Contents:

1. Questions about the website
2. Questions about purchasing/downloading/installing games
3. Questions about your user profile
4. Questions about the forums and community

Feb, 3, 2011
It's now time for the all-new (well, mostly new) and all-different GOG Forums - FAQ©®™. I will try to keep this one as up to date as possible, so if you have any suggestions on questions/answers to add to it, please feel free to post them in this thread. For this initial posting, I will simply include the old FAQ contents, plus a couple of additions/changes I already know about.

Due to the changes GOG made to the forums in September 2010, post sizes are now limited, which prevents me from posting the entire FAQ in a single post. In order to get around this limit, this initial post will act as a table of contents and I will link to seperate posts within this thread for each "chapter" of the FAQ. It might take me a while to get each "chapter" formatted and posted, but feel free to post here in the meantime (that will actually help me get around the "post merging" problem).

I am looking for a couple of specific pieces of info to add to the FAQ. The first is detailed information on alternate payment methods that people have successfully used with GOG, like virtual credit cards. The second is links to threads or GOGMixes that list GOG games that are known to work with Macs (through Wine, Boxer, etc.).

The post merging problem is mostly fixed now. If you wait long enough (a couple of minutes), then you will create a second post even if no one has responded in the mean time. As for length, I've created some fairly long posts, but I can't say for sure if that's been fixed since I haven't tried to create anything as long as your original FAQ. However, it might have been fixed too. Have you tried it?

Phew, thanks for doing this. Perhaps GOG will sticky it.

Questions about the website:

Official GOG.com information about the website and its features can be found in the Website Help section of the Support pages.

Please add *insert game/publisher here* to the GOG library!
GOG has a handy dandy wishlist that you can use to post your requests for games on GOG. Just make sure you search the wishlist to see if anyone else has already added the game you want and if they have, vote for it instead of creating a new entry. Additionally, if you wish to simply discuss the games you want to see on GOG, you can post in the Official Beg Thread: "This Game Belongs on GOG!".

Will you be adding *insert game/publisher here* to the GOG library?
GOG does not release specific information on prospective games or publishers until they already have agreements in place. They will not comment specifically on who or what they are trying to get, only what they do have (though they do occasionally drop cryptic hints about upcoming releases). Check the site's main page for news on what is coming soon, it gets updated every Tuesday and/or Thursday. Also, Delixe has created an excellent Publishers not on GOG and will they be? thread where the odds/pros and cons of many publishers coming to GOG are discussed.

Why are there New/Unreleased Games on the Wishlist?
Its a wishlist, people are going to put on it what they wish to see on GOG someday, even if they are new or unreleased games. The GOG team members who review the list are intelligent enough to determine which items on the wislist are reasonable requests and which are not.

Why are some highly requested games, such as System Shock 2, not being added to the catalogue?
GOG tries to get every game they can, but sometimes it is a difficult process to find the correct rights holder, secure permissions to sell the game, get gold masters of the games, modify as necessary to make the game work on modern OSes, etc. It's not that GOG is intentionally not adding a highly requested game, its that they can't unless or until they can meet all those requirements. That certainly doesn't mean you shouldn't keep requesting and voting for games, though. The more interest we can show, the more "ammunition" GOG has to bring to rights holders to convince them to allow their games to become part of the GOG library.

Why does GOG sell version X of *insert game name here* and not the superior/different version Y?
There are any number of reasons why GOG is only able to sell a particular version of a game and not another. Perhaps the rights holder only offered the DOS/floppy disk version to GOG and not the Windows/CD-ROM version; distribution rights for one version might be held by a different publisher than the version GOG has and GOG does not have any agreements with that publisher; the version GOG offers might be the only one they could get to work... I could go on. For information on GOG games that may be "inferior" versions, see gamebin's GoG Games - Missing Content, Incomplete, Etc. thread.

Why is *insert game name here* missing a particular bit of extra content
Again, there are any number of reason this could happen, but the most likely one is that the rights holder never provided GOG with that extra content. When the GOG staff are made aware of a missing extra, they do try to find out about it from the rights holder and add it, if possible. Information on games that are known to be missing certain extras can also be found in gamebin's GoG Games - Missing Content, Incomplete, Etc. thread.

Please add *insert website feature here* to GOG.com.
The GOG team is always looking for new ideas to enhance the experience and actually listens to the public when they ask for something. However, there are a few "proper" ways you can give the team your feedback. There is a GOG Features Wishlist thread in the general forums as well as the website feedback link in the support section of the site.

How can I help advertise GOG?
So you want to show everyone how cool GOG is? Check out the Spread The Word section of the site. You can get banners, userbars, merchandise... even the official GOG logo to use in your own designs.

Questions about purchasing/downloading/installing games:

Official GOG.com information about purchasing and downloading games can be found in the Website Help section of the Support pages. Installation information can be found in the Games Support section of the Support pages.

What are the *accepted* methods of payment?
Currently, Visa, Mastercard and PayPal are the only accepted methods of payment. Virtual credit cards, such as Wirecard, can also be used with GOG.
NOTE: I know there are more alternative payment methods that some people have successfully used in the past, but I've never used any of them and I am not certain of details like names, websites, etc. If you have info on any alternative payment methods that will work with GOG, please post them in this thread

Can I use Paypal?
Yes.

Can I use a pre-paid credit/debit card?
Yes, but you may want to verify the terms and conditions of it first, to ensure that it can be used for both online and international transactions.

Can I purchase games using *insert country name here* currency?
Currently, GOG games are only offered in US dollars.

GOG charged an extra transaction fee, what's up with that?
GOG does not charge any additional fees beyond the advertised price, but some banks and credit companies will assess an additional "international transaction fee" for GOG purchases. Check with your bank/credit card issuer to determine their policies regarding online purchases from international businesses.

My credit/debit card was declined for no apparent reason! Why?
Assuming that your credit is good and you are up to date on your payments or you have a sufficient bank balance, then the likely cause is GOG's unique international status. GOG is a Polish company that is incorporated in Cyprus with billing handled out of the UK while their servers are located in Canada. Some credit card companies have a problem with the Cyprus connection because Cyprus is apparently considered a haven for credit card fraud. Rest assured, GOG is not a fraudulent business in any way. If you are unable to use your credit/debit card for GOG purchases, try one of the alternative methods of payment, like PayPal.

I downloaded my game using the GOG Downloader, but all I got were a couple of .bin files. How do I install the game?
Some GOG games are large enough that they need to be broken up into .bin file "chunks", roughly 2GB in size. When this is required, there is always an additional .exe file that is used to install the game. However, the GOG Downloader does have an occasional problem where it downloads the .exe file, but for some reason does not name it properly. Look for a file with a name that looks like "<game_title>_part0.gogDownload" and re-name it to "<game_title>_setup.exe" (replace "<game_title>" with the correct name of your game), then run that .exe to install the game.

My game won't play/install/do anything useful. What can I do to get help?
GOG offers support through the GOG.com website. Go to the support link on the site's main menu and you will be presented with a listing of all your GOG games, links to support articles for each game and links to contact GOG support. When contacting GOG support, be sure to include a detailed description of the problem you are having, steps you have already taken to try to remedy it and include a DirectX Diagnostic output. Additional community support can be found by posting questions in the GOG.com forums for your particular game.

How long does it usually take GOG support to respond to help requests?
GOG usually responds to any support request within 24 - 48 hours after it is received. I say "after it is received" because certain factors like time zones and weekends can affect how long it takes the support team to respond. GOG is based in Poland, so the middle of the day for you could be the middle of the night for them, depending on where you are in the world. Additionally, the GOG team is not usually available on weekends, so if you submitted your support request after their normal business hours on Friday, you may not hear back from them until as late as the following Tuesday (i.e. 24 - 48 hours after the request is actually received on Monday morning). GOG is working to improve their support structure, but response delays of up to a week or more have been reported. If you do not get a response from GOG support within a reasonable amount of time, a polite follow up message will usually help speed things up.

Does GOG.com have demos of the games in their catalog?
If you are looking for demos of GOG games, please see KarlAllen's Demo links for current GOG games thread.

Are GOG's games Mac/Linux/other OS compatible?
GOG games are officially compatible Windows XP and Vista only (Windows 7 compatibility is a work in progress and differs from game to game). Some of the games available from GOG are known to work on *nix systems using Wine and the native versions of DOSBox and ScummVM. Details on Linux compatibility can be found in Lexx's GOG Games that are working fine with Linux/ Wine thread and in paldepind's Great GOG games that work on Linux GOGMix. Details on Mac compatibility can be found in GOGMixes by NoanRand and rampancy and on PaultheTall's website. General information on installing and running GOG games on Macs can be found in rampancy's GOG Games on OS X: A How-To thread. Please note that GOG does not support using these games on any OS other than Windows.

Can I share/loan my games to friends, family, etc.?
GOG does not have any DRM on their games, so there is nothing preventing you from sharing a game with someone else, however, their official position on the subject is this:

Questions about your user profile

Official GOG.com information about your User Profile can be found in the Website Help section of the Support pages.

How do I change my avatar picture?
Go to the "My Account" section of the website, click on the "Account & Settings" link above the rights side of your game shelf. At the bottom of the page you find the option to upload a custom avatar image.

How do I get a title next to my avatar picture?
Go to any forum and click on the My Settings link near the top right of the page. Type what you would like for a title in the Forum "title" box, then click "Save and Go Back".

Is it possible to change your GOG username?
No, GOG policy prevents that.

What is rep and how do I get it?
Rep is earned reputation. You earn rep by answering support questions and receiving positive ratings on your other forum participation. Rep can also be lost by receiving negative ratings on your forum participation. Details on the rep system can be found in the Website Help section of GOG.com.

What if I solve a question but the original poster doesn't flag my post as the solution?
It is up to the person asking the question to flag your post as the correct answer, however, sometimes people don't do that, either because they don't know about it or just didn't bother. You can try posting a reply to the the original poster, asking them to mark your response as the solution, but it still depends on the original poster making the effort to mark your solution as the answer.

Questions about the forums and community

Official GOG.com information about the forums and its functionality can be found in the Website Help section of the support pages.

Do the GOG forums have a private messaging function?
As of May 5th, 2011, yes. You can configure you PM options, including opting out of the PM system, by going to the My account section of the site and clicking on the "My Messages" tab. More information on the PM system can be found in the official GOG.com PM system FAQ.

Does GOG have an IRC channel?
Officially, no, but unofficially, yes: #gog on irc.quakenet.org

How do I post links/URLs?
The forum has a function to automatically recognize URLs and format them as links. However, if you want to turn a word or block of text into a link, you will need to use the link button in the post editor. To do this, highlight the word or words you want to turn into a link and click the link button to the left of the text field (the one that looks like a couple of chain links). The proper formatting for your link will be automatically inserted, but the section where you need to put the URL will contain the original text you highlighted. Simply replace everything after the "[URL=" and before the first "]" with the actual URL. Alternatively, you can manually type out the necessary code to make a URL link using the standard BBCode format.

Didn't know the merge thing was fixed, that's good news. The post limit is still there, I can't even edit the original FAQ anymore because it is too long. That would be nice, but considering no one actually reads any of the stickies, I'm not sure it will really help.

hmmm ... nuts about the length.

BTW for GOG games that work on a Mac - NoanRand and Rampancy have GOGmixes and Rampancy and PalltheTall have some helpful tutorials (Rampancy's is in a thread on the forum and PalltheTall's is from his website). Not all the DosBox games are on those working lists but any DosBox game should work in either Linux or Mac OSX - explicitly mentioning that that might be worth pointing out.

I have been thinking of starting a forum thread about it too, since I've gotten a couple of games working for OS X not on either of the "official" Mac GOGmixes.

Just a little bump, still need some input on this.

Wirecard, a prepaid, virtual MasterCard works just fine.

I don't know if a notice about the maximum post length is needed, but I saw something slightly amusing a few minutes ago.

Posts are limited to 10.000 characters, including whitespace, punctation, and BBcode; and when you post a URL not encased in url tags the forum tries to parse them anyway, saving them WITH url tags. This has the interesting effect that I can do a post with a bunch of links, well below the max length, but when I edit the post later the url bbcode has been added to each link, making the post too long to edit.

See this for an example. The submitted post is slightly shorter than 7.000 characters, but when I try to edit it, it's almost 12.000 characters long.

EDIT: On second thought... maybe I had better add this to bugs instead. Yeah, I'll do so. Please forget about the contents of this post and accept it as a bump.

Buuump.

Nice work, cogadh.

This hasn't been stickied yet. I do not understand why.

Another little bump.

Anyone got got anything new to add or that might need changing?