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Unfortunately that's just PC gaming - there's no one-size-fits-all approach to getting these games running on all modern combinations of hardware and software. If you don't want to fiddle, you may want to only purchase new games (and even then you may have to fiddle) or just use consoles.

That said, If your game isn't running, contact GOG Support. If you have done so within 30 days of purchase, and you and Support working together are unable to get the game running (a few back and forth messages), you are entitled to a refund.
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tfishell: Unfortunately that's just PC gaming - there's no one-size-fits-all approach to getting these games running on all modern combinations of hardware and software. If you don't want to fiddle, you may want to only purchase new games (and even then you may have to fiddle) or just use consoles.

That said, If your game isn't running, contact GOG Support. If you have done so within 30 days of purchase, and you and Support working together are unable to get the game running (a few back and forth messages), you are entitled to a refund.
The whole point with GoG is that you get games without having to fiddle with them because the ones selling it have done the fiddling.
Two, when one bug, the irate gnome one, being so prevalent as it is, the fiddlers as we now seem to call them, might want to do something about it.
Because if I wanted the headache of fiddling with it, I'd just download a cracked version and presto! But paying for it should make it easier, don't you agree?
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tfishell: That said, If your game isn't running, contact GOG Support. If you have done so within 30 days of purchase, and you and Support working together are unable to get the game running (a few back and forth messages), you are entitled to a refund.
Do I lose access to the game if I refund? Because if I do, wouldn't I have to repurchase it without the 10% discount when it does get patched?
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Llyr86: The whole point with GoG is that you get games without having to fiddle with them because the ones selling it have done the fiddling.
And how do you propose GOG should test that the game runs on every single possible combination of PC hardware and software? They can't. It's just not possible as there are so many different combinations, and OS and software updates land all the time, any of which might cause an issue.

GOG are a digital distributor, not a game developer. They often make use of compatibility modes and community patches, wrappers and hooks and whatnot in order to get the games running on their test machines, but there's never any guarantee that it will run on your machine. You might have some overlay or software or driver conflict or issue. So GOG support will try to help you to resolve the issue, but if they cannot help you to get it running they will refund you.

The fact that GOG have spent time applying community fixes and compatibility patches and such does mean that it tends to be easier, but it will never be a guarantee.

Heck, even newly release AAA titles often have issues for some users, it's not just older games.
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Korell: GOG are a digital distributor, not a game developer.
I'd beg to differ. GOG belongs to CD Projekt which also owns CD Projekt Red.
They also have a dedicated "workaround department" (which creates custom patches).

That said, patching these games without the full source code takes skilled people and it's also more time consuming. So the whole thing is very expensive and they probably have to be very conservative with what they patch.
Especially as most old games which are worth patching, are already easily available through piracy.
They also can't ask $50+ for a 20 year old game, so I'd assume that the options to patch games are limited as they must be cost effective.

Personally, I'd put the blame on the original developer LucasArts (for not making their game more stable) and Microsoft (for poor backwards compatibility in Windows and DirectX) .
On the other hand: You can't really blame them either as the industry was way different then and it's nearly impossible to foresee issues in your code which could arise 20 years later due to changes in PC hard- and software.

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Getting back to the topic: This thread feels like a pointless rant without any constructive criticism, understanding for the other party, or meaningful information which could get this situation resolved.

As others have said already, GOG.com has a money-back policy. So they do handle the situation you are currently in.

Aside from that, I suggest writing a meaningful description of your issue and giving them as many details as possible, so they can try to solve the issue you ran into once and for all (for you and other users).
Post edited May 11, 2018 by JayFoxRox
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tfishell: Unfortunately that's just PC gaming - there's no one-size-fits-all approach to getting these games running on all modern combinations of hardware and software. If you don't want to fiddle, you may want to only purchase new games (and even then you may have to fiddle) or just use consoles.

That said, If your game isn't running, contact GOG Support. If you have done so within 30 days of purchase, and you and Support working together are unable to get the game running (a few back and forth messages), you are entitled to a refund.
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Llyr86: The whole point with GoG is that you get games without having to fiddle with them because the ones selling it have done the fiddling.
Not anymore actually, the focus is on DRM-free now. (GOG doesn't stand for "Good Old Games" anymore, and hasn't since 2012.) I believe GOG does still try to make it as easy as possible for people to get their games running, but there's only so much they can do - that's just PC gaming. Usually they don't have the source code for games, and in some cases it may be too expensive to try to fix the code anyway.

