I just got back into gaming on a more steadily schedule after a break and as I started up AOW 3, GOG Galaxy also started up, which has never happened before (I never ever have it running while I am playing.) So is this a new feature now? I turned off game tracking, overlay, achievements etc. and everytime now I start up ANY game, Galaxy starts up and loads. I do not want this. Is there any way to shut this "feature" off?

I really don't want to keep it "running" (like Steam) when I launch a game and it's getting very annoying to have to exit Galaxy everytime something new loads up.

As far as I am aware, you can still launch games without Galaxy. How are you launching them shortcut, start menu, or via the exe directly? I guess it's possible they have made some changes to shortcuts to launch Galaxy first. Try launching from the start menu or directly with the game's exe. If that works just make a manual shortcut.

I own AOW 3 but I don't have it currently installed so I can't check right now...

I launch it through a shortcut that I have on my desktop. I just tried launching three different games with Galaxy not running, and all three times I had to exit Galaxy from an Alt-Tab to Exit out of it. I really don't want to keep having to do this each time I want to load something up. To me. it's almost no different than having to having Steam opened to make a game start.

If they made some "silent" changes making it "necessary" for Galaxy to be loaded up to start a game, then it's no different than anything else non-DRM free.

Yes I just confirmed this issue, seems to happen with recently updated games. May be a bug... I am trying to contract someone from GOG before I decry this.

EDIT: Actually going directly to the EXE works without Galaxy launching, but the start menu and I assume desktop shortcut created by Galaxy now launch Galaxy.

Will try eisburg77 thank you

First they promise they would always charge the same prices for all regions... but then they changed their minds...
Then they promised they would always sell full games and never sell DLC... but then they changed their minds...
Now I see clues that they are backing down from their main promise... which was being always DRM-Free and to never try to shove a Client software to their customers....




I guess its only a matter of time until they become Steam 2.0.

Hopefully I will be wrong, but only time will tell.

Alright it worked. I had to make new shortcuts for all my active games and everything was fine, no Galaxy load-up. Thank you eisburg77.

This never happened until today. I hope it's not a pre-cursor into adapting to the Steam Evil Empire.

When GoG first started there was no mention of charging the same prices, that came some years later. Anyways, let me ask you this what is more important: Don't do regional pricing, which would lead them to not able to get more games on their system, which would mean that eventually they will not make enough money to even keep GoG running, and there by shutting down completely, or is is better to fight for no regional pricing where they can, offer in store credits for times they can't do non regional pricing, able to keep growing their catalog, stay in business?

The full games vs DLC, I have never seen them say that. You got a citation for that?

They are DRM Free, and the client is optional, so that promise never went away.

So your whole post is just about regional pricing in which they had to do in order to stay in business. For me, the only time I had a shortcut startup Galaxy is if I installed a game through Galaxy rather than through an installer, and I always had to create my own shortcut if I did install through Galaxy. If I installed through an installer then it never attached itself to Galaxy, and it is still like that.

I don't know how a short cut that was linked to the exe of the game would all of sudden change to a Galaxy shortcut for him. I suspect there is more to this story and not because of some Galaxy update.

While I don't use shortcuts a lot, I just tested this via the start menu and 2 out 3 games started without Galaxy running. However, Starbound did start Galaxy before it started the game. I have not encountered this in the past with any game that I am aware of, and Starbound did just update.

I even checked where it is linking for example, Stardew Valley is linking to:

Target: "C:\Program Files (x86)\GOG Galaxy\Games\Stardew Valley\Stardew Valley.exe"
Start In: "c:\program files (x86)\gog galaxy\games\stardew valley"

Where Starbound is linking to:

Target: "C:\Program Files (x86)\GOG Galaxy\GalaxyClient.exe" /command=runGame /gameId=1452598881 /path="C:\Program Files (x86)\GOG Galaxy\Games\Starbound"
Start In: "C:\Program Files (x86)\GOG Galaxy"

So GOG Galaxy is now being invoked in the shortcut. Something I have not experienced in the past. I just re-installed all of my games with in the last 2 weeks after a system wipe.

EDIT: I should say it's not a big deal, as you can easily bypass this, but it would have been nice to have a heads up. GOG talked about doing this not to long ago, but this should probably be an option.

I can confirm that, I had Galaxy installed but I've never used it to install games and I hadn't run it for like a year or so. I installed Blackwood Crossing with the offline installer freshly bought in the sale, and upon clicking on "Launch Game" after installation, Galaxy started and updated itself and apparantly "migrated files" (whatever that was referring to).

I think the best solution would be if the installers included an option to run games through Galaxy that you could check or uncheck and, likewise, an option to install Galaxy by way of automatically downloading it from the internet. The installers always remember in which directory you installed your games the last time, so they should also be able to remember whether you want to use Galaxy or not. I don't like having to opt-out of installing additional software on my system, but if it was a one time occasion and the installers always remembered that I opted out of it, I'd be fine with that. And the installer wouldn't have to be bundled with the Galaxy installer either, if they could just link to the download on the web.

It was in no way 'years later'. By the end of beta at the latest.

They expect you to do that for EVERY GAME?
Are they MAD!?
It's bad enough that closing a game now makes a massive loud buzzing noise that never stops until you open and close the game again

There are classic installers you can download, so it doesn't matter anymore.