If you want to integrate other stores into one launcher, you're much better off with Lutris than with Galaxy. Of course, Lutris is Linux based, but that's a bonus in my eyes.

There is a big difference between having peoples being angry / disappointed because their favorite client has been removed and they don't like the new one because it's missing features, less convenient, more bloated, etc....

And having some peoples clamoring that they are 2000% anti-any-sort-of-client, because clients are evil, while at the same time implying that Gog has suddenly become totally unusable because Gog decided to remove one of their two optional clients (that would somehow "not" be a "client" because of "reasons")

While I can perfectly understand and sympathize with the first group, the second one got me scratching my head. And I think it was said second group that StingingVelvet was talking about.

For the sake of pristine GOG worshipping you just skip the fact that GOG imposes, for downloading, a social networking manager tracker gaming client that happens to download, instead of a mere downloading tool. You completely circumvent the issue of using one feature to push people to adopt others. "Take our social network pack if you want to keep easily downloading your files".

Yeah keep considering it lovely, honest good practice and you'll go to GOG paradise after your death, promised. In the meantime others will see GOG for what it is and what it has become. And pay the price of this lucidity.

Basically you're a prisoner of the convenience of maintaiing the fiction of GOG as an okay company, despite its accumulation of dick moves. What can I say. I just hope you're not the same with other convenient companies whose dickish moves have much more serious impacts on the world.

True, but Lutris does still have a way to go. I have had tons of issues with Lutris on my Linux system from install fails, install loops (where it would install then re-install over and over), complete failures, installing but then losing the program when the computer restarts (as in the install is completely missing from the hard drive despite a successful install). Lutris also has difficulty with GOG installers for some reason as well.

You lost me right there. If you knew me at all, you'd know I've heavily criticised GOG plenty of times for all kinds of reasons. The fact that you assume I think GOG can do no wrong because I don't agree with you on this particular issue shows that it's a waste of time to discuss this with you.

First, I am responding to you because I appreciate you taking a civil tone, but this will be my last post in an otherwise increasingly toxic topic. The little jab I was getting at is that by your logic of "not officially supported = not guaranteed to work" that means they're not guaranteed to work either, just like Downloader.

What I'd really be curious to see is if the GOGrepo topic became hijacked by non-users who went on to keep telling the users ad nauseum to get with the times and just use Galaxy since the functionality is the same.

Perhaps, and I forget at this point if it was this topic or one of the other related ones where I and others posted about the possibility of a "Galaxy lite"...one that is basically Downloader, just with a Galaxy name. One reservation I'd have about that myself is that I don't trust the Galaxy brand like I trust the GOG brand. I know that will sound confusing to some who would call them one and the same, but it is based on my experiences as a customer over the years. To me, "GOG" brand means DRM-free games without extra hoops, and the Downloader aided my experience since it was quicker than browser downloads. While I know in a technical sense it is a "client", that is not what me and many other users mean when we say "client". Which brings me to Galaxy. To me, the "Galaxy" brand means unwanted bloatware and an unnecessary headache where I'd have to go out of my way to avoid and disable "features" left and right.


As for most of the other GOG Downloader critics in this topic, particularly the persistent ones, it is amazing how so many of you keep missing the point again and again, and rather than just let us express our wish in peace, you want to stamp it out. Stop rationalizing anti-consumer decisions. You know it's bad when even the official "PR speak" was more palatable than most of the apologist swill posted here.

[upvotes Telika's posts and leaves]

Oh yes, Fairfox. I had years looking for a true alternative and guess what, I still haven't found any.
"Deal with it!" that's easy to say when you are not needing something. Imo those who aren't interested in the GOG Downloader at all (I don't need it, I don't know it, what? Down...what?) should stop participating in this discussion because ... what's your reason for participating here anyway? You already got your wish and at least some people got "harmed". It won't help us or those who don't care about the Downloader to "Deal with it!".
Which they also don't do btw. See how many resources they've put in the really much used forums lately? ;)
Sometimes I have the feeling GOGs resources are 90% in Galaxy right now. Support is swamped (still waiting for several tickets to be solved), real mods are nearly non existent, communication is non existant as well and people who try to get updates on GOG are also not available .. oh wait, they are and they are called customers.
And Gersen actually already created such a thread - let's hope GOG reads it ... and reacts as well.
https://www.gog.com/forum/general_beta_gog_galaxy_2.0/feature_request_talks_how_to_improve_galaxy_for_it_to_be_a_worthy_replacement_of_the_downloader

but you dont need it; you just want it. im not tryin' to be picky over exact wordage... i was just born that wai ;P
it just reinforces my point tbh; gogie are limited an' stretched thin (or, less compassionate lee: they suck donkey managin' resources they do have) an' i dont want them to devote moar resources to an app that they public lee declared they were no longer supportin' literal lee years ago

im not here goin' "LOLZ TAKE THAT!"
im just bein' a realist

if a small percentage of teh time they wud hav had to spend on that (for a teeny-tiny percentage of users) is used moar useful lee an' effective lee... gud. if they procrastinate an' dither an' waste those extra resources (small as they are), well, theyre goin' to struggle general lee with their business; it all adds up

tl;dr gogie are 'special' an' take twice as long for half teh payoff, so need to trim unnecessaries

Yes and No. Actually I did several tests and I have games in the "installed" folder Galaxy knows about and it does not add them unless I installed (using the offline installer) with Galaxy installed at the time. Simply having them in the folder Galaxy knows as the install folder when launched doesn't do it. At least with the games I tested.