But that's why they have Support - they'll try to help, and if you and they working together can't get the game running, you get a refund (if you've contacted them within 30 days). Unfortunately it's simply very unrealistic that people will always be able to avoid "fiddling".

edit: something else to consider: we don't know how many people were able to play the game straight of the box anyway. It could be that 10% of people are having problems, but 90% aren't and thus aren't posting here.
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tfishell: That said, If your game isn't running, contact GOG Support. If you have done so within 30 days of purchase, and you and Support working together are unable to get the game running (a few back and forth messages), you are entitled to a refund.
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PZenith: Do I lose access to the game if I refund? Because if I do, wouldn't I have to repurchase it without the 10% discount when it does get patched?
Isn't that how it works on Steam? You refund a game, it gets removed from your library?
Post edited May 11, 2018 by tfishell
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Korell: GOG are a digital distributor, not a game developer.
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JayFoxRox: I'd beg to differ. GOG belongs to CD Projekt which also owns CD Projekt Red.
They also have a dedicated "workaround department" (which creates custom patches).
GOG.com are a wholly owned subsidiary of CD Projekt, so CD Projekt is the parent company of GOG.com.
CD Projekt is a game publisher and distributor.
CD Projekt Red is a division of CD Projekt that does game development.
GOG.com is a digital distributor.

A subsidiary company is a separate legal entity to its parent company, and a subsidiary company does not have to be the same kind of business as the parent company. Whilst they might be able to get access to some of the resources of the parent company (e.g. developers), GOG are still just a digital distributor.

Developing custom patches may also be very different to actually updating a game. Why? A developer updating a game can modify the source code and recompile to fix bugs. GOG staff have said in the forums that they rarely have any source code so they cannot update it. They can still create custom patches with compatibility fixes, wrappers, hooks, small programs that disable certain Windows features before the game starts and restore them after the game quits, etc.
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Korell: GOG are still just a digital distributor.
Primarily, yes. But not "just".
If you want an analogy: They are a car dealer which also has its own repairshop. The don't build new cars, but they can fix some issues.
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Korell: Developing custom patches may also be very different to actually updating a game. Why? A developer updating a game can modify the source code and recompile to fix bugs.
Ofcourse. It's certainly a different task and more difficult.
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Korell: GOG staff have said in the forums that they rarely have any source code so they cannot update it. They can still create custom patches with compatibility fixes, wrappers, hooks, small programs that disable certain Windows features before the game starts and restore them after the game quits, etc.
I disagree with some bits here. I've actually analyzed the GOG.com Star Wars Racer patches for OpenSWE1R.
These are actual binary patches (which you've also mentioned they can do). It's beyond just temporarily switching the Windows configuration.
The patches are not too sophisticated for this game yet, but theoretically they have people to work on it and they should be able to make more complex changes.

Saying they "cannot update it" would be false.

However, it's simply not cost effective to make larger changes, like entirely new features in Star Wars Racer - some of that would be insanely tricky / costly.
In comparison, just patching smaller bugs (even without sourcecode) is pretty simple (and cheap). So I'm really surprised that some bugs remain to this day in the GOG.com release (such as the Ando Prime skycolor or anything framerate related) - it's almost been 2 weeks, and they probably had internal testing prior to that.

If they developed better technology in-house, they could also do crazy things with their (closed-source) games in the future which would surprise users: such as injecting high resolution artwork.
At least for that, the "we don't have the sourcecode" argument also fails (which also means they could hire less skilled / cheaper developers who are not highly specialized). Similar wrappers would also help to isolate driver specific issues.
The lack of such work makes me assume that their patching department is severly understaffed though (which they seem to be aware of), or they just have a different business strategy.
Post edited May 12, 2018 by JayFoxRox
it was my wireless headset plugged into usb that was breaking my game.
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Demonocolips: it was my wireless headset plugged into usb that was breaking my game.
Holy crap, this is genius. I removed the USB receiver from my wireless headset, launched the game, then plugged it back in to hear sounds. It worked!
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Llyr86: The whole point with GoG is that you get games without having to fiddle with them because the ones selling it have done the fiddling.
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Korell: And how do you propose GOG should test that the game runs on every single possible combination of PC hardware and software? They can't. It's just not possible as there are so many different combinations, and OS and software updates land all the time, any of which might cause an issue.

