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Magnitus: Assume that GOG may go down fast without a lot of prior warning and backup your games accordingly.

Not all companies that go out of business have the luxury of planning 2-3 months prior to their demise. It may be either extremely sudden or otherwise, even if they realize their fate ahead of time, they may lack the resources/autonomy to do much of anything.

It is a mistake to assume that corporations are stable entities that can be depended on in the long run. They are not.

Governments are better (when it is not a banana republic), but the best is a world-wide decentralized entity.
The ToS does say:
"17.3 It seems very unlikely, but if we have to stop providing access to GOG services and GOG content permanently (not because of any breach by you), we will try to give you at least sixty (60) days advance notice by posting a note on www.GOG.COM and sending an email to every registered users – during that time you should be able to download any GOG content you purchased."
Admittedly, "try" may be the key word.
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Cavalary: Admittedly, "try" may be the key word.
Yeah, good luck trying to download several hundreds (if not thousands) of games while the rest of the world (well, the part with a GOG account) is trying to do the same.

I'm under the impression already, that GOG limits the downloads (going by my provider, I should be able to download many times over, what GOG allows me to download).

I don't even want to imagine the panic, if I had to download my collection under the time limited pressure of a final deadline.

That's why I download my games, the very second, the purchase is made.
That means: no regrets in case of a shutdown (that some here will probably only hear about with some delay).
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Cavalary: Admittedly, "try" may be the key word.
The word "try" makes that entire clause moot. If GOG was forced into a legal situation where they had to immediately shut down and terminate all access to their services in a single day, they could simply reply with "Sorry folks, we tried our best but legally we have no other option."

And even if GOG did provide a full 60 days of advance notice before shutting down, as others have pointed out, their file servers (or whatever is left of them) would get hammered into the ground.

Of course, once GOG goes super-nova, any games you've already downloaded will continue to work absolutely fine (outside of the few games which rely on GOG for multiplayer support or that use GOG to provide DRM unlocks, like Cyberpunk). And any offline backup installers you've downloaded will also continue to work absolutely fine (again, same conditions as previously stated -- they're fortunately uncommon, but still enough of them to be worth mentioning). Unfortunately, the absolute most valuable benefit of a DRM-free storefront becomes blazingly evident only when that store no longer exists.

I would imagine that a large number of "GOG preservation" sites would also spring up in the wake of GOG's demise. If you had saved receipts from of all your GOG purchases, you could technically still be within your legal right to download offline backups from these sites. Though good luck trying to convince your ISP that you're not just doing random warez torrents when they serve you with a DMCA infraction notice.

TL;DR:
Best case scenario: "Ah, crap - GOG is shutting down in two months. Good thing I've been downloading everything I've purchased. Guess I better make sure there's nothing I missed..."

Worst case scenario: "OMFGBBQ!!!! GOG SHUT DOWN LAST NIGHT AND I DON'T HAVE ANYTHING DOWNLOADED EXCEPT HONEY POP! I'VE LOST EVERYTHING OF VALUE I'VE EVER PURCHASED THERE!!!"
Post edited March 20, 2023 by Ryan333
I've been purchasing games on GOG for a couple of years now, but to date I have not used anything but Galaxy to play them. After looking over the limited instructions GOG provides in the support section on the site, I have a question I'm hoping someone can answer for me as I'm thinking about the process of starting to back up my games. When I go to the Download Offline Backup Game Installers section of a game page, do I need to download every file listed? For example, I'm looking at Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition and there are four files listed, a part 1 of 2, a part 2 of 2, and then two patches. Do I simply download them all to the same folder, and then to install the game run the Setup file? I get GOG not wanting to create an in depth Offline Download and Play for Dummies topic, has anyone else at some point that I'm just missing in the forums somewhere?
Do you guys realize you fell for a Necro post?
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GoldenCavalier: For example, I'm looking at Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition and there are four files listed, a part 1 of 2, a part 2 of 2, and then two patches.
Do I simply download them all to the same folder, and then to install the game run the Setup file?
Basically: yes.

