Your experience isn't ubiquitous. I'm also using it on Win7 (x64), and it's been problem free for me.

Just recently DL'd the following 26GB-worth of games with zero problems:

divinity_original_sin_enhanced_edition
gun
saboteur
sacred_gold
shadowrun_hong_kong_extended_edition
terraria
transistor
turmoil
vampire_the_masquerade_bloodlines

Been using (and prefer) the GOG Downloader for years with hardly ever having a problem. Will hopefully be able to continue doing so for years to come.

I guess everyone's "mileage may vary".

My first thought was Gamespy.

Oh! Good one!

My alt TinyE has found his master! Defeat, all hands to bridge! ;)

agreed and -> expectations <-

Let's start with XP: I miss my XP as well, but unfortunate it will be out of service when Galaxy will be ready (pun intended ;) )
It is conflicting with your/our expectation, yes for sure. (See I said OUR ;) )

BUT unfortunate their is also a clear business decision behind it, HOW do you want to support a product on an unsupported platform? (think security issues)
Further IF there are issues, who will be held responsible? MS or GOG? Who will be blamed? Whom do they ask to fix those problems (despite them having no access to the MS-code)

The problem is that GOG did a fantastic job on getting those old gems running on new platforms (starting with XP and really putting our expectation bar high up).
BUT if you really ask yourself seriously, sometimes you have to make a clean cut, or? Will we like it, different problem.

BUT I do trust GOG more to stay as close as possible to what they promised than most other devs/publishers out there.

Will we get disappointed, maybe, but that is again up YOUR expectation ;) (and why is steam having such a bad reputation here, becuase of really failed expectations.)

I want more serial connection support!!!!!! :)


Sorry if it has been asked already and nailing you down on it ;)

So Galaxy will not allow to run MP on LAN? (it will need WAN?)

Of course Galaxy is DRM. It does not run without an account (which could get tits up in the future). I was of the opinion the avoidance of this was the reason we are all here?!
Of course they lie when they say it's optional because running big portions of games like Shadow Warrior 2 require it. And if you can't play a big portion of your game the word optional is astroturfing at its finest.
Well, leave the word "artificially" for the politics, I as customer don't care who in your production chain is at fault, until the point Flying Wild Hog implements LAN play into Shadow Warrior 2, that is indeed the case.

Is "stealth DRM" like Waldo? Are we supposed to find it somehow?

I think people have a right to express dislike, if they find it to be degrading.

That said, Galaxy is a way downhill. Its a steam client in the making. All this could be made using html/js without any DRM. Find and browsing a serverlist? Easy. Starting any game by feeding the server IP on "Connect" button press. Easy.

Its an all-in-one piece to make it irreplaceable. Achievements and co - to add it its addiction. One just adds content control (DRM) under excuse of "greenlight"-likeness, and here you go. A perfect drug. Nobody will be willing to use account without it. The absolutely sub-par "no-drm" mode (download stuff manually, as inconvenient as possible) can then still be used in marketing.

For example, Galaxy has no linux client. Means linux players get no multiplayer. How is this an "advantage"?

I dislike this.

Does you accessing GOG (more specifically, your GOG library) run without an account? Nope.
Does the GOG Downloader run without an account? I've never used it but I don't think it does, either, because it would totally break the purpose of the store—so, nope.

Galaxy is pretty much the same thing as the two methods mentioned above, except that it's also used for conveniently downloading, installing, and launching your games (and browsing the GOG site if you so desire, but better leave that to traditional browsers) without doing it all by yourself.

I see that there is a button to log out from Galaxy. I've never used it but I found this post basically saying that if you click on it, it will simulate an offline mode, letting you play the games you've already downloaded (without letting you patch them or download anything else, I guess, as that, too, would ruin the point of the store)—so, no, you're not locked out of your installed games if you decide to cut the connection between you and GOG, same as the other methods.

With that in mind, I really don't see why you find it to be DRM, unless just for the sake of whining because you seem to not like it.

(It being optional depends on how you look at the multi-player side of things, but that is another matter.)

Gog hasn't made any kind of statement regarding some games requiring galaxy & a gog login for online multiplayer, it just kinda snuck onto some game pages and it feels like they've kept pretty quiet about it. That and I thought it was an eye grabbing term which insights interest and draws in more people to hopefully allow for more views and a better discussion.

So far it's done well and there's been some real interesting arguments on both sides of the fence (& in between).

I don't understand it. You prefer to be prompted to put in your username and password every single time you want to play a game online, but with galaxy if you are logged in you don't need to go through that hassle at all. You just click play. Much easier.

Wait, I thought I was the one who was replacing him as Official Village Idiot of the GOG Forum?
Doggone it! Now I have twice the competition!

I have more than 70 GOG games currently installed on my computer, of which I'm certain 90% at least are installed with NTFS full control to everyone. This is no mistake since it requires an explicit setting. Unfortunately I can't tell you exactly which of these are concerned since I've taken the habit of immediately checking and removing these excess rights once the game is installed. I'm surprised whenever the rights aren't modified, but I've seen it really rarely, actually once or twice at most I think.

