How I download my installers now?

If you really believe that there are developers out there that update their galaxy installers (by themselves or by asking GOG to do it) and then tell GOG not to update the offline installers (because only GOG updates the offline installers), then I guess you are welcome to your opinion. I don't believe this is a credible scenario.

Before there was not even the update indication for quite some time, so no, it was not more manageable.

I joined Gog in 2008 because I wanted to be able to purchase and download DRM-free games; now in 2020 it's roughly 12 years later and guess what ? I am still able to do that just fine with or without using Galaxy.

You can call that "play with words", make paragraph after paragraph about how things have changed, about how peoples are fools and manipulated because they fails to see your truth, but at the end of the day it doesn't change the fact that : for peoples who want to purchase and download DRM-free games it's still perfectly possible to do so exactly like it was possible to do 12 years ago.

Did they drop some of their "identity values" ?

Yes, they stopped being an old game only store, like I said in the previous post they dropped their one price one region policy, and I am the first one to agree that they made plenty of blunders along the way (the PR stunt, several miscommunication, the twitter drama, etc... ) but no, removing one of the two optional client, as inconvenient as it might be for those who used it, doesn't qualify as dropping "identity values".

And of course, the fact that you frame it through this play on words, this implied false equivalence (as two "clients") between a mere downloader and a full bloatware filled with functionalities that require to be checked and turned off, obfuscating the very point that annoys those who feel force-fed galaxy, illustrates how you're aware that you're on the side that requires dishonesty to defend.

That's what I call bad faith. The reign of proud vacuous manipulation.

Not a fan of galaxy but it isn't bloat, it is pretty light. I also don't get your point about the functionality options, how are options ever a bad thing? That seems like grasping at straws to fit a more hidden agenda you may have.

As a purchaser of over 230+ games on GoG, the downloader was an invaluable tool. I and many others don't wish to use Galaxy. And as HereForTheBeer put it so well "Given that the Downloader itself was abandoned 6 years ago and that it STILL worked fine on the day functionality was removed, it doesn't seem like a tall hurdle to keep the Downloader links active."
Please consider re-enabling the use of GoG Downloader as it was simple, convenient download manager that worked a treat.

The vast majority of games are older games that won't get updates at this juncture.

And I think some(not all, just a few) are proving what I thought all along about people in general.....many people are way too self entitled for their own good.

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GOG's store, GOG's rules......sad for some of us, but that's how it is.

Since GOG doesn't seem to want to change it back & no one here wants to make a serious effort(beyond forum posts) to change that a few more posts to bring it back likely won't change things & are a waste of time.

So yeah, people can continue to buy here and adapt or move on to buying at other stores....those are the best/most viable options.

The problem, as I see it, is cognitive dissonance....some(in general, I mean.....including in this thread) have a set idea of something & nothing can or will change that...and instead of looking for actual truth they seemingly only look for things to support their version of truth OR accept only the answers they want to hear.
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============================================================== I've read a few of your posts here and have but this to say to them:

If you make any more tinfoil you'll likely corner the market on it and put everyone else out of business.

Snarky reply, yes, but imo justified after reading all that nonsense.

The hell are you talking about? You go to the webpage and see which games need updating. Since I download the whole game again instead of patches, it's really all I need. Hell, I've been doing that since before even Downloader.

All I am saying that it takes two to tango. Which means both GOG and the devs have to work together in some capacity.

I don't think you understood me.

Here is an example:
- If you install "Beholder" via galaxy, the version that gets installed on your computer is version 1.6.0.12741 from September 2019.
- If you download the offline installer of "Beholder" from the browser and install it yourself, the version that gets installed on your computer is version 1.5.0.12682 from January 2019.

GOG never bothered to update the offline installer of "Beholder" since September 2019. This is not an isolated example.

Now, if you want to play the more up to date version of the game, your only option is to use galaxy. You can still play the game via the offline installer, but then you will be playing an outdated version. I don't call this "optional".

I don't think GOG did it because they are evil --- I believe they simply forgot (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon%27s_razor). But the fact remains that they care more about galaxy than about offline installers.

P.S. The "Beholder" example above is true for Windows and Mac. If you download the offline installer for Linux and install it, the version that gets installed on your computer is (the even older) version 1.5.0.10020 from July 2017.

P.P.S. BTW, if you always "download the whole game again instead of patches", some of your backups may be outdated. GOG occasionally adds a patch to a new version without updating the full installer and leaves it in this state for years on end. Just FYI.

When I really want a silent computer, I get one without fans and moving parts, not one that is promised to be very silent or which fan seldom turns on when it's new. It's the same issue that brings up the forumer who doesn't want to launch excel to make a simple calculation. I'm thinking of not using facebook as a text editor. Or not using Premiere/FinalCut to edit a sound. Automated updates, stats sent home, newsfeed, automated social logging, chatroom and multiplayer availability, achievements, background running, all nuisances that require turning off (I'm used, on other softs/systems, to have to turn back off what can be and what gets turned back on at new updates or changes of policies, it's very annoying), plus the very principle of game management, of gaming "client", that is the whole interface of presentation of game icons in an integrated launcher, is a thing I profoundly dislike (I launch my games like regular softs by clicking on regular icons in regular folders, it works well enough thank you). So, at the end, one big useless software, filled with annoying functionalities to keep checking and turning off, all this to use one basic function that used to be available independantly.

And there, the fact we go from "aaah baah galaxy is not truly obligatory if you accept the deliberately increased drawbacks of alternatives" to "hey maybe galaxy get a bit unavoidable but it's not that annoying anyway". And that's what I'm talking about. Galaxy imposed. Local culture making it something pointless to reject. It's exactly the norms set by Steam, now more and more fully embraced by GOG and its community. It's the sort of bullshit that many people came here to avoid, but now here is its home aswell. So.

Gogrepo works well enough (not well enough for, for instance, keeping only a subset of installers updated, but well enough globally). No need to witness anymore the trash that GOG has become, and the level of hypocrisy that runs through there. Those who complain for GOG to change its mind about gogdownloader are deluded (the point of GOG's choices is to have everybody use Galaxy, and that's it). Those who see no problem with that are those who fully integrated the norm of client interfaces. I haven't been posing to change anything. Just to point out the denial in the "GOG is all about freedom of choice" narrative, inherited from its different beginnings.

You can love or hate Galaxy. But claiming that GOG is honestly open to using or not using it is a shameful lie, maintained only by GOG PR and ridiculous fans. I won't be there to witness the next pointless microdrama, at the next pro-galaxy restriction, the next shift away from the original GOG, but I'm amused by the fact the same arguments will be used, splitting the so-called community between Steam-formatted gamers and yet another smaller subset of GOG nostalgics.

I have defended GOG earlier, claiming myself that Galaxy was no big deal because merely optional. And assuming, long ago, the good will of GOG's staff. It took a lot of time for me to progressively realise I was wrong. So I belong to this "fuck you guys" batch. Others belong to the next one. Others belonged to previous ones. An each time larger bewildered part belong to none. Enjoy, I guess.

They may not want to change it back but they didn't want to get rid of the auto-playing videos either, yet they did. I've also made numerous comments before about how I didn't like them always looking to list users' number of games next to their name in reviews, and it looks like that can be hidden now too. On the flipside, there are other features they apparently refuse to budge from or bring back (GOGmixes). We don't know until we try, and it's not fair for you to decree that it's a waste of time. You may ultimately be right, time will tell, but it sounds to me with "waste of time" you're invoking the "defeatist" mentality you've criticized me of having...