Ok, so I bought Witcher 3 pre-release, and all of the dlcs on GOG. Played through once, so awesome it broke my heart. Finished B&W a few months back. tried other games, feel like none measure up. Decided to go another Round with Geralt.

The last time I played, I was on 1.21.
I planned to stay with that, because it had worked fine for me the first time. But then, suddenly in the middle of White Orchard I got the Roach tail bug. (Playing New Game, not New game +). Tried to ignore it, couldn't. Came here for an update.

Downloaded the update to 1.22 (since I was on 1.21), 1.24, and 1.30.
Tried to install 1.22, it hung at the end of the install for an hour. Gave up, tried to close it, couldn't. I had to use the task manager to manually stop it.

Opened the game, stated I was on 1.22. But it wouldn't let me play. Discovered that somehow the above process dleleted my Blood&Wine. Reinstalled it from my downloads folder. Now I can play, but Roach still has no tail, and if I try to apply the 1.24 update (or the 1.22 again) I get the following message:

"this patch does not support your version of the game. Please download a new installer."

So the patches I am trying to use are the ones listed under my game in the gog library. What new installer? Where do I get it? Are they saying I have to use gog galaxy (pleasegodno)?

Any help will be deeply appreciated.

No, you don't need Galaxy. You need these files -- make SURE you uninstall the game first:

Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, The (Parts 1 to 8) 1.10
Patch 1.22 (Parts 1 and 2) 1.10+ -> 1.22
Patch 1.24 1.22 -> 1.24
Patch 1.30 1.24 -> 1.30
Patch 1.31 1.30 -> 1.31
free DLC program (16 DLC) 1.22
free DLC program (16 DLC) - Patch 1.30 1.22 -> 1.30
Hearts of Stone - Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, The - Hearts of Stone (Parts 1 to 3) 1.22
Hearts of Stone - Patch 1.30 1.22 -> 1.30
Blood and Wine - Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, The - Blood and Wine (Parts 1 to 3) 1.22
Blood and Wine - Patch 1.30 1.22 -> 1.30
Blood and Wine language packs if required

Install them in that order.

Thanks for your reply. Is there really no way to avoid a complete uninstall/reinstall?
Also, since I have all of these in my downloads file, can I at least save those so I don't have to spend hours on re-downloading?

Thanks again.

I figured I'd post what gog support wrote me, in the event it helps someone else.

[i]Unfortunately your installation of the game is now broken. You will have to reinstall and reapply updates.
Alternatively you can use the Galaxy Client to repair/update the game.
https://www.gog.com/galaxy

Please open the Galaxy Client, click the game and use the MORE > Manage installation > Verify / Repair function and check if the issue persists. You might need to use an earlier save file.

If the issue persists, go to the game's directory, default:
C:\GOG Games\The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt\
or:
C:\Program Files (x86)\GalaxyClient\Games\The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt\
remove the following files (not all might be present) and use the verify/repair function one more time.
goggame-1207664643.hashdb
goggame-1430742867.hashdb
goggame-1430743168.hashdb
goggame-1441355562.hashdb
goggame-1441620909.hashdb

These files are hidden and you will need to enable "Show hidden files" to view them:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/14201/windows-show-hidden-files

We are planning to release an updated installer, that will install the newest version of the game. You might want to wait for it.
Sorry for the inconvenience.
[/i]


What I have done so fat is go back to a save before the tail disappeared. Since I was successful in playing through before, rather than suffer the annoyance of a complete reinstall, I'm going to see if I can successfully keep Roach intact again. At least that way, if I eventually have to reinstall, maybe the updated installer will be ready.

Just a warning: the Roach tail glitch gets fixed in a patch, but not retroactively. In other words, if the tail is missing in your saved game it will still be missing even when you update. But there is a permanent fix. You need to enable the in-game console. To do this, go to ..\Documents\The Witcher 3\ and open 'user.settings' in Notepad (do NOT use Wordpad or any other word processor; the file MUST be plain text with NO formatting. Once there, find the section that says...

[General]
ConfigVersion=2

Now edit this to...

[General]
ConfigVersion=2
DBGConsoleOn=true

Now you can open the console in-game. To fix the horse, mount her (VERY important), open the console and type:

KillHorse()

This will permanently remove the bugged version of Roach. Now all that you have to do is call another one by whistling for her again. Now save your mended game. Fixed!