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General discussionGOG GALAXY BETA(6179 posts) (6179 posts) 
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This is my favourite topic
Posted May 06, 2015
high rated
!!! PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING !!!

== BUG REPORTING ==

Please use: http://mantis.gog.com and include
1. steps to reproduce the bug (if possible)
2. screenshot or movie showing the bug (if possible)
3. Galaxy Client logs (see below)

Where can I find Galaxy logs on my computer?
On Windows 7 or later: C:\ProgramData\GOG.com\Galaxy\Logs
On Mac OS X: /Users/Shared/GOG.com/Galaxy/Logs

== FEATURE SUGGESTIONS ==

Please use: http://www.gog.com/wishlist/galaxy. For feature suggestions and votes on them please try do explain how Galaxy and its users will really benefit from it.

== IMPORT ALREADY INSTALLED GAMES TO GALAXY ==

1. For GOG games installed using installers from the last few months (so called Galaxy-compatible installers)
Click the Galaxy logo button on top of the sidebar and select "scan and import folders" - it will find all compatible games within that folder and add them to the Client.

2. For remaining GOG game INSTALLATIONS
Find the game in the Library (click on the image of the game), then click the More button and select "Manage Installation" -> "Import folder" and point the folder selector into the folder where that game is installed.

== KNOWN ISSUES ==
- throttling max download speed is not yet possible
- notifications related to incoming chat messages and friend requests does not always disappear instantly when consumed and may require reloading Store page
- games imported from existing installations will auto-update once, even if updating is disabled
- Moving Galaxy from /Applications on Mac OS X will stop the app from working
- Galaxy cannot be launched by other users on the same computer
Post edited October 03, 2016 by Liosan
Posted July 03, 2015
high rated
Hi Everyone,

Below you can find the changelog of GOG Galaxy.

Changelog 1.1.15 (September 7th, 2016):
Changes / Improvements:
• Added Wallet button in dropdown menu under user's avatar
• Performance improvements on UI speed and a little on CPU usage
• Enabled copying text in Galaxy forums
• History will now remember only the 100 most recent pages in history
Bugfixes:
• Fix for "Disk access problem" bug, which broke installation and updates of games. (Bug happened on Windows only, but general mechanism is better on OS X as well)
• Fix for Verify/Repair, which did not work in some scenarios (The above bug for example)
• Fix for "Server problem" while downloading backup installers or other goodies. They will now work, even if temporary download folder is same as destination folder
• Fixed situations in which Store page sometimes did not load properly after waking up computer

Changelog 1.1.16 (September 19th, 2016):
Improvements:
• Galaxy now supports H.264 codecs
• Much better handling of paying using third party processors (PayPal, paysafecard etc.)
• Friends and chat window now scale with the system scaling factor
• New and prettier GOG Eula will be used in games
• Better handling of loading timeouts

Bugfixes:
• "INSTALLED" label will appear all pages of the library now
• Fixed a bug with game time tracking for some games. Galaxy will now register more than one minute:)
• Fixed a bug in which Galaxy in rare cases could not be able to update the game (bug rather existed in rollbacks)
• Galaxy will no longer show a little bit of bare code upon launching
• Fixed blurred images in sidebar expanded list mode

Changelog 1.1.17(hotfix September 20th, 2016):
• Fixed crashes and 'Disk Access Problem' caused by updating Galaxy from 1.1.12 (and earlier versions) to 1.1.16

Changelog 1.1.18 (October 19th, 2016):
Improvements:
• More accurate game time tracking mechanism
• Improved mechanism showing current online status between friends

Bugfixes:
• Fixed a bug which caused Galaxy to stop tracking game time

Changelog 1.1.19 (October 25th, 2016):
Improvements:
• We have removed download size from Galaxy updater. It showed faulty data, as Galaxy Updater doesn't download > 100mb each time and only downloads differences. It will come back in nearest future, when it will show correct data:)
• The first check for game updates will be done 15s after Galaxy starts, instead of 5 minutes.
• OSX: Improved mechanism responsible for removing old files left by Galaxy updates
• OSX: Improved the way Galaxy handles installing games into protected locations like /Applications; you will receive a password prompt about a "Helper tool" installation

