So because Epic is a bag of shit company, I rarely ever load EGS up for anything more than taking free games and backing up any changes made to the one (and now only) game I've ever bought there.

So a while back I ran a client update and upon restarting it, it began spitting an error at me about a missing DLL (It wasn't missing FYI) error... So I thought fine, re-downloaded the software and reinstalled it. Same error. I let it go this way for a few months because even though the error said something about 'cannot run software', it worked anyway.

Today I go to check it and because it's such a good piece of software, it's somehow forgotten my login details. So I think 'fuck it' and take this opportunity to reinstall from scratch. But upon reinstalling a fresh copy I discovered that:

EVERY GAME I HAD INSTALLED THROUGH EGS WAS DELETED, ALONG WITH ALL SAVE DATA.

The Epic client, without any form of prompt nor option, without hesitation, deletes EVERYTHING you have if you uninstall it. I just lost the countless hours of progress in Batman: Arkham City I had put in. Thanks GOG by the way for twddling your thumbs and taking forever to get the game and forcing me to use this trash in the first place.

Huh, I'm not surprised. In my experience Epic launcher also reported some error upon each start and I had not idea how to fix that error, games worked fine. But one day Epic said that my Batman Arkham Asylum (I get it for free) need an update, after an update the game could not longer run. I tried to reinstall the game and the client altogether, the client error was there and the game was not working. I checked the game on Steam - it was working perfectly fine, then some time after the release on GOG - it worked fine as well. Since then I don't use Epic, don't redeem free games, I lost my interest in them for some reason. Maybe it's because I still use Windows 7 but since Steam and GOG are good I can't justify Epic's odd approach at failing me. I must also add that I had to open and close Steam in order to buff my DualShock gamepad with compatible drivers, Epic and GOG Galaxy clients didn't have it either.

ofc.. Why are people even using epyc fail?
Got sucked in by the "free" games?
Have some principles, and self-restraint..

Well, apart from the DRM free Arkham games that GOG took far, FAR too long to actually secure and release, EGS is the only place to get the Ghostbusters game DRM free, it's one of my all time favourites and I wanted to support it... and it's not like GOG is actually trying to get it, in fact GOG is especially bad at acquiring licensed properties.

Like GOG, Epic is a company that once commanded respect, and one I originally gave the benefit of the doubt to, but now that I know more about the shadiness of their business practices I have zero intent to ever spend another dime on them and consider any freebies worthless and perishable, but I need to leave the client around for that one purchase in case of updates, and to make sure it stays DRM free.

But who would expect uninstalling a client would cause it to go scorched earth on your installed content? Imagine if Steam did that. I knew Epic had become a garbage company, but this is just going above and beyond.

Does Steam actually do the same? At least I recall it just removes all your games if you uninstall the client. I don't recall if there was a confirmation about that...

Then again I presume the save games would still be available in the cloud saves, for those games that support cloud saves.

Ouch about the savegame loss & best of luck of getting back where you left off quickly!

But: https://memegenerator.net/img/images/10935165.jpg

Sorry about your lost saves, OP. Obviously this is indefensible behavior of the client and the company.

On a practical level, I recommend treating this client like Scheme or any other that allows download of "DRM-free" games once they're through the client installation. That is, grab your game and get out. Don't hang on for the updated version; I know it can be tempting because bugs are fixed or content is added, but with these clients it seems even more likely to me that the "improvement" in the update can also include DRM.

In fact this has happened where a Final Fantasy game or two on Scheme was DRM-free for years until an update rendered them DRMed, i.e., unplayable (for those of us with any sense of standards), and I don't recall off the top of my head but I think there was an example from Epic Fail where one of the "DRM-frees" became DRMed too. I know Outer Worlds DLC was DRMed despite base game being DRM-free.

Honestly at this point, and OP already knows this from participation in various "GOG is sliding towards DRM" topics, I would take the same approach to GOG's installers. Download your offline backup installer and be wary of updates. We just saw Northgard got an update that DRMed the game, though apparently GOG is fixing/has fixed that already. Don't take chances with this stuff, and always try to keep an older version of the offline "backup" installers.

^ This. For DRM-Free stuff (like on this and this list) the whole thing can be avoided (for both Epic & Steam) by simply moving the game folder out of where the client puts it to somewhere else, eg, C:\Games, and then back it up (via a zip file). That's about the only time I'd ever use such a client. As for save games management, try this.

Clients, what are they good for, absolutely nothing.

Why are you surprised? Steam and Origin both use to do the same thing.

I had a similar issue. EGS claims I never had an account. IMO didn't care to argue over Troy Total War and a couple other games. Not worth the hassle.

yea, the epic launcher is still a big project ..... not every game comes with achievements, not to mention that cloudsaves only work partial. Lost some progress too in the past, with mechwarrior V but control does come with functional cloudsaves

i do hope that in the near future they will add file transfer as a option but so far i'm already glad that offline play works like a charm

While GOG does tend to take a long time in getting "new" releases -- and that certainly hurts their eventual sales numbers (and I too wish they would spend more resources in that area) -- no one is "forcing" anybody to purchase a game elsewhere. That's a choice you make, not GOG. I understand the frustration, but it's not GOG's "fault." Impatience maybe? But again, I do understand your frustration.

Well, not the only place... .. .