####### IMPORTANT AND FINAL EDIT: #######

This is the summarization of everything we manage to discuss on this thread after its days active, initially posted
here:

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Most of the serious active forum members already posted their opinions about it and, although we were warned that GOG actually values little or nothing to what we post or protest on the forums (with few exceptions), they do have material enough as proof that the Preservation Program should indeed be reviewed, because its not something this community fully agree on, at least not the way its being implemented right now. Added to the fact that the games seem to not be fully tested before being released with the Preservation Program tag, by the reports that the post-program updates are causing problems for a percentage of GOG customers on their systems.

Removing users power over the original products they bought is something I will never agree on (Again: That's why I came here in the first place) and wish we could still enjoy the unaltered, original offline installers of games that were later added to the Preservation Program, but we can't. Well... we can't without Galaxy, or, by what it seems, without entering the Future-To-Be-Named GOG subscription program through which, apparently, users will have the possibility to pay to get access to older versions of games they already own here.

All of this, to me, is further proof that they were, all this time, treating Offline Installers users as second class citizens on purpose, or decided to keep doing so because someone or 'someones' in the management decided that to do this would be a good idea.

So, to summarize, these are the factual issues present with the program at the time of writing this post with varying levels of case-to-case applicability:

- GOG reportedly did the "One Ring to Rule Them All" strategy, and tried to apply one kind of fix to all games being added to the Preservation Program initially, this is absurd because not all systems work the same way and not all games are coded the same way, therefore, this could affect many things GOG team isn't aware of. After being called out for that, newer games added to the program didn't necessarily use this tactic;

- Some games which worked fine on some older systems stopped working completely or had been affected performance-wise after being added to the Preservation Program because of the above;

- Some games that were reported that weren't working as intended, or at all, after being added to the program are still not fixed, months after dozens of reports;

- Offline Installers users that had not backed up their Pre-Program Offline Installers are now gated out of the product they bought and can't have access to it without using Galaxy - which doesn't work on systems like Linux, for example, therefore, all of the above also affect users from SteamDeck (as reported on some specific games forum posts that had their games working before the program on it, but now it doesn't anymore.)

- In the long term, this Preservation Program, the way it is being conducted at the time of writing this post, is actually hurting preservation of games and indirectly mods of these games. This is happening because most of these are very old games and if you change the original files of these games, many mods, community patches, community fixes and so on, which require the unaltered original game files, will simply stop working. Since the Program is still in "Beta" lets say, we don't know if GOG will ever fix the affected games, therefore, we might be with builds of games that were broken through the program and are now in a non-fixable state. The same applies to mods;

- The above has already happened with some community patches, community fixes and mods for some games added to the program.


To counter these issues, the Community on this Thread has honestly and fairly given some ideas to GOG on how they could fix the program in a simple way:

- Give Offline installers users the Rollback Feature currently only available for Galaxy users;

- Give users the choice to download the original Offline Installers builds Pre-Program, that is, give us the ability to, through the browser, in our Games page, download the latest build Pre-Preservation Program of each game that were added to the Preservation Program;

- Instead of patching the game directly, give your customers the choice: Create a "Preservation Program Patch" for each game that were and that will be added to the program in the future. That way, each user can decide if they want to try to Preservation Program version, and, if they have any issues with it, they will still be able to enjoy the games they bought without problems. Even if somehow the specific game build is broken by accident through the program, customers will still be able to download and play their original versions and builds through their offline installers;

- Stop the Preservation Program completely and put it at a halt and do not add anymore games to the Preservation Program, so then you guys can have time to analyse the situation and listen to your community.

That's it.
Thank you.