Bugfixes:
• Fixed "Essential components missing" error which sometimes appeared after fresh installation
• Fixed a situation where failure in Updater could lead to Galaxy not being able to launch
• Fixed self-update on OSX to properly delete leftover files
• Fixed friends window losing functionality after network loss and reconnect
• Fixed blurry Windows 10 Galaxy tray icon
• Galaxy will remember maximised window status

Changelog 1.1.20(November 2nd, 2016)
Bugfixes:
• Fixed installing XNA4 and other msi-based dependencies.
• Store page won't be reloaded twice upon logging in

Changelog: 1.1.21 (November 17th, 2016)
Improvements / changes:
• Added "with preview updates" suffix to Galaxy window title
• Small optimizations with memory and Galaxy loading time
• Small improvements with updater, it should fail less

Bugfixes:
• Fixed a bug with Galaxy refreshing pages
• Fixed occasional crashes

Changelog 1.1.22 (November 22nd, 2016)
Bugfixes:
• Galaxy will no longer freeze when downloading a game update and checking another game in library
• Galaxy should crash even less now:)

Changelog 1.1.23 (November 28th, 2016)
Bugfixes:
• Galaxy will be now able to reconnect to internet correctly, if computer was put to sleep and then woken up without (initially) Internet connection
• Downloading of games/updates should have less impact on starting other installations

Changelog 1.1.24(December 6th, 2016)
Bugfixes:
• Downloading an installer with Galaxy and using it to install the game should not result in redownloading the whole game again
• Updater should no longer report over 100% progress on download

Adjustments:
• Increased timeout for failures during sign in
• Increased timeout for "Loading Timeout"

Changelog 1.1.25 (December 20th, 2016)
Bugfixes:
• Fixed a crash when trying to install certain games (Game affected was 1979 Revolution: Black Friday).

Changelog 1.1.26 (December 23rd, 2016, Preview only)
Changes:
• Introduced new downloading mechanism

Changelog 1.1.27 (January 26th, 2017, Preview)
Bugfixes:
• Aborting or pausing downloads will be smoother (They will stop faster)
• Pausing downloads will no longer cause memory usage to go super high

Changelog 1.1.27 (January 31th, 2017)
Changes:
• Introduced new downloading mechanism
Bugfixes:
• Aborting or pausing downloads will be smoother (They will stop faster)
• Pausing downloads will no longer cause memory usage to go super high

Changelog 1.1.28 (March 10th, 2017)
Changes / Improvements:
- Better support for differential patches. They are now seperate depending on game's language and system bitness
- Italian & Japanese partial support + more Spanish translations
- Improved checking for new available updates of the games
- We'll sort available DLCs alphabetically
Bugfixes:
- Fixed a crash when Galaxy doesn't have permissions to the logs directory
- Fixed showing empty grey page after a while of inactivity
- Fixed infinite spinner after going to support page
- Fixed displaying of prices in cart when they were over 999 (Bug caused by a comma in the price)
- MacOS: Popup windows (for example chat) will no longer open as a tab but as a separate window instead
- MacOS: Fixed memory leak (~30MB upon GOG Galaxy launch)
- MacOS: Fixed memory leak while playing a game

Changelog 1.1.29 (March 14nd, 2017)
Changes:
- Changes in downloading mechanism, which allows for better control over download's flow
Bugfixes:
- Fixed displaying progress of differential patches (It did not display the "Extracting" status)

Changelog 1.1.30 (March 16th, 2017)
Bugfixes:
- Fixed a crash within games downloading mechanism

== PREVIEW UPDATES* ===

HOW TO ENABLE PREVIEWS?
Go to your Galaxy settings and check the option to receive preview updates.

