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Arthmoor

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On 01/06/2017 at 2:43 PM, Gruftlord said:

This is especially good news for Fallout 3 i guess since it removes the hazzle of dealing with the Games for Windows Live DRM. (edit: yep GoG developer confirmed it in the forum. Multicore tweaks to run out of the box after installation are also added.)

I just sent a support request to them having a moan that even though its not supposed to have GFWL (and runs fine without it), on my setup every time it runs it first presents me with this warning :

0000.png

If you click "Learn More" it opens your browser ..

.. But instead of taking you to a web page, it just direct downloads gfwlsetup.exe (Games For Windows Live original individual setup files exe)

I have since the first time seeing that just clicked on "Close" instead, and the game works fine (whereas originally (older versions of the game before GOG) I think the game would have just crashed without any kind of GFWL setup)

Anyway GOG now have a DXDiag, along with that screenshot and a detailled description that they may be duping people into installing something they really dont need by having a direct download installer land on their machines (maybe its just a windows 10 x 64 thing if it sees the xLive.dll being called by the game then automatically tries to grab a win 10 compatible setup which it does not know is not needed in this caseĀ :shrug:).

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I think that's just a compatibility warning from the game executeable. I don't see that on Windows 7. Windows 10 may just be feeding you BS :P

GFWL has been entirely neutered. So that xlive.dll the game now has is just a dummy file.

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Maybe it is a Win 10 feature, in that they