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General discussionOffline installers with an option to install GOG Galaxy(1687 posts)(1687 posts)
(1687 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted July 06, 2017
low rated
Thanks for bearing with us in this thread. We’d like to announce that today we’ve introduced the addition of new installers, with implemented GOG Galaxy client.

Like Destro described it back in May, we decided to separate the „new" and „classic” installers, for your choice. So if you don’t care about the features like achievements or cloud-saves and don’t want to use GOG Galaxy, you can download the „Classic Game Installer", just like it was handled before. For games that have new installers, the default download view on „My account” will show the "GOG Galaxy Game Installers" - you will notice that, as it is visibly described in „My account” game view. To download the „classic” ones, just go to „Options" and choose „Classic Installers”.

The new GOG Galaxy Game Installers were added to +100 games - a selection of all games that make use of GOG Galaxy features. I'll post the current list of games with the new installers in a separate post.
Going forward, all new games that will use GOG Galaxy features, will now receive both GOG Galaxy Game Installer and Classic Game Installer.

Introduction of GOG Galaxy Game Installers doesn’t change anything in terms of keeping the Classic Game Installers up to date. As soon as we receive an update for any game, we will prepare an updated version of the classic installer, just like it was done in the past.

Edit: Pinned.
Post edited July 06, 2017 by fables22
Posted May 12, 2017
high rated
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Destro: 1. We clearly noticed - yes, we did - that many of you prefer the old installers (let’s call them “classic”) and prefer to manage their growing libraries manually. Therefore, once we roll out “new” installers with the option to install GOG Galaxy, we will add a separate download of the “classic” ones. Going forward we will offer the option to download “classic” installers whenever a game is offered via a “new” installer.
Why that sounds so sub-optimal it may have come out of the mind of a non-tech-savvy user :). I appreciate you trying to sort this out (better late than never), but I sincerely hope what you're trying to say is that this is a temporary solution you'll have in place before you decide on how to best handle things - doubling your storage requirements and adding more complexity just like that can't be good for you or for us.
Posted May 12, 2017
high rated
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African_wildlife: Did GOG confirm somewhere that they are bundling the entire Galaxy installer with the game installers?
This post seems to be what people are replying to:-
https://www.gog.com/forum/general/offline_installers_with_an_option_to_install_gog_galaxy/post929

^ I took all that to mean there will be 2 installers per game, 1x installer with Galaxy and 1x "Classic" without. Later on the one with Galaxy may not actually come with it but be a downloader stub instead.

Either way, repacking all +1900 games twice over as the above suggests seems like an awful lot to work to avoid simply e-mailing people the following link...

https://cdn.gog.com/open/galaxy/client/setup_galaxy_1.2.6.25.exe
Posted May 12, 2017
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Trilarion: But if they already go that way. I want a global switch in my settings that says something like "Hide Galaxy from me wherever possible." and then I see no advertisement about it, no download buttons and only the one kind of installer that doesn't know about Galaxy. That would be great.
That should be the way things are, unfortunately that is never going to happen.
Posted May 12, 2017
high rated
A'ight, I'm satisfied with that solution, although it sounds like the most complicated one you guys could have implemented.
But really now, y'all could really have benefited from giving us some actual information/details and somebody who knew about the project rather than just sending your PR person to tell us about the New Good News™ and just drop the bomb with some cheap justifications, since you apparently "expected" we'd be pretty "vocal" about it.
Would also have been nice had you guys made it an actual NEWS POST, but then, I suppose it makes sense to not want most of your customers to see the kind of backlash and arguments this kind of thing causes.
Posted May 12, 2017
high rated
avatar
Destro: Games have changed a lot in the past years and new titles made achievements, cloud saves and other online features become a standard rather than an extra. Sure, some do not care about these functionalities and we understand it. Having said that, we believe that if we offer games with these features advertised to the general public, then the default installation flow is expected to result in a game with these features working out of the box. This is our reasoning for including the option to install GOG Galaxy during the game installation, and we do stand by it.
You guys are thinking too complicated...

