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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 09, 2017
high rated
Fortunately, GOG uses Innosetup which is free software, and there are 3rd party free utilities that can be used to decompose the GOG installers, modify the contents and repackage them up as custom installer packages. If Galaxy is forced on everyone via the standalone installers, it wont be a huge surprise when GOG installer modifications start to show up here in the forums in the near future.

I'm just saying.
Posted May 09, 2017
high rated
Well, I have to agree, this is a pretty bad move. Makes me wonder what is still to come. I don't mind Galaxy and I even use it myself, sometimes, but this... no. Just no.
Posted May 09, 2017
high rated
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fables22: As for the option being opted in as default - after careful consideration, we've decided to go with this because we believe that it's easier for an experienced user to uncheck the box than it would be for a new user to figure out how to turn the feature on.
What about new users wanting to turn that shit off? "Help, my game installed some kind of bloatware/malware called galaxy? Why?"

I use Galaxy. I like it. But this is total bullshit and you (not fables22 but GOG as a whole) know it. All pretense of listening to any of your customers is gone. Broken website that you partially fix only by breaking working features, implementing shit that a small group of people asked for, but not things that are complained about daily here, pushing a garbage client for two years that wasn't fit for human consumption, and slowly marching toward "well, it's very unobtrusive DRM, like Steam" ....

Just no. I've invested well over $2000 here. I like the atmosphere that you seem to be so desperate to destroy in favor of God knows what.

I'm close to done with this site. At least Steam and VALVe are upfront about their shit and don't pretend to give a damn about what the majority of their customers think. Or at least don't pretend to care what the vocal minority thinks. Either way, they serve up a good site that is competent and well designed, and many good games (among multitudes of absolute pure grade shit) as well as customer service that at least responds even when they can't help instead of passing it to the tech experts that promptly close your support ticket without so much as a message.

I really am about finished here. You can only piss on my leg so long before I realize it's not raining. Don't push away your customers who are generally intelligent in favor of morons who may or may not have the disposable income to buy your games, but will be smart enough to torrent them when they want one they can't afford. /rant
Posted May 09, 2017
high rated
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paladin181: (…)

Just no. I've invested well over $2000 here. I like the atmosphere that you seem to be so desperate to destroy in favor of God knows what.

I'm close to done with this site. At least Steam and VALVe are upfront about their shit and don't pretend to give a damn about what the majority of their customers think. Or at least don't pretend to care what the vocal minority thinks. Either way, they serve up a good site that is competent and well designed, and many good games (among multitudes of absolute pure grade shit) as well as customer service that at least responds even when they can't help instead of passing it to the tech experts that promptly close your support ticket without so much as a message.

I really am about finished here. You can only piss on my leg so long before I realize it's not raining. Don't push away your customers who are generally intelligent in favor of morons who may or may not have the disposable income to buy your games, but will be smart enough to torrent them when they want one they can't afford. /rant
Exactly.
Post edited May 09, 2017 by mk47at
Posted May 09, 2017
high rated
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bonzer: Firstly, I don't like the idea based on it should be opt in not opt out at download time. However I have a couple of questions for clarification....

(I always download through a browser btw - I don't have galaxy)

1) If I check opt out at download time does that mean I don't download the galaxy part? Or do I get it anyway, but when I click on the installer it just doesn't install galaxy? Meaning I have opted out, but still have it taking up space, and added download time?

If it is always downloaded, but not implemented at install time, then either a) have an addtional checkbox at the start of install that says I don't want it, and it is deleted from the install file, or b) have it as a separate download file, so that it can be ignored at download selection time, or deleted from the "downloads" folder prior to game installation.

I realise that if opting OUT doesn't include galaxy in the download, mu suggestions are not needed.

2) Um, if I still use XP (not supported by galaxy), and forget to opt out, what will happen to my install, game, PC, and and life?

A constructive factual answer at some point will help decide which games i panic download before Friday (aka doomsday).
Actually, having Galaxy as an option at the download page is a far better ide-- WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT'S ALREADY PLASTERED OVER THE DOWNLOAD PAGE??? WTF is this even necessary for then? Do you think that your users are so fucking stupid that they can't see the "TRY GOG GALAXY" and download it if they want?! Dafuq man?!
Posted May 09, 2017
high rated
Don't have the time to dig through the whole thread but I wonder: how has GOG handled merging XP compatible game (let's say Witcher) with non-XP compatible Galaxy. I assume that game installs first and then it fails to install Galaxy and that's about it?

Back in the day I remember GOG installers offered to install Foxit Reader. After some time GOG gave up on this and I think it was a good move...Why they dig out this idea is beyond me...
Posted May 09, 2017
high rated
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tburger: Why they dig out this idea is beyond me...
Obviously they want to push everyone into using Galaxy as a first step to phase out the offline installers.

Or they are stupid.
Posted May 09, 2017
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tburger: Don't have the time to dig through the whole thread but I wonder: how has GOG handled merging XP compatible game (let's say Witcher) with non-XP compatible Galaxy. I assume that game installs first and then it fails to install Galaxy and that's about it?

