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General discussionUsing standalone installers feels like being a second class customer.(58 posts)(58 posts)
(58 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted November 18, 2018
At the end of last friday (16.11.2018) a patch has been introduced to a game that I've been really looking forward to.

Unfortunately GOG doesn't seem to know that for most of us working customers the only time we can enjoy our games is during the weekend, which is why it doesn't care about integrating new patches in the late hours of friday.

It is not unusual in IT to have a different working schedule than a regular Monday - Friday, so why can't GOG invest and ensure that there's always someone available to integrate new patches as soon as they drop?

Is it really that much to ask for the same treatment for standalone installer users, as the one that Galaxy users get?

I pay for these games just as much as Galaxy users, and would like my games to be updated in the same timeframe.

I'm not using Galaxy because I don't need it, and find many of it's obligatory functionalities completely redundant, and would like for standalone installers to have at least the same level of care put into them as Galaxy has.
Post edited November 18, 2018 by ChrisGriffin
Posted November 18, 2018
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ChrisGriffin: It is not unusual in IT to have a different working schedule than a regular Monday - Friday, so why can't GOG invest and ensure that there's always someone available to integrate new patches as soon as they drop?
They seem to have some difficulty filling positions. I think it's their own fault though. If they considered remote people and advertised in the right places, they'd have thousands[1] lined up for a job. But no, they're hell bent on having people work at their office in Warsaw. I could be interested in the work GOG do and I might have the skills they need (I've been coding & gaming for >20 years), but there's no way in hell I'm moving to Warsaw.

[1]. A couple years ago, I applied to a UK based remote company that only employed three people at the time. No, not a startup, no VC money, totally mediocre (or worse) salary, nothing fancy about the product they were working on. I made it through the first couple stages and into the interview. They told me they interviewed about 50 people out of the more than 2000 applications they got.
Post edited November 18, 2018 by clarry
Posted November 18, 2018
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ChrisGriffin: At the end of last friday (16.11.2018) a patch has been introduced to a game that I've been really looking forward to.

Unfortunately GOG doesn't seem to know that for most of us working customers the only time we can enjoy our games is during the weekend, which is why it doesn't care about integrating new patches in the late hours of friday.

It is not unusual in IT to have a different working schedule than a regular Monday - Friday, so why can't GOG invest and ensure that there's always someone available to integrate new patches as soon as they drop?

Is it really that much to ask for the same treatment for standalone installer users, as the one that Galaxy users get?

I pay for these games just as much as Galaxy users, and would like my games to be updated in the same timeframe.

I'm not using Galaxy because I don't need it, and find many of it's obligatory functionalities completely redundant, and would like for standalone installers to have at least the same level of care put into them as Galaxy has.
Understand the frustration but some things cant be done in 5 minutes.
Posted November 18, 2018
Maybe I'm old fashioned but I don't mind waiting a few days longer. As providing patches for games is probably the most unimportant job in the world from the society's perspective, I don't see the need to have those people work on weekends...
Post edited November 18, 2018 by hmcpretender
Posted November 18, 2018
low rated
I understand your points, OP.

But such is the way the wind is blowing. Lots of people want physical PC games back too, but that ship has sailed and isn't coming back.

Even though your points are valid, I think it's best not to complain about this stuff too much. Because if enough people do complain, then the next eventual step they use to 'solve' the problem will probably be for them to remove all offline installers entirely, and make Galaxy mandatory.
Post edited November 18, 2018 by Ancient-Red-Dragon
Posted November 18, 2018
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Ancient-Red-Dragon: I understand your points, OP.

But such is the way the wind is blowing. Lots of people want physical PC games back too, but that ship has sailed and isn't coming back.

Even though your points are valid, I think it's best not to complain about this stuff too much. Because if enough people do complain, then the next eventual step they use to 'solve' the problem will probably be for them to remove all offline installers entirely, and make Galaxy mandatory.
And the day that happens is the day GOG dies.
Posted November 18, 2018
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Ancient-Red-Dragon: I understand your points, OP.

