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General discussion (archive)new customer / gog catalog interface(27 posts)solved(27 posts)solved
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This is my favourite topic
Posted April 21, 2014
high rated
Greetings,

I came across gog.com for the first time today, by accident, as I was looking to purchase Broken Sword 5. An old school adventure gamer who generally prefers to load a game (or any form of software) via an actual physical disc that I can physically hold in my hand to install on any computer of my choice (I paid for the game, therefore I want to *own* the game and reserve the right to replay it again--years later--if I so choose, even if my old Windows 95 machine is in a landfill somewhere, I still HAVE the game)...so I have been resistant to downloading games/software from internet for that very reason.

But now that downloading is pretty well becoming the only option available, I do appreciate the fact gog offers a service which does allow you to make backups of the game for reinstallation or later play on any machine and does so at reasonable prices. Thank you for that. And while I would still prefer to have that factory DVD box set to place on my collection shelf next to Broken Swords 1 - 4, that doesn't appear to be an option at present - so, for now, I'll settle for the hours looooooooong download (a quick trip to Walmart or Bestbuy for a DVD-ROM that installs in minutes is still faster, that is, if they actually still *had* PC games in stock anymore) and I'll place a DVD labeled "Broken Sword 5" written with a Sharpie on the shelf instead. Regardless, I do appreciate that you have made this game available at a good price. I chose your site over the others offering the same game - for the better price and for allowing backups/reinstallation. I'm currently waiting for the download to conclude so that I can finally catch up with my "old friends" George and Nico.

Here are my questions regarding the site:

1. Using your GOG Downloader, about how long is a typical download for a game this size (about 7GB)? As I type this, it's already been going for about four to five hours, having only achieved 1.27 GB. At this rate, I'm anticipating up to twenty or more hours. Is that typical?

2. I'm very interested in browsing your catalog, which I have already begun. One minor annoyance, however, in navigating the flash/flash-like interface occurs as I'm trying to look through the titles alphabetically: If I stop to click on a title that interests me, then arrow back to the previous page/list, it reverts back to the very top of the list (the A's) instead of where I left off. And so fare it doesn't allow me to get through the entire list. I've only made it down to the S's (and usually not that far) before the flash interface locks up and just spins/churns trying to load the rest of the page, but never does. It would at least be helpful if there were buttons that I could click to look at all the A's, B's, D's, etc. rather than start at the top (the A's) every single time. Am I missing an easier method?

In addition to genre lists (which you do have) also title lists by *series* (i.e. all the Broken Swords, all the Gabriel Knights, whatever the series is) would be a nice feature - so that you can search for complete sets or find that one episode you missed ten years ago. Especially because some games aren't always titled 1, 2, 3, etc. Years ago, I bought Broken Sword 3 (there was no "3" in the title) by complete chance, not realizing (until I installed it) that it was a *sequel* to a game I had played back in the 90s (and still own) called "Circle of Blood" (Broken Sword wasn't even in the title) - and only then did I realize that there was also a Broken Sword 2 that I had missed (which I then ordered so that I could play that first). I'm a "completest," LOL. So series lists would be also be a nice feature if you don't have it already.

Thank you. I look forward to doing business with you.

Scott
This question / problem has been solved by cmdr_flashheartimage
Posted April 21, 2014
Gog is about as close as you can get to physical media in terms of downloading. Without all the restrictions that can come with even physical media now days.
Posted April 21, 2014
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pimpmonkey2382: Gog is about as close as you can get to physical media in terms of downloading. Without all the restrictions that can come with even physical media now days.
Yes, that's what attracted me to it. I very much like that feature about it. :)

(That and the fact that it does so legitimately. It's not a pirate site. I feel safe and honest using it.)
Post edited April 21, 2014 by hscott2hughes
Posted April 21, 2014
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hscott2hughes: 1. Using your GOG Downloader, about how long is a typical download for a game this size (about 7GB)? As I type this, it's already been going for about four to five hours, having only achieved 1.27 GB. At this rate, I'm anticipating up to twenty or more hours. Is that typical?

Thank you. I look forward to doing business with you.

Scott
Welcome to GOG!