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Original posts and edits below
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EDIT:
More info on the matter on this and list explaining the situation on Second Post:
https://www.gog.com/forum/general/stop_this_madness_preservation_program_is_killing_games/post2

--- Original post below:

Just copy pasting it from here to get more attention on the general forum to the issues currently present with the GOG Preservation Program:

---

Silent Hill 4 Fear and More Joining the GOG Preservation Program After reading the FEAR and DA:O subforums for a bit I got my answer...

https://www.gog.com/forum/dragon_age_origins_ultimate_edition/current_plan_for_the_issues_with_dao/post55 -
https://www.gog.com/forum/fear_series/intermittent_stuttering_persists_past_new_update_echo_patch/post1 -
https://www.gog.com/forum/fear_series/the_new_update_broke_the_game/post1 --

And just checked The Witcher subforums too because I remembered people had issues with it after it was added to the "marketing preservation program" - no surprise when I read new posts with problems:

https://www.gog.com/forum/the_witcher/heavy_frame_drop_and_stuttering_with_last_update_15_cs_gog_02 ----

So yeah... basically my "FEAR" is true: Every single game GOG's touching with this freaking marketing program will be broken or have high risks of breaking. and apparently they will just ignore forum posts about the issue even on large games as Dragon Age Origins... that makes me wonder once again: What about the smaller games being added to the marketing "preservation" program? They will be "broken, on GOG, forever!"

Will we need to spam the forum everyday for this madness to stop?
Better just rely on Steam for preservation at this point, with the correct tools Steam versions of such games can be preserved better than those on GOG - at least right now.

----

So, will we really need to spam the general forums to GOG take our word on how they're actually breaking those games one by one with the Preservation Program?

Or are the marketing with the sales after the program started paying well enough that you guys now can't stop even if it destroy those games??

If this makes no sense to you, please read this, its sources and the discussions about what other users have already explained on how the Preservation Program is a "One Fix to Rule Them All" which doesn't work on the long run and it will actually kill game preservation on GOG:

https://www.gog.com/forum/general/preservation_program_killing_offline_installers_preservation

More explanation on why this doesn't work:

https://www.gog.com/forum/general/dragon_age_originin_gog_is_broken/post10

Another example on how DA:O was affected with this and potentially many other games added to the program and mods that worked fine before:

https://www.gog.com/forum/dragon_age_origins_ultimate_edition/game_refuses_to_work_at_certain_early_points

---

Also I was trying to find @AB2012 excellent in-depth explanation and details on how this "limit to 2 core fix" isn't a fix at all and it does break many old games performance, specially on some older PCs, but I could not find it because Forums. If someone or you, @AB2012, may post the link to your post here, I'd appreciated it, thanks.

--- EDIT 1: Added for context and obvious (should have been obvious I guess...) answers:

I understand that the issue isn't with all games, but that it is happening with some people, even if it doesn't happened with you, many users already reported that they've lost their saves, mods had broke, and in many cases games do not even launch, as you can see on the sources list I've listed on the OP, the second post and the reference thread I've created last year pointing out to the problem in a much more polite and 'balanced' manner.

Here, if you've not seen it:

"Preservation" Program Killing Offline Installers Preservation
https://www.gog.com/forum/general/preservation_program_killing_offline_installers_preservation/page1

The point is not that they're working hard to bring beloved series to here, nor that its wrong for them to use this as marketing.
The point is simple and direct:

While all of this is amazing for GOG and we users do love it, it does not exclude the problems the Program currently have:

- Some games have been broken completely or partially after being added to the Preservation Program;
- Some games have reported issues after being added to the Preservation Program that have not been taken care of for months and users still have no "TBA" official solution;
- Some games have their compatibility with mods completely broken after being added to the Preservation Program;
- Some games are not working on other devices such as Steam Deck after being added to the Preservation Program when they were before;
- Some games had unique Offline Installers that are now lost since Offline Installers have no "Rollback feature" as Galaxy does, and both versions are many times different

You can disagree with the title of the thread, even I do, as I said: 'eye-catchy', but its still true.
If you deny my approach to the problem this time, read, again, my previous thread about it and check the sources and posts on sources about the issue.

GOG has been my favourite store for 5 years now and I'm really worried some beloved games might be at risk.
No, the problem isn't only Dragon Age Origins. The warning is explained already:

What if they break some little game no one really care as much as Dragon Age Origins and there's not enough fuss about it for them to fix it? Well, guess what, that game on GOG will be officially with no solution for a fix.

