Things are taking longer than I thought they would with ESC, as coming to grips with Legendary is proving to be quite challenging. And it is all too easy to make presumptions about command-line parameters.

For instance, you can DOWNLOAD a game or DOWNLOAD & INSTALL a game. The difference between those two appears to be minimal, except if you don't do DOWNLOAD & INSTALL you cannot verify. So not unreasonably, I initially thought there would be a significant difference between the two download options, with just DOWNLOAD being somewhat akin to an offline installer. But no, the files are the same, resulting in a download and decompression (extraction perhaps) to the game folder. Checking the Windows uninstall entries, there is no Registry entry for uninstalling a game when DOWNLOAD & INSTALL was used, so it appears that install only means an entry in an Epic database or manifest.

Legendary uses the manifest, and I am yet to find any way to directly access it or even know where it is. I can retrieve some info from it, and I guess interact with it to some degree.

It is now clear that I need to cater for more of the things Legendary does ... or give less options, foregoing things like Install, Verify and Update ... including dealing with DLCs.

Going into this, I had no intention to develop a frontend for Legendary. I just wanted to do a few basics, like what SteamCMD does for Steam games. But then maybe I should be doing more with SteamCMD.

Part of the challenge is knowing exactly how much to support. Especially as my program ESC is focused more on the idea of backing up DRM-Free games ... or should be.

I am also trying to keep things as simple as possible. That perhaps, is the biggest challenge of all.

It is now looking like I will need to do add one or more program windows (popups) ... at least for downloading and any other related processes anyway (Install, Uninstall, Verify, Update, DLCs, etc).

Another challenge is giving enough feedback to user, while my program remains in control.

Thanks for sharing that list.

No problem. :)

-----------------------------------------

I have been able to do some good testing with Legendary on my wife's laptop in the last few days, and have now implemented many things for the Epic games side of things with ESC.

A bit more testing with latest improvements & features later tonight, and then I should be able to upload a great update.

People chill at gog to avoid forking over money to a bad company. Not because the games they want to play are just cheap. Sure that is an incentive. But being able to have a choice is the point of the excercise. Paying the guy that kicks you in the teeth and has no vested interest in your well being is why most of us dont buy from steam. That, the ones that dont actually flop to both.

Some people, and I'd certainly hesitate to say anywhere near most.

Most who come to GOG, apparently don't care about DRM-Free or hating Steam etc.
And a lot of others just care about DRM-free and not the store specifically.
And many like me, just mostly get free games from Steam and Epic ... which is great if they are DRM-Free.

But anyway, why did you bother posting in this thread, as what you posted is completely off-topic, and doesn't belong here ... and I certainly won't be discussing the issue with you any further here ... so just a rhetorical question that needs no answer.

Epic Steam Cure (ESC) is now coming along quite well, and is a mostly finished program for those who want to try it.

EXE DOWNLOAD
https://github.com/Twombs/Steam-Games-List/tree/main/Epic%20Steam%20Cure/v1.3_b19

MAIN WINDOW (Epic Mode)
https://github.com/Twombs/Steam-Games-List/blob/main/Epic%20Steam%20Cure/v1.3_b18/ESC_main_2.png

DOWNLOAD OPTIONS WINDOW (Epic Mode)
https://github.com/Twombs/Steam-Games-List/blob/main/Epic%20Steam%20Cure/v1.3_b18/Install_opts_2.png

ZIP OPTIONS WINDOW
https://github.com/Twombs/Steam-Games-List/blob/main/Epic%20Steam%20Cure/v1.3_b17/Zipopts.png

HISTORY FILE
https://github.com/Twombs/Steam-Games-List/blob/main/Epic%20Steam%20Cure/v1.3_b19/History.txt

For more detail, see prior posts above.

NOTES - I have been mainly concentrating on the Epic Games side of the program, so that has gotten the most attention lately. One aspect that is not yet supported, and that I will be working on next, is Installing DLC individually. At the moment, you can just elect to install all DLC with the base game.

I've now also incorporated use of the Epic DRM list at Google Docs, to make it clearer which games have an unknown status in regard to DRM-Free.

Please remember this is a work-in-progress, and while I have done a lot of downloading and zipping now, it was all pretty time consuming, and I was regularly fine tuning the program. So it has had minimal testing in its current state.

Not only does this sound like defeated it misses the point of why people use GOG. Using GOG isn't something I do to protest Steam, I use it because I like using it.

