Steam activation

I bought the retail version and installed on my latop with no issue.

I then activated it through steam as I would like to be able to play with out the disc in the drive.

Activation went fine but now it says it is downloading.

Does that mean downloading onto my latop? If so i don't need that particulary as I have a weak internet signal.

It means it's downloading the patches.

I have already patched up before activating through steam.

Plus I have it set not to update automatically.

It says it is updating and it is downloading a file 2,350Mb in size. What is this file. Is it on of the patches or is it downloading the whole game again.

It's downloading the game from Steam's servers. When you installed the game for the first time it gave you a choice between 'offline' and 'Steam' and you probably chose offline. Steam keeps everything in it's own folders and won't see you old installation. One thing that could work out quicker for you is to backup your savegame, uninstall the game, reinstall from the disk choosing Steam this time and then update the game from Steam.

Thanks, i'll try that. What I want is to be able to install the game from the retail dvd I purchased but then be able to play it without the DVD by activating through steam.

That worked. I uninstalled the game then reinstalled using the steam option. The first part was installed from disc and now it is updating across steam.

How big are the updates?

So far it has downloaded 70mb from steam.