--- EDIT 2 -- Added for reference, another argument:
Taken from here:
https://www.gog.com/forum/general/silent_hill_4_fear_and_more_joining_the_gog_preservation_program_d6a98/post82

User @Syphon72: User @.Keys:
To be completely honest with you, this saddens me a lot as GOG is my main gaming store nowadays. (Not that I buy that much games anyway.. but still..) and see this program being so badly planned hurts. What hurts more is the fact that we may have certainty that GOG has no resources, time and money to test the games they're adding to the program fully.

By that I mean that it seems impossible for GOG right now to test these games 100%, and I mean, indeed, 100%.
Change one byte of code on an exe and without the source code of that executable, it may change behaviours you didn't even know existed before.

We can clearly see this already happening with The Witcher, Dragon Age: Origins and F.E.A.R with the games apparently playing fine through the first hours, but in specific points supposedly some things break. Its as the saying goes: "Don't fix what isn't broken." These are only three examples of many games that could be being affected.

And don't get me wrong as I don't mean to be rude in no way as we are all adults here and we can all have a mature conversation on complex topics and still be civilized and human, but: I think calling this an exaggeration is not fair.

Why: Probably you guys have not played the games added to the program fully. There's no time yet for people that think this warning is exaggerated to test these games fully. First hours? Sure. Fully? I doubt it. Not even GOG could do it themselves as its clearly seem by some of the results.

Some users are clearly, also, thinking that the Preservation Program is some kind of remake of these games while, at the point of writing, its not true, but it creates an even greater marketing image.

Source: https://www.gog.com/forum/general/upgrade_to_preservation_program_editions/post6
-- And I quote: So yeah, if forum users are thinking that, what are people outside of GOG's world thinking the "GOGs Preservation Program!" actually is?
Tell me if this is not a great marketing move. Maybe unintended, but still a marketing move.

Again: It hurts me because I respect GOG's work a lot. But I hope, I hope, really, that they hear us and review this program.
If they simply ignore our warnings and call it a profit because many are buying these games now for the pure marketing of it, as we can see by the recently added games to the program also being added to the 'best selling' list, then I will lose all my respect for GOG team.

The problem with Dragon Age is that they shoehorned the core limit "fix" when it's NOT an universal fix, and another thing that doesn't get mentioned is that some mods like Qwinn's ultimate fixpack stopped being compatible with GOG's version

So yes, GOG should get their shit together with that game and stop ignoring the problems people are bringing up

Where did GOG say that they have abandoned and have no intention to fix these issues?

Maybe they're working on it right now, it's just that it takes more time than they expected. And rather to over-promise with a vague or specific date they chose to concentrate on fixing and making things right instead.

Patience on our side is not too much to ask, I think.

I checked 4 games I own that are part of the preservation program and am mostly happy with the updates.
Jagged Alliance 2 finally works without issue from what I've seen. It was pretty much unplayable before the update.
Vampire the Masquerade Redemption finally changing resolution and brightness works.
Populous the Beginning hardware mode finally works, before the update you could only play it in software mode which even back then looked pretty bad.
Fallout 2 is the only update I have a slight issue with, because the prior version let you choose several resolutions; the new update doesn't seem to have that option anymore.
Of course they should fix the problems you mentioned for the other games asap, but claiming they're breaking all these games instead of fixing them is false.

At least for DA, the last build was uploaded on december, so you'd think they would to try to fix all these issues before moving to other games, instead it seems like they're spreading themselves too thin

Also afaik, they haven't said they're working on further fixes beyond the preservation program promise of "ensuring the game works" sooo yeah, the skepticism is valid

People have been complaining about it being broken for 4 months though. The fix is literally as simple as taking the original files (which they obviously still have on their servers due to Galaxy rollback), applying the 4GB LAA patch (5 seconds) then just pushing that as a new update (1-hour at the most). A literal one-man, one-afternoon job...

Give them a couple of weeks to do that? Sure. Zero attempt to even want to be seen to fix a broken game after 4 months? The complaints of GOG's total non-response are absolutely valid after that time period.

I'm inclined to avoid doing any further shopping on GoG, until GoG C&D with their game destroying program! Right now it's like walking over a mine field, you never know which game will be affected next.