HOW TO DISABLE PREVIEW?
- Uninstall Galaxy
- Download current installer from gog.com/galaxy
- Install Galaxy
- Import your games

Changelog 1.2.0 (March 22nd, 2017)
Changes and improvements:
- Cloud saves backup and syncing (supported games only)
- Screenshot capture with F12 (supported games only)
- In-game overlay with FPS counter and notifications (supported games only)
- Greatly improved chat, also in overlay
- Ability to enable or disable achievements, game time tracking, auto-updating games and more
- Desktop and in-game notifications system
- Ability to set bandwidth limit and scheduler
- New settings window
- Rarity information in achievements
- Abort button next to installation status
- Only one Galaxy Updater window will be shown in most cases
- GOG Galaxy updates will be downloaded in the background
- Games are now downloaded directly to their install directory, instead of a temporary location
- Galaxy changelog is displayed in Galaxy

Bugfixes:
- Fixed game time tracking issues
- Initial size of Galaxy Client window will respect Windows scaling
- Improved Windows 10 Galaxy tray icon
- Fixed a bug which caused Galaxy to redownload whole data in case of a failure of installation/update
- Thumbnail highlighting in media gallery now works properly
- Decreased client's network and CPU usage (especially for a lot of games)
- MacOS: Fixed situation when Galaxy Client could downloading due to App Nap
- MacOS: Fixed crash when logging out with "New post" popup open
- MacOS: Fixed game processes not being properly cleaned up after exiting
Post edited March 22, 2017 by TheTomasz
Posted March 26, 2016
high rated
For everyone who has a problem with missing api-ms-crt dlls in Client's versions post 1.1.5:
Please install one of those windows update: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2999226 https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3118401
You may need to update Windows to meet the requirements for these:
For Windows 8.1 and for Windows Server 2012: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2919355
For Windows 7 and for Windows Server 2008 R2: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/976932

You can also try reinstalling Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributables 2015 (x86) if you meet above requirements.
Available here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=48145

If above instructions doesn't work for you, create a separate issue on mantis.gog.com and we'll try to help you individually.

Please note that this solution only helps with the missing api-ms-crt dlls.


========================================================================================


Answering this question: Why 1.1 doesn't work after updating to 1.2?

This is happening probably due to incompatible database from version 1.2, please delete this folder:
%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\GOG.com\Galaxy\storage
usually
C:\ProgramData\GOG.com\storage\

Then you'll have to use scan&import (menu under the top Galaxy logo) function to see your games back in Galaxy Client.
Attachments:
programsandfeatu.png (143 Kb)
Post edited March 27, 2017 by TheTomasz
Posted May 26, 2015
avatar
Venom: !!! PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING !!!

== BUG REPORTING ==

Please use: http://mantis.gog.com and include
1. steps to reproduce the bug (if possible)
2. screenshot or movie showing the bug (if possible)
3. Galaxy Client logs (see below)

Where can I find Galaxy logs on my computer?
On Windows Vista or later: C:\ProgramData\GOG.com\Galaxy\Logs
On Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\GOG.com\Galaxy\Logs
On Mac OS X: /Users/Shared/GOG.com/Galaxy/Logs

== FEATURE SUGGESTIONS ==

Please use: http://www.gog.com/wishlist/galaxy. For feature suggestions and votes on them please try do explain how Galaxy and its users will really benefit from it.

== IMPORT ALREADY INSTALLED GAMES TO GALAXY ==

1. For GOG games installed using installers from the last few months (so called Galaxy-compatible installers)
Click the "+" button on top of the sidebar and select "scan and import folders" - it will find all compatible games within that folder and add them to the Client.

2. For remaining GOG game INSTALLATIONS
Find the game in the Library (click on the image of the game), then click the More button and select "Manage" -> "Import folder" and point the folder selector into the folder where that game is installed.
Please be aware that Client will accept any folder pointed to and will overwrite files inside it (this can for example wipe some mods or damage other apps in case of pointing to a wrong folder) and will update the game to the newest version (current default language English).

