire Skyrim folder from ..\steam\steamapps\common\ to another location, like C:\program files\games\skyrim or write it to DVD or external hard drive, however you wish.

8] best also zip up TESV.exe and call it TESV 1.0.zip

9] plug your internet back in, allow steam through your firewall again, start it and let it patch. It will only patch the Skyrim version under the Steam directory.

10] if you have trouble with version 1.2 breaking the game, or Steam is giving you headaches with offline mode later, you can simply run Skyrim by executing the backed up, original, unpatched 1.0 version of TESV.exe from your backup folder, do not use the launcher.

 

Note that patch 1.1 only altered TESV.exe, while patch 1.2 alters something else as well, so if you need to fall back to 1.0, you need to run it from the folder where you backed up all the files. (running a second copy from a different folder will still access the same settings and savegames, so it will be completely transparent to use)

 

Since version 1.0 was still fair in not forcing you into using steam except for initial registration, it will not only help avoid the bugs introduced with 1.2 but also allow you to play without internet connection, as well as when you're traveling.

 

 

Personally, I'm pretty annoyed at being forced to put Steam on my computer, as I had said good riddance to them many years ago. So I wish to send the following message to those responsible at Bethesda: If your next game uses Steam again, I will not buy it anymore. You're punishing your paying customers to prevent piracy and force patches. Obviously, forced patches are a bad idea, especially when Steam does everything to prevent you from reverting to an older, potentially less buggy version. Secondly, you're just going to anger your paying customers. End result as usual is this: honest people who purchase your game get a severely handicapped copy, while the dishonest ones suffer no inconveniences. Looks backwards to me. I want you to earn your money, so you can make future games for us, but please find a less annoying copy protection scheme and stick to a voluntary patch system...

Edited December 1, 2011 by tsais

[Sokarix]

Yeah I'm done with them, never buying from them again. I'll just pirate their next games if I have to deal with this. I paid $65 for a game that I have no control over. It's all there on my computer, but their actions are blocking me from my owned property, how fair is that? Edited December 1, 2011 by Sokarix