Just rename the big, blue "TRY GOG GALAXY" button to "install with Galaxy" or something like that. Clicking the link starts Galaxy (or its installation) and the game's installation, just as GOG Downloader links start the downloader and the download. Problem solved. If you're THAT afraid that people could miss the big button and hit the small text link to the classic installer instead, just hide the classic installers where you're hiding the GOG Downloader links already ;) Make it a link of the "MORE" dropdown menu. This should be enough to make sure that no one accidentally installs the "wrong" version of a game. You could even add a warning when people hit the classic installer link. Something like a pop up telling you that offline installers come without achievements, cloud saves or multiplayer, unless you add the game to Galaxy.

This way you'll save yourself the work to keep two separate installers updated.
Posted May 12, 2017
high rated
Alright, so...

I think you're approaching this wrong. This is a temporary solution that won't last for long. If the problem is that users need help discovering Galaxy, you are addressing the problem too late. If the user has already downloaded the installer it's already too late.

What I would do is perhaps, change the My Games page. At first show only a big banner saying "Manage your games with GOG Galaxy", with a link to launch Galaxy (if that's possible) and a link for "new users" to download it. Then another button that says "No thanks" or "Take me to the offline installers" or something similar, and THEN you show the current page with the installers without Galaxy.

And then you're completely free to design the "Games" section inside Galaxy however you want.

But this is a heavy handed solution that doesn't work, and builds mistrust from your users. You need to direct them to Galaxy before they download anything, instead of trying to screw it up for everyone. It's like complaining that the vaccine doesn't work after you're already infected.
Posted May 12, 2017
high rated
avatar
Destro: Thank you all for your posts in this topic, especially for all the constructive feedback. We posted on the forums expecting that many of you will be vocal about this. We want to assure you, that we always read your feedback and discuss it internally, even if we don’t always agree with some of it. You are vocal, so it means you care about GOG.com and we really do appreciate it.

Games have changed a lot in the past years and new titles made achievements, cloud saves and other online features become a standard rather than an extra. Sure, some do not care about these functionalities and we understand it. Having said that, we believe that if we offer games with these features advertised to the general public, then the default installation flow is expected to result in a game with these features working out of the box. This is our reasoning for including the option to install GOG Galaxy during the game installation, and we do stand by it.

Yes, there are things which we can do better - there always are. Reading your feedback and giving it a second thought, we decided on the following:
1. We clearly noticed - yes, we did - that many of you prefer the old installers (let’s call them “classic”) and prefer to manage their growing libraries manually. Therefore, once we roll out “new” installers with the option to install GOG Galaxy, we will add a separate download of the “classic” ones. Going forward we will offer the option to download “classic” installers whenever a game is offered via a “new” installer.
2. As mentioned earlier, we will work on making the GOG Galaxy installer smaller, but at the cost of it being online only.
3. We will launch the new installers in a couple of weeks once point 1 is ready. Point 2 might take a bit longer, but with the “classic” installer option available, this should not affect anyone.

One more thing to keep in mind: everyday we fight to make more great titles available to you, DRM-free. To release many of them we must support their online features, while at the same time developers request ways to automate upload and updating games. Without GOG Galaxy we couldn't offer many of the games we offer today at all, even if you don’t use GOG Galaxy to play or update them.

Once again thank you for your feedback. We hope the above answers your concerns.
Okay, thanks for the feedback, and thanks for... listening? Seriously, I do appreciate the communication, but please, please, look at AB2012's post here: https://www.gog.com/forum/general/offline_installers_with_an_option_to_install_gog_galaxy/post966

Why you'd decide to more than double your workload over this when the solution is as simple as tying all the Galaxy information to the account creation, with the option to install the client right then... it's eyebrow raising at the very least.

I also have concerns, as noted by others, as to how long t will take to get the 'classic' installers updated when a game gets patches/updates, as well as how the notification system is going to work (or if it is at all).
Posted May 12, 2017
high rated
I hate to say it but this "optional" client is not something I would want bundled in every installer. Even though I use Galaxy on one rig, on another I have games installed and updated manually.

Now I'll have to look and opt out by unchecking GoG Galaxy "addon" when installing games.


And as others mentioned, why the notifications are galaxy exclusive? This so called "bug" is awful. I needed to run PC, start up galaxy to check notifications on my account.

Great job.
Posted May 12, 2017
avatar
Destro: Thank you all for your posts in this topic, especially for all the constructive feedback. We posted on the forums expecting that many of you will be vocal about this. We want to assure you, that we always read your feedback and discuss it internally, even if we don’t always agree with some of it. You are vocal, so it means you care about GOG.com and we really do appreciate it.

