Just bought skyrim but one thing.

[Epyon#]

Will steam only let me use my cd key once or can i reinstall the game

if i reformat my computer? Can someone please let me know if the

cd key is usable only once? I really don't want to waste my money.

[Ark of Truth]

You can install as many times as you like.

[Epyon#]

Are you sure? because when i bought Dungeonsiege 3 for pc and it had a cd key and it also used

Steam. I reformatted my pc and i could no longer use the same cd key.

[Epyon#]

Hope you understand my skeptic criticism.

[EcIiptic]

I'm pretty sure you can always re-install it, as long as the account is the same.

I've restored my computer to factory condition multiple times and I've been able to do it... I'm always logged into the same account though.

Just make sure you know what account you put it on and it should recognize the game on that account.

[Ark of Truth]

Are you sure? because when i bought Dungeonsiege 3 for pc and it had a cd key and it also used

Steam. I reformatted my pc and i could no longer use the same cd key.

It depends if there is any 3rd party DRM. If that is the case with DS 3 just tell Steam and they can unlock the key again.

 

I normally uninstall all Steam games before formatting to unlock the keys and deactivate them again.

[Lagoon0654]

As others said, you can reinstall just fine. But if you do encounter an issue, All you have to do is contact their support.

 

By all, I mean have to make a seperate account just for their support system because for whatever reason they don't know how to tie together their userdata bases...

Don't mind me, just making a tiny rant because I had to deal with their support system once before, lol. Kind of a pain in the ass, but once you get your account details set up their support team is pretty top notch.

[Epyon#]

Thankyou.

[Deep Red]

I can totally understand the skepticism. I think I read somewhere that some games from either Origin or Blizzard have that "limited installations" crap going on where you're restricted to like 3 to 5 reinstallations before the game is deactivated, requiring you to contact the retailer and provide a "legit" reason for needing to install it again. Not sure if that's still going on or what, but that sounds like an amazing pain in the ass to go through. I can't say I've ever had a game where DRM goes overboard like that though. Steam is very relaxed in that manner, which is a big plus for me since I break Skyrim at least twice a month and need to reinstall every 2-3 months.

[Guest]

I can totally understand the skepticism. I think I read somewhere that some games from either Origin or Blizzard have that "limited installations" crap going on where you're restricted to like 3 to 5 reinstallations before the game is deactivated, requiring you to contact the retailer and provide a "legit" reason for needing to install it again. Not sure if that's still going on or what, but that sounds like an amazing pain in the ass to go through. I can't say I've ever had a game where DRM goes overboard like that though. Steam is very relaxed in that manner, which is a big plus for me since I break Skyrim at least twice a month and need to reinstall every 2-3 months.

 

It's Origin, I had that happen with Mass Effect 3 after installing 64 bit Windows 7 but it wasn't really a suprise because Origin was made by EA.

[Slammer64]

As far as I know, since I'm still new to Steam, you only need to put your CD key in ONCE and thereafter, unless there is some special DRM like the other posters mention, you can then install it as often as you like.

[Zquad1]

on steam when you are reinstalling you can choose to install from steam or from your CD, personally I prefer installing from the CD, it's sooooo much faster.