Sounds as though you're averaging about 1Mbit/s or less. Seems really slow, but not knowing your connection speed I don't know for sure. Each game's page has what looks like a clock/dial next to its download size. This will prompt a horizontal slider that by dragging to your connection speed gives you a rough indication how long your download should take for that particular game. If you're experiencing less than expected speeds through GOG's downloader, you may want to contact support for some suggestions.
Posted April 21, 2014
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hscott2hughes: 2. I'm very interested in browsing your catalog, which I have already begun. One minor annoyance, however, in navigating the flash/flash-like interface occurs as I'm trying to look through the titles alphabetically: If I stop to click on a title that interests me, then arrow back to the previous page/list, it reverts back to the very top of the list (the A's) instead of where I left off. And so fare it doesn't allow me to get through the entire list. I've only made it down to the S's (and usually not that far) before the flash interface locks up and just spins/churns trying to load the rest of the page, but never does. It would at least be helpful if there were buttons that I could click to look at all the A's, B's, D's, etc. rather than start at the top (the A's) every single time. Am I missing an easier method?
One thing I usually do that seems to help with browsing is to scroll down once I load the catalog to browse, and keep scrolling down as more titles load, until all have loaded. If you do this right after loading the catalog, it usually won't hang and get stuck / fail to load the rest of the games. Once they all load, you can scroll back up and start at the top.
Then, when you see a game you're interested in checking out, instead of clicking away from the page you are on to view it, right click on the link for the game you want to check out and open it in another tab. That way you only have to deal with loading the catalog once.

Probably not the ideal solution, but it works well for me. So maybe worth a shot.

Oh, and welcome to GOG. Have a slice of DRM-free pizza and enjoy your stay. :)
Post edited April 21, 2014 by akhliber
Posted April 21, 2014
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hscott2hughes:
Welcome to gog! (as others have already sais and I fear they will answer your questions before I ould even consider them fully), and dont forget Revolutions' lost gem <i>In Cold Blood</i> whilst you're here! ;)
Posted April 21, 2014
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hscott2hughes: ...

Here are my questions regarding the site:

1. Using your GOG Downloader, about how long is a typical download for a game this size (about 7GB)? As I type this, it's already been going for about four to five hours, having only achieved 1.27 GB. At this rate, I'm anticipating up to twenty or more hours. Is that typical?
Depends on your download speed, I'd say. If you look at the game card, there's a little clock symbol which pops a slider, it's next to the game size, which you can move around depending on your average download speed, and it can tell you how long your download will take.
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hscott2hughes: 2. I'm very interested in browsing your catalog, which I have already begun. One minor annoyance, however, in navigating the flash/flash-like interface occurs as I'm trying to look through the titles alphabetically: If I stop to click on a title that interests me, then arrow back to the previous page/list, it reverts back to the very top of the list (the A's) instead of where I left off. And so fare it doesn't allow me to get through the entire list. I've only made it down to the S's (and usually not that far) before the flash interface locks up and just spins/churns trying to load the rest of the page, but never does. It would at least be helpful if there were buttons that I could click to look at all the A's, B's, D's, etc. rather than start at the top (the A's) every single time. Am I missing an easier method?
Hmm, I just tried this, and it went back to the spot I was in the list after I clicked backspace on the game card. Maybe I am misunderstanding you?

However, you can always open new tabs with right-click. Sorry, I know that's not much of a solution.
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hscott2hughes: In addition to genre lists (which you do have) also title lists by *series* (i.e. all the Broken Swords, all the Gabriel Knights, whatever the series is) would be a nice feature - so that you can search for complete sets or find that one episode you missed ten years ago. Especially because some games aren't always titled 1, 2, 3, etc. Years ago, I bought Broken Sword 3 (there was no "3" in the title) by complete chance, not realizing (until I installed it) that it was a *sequel* to a game I had played back in the 90s (and still own) called "Circle of Blood" (Broken Sword wasn't even in the title) - and only then did I realize that there was also a Broken Sword 2 that I had missed (which I then ordered so that I could play that first). I'm a "completest," LOL. So series lists would be also be a nice feature if you don't have it already.
...
One thing I do is that I use the little grey search box in the top right of the store page, it auto-guesses what you're trying to get at, and many times it will list all the games of the series.

Moreover, other games in a series are listed on the right side of the game card. It will say something like, "Broken Sword games on GOG.com".

Hope that helps, have fun with your game!
Post edited April 21, 2014 by cmdr_flashheart
Posted April 21, 2014
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hscott2hughes: 1. Using your GOG Downloader, about how long is a typical download for a game this size (about 7GB)? As I type this, it's already been going for about four to five hours, having only achieved 1.27 GB. At this rate, I'm anticipating up to twenty or more hours. Is that typical?

