New Patch Locks Skyrim to Steam Forever and Ever
A new patch released on Steam binds Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim to Valve's service, preventing third-party mods.
When id Software released the first patch for RAGE on the PC, it seemed to calm the natives furious over several launch issues. Bethesda, on the other hand, launched its first update for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim for the PC and apparently created even more problems than before. In fact, 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.
But that's not the only issue. 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. However a new LAA workaround has been released that does the same thing without altering Skyrim's now-modified executable.
"Activating this made the game more stable, and meant it could support more mods and tweaks – including the fabled uGrids .ini file tinker that made the game’s icy landscapes look significantly more gorgeous," RPS reports. "Once Steam auto-updates Skyrim, that opportunity is dead. And we once again have a game that, for many of us, ignores most of our PCs’ memory. What a waste."
In related Skyrim news, one gamer located in Finland has discovered that the entire virtual world of Tamriel includes the landmasses from Morrowind and Oblivion. They were discovered after the player discovered a closed path at the archway of Stendarr's Beacon, the closest point to Morrowind. Curious, he used the noclip command to move past the invisible wall. The trail continued on for a bit until it thinned out with scaled down textures.
"Bethesda has made the landmass for Morrowind," he writes in a blog. "The entirety of Morrowind. Solstheim is there, the mainland is there, Vvardenfell is there. It’s all there. It’s scaled down slightly however, since the scaling in Morrowind, Skyrim, And Oblivion are all obscured towards each other. But it’s still very large."
To read the full blog, head here.
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Well, that's the first time I've heard of Steam making a game more crappy (MW2 excluded because it was like that from the start).
But really? I mean- how hard is it to enable modding in a Steam game? People do it to Half-Life 2 all the time, and one would expect that Skyrim would be the same way. You can have mods for Call of Duty 4 on Steam: why is this different?
I bet there will be a massive logout (to offline mode) spree before this update occurs when this news becomes more widespread, to prevent updating.
And rightfully so.
TL;DR:
Bethesda NEEDLESSLY gives PC gamers the middle finger.
Now this is crappy move, bethesda...
Guess I will be using the torrented version I downloaded when my new comp arrives on monday...
Hmmmmm Pretty fast....
If you don't run mods and just want to play the game, why would you care?
If you don't run mods and just want to play the game, why would you care?
And if you already got it via Steam
People, this update does not hinder "normal" game modification. Only those that mess with the executable. And since there was only one mod affected as of now, LAA, and there is already a alternative for that, whats the fuss and rage about?
whats the fuss and rage about?
Well, it also throws a wrench in the works of the OTHER mods currently in development; as I recall, there was already a Skyrim graphics extender mod, (to make the PC version not look so woefully dated and cut to console specs) and I was pretty sure that there's also a script extender in the works, just like how there was one for both Morrowind and Oblivion, that drastically increased the scripting programmability available in other mods.
A lot of mods need to modify the executable, or rely on other mods that do. (late in OB's lifespan, most good mods coming out REQUIRED use of the OBSE, which modified OB's executable) And before anyone tried to interject, no, the vast majority of people using these mods are using legit, non-pirated copies: with that much user-made content, $50US for a copy of the game is a steal anyway. And these mods I speak of do NOT aid in piracy of the game.
But, given BethSoft's choice to ignore the PC gamer in favor of the console kiddies, it's those third-party mods that make the game worth buying in the first place. Take most of them away... (or just delay a lot of them, as this will do) And that's a big middle finger to that entire market, and really hurts the justification for more people to buy. And do keep in mind that it's quite probable that Skyrim sold more on the PC than the Xbox 360; while Steam's exact sales figures weren't released, it is known that the game massively surpassed everything in Steam's history in terms of playing level, hitting 300,000 simultaneous players on simultaneously. (and even during slumps, hasn't dropped below 100k)
Lets all be glad it's not locked to origin.
gg, torrent suddenly looks more desirable before looking at the price
no hot coffee mods
!?!?!?! nooooooooooooo..... 
As long as my eyefinity fix keeps working, I'm not going to complain. I should, but I just love the game too much.
I am a consolegamer that wants to buy a gaming PC but even I can tell that devs are giving the middle finger to the PC community man. I love my ps3 and my Metal Gear Solid games but shit like this makes me think that those rumors that PC gaming is dying are not that far-fetched. Is not that PC gaming is dying more like someone is trying to kill it. I'm looking at you lazy devs.
What does the "more than 2GB" mod buy you?
What does the "more than 2GB" mod buy you?
The ability for the game's executable to address more than 2GB of RAM. Rather useful as I find the game to be quite RAM hungry
What does the "more than 2GB" mod buy you?
It's necessary to bump the graphics, ESPECIALLY the load/draw distances. If you pay close attention, you'll notice the game still has plenty of pop-in where it switches between low-detail "distance" stuff and full-detail "up-close" stuff.
To increase the distance where it loads the full-detail objects beyond the default (which is the only setting on the consoles) you need to allocate more RAM to the game than 2GB. The LAA patch is what makes this possible.
I think my game already got the patch. Does this mean I will not be able to play it in Offline mode any more? I would be ROYALLY pissed by that. From time to time I have found the Steam client to be unstable (even if it generally gets fixed), and I can't help but think maybe I should have pursued alternate methods of obtaining this game.
