Can I download just the patch?

In my downloads for NMS I see parts 1 through 3, for a total of well over 4GB.
The patch isn't nearly 4GB, obviously, so I'd love to be able to download just the patch.

Is this possible without GOG Galaxy installed?

Thanks.

Unfortunately that does not seem possible. Since this was a large update it may have changed many of the textures leading to either a large differential file which would take a long time to apply or a "patch" that included most files anyway. So at a guess* it was probably a cleaner solution to simply replace it with a new install (although it less then optimal if you have a download cap or very slow connection) .

*I do not currently use Galaxy either.

What stops them from releasing the file delta patch that GOG downloads?
It's not like it's magic or some sort of mystical miracle, it's just data.

It depends on how much has changed and how easy it is to track the various versions.

So Steam for example works in a similar way, when small updates to games occurs, deltas or just changed files are downloaded, however when a major change occurs sometimes the game is basically re-downloaded. DOTA2 is constantly patched with small downloads, but when version 7 occurred the game was re-downloaded for example.

When most of the content has changed it is easier to just download a new copy and not worry about what prior versions are currently installed. When just the executable has changed for example, then a patch with the changed file or a delta makes sense.

It also probably depends on Hello Games to some extent as they make the content available to GOG / Steam / PSN to distribute.

So if there is 4 GB of content and 3.9GB was changed in some way it does not make sense to use a delta as all the content will need to be read, changed and then written. It it probably better to just download the 4GB instead and replace it in one go.

This model is also seen on Fedora Linux, when using DNF to update the system, it will use delta where possible and fall back to full downloads where when the deltas would fail or not be sensible like:
1. New installations of packages.
2. Most of the content of a package has changed.
3. The currently installed version cannot be patched because many updates have been missed and it is better to install a new version then run 20 deltas to get it up to date.

So there is not fixed rule, I guess it depends on when the developers and distributors think that patches and or deltas make sense over a full re-download.

Finally, and apologies for rambling on, there is also the consideration of space where it maybe for efficient to store just the latest version if a major update has occurred. So again if 3.9GB of 4GB has changed, at least 7.9GB would need to be stored and downloaded.

Only GOG or Hello Games will be able to give us a definitive answer in this case. (-;

Out of curiosity due you have a capped or very slow internet connection?

Nope, I'm on 100Mbit fiber, and my ISP doesn't care how much of it I use.
It's not because I can't download the whole thing and do a reinstall of NMS, it's because I don't want to.

Also, curiosity.