1. Can I run the game by itself without having to launch Steam first? If not, is it possible to play the game completely offline so I don't have to mess with logging in every time I play? Do my saved games get saved to my hard drive, or are they stored by Steam?

2. How do I tell which version of the game I have within Steam? I don't see this information. It said it finished installing, but I don't know if that included all the updates.

Thanks.

Edit: I just found a way to create a shortcut to F:NV on my desktop. Does this bypass Steam, or does it just bypass having to open Steam and *then* click Play for the game?

Also, I have chosen to deactivate the "Steam community" during gameplay. Is this the right thing to do if I want to remain offline? I also noticed an option to keep the game synchronized with the Steam cloud. Does this store my saved games on the cloud instead of on my HDD, or as a back up?

Finally, I tried clicking on the "view update history" link in the game options, but this just took me to the News page for future DLC, not for my current update history.

I want to create as much of an offline experience as possible.

Why do people hate steam so much?

It's actually convenient, the only problems I have with it are the fact that you need to be online to verify most things, and that it's just another program running in the background eating up processing power and memory.

Well, I don't especially care for having to log in to a service just to play a game I already bought. Not only does it feel like an obstacle to simply playing my game, but it also opens up my games to be hacked, since it's yet another account with a username and password to keep track of.

But I'd prefer this thread not turn into a discussion of Steam. Hopefully someone can answer the questions I asked.

To actually answer the question:

Can I run the game by itself without having to launch Steam first? No.

If not, is it possible to play the game completely offline so I don't have to mess with logging in every time I play? Yes. Steam has an offline mode. Steam interface/game launcher etc. will still be running, it just won't be connected/go online. This is also useful when you don't want to auto-download a patch for a while.

Do my saved games get saved to my hard drive, or are they stored by Steam? Hard drive.

How do I tell which version of the game I have within Steam? You can view the file properties of the game's .exe file in the game directory, or if you are actually IN the game (playing), hit ESC, pick "Help" option and version number will show up in a corner of the screen.

Thank you. But I still can't find the game directory to check the exe file. There is no folder for the game itself (it seems) and I didn't find anything in the Steam folder either.

For most people it's likely like this:

Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\fallout new vegas ... (if you don't use 64-bit O/S, it'll just be Program Files, no x86 in the name)

Thanks!

Yes, that's the latest PC patch.
Consoles they apparently labeled it as 1.5 for some reason, so you may see that...it's the same as PC/1.3.

1.11 was a long time ago. 1.2 versions started in Dec.

Edit: Save games are in the MyDocuments folders.

Thanks again. I changed my previous post because I found my answer on the Fallout wiki.