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General discussionOpen letter to GOG(194 posts)(194 posts)
(194 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted May 21, 2017
high rated
As far i noticed, offline installers register the game in galaxy and thus can trigger an auto update of galaxy itself even or especially if you haven't touched it (even with a footpole) for months/ages.
Posted May 21, 2017
high rated
I'll echo the OP and many others: Galaxy should remain optional and non-intrusive.

I believe you can increase exposure to your client without displeasing us standalone installers' backup enthusiasts.

First, there is already a big blue TRY GOG GALAXY in every game page in the Library that is pretty hard to miss.

Second, you can put banners that link to Galaxy in the installers (in my opinion the only acceptable way if you insist on this) and then could keep only one set of standalone offline games installers (up to date, please).

Third, you can also put an ad for Galaxy for when someone buys a game through the website, something like
Thank you for your purchase, click here to download GOG Galaxy and play your games as soon as they're ready.

Fourth, when someone receives an email for their purchase (Your order #etc is complete), similar thing as the last one:
Thank you for your order, user. You can review the details of the transaction below. Click here to download GOG Galaxy and play your games with our client.

I'm sure you, GOG team, can do all of this and better. There are viable options to advertise Galaxy that don't require making your users going through the hassle of unchecking boxes or closing pop-ups they don't want.
Post edited May 21, 2017 by Nix31
Posted May 21, 2017
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AlienMind: hey management. yesterday i installed "skylar and plux" from the OFFLINE INSTALLERS and clicked play in the installer at the end and it automatically started galaxy which proceeded to patch itself and downloaded a bunch of crap so i killed it and started the game over start menu. i was already happy gaming on my couch a few minutes in when the shit galaxy renmants (you can't just kill galaxy it seems) stole focus and wanted to patch itself ANEW. yeah fun running to the pc again and administrating shit.

needless to say i uninstalled galax-shit and in the future do not click at the "play" button at the end of installation of the offline installers. i hope i can remember this. you are terrorists and i'm hanging here by a thread. a single thread. and if that snaps i'm leaving for good. good riddance.
Wow, so the offline installers are indeed infected now and in an even worse way than anticipated.
Shame on you, GOG, shame on you.
Post edited May 21, 2017 by Klumpen0815
Posted May 21, 2017
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AlienMind: hey management. yesterday i installed "skylar and plux" from the OFFLINE INSTALLERS and clicked play in the installer at the end and it automatically started galaxy
Could you please clarify if Galaxy was already installed on your computer before running the installer for Skylar and Plux? Maybe the installer only tries to launch the game through Galaxy if it detects, that Galaxy is already installed. If it actually installed Galaxy, that would be really bad, especially since Skylar and Plux doesn't seem to need Galaxy for multiplayer.

It doesn't matter for you anymore since you've uninstalled Galaxy, but you wrote you've "killed Galaxy" and then it popped up again and tried to update. Galaxy normally just minimizes to the tray when you close the window. To actually "kill" Galaxy you can either click the large GOG icon in the top left of the Galaxy window and select Exit from the drop-down or right-click the icon in the tray and select Exit. This way Galaxy should be closed for good. If it still opens by itself, that's a bug (or unwanted feature) that should be fixed.
Posted May 21, 2017
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DoctorGOGgles: Could you please clarify if Galaxy was already installed on your computer before running the installer for Skylar and Plux?
Yes, it was already installed. I did that to be able to play shadow warrior 2 multiplayer a few months ago and did not touch galaxy ever since.
Posted May 21, 2017
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Nix31: I'll echo the OP and many others: Galaxy should remain optional and non-intrusive.

I believe you can increase exposure to your client without displeasing us standalone installers' backup enthusiasts.

First, there is already a big blue TRY GOG GALAXY in every game page in the Library that is pretty hard to miss.

Second, you can put banners that link to Galaxy in the installers (in my opinion the only acceptable way if you insist on this) and then could keep only one set of standalone offline games installers (up to date, please).

Third, you can also put an ad for Galaxy for when someone buys a game through the website, something like
Thank you for your purchase, click here to download GOG Galaxy and play your games as soon as they're ready.

