So, Skyrim's out 11/11/11

[Roland]

So you are another data point that shows that it's Win 7 64-bit because you had the same issue.

Yes, sometimes a verify cache will fix it (because it properly updates the .glob file).
Sometimes turning off cloud sync will fix it (because then it doesn't look at the .glob on launch) and turning sync back on later, or restarting steam will correct it.
You can also sometimes fix it with a reinstall of Skyrim (which essentially does the same thing).

But again these failure to launch problems, that if you do a search of the Steam forums have been happening in every patch version pretty much only seem to happen on Win-7 64-bit, pretty much can all be fixed by the forcing Steam to update the .glob. Removing/renaming that file is guaranteed to force steam to update it.

Like you I only had it happen the one time, (see my post earlier in this thread for details) but I know lots of folks that have had it happen to them once or multiple times and since I get asked the help questions I found that solution and figured I would share it here.

I'm 99% positive your launch was not broken by 1.1 or 1.2 it was broken by this same issue. OK the patch may have indirectly broken it because it seems to be an issue for people that had some sort of broken connection to the Steam servers during some sort of update (be that a cloud sync, patch, or install) which is why one of the other methods might fix the issue. I still haven't fully sussed what the glob file stores but it seems to be be related to remote data passing and seems to only affect folks running Win 7 64-bit OS.

Ok. Wasn't trying to rag on you. All I know is when patch 1.2 hit it broke my launch, and Drasca told me to "Verify Cache". Whatever that did fixed my launch (I didn't see the specific files it downloaded - went by too fast), and I haven't had a problem since (although, as I said, I'd never had a crash before that patch, and since then it happens at least once or twice a play session). I do know that Bethesda has continued their history of their games locking up during Alt+Tabbing (forcing an End Process), but that's nothing new - although no less irritating.

Glad I'm not having more problems than that.