Hi!

I preordered Skyrim yesterday on PC (I recently built a monster machine, but without any dvd drive because I hate disc and mainly run on Steam games).

But when I woke up this morning I realized how dumb I am : I did not even think about the fact that the game might need the disk to be played!

Do you know if the game would work without the dvd or not?

(I won't play I pirated copy just because I don't own a dvd drive hell no. I would simply buy myself a dvd drive)

Thanks!

@TomShreds: No DVD in drive required. It will work like other steam games. Punch in the code and it will download. The DVD simply would speed up the install.

Also welcome to Giant Bomb. Good Luck Have Batman!

It uses SteamWorks, so after you have installed it it will be in your Steam-list and you can download and play it, without disks, like any other Steam-game.

Why not get Skyrim through Steam as well then? Anyway, maybe Steam will let you load up the serial to download it from there anyway.

@Wuddel: But I preordered a physical copy of the game, NOT the steam version because I wanted the map and the steel case with it :-/ Thanks for the welcome, giantbomb looks AWESOME!

@tineyoghurt: So If I understand right, the DVD version will install itself in my Steam games?

@Vodun: ^^ Like I said I wanted the extra stuff.

@TomShreds said:

@Wuddel: But I preordered a physical copy of the game, NOT the steam version because I wanted the map and the steel case with it :-/ Thanks for the welcome, giantbomb looks AWESOME!

The physical copy of the game will come with a steam key.. so it doesnt really matter.

@emergency: WOOT!!! Super awesome! Thanks!!!! I LOVE STEAM!

@TomShreds: You can probably just punch in the serial key you get with the physical copy into steam and it'll add it to your list and you'll be able to download it.

@TomShreds said:

@tineyoghurt: So If I understand right, the DVD version will install itself in my Steam games?

@Vodun: ^^ Like I said I wanted the extra stuff.

Yes.

@SaFt: Do you think I'll be able to install it from a network share I'll make on my LAN and then add it in Steam or I will have to download it even if I have the installation locally?

@TomShreds: I'm not sure, but it's worth a try i guess?

Altough if you have an older computer with a DVD-drive, why not just remove it from the old one and put it into your new one.

@TomShreds said:

@emergency: WOOT!!! Super awesome! Thanks!!!! I LOVE STEAM!

I love it, too.

@TomShreds said:

@SaFt: Do you think I'll be able to install it from a network share I'll make on my LAN and then add it in Steam or I will have to download it even if I have the installation locally?

To install the game you will need to be connected to the internet. You will launch steam, login and authentiate. Then it will take the data from the disc, just like installing any other game. It'll probably automatically start to download the Day One patch aswell. Then if you want to play it offline after that you need to run steam in an offline mode, and you should be grand. If you have an internet connection then there should be no worries.

how did you install windows with out an optical driver.

i just built a monster PC myself and for the sake of about £12 i though it was worth having.

@jetsetwillie: I did myself a USB install of it, pretty simple to do with Windows 7 [ref: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/dd535816.aspx]

@emergency: The problem is that it won't be a real DVD inside a DVD Drive, it will be a mounted laptop dvd drive on the network. (Or maybe I'll create an ISO image I'll try to work it out).

@SaFt: I don't have any, all I have besides my PC is a laptop.

@jetsetwillie: You can install windows 7 and up off of a usb drive.

@TomShreds said:

@Wuddel: But I preordered a physical copy of the game, NOT the steam version because I wanted the map and the steel case with it :-/ Thanks for the welcome, giantbomb looks AWESOME!

"looks" Looks? LOOKS!? IT IS AWESOME MISTER, REDACT THAT STATEMENT AND ISSUE THE CORRECT ONE MISTER!!!

@Zidd said:

@jetsetwillie: You can install windows 7 and up off of a usb drive.

But how do you get windows 7 from the DVD to the usb drive?

@Jams: You have to use a computer with a dvd drive to make the USB key I suppose you could probably also download the files from your favorite copyright anarchist website to use along with your genuine product key.

@Zidd said:

@Jams: You have to use a computer with a dvd drive to make the USB key I suppose you could probably also download the files from your favorite copyright anarchist website to use along with your genuine product key.

sounds like a lot of arseing around for the sake of saving £15.

@jetsetwillie: In my case I just used my macbook pro to make the disc. You could also use a friends computer. Installing windows 7 off of USB is a lot faster than installing off a disc so there IS benefit to doing it in the first place.

@Zidd: Installing Win7 is pretty fast though. Under 30mins for me. I didn't time it, but it felt like 15mins. It may be faster on usb, but you have to include the time it takes to rip the DVD and put it on the usb as install time.

@Jams: it takes about 7 minutes to install off of USB and I don't count the preparation time for the key because its reusable once you make it.

Okay I corrected myself: GIANTBOMB ROCKS! Except for the 5 posts / day rules for newcomers :'(

The Win7 usb thing takes about 10 mins if you're agile with a computer and windows...

@TomShreds said:

Okay I corrected myself: GIANTBOMB ROCKS! Except for the 5 posts / day rules for newcomers :'(

The Win7 usb thing takes about 10 mins if you're agile with a computer and windows...

Welcome to the forums.

Yeah, Win 7 off of USB is the way to go. I keep a copy on a USB drive because I have 4 computers that I use regularly. Two of them are laptops without optical drives and when I was working in the desktop about a year ago I forgot to reconnect the DVD drive and haven't bothered to fix it. I never use optical media anymore so there wasn't much of a point. Optical drives in laptops mostly seem silly these days. It's just extra weight and thickness for a device that rarely gets used anymore. That one USB stick will let me reinstall Windows or repair it if necessary on all of those machines.

I can understand how ppl can live without an optical reader but I could not live without a DVD burner. Flash memory isn't that cheap yet.

@Zidd said:

@Jams: You have to use a computer with a dvd drive to make the USB key I suppose you could probably also download the files from your favorite copyright anarchist website to use along with your genuine product key.

Digital River and other MS partners offer MS products as images you can download. The digital version from my work place, for employees, is $10 USD for a download, and $29.99 for the retail set.

I can confirm that the PC retail game comes with a Steam code and you don't actually need to put the disc in the tray, ever. In fact, when I inserted it and tried to install it, I straight up could not because it said the game was not released yet. But I COULD pre-load it from Steam. Which is ridiculous, but whatever.

Steam is really flexible and you can install the game on your laptop, then copy over the entire game folder to your gaming PC's steam folder via the network. Go to download the game on Steam on your gaming computer, and it will recognize you already have it, verify the files, and (hopefully) let you play without redownloading everything.