Well the Gog specific registry info is mostly to tell Galaxy where the games are installed so that they are automatically detected. It's also used by patch installer to know where the game is installed. Apart from that most games either don't require a registry entry, using files in your profile for recent ones or in the game folder for older ones, or recreate the registry entry when they are started in case those are missing.

There are a couple of games that have issues with that, for example IIRC Neverwinter Night, who store the default Gog serial number in the registry and will prompt you to reenter it in case you move the install folder to another computer. But games like that are the exception rather than the rule.

Hmmm. I honestly don't keep check on that stuff so I was curious as to what the ratio may be but thanks for the info....

EDIT: Anyway about time I get out of this thread while I still can, thanks for the conversation & down votes peeps... love this community.

i'm in a rural area with a puny dsl connection too
offlines installers for me are way better than downloading the raw uncompressed whole installed game folder (and redownload it again at each update)

in xlas 2015 when i downloaded my entire library for a fresh backup it took me a over 5 days, at 24/7, full throttle max bw of my connection... so i can understand and relate to your own problem

I think that's what many of us have worried about ever since they started talking about Galaxy. Cramming Galaxy into an offline installer is just another step towards that end.

guys, just move on and don't give these corporate wannabes the pleasure of feeling important. Meanwhile, for those who are ok with Steam after GOG's move, you can grab the entire Alien Isolation Collection for around.12 bucks.

I felt very bad at first too, but action with your wallet will be the only thing that matters.

Just a last thing... I get 10GB a month for downloading with an unlimited period between 3AM and 8AM. After that speeds are worse than dial up. So I am sympathetic to people having to deal with this like I am. I also live in a very rural area.

I was really hoping to avoid posting anything on this topic, as to me it is rather negative, but GOG really disappointed me here. I would have more respect to them if they came out, told the truth, instead of behind a rather weak marketing message that was quite insulting to their well established customer base. Very insulting. The concern is obvious with forcing the client on the users, forcing us to download it while hoping we forget to uncheck some box so that it counts as an install for them, and also adding bloat to us who have many games, and limited drive space.

But what really bothers me here too is the lack of blue replies. GOG was very good about addressing issues in the past, and in a public forum, which was very commendable. So far, the blues have been nearly non-existent, which further concerns me. Here it appears they are hiding hoping this will fade away. Combined with this, and how someone prior to this pointed out that Galaxy is a main focus GOG's parent company CDPR, it may be time for me, as a customer, to go elsewhere.

For those interested, I did ask if there were GOG similar sites. You can see them here if you are interested: https://www.gog.com/forum/general/sites_like_gog

Finally, it looks like I will have to pass on Cyberpunk 2077. This looks like it would be a great game, but, if it includes Galaxy, I have no interest whatsoever, and will pass on it. One less game in my life will not make that much difference, especially with my backlog.

Thanks to everyone for their kindness over time. I have always appreciated everyone's replies.

(Edit: I still plan on checking in on the forum from time to time, hopefully to help others with their games, and to get help too, but to be honest, I just can not purchase a game that forces me to install, check a box, or download a client.)

"Fully optional" but with this change it *will* be a mandatory download, many times over, whether you want it or not.

What next, "To further simplify things and provide a smoother experience Galaxy will now always be installed with games provided by GOG.com. But it's still completely optional - our tech-savvy users that don't want it can simply uninstall it like any other piece of software and the games will still run just as they always have."?

That part is untrue too.

I think program launchers like Steam and GOG Galaxy are already ridiculous bloatware that add nothing of value to the capabilities of my OS, but I wanted to access some online functionality in a couple of games that were artificially tied to GOG Galaxy. However, when I reluctantly tried GOG Galaxy I could not find a way to disable auto-update for the client. That rogue behaviour was enough to warrant its immediate removal from my computer.

You tried a beta, nothing about that statement is untrue... you CAN disable auto updates per game and globally as of 1.2.6, which is the released version.

Wrong. I tried the release version of 1.2.6 and I'm not talking about disabling updates for games, I want to disable updates for the client itself, which is what I said.

Perhaps you should focus more on reading comprehension and less on formulating knee-jerk, defensive responses.

You're missing a perfect opportunity to change your signature from "GOG Agent" to "Guardian of the Galaxy".

So it truly begins.

There's not much time left between now and GOG's "tomorrow." It probably is Friday in Poland already. None of the blues came up and said "we may reconsider this idea" or anything. Much less even offer the communication that we expect of GOG staff.

Some people worried about CDPR's mission statement mentioning that Galaxy would be integral, that there are no mentions of DRM-free, etc. I see that as stretching out a bit too far in fear. Without all this ruckus, I would normally call it "unfounded paranoia." But now, it's GOG's fault for making them overreact, and for good reason.

They could have communicated we were overreacting, made their stance and real intentions clearer, be more ACTIVE in the discussions so that we give and take suggestions to reach an agreed upon solution, but honestly, it all feels like a protest rally now. We're just yelling in unison at those in charge. But do they hear us? Or are we wasting our time and power?

The answer lies in this Friday. The installers are going live. Either they actually contain all what we feared. Or maybe they actually listened to us on something or two, maybe they even changed nothing after hearing all of us. But even then, it cannot be denied that no matter whether there's a dent to their profit or not, GOG deserved it. Even if they go back on all of this, they cannot just spook off their userbase and say "Haha, just kidding" and then run away with it.

Now I know how it would feel like if it was the fake shutdown deal instead. I hoped I would never experience it if even halfway. It's not our store, we realize. They can do what they want with it, sure. But for each action, there is a consequence.

Disable your internet cable or firewall blacklist and voila? Or the client wont work like that?

What is knee-jerk about telling you something that you are wrong about? That statement refers to FEATURES within the client, not the client itself. Second, saying auto-updates is going to make anyone think your talking about game updates, next time be more clear.

You would not be able to use the client online without updating, no client would allow that because updates usually fix security issues and stuff like that.. disable you net if you don't want to update and play offline.

Otherwise this happens: https://hackernoon.com/steam-chat-message-crash-explained-3c7562abfaeb