Just installed the Ultimate Edition and I'm a bit confused. The original game is something like 115gb, and I'm not sure how big Phantom Liberty is, but the UE, which is supposed to combine both with patches and fixes, is just 85gb. I keep thinking somehow I'm supposed to install something else (PL DLC, etc), but from everything I've read, it's all there, combined in the single download. Why the huge discrepancy in file size? You'd think it'd be closed to 150gb. Very weird!

BTW, I've just gotta say, I originally bought Cyberpunk for my PS4, but before I could play it, they announced Phantom Liberty, along with the news the PS4 wouldn't be supported. Talk about pissed off. Anyway, just got the Ultimate Edition as a Christmas gift, so am finally gonna get to play this bad boy. Well, assuming I can figure out what to install. :)

Depends which version you are talking about. The Ultimate Edition here includes the base game plus PL as an additional install. It is no different from buying base game plus the expansion later. The PS5 version only includes the base game on disc. The DLC is boxed as a code only. The Series X version is the only version to have both CP2077 and PL spread across 3 discs.

Talking about the GOG version. The UE was an 85gb download and says it includes Phantom Liberty. However, when I look at the offline/legacy downloaders, the base game without PL is 115gb.

Maybe not as a manual/offline download (I don't see it that way in the list of files), but the "Install" button in Galaxy downloaded it as a single download of 85 gb, and I just checked; it's definitely the full, combined, and patched game. 2.1 and includes PL. The entire installed game folder is indeed 85 gb.

Interestingly enough, the download list looks the same in Galaxy as on gog.com, but it has a second section below the usual stuff. You've got the typical wallpapers, music, books, avatars and posters, as well as the legacy game (1.63) installer (113 gb), for a total of 18 items @ 119 gb. But then there's an "Offline Backup Installers" section.

That's got the base game (v2.1) @ 105 gb, Redmod (2.1) (30 mb), Phantom Liberty 2.1 @ 39 gb, and then a ton of patches to choose from (including 8 different instances of Patch 2.02 to 2.1, which is very confusing since they're all named the same).

But that's where it gets really weird. 105 gb base game + 39 gb Phantom Liberty (and toss in at least 4 gb for the patch, unless you're supposed to use all 8 and then it's another 29 gb), and you've got a lot more than the default, combined 85 gb download. Completely baffling.

There actually is nothing confusing going on at all as far as I am concerned. I cannot speculate about Galaxy, but all those patches are there for people who downloaded earlier builds to patch up. When a new build gets released, you can usually, but not always just patch, but the full build is available for dl. So, those patches never ever need to be applied to a new build downloaded offline or with Galaxy. I’m sorry you seem to be baffled, but that is probably directly as a result of using Galaxy. It’s really simple: download the offline files and install. No need for the client. I’m just gonna straight up say there is no way…..NONE…..that the whole game is 85gb…not possible.

Also, there are not 8 different patches for 2.02 to 2.1. That is one patch with many different parts. You are confusing yourself. They are obviously named the same because they are a package. Thus, they must be named the same with an initial .exe and several .bins. You got almost everything wrong with understanding how this works, man.

I'm 57 and have been using GOG files for many years. I know exactly how things work. Why do you think I'm posting about this oddity in the first place? Because it doesn't seem to make sense.

The patches are not linked as you'd imagine. However, it looks like they're for various builds, but you can't see that extra info (from the full filenames) until you download them. In Galaxy (the only place you can see them as they are not all listed on GOG in our libraries) they all seem to have the same name. Bizarre and not at all user friendly.

The client did indeed tell me the download would be 85 gb for the full, patched and complete (including Phantom Liberty) game, which came down as a single download. Afterwards, the folder totals up to 84.8 gb, much less than even the base 2.1 game (105 gb download). Now, when I run the game, it tells me it's 2.1, Phantom Liberty. This is why I'm baffled and looking for answers.

My local installation of Cyberpunk 2077 2.1 + Phantom Liberty is also 84.5 GB.
The offline installer files for that installation is 143 GB.

One known difference between the size of the installers and the size of the installed game - if that is what is the question here - are all the voiceover files for different languages, other than the one selected during the game installation, are removed and replaced by basically a dummy file.

Unknown differences maybe better file compression of the game file archieves, and removing any excess or duplicated game files. My personal 2 cents would be on the better or different (improved) compression scheme. Or maybe they have reduced the overall texture quality to save storage space (which is basically free now anyway), and let the AI upscalers do the job of making the game appear to be higher resolution. Texture packs is what define the size of a game.

Damn shame, really, that not ALL of the VO files are included, or at least selectable during game installation. I tried the Japanese VO for a short time, and it felt like it made the most sense in the game for most of the time from an immersion perspective.

To get the Japanese VO now, I'd have to install the game a second time, and select Japanese as my preferred language...which I don't think is even available as an option in the EU version (region dependant, as far as I know) of the game download.

Interesting. I wonder if using the offline installer would net you all the VO files? Maybe Galaxy is streamlining the download to save bandwidth, using, as you say, one's chosen language alone.

Sadly, I don't speak any other languages (even after 40 years of being a grade-a otaku, lol), but it would be funny if our characters in the game had a translation mod that, from the player's perspective, showed floating subtitles as various NPCs spoke other languages (complete with audible VO files) here and there (periodic, with the main game being the default language). A nice in-joke, although I imagine it would get old after awhile. Still, it'd give me a good giggle to see it implemented that way.

Thanks for the info. Good to know this wasn't some fluke or error.

If you say so about the patches, my guy. I looked at the photo and it's common sense. They are arranged and grouped accordingly. You are the only one with confusion. You don't have to dl the file to see it's full name. I'll leave that for you and your 57 years to figure out though. You may be right about file size after installation, but your whole confusion with everything else doesn't make any sense for a longtime GoG user. Sorry, but it's the truth.

I stand - I mean, sit - corrected:
I was mistaken - using the offline installers offers ALL of the different voiceover languages.

When starting the offline installation, you are first choosing a language to use during the installation process itself, and when selecting where to install the game, you can click on Options to select an ingame language.

And here you got all of the options, Korean, Chinese and Japanese among them. And this only affects the spoken language in the game - all the different subtitles are already selectable from the ingame menu.

I didn't know, because the different languages are written in that language itself. And I don't understand the hieroglyphics that is any of the asian written languages. But I just checked, and googled the symbols.
For Japanese, choose:
日本語

...Now I think I will install 2.1 again, in a different location, only to extract the Japanese VO archieve files and keep a copy on my home server.

Can't speak for the options in GoG Galaxy. I don't like using any game client for anything, and unlike any other game service that I know of, Galaxy is never required. So I don't have it installed.

EDIT:
...Aaand I just installed a second version of 2.1, with Phantom Liberty, selecting Japanese in the installer - and it works perfectly!
Just copying the two files "lang_ja_voice.archive" (one for the base game, and one for Phantom Liberty), moving them over to the "main" 2.1 install, and selecting the audio language from the game's main menu.