Thank you. I look forward to doing business with you.

Scott
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foxworks: Welcome to GOG!

Sounds as though you're averaging about 1Mbit/s or less. Seems really slow, but not knowing your connection speed I don't know for sure. Each game's page has what looks like a clock/dial next to its download size. This will prompt a horizontal slider that by dragging to your connection speed gives you a rough indication how long your download should take for that particular game. If you're experiencing less than expected speeds through GOG's downloader, you may want to contact support for some suggestions.
Thanks, I'll investigate further. I can say without hesitation that my connection speed is crap to begin with. Watching online videos, for instance, is very frustrating - even though it's supposed to be "high speed" DSL - it's not. My old dial-up was almost as fast - but alas, that's about all we have available in this area - and we pay a fortune for it.
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hscott2hughes:
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akhliber: instead of clicking away from the page you are on to view it, right click on the link for the game you want to check out and open it in another tab. That way you only have to deal with loading the catalog once.

Probably not the ideal solution, but it works well for me. So maybe worth a shot.

Oh, and welcome to GOG. Have a slice of DRM-free pizza and enjoy your stay. :)
Thank you, my friend! that's a good idea!
Post edited April 21, 2014 by hscott2hughes
Posted April 21, 2014
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foxworks:
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hscott2hughes: Thanks, I'll investigate further. I can say without hesitation that my connection speed is crap to begin with. Watching online videos, for instance, is very frustrating - even though it's supposed to be "high speed" DSL - it's not. My old dial-up was almost as fast - but alas, that's about all we have available in this area - and we pay a fortune for it.
That's unfortunate. While it doesn't sound like you can do much about Broken Sword 5, many of the classics GOG offers aren't 7GB in size. If you happen to have additional questions, this forum and its members are wonderful. Also, GOG's support stuff are very helpful.
Posted April 21, 2014
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hscott2hughes: Greetings,

snip

Here are my questions regarding the site:

1. Using your GOG Downloader, about how long is a typical download for a game this size (about 7GB)? As I type this, it's already been going for about four to five hours, having only achieved 1.27 GB. At this rate, I'm anticipating up to twenty or more hours. Is that typical?

2. I'm very interested in browsing your catalog, which I have already begun. One minor annoyance, however, in navigating the flash/flash-like interface occurs as I'm trying to look through the titles alphabetically: If I stop to click on a title that interests me, then arrow back to the previous page/list, it reverts back to the very top of the list (the A's) instead of where I left off. And so fare it doesn't allow me to get through the entire list. I've only made it down to the S's (and usually not that far) before the flash interface locks up and just spins/churns trying to load the rest of the page, but never does. It would at least be helpful if there were buttons that I could click to look at all the A's, B's, D's, etc. rather than start at the top (the A's) every single time. Am I missing an easier method?

In addition to genre lists (which you do have) also title lists by *series* (i.e. all the Broken Swords, all the Gabriel Knights, whatever the series is) would be a nice feature - so that you can search for complete sets or find that one episode you missed ten years ago. Especially because some games aren't always titled 1, 2, 3, etc. Years ago, I bought Broken Sword 3 (there was no "3" in the title) by complete chance, not realizing (until I installed it) that it was a *sequel* to a game I had played back in the 90s (and still own) called "Circle of Blood" (Broken Sword wasn't even in the title) - and only then did I realize that there was also a Broken Sword 2 that I had missed (which I then ordered so that I could play that first). I'm a "completest," LOL. So series lists would be also be a nice feature if you don't have it already.

Thank you. I look forward to doing business with you.

Scott
Greetings yourself, Scott, and welcome to GOG, you're going to enjoy shopping here ;-)

Regarding Q1: follow the instructions foxworks gave you to get an estimate on how long your download will take.

Regarding Q2: The easier way to check out individual games while browsing the list, is to right click on the titles and open them in separate tabs. This way, your page with the list stays at the point you were and you can continue scrolling down. I'd also advice to scroll all the way down so that the entire list has been loaded.

Regarding Q3: This is partially available on a game's page when it's part of a series and GOG carries the rest of the games. For example if you go to Broken Sword 5 page and scroll a bit down, you'll see at the right side the other games in the "Broken Sword" series. It's not exactly what you're asking for, but should do the job.

There's also a planned site-wide overhaul/ re-write, so maybe more options will be added - we don't know the details.

