As I've made threads before, my Civ 4 disk doesnt install. I have steam now and I was wondering that if I have the disk, I could verify it with Steam and because it doesnt install with the disk download it from Steam? I have the Gold Edition that includes Civ 4 and Warlords.
Eh... I think you're probably out of luck. There
are a couple of retail games that can be activated on Steam, but sadly Civ4 isn't one of them. There certainly isn't a
simple solution.
If you have a valid CD key, you
could try 'acquiring' the Gold Edition. I mean, the excuse everybody uses for posting games online is that they're there for 'backup' - you might actually be able to
use one as backup! (Remember, you purchased a
licence to use Civ4, instead of your actual
copy of Civ4 - so, legally, you're in the clear even if you 'acquire' it through what are normally sub-legal channels.) Alternately, contact <insertCompanyNameHere>'s customer support. Again, if you have a valid CD key and/or proof of purchase, you may be able to prove (to their satisfaction) that you do, in fact, own the game - if so, they might be able to arrange a digital download (or something similar, like mailing a disk. If they're nice, at least...)
But to answer your main question, nope. Steam would have a tough time verifying a game that wasn't bought using Steam. I know that whole "verify non-Steam game" option
looks tempting, but it's only there for a couple of games that specifically arranged it with Valve.