Fourth, when someone receives an email for their purchase (Your order #etc is complete), similar thing as the last one:
Thank you for your order, user. You can review the details of the transaction below. Click here to download GOG Galaxy and play your games with our client.

I'm sure you, GOG team, can do all of this and better. There are viable options to advertise Galaxy that don't require making your users going through the hassle of unchecking boxes or closing pop-ups they don't want.
This***
Posted May 21, 2017
high rated
avatar
Nix31: I'll echo the OP and many others: Galaxy should remain optional and non-intrusive.

I believe you can increase exposure to your client without displeasing us standalone installers' backup enthusiasts.

First, there is already a big blue TRY GOG GALAXY in every game page in the Library that is pretty hard to miss.

Second, you can put banners that link to Galaxy in the installers (in my opinion the only acceptable way if you insist on this) and then could keep only one set of standalone offline games installers (up to date, please).

Third, you can also put an ad for Galaxy for when someone buys a game through the website, something like
Thank you for your purchase, click here to download GOG Galaxy and play your games as soon as they're ready.

Fourth, when someone receives an email for their purchase (Your order #etc is complete), similar thing as the last one:
Thank you for your order, user. You can review the details of the transaction below. Click here to download GOG Galaxy and play your games with our client.

I'm sure you, GOG team, can do all of this and better. There are viable options to advertise Galaxy that don't require making your users going through the hassle of unchecking boxes or closing pop-ups they don't want.
+1
Simple and Efficient. Acceptable to people on all sides of the spectrum.

Those who don't want Galaxy won't install it no matter what.
Those who use it already have it. No need to make them download multiple copies of it.
I use Galaxy, so why would I want an installer to be merged with every game installer?
Most importantly, is it being suggested that someone who can create an account on GOG and BUY a game here and Download the OFFLINE INSTALLER would lack the intelligence to download and install Galaxy on his/her own?


EDIT: The installers show promotional content for other games on GOG. Maybe this space can be used to promote Galaxy if you want.
Post edited May 21, 2017 by bhrigu
Posted May 22, 2017
high rated
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Klumpen0815: Wow, so the offline installers are indeed infected now and in an even worse way than anticipated.
Shame on you, GOG, shame on you.
No. Galaxy "powered" games try to blindly start Galaxy on start-up (at least most/a bunch of them). AFAICT, that behavior is in the Galaxy.dll shipped & linked with that particular game. This is part of why having ancient versions of the Galaxy client or leftover remnants of the Galaxy client causes problems with some games crashing or hanging. Easiest way to avoid all that is to never have the Galaxy client installed in the first place and allow the non-Internet, non-LAN localhost connection, otherwise it will likely crash in the shitty DLL (amazing error handling Galaxy devs), and the game should start up without issue.

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AlienMind: needless to say i uninstalled galax-shit and in the future do not click at the "play" button at the end of installation of the offline installers.
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DoctorGOGgles: This way Galaxy should be closed for good. If it still opens by itself, that's a bug (or unwanted feature) that should be fixed.
I believe it's the second, but I don't use it myself.
Post edited May 22, 2017 by Gydion
Posted May 26, 2017
GOG is firmly committed to it's policy....
Attachments:
gog_policy.jpg (58 Kb)
Posted May 26, 2017
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Klumpen0815: Wow, so the offline installers are indeed infected now and in an even worse way than anticipated.
Shame on you, GOG, shame on you.
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Gydion: No. Galaxy "powered" games try to blindly start Galaxy on start-up (at least most/a bunch of them). AFAICT, that behavior is in the Galaxy.dll shipped & linked with that particular game. This is part of why having ancient versions of the Galaxy client or leftover remnants of the Galaxy client causes problems with some games crashing or hanging. Easiest way to avoid all that is to never have the Galaxy client installed in the first place and allow the non-Internet, non-LAN localhost connection, otherwise it will likely crash in the shitty DLL (amazing error handling Galaxy devs), and the game should start up without issue.
That's how I understood it and I find it unacceptable if an installer starts doing such things all of a sudden. It feels like some pirate copy with malware to me doing things one didn't ask it to do.
Posted May 30, 2017
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Gydion: No. Galaxy "powered" games try to blindly start Galaxy on start-up (at least most/a bunch of them). AFAICT, that behavior is in the Galaxy.dll shipped & linked with that particular game. This is part of why having ancient versions of the Galaxy client or leftover remnants of the Galaxy client causes problems with some games crashing or hanging. Easiest way to avoid all that is to never have the Galaxy client installed in the first place and allow the non-Internet, non-LAN localhost connection, otherwise it will likely crash in the shitty DLL (amazing error handling Galaxy devs), and the game should start up without issue.
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Klumpen0815: That's how I understood it and I find it unacceptable if an installer starts doing such things all of a sudden. It feels like some pirate copy with malware to me doing things one didn't ask it to do.
you know, when i was talking few days ago about applying to GOG stuff the same rules i apply to potential malware/virus in my IS, i foresaw this kind of mess and i was incidentaly right about it

