Hopefully they'll do the W3 thing. At some point I do want to get my hands on an installer that has most of the things, just not when there's a torrent of little update patches in progress and everyone hammering away at the download servers.

Anyway, yes, what we're looking at as of this writing as far as offline installers is a 27 part, ~105 GB v1.03 installer and a 2 part, 600 MB 1.03->1.04 patch, plus a few GB worth of the usual CDPR extra goodies. Large game is large.

It'd be interesting to know how much of that is localization; it could really add up if all the NPC dialog is high bitrate. Didn't somebody get majorly scorched a couple years back when it came out that all the audio files in their game were uncompressed?

I see Galaxy as a useful add-on, but I'm with you on the necessity of offline installers. My criteria for a game being truly DRM free is what I call the Log Cabin test: am I able to install it from an external drive onto a fresh* OS in an off-the-grid cabin in the woods? Ironically, the idea was originally conceived when I was holed up on some old family property in rural Tennessee during the last big round of economic turmoil, and just over a decade later I'm back under similar circumstances albeit with cable internet this time around. I very rarely use Galaxy, but I also play mostly single player games so all the multiplayer stuff is totally lost on me.

*and if you were wondering--yes, I'm enough of a paranoid fool to keep a disk image of freshly installed and activated Windows on the said external drive to skirt LCT on the one internet-dependent thing I can't really avoid.

According to this: https://www.gog.com/forum/general/preload_cyberpunk_2077_today_cfffe/post388:
40+ GB.

Locaisations is about 4 gig per language - because Cyberpunk is fully voices, and there simply are that many choices and reaction. I'd like to know what the amount of text is - must be tremedous.

Mine is even more strict: Can I download the game from a public computer (or at work, or at a friend's place)? That rules out mandatory clients, because you can't simply install them on any machine. A browser, or open-source script (like gogrepo.py) should be enough.

Afaik at least some of those repacks really slam CPU (and or other resources) load.
When you release a game installer (OFFICIALY as a developer that is) you need to take into account all sorts of hardware specs.
And not a whole lot of people are ready to leave their computers hanging on the installer until it finishes.
Most people do other stuff in the meantime.

Agressive compression levels usually require a whole lot more resources to unpack.
So very highly optimised compression is usually a no go for a consumer grade installer.
Of course there are some exceptions - but then installer software would have to ACTUALLY support using them - and I don't know if you noticed but most developers utilise some already existing installer software - such as Innosetup - and so they are limited by installers' capability.
You TOTALLY COULD make a small uber compression installer but that would either 1.Absolutely DESTROY resources utilisation at consumer end 2.Or require using custom installer and most developers just don't go that way.

I don't currently own THIS game but on GOG this goes one of 2 ways:
- you get a standalone patch and can just apply the patch, meanwhile ENTIRE INSTALLER is either updated to most recent version or not
- or the standalone patch is neglected and only the ENTIRE installer is updated and so you basically have to reinstall the game to apply the patch :S *

( * there is also option 3: the offline installers aren't updated to newest version at all and it is only available through Galaxy, there is quite some examples of games with this problem on GOG, but this is CDPR release [this game] so sh*t like that really isn't likely to happen [unless GOG desires to shoot themselves into their knees EVEN MORE than they already did] as it would initiate quite an outrage, it is unlikely, but still possible to happen someday )

If you want legacy builds access (as in "not the absolutely most recent version") you are on a wrong platform :/
On GOG they ALMOST ALWAYS remove access to older version installers after new version is released. It's a HUGE hypocrisy given GOG is SUPPOSED TO be a DRM-free store (so one would think they SHOULD be "archiving friendly", but I guess they aren't).

Compression isn't the issue here, as every modern computer supports compression in one way or the other, some faster than others. The problem seem to be with delivery and not splitting up the different components. On galaxy install is automatic and everything is done for you at only 60GB, but some of us want more control and do it manually - why can't we have a download of 60GB there also instead of 104GB? It's just weird...

So far no dev or any official at GOG or CDPR have mentioned anything about this... probably won't either.

DEcompression IS a problem.
Depending on algoritm and settings used it can eat up anything from "does this even run" all the way up to "way too F&%$ much" (which can result in softlocks, hardlocks, OOM, kernel panics, and thrashing).
Believe me, I researched various compression and settings for backup purposes. Most existing high compression settings are just not suitable for consumer end or are not supported by off-the-shelf installer software.
You could make an installer the size of 30-40 % of the source files. But that would require a custom installer and would absolutely OBLITERATE responsivness of consumer end hardware during install time.

Don't say it is NOT a problem because it IS a problem. What you are saying is that there is another one - lack of fragmentation.
I am fully aware of that and responded to that many posts ago.
A developer should just release a modular installer that seeks (in the same derictory it was run from) seperate language patches upon install. And those seperate patches should be individually downloaded from GOG by consumer choice and should be possible to be installed outside of first-install-scenario (ergo: independet self patching archive files also usable by firs-time installer).
That would result in for example 60 (base game) + 10 (english) + 10 (for example Japanese) + 10 (whatever language) instead of 90.
That would result in much lower strain on GOG's servers as well as worldwide network infrastructure, reduced download times for end consumers and overall everyone would be happy (well, happier, not neccesarily "happy. Period").