You download the "Part 1 of 2" and the "Part 2 of 2".

Then, when you want to install the game, you doubleclick on the "Part 1 of 2" (= the .exe - file).

However: the patches (as you can see by the version numbers) are not really necessary (unless you want to keep them around), since the main files "Part 1 of 2" + Part 2 of 2" are already patched to the latest version (2.6.6.0).
Attachments:
bgii.jpg (33 Kb)
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GoldenCavalier: I've been purchasing games on GOG for a couple of years now, but to date I have not used anything but Galaxy to play them. After looking over the limited instructions GOG provides in the support section on the site, I have a question I'm hoping someone can answer for me as I'm thinking about the process of starting to back up my games. When I go to the Download Offline Backup Game Installers section of a game page, do I need to download every file listed? For example, I'm looking at Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition and there are four files listed, a part 1 of 2, a part 2 of 2, and then two patches. Do I simply download them all to the same folder, and then to install the game run the Setup file? I get GOG not wanting to create an in depth Offline Download and Play for Dummies topic, has anyone else at some point that I'm just missing in the forums somewhere?
Look at the version number next to the part 1 and part 2 and then compare to the patch. If the main files have the same version number as the highest patch version number then you don't need to archive the patches.

Where you have an exe an a load of BIN files (up to 4gb each) you need all the BIN files.

(aaand beaten to it by BreOI72)
Post edited March 20, 2023 by pds41
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pds41: (aaand beaten to it by BreOI72)
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BreOl72: Basically: yes.

You download the "Part 1 of 2" and the "Part 2 of 2".

Then, when you want to install the game, you doubleclick on the "Part 1 of 2" (= the .exe - file).

However: the patches (as you can see by the version numbers) are not really necessary (unless you want to keep them around), since the main files "Part 1 of 2" + Part 2 of 2" are already patched to the latest version (2.6.6.0).
Thanks for the confirmation and the tips on the looking at the version number, I appreciate it!
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pds41: Look at the version number next to the part 1 and part 2 and then compare to the patch. If the main files have the same version number as the highest patch version number then you don't need to archive the patches.

Where you have an exe an a load of BIN files (up to 4gb each) you need all the BIN files.

(aaand beaten to it by BreOI72)
I appreciate the response, and the extra tip on the BIN files!
Post edited March 20, 2023 by GoldenCavalier
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GoldenCavalier: I've been purchasing games on GOG for a couple of years now, but to date I have not used anything but Galaxy to play them. After looking over the limited instructions GOG provides in the support section on the site, I have a question I'm hoping someone can answer for me as I'm thinking about the process of starting to back up my games. When I go to the Download Offline Backup Game Installers section of a game page, do I need to download every file listed? For example, I'm looking at Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition and there are four files listed, a part 1 of 2, a part 2 of 2, and then two patches. Do I simply download them all to the same folder, and then to install the game run the Setup file? I get GOG not wanting to create an in depth Offline Download and Play for Dummies topic, has anyone else at some point that I'm just missing in the forums somewhere?
https://github.com/Sude-/lgogdownloader
https://github.com/Kalanyr/gogrepoc
https://github.com/Magnitus-/gogcli

As far as I know, GOG has yet to provide a client to do this efficiently, but community efforts certainly are not lacking.

