Why not get it here on GOG.com? It's 75% off celebrating the return of Nordic Games. As for the mod, it is a source port with its own executable which only uses the assets of the game. Should also run with the Steam version. I haven't tested it yet.

Red Faction's source code was released? Got any link about that?

I am not sure about the source code but there have been plenty of mods around for years. So there seems to be some kind of modding tools or SDK available.

It is indeed cheaper right now but let the dude get it where he/she wants.

Just don't play the sequel haha!

HOLY CHRISTMAS, SAINTS ROW: THE THIRD ON GOG.

I'm sorry, but I have to gush about this. Saints Row 3 is one of the Steam games that has CEG, so it's pretty awesome that it went from extra DRM to none at all. GOG, thank you so much!

Time to find out if they added DRM to the Steam release of Witcher 3.

Question about Steam "DRM FREE" games.

Let's say I've got a DRM Free game on a CD, DVD, or flash drive. I buy a new computer, with maybe a newer version of Windows. Assuming the game will run on the new version with no changes (which does occur very, very frequently) all I need to do is pull out my CD, DVD, or flash drive and install it.

Are you seriously saying that the same can be said with the copy and paste stuff? Because I'm betting in that scenario it's not likely to work until you once again re-verify with Steam somehow. Or you're a techie who can go in and "tweak" the registry.

You buy a game from a GOG, it never requires anything other than your current browser and the OS to run it on. Ever. From the day you buy it till whenever, it never requires anything else. Steam requires the client for download and installation, and I'm betting when moving from computer to computer with different OS's it will also require it or some registry tweaking that happens automatically when one simply "installs" the game using the setup file.

And another question.

Doesn't this mean that technically ALL games (and I guess ALL software) are DRM free? Because copy and pasting and making registry edits is no more (or less I suppose I dunno) difficult than opening your browser and typing in or clicking on a certain link and downloading whatever files are necessary from the pirate sites and using those.

So yeah, I think DRM Free has now been successfully redefined to the point that all games are DRM free. You buy it, then just figure out whatever is necessary to bypass the "built in" DRM (in Steam's case the client but in others it's other things).and voila, play it on any computer or as many computers as you want.

GoG should really stop advertising as DRM free, because that's pretty misleading considering all games sold everywhere are DRM free.

DISCLAIMER: And before anyone starts with the "ILLEGAL" crap, notice I said first you BUY the game. I'm not sure that legally you can be guilty of pirating a game you own, although I am sure publishers and sellers and their defenders will insist that you can.

I think the expectation is that either:

1. The copy&pasted game is a fully portable version, ie. it doesn't need any "installing" on the new PC (any registry entries etc.)

or

2. When you run the game the first time, it will add any needed registry entries at that point.

Not sure if other possible dependencies (Virtual C++++ 2010 runtimes blaa blaa blaa) are installed at that point too, or if the expectation is that you install those dependencies manually, if your PC doesn't have them installed already.

In the case of #2, I am unsure though how to get rid of the registry entries after you want to "uninstall" the game. Maybe you have to do that manually then?

I would actually prefer portable versions for all my games (no install/uninstall needed), as long as they were fully portable, ie. nothing would be left hanging afterwards, and no obscure dependencies needed. I can add a shortcut to the game exe on my own, no biggie.

If there are dependencies or needed registry entries etc., then a proper installer is a preferred way.

Many Steam games still require either re-activation on the new PC, or at least that Steam client is run. I think those are not considered to be DRM-free.

Also one important point: running Steam games without the Steam client is generally (or ever?) is not a supported way to run them. You are on your own if you face any problems, no guarantees of any kind. So if you e.g. bought Crusader Kings 2 from Steam because it was listed as DRM-free, but then find out that its DLCs are not DRM-free, oh well, your problem.

DRM goes waaaaay beyond a couple of registry entries. In fact, I don't think the registry was ever deemed a viable copy-protection mechanism. Contemporary DRM involves the installation of system files, drivers, online authentications and persistent verifications, profiling your entire system and comparing it to a previous record... Yeah, it gets downright ugly, and you can't bypass any of it trivially. If all you need do is copy a file or add a registry line, that's not DRM. What GOG or cracking collectives do is more involved and requires coding expertise.

To address some of your other suspicions, a lot of GOG and Steam games are portable. A lot of old CD games are, too. That means that once installed, you can copy their folder around, and they'll still run fine, making any registry entries themselves. Ironically, some DRM-ed games are also portable like that: once you copy them to another machine and try to start them, they'll deploy their built-in DRM then ask for a licence activation/verification, which once obtained, allows them to, again, run fine. The DRM is still there, though, with all its inherent potential for problems.

Regarding when dependencies and registry entries are installed, GOG does it at the end of an installation (the reason why there's often a holdup on 99% or 100%) - this goes both for the old installers, and for Galaxy. Steam does it on first run. This means that installing Steam game just downloads its files, plus any dependencies and installation scripts it needs. However, they don't get installed automatically, rather when the game is first started. As I said, Steam uses game-specific scripts to do that, but these are readily readable and modifiable: in the game folder, there will be a file called installscripts.vdf, possibly also runasadmin.vdf - open these in a text editor and you can immediately see what a game's "installation" entails. In the overwhelming majority of cases, that's just the DX9 and VC++ redist installations. Rarely, mostly for older games, there will be registry keys to be imported - again, easy to read and make your own .reg files if desired.

All of that can be manually replicated and has naught to do with actual DRM. The DRM comes in when you try to run a game and it tells you that it requires Steam to be running, or Steam to be installed, or just starts the darn thing itself. That, or any of the other odious DRM schemes out there.This thread is about all the games that don't do that. The games that stop at the last paragraph. You can download them through Steam, but run them from anywhere, do any "installations" yourself. Sometimes you might need to add an argument to their shortcut (e.g., they don't have Steam DRM but have Steamworks functionality which may be disabled) or delete some files from their folders, but at the end of the day, you don't need to crack their files or find elaborate ways of circumventing DRM.

So no, DRM is not gone, DRM-free is still meaningful and important. And a great many games don't bother with DRM anymore. Hope that cleared up a few things.

And those other odious DRM schemes out there can also be manually overcome by the method I listed.

Just because one manual method of overcoming a built in way to keep a game from running isn't as "acceptable" or readily available as another, doesn't change the fact that in order to get around running a Steam game in the Steam client one has to manually do some things (copy and paste, maybe install dependeneis, etc) isn't really any different than manually adding a crack patch from a pirate site to accomplish the same thing to get around the Steam client (or other forms of DRM0.

Both require something other than simple installation. So no, it doesn't clear it up. If manually making registry or dependency installs changes equals DRM free than so too should manually adding crack files, since they're just as easily available and probably just about as technically difficult to do. All games (all software) are/is DRM free.

We should celebrate. This is the day we've all been hoping for!!! All games are now DRM free! My only complaint now is that GoG (and any others) should really stop using it as a marketing tool, since it implies some games being sold somewhere else aren't DRM free.

You're trolling me, aren't you? Damn. Every time I think I've wisened up to the depravities of the interwebz, they manage to sneak one up on me. Live and learn. At least I still posted some good information for anyone who cares.

No I'm not trolling you. Or anyone else. DRM has been successfully redefined to now in essence mean that all games are DRM free. Once you buy it, you simply need to figure out what mandatory steps you need to take to get them to run on any and all of your machines. Those steps can include many things, including copying and pasting folders from one computer to another or copying and pasting files and folders from a web site to another. Exact. Same. Thing. It's just up to the "owner" to figure out which mandatory copying and pasting to do.