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General discussionWhen will "GOG Galaxy" be released?(178 posts)(178 posts)
(178 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted September 20, 2014
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011284mm: I am sorry, but are you saying you guys are having to go through and repackage every game individually? If so, are you going to do that for games that are no longer available through the store too, or are they dropped?
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Destro: The goal is that every game from your account can be installed and updated with the Galaxy Client.

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011284mm: Also, please keep the standalone (no internet required) installation. It is the one thing about your move to Galaxy that actually scares me.
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Destro: Nobody is taking standalone installers away. As I mentioned in my post "all our games are being rebuild to (...) Client, while also keeping their standalone installers".
So, I can't store any patches locally on a HD so I can apply & reapply as needed without additional bandwidth usage?
Posted September 20, 2014
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Destro: [...] all our games are being rebuild to offer installation and updating via Client while also keeping their standalone installers, which creation we'd like to automate as well rather than making the whole pipeline an overkill.

[...]
You (GOG staffers) have repeatedly avoided to answer a very simple question that has been asked multiple times by a number of people - will this client thing come with the functionality and the features of the GOG Downloader or not? How hard can it be to answer this question?
I'm almost certain that the answer is "NO", and that you're just stalling, probably hoping and aiming for the complaints to be drowned under the screams of joy for the release of the GOG Galaxy client.

You (GOG staffers) stated that you're going to ditch the GOG Downloader, I understand this to mean that even if we keep it, it would be pointless as it won't work with the revamped account pages.

So, please do us all a favour, and come out and say it already, so that we can look into and test alternatives before the GOG Downloader becomes history.


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Destro: [...] good example here are Galaxy accounts system, which all of you are now using... maybe some of you noticed this when we've launched new login and signup forums.

[...]
I'm going to be the party-pooper here and say that the Galaxy account system sucks big time. It's slower to load than the old one, half the times it doesn't log you in at the first try (especially if you try to login from the front page), and occasionally logs you out for no good reason. If the login system is any indication, I dread to think how "lightweight" and "responsive" this GOG Galaxy client will be.
Now that I think about it, if it's not modular, perhaps it's best that it won't replace the GOG Downloader.
So, I can't store any patches locally on a HD so I can apply & reapply as needed without additional bandwidth usage?
This is a good question - anyone at GOG thought about this?
Posted September 20, 2014
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HypersomniacLive: [..] the Galaxy account system sucks big time. It's slower to load than the old one, half the times it doesn't log you in at the first try (especially if you try to login from the front page), and occasionally logs you out for no good reason.
Uh, do other people have those problems? I haven't been logged out since the upgrade!
I didn't also notice any major slowdown and I have an old system.


So, I can't store any patches locally on a HD so I can apply & reapply as needed without additional bandwidth usage?
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HypersomniacLive: This is a good question - anyone at GOG thought about this?
As I posted many times, I think that GOG should release patches that update our stored installers!
We cannot re-download GBs of data every time that something changes.


Another last question by me: will GOG Galaxy allow to save the installers inside custom folders on detachable hdisks? (without losing game status if the drive is removed). Same for bonuses? (I'd like to extract them all elsewhere)
Post edited September 20, 2014 by phaolo
Posted September 20, 2014
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suyangzuo: When will "GOG Galaxy" be released?
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Destro: There is no such thing as release date for Galaxy because Galaxy is not a single feature that we can just release and say "done" but an ecosystem of features. That's also why the date is so vague. Other reason would be that we prefer to underpromise than underdeliver :)

Coming back to your question - I'd break it down into few parts

First, some of the Galaxy features were available in closed multiplayer beta of The Witcher Adventure Game (networking & backend, matchmaking, lobbies, in-game chat). FYI, we've sent over 150.000 beta keys as of today and while we will be soon concluding this beta, there will be many more Galaxy-powered games like that coming, one of them in the very coming weeks ramping up into many more in the months after (way over 40 devs have access to our SDK but here we're depending on developer release schedule).

Then there is also a Galaxy Client - some parts of it, like auto-updating, were already available in mentioned The Witcher Adventure Game, and the full app supporting entire library is also coming but keep in mind this is not a small task - all our games are being rebuild to offer installation and updating via Client while also keeping their standalone installers, which creation we'd like to automate as well rather than making the whole pipeline an overkill. Then, many other features - like achievements for example - also depend on having Galaxy powered game that supports them in the first place. And as you'd expect different games then require different features.