Games have changed a lot in the past years and new titles made achievements, cloud saves and other online features become a standard rather than an extra. Sure, some do not care about these functionalities and we understand it. Having said that, we believe that if we offer games with these features advertised to the general public, then the default installation flow is expected to result in a game with these features working out of the box. This is our reasoning for including the option to install GOG Galaxy during the game installation, and we do stand by it.

Yes, there are things which we can do better - there always are. Reading your feedback and giving it a second thought, we decided on the following:
1. We clearly noticed - yes, we did - that many of you prefer the old installers (let’s call them “classic”) and prefer to manage their growing libraries manually. Therefore, once we roll out “new” installers with the option to install GOG Galaxy, we will add a separate download of the “classic” ones. Going forward we will offer the option to download “classic” installers whenever a game is offered via a “new” installer.
2. As mentioned earlier, we will work on making the GOG Galaxy installer smaller, but at the cost of it being online only.
3. We will launch the new installers in a couple of weeks once point 1 is ready. Point 2 might take a bit longer, but with the “classic” installer option available, this should not affect anyone.

One more thing to keep in mind: everyday we fight to make more great titles available to you, DRM-free. To release many of them we must support their online features, while at the same time developers request ways to automate upload and updating games. Without GOG Galaxy we couldn't offer many of the games we offer today at all, even if you don’t use GOG Galaxy to play or update them.

Once again thank you for your feedback. We hope the above answers your concerns.
Maybe the best solution to this problem would be having different Galaxy installer versions, not game installer versions.

I would add a link in the download page for each affected game, pointing to a specific online galaxy installer preconfigured to install that particular game just after installation of Galaxy finishes. This would limit the size of new installers for the games.
Posted May 12, 2017
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iRevolt: Now I'll have to look and opt out by unchecking GoG Galaxy "addon" when installing games.
You wont, as Destro mentioned some hours ago they will release two versions of the installers, one with Galaxy and one without.
Posted May 12, 2017
high rated
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IronArcturus: So is Galaxy going to be made mandatory at some point? A lot of us were worried about this very concept. We use GOG since we do not want to use a mandatory, always-online client. GOG will be no different from Steam if Galaxy is necessary to run the game...
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fables22: Nope, the plan for GOG Galaxy always was and still is that it will remain optional.
No, it’s actually the other way around now:

The plan for GOG Galaxy was that it will remain optional, but GOOD NEWS™!!!, now not using GOG Galaxy is optional.

With our new Look Very Close Because You Might Install Something You Don”t Want To If You Don’t Pay Attention Technology™ we make sure that our Dumb Customers Who Can’t Install GOG Galaxy Manually If They Want To And Every One Else As Well® will be amazed at how we already choose for them so they don’t need to bother about Freedom of Choice™ or our Optional Client™ anymore. Remember these optional things of the past?
Posted May 12, 2017
high rated
Oh I miss the times before Galaxy! No problems like these, no separate downloads, no dumb users, no cloud stuff, no achievements, no...et cetera et cetera. Everyone was happy!
Post edited May 12, 2017 by russellskanne
Posted May 12, 2017
high rated
from now on i will necro this thread every time a milestone on the road to steam has been achieved.
:)
Posted May 12, 2017
high rated
avatar
Destro: 1. We clearly noticed - yes, we did - that many of you prefer the old installers (let’s call them “classic”) and prefer to manage their growing libraries manually. Therefore, once we roll out “new” installers with the option to install GOG Galaxy, we will add a separate download of the “classic” ones. Going forward we will offer the option to download “classic” installers whenever a game is offered via a “new” installer.
Will the "classic" installers always be updated to the latest version at the same time as the “new” installer? What's to keep GOG from quietly discontinuing the "classic" installers after GOG assumes the uproar has died down? I have a very difficult time taking this at face value and believing that GOG is going to maintain 2 separate offline installers for every game over the long term. GOG has lost my trust, I'm still not going to purchase anything until there is a public news announcement that posted on the front page under the "HEADLINES" that unequivocally states that GOG will discontinue all bundling of Galaxy in all offline installers.
Post edited May 12, 2017 by ValamirCleaver
Posted May 12, 2017
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russellskanne: Everyone was happy!
Well, obviously dumb users weren't :p
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionOffline installers with an option to install GOG Galaxy(1687 posts)(1687 posts)
(1687 posts)