== KNOWN ISSUES ==
- few games are not yet compatible with Galaxy and are marked accordingly on Library page
- back / forward navigation is only available in Store section and requires further work
- pausing downloads or throttling max download speed is not yet possible
- notifications related to incoming chat messages and friend requests does not always disappear instantly when consumed and may require reloading Store page
- games imported from existing installations will auto-update once, even if updating is disabled
- games installed in Galaxy alpha 0.6 that included DLC may require a full game reinstall in the beta
- reinstalling Galaxy (Windows) to a different folder than the initial install will cause an error
- Moving Galaxy from /Applications on Mac OS X will stop the app from working
- Galaxy cannot be launched by other users on the same computer
- DPI scaling beyond 100% is nor respected on Windows (Client UI will be very small or 4k screens)
Yel
Posted May 26, 2015
avatar
Venom: !!! PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING !!!

== BUG REPORTING ==

Please use: http://mantis.gog.com and include
1. steps to reproduce the bug (if possible)
2. screenshot or movie showing the bug (if possible)
3. Galaxy Client logs (see below)

Where can I find Galaxy logs on my computer?
On Windows Vista or later: C:\ProgramData\GOG.com\Galaxy\Logs
On Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\GOG.com\Galaxy\Logs
On Mac OS X: /Users/Shared/GOG.com/Galaxy/Logs

== FEATURE SUGGESTIONS ==

Please use: http://www.gog.com/wishlist/galaxy. For feature suggestions and votes on them please try do explain how Galaxy and its users will really benefit from it.

== IMPORT ALREADY INSTALLED GAMES TO GALAXY ==

1. For GOG games installed using installers from the last few months (so called Galaxy-compatible installers)
Click the "+" button on top of the sidebar and select "scan and import folders" - it will find all compatible games within that folder and add them to the Client.

2. For remaining GOG game INSTALLATIONS
Find the game in the Library (click on the image of the game), then click the More button and select "Manage" -> "Import folder" and point the folder selector into the folder where that game is installed.
Please be aware that Client will accept any folder pointed to and will overwrite files inside it (this can for example wipe some mods or damage other apps in case of pointing to a wrong folder) and will update the game to the newest version (current default language English).

== KNOWN ISSUES ==
- few games are not yet compatible with Galaxy and are marked accordingly on Library page
- back / forward navigation is only available in Store section and requires further work
- pausing downloads or throttling max download speed is not yet possible
- notifications related to incoming chat messages and friend requests does not always disappear instantly when consumed and may require reloading Store page
- games imported from existing installations will auto-update once, even if updating is disabled
- games installed in Galaxy alpha 0.6 that included DLC may require a full game reinstall in the beta
- reinstalling Galaxy (Windows) to a different folder than the initial install will cause an error
- Moving Galaxy from /Applications on Mac OS X will stop the app from working
- Galaxy cannot be launched by other users on the same computer
- DPI scaling beyond 100% is nor respected on Windows (Client UI will be very small or 4k screens)
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Bumblebeebs: Yel
Yeah I'd agree. Yel.
Posted May 26, 2015
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skeletonbow: The latter one is perhaps more disturbing because I want to see GOG succeed and thrive, not have broken things constantly that frustrate and scare away hordes of new customers. Kind of want to kick them in the pants and buy them pizza and beer at the same time if that makes sense. :)
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mvscot: Indeed. GOG are currently our DRM-free champions, but they're probably doing the cause as much harm as good right now due to the poor experience.

However, I guess the current mess is really more unmanageable only for those of us with large libraries, and we're in the minority (though our loyalty should be rewarded rather than punished!).

I heartily agree with the sentiment of getting things working instead of adding more broken features, and doing better quality assurance from now on in (poor quality assurance is usually more down to poor management: release crunch pressure, rather than incompetent implementation).
My library is 426 unbundled games at the moment and the changes to the library don't affect me personally so much. The only big issue I have with it is the very poor and forced pagination controls. I'd like the option to view all on one page because I have an Internet connection that doesn't suck. It might be slow for some people but I'm not one who suffers with sucktastic Internet living in the boonies or wherever so I want 10000 games on one page personally. Incidentally I have over 300 games in my Steam account that display quickly without forced pagination... I never did use the manual sort as I found it kind of useless personally, but I know others did and to have it abruptly removed like that definitely was a loss for those users.