Finally - many other features which will be later needed to power other stuff are actually already released on GOG - good example here are Galaxy accounts system, which all of you are now using... maybe some of you noticed this when we've launched new login and signup forums. It sounds like no big deal but there are many dependencies here - friends system is just one example which is also linked to achievements somewhat, which might require some overlay which in turn depends on a Client.
Well, I'll take this to be our "more news in 2014", thanks!
Posted September 21, 2014
I think many would like the answer to what's going on with the bland grey colour scheme to the gog site - is it deliberate?.
Posted September 21, 2014
Can we get a screenshot of the client??? :D I'm sure a picture won't hurt anyone ;)
Posted September 21, 2014
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Niggles: I think many would like the answer to what's going on with the bland grey colour scheme to the gog site - is it deliberate?.
Yeah XD This is such a small thing and doesn't really matter, but it still bothers me that the icon for GOG on my Firefox bookmark toolbar has changed to black and white. I really miss the green and yellow icon (it was much easier for me to notice amidst my other bookmarks and I like it better). I even tried to see if there was an add-on that would let me change the bookmark icon back to what it was before, but apparently the add-ons that did that no longer work with new versions of Firefox XD

Anyhow, I'm looking forward to Galaxy but I can wait as long as the current downloader still works. I hope they leave the downloader intact for at least awhile after Galaxy is out so that people can still use it while Galaxy gets any bugs ironed out.
Posted September 21, 2014
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phaolo: Uh, do other people have those problems? I haven't been logged out since the upgrade!
I didn't also notice any major slowdown and I have an old system.

[...]
The thing is it's all pretty inconsistent and random - some times the login screen loads pretty fast, other times that swirling icon takes its bloody sweet time before the actual screen appears, the "have to enter my credentials twice" issue seems to be related with the front page, though I occasionally experience it when logging in directly to the forums, the "getting logged out" is quite rare, but still pretty random (i.e., haven't been able to relate it to something specific when it happens).


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phaolo: [...]

Another last question by me: will GOG Galaxy allow to save the installers inside custom folders on detachable hdisks? (without losing game status if the drive is removed). Same for bonuses? (I'd like to extract them all elsewhere)
Prerequisite for what you're asking is that, additionally to direct installations, the GOG Galaxy client will offer the option to download the standalone installers and extras in the first place.;-)
As I said, the fact that GOG staffers have been and still are silent about this makes me think that it won't - so much for "your experience won't change".
Posted September 21, 2014
Hopefully it won't be released until it's good and ready. I doubt it will, but you never know.
Posted September 21, 2014
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ChrisSD: Personally I hope they release the client whenever they think it's actually ready. Releasing a half-baked client would be worse than waiting another year for a more refined product.
Same here. While I am interested to see the client, I am still doing pretty fine without it. The main reason I hope GOG to release it sooner than later is to win the hearts of those who possibly don't want to buy from GOG due to the lack of client. Or at least they'll have to come up with some other excuse next.

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HypersomniacLive: You (GOG staffers) have repeatedly avoided to answer a very simple question that has been asked multiple times by a number of people - will this client thing come with the functionality and the features of the GOG Downloader or not? How hard can it be to answer this question?
I'm almost certain that the answer is "NO", and that you're just stalling, probably hoping and aiming for the complaints to be drowned under the screams of joy for the release of the GOG Galaxy client.
Out of curiosity, what are these features of the current Downloader that you suspect the Galaxy client would miss?

I'm asking because to me the current downloader client is so simple (=few features) that I have hard time seeing how the Galaxy client wouldn't have all the same features, and then some. The only "advanced" features I can think of with the downloader client is e.g. the ability to throttle the download speed, even based on the time. Are you talking about that, or something else? (I never use that throttle though, I download everything at full speed, just like on Steam.)
Post edited September 21, 2014 by timppu
Posted September 21, 2014
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timppu: Same here. While I am interested to see the client, I am still doing pretty fine without it. The main reason I hope GOG to release it sooner than later is to win the hearts of those who possibly don't want to buy from GOG due to the lack of client. Or at least they'll have to come up with some other excuse next.
I'm pretty sure one of the them will be 'I don't want to run yet another client'.

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timppu: Out of curiosity, what are these features of the current Downloader that you suspect the Galaxy client would miss?

I'm asking because to me the current downloader client is so simple (=few features) that I have hard time seeing how the Galaxy client wouldn't have all the same features, and then some. The only "advanced" features I can think of with the downloader client is e.g. the ability to throttle the download speed, even based on the time. Are you talking about that, or something else? (I never use that throttle though, I download everything at full speed, just like on Steam.)
I think the biggest concern is that it might not allow you to download the *installers* but rather only the 'preinstalled' versions.

On top of that I guess there might be a worry that there will only be a 'Galaxy ready' installer of the most current version of the game, rather than having a base installer for the game with patches (so you can choose which patch you want to be on). Not sure how that works with the newer games GOG already has though.
Posted September 21, 2014
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timppu: The main reason I hope GOG to release it sooner than later is to win the hearts of those who possibly don't want to buy from GOG due to the lack of client. Or at least they'll have to come up with some other excuse next.
Count me in...