GOG are a digital distributor, not a game developer. They often make use of compatibility modes and community patches, wrappers and hooks and whatnot in order to get the games running on their test machines, but there's never any guarantee that it will run on your machine. You might have some overlay or software or driver conflict or issue. So GOG support will try to help you to resolve the issue, but if they cannot help you to get it running they will refund you.

The fact that GOG have spent time applying community fixes and compatibility patches and such does mean that it tends to be easier, but it will never be a guarantee.

Heck, even newly release AAA titles often have issues for some users, it's not just older games.
So if you order something at a restaurant, and you get the ingredients and a piece of paper telling you how to make it. That would satisfy you would it? Or electrician? Plumber? You wouldn't make that excuse for anything other than PC gaming, I think personally.
And AAA is complete bullshit these days. Bug and microtransaction riddled messes that are shat out to make Q1 look better with the "Fuckit. we'll fix it in post" mentality.
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Llyr86: So if you order something at a restaurant, and you get the ingredients and a piece of paper telling you how to make it. That would satisfy you would it? Or electrician? Plumber? You wouldn't make that excuse for anything other than PC gaming, I think personally.
And AAA is complete bullshit these days. Bug and microtransaction riddled messes that are shat out to make Q1 look better with the "Fuckit. we'll fix it in post" mentality.
Restaurant - everyone eats, but not everyone eats the same food or likes the same food. You can place an order and ask them to leave out something you don't like, such as mustard or mayo or whatever. How many different human digestion systems are there?

Electrician and plumber - they come to your property and see what needs to be done, so the work they do is specific to your situation.

PC Gaming - GOG do not come to you to see your computer. GOG don't even get to know what your computer setup is before the game is sold to you. So it is a very different situation to all the examples you just gave. If you need support they will ask you for a DXDiag that gives them a lot more information about your specific setup. And if they cannot get it working for you then you get refunded.

So, how about you answer the question I initially asked you?
"And how do you propose GOG should test that the game runs on every single possible combination of PC hardware and software?"
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Llyr86: So if you order something at a restaurant, and you get the ingredients and a piece of paper telling you how to make it. That would satisfy you would it? Or electrician? Plumber? You wouldn't make that excuse for anything other than PC gaming, I think personally.
Except this is not how it works.

If you want to stick with that analogy: They also prepare your food and serve it to you. However, they did not slaughter the meat themselves and they did not farm their own potatoes. They just bought those parts and prepared the meal for you.
But cooking is hard, especially if you don't have all ingredients for grandmas old recipe.
So suddenly, you as a cook, have to come up with substitutes: some will like the taste, others won't.

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I feel like you are criticizing the wrong portion of GOG.com in general.

Personally, in the past weeks I've also noticed some shortcomings in their model:

- Lack of support (aside from the money back policy): The SWE1R support article has almost no information. Stuff like changed game behaviour and glitches on certain framerates, the Ando Prime sky bug etc. are not even acknowledged.
- Lack of oversight on the forums, with moderation or support (almost?) never stepping in, even when illegal material is being shared; even after reporting the post in question.
- Long delay for patches without communication (see 2 previous points). This bothers me personally, because I also do similar work for fun in my freetime. I could have addressed a handful of reported issues (in a couple of hours), or at least informed users why they run into issues and wether it will be fixed soon. So I'm surprised that a paid team of engineers seems to be unable to do so in almost 2 weeks.
- At least one botched release in the past. I don't have the specifics, but the Re-Volt fiasco looks really bad to me; selling the involved persons software is an extremly poor and dangerous decision (aside from other legal matters with Re-Volt). This was a couple of years ago though, so maybe it's better now.

Luckily, all of these are addressable issues.

I feel this current lack of communication and integrity, is much worse than what you imply (selling "broken" software to make money short-term, with no intention of fixes).
That said, lack of communication can be perceived as what you described here.

And even then, all of that doesn't bother me as badly as your impoliteness and disrespect (which seems unfounded or poorly explained).
Paying money for a product doesn't entitle you to being a prick - especially if you can simply get your money back.

Simply contact the support directly if there's an issue.
Post edited May 13, 2018 by JayFoxRox