One problem I have with the current setup is that I have so many games that I can't possibly know the name of every game and addon, spinoff, expansion for a given series. How can I be sure I'm playing them all in order if alphabetically they are all over the place? I _like_ the unbundling and want it unbundled, but I also want to be able to somehow select an entire series and see them in chronological order also even if they're not in alphabetical order. One example of this is the Myst game series where Riven is the 2nd game in the series. But there are other collections like any game that contains "Might and Magic" in its name, or is part of the series/lore whether or not that is in its name.

These are issues I don't think are immediately pressing to fix or add features for mind you. I can deal with the poor pagination and whatnot for now if it means other bugs that affect more users get fixed sooner. In fact, I'd rather see GOG fix issues that affect more users first before fixing issues that might affect a much smaller subset of people even if I am in the latter group on some issues, because ultimately I want to see everyone's experience here be great rather than see them just cater to every single thing I personally want and "do it now" mindset. I've got patience. :)

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dirtyharry50:
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marklaur: Did you but The Witcher 3, that's exactly what happened.

Regards

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mvscot:
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marklaur: I hate to post twice so quickly but the above is the opinion of a few people I know, and at my age nearly 60 we do not quickly forget. The Witcher 3 launch forcing Galaxy that did not install correctly will have done a lot of damage and lost a lot of good will for potential using of Galaxy.

We still like GoG but now have no intent to use Galaxy now. no matter what. No amount of fixing will alter that.
But I suppose it is not aimed at people my age anyway.

Regards MarkL
I think you're absolutely correct here. Many people will try something exactly once and make a decision about it right then and there. Whether it is labeled "stable", "alpha" or "beta" makes no difference to them. I must note though that the "Try Galaxy" buttons do not say "Try Galaxy Beta" and they very much should IMHO. Since it is definitely an unstable beta - they should overemphasize the fact that it is a beta before people use it and at every opportunity rather than a post-bad-experience excuse when people are upset about it not doing what they expect.

Once people form a bad opinion about something from a bad experience, it can be very difficult to get them to reconsider it again in the future. It's just human nature to a degree.

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VonLuckner: Hi,

I download the beta galaxy client for windows and used it to download the witcher 3 (it took the entire day),
yesterday at night, after my 2 first hours playing on the witcher 3, I was about to shudown my PC , then I noticed that the file explorer + keyboard crashed together and couldn't work normaly anymore. All the system get unstable and I had to reinstall.

OS: Windows 8.1 Pro
CM: ASUS ROG Maximus VII Ranger.

Could the conflict possibly coming from one of these two? or from Galaxy? or The Witcher 3 itself?

I reported the issue in mantis.
If your entire computer became unstable, that most certainly has nothing to do with GOG Galaxy nor The Witcher 3, they don't alter the operating system.
Post edited May 26, 2015 by skeletonbow
Posted May 26, 2015
Just a quickie: a pal of mine unlocked an achievment, but I still can't: they're still greyed out.

Are achievements activated on a per account basis?
Posted May 26, 2015
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Swonker: Achievements can only be added by each game's developer.
Contact them and ask.
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falloutttt: well yeah I know that part. but I was wondering since in the settings, it says "coming soon" so im guessing that it's still being worked on by gog. so I wonder if there's some kind of information as to when, just to have an idea. :)
Achievements are available right now already. The Witcher 2 and 3 are the only 2 games with achievements that I'm aware of. I've got both installed but have only played Witcher 3 long enough to get an achievement. The achievements show up in Galaxy client after you exit the game. I don't know if there is any on-screen notification in-game when you achieve an achievement as I've received 5 achievements in Witcher 3 so far but haven't noticed anything pop up on the screen yet. It's possible it did and I just missed it.