In terms of making backups on DVDs/ CDs, here's a link you might find useful. Some very nice GOG members have taken the task of creating covers for games on GOG and they're doing a fine job at it.

Hope this helps and if you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask, we'll do our best to answer them ;-)
Posted April 21, 2014
At least when a download cuts off or slows to a crawl you don't have to worry about ever having to start over from the beginning thanks to the downloader. Given where I live I couldn't download games without that.

BTW has the clock thing always been on the game page? Shows how observant I am. :P
Post edited April 21, 2014 by tinyE
Posted April 21, 2014
First off, welcome to GOG! It's really nice to welcome new people who are in the know of what GOG is about and like it. The reasons you mentioned as to why you chose this store instead of others are ones I understand and, more than that, share.

Now, onto your questions:

1) I'm not tech savvy in the least, so I wouldn't know why you're having this issue or how to troubleshoot you through it, but I have much faster download speed whenever I download an installer or goodie using the GOG downloader... in fact, Broken Sword 5 took me only a bit over an hour (one hour and fifteen minutes, to be precise). I don't know if this has something to do with my internet, the fact that I'm in Europe whereas you are in the US, or if it is somehow related to the GOG downloader settings -- try meddling with that, setting concurrent downloads to none, setting max download speed, whatever you think may help solve your issue.

2) This problem is easily solved on most browsers by simply Ctrl+left-clicking the game you wish to see, and it'll open in a new tab, thus leaving the previous page like you left it, with no need to go back using the arrow. You just close the tab when you're done and resume browsing the list from where you left off. You can also use the mouse wheel (assuming it has a button function, older mice don't), just mouse wheel-click on any link and it'll open in a new tab, just like it does by Ctrl+left-clicking. If you prefer, you can always use Shift+left-click to open links in a new window altogether. Whichever way you choose, the list page will stay open right where you left it, and it's all a matter of resuming from there as soon as you close the tab or window you opened to see the game.

I hope it helped, happy browsing and gaming! :)

[EDIT] It's 3 AM and my typing is slow as crap, I got so ninja'd, it's not even funny... hahaha!
Post edited April 21, 2014 by groze
Posted April 21, 2014
I know what you mean in regards to physical media. I prefer them as well, even if the copy protections on them could sometimes lead to trouble, even before the industry unleashed DRM onto the world. At least GOG's releases have a lot of versatility, so you can kind of create your own "unofficial" legit physical copy with your own covers (or the ones other people from the forums made).

Regarding your first question, it really depends on your own internet connection. The one I have to use over here caused my download of "The Witcher" to go on for about 12 - 15 hours. To get some kind of estimate regarding this, GOG has a neat little feature on each game's own page. There's a small clock symbol next to "download size". If you hover your cusor over it, a slider appears that tells you the probable time it will take [first picture in my attachments].

The catalog has always been a bit wonky, but you can avoid the list's reloads by opening the individual game pages in their own tabs by clicking the links with the "middle" mouse button. (At least that's how it works in Firefox, I don't how which browser you might be using.)

Also, if a game is part of a series, it's usually pointed out on the game's page. A lot of them actually offer bundle discounts if you buy them together. (see the second picture in my attachments)
I guess Broken Sword 5 isn't listed there because, as a completely new & expensive title, it would throw off the bundle's price.

By the way, welcome to GOG. I hope you enjoy your stay.

You can find more DVD covers for GOG's releases here.

[If this post is somewhat hard to read or unclear, it might be because I'm really tired right now. Sorry.]

EDIT: Disregard everything I said, others were faster. This forum is really kind of amazing.
Attachments:
time.jpg (28 Kb)
series_list.jpg (88 Kb)
Post edited April 21, 2014 by InfraSuperman
Posted April 21, 2014
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hscott2hughes:
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Sachys: Welcome to gog! (as others have already sais and I fear they will answer your questions before I ould even consider them fully), and dont forget Revolutions' lost gem <i>In Cold Blood</i> whilst you're here! ;)
I'll check it out - thanks!
Posted April 21, 2014
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Sachys: Welcome to gog! (as others have already sais and I fear they will answer your questions before I ould even consider them fully), and dont forget Revolutions' lost gem <i>In Cold Blood</i> whilst you're here! ;)
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hscott2hughes: I'll check it out - thanks!
And don't forget to pick up Beneath a Steel Sky for absolutely nothing! ;)
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General discussion (archive)new customer / gog catalog interface(27 posts)solved(27 posts)solved
(27 posts)solved