The Game "Preservation Program" does nothing at best and at worst it breaks a previously functioning game!

not true, they fixed 3 games that I had issues with for years, as I mentioned in a post above.

The fact that Silent Hill 4 has had content restored that was not available originally proves your statement as false.

Please stop overreacting as right now only one game seems to have an issue which is Dragon Age Origins.

The other game, FEAR, the issue is not related to the preservation program and more to files left over from the DRM being stripped. We don't know if they can't remove the files due to contracts or not but the single player is fully playable without any issues, I just played the new version and can confirm this also the game has more resolutions available.

The very least the GOG preserves programee could do that would actually interest me is to knit and purl their eyebrow, reach deep into their dusty server closet, give the original Dosbox the boot, and put in it's place, the superior Dosbox Staging.

Second to that would be offering ready access (but not hosting) of source ports*, recreations, and utilities which make games even easier to run.

*Seeing as some people apparently think of this as being as sacrilegious [insert metaphor here of behavior most of us would find trite or quaint].

GOG has always been rather slow, in basically everything.
4 months is about halfway to what the average response time usually amounts to, i.e. 6-8 months.

Issuing a PSA that they're actively working on another round of fixes to all the issues introduced with the latest builds of some games could help to quell concerns but then they'd need to also give an ETA.
Which they're probably hesitant to give, since this backfired in the past, and people got even more mad because what was promised didn't show up on time.

They also may be trying to find a balance between ensuring compatibility with the latest Win10/Win11 versions and older Win10 versions - maybe even Win8 or Win7 - which would explain why it's taking so damn long.

With the exception of maybe Silent Hill so far GOG seems to simply add minor fixes to the games they add to the preservatoion program IF at all. But here's the problem I see: though those minor fixes (like adding certain dxwrappers or such) might help SOME there's a good chance that the same "fix" is breaking the game or certain aspects of the game for others. It's straight up impossible to fix a game for everybody with the extreme amount of hatrdware, software and OS combinations available right now. I still think it's funny that people actually are believing that GOG will be able to keep these games running for all eterinity ... which they promised when they announced this program. So in my opinion they should have left those games alone which were reported as working for quite a long time whenever only a few complaints were made. If they really HAVE to add something to a certain game like missing content, missing languages or even true bugfixes I am fne with it. However I will NEVER understand why these basic premises GOG always made when they started are suddenly related to a certain "program". Trying to release the best version availavle (DRM-free) on GOG was what they promised us when I registered here in 2009 but suddenly this should be something special?

Instead of picking random games and "checking for compatibility and cloud saves" GOG should rather finally fix those games that were reported as being unupdated or simply broken in places ... what about the countless missing different languages for certain games? GOG support NEVER was helpful when I reported technical issues and problems and I always ended up having to archive community fixes for such games. While they are still great in releasing games I am absolutely disappointed with what they did NOT do regarding tech issues, bugfixes and outdated games. I would be excited if I would notice that GOG tackes these issues - but they don't ... therefore I don't care much about this "preservation program" at all.

Thank you for this information. It is clear to me that, as with the "What did just update" forum thread, we are going to have to rely on user feedback on these updates to collectively save ourselves a lot of trial and error effort in deciding whether to go through with downloading/keeping an updated version of a game or not. I am not the person to start it, but I wonder if there should be a thread (similar to "What did just update" thread) where users chime in with feedback like yours. "What did just get Preserved (or not)".
My unpopular opinion: Cloud Saves are part of the problem. It is very telling to me that this feature is so prioritized (including in past years long before the Preservation Program). I do recognize it is a popular feature and certainly on the surface is less "harmful" than, say, "MyRewards". However, it shouldn't take precedence over game-related fixes. In my cynical view, the reason it does take precedence is not only because it is presumably an easier task, but also because there is an inordinate amount of importance that this store seems to place on getting users into "The Galaxy Ecosystem."

Given how extremely they neglect the development of Galaxy client (it has so many broken features in it and every minor update simply introduces more bugs) it still puzzles me why they should want this.