So the information as to when it is coming is something like "a week or more ago". As for achievements showing up in other games that may or may not ever happen depending on if and when the individual owners of each game decide to add Galaxy achievements and other features to their games of course. There wont be any ETA for that sort of thing happening though, not from GOG at least.

If you still see "coming soon", then uninstall Galaxy client, and blow away the ProgramFiles\GOG.com and ProgramData\GOG.com directories and reinstall the new client. When I did that, all sorts of things changed including a lot of bugs I was having going away which suggests that GOG's "upgrade" procedure in the client doesn't perfectly update it but probably leaves bits of old mixed with new intermixed installation. Reinstall after blowing it away fixed that sort of stuff. Their "uninstall" doesn't work very well at all, I think it just releases it from the registry without deleting any actual files that were installed.


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falloutttt: well yeah I know that part. but I was wondering since in the settings, it says "coming soon" so im guessing that it's still being worked on by gog. so I wonder if there's some kind of information as to when, just to have an idea. :)
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BKGaming: The Witcher games have achievements, Witcher 3 and the Witcher Adventure Game, and the Witcher 2 has them but they were not working yet (might be by now though).
Yep, I just checked and I have achievements showing under Witcher 2 also although I haven't achieved any. Need to play it to get them apparently. :)
Post edited May 26, 2015 by skeletonbow
Posted May 26, 2015
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dirtyharry50: <snip>
I would not say Galaxy isn't for you or older people at all. I think it is going to be very nice in time when it is actually finished and fully tested. If Witcher 3 requires Galaxy for updates, that was a big mistake by management. It isn't right to do that for an expensive paid product and have it depend on what they are calling beta software but which in reality by definition is alpha software (Galaxy is not even feature complete). If it couldn't be done in time, they should not have launched with a dependency on it. That's just wrong in my opinion. Actually, it's just plain wrong period.

By the way, I'm just a 56 year old kid so what do I know but I think Galaxy is going to be good in time for folks of all ages. ;-)
The patches for The Witcher 3 do not require Galaxy at all, nor does the game itself. The game, it's patches and all of its bonus extras are available for download directly from the website via the web browser, or via GOG Downloader, or through GOG Galaxy all as standalone files just as every other game in the catalog. In addition to that The Witcher 3 can receive automatic updates via Galaxy if Galaxy is installed and being used, and auto-updates are enabled for the game which is the default on Galaxy.

I just woke up an hour ago to find out the 1.04 patch is out for The Witcher 3, and I go in Galaxy to see if I need to download it and... Galaxy had already updated the game for me while I was sleeping so it's ready to play. I like that, I really like that. But for those that don't like that, it can be disabled too, and either way it is configured the patches ARE available on the website and through GOG Downloader and Galaxy. So there's no reason to speculate about GOG management making a "big mistake" since it is completely an untrue premise to begin with.

To make it rock solid clear: The Witcher 3 has absolutely zero dependency on Galaxy whatsoever.
Attachments:
tw3-gogdl-links.jpg (286 Kb)
Post edited May 26, 2015 by skeletonbow
Posted May 26, 2015
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dirtyharry50: <snip>
I would not say Galaxy isn't for you or older people at all. I think it is going to be very nice in time when it is actually finished and fully tested. If Witcher 3 requires Galaxy for updates, that was a big mistake by management. It isn't right to do that for an expensive paid product and have it depend on what they are calling beta software but which in reality by definition is alpha software (Galaxy is not even feature complete). If it couldn't be done in time, they should not have launched with a dependency on it. That's just wrong in my opinion. Actually, it's just plain wrong period.

By the way, I'm just a 56 year old kid so what do I know but I think Galaxy is going to be good in time for folks of all ages. ;-)
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skeletonbow: To make it rock solid clear: The Witcher 3 has absolutely zero dependency on Galaxy whatsoever.
While I agree the game does not require Galaxy, the only way to play the game according to the official manual that comes with the retail version (In Australia) states you must run the game from the desktop shortcut, no other way. And that is via Galaxy.

