I have found 3 problems that concern this game I think need be fix/corrected.

1-When launching the game, the game runs 43 scripts each time the game launcher is simply turned on. While I do not know what tools the game is created with. This is unusual behavior for a game, I have hundreds of games that do not do this. Makes me rather paranoid about what these scripts are doing. It seems that the launcher splash screen also tries to connect to the internet, which it should not be attempting without my permission(ex. a toggle switch to allow on/off?).

2-During game play, the player sends a team to a crash site. The game once again behaves strangely by what looks like an internet call out it should not be making. But it looks like it runs a script to call to itself over an http link regarding the specifications of the terrain and size of the players team. Why does the game do this? It should not be.

3-During game play again, the game seems to place strange files on the root of the system directory.

Example:

D:\t15.5

This is sloppy programming, any temporary files being created and removed should be within the games own file tree or in another location. NOT A SYSTEM ROOT DIRECTORY! This could possibly lead to a system file being changed and/or damaged that could impair your entire machine. This is a video game, not a system crucial application! The game should not be doing this.

After 32 years of gaming and hundreds of games in my library. I do not remember seeing such behavior in a game. While I do not think it is necessarily malicious, it does concern me that these problem make my anti virus warnings get tripped every time I want to play this game. Before anyone mentions I should turn off my AV or "ignore" these annoyances, that will be considered trolling and doesn't solve/fix these concerns.

If you agree with me, please, in a polite way let GOG staff know of your concerns regarding such matters.

I agree with you. This behavior is not only sloppy. Its quite dangerous. How should people recognize viruses if games show the same behavior.

1) I don't know exactly how the game is coded (I'm the designer, not the coder), but I don't see that the fact the game runs a lot of scripts necessitates an update. You're saying that you're worried they're damaging your PC, but if I'm honest I don't really see the connection between the two.

Afaik, the launcher only connects to the internet because it has a built in RSS feed that lets you know if the game has been patched. The game will run fine if you disallow this.

2) This is due to the stat tracking module in the game - it collects anonymised data about the missions (weapons used, numbers of aliens killed, numbers of soldiers lost etc) and sends it to Google Analytics. We used it to balance the AI originally, but it should have been disabled prior to release.

Due to a compile error it seems it has not, and we're patching it out in the next few days. It causes instability and slow load times if the user is not online, so we're as keen to have it removed as you are.

3) If this is not connected to 2), it will be linked to the engine. I'd agree it is sloppy programming, but not by us. We don't have the source code to the engine so we can't fix it, but I've never heard of anyone having their PC damaged by playing Xenonauts and people have played it for well over a million hours, so I wouldn't worry too much about it.

1- Hmmm. Not sure what else to say regarding the scripts. There are benign ones and bad ones that exist in the world and hoping these are ok. It isn't something I have seen before in a game along with the other concerns I had.

Would it be possible to add a toggle, like a check box to the launcher? To have the option of not allowing it to automatically try to connect to the internet. While this may not bother many people as they are always online. We folks at GOG are rather touchy about such things. We are a DRM free group after all and this little detail can make a large difference in someone making a purchase or not of your game.

One more thing. I notice while toggling the "window mode" on the launcher, that uh...doesn't work >_>
It just goes to full screen.

2-That explanation makes sense as I figured it was a testing thing. Appreciate the interest in removing it.

3-This one concerned me the most. This is something I really think you should talk to your programmer about. I cannot force you to do so. I do know how malware behaves and I honestly cannot find any harm being done. But that is kinda the point of malware, to be well hidden, besides the obvious point that a video game shouldn't behave like this. =/

The main screen where the player can start a new game and exit etc. seems to be the spot where I see these files popping up. I count 3 files roughly each time. I can't see them in the directory when I close out of the game to analyze them though. Sorry I can't be more specific.

Do I think you want to do damage? Of course not. I really want to impress upon you to look into the matter though and see if the main screen can be changed to remove this behavior. As the main screen looks to be the only thing that does this, I would think it should be something easy enough to change/remove?

In any event, I appreciate you taking the time to come here to talk about it.

On a side note, I dig the game a lot and I have been waiting for it for years ^_^
I would not be so inclined to talk about such matter if I didn't care about having your product be as great as it can be. That and keeping the software I buy clean and safe as possible.

The game does have a lot of problems like the super tiny fonts. I also bought it because all I read was, "for those that love the original x com. this is the real remake". I buy it then I start seeing these problems or game ideas that were not in the original X-Com. My planes have limited range, I understand you need to build one or more bases after your starting base but ANOTHER huge issue for me, there's no selling manufactured goods for profit! This put the nail in the coffin as far as killing the game for me.

Bought it two days ago and will be uninstalling it later because I won't enjoy this thinking it was a remake of the original X-Com.

That was exactly the same in the original X-Com game. Your planes (at least the fighters) always had a limited range and certain places on the world map couldn't be reached without building addition one or two bases.