When it comes to getting games DRM free from Steam, there is a much better way than Steam CMD. That is to simply use a cracked copy of the game THIS IS NOT CONDONING PIRACY. I mean say you buy GTA V on Steam and you "own it" legally. Getting a cracked version of the game will simply work better offline than the version from your own account.
It's designed to and they often come with redistributables and other dependencies needed to make them work. It's also worth noting that Steam's offline mode doesn't work for long term usage. Sooner or later it will want to connect to the internet and verify itself. Otherwise people would just create offline account for their friends to play free games.
No such thing as DRM free Steam games.

Did you actually check what this thread is about before posting in it?

In any case, you sure don't sound like you know what you are talking about. I recommend you do some research.

Many games at Steam, don't require the Steam Client (or SteamCMD) to run, once they have been installed.
Some require an additional tweak to make that so. This has nothing to do with Steam's Offline Mode.
Those games, if you are prepared to back up the game folder are essentially DRM-Free.
The true test, is doing that backup and then running on another PC that has never had a Steam install, and to make doubly sure, is not connected to the web.
If the game then runs okay, then it is DRM-Free ... or as I have been known to call it DRM-Free Lite (chiefly because you don't have an original installer ... though with my program you can make an alternate installer).

There are dedicated lists on the web detailing which games have been checked and are DRM-Free at Steam.
My program, which this thread is about, uses those lists.
It now also does a similar thing for Epic Games.

Now, unless you are going to post in relation to my program, then please post in another more pertinent topic.

P.S. Many games at Steam and Epic, perhaps most, cannot be made DRM-Free ... short of a pirating source etc.

I did skim it so I probably missed a few things. I guess if the games can run without the client it's DRM free but it still looks like a lot of work.

It is somewhat, and that is why I created my program and this topic,to make it easier for others, not just myself.

There is no getting around the time consuming nature or alternatively the waste of storage space though, and there are some other issues, though not for every game ... mainly related to updating. Still, if the game isn't available at GOG, and especially if you got the game free from Epic or Steam, then this is certainly a worthwhile DRM-Free option.

I haven't checked, but there may even be some DRM-Free games you can get this way, that are more up-to-date than the GOG version.

I must admit though, that my preference is always for a GOG version. In fact, even though I have gotten some games free from Epic for instance, I still later bought them at GOG because the price here was damn good. I believe one should support Developers if you can, and sometimes Publishers too.

And of course, I generally believe in giving support to GOG ... though they have been sorely testing my patience in the last year, especially in regard to download speed.

Have you tried that lgogdownloader? It's a linux based program that you can use to download all of your games in one hit. It's pretty good.

While I do download Linux versions of games I buy at GOG, if they exist, I am primarily a Windows user, so never used that downloader.

I did however use gogrepo.py for a while, and still do in some scenarios, but my primary downloader now is gogcli.exe.

I have developed GUI programs for both gogrepo.py and gogcli.exe.

In any case, lgogdownloader would not make the downloads any faster, as it is a GOG server etc issue.

Browser link downloading from GOG is just as slow, though slightly better if I use Free Download Manager 5, which has multiple threads.

lgogdownloader is not faster but it is defiantly better. I am strictly a Windows gamer. I like Linux, but gaming on it is a nightmare. Using lgogdownloader in Linux to download your Windows games is create because of how it organizes everything. Games DLC and extras all go in their own folder; and he's just added the ability to download based on your tags.

What about Cloud saves?

Aside from being a GUI person by preference, I'm not going to fire up Linux just to download my games.

Have you tried gogrepo.py and gogcli.exe?
And if you like a GUI, I provide both here for them.

With my GOGcli GUI program I have a button that relocates patch files to a _Patches sub-folder, as well as relocating Linux files (plus cover image) to a specific sub-folder that uses the slug title. I then relocate the Linux sub-folder to my temporary Linux folder, ready for backing up to two external hard drives.

Other than that I manually create folders for DLCs, including their cover image, as I prefer that level of control. I also sometimes create sub-folders for extras.

My games don't stay in their download folder, but get relocated to a few external backup drives, that are structured in a specific way ... which can vary depending on the drive's purpose, and how I've had to split things up.

I often run out of space, so need to juggle things, plus buy new drives ... and now I am backing up DRM-Free Epic and Steam games too.