Why do you want to install it from disk exactly?

The Serpent Rider wrote on 2022-05-15, 03:59:

Why do you want to install it from disk exactly?

Because I can't get steam working on XP to install it 🙁

Steam and XP

The Serpent Rider wrote on 2022-05-15, 04:35:

Steam and XP

Trying to avoid steam if possible but if there is no way then I'll give this a try. Thank you!

If you want to avoid Steam client, just hack or download the game you know where. Better that trying to install unpatched Bugrim from disks.

You can probably use sisinstall to unpack the game from disc but it's likely more trouble than it's worth, do the following instead:
Don't ask for where to find sisinstall or steamless here.

For the original version of Skyrim:
1. Install the game on Steam on a OS supported by Steam
2. Run steamless on the Skyrim and Skyrim launcher executable to remove the steam requirement
3. Copy the game and executables to XP
4. Change the below location to where skyrim is and import the registry on the XP machine.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Bethesda Softworks\Skyrim]
"installed path"="E:\\Skyrim\\"
5. Play the game

DosFreak wrote on 2022-05-15, 10:12:

You can probably use sisinstall to unpack the game from disc but it's likely more trouble than it's worth, do the following inst […]
Show full quote

You can probably use sisinstall to unpack the game from disc but it's likely more trouble than it's worth, do the following instead:
Don't ask for where to find sisinstall or steamless here.

For the original version of Skyrim:
1. Install the game on Steam on a OS supported by Steam
2. Run steamless on the Skyrim and Skyrim launcher executable to remove the steam requirement
3. Copy the game and executables to XP
4. Change the below location to where skyrim is and import the registry on the XP machine.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Bethesda Softworks\Skyrim]
"installed path"="E:\\Skyrim\\"
5. Play the game

Thank you very much for your help, this seems like a much easier way of getting it done than dealing with sisinstaller. I'll give it a shot and see how I go. I have a fair few games that I used to play on my xp machine back in the day and sure, I could run them on my modern machine, but that's not fun!

DosFreak wrote on 2022-05-15, 10:12:

For the original version of Skyrim: 1. Install the game on Steam on a OS supported by Steam 2. Run steamless on the Skyrim and S […]
Show full quote

For the original version of Skyrim:
1. Install the game on Steam on a OS supported by Steam
2. Run steamless on the Skyrim and Skyrim launcher executable to remove the steam requirement
3. Copy the game and executables to XP
4. Change the below location to where skyrim is and import the registry on the XP machine.

So i managed to get everything running, but for some reason the launcher crashes upon startup, with a send/don't send error report, so I am unable to change any settings and I am stuck running it in a tiny window as well.

My workaround was using the settings on my main PC from the ini file and copying that over to the XP machine, this allowed me to launch the game in full-screen and with preset graphics settings. Though it would be nice to be able to use the launcher and change settings on the fly if required.

Any idea what might be causing this or is this just something that "it is what it is" when using steamless?

Thank you so much again, this has been so helpful!

The launcher can crash for various reasons. If you don't want to use a different configuration program like notepad,Bethini or the like you can try installing the older ver of the visual c++ 2010 redist in the vcredist folder.

Wasn't retail Skyrim a GFWL game? BTW it's technically not XP era. Skyrim released in 2011 november and XP mainstream support ended as well as Win7 released in 2009.

Edit:
Oh, yes it seems it was GFWL, but required Steam too.

DosFreak wrote on 2022-05-16, 04:06:

The launcher can crash for various reasons. If you don't want to use a different configuration program like notepad,Bethini or the like you can try installing the older ver of the visual c++ 2010 redist in the vcredist folder.

Thank you again so much for the help, I am happy to just edit the ini file in notepad rather than messing further, just glad it's all running 😀

RandomStranger wrote on 2022-05-16, 05:50:

Wasn't retail Skyrim a GFWL game? BTW it's technically not XP era. Skyrim released in 2011 november and XP mainstream support ended as well as Win7 released in 2009.

I know it technically isn't but I still had XP at the time it was released, I'm just doing it to chase that nostalgia high ya know? hahaha