Back in the day I remember GOG installers offered to install Foxit Reader. After some time GOG gave up on this and I think it was a good move...Why they dig out this idea is beyond me...
I too would like an answer to this. It is quite possible for someone like me on XP (I know I know, but I have my reasons...) to miss the opt out and try to install the whole damn thing. What happens to my installer, game, PC, life?
Posted May 09, 2017
high rated
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BKGaming: There is also another way of looking at this... Steam has pretty much proven the theory that giving pirates a better experience can lead to more sales and less pirates. Many former pirates even admitted they stopped (or did so less) because Steam made the process so easy and provided more value.

We all know piracy is a fact of life, and GOG's installers get passed around a lot... by doing this they can 1. Advertise to people that may not be familiar with GOG and 2. Show people there is a greater value in being a legit customer. Sure not everyone cares about achievements and cloud saves, but some future feature they may care about. Even if a few people became more tempted to purchase rather than pirate that is a win for GOG.
That's my suspicion as well, and of course it would never be admitted publicly.

The way it's being done is still Adobe-grade obnoxious stupidity, though. There are basically two kinds of customer: those who don't want to install Galaxy, and those who don't want to install Galaxy more than once per machine. This approach is bad for both.
Posted May 09, 2017
Wondering if the staff is all back at the office right now thinking, "Just a few people upset. I'm sure everyone else is thrilled."
Posted May 09, 2017
high rated
Makes total sense. Kind of reminds me of when I had a friend whose kid was potty training and I helped by bolting the kid's legs to the toilet. Sure, the blood and crying and litigation had me questioning whether it was really the best course of action, but what was the alternative? Teaching the kid how to use the thing and leaving it to them to become comfortable with it over time? Hippie poppycock!

Point being, this is surely the most elegant solution to newbie confusion, and not at all overkill destined to haunt the company for years to come. The people behind the scenes here are on a roll! Possibly in the Sisyphean sense.
Posted May 09, 2017
high rated
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fables22: As for the option being opted in as default - after careful consideration, we've decided to go with this because we believe that it's easier for an experienced user to uncheck the box than it would be for a new user to figure out how to turn the feature on.
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Wishbone: So, you have such a low opinion of your customers' intelligence that you don't trust them to click a simple checkbox once, and would rather force people to have to click it every time they install any of your games if they want to avoid your "optional" client?

Why doesn't GOG just grow a pair, admit that you want to go the DRM route after all, and make the client mandatory for everyone? All your actions over the past few years seem to point to the fact that that is what you actually want. Honestly, your continued pretense at caring anything for your original values is starting to seem a tad sad and pathetic.

DISCLAIMER: Any use of the word "you" in this post refers to GOG the company, not Fables the person.
Can't agree more.
I'll even go as far as say that this official narrative doesn't have a hint of good faith.
'Why ask someone to chose what they want when we can first and foremost trick them into opting for what we want ?"
- The Good Old Guess
Posted May 09, 2017
high rated
Oh what a lovely decision.....(and I thought GOG was in favour of unbundling...oh well)

It's a job well done if you manage to snub even those even those who have a positive attitude towards Galaxy. Even if we keep in mind that the forum only is a minority of the GOG customers. At leat you told us in advance....

I actually see only kind of games where this would make somewhat sense. Games who need Galaxy for multiplayer. However the implementation you're planning is less than stellar to say the least.

First of all OPT-OUT is never a good idea and should never come into question no matter how many other companies are doing it. It always feels shady and malware-y and it can lead most likely will lead to unwanted results regardless of the original intention.

In this case someone could end up with a broken Galaxy install if they inadvertently miss to OPT-OUT because of installing an older version of Galaxy over a newer one (I return to that below).

What exactly makes OPT-IN harder? It's not like Galaxy is hidden here anywhere - if someone misses to tick a checkbox - so what? They can easily download it here - there is a button for it on every gamepage and in multiple locations elsewhere on the website. No harm is done that way - other way round and the results are very different. Getting rid of unwanted software is annoying.

The whole notion of bundling Galaxy with the offline installers just feels like an unnecessary amount of additional work because you'd have to make sure that you'll keep the Galaxy version bundled up-to-date with the unbundled one otherwise the aforementioned problems can happen. Good luck with that - there are already delays in keeping the offline installers in line with the Galaxy without Galaxy on top of it which is frankly not reassuring.

I agree with others here that many who download the offline installers instead of downloading games directly via Galaxy do that for a reason - these people might still use Galaxy too but it's entirely their free decision to do so. Sneaking Galaxy into the offline installers feels like a low blow - I don't mind Galaxy. I don't use it to intially download my games but I like the convenience of having them patched that way (plus it's usually the way to go to have the most up-to-date versions) - but I very much dislike the basic idea of having Galaxy shoved into the installer just because you think inexperienced users are not able to get Galaxy otherwise.

One last thing. Why on earth should Galaxy be bundled in a backup installer I might download through an existing Galaxy install - that's beyond me.
Posted May 09, 2017
high rated
Well, GOG are in the business of nostalgia. I'm sure somebody misses those 'Do you want to install Gamespy?' prompts that were plastered all over the installation process of games from the early 2000s.

Now find that person and shoot him.
Posted May 09, 2017
high rated
Awful decision. I hope that GOG will reconsider this move. Didn't we already have enough Good News™?
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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)