As I mentioned elsewhere IF you have Galaxy installed, it doesn't matter if it is running or not, when you use a offline installer Galaxy will add the game without asking. AND if you use a different folder, other than Galaxy knows about, it will STILL add it. If you don't believe me, try it yourself. I was rather surprised to find this out. It doesn't matter the path, therefore the installer must have something that talks/adds itself to the Galaxy client during the install. Hence me thinking the .dll's mentioned might be an aspect of it. If not ok, but it is still as I said adding games without asking even if in different paths while using offline installers. That does not seem to be "normal/expected" behavior to me.

I only had it installed Galaxy because I was trying it out due to GOG Downloader being disabled. Also I gave it another shot considering that I hadn't tried it since 1.x.

Wow. That actually IS news to me and I will try this out myself. So I could take any offline installer and install it wherever I want and Galaxy will still add it automatically? If that is what you experienced I am really curious to try this myself.

Edit:
After several tests I just did myself I can confirm what you and Mr. Mumbles said. However no special Galaxy DLLs seem to be responsible for this since the 6 games I tested did not include any of those. I assume that the install routine itself (which clearly is checking if Galaxy is installed or not) is responsible to add those games to Galaxy (and I was unable find out the way HOW exactly this happens). Still just like Mr. Mumbles other than the principle of not wanting an application to do anything else than what I want it to do (in this case: just install and don't do anything else) I still don't see any problem.

Yup. Did that on my laptop with its weird 2-partition SSD since my designated gaming side was pretty full up, so I started using offline installers to add a few games on the system side. Galaxy immediately recognized the games and has no problems launching them even with being in a completely different directory/partition/drive.

I'm really not seeing what's bad about this feature. *shrug* Those who are not going to use Galaxy are not affected in any way.

For example, someone could decide to give in and install Galaxy to play one particular game in multiplayer with friends, but want it to do nothing else and keep the fuck away from all other games they have installed.

I know you said you won't reply to any more posts(and fair enough), but I thought i'd weigh in on this post:
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But they are the SAME COMPANY.

Is it really that hard(if one used galaxy, that is) to click a few boxes and change a few settings?

No one seems to want that.....some here(like me) are mainly trying to point out to some that what they're asking is highly unlikely.

(Albeit yes, some are doing it in a more crude manner than others, and they should try to be more civil about it)

Also as for those voicing more civil criticisms.....imo it's somewhat fair to do so....if some can say "gog is pushing galaxy and maybe DRM someday soon" or criticize the GOG DLer then others should be able to voice how they feel on that as well.

The customer isn't always right, and doesn't need to always get what they want.

(Also dunno if i'm in that aforementioned group of apologists, but if I am: please note that I often criticize GOG on several issues)

It is not a 'bad' feature unless it is something that is going on without you asking and you didn't want. The only way to not have this adding behavour happen is to fully uninstall Galaxy. The whole point is it is not asking. There is a option to "add a game" in Galaxy, therefore one often assumes (incorrectly) that to have such a option means it won't be adding things without asking.

Like I said, I was rather surprised to find this out. Many people may not care, the same ones would rather have everything happen in the background. Others, like myself, like to know what is going on inside their machine. And when something unexpected happens like this, we get nervous. I'm not saying there is anything sinister here, but it does raise a eyebrow.

MY PROGRAM has now been updated to v1.2, but not yet uploaded. The update includes support for BZ2 files, and RAR files now require UnRAR, as 7-Zip surprisingly does not test RAR files, despite being able to open them.

At best, my program is just a slow stop-gap measure, but needed right now, because file integrity for archiving is vitally important.

This is why we need the GOG Downloader back.

LET GOG KNOW HOW YOU FEEL BY VOTING
https://www.gog.com/wishlist/site/keep_the_gog_downloader_and_keep_it_up_to_date

590 votes now. It has increased quite a bit in the couple of days I haven't been here. And despite what some still harp on about, that is not an insignificant number of customers, and some of the comparisons are just not logical. It is not about something that is missing, but rather something that has been removed, that many still used, and for which a good reason still hasn't been given.

P.S. I've been using the GOGDownload Checker to test game files I have been getting from Itch.io and IndieGala, which is why it now supports BZ2 for Linux downloads, and also how I discovered RAR files weren't being tested. I will probably add support for PDF files too, before uploading v1.2. BE AWARE that if you do use my program with downloads from other stores, that unless any EXE files were produced using InnoSetup, then they cannot be checked for integrity. I may look into some kind of checker for these other EXE files.