Maybe you're thinking of this:
https://v1.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/132922-Titanfall-Dev-Explains-The-Games-35-GB-of-Uncompressed-Audio

35 of Titanfall's 48 GB was uncompressed audio.

That was really a waste of an explanation... Then I suggest you find someone that is talking about the same thing as you, because that's not me ;)

Thanks for the replies :)

After having been burned by the handling of the offline Installers of Spellforce 3 and Pathfinder: Kingmaker, i am *very* sceptical about buying new releases that are frequently patched here on GoG.

I will still wait (also because of the Galaxy locked bonus items), at least until a couple of patches are released.
In the past, GoG had the annoying habit (that happed with the two above mentioned games) to remove any old patches except for the last 3 or 4. A stupid thing, if the patches depend on each other, forcing you to re-download the full installer again.
While i have better internet connectivity now, the size of the Installer is still significant.

Anyone have a legitimately honest/unclouded review of the game? Many are polarizing, mostly a love it or hate it type and people from both sides mostly just dismissing each other and whatnot.

My own fault, but sort of searched and read a few, made me refund my own pre-order. Didn't even redeem code as was busy with work past few days.

Personally, didn't encounter any bugs or problems when I pre-ordered and played W3 - loved it right away (ran it on lowest setting as I didn't have a good computer - surprised on how well it ran, guess I was lucky).

Was over-hyped, hoping CP2077 would be a combo of W2 (branching Acts!!!), Deus Ex (only played HR), DA:O (origins), ME and maybe some Yakuza (only recently started Yakuza 0).

Apparently lifepaths doesn't amount to much? Barely any reactivity/acknowledgement/changes to world setting? Although minor, remembered how W3 had a few NPCs commenting on outcome of some quests I did (minor, reptitive lines, but satisfying).
I don't normally like to cause mayhem in games, but the police AI seems very jarring and ill thought out - well it seems the AI in general is questionable.

Only really care about the story, immersion atmosphere, choices (few is fine, but impactful!) etc..., and this too seems to be lackluster (tho I haven't read too much into it or watched walkthrough as i don't want to spoil anything despite returning it). Guess this is really subjective :/

Anyway, tl:dr, any honest and fair opinion/review on how it is - storywise? Don't mind if there are some cliche, as long as it is done/presented well and engaging. Might get it again if it actually is engaging.
Thanks!

I'm enjoying it so far - I try not to get "sucked into the hype" and take a game on its merits (or faults) - if I'm interested in a game because of genre / gameplay / etc I'll give it a shot.

You mention Yakuza and Deus Ex Human Revolution - it really *does* have a sort of future sci-fi Sleeping Dogs vibe with some Deus Ex gameplay mixed in (although they went with fewer options in combat - particularly the cover system - and replaced them with more variety in weapons). The surprising part is it also feels part "loot shooter" - with, like I mentioned, a TON of variety in type and behavior of weapons.

I'm still very early on, so I wish I could comment more on the story and reactivity of the world to quests and such - but I can't. HOWEVER the world does feel really "alive" and I mentioned Sleeping Dogs because at least in the early going, I'm pretty invested in the few characters I've been introduced to, and the world feels very real and like a place I'm going to enjoy spending time. Like I said, I'm WAY too early to comment on the story, but I think the quality of the main storyline is one of the things most people agree is a strong suit - love OR hate the game. Still haven't heard how reactive it is though.

Easy to get distracted though ;) I keep seeing little blips or quick side missions and even when I want to push forward, I veer off to check it out "real quick..." ;)

Oh, gameplay options are fun too. I like the early stealth, the in-combat "hacking" is fun to experiment with and like I said, messing around with the new weapons I pick up is a neat diversion - it has a solid modular upgrade system for weapons where you can "hot swap" stuff - so you're not married to your upgrade choices - I like that in RPGs because I have a tendancy to NOT use upgrades, waiting for the perfect moment to use them LOL.


DISCLAIMER - I'm on Win 7 and the game took a bit of patience to get up and running. But now that it is, my aging midrange system runs the game pretty damn nice at 1080p. I wasn't expecting to be able to run the thing at 4K on Ultra with 90 FPS - I think a lack of realistic expectations for a release day version of a game of this size are a lot of what's driving the hate.

Unless you're on the last gen consoles - then you have a very real gripe. It shouldn't have been released like that for them (if at all?). If what I'm hearing is correct.

I've decided I'm waiting a year on this one. I'm going to buy it in the holiday sale 2021, (assuming I don't get hit by a bus before then.) I'm hoping by then it will be more stable, better optimized, have some content patches for the "off the rails" areas, and maybe get rid of the parts that pull you on to the rails when you're trying to play an open world game. Also, it should be cheaper by then.

Well... If you don't know much then ok, no worries ;)
I just offered my brief TLDR of explanation for the sake of clarity since there isn't much people around on GOG forums who have made research in this area it seems.

Please elaborate :P