Buying new games with regular patches without an autopatcher is right now just uncomfortable - if I want to use nice words... Right now I can download one patched installer and three(!) additional patches which must be installed in the correct order and Steam is one patch ahead...
I was hoping, that the client would be ready during August or September, maybe even as a beta version as mentioned as excuse for the delay of Original Sin. I'm disappointing that it seems, that it will take additional month. GOG announced it to early...
Posted September 21, 2014
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timppu: [...]

Out of curiosity, what are these features of the current Downloader that you suspect the Galaxy client would miss?

I'm asking because to me the current downloader client is so simple (=few features) that I have hard time seeing how the Galaxy client wouldn't have all the same features, and then some. The only "advanced" features I can think of with the downloader client is e.g. the ability to throttle the download speed, even based on the time. Are you talking about that, or something else? (I never use that throttle though, I download everything at full speed, just like on Steam.)
Pheace summed it up pretty nicely. All the features of the GOG Galaxy client will be useless to me if the client can't be used to download standalone installers and patches, just like I can now with the GOG Downloader. And GOG staffers have been dodging this question since the announcement, while emphasising how similar to Steam the client will work.

I don't think it's unreasonable that we ask for a clear answer.
Posted September 22, 2014
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Pheace: I think the biggest concern is that it might not allow you to download the *installers* but rather only the 'preinstalled' versions.

On top of that I guess there might be a worry that there will only be a 'Galaxy ready' installer of the most current version of the game, rather than having a base installer for the game with patches (so you can choose which patch you want to be on). Not sure how that works with the newer games GOG already has though.
Has GOG said yet in which "format" the default Galaxy installations will be? The two options I see are:

1. The Steam way: there are no separate installers (nor patches), the download and install procedures are seamless with the client, as well as (auto)update. In this case yes, it is a relevant question about the standalone installers (and patches), how they will be managed.

I don't necessarily consider this optimal from GOG point of view either, as then they would have to maintain two different formats for their games: the one which the client uses, and the standalone installers. If this was the case, I am not expecting the client to support the standalone installers, they will be handled differently. Maybe even offering a mere http download option for them, similar how e.g. DotEmu does it.

I also think it would be probable in this case that there wouldn't be separate standalone patches anymore, but only a installer which is kept up to date. I personally would be fine with that (especially as quite often the standalone GOG update installers don't work with all previous versions, so quite often you end up reinstalling the whole game anyway).


2. The "Humble Bundle Android client"-way: as far as I can tell, this HB client downloads the normal .apk installers, and then installs them. You can also access and install those same .apk installers manually, ie. using the client only as an installer downloader.

Not sure if there are similar clients for Windows too (e.g. Desura? Never used it.), but this way GOG would have to maintain only one format that covers both the needs of the client, and the people who want to keep standalone installers (and possibly patches).

However, this could also be a bit clunkier/slower, and mean bigger downloads for updates, at least in those cases where you have so old version of the base game that the new patch is incompatible with it, and the whole game needs to be re-downloaded and reinstalled.

Or alternatively, GOG would finally be able to offer update installers that always work with all previous versions of the game installation, something that hasn't been always the case so far AFAIK.
Posted September 22, 2014
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Pheace: I think the biggest concern is that it might not allow you to download the *installers* but rather only the 'preinstalled' versions.

On top of that I guess there might be a worry that there will only be a 'Galaxy ready' installer of the most current version of the game, rather than having a base installer for the game with patches (so you can choose which patch you want to be on). Not sure how that works with the newer games GOG already has though.
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timppu: Has GOG said yet in which "format" the default Galaxy installations will be? The two options I see are:

1. The Steam way: there are no separate installers (nor patches), the download and install procedures are seamless with the client, as well as (auto)update. In this case yes, it is a relevant question about the standalone installers (and patches), how they will be managed.

I don't necessarily consider this optimal from GOG point of view either, as then they would have to maintain two different formats for their games: the one which the client uses, and the standalone installers. If this was the case, I am not expecting the client to support the standalone installers, they will be handled differently. Maybe even offering a mere http download option for them, similar how e.g. DotEmu does it.

I also think it would be probable in this case that there wouldn't be separate standalone patches anymore, but only a installer which is kept up to date. I personally would be fine with that (especially as quite often the standalone GOG update installers don't work with all previous versions, so quite often you end up reinstalling the whole game anyway).
Ummm that way can and does break mods and considering a good number of games on here can use mods, that one reason not to have forced autoupdating. And say Galaxy Client only offers autopatched games, why not just keep the gog downloader available for those as an OPTION?. Plenty of people want the standalone installers and manual patches to remain as they are..
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionWhen will "GOG Galaxy" be released?(178 posts)(178 posts)
(178 posts)