There are forum threads for each of the tools.
Post edited March 21, 2023 by Magnitus
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GoldenCavalier: I've been purchasing games on GOG for a couple of years now, but to date I have not used anything but Galaxy to play them. After looking over the limited instructions GOG provides in the support section on the site, I have a question I'm hoping someone can answer for me as I'm thinking about the process of starting to back up my games. When I go to the Download Offline Backup Game Installers section of a game page, do I need to download every file listed? For example, I'm looking at Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition and there are four files listed, a part 1 of 2, a part 2 of 2, and then two patches. Do I simply download them all to the same folder, and then to install the game run the Setup file? I get GOG not wanting to create an in depth Offline Download and Play for Dummies topic, has anyone else at some point that I'm just missing in the forums somewhere?
If you're downloading the most recent full installer (which is usually all that will be available anyway), you don't need any patches. Those are just for people who already had a previous version downloaded, so they don't have to download however many gigs again for what may only be a small incremental update. (Only some developers bother providing patches at all -- many, maybe most, just update the main installer and call it good. Also, some devs have ceased to provide those incremental patches entirely, and in some such cases, they may not even bother to subsequently have GOG remove old, irrelevant patches.)
Just make sure that you have all the parts whose general names (including version/GOG build numbers) match. For a five-part Windows installer, for example, there'll be 1 .exe and 4 .bin files. I strongly recommend not renaming them after download. Beyond that, yeah, just make sure they're all in the same directory, and to install, run the .exe. (Also note that, despite what GOG makes it sound like, Galaxy can actually find GOG games installed from standalone installers and add them into your Galaxy library. Never having used Galaxy, though, I don't know if this happens automatically, or if you have to tell it to scan for games before it will do so.)

EDIT: Shit, I apparently missed that there was a second page with a bunch of much faster replies before I composed this. :(
Post edited March 21, 2023 by HunchBluntley
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GoldenCavalier:
Don't forget to have a look through the extras too, see what you want to get from there. Or just grab everything and then decide what to keep.
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Ancient-Red-Dragon: Do you guys realize you fell for a Necro post?
The OP reusing an earlier thread of theirs for a question doesn't seem like something that'd count as "falling for"...
Post edited March 21, 2023 by Cavalary
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Magnitus: https://github.com/Sude-/lgogdownloader
https://github.com/Kalanyr/gogrepoc
https://github.com/Magnitus-/gogcli

As far as I know, GOG has yet to provide a client to do this efficiently, but community efforts certainly are not lacking.

There are forum threads for each of the tools.
Thanks for the reply, I appreciate it. While I don't consider myself to be technologically challenged, I've seen some of these topics before and looking through them made my head spin a bit with their complexity. Spending some down time downloading the files one by one while listening to some prog metal in the background in my home office is more my speed. I know there are probably a lot of GOG users who have taken advantage of your expertise and the tools you've spent your time creating, and to that I raise my beer and salute, cheers sir!
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HunchBluntley: If you're downloading the most recent full installer (which is usually all that will be available anyway), you don't need any patches. Those are just for people who already had a previous version downloaded, so they don't have to download however many gigs again for what may only be a small incremental update. (Only some developers bother providing patches at all -- many, maybe most, just update the main installer and call it good. Also, some devs have ceased to provide those incremental patches entirely, and in some such cases, they may not even bother to subsequently have GOG remove old, irrelevant patches.)
Just make sure that you have all the parts whose general names (including version/GOG build numbers) match. For a five-part Windows installer, for example, there'll be 1 .exe and 4 .bin files. I strongly recommend not renaming them after download. Beyond that, yeah, just make sure they're all in the same directory, and to install, run the .exe. (Also note that, despite what GOG makes it sound like, Galaxy can actually find GOG games installed from standalone installers and add them into your Galaxy library. Never having used Galaxy, though, I don't know if this happens automatically, or if you have to tell it to scan for games before it will do so.)

EDIT: Shit, I apparently missed that there was a second page with a bunch of much faster replies before I composed this. :(
More good info and tips much appreciated, thank you! These forums have a great community of people who are always willing to give helpful advice! Now if only someone could talk me down from adding to my already huge backlog every time I see things from my wish list go on sale! LOL
Post edited March 21, 2023 by GoldenCavalier
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GoldenCavalier: Now if only someone could talk me down from adding to my already huge backlog every time I see things from my wish list go on sale! LOL
Or talk you into playing more? :)