GoG offline installation files

[BlackPete]

Maybe somebody who regularly uses GoG can answer this question. I'll try to explain the best I can, but it's kind of complex.

As you can see these offline files for FO4 GOTY (from GoG) are version 1.10.163.0. Let's say the game gets an update again. Then at some point you have to uninstall and reinstall for whatever reason. If you use the setup file above when you reinstall will GoG Galaxy just automatically update it beyond 1.10.163.0, or will it download the whole thing all over again? My bandwidth is limited to 700 GB per month, so larger game downloads like this are a problem.

Edited April 22 by BlackPete

[Nico coiN]

It's possible that GOG releases an offline patch installer weighing only a few dozens or hundreds mb.

I'm not using GOG Galaxy at all but I assume it's working similarly to Steam. I think the latest Skyrim updates were pushed that way, while the offline installer available didn't receive any change.

For Skyrim & Starfield Steam doesn't download a minimal delta patch and then processes it over your existing files by using your cpu. Steam downloads whole updated files entirely.

Everything depends on what will be shipped with the next FO4 update.

[Arthmoor]

16 hours ago, BlackPete said:

Let's say the game gets an update again.

Given that this is happening on Thursday, the 25th, it would probably be best to download the game then because the coming update is supposed to be pretty big. I don't know what kind of a delay there will be for the offline packages but they should get updated before too long after the big update.

[BlackPete]

9 hours ago, Nico coiN said:

It's possible that GOG releases an offline patch installer weighing only a few dozens or hundreds mb.

I'm not using GOG Galaxy at all but I assume it's working similarly to Steam. I think the latest Skyrim updates were pushed that way, while the offline installer available didn't receive any change.

For Skyrim & Starfield Steam doesn't download a minimal delta patch and then processes it over your existing files by using your cpu. Steam downloads whole updated files entirely.

Everything depends on what will be shipped with the next FO4 update.

You're probably correct. I was looking through a couple of my other games and they do have some type of offline patch installers. SSE, for instance, has a single file that updates the game to the latest version (screenshot). Stardew Valley has several of them (screenshot). FO4, however, doesn't have any yet (screenshot), for reasons I don't understand.

What annoys me about Steam is that it appears to make you download everything again when you want to reinstall a game, regardless of whether you have a backup of the game files stored on your PC. I'm certain that this is the case with other clients like Origin and Epic Games. Hopefully GoG Galaxy won't be the same way, because I've deliberately stopped using Steam and other game clients for games that are also available on GoG.

  

3 hours ago, Arthmoor said:

Given that this is happening on Thursday, the 25th, it would probably be best to download the game then because the coming update is supposed to be pretty big. I don't know what kind of a delay there will be for the offline packages but they should get updated before too long after the big update.

Yeah, I was going to wait but noticed that I happened to have ~200 GB of bandwidth remaining a few days before the monthly payment period ended on the 20th. I guess it's not the end of the world if I have redownload the whole thing again at some point. What really eats into my bandwidth limit are games that are ~50 GB or more. Fallout 4 GOTY is currently 32 GB for the game itself and 58 GB for the High Resolution pack. Hopefully the High Resolution pack won't get an update and it's only the main game file, but I'm not counting on that being the case. I have another game on GoG that is ~150 GB altogether between the base game and DLC, and that's a real killer.

From what I've read it's 24-48 hours (on average) for the offline packages to get sorted out after a game updates, though some people claim it can take a week or more. I haven't actually kept track, so who knows what is actually true.

Edited April 22 by BlackPete

[RabidGears]

On 4/22/2024 at 9:20 PM, BlackPete said:

What annoys me about Steam is that it appears to make you download everything again when you want to reinstall a game, regardless of whether you have a backup of the game files stored on your PC

Are you using the feature properly? You have to use the Restore Game Backup option from the menu, not the Install button on the game page. I've found it installs the game just fine from the backup and only downloads updates.

[BlackPete]

9 hours ago, RabidGears said:

Are you using the feature properly?

I guess not. Apparently what you're describing is a special feature in Steam, which I wasn't aware of. What I did was copy the game installation directory to another location on my PC using Windows. Then when I wanted to reinstall copy it back to the Steam directory. This worked at some point in the past, but then it suddenly didn't anymore. Does the process you're describing consume internet bandwidth, or does it just copy your existing installation to a backup location? I would have to plan accordingly if it does actually download the backup files from the internet instead of simply transferring files already on my PC.

Edited April 24 by BlackPete

[Arthmoor]

Unless something has changed recently, it should be possible to copy the files back into the game folder under Steam and then tell Steam to install the game. It's supposed to skip over the parts you already have and only reacquire the ones that you don't have or that are outdated. So it would be something you'd need to keep up on each time the game updates.

The last time I had to reinstall things I did exactly this. I've never used the built in backup function in the Steam client.

[BlackPete]

1 hour ago, Arthmoor said:

The last time I had to reinstall things I did exactly this. I've never used the built in backup function in the Steam client.

Interesting. Maybe I'm thinking of Origin and/or Epic Games refusing to recognize the files when I did it that way. I'll have to try it out in Steam again on a game that doesn't have a very big download and see what happens. It could also be that some registry entries related to the game were corrupted or deleted somehow (like when doing a fresh Windows installation), and that confused the Steam client.

Edit:

@Arthmoor You were right; that still works. Steam only verified the game files to make sure they were correct. The verification process took 2-3 minutes. Assuming the internet data usage feature in Windows is accurate, Steam only used around 50MB during the process. The game I tested this method on would have been a 7.7GB download.

The same process also works with GoG Galaxy, so that means there's no need to download the offline files.

Hopefully this won't be changed on GoG or Steam because not everybody has unlimited data usage with their internet plan.

Edited April 25 by BlackPete

[RabidGears]

3 hours ago, BlackPete said:

Does the process you're describing consume internet bandwidth, or does it just copy your existing installation to a backup location? I would have to plan accordingly if it does actually download the backup files from the internet instead of simply transferring files already on my PC.

It backs up the files you already have on your computer and the backups are compressed so they're a bit better for storing. I also have bandwidth issues so I feel your pain.

[BlackPete]

49 minutes ago, RabidGears said:

It backs up the files you already have on your computer and the backups are compressed so they're a bit better for storing. I also have bandwidth issues so I feel your pain.

Nice to know. Thanks for the explanation. This would probably be the way for me to go rather than making a backup copy of the entire folders for Steam games, since it compresses the files a bit. My external drive, where I backup my files, is getting closer to running out of space, and I would rather not have to buy another one any sooner than necessary.