Even though this is PC related as such, it's neither a hardware nor a software issue, so I wasn't really sure.

There's been a lot of confusion over whether opening the console/using commands disables Steam achievements. I wanted to test this out once and for all:

Artificer - Make a smithed item, an enchanted item, and a potion.

I'd created a smithed item and a potion before, just not an enchanted item. I went to Dragonsreach, did a save, and closed the game. I then opened the game back up and loaded my save. I then did the following:

Toggled Collision, ran around a bit, toggled it back on.
Turned God Mode on.
Added some gold to my inventory.
Toggled the menus on and off.

I then proceeded to create my first enchanted item, and I got the Artificer achievement.

So opening the console and using console commands does NOT disable achievements for that session, or any session. It's just a myth.

Hoped this cleared up some confusion

You are correct.

Does it matter?

And what is the point of achievements then if you can cheat to get them?

It was this way in Fallout New Vegas, the first Steam game from the publisher.

Perhaps this will get patched in (or out?). Anyway, hopefully your test is accurate and this is true. I never saw any reason as to why Achievements should have been disabled by the console. Other than you can spam in a bunch of ingredients or raw materials for crafting and gain achievements that way. Then again, are there achievements for how many things you make? I don't know as I don't pay attention to them.

You don't cheat to get achievements though, that's not the point. I take screenshots all the time, so I sometimes disable the menus with the TM command if it's a really nice shot. Sometimes I can get stuck in the landscape and I have to use the TCL command to free myself. Sometimes I want to change my field of view, my timescale. Sometimes quests break and you need to add items or update the quest yourself.

The point is the console isn't for cheating. It's also for helping you. I didn't want to not receive achievements just because I turned off the menus two hours ago for a screenshot.

That's right, patch a PRIVATE OFFLINE GAME. The very nerve...

Incorrect. Ask yourself this; Did you test this using the console and the effects it could have on *every* achievement using *every* console command? Using certain console commands will disable certain achievements for that particular play save being used.

It wasn't so much the fact that you were using the console to cheat but that you could cheat to get achievements. Achievements mean nothing to me personally in single player, getting notified I created an enchanted item is more annoying than fulfilling. As a form of competition achievements mean nothing because people can cheat to get them if they were that low.

I just never got the point of achievements, especially in a single player game like Skyrim.

Steam can't detect the console commands you've used, it can detect if the console is open and it is linked to the achievement script, but that's about it. There's no way Steam would go to the effort to "sum up" what console command can be used to cheat.

For example, for that enchanted item, I had a soul gem. What if I used god mode to kill someone and obtain that soul gem?

Even in NV Steam never disabled achievements for saves, just for that session.

Even then the way the OP stated he got the Artificer achievement is incorrect, one needs to do more than simply enchant an item. But your take on achievements is simply for you. If it gives someone a sense of accomplishment, who play the game as it was intended, that is cool. I really don't care about them myself, but seeing the achievement pop up doesn't bother me. Here's one thing that bothers though, an

http://oi56.tinypic.com/23ks090.jpg

I am not saying they will put this in a patch. I don't think they would. But, I would check this after each patch.

I mentioned I'd already smithed something and made a potion before. I just "completed" the achievement per se.

Why would you ever want to use the Console Commands in the first place to get achievements??

I don't see what the huge issue here is. Dose it really matter if the console commands doesn't disable achievements?

Steam does not need to disable my achievements, I do that myself, quite possibly the worst addition to a single player game in my opinion.

From the OP:

Artificer - Make a smithed item, an enchanted item, and a potion

Yes, it's more than making an enchanted item, but it is still mundane and trivial. I just don't get the point when achievements are made for things you should get during the regular course of your game anyway. Getting an achievement for smithing or completing the tutorial doesn't make me feel special in any way.

If the achievement is an easter egg or like the gnome in Left for Dead I'm kind of okay with it but other than that it just seems stupid.

I never got why there called console commands but there not for the console.

Cheers

Did I say anything about Steam detecting anything? The achievements are built into the game, so Steam doesn't authorize how one gets them. I only challenged your claim about achievements not being disabled using the console, not that Steam itself does. Use certain consoles commands and you won't get certain achievements. Again, I ask, did you test this on every possible command with every achievement? You did one small test, then claiming the result to mean it was a complete and comprehensive conclusion for all commands regarding getting achievements or disabling them. I actually did a few where it disabled them using certain commands to level up or gamin perks.

Achievements? We don't need no stinkin' achievements.

Bethesda themselves don't disable achievements through the console. That was Steam in NV, it detected the console key and then blocked achievements. Bethesda have nothing to do with it.

To suggest to try every combination possible of commands is ridiculous. Achievements have to be enabled through a script being run. If you use a command to directly manipulate the result which should give you an achievement, then obviously it might not fire the script and you won't get it.

I'm not talking about cheating. Like I said, I'm just on about most people who'd use the console to fix a quest, get unstuck or turn off the menus. Doing commands that don't directly manipulate the achievement won't harm you.

That's a good point. If you gave yourself 99 skill in all abilities, you could probably still get artificer, but it might disable your abiliity to get an achievement that requires leveling all skills to 100.

So really your conclusion is that not all console commands disable all achievements.

My conclusion is that console commands won't disable achievements unless you directly manipulate your stats and things in order to get the achievement. And even then, that's nothing to do with the actual command, just that you didn't level/obtain items or whatever properly, so the game doesn't count it. But that's just common sense.

What is the point of achievements anyway?

Personally I think it's a good decision, the console isn't just used to cheat, it's used to fix bugs like quests that won't start or finish or getting rid of a giant dragon skeleton in the middle of Whiterun that won't go away for weeks of in game time (If that seems oddly specific it's because it happened).

Now, even though I said achievements are pointless, that doesn't mean I don't like getting them, I do. I don't really know why, but it's just fun to see a catalogue of stuff I've accomplished. Beyond that, they're pointless.

That's exactly my point.

A lot of people still too caught up (trapped) in WoW and Gamer Score mentality it seems.

Guys, it doesn't matter. At all.