But such is the way the wind is blowing. Lots of people want physical PC games back too, but that ship has sailed and isn't coming back.

Even though your points are valid, I think it's best not to complain about this stuff too much. Because if enough people do complain, then the next eventual step they use to 'solve' the problem will probably be for them to remove all offline installers entirely, and make Galaxy mandatory.
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ChrisGriffin: And the day that happens is the day GOG dies.
Nah, there are enough die hard GOG fans defending Galaxy on this forum alone to keep the boat from sinking. Nevermind all the casuals who insist on Galaxy and what it provides.
Posted November 18, 2018
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ChrisGriffin: And the day that happens is the day GOG dies.
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clarry: Nah, there are enough die hard GOG fans defending Galaxy on this forum alone to keep the boat from sinking. Nevermind all the casuals who insist on Galaxy and what it provides.
I don't believe that it would ever happen.
Posted November 18, 2018
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ChrisGriffin: Is it really that much to ask for the same treatment for standalone installer users, as the one that Galaxy users get?
Or they could just put the game patches into the download area like in olden times with perhaps a script in case someones too lazy to install each patch.
Posted November 18, 2018
The biggest strength of offline installers lies with "finished" / mature games. The biggest weakness lies with large complex RPG's like, eg, Divinity Original Sin which required something like 15x patches, then an Enhanced Edition re-release, then another dozen EE patches. Then it's finally finished.

Personally, I find a slight patch delay vs Galaxy acceptable for simply having them continue to exist / more games here. If anything, the biggest annoyance ultimately lies with new games requiring so many patches in the first place...
Posted November 18, 2018
I'm honestly surprised GOG still hasn't come up with their own installer program that packages all the files into a self-extracting zipfile or something like that. The galaxy build to classic installer should be doable automatically. Just dump inno for winrar, already. Winrar's hotter, anyway.
Posted November 18, 2018
Winrar sucks ass but I agree this is something that is fairly easy to automate and solve with a bit of tech.

Countless open source projects run by volunteers with little money have no trouble rolling nightly packages...

I'm not even sure why they'd need to dump inno, that can be automated like anything else.
Post edited November 18, 2018 by clarry
Posted November 18, 2018
I understand and agree with the frustration, and even Galaxy games don't always get patched over weekends (See Bard's Tale 4 and the BT sub forum) however I would strongly urge you to be patient with GOG.

Every time they try to "fix" something, 3 other things break. I'd rather wait for my patches at this point, if it means keeping certain devs and publishers on here.
Posted November 18, 2018
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clarry: Winrar sucks ass but I agree this is something that is fairly easy to automate and solve with a bit of tech.

Countless open source projects run by volunteers with little money have no trouble rolling nightly packages...

I'm not even sure why they'd need to dump inno, that can be automated like anything else.
GOG do not use automatic tools and often doing their works manually.
That is why they have all those bugs for years:
1. unreliable update flag. Many updates have no flag, and some update flags are false.
2. GOG often set their countdown clocks wrongly, and promo could stopped several days earlier.
3. GOG often have various typo in their Changelogs
4. GOG often do not provide Changelog for updated games. Some games never have any changelog.
5. Sometimes, GOG's offline installers are not installable, or not downloadable.
6. GOG often list wrong filesize on their Library page. Obviously, they type-in those filesize manually.
7. Some GOG Support tickets took 1~4 weeks to get their first response. Obviously, GOG Support system can not sort their tickets to show unprocessed tickets.

I can list more things that proved that, GOG do not know how to use automatic tools.
Post edited November 18, 2018 by kbnrylaec
Posted November 18, 2018
high rated
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kbnrylaec: I can list more things that proved that, GOG do not know how to use automatic tools.
Yeah, no need, it's pretty obvious from just using GOG for a few years..

Kinda makes me curious to know what all the people employed by GOG are actually doing.

I'm guessing they're all so busy putting out fires that nobody has time to fix things for real. That would explain why the employee churn rate is so high..
Post edited November 18, 2018 by clarry
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionUsing standalone installers feels like being a second class customer.(58 posts)(58 posts)
(58 posts)