The list follows. I'm sure The Saboteur is affected as it's the one I installed last :

AI War Fleet Command
Alan Wake
Another World 20th Anniversary Edition
Apotheon
Barony - Cursed Edition
Capitalism 2
Chaos Reborn
CONSORTIUM - The Master Edition
Dead State
Defcon
Din's Curse
Door Kickers
Dracula - The Resurrection
Dracula 2
Duke Nukem 3D
Edna and Harvey - The Breakout
Europa Universalis III Complete
Fear Equation
Fran Bow
FTL - Advanced Edition
Gabriel Knight - Sins of the Fathers 20th Anniversary Edition
Gray Matter
Heroes of Might and Magic 3 Complete
IL-2 Sturmovik 1946
J.U.L.I.A. - Among the Stars
Kholat
King Arthur Collection
King of Dragon Pass
Kona - Day One
Legend of Grimrock
Legends of Eisenwald
Lichdom - Battlemage
Lumino City
Mark of the Ninja
Metro 2033 Redux
Metro Last Light Redux
Metrocide
Miasmata
Mount and Blade - Warband
NEO Scavenger
Oddworld - New 'n' Tasty
Papers, Please
Prince of Persia The Sands of Time
Psychonauts
Race Driver GRID
Robin Hood - The Legend of Sherwood
Shadwen
SimCity 3000 Unlimited
Sorcerer King
SpaceChem
Star Ruler 2
Subterrain
Terraria
The Escapists
The Guild 2 - Renaissance
The Last Door
The Long Dark
The Saboteur
The Solus Project
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter Redux
The Walking Dead - Season 1
The Witcher Adventure Game
Torchlight 2
Treasure Adventure Game
Tropico 4
Ultimate General - Gettysburg
Unmechanical
Uplink
Wargame - European Escalation
Windward
Ziggurat

EDIT : I just realised you were thinking about "run as admin" while I was speaking about the NTFS full control to everyone. GOG indeed rarely sets a game to be run as admin, if ever. If they were to do that too, I would revert it that's for sure :-)

No, not only thinking about that, but sometimes you have to set it like that to get it running ;)

AI: strange, just checked: user everyone, except doesn't exist (full rights), valid user only with restricted rights.
Alan Wake Don't have (short na)
Another World 20th Anniversary Edition na
Apotheon na
Barony - Cursed Edition na
Capitalism 2 No, restricted only
Chaos Reborn na
CONSORTIUM - The Master Edition na
Dead State na
Defcon, thought I have, will double check
Din's Curse na
Door Kickers na
Dracula - The Resurrection na
Dracula 2 na
Duke Nukem 3D na
Edna and Harvey - The Breakout na
Europa Universalis III Complete no, restricted
Fear Equation na
Fran Bow na
FTL - Advanced Edition na
Gabriel Knight - Sins of the Fathers 20th Anniversary Edition (will try not installed (yet) )
Gray Matter na
Heroes of Might and Magic 3 Complete (will try not installed (yet) )
IL-2 Sturmovik 1946 (will try not installed (yet) )
J.U.L.I.A. - Among the Stars na
Kholat na
King Arthur Collection na
King of Dragon Pass na
Kona - Day One na
Legend of Grimrock (1 or 2?) (will try not installed (yet) )
Legends of Eisenwald na
Lichdom - Battlemage na
Lumino City na
Mark of the Ninja na
Metro 2033 Redux (will try not installed (yet) ) (I know don't shoot me ;) )
Metro Last Light Redux (will try not installed (yet) ) (I know don't shoot me ;) )
Metrocide na
Miasmata na
Mount and Blade - Warband na
NEO Scavenger na
Oddworld - New 'n' Tasty na
Papers, Please na
Prince of Persia The Sands of Time na
Psychonauts na
Race Driver GRID na
Robin Hood - The Legend of Sherwood na
Shadwen na
SimCity 3000 Unlimited (how did I miss this one out, I have the other two but not this one?)
Sorcerer King need to double check
SpaceChem na
Star Ruler 2 just checked: user everyone, except doesn't exist (full rights), valid user only with restricted rights.
Subterrain na
Terraria na
The Escapists na
The Guild 2 - Renaissance not installed??? really have to double check
The Last Door na
The Long Dark na
The Saboteur na
The Solus Project na
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter Redux na
The Walking Dead - Season 1 na
The Witcher Adventure Game na
Torchlight 2 not yet installed, will try
Treasure Adventure Game na
Tropico 4 just checked: user everyone, except doesn't exist (full rights), valid user only with restricted rights.
Ultimate General - Gettysburg not yet installed, will try
Unmechanical na
Uplink na
Wargame - European Escalation need to double check
Windward na
Ziggurat na

interesting results, one thing in the moment jumping to mind (like with star ruler 2/tropico 4), did it maybe only happen with an automatic update from inside the program?

I do check from time to time, but mainly I only see authenticated_user/system/admin/user as names popping up. And really strange that we have different results on the same program? Did you use Galaxy or setup? I used setup. Another thing popping up, is your user name (windows) having non-latin characters? (like è or similar? Windows was and is never good with handling those and really cause strange results.... ;)

Install path for me: D:\GOGGames\whatever

And if others could check the other programs?

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