It is more comfortable to me to launch all from the start menu when I have all my games, and also for modding matters. Recently I've started to check the hours played and I think GOG is not counting hours played when I'm not using the launcher to trigger the game.

No, GOG Galaxy cannot count your playtime if GOG Galaxy is not used to launch your game.

Actually it depends, assuming Galaxy is installed, some shortcuts have been changed to launch Galaxy before launching the game. So depends on the game and if the shortcut has been updated yet. So using the shortcut may launch Galaxy and may run it in the background before playing which will keep your hours played.

Otherwise, if you aren't using Galaxy at all then no it won't.

There is a solution for Steam, making Steam launcher create a shortcut to desktop, and then, replacing it in my Start Menu.

But I can't find that function in GOG launcher.

When you install a game there is a checkbox for making a shortcut on the desktop. There is also a setting, click the GOG icon -> settings.

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However, you can manually modify your shortcuts, by clicking properties. Here is an example:

Target - "C:\Program Files (x86)\GOG Galaxy\GalaxyClient.exe" /command=runGame /gameId=2067763543 /path="D:\GOG Games\Kingdoms and Castles"

Start In - "C:\Program Files (x86)\GOG Galaxy"

Change the gameId to the id of the game. You can find that info using the GOGdb, make sure the "type" is game and copy the product id: https://www.gogdb.org/

Change the path to the path where your game is installed. This will tell the shortcut to launch Galaxy (if it's not already open) and run the game through Galaxy before starting.

EDIT: This is of course assuming you are on Windows.

Just check what path does the shortcut you use to launch the game have. If it has Galaxy anywhere in it, your time will be counted. If it just leads to the game launch file (usually exe) then it will ignore galaxy and thus not count your time.

I am launching heroes 3 thru gog client and still it doesn't count single minutes, not even show that I played game; doesn;t happen with heroes 4 which I also own - doesnt matter if I play thru gog or shortcut

[Clears throat, activates machine translation]

Jestem absurdalnie zdumiony, że takie wątki jak ten udaje się wyłowić z kurzu czasu.

Zdaję sobie sprawę, że wyszukiwarka GOG to pijany pies w najlepszych czasach.