It seems that you're using an outdated browser. Some things may not work as they should (or don't work at all).
We suggest you upgrade newer and better browser like: Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer or Opera

×
Community
General discussionOffline installers with an option to install GOG Galaxy(1687 posts)(1687 posts)
(1687 posts)
Pages:
1
25
50
68
69
70
71
72
100
113
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
avatar
Wishbone: My guess is you have already lost quite a few customers over this particular stunt. I think a lot more are almost at the end of their patience, and will abandon you the next time you do something as hostile as this. And let's face it, we all know it's going to happen, and probably sooner rather than later. Your actions over the past few years clearly show that you don't learn from your mistakes, and you don't particularly care either.
This. The most considerable and ongoing concern for me is that GOG management seems to have completely lost touch with GOG customers. Time after time they announce they're going to roll out something that's just idiotic, and only after a massive backlash do they roll it back a bit. In this case it wasn't even a full rollback; it still looks like those of us who aren't interested in using Galaxy are just being further relegated to second-class citizens. It also strikes me as just a postponing tactic- throw us a bone for now, then after things have settled down a bit try to remove the non-Galaxy installers yet again.

GOG has managed to do an even better job that Stardock in pissing away customer trust and good-will, and pulling stunts like this only further erodes trust. To put things clearly I no longer trust GOG to understand what their customers want, I no longer trust them to be responsive to us, and I no longer trust them to not continue to try to turn the site into another Steam also-ran. So after nearly nine years, I think I'm just about done with GOG.
Posted May 12, 2017
avatar
Wishbone: My guess is you have already lost quite a few customers over this particular stunt. I think a lot more are almost at the end of their patience, and will abandon you the next time you do something as hostile as this. And let's face it, we all know it's going to happen, and probably sooner rather than later. Your actions over the past few years clearly show that you don't learn from your mistakes, and you don't particularly care either.
avatar
DarrkPhoenix: This. The most considerable and ongoing concern for me is that GOG management seems to have completely lost touch with GOG customers. Time after time they announce they're going to roll out something that's just idiotic, and only after a massive backlash do they roll it back a bit. In this case it wasn't even a full rollback; it still looks like those of us who aren't interested in using Galaxy are just being further relegated to second-class citizens. It also strikes me as just a postponing tactic- throw us a bone for now, then after things have settled down a bit try to remove the non-Galaxy installers yet again.

GOG has managed to do an even better job that Stardock in pissing away customer trust and good-will, and pulling stunts like this only further erodes trust. To put things clearly I no longer trust GOG to understand what their customers want, I no longer trust them to be responsive to us, and I no longer trust them to not continue to try to turn the site into another Steam also-ran. So after nearly nine years, I think I'm just about done with GOG.
Galaxy was always designed to be the centerpiece of the store, with the features that are included with it. So if you don't like Galaxy, then yes I guess that does make you a 2nd class citizen. Also I think you need to be careful when you say 'what GoG customers want'. The forums do not represent the entire GoG userbase and only GoG knows how many request and want the client vs. those who don't (I bet the number is bigger than you think).
Posted May 12, 2017
avatar
DarrkPhoenix: GOG has managed to do an even better job that Stardock in pissing away customer trust and good-will, and pulling stunts like this only further erodes trust. To put things clearly I no longer trust GOG to understand what their customers want, I no longer trust them to be responsive to us, and I no longer trust them to not continue to try to turn the site into another Steam also-ran. So after nearly nine years, I think I'm just about done with GOG.
Peoples said they didn't want installer with Galaxy bundled with it, they "responded" by announcing that they they will provide installers without Galaxy in it, what more do you wanted ? a personal hand written apology letter written in Marcin blood ? :)

Yes they could have handled that better and knowing how incredibly "unstable" the forum is they should have anticipated the reaction (especially given similar reaction every time they change a coma in their EULA :) ), and I still think that bundling the full version of Galaxy in all installers like they planed to do originally was a dumb idea, but still they did inform us before hand instead of letting us discover the facts afterwards like Steam or other would probably have done, and after the backlash they did pull back and offer a solution for those who want Galaxy-less installers.

It's not perfect but it's still better than most, of course we can argue that maybe some time in the future they will remove those installers, etc... but in the same way you could argue that maybe in the future they will put DRM on all their games or close their store, etc...

The good thing with DRM-free is that you don't have to trust people promises, if tomorrow they stop providing Galaxy less installer or starts adding DRM it will only impact new games you buy/download from them, all the ones you already bought and downloaded will still be here, still be DRM-free and still be using a Galaxy-less installer.
Post edited May 12, 2017 by Gersen
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.
Ok, so the bloatware free installers stay in place, that's good.

I wonder why you are making yourself so much work instead of just giving every user a pop-up option in his profile once (and changable later) whether he wants to use the client for automatically handling all the files and updates as well as having achievements and whatnot or he wants to do it manually.
Choosing the former would just give a download link to the current client and the latter would direct to the usual library with all the files.
This way there'd be no confusion at all, people would be made to at least once consider Galaxy (with a nice advertising text I guess) when entering their library, practically everything would stay the same for us and you'd have next to zero extra work or server load.

Also there's one very important question now hovering above all our heads:
Will the "classic" offline installers still get updates with your solution?
Post edited May 12, 2017 by Klumpen0815
Posted May 12, 2017
high rated
The most frustrating aspect of this is that GOG could, just could, prevent all these 180 degrees turns if at some point in decision-making processes they'd share their plans and ask for feedback. Think an idea through, come up with a plan, then ask for feedback from people not on/involved in the project, adjust, review, implement. That's basic quality assurance/planning processes 101.