GoG deserves all the flak it gets as because told people they must use Galaxy in the manuals, there are no other options in the manual. Until they change the manual it is their official stance, you must use Galaxy according to GoG.

Regards MarkL
Posted May 26, 2015
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marklaur: While I agree the game does not require Galaxy, the only way to play the game according to the official manual that comes with the retail version (In Australia) states you must run the game from the desktop shortcut, no other way. And that is via Galaxy.

GoG deserves all the flak it gets as because told people they must use Galaxy in the manuals, there are no other options in the manual. Until they change the manual it is their official stance, you must use Galaxy according to GoG.

Regards MarkL
I'd love to see a photo of this manual instead of speculation/debate. If the manual does state you absolutely must run the game via the shortcut and isn't being taken out of context at all however - regardless of what the manual says - you can launch the game executable directly, or make a new shortcut to launch the game directly.

GOG Galaxy is mandatory only if and when the game or any game requires it technologically and absolutely can not in any way be started without it, other than perhaps binary hacking the executable to remove such a dependency. No such dependency exists however, and Galaxy is not mandatory for The Witcher 3 no matter how someone wants to view it as such because of some manual or any other reason.

One can be upset about Galaxy being the default launch method, or for not being able to technically figure out how to launch the game directly, or even for having misleading documentation. None of these 3 however make Galaxy mandatory, although they certainly might give someone the false impression that it might be mandatory. Key word there is "false", because it isn't mandatory.

Would love to see a photo of the manual stating "GOG Galaxy is mandatory and is the only way to launch the game whether you like it or not" though. No rush, upload one whenever you get the chance. :)
Posted May 26, 2015
Hier flo das bin ich
Posted May 26, 2015
I wondered about this somewhere else, but is there a description somewhere how the Galaxy downloads&installs the games (Galaxy versions)? Does it possibly depend on the game?

1. Does Galaxy download some kind of installer files which it then runs to install the game, and remove those installers? Or does it do it "Steam-way", ie. downloading the game files directly to its place without any additional installation step (other than maybe installing any dependencies, adding registry entries and adding some Star Menu/desktop shortcuts)?

2. If Galaxy does it in two steps (download, and install), are those installer files different from the backup (non-Galaxy) installers for the same game?

3. If they are, why are there two different installer file sets for each game? Wouldn't it be simpler that there is only one installer file set, and if the "Galaxy-version" needs some additional files for Galaxy-functionality, those would be downloaded and installed separately by Galaxy? (I guess a bit how non-Galaxy installations are imported to Galaxy.)

Just trying to understand how it really works, and what's the idea behind it...

EDIT: Ok, I realize the "backup installers" give some extra options like telling the installer where exactly to install the game etc., but are those enough reason to keep two separate installer versions of games? After all, the installer could simply have a /silent option to do installation with default settings (or those given by the Galaxy client).
Post edited May 26, 2015 by timppu
Posted May 26, 2015
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timppu: 1. Does Galaxy download some kind of installer files which it then runs to install the game, and remove those installers? Or does it do it "Steam-way", ie. downloading the game files directly to its place without any additional installation step (other than maybe installing any dependencies, adding registry entries and adding some Star Menu/desktop shortcuts)?

Just trying to understand how it really works, and what's the idea behind it...
Galaxy operates the "Steam-way".
Posted May 26, 2015
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timppu: 1. Does Galaxy download some kind of installer files which it then runs to install the game, and remove those installers? Or does it do it "Steam-way", ie. downloading the game files directly to its place without any additional installation step (other than maybe installing any dependencies, adding registry entries and adding some Star Menu/desktop shortcuts)?