People, this update does not hinder "normal" game modification. Only those that mess with the executable. And since there was only one mod affected as of now, LAA, and there is already a alternative for that, whats the fuss and rage about?
is it possible for the community to fix bugs with this in place, like they did with oblivion?
lol, Bethesda
Bethsda should include support for more than 2GB of memory in another official patch. But then again, this is typical Bethsda, isn't it; they release a great game... and yet it's full of bugs and/or not properly optimized. Great, the game runs... CRASH! Awesome, it's up again... CRASH! One more restart; it's time to play again... CRASH! Yup. Great game, but their Quality Assurance is, well... not quite there.
Another reason why PC gaming is dying - I game mainly on a console now because I gbet fed up with STEAM requirements for most new games.
Steam is often slow to load games up... then it hogs bandwidth and resources running updates
The new workaround to enable SKyrim to see all your RAM works and all the mods that I got to enchance the visuals also work. There is absolutely no problem right now.
Just as the article points out, Bethesda made a small patch to simply make things harder, but its ok now.
Now that I think of it, it's kinda embarrassing that it's the year 2011, and BethSoft still makes Skyrim a 32-bit only game. Keep in mind that the LAA patch doesn't make the game use 64-bit addresses: it just ups it from 2GB to 4GB; the latter is the ultimate limit on 32-bit addresses.
is it possible for the community to fix bugs with this in place, like they did with oblivion?
It depends on the kind of bug. Most of the "bugs" found in the "unofficial Morrowind/Oblivion patch" mods are in-game content issues, such as a mis-aligned piece of architecture, (this was the source for >90% of the "thousands" of bugs OB's fan patch fixed) naming errors, etc. IIRC, the community patches for the game were entirely within the bounds of normal mods, and hence, yes, would work perfectly fine with this DRM in place.
Damnit. I specifically bought a physical copy of the game to avoid this nonsense.
So, THAT'S what happened! When you install the game it puts a shortcut on your desktop to steam, which take a few to load, then you can select your game, and it takes a while to load a splash screen, which then you can finally click "Play" and it will load your game... Or, a few weeks ago, you could just change the shortcut to point to TESV.exe and it would go right into the game (cut load time to about 1/4 of what it was) all of a suddden, now it loads that splash screen again asking if I really want to play. Sweet patch Bethesda, don't fix glitches or quest bugs, just your precious DRM. (and everyone on pirated version not affected... so that worked out well)
OH and I LOVE tha fact I didn't want to put steam on my PC forever, finally everyone talked me into it and I figured, what's the harm? 10 days later, steam sends an annoucement that their database was comprimised with credit card and password info being stolen... Wonder why people pirate stuff?
Damnit. I specifically bought a physical copy of the game to avoid this nonsense.
The more I read about the, the more disappointed I become. I mean seriously....I feel like I bought a Bugatti Veyron and now the dealer is slapping on a 55mph governor and welding the hood shut.
Damn you Bethesda, what in F are you doing?. Not buying this until they get is fixed. The PC version is the way to go because of the cool user mods.
Damnit. I specifically bought a physical copy of the game to avoid this nonsense.
That has always been in the back of my mind when using Steam. I like it and Valve has done a great job with the service, and I'm glad it's making gaming better in some ways, but I always worry that not actually owning the game is going to come back and bite me someday.
Well, it also throws a wrench in the works of the OTHER mods currently in development; as I recall, there was already a Skyrim graphics extender mod, (to make the PC version not look so woefully dated and cut to console specs) and I was pretty sure that there's also a script extender in the works, just like how there was one for both Morrowind and Oblivion, that drastically increased the scripting programmability available in other mods.A lot of mods need to modify the executable, or rely on other mods that do. (late in OB's lifespan, most good mods coming out REQUIRED use of the OBSE, which modified OB's executable) And before anyone tried to interject, no, the vast majority of people using these mods are using legit, non-pirated copies: with that much user-made content, $50US for a copy of the game is a steal anyway. And these mods I speak of do NOT aid in piracy of the game.But, given BethSoft's choice to ignore the PC gamer in favor of the console kiddies, it's those third-party mods that make the game worth buying in the first place. Take most of them away... (or just delay a lot of them, as this will do) And that's a big middle finger to that entire market, and really hurts the justification for more people to buy. And do keep in mind that it's quite probable that Skyrim sold more on the PC than the Xbox 360; while Steam's exact sales figures weren't released, it is known that the game massively surpassed everything in Steam's history in terms of playing level, hitting 300,000 simultaneous players on simultaneously. (and even during slumps, hasn't dropped below 100k)
i persoanlly hated the oblivion script extender and never cared for the mods that used it ( who needs to watch two game characters hump each other? or any of teh toerh frivilous animatiosn that OBSE opened up). again back to why i hated tehs cript extender , it was buggy was cosntantly gettign updated so you had to constantly re download your mods that used , it and it was generally a head ache for mods that were really not addign that much to the game in the first place. (or mods that changed the delicately crafted atmoshpere that the developers made, such as oblivion's weather mod) in genrally they werent always sueful mods and the few i did care aobut annoyed teh piss out of me taht they used the extender which always gave me hell.
Further more the game still allows mods , so this article is totally misleading.
Oh give it time someone will have a hack to get rid of Steam off TESV.
Modding is what makes Elder Scrolls fun. It adds things to the game and makes it more of an enjoyable experience.
P.S. quit calling people console kiddies , the statistics show most console gamers are 18-35 not kids.
(i game on pc and console , (pc more though) but palygina consoela dn enjoyign ti deosn't make me a kid