It's especially frustrating as GOG has everything in place to make that work. The community can and will give valuable feedback if you involve them. As is really clear from this whole thread - the good feedback is just there to be harvested - but it's coming as a backlash, instead of as part of a calm reasonable debate. There's no need to involve the community in all stages of a decision-making process; but at any point where you are certain enough wanting to implement a big change, ask for critique and carefully listen to it. Transparency improves the quality of your decision making processes. It'll also generate good will from the community; it'll improve the quality of the user experience, and with that, it'll generate USPs for GOG over other stores.
Post edited May 12, 2017 by Mnemon
Posted May 12, 2017
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.
Two installer versions and one is without Galaxy? Sounds good to me. Thanks!
(I mean that does include both versions get updated when the game itself updates right?)
Posted May 12, 2017
avatar
real.geizterfahr: 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.
variant
rename the first button "install your full updated game with all features"
rename the second button 'install a discontinued, unupdated and crippled version of your game"
sorted
voilà !
Posted May 12, 2017
I'm thankful that GOG will offer more options for the installers, regardless if having multiple installers in the library is perceived as something illogical by many.
More options are always welcome!
Thank you.
Posted May 12, 2017
high rated
I have a different solution approach to this problem. Add the same Galaxy installer files to every game. So for Witcher: Enhanced Edition it will be like this.

setup_the_witcher_enhanced_edition_2.0.0.12.exe
setup_the_witcher_enhanced_edition_2.0.0.12-1.bin
....
setup_the_witcher_enhanced_edition_2.0.0.12-6.bin
setup_gog_galaxy.bin

When someone runs the exe file, it will first install the game normally. When the installation is complete, it will ask "Do you want to install our optional Galaxy Client?". If the user clicks yes, the installer will look for setup_gog_galaxy.bin in the same folder and start the Galaxy installation process. If it cant, it will ask "Cant find setup_gog_galaxy.bin, would you like to connect to internet and download it?" and attempt to access internet upon confirmation.

Benefits of that method:
* You only need to update 1 file every time you update Galaxy instead of 2000.
* People wont need to download setup_gog_galaxy.bin if they already have Galaxy installed or don't want to install it at all.
Posted May 12, 2017
avatar
Djaron: well, ontil the galaxy free installers would get outdated and discontinued regarding crucial updates of games (i'm not talking about updates of games that bring new features but rather those patches that correct gamebreaking bugs)
if, or i'd rather say WHEN the ofline installers wont be updated at all or much slower and the message will be sent that "if you want your game updated, you better have galaxy to do it" then it will become quite mandatory
avatar
Gersen: Peoples said the same thing when Galaxy was first announced and yet the offline installer are still kept up to date regularly....
because it was in beta at that time (and yet, it was somehow carelessly - imho - deployed on the field as if final working product and even the whole website ui/design was changed at that time to match galaxy ui, and also at that time, gog techsupport seemed to not give a damn care about requests and i could experience close-to-humble level of customer support for a couple of month)
Posted May 12, 2017
high rated
avatar
Djaron: well, ontil the galaxy free installers would get outdated and discontinued regarding crucial updates of games (i'm not talking about updates of games that bring new features but rather those patches that correct gamebreaking bugs)
if, or i'd rather say WHEN the ofline installers wont be updated at all or much slower and the message will be sent that "if you want your game updated, you better have galaxy to do it" then it will become quite mandatory
avatar
Gersen: Peoples said the same thing when Galaxy was first announced and yet the offline installer are still kept up to date regularly....
If you read through the "What did just update thread" and you'll see there are times when galaxy gets updated while the offline installers are in the "we're working on it" stage".
Posted May 12, 2017
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.
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.
This seems like GOG is wielding a sledge hammer for a problem that really only needs a hammer. Why complicate the matter this much when it's not needed? Surely all this will do is add more overhead cost and cause more work?

1. I think adaliabooks came up with a much better solution, just make Galaxy the front and center method for downloading and hide the standalone installers away like the Downloader links currently are. That way the user has to go out of the way to find them and those who want them can still get them. As long as you keep them updated and don't abandon them of course.

You can even make it the default that when a game is starting to download it automatically opens in Galaxy or prompts the user to install Galaxy.

Or any of the ideas offered in this thread would probably be better, this just seems like GOG is making something more complicated for no good reason.

2. I don't know if I can support standalone installers that only work online. The entire point of standalone installers (and GOG by the way) is game preservation, and given GOG wants to increase their work load for reasons unknown, classic installers will probably become less of a priority. I hope not, but it would not surprise me. So unless we are given some backup feature of some sort, this only decreases our chances of our games being usable in the future.

EDIT: This is better than what you originally wanted to do, but there is still a lot of concerns here...
Post edited May 12, 2017 by BKGaming
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.
avatar
ValamirCleaver: 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.
I feel the same way. As far as the possibility of discontinuing the "classic" installers just look how they decided to quit maintaining the GOGdownloader. Their irresponsible and haphazard scheme has lost them my respect, which they probably don't care about, and my money.
Posted May 12, 2017
high rated
avatar
WinterSnowfall: 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.
To me it sounds like a temporary solution to phase out the offline installers while keeping the community somewhat calm, but we'll see whether regular updates of the installers will happen or not.

BTW: Where's fables22?
Did she have a breakdown or was she fired?
Post edited May 12, 2017 by Klumpen0815
Posted May 12, 2017
avatar
Destro: *snip*
My faith in GOG has been restored. Thank you for listening and compromising with us.
Pages:
1
25
50
68
69
70
71
72
100
113
This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionOffline installers with an option to install GOG Galaxy(1687 posts)(1687 posts)
(1687 posts)