Just trying to understand how it really works, and what's the idea behind it...
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Geralt_of_Rivia: Galaxy operates the "Steam-way".
I thought so too, but then I see these comments how Galaxy downloads some kind of installer files (which apparently are different from the non-Galaxy (backup) installer files), and then later removes them automatically...

http://www.gog.com/forum/general/gog_galaxy_where_does_it_download_files/page1

In the Galaxy settings, what is the "Download games"-folder option for? I originally thought that would be the place where the separately downloaded, non-Galaxy "backup installer" files would be downloaded, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Those will be downloaded to the folder set in the "Download extras"-option.
Post edited May 26, 2015 by timppu
Posted May 26, 2015
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Geralt_of_Rivia: Galaxy operates the "Steam-way".
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timppu: I thought so too, but then I see these comments how Galaxy downloads some kind of installer files (which apparently are different from the non-Galaxy (backup) installer files), and then later removes them automatically...

http://www.gog.com/forum/general/gog_galaxy_where_does_it_download_files/page1

In the Galaxy settings, what is the "Download games"-folder option for? I originally thought that would be the place where the separately downloaded, non-Galaxy "backup installer" files would be downloaded, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Those will be downloaded to the folder set in the "Download extras"-option.
I think these people simply mistake 'installer files' for a complete installed version of the game. The "Download games" folder is exactly what it says: The place where the downloaded game files get stored while downloading. In other words: A temp dir for Galaxy.

When you install a game with Galaxy this actually happens:

1) Galaxy downloads all files of the installed game to the directory configured in "Download games to".
2) When step 1) is finished Galaxy creates a new subdir in the directory configured in "Install game to" and moves all files downloaded in step 1) there.
3) Galaxy downloads and installs dependencies, creates registry entries that the game needs and/or default config files for the game in the users directory (or wherever the game expects them).
Posted May 26, 2015
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Geralt_of_Rivia: When you install a game with Galaxy this actually happens:

1) Galaxy downloads all files of the installed game to the directory configured in "Download games to".
2) When step 1) is finished Galaxy creates a new subdir in the directory configured in "Install game to" and moves all files downloaded in step 1) there.
3) Galaxy downloads and installs dependencies, creates registry entries that the game needs and/or default config files for the game in the users directory (or wherever the game expects them).
Thanks for the clarification, that also seems more plausible considering people also say the "Galaxy downloads" are bigger, due to not being compressed. Some more questions:

- Do you know why it first downloads them to a temporary directory? Why not directly to the installation directory?

- Does the game installation basically need twice the amount of space (temporarily) of the game installation size? Or are those installation files really moved (not copied first, and then afterwards all the originals deleted), ie. moved files are deleted as soon as each one is copied to the new place?
Posted May 26, 2015
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Geralt_of_Rivia: When you install a game with Galaxy this actually happens:

1) Galaxy downloads all files of the installed game to the directory configured in "Download games to".
2) When step 1) is finished Galaxy creates a new subdir in the directory configured in "Install game to" and moves all files downloaded in step 1) there.
3) Galaxy downloads and installs dependencies, creates registry entries that the game needs and/or default config files for the game in the users directory (or wherever the game expects them).
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timppu: Thanks for the clarification, that also seems more plausible considering people also say the "Galaxy downloads" are bigger, due to not being compressed. Some more questions:

- Do you know why it first downloads them to a temporary directory? Why not directly to the installation directory?

- Does the game installation basically need twice the amount of space (temporarily) of the game installation size? Or are those installation files really moved (not copied first, and then afterwards all the originals deleted), ie. moved files are deleted as soon as each one is copied to the new place?
I was actually the first person who pointed out the increased download requirement due to uncompressed file downloading during the Alpha. See the Mantis ticket. Blackguards for example had installers with a combined size of around 4.3 GB but an installed size of around 18 GB. At least that's how it was at the time of writing the ticket. At the moment it is around 5.5 GB for the installers and 18.4 GB for installed. But GOG did promise to implement compression later down the road.

Concerning your questions:

I have no idea why GOG chose to download to a temp directory first. I can imagine some reasons but to know the real reason why they did it you would have to ask someone of the Galaxy programming staff.

I'm pretty sure the files are really moved. I installed some big games with Galaxy during the Alpha to thoroughly test it and copying them would have taken far longer. Of course you need to have the temp and the installation directory on the same partition to see the speed increase otherwise there is no other way to move the file than to copy and delete.
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