i already am very suspicious and puzzled when offline games with no online feature or anything are doing strange things like "requiring to get backup service account privileges" or "putting a global hook on some remote control background service of windows"... now i just no longer gog installers as trusted source/program and rather as suspicious/unknown source ones !
Posted May 30, 2017
high rated
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Klumpen0815: Wow, so the offline installers are indeed infected now and in an even worse way than anticipated.
Shame on you, GOG, shame on you.
I can confirm this (unfortunately). If you have Galaxy installed and press "launch game" at the end of the installation it automatically starts Galaxy without questions asked. Imo this is not so new but it feels extremely forced for a supposedly totally optional client which gives US all freedom we like ... or something like it is shown in the PR ... sorry ... annouuncement video of Galaxy. I totally get it that GOG made Galaxy because several devs and maybe also customers wnated to have a client - but why do you shove it in our faces as if there is no tomorrow? We don't even pay for Galaxy so what is the reason?

+1 to the OP but I highly doubt GOG will answer. They are listening to our feedback ... but that's mostly about it - nobody said anything about actually answering feedback.
Post edited May 30, 2017 by MarkoH01
Posted May 30, 2017
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Miljac: I didn't mind grey site change, I don't love, but do understand the need for regional pricing, I don't mind galaxy but I do not like the way you are trying to 'force' it at all.
A few questions concerning your post, if I may:

1. What grey site change? The coloring of the site or something else?
2. AFAIK GOG charges the same price for all/most games(albeit in the currency of one's country) on the site. Am I wrong or isn't that still the case here?
3. How is GOG forcing galaxy on people? Is is bundled with installers with no opt-out function to be had or what?
Posted May 30, 2017
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GameRager: ...snip
3. How is GOG forcing galaxy on people? Is is bundled with installers with no opt-out function to be had or what?
I let gog support know that the link to the gogdownloader links page for SpellForce 2: Shadow Wars was broken and asked if they could fix it. I also told them that I didn't want to use galaxy to download my offline installer. The response I received told me to use galaxy and said nothing about fixing the link totally ignoring the fact that galaxy is supposed to be optional. That is how they are forcing galaxy on people.
Btw if the only way they provide me to download the game I paid for is through their client then I have to consider it DRM.
Posted May 30, 2017
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GameRager: ...snip
3. How is GOG forcing galaxy on people? Is is bundled with installers with no opt-out function to be had or what?
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mm324: I let gog support know that the link to the gogdownloader links page for SpellForce 2: Shadow Wars was broken and asked if they could fix it. I also told them that I didn't want to use galaxy to download my offline installer. The response I received told me to use galaxy and said nothing about fixing the link totally ignoring the fact that galaxy is supposed to be optional. That is how they are forcing galaxy on people.
Btw if the only way they provide me to download the game I paid for is through their client then I have to consider it DRM.
Maybe they meant that you should use galaxy to download it in the meantime? I would PM/Email them for further clarification if you haven't already done so.

(Not a GOG fanboy; i'm just curious, is all)

I agree on the DRM bit, though.
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionOpen letter to GOG(194 posts)(194 posts)
(194 posts)