New Patch Locks Skyrim to Steam Forever

[Fooz]

i just read this and thought some of you might want to see it

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Skyrim-Morrowind-Oblivion-Elder-Scrolls-Steam,14068.html

Thoughts?

EDIT: im not saying this article is true, tbh i hardly understood it, it just seemed like it might be important, glad it isnt

 

[Spencer Petersen]

Beware the sensationalism!

First: "it has reportedly locked the game's executable to Valve's Steam service forever and ever, preventing the just-released RPG from running on its own"
That sentence is essentially meaningless. Modding does nothing to the executable file, it only affects the data folder the game grabs it assets from as well as .esp and .esm files inside the folder. Mods still work with mod managers on top of Steam, much like how Oblivion, FO3 and NV all did.

Second: "Gamers are complaining that the new 18 MB patch has broken the unofficial "large address aware" third-party patch that allowed Bethesda's RPG to use more memory than 2 GB, support more modifications, and reportedly resolved crashing issues and texture corruption problems."
Remember that the rule of game modifications is that you must tailor your mod to fit the official product, it is not the other way around. Every time a game is patched the modding community needs to retest and recode any mods so they work with it, the developers should never have to work around third party mods when releasing official patches.

I'm reminded exactly like whenever Minecraft gets updated people need to reinstall a lot of their third party mods because the changes may collide with them. Its common practice, and I have a strong suspicion this article is fanboy-baiting.

 

[KarlMonster]

I'm disappointed with Tom's Hardware for printing that. They don't reference a source for the... first two thirds of the article. There's been no comment from Bedhedsda yet - or any serious indication that there is even anything to discuss. They just wasted column inches for some kid FRAPSing a noclip moment.

There's only a handful of things that are 'locked' on Steam, owing to the mechanics of their update system. Steam always updates to the latest version - but Steam usually takes longer to get the same patch out. If Bedhedsda decided to 'roll back' part of a patch, that would eventually apply to Steam users to.

Article doesn't make sense.

 

[Ilikemilkshake]

Beware the sensationalism!

First: "it has reportedly locked the game's executable to Valve's Steam service forever and ever, preventing the just-released RPG from running on its own"
That sentence is essentially meaningless. Modding does nothing to the executable file, it only affects the data folder the game grabs it assets from as well as .esp and .esm files inside the folder. Mods still work with mod managers on top of Steam, much like how Oblivion, FO3 and NV all did.

Second: "Gamers are complaining that the new 18 MB patch has broken the unofficial "large address aware" third-party patch that allowed Bethesda's RPG to use more memory than 2 GB, support more modifications, and reportedly resolved crashing issues and texture corruption problems."
Remember that the rule of game modifications is that you must tailor your mod to fit the official product, it is not the other way around. Every time a game is patched the modding community needs to retest and recode any mods so they work with it, the developers should never have to work around third party mods when releasing official patches.

I'm reminded exactly like whenever Minecraft gets updated people need to reinstall a lot of their third party mods because the changes may collide with them. Its common practice, and I have a strong suspicion this article is fanboy-baiting.

The thing is, yes devs shouldnt have to work around mods, but this patch doesnt patch anything... this wont combat piracy at all, all it is doing is stoping legitimate customers from using a mod which makes the game run better. And frankly its ridiculous that such a mod is even needed anyway, this is 2011, games should be able to use more than 2gb of ram without having to mod!

 

[Vegosiux]

"Forever and ever"? Are they seriously claiming someone made a software change that cannot be reversed? What are they smoking?

 

[Ruwrak]

I don't get it. It get's locked to steam. . . So?
I never run something outside steam anyways. And you can still use mods while having it launched via steam right? (I have the xbox version, but experience tells me that I will be having it on the pc as well... sigh x3 )

 

[repeating integers]

just use a pirated version, it should fix the problems, im not encouraging piracy its just if you already bought the game and it has a few bugs which doenst exist in a pirated version then there shouldnt be a problem using a pirated version.
personally I dont care Im not short on memory of any kind and I already used a third party patch to make graphics pretty...

I'm pretty sure advising him to use a pirated version is definitionally encouraging piracy.

 

[Vegosiux]

just use a pirated version, it should fix the problems, im not encouraging piracy its just if you already bought the game and it has a few bugs which doenst exist in a pirated version then there shouldnt be a problem using a pirated version.
personally I dont care Im not short on memory of any kind and I already used a third party patch to make graphics pretty...

I'm pretty sure advising him to use a pirated version is definitionally encouraging piracy.

I think the question is "Is it piracy if you crack the game you paid for?", but I agree with the sentiment, you don't want to go talking about it carelessly.

 

[Wuggy]

[EDIT]

 

[Rawne1980]

Second: "Gamers are complaining that the new 18 MB patch has broken the unofficial "large address aware" third-party patch that allowed Bethesda's RPG to use more memory than 2 GB, support more modifications, and reportedly resolved crashing issues and texture corruption problems."

Oh no, gamers are complaining. Whatever shall we do.

I know, crazy idea but how about the guys that made the original mod update it...

http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=1013

You mean they did?

How shocking.

This is what irritates me about people that use mods but don't make them ... or leeches as they are known ... they expect us to fix everything while they sit there and moan about it.

And thats why a few modders have stopped putting their mods up for public download and keep them private.