Because their installer is garbage. Note that Mac/Linux versions don't have that problem. (Don't know about Linux but the Mac installer is just the standard system installer.)

Lots of reasons, good and bad, and it’s been asked many times.
For example, older systems do t like files bigger than 4gb.
Downloading parts risk less corruption than one big file.

Also, in theory if GOG did it properly and properly compressed them into chunks, rather than massive redownloads you could just download the bits that changed.

For me, I don’t mind the separate parts at all, 3 clicks for oblivion rather than one, wow, so much heartache. If that’s too much trouble use gogrepo or galaxy (as that is effectively what a client is, lazy peoples wares, too much click 3 times just click play).

And if that sounds a bit sarcastic it is, there are far far worse issues like poor compression, not splitting out language packs and other components, no changelog etc. that rank higher than this.

1. Because some (Windows) people might keep the files on some FAT32 partition, which doesn't support files larger than 4GB.

2. Because many Windows virus scanners want to scan the .exe file before letting you run it, and if you have a very big .exe installer, there will be quite a long pause before it starts actually doing anything (because the virus scanner or whatever scans a 20GB exe file). This is the reason why normally the first part (the actual .exe file) is much smaller than the .bin files, because only the .exe file will be scanned.

I think those are the two main reasons. Since those problems are relevant only for Windows users, the Linux and Mac versions are not divided similarly.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't. I hear a lot of complaints about "20GB downloads" from Linux and Mac users. I mean, most downloaders, even the crappy default web browser ones, can continue aborted downloads, so I guess I don't understand the big deal. I think the only reason to do the <4G per file thing is that FAT32 is still common, especially for USB-attached drives. I'm pretty sure that's what every drive I've ever bought has been formatted with by default (although of course I immediately reformat with ext4). Using FAT32 for a multi-TB drive is insane. Windows users should also immediately reformat such drives with NTFS (prefereably multi-partition with a small FAT at the beginning for use with devices that only support FAT).

I guess timppu's argument that it's for faster virus scanning holds some merit as well. It's not something most non-Windows users do by default, I guess. There are other, better ways to protect against such things rather than pattern scanning every executable.

Not a big deal. I would worry more about compatibility and support depending on what os you have.

It makes it possible for people with slow/capped internet to play games too, instead of being cut out (again) :)
Can't sit there downloading something for 6-12 hours, but I can wait 2 hours to download a 4GB part.

It also makes it easier when a download is interrupted or there's something like a power outage,
and it is easier to maintain backups because there are multiple points of failure which are easier to fix.
Multiple parts also makes it easier to download a game across multiple days/months, saving data.

People who want big downloads can just use Galaxy, I daresay that's what it's there for.

(And if you think GOG installers are shit - Humble just puts them in a .zip file)

Another reason:

Back in the ancient times there was something called DVD. A DVD was a disk shaped piece of plastic with a hole in the middle. Kind of like a donut, but very thin. It was used to store information, like in a usb memory stick. But it could store the information only once and the information remained in the disk until the end of times or until the DVD got broken. Whichever happened first. There were special DVD´s that were designed to store information and re-estore information once and again, but this isn´t important right now. Well, the thing is, it was used worldwide. Computers had a gadget, like a little box that by pressing a button in them, they released a little tray they had inside. People put the DVD in that tray-like thing, pressed the same button again for the tray-like thing to be introduced inside that little box again, and then the computer would start to read the information storaged in the DVD. Guess what? Exactly. DVD´s had room to storage about 4GB of information. Crazy, right? Do you know what´s even more crazy? There are still people using those things nowadays. I´m not lying. For real. Neanderthals exist.






https://media1.giphy.com/media/l0K42RIaNOZcK7CNy/giphy.gif?cid=790b76111c97bb4bfbfff1f8cf393f79c5a280d4e18a23a9&amp;rid=giphy.gif&amp;ct=g

They put them in the cup holder!?

Yes!

Witchcraft!

I said it was crazy, right? RIGHT?

ExFAT is not a bad choice either for a pure storage USB stick. Even Apple has supported the format for years by now.

My brand new USB device was formatted as FAT32. Should be forbidden to sell them like that if larger than 4GB.

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They could add a button that downloads all parts of the game proper.

It gets annoying and easy to miss a part when there are over twenty parts.

Just imagine if GOG ever managed to get Quantum Break DRM free. DRM free in this case would require all the TV series to be contained as part of the install and not streamed. That would make a 180GB game, that's a lot of 4GB installers...assuming they wanted to retain the original video quality. Even assuming an aggressive compression method, that would still need a lot of 4GB installers.

Or a DRM free version of MS Flight Simulator...containing all 4PB (that's PB, not TB) of its highest quality world data. That's a lot of 4GB install files.

What is the biggest game on GOG regarding number of install files?

The heaviest game in my library is Wolfenstein New Order; 12 files.

Special mention for Stellaris due to it´s huge number of DLC´s; 17 files. And there are 3-4 I still haven´t bought.


For those monsters you name, Galaxy would come in handy.