Why are downloads segments labeled different from the web site. I try to install a game, the installer wants part 9. Apparently I skipped one of the 12, 4 gig downloads. So I go to the website download part 9 to find it isn't part 9. The download named it 8(1). So do I need do I need part 8 or part 9 or part 10 or 11 or 12? How do I read these downloads to find out which part is really part 9? Anyone know?

You're talking about which game?

Edit: Wait, I get the discrepancy. Part 1 is always the executable, the rest are the .bin files. So, part 9 is -8.bin, part 10 is -9.bin, and so forth.

Better, why not concompass them all in one zip file? It would save people the trouble of screwing this up.

I don't think GOG names any files with just a single character. Did you rename those files?

If the download is named with Something(1), then most likely it means there was already a file called Something in your download directory and your browser simply renamed the new one to include (1).

What I am talking about is. Offline back up copies. They come in 4 gig downloads. There is 12 plus patches. For Kingdom of Amalur Re-reckoning. The game isn't the problem. The problem is these parts labels do not match the installers request for part 9. I am on a metered connection I can't download 60 gigs when ever I want. So I download each file as I can. I missed a file. The game installer says part 9. But downloading part not from the website doesn't fix the problem. Because what is labeled on the web site as part 9 is downloaded as part 8(1) after downloading to my pc.

I need to figure out which part the installer thinks is part 9. Because part 9 does not satisfy the installer. Part 9 on the web site is not what the installer calls part 9.

GOG's installer is composed of two types of files. The executable (.exe) and .bin files. The executable is always part 1 and the .bin files are the rest. Each .bin file ends in a number (-7, -8). The result can be confusing, but what the installer is asking you is not part 9, but .bin -9. Which is part 10.

Thank you, very much.

Probably because some filesystems have a 4 GB limit, and it's easier to split downloads at that size instead of having support requests from people affected by the 4 GB limit.

It's not enough to sort by version of Windows either. The downloads for Linux versions of games aren't split at 4 GB, and I had a download that failed, until I realised that the external HD I was trying to save it to was such a filesystem.

Zip files have a lot of limitations, first the compression is limited to Deflate and a 64k window LZW algorithm.
Second, filenames in zip files are very limited.

Now let's assume you download an installer for your game, but it's 60Gb in size. Now let's assume you want to back it up, on another drive might work, or maybe you'd want to burn it on DVD's or Blueray discs. Now you gotta learn how to split the file to separate parts and put them back together. Being pre-split you can just grab 1 for a DVD or about 5 for a Blueray.

Honestly I'd like a different format and better compression and optimization of said games, or have them in zip files where you just extract and ready to run/play (And aside from the auto dependency install and occasionally registry entries, that should work). And other than 'part N of N' it doesn't tell you much. As mentioned before 2 is 1, 3 is 2, etc.

FAT32 is a culprit and still popular. Not everyone has 64bit systems.

Or maybe they have a 64bit system but didn't upgrade and still using a 32bit XP...

And unless you're working with large HD videos or huge games, you really don't need it either.

Are you suggesting that something like 10 x 4 Gb files should be just one 40 Gb zip file?
If so, then that is a real bad idea. In fact, they are deliberately made into 4 Gb maximum files to make it easier on the downloader, especially those with flaky web connections.

And of course, there are some games where it would be 80 Gb or more, which would be even worse as a single file.

Aside from downloading considerations, storing such large files is not ideal, neither is backing them up.

I download 40-60GB files periodically. It's not exactly hard, and nor do those files not work after downloaded.

I think it has already been explained to you, but here goes again.

If you have ten files to download for a game, you will get one EXE file and nine BIN files.
The EXE file will be gamename.exe
The BIN files will be gamename-1.bin and so on up to gamename-9.bin

So the confusing bit, is that each BIN file while given a download link number, is out of sync with the real number by one digit. So download number 1 is the EXE file, and download number 2 is the first BIN file, which is actually number 1.

So if you re-download what you thought was the right BIN file, but ended up with gamename-8(1).bin, then you downloaded the wrong one. You need to download number 10 to get the actual number 9 ... gamename-9.bin

Clearly not for you, but that is certainly not the case for everyone.

I have downloaded such huge ISO and MKV files for movies too, so I am no stranger to large files.
That said, smaller files are a superior way to go, which is exactly why GOG and many other places do it that way.
I'd go into greater detail, but it won't be easily understood, and if you understood, you wouldn't have made your suggestion in the first place. In essence, large files are akin to cheating, and like all cheating there are inherent bad issues that can occur, with the larger, the more likelihood. You can even call it putting all your eggs in one basket if you like.