<begin rant> <first world problems>

http://www.gog.com/forum/general/the_witcher_3_wont_start_up/page1

Anyone else having this issue? For some, the game works like a charm but ONLY after GALAXY.DLL has been either renamed or removed entirely from its sub-folders. And even then upon starting the game I'm greeted with this message "The program can't start because Galaxy.dll is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix the problem." Gives me a complete "Steam in the making" vibe.

For the record, I would never willingly buy a game that requires a client... Not from GOG, not from Steam, not from EA, not from Ubisoft, not from anyone. That's why I buy from GOG in the first place. Now, maybe I'm just being paranoid, or maybe this is just a Windows 8.1 issue, or hell, maybe it's just an oversight (which is fine, and does happen), but it certainly seems to me that The Witcher 3 is actively searching for up to date client files.

Could it be that when I un-installed the Galaxy Beta something got boned in the Windows registry and is now interfering with the game's executable file?

I did a manual download and install of the game and did not download it through Galaxy.

Some might argue (especially some of the noobs) that I should just install it through Galaxy and let it update, etc and that some folks have solved the issue by doing this. But I don't want to do that. It's contrary to every reason I joined GOG in the first place. The client is supposed to be 100% optional, yeah?

Again, the game works and runs very nicely, but ONLY after I've harvested its Galaxy.dll file like a spinal column from one of Sub-Zero's victims (and even then, the game pleads for it and demands it). I shouldn't have to do this in the first place. Ugh! GOG, this needs to get fixed!

Has anyone who did a manual install on 8.1 NOT had this issue?

<end rant> <first world problems>

This person was having the same problem: http://www.gog.com/forum/general/gog_galaxy_and_the_witcher_3

S/he also thought it might relate to a previous Galaxy installation.

I can confirm that Galaxy was the cause, at least in my case: I also had this issue with TW3 crashing immediately. I had Galaxy installed but hadn't used it for weeks (and wasn't using it for TW3) so it was an outdated install. Despite not using it for TW3 it looks like TW3 got confused when it detected the old Galaxy install, causing it to crash. After updating Galaxy TW3 ran fine.

I've just installed and tested TW3 on another system with a very similar setup to this one, but without Galaxy installed at all - I unplugged the network cable before running the installers & patcher, runs fine. Then I installed the old version of Galaxy I previously had installed on this system and tried to start TW3 (I did not start Galaxy at all after installing it and did not connect the network cable) - immediate crash. It continues to crash even after uninstalling the old Galaxy client.

To add to the info: I installed it on my newer rig - the one that I did not install Galaxy on, and the game runs fine (well, as good as it can considering my 'newer' rig is still old). So it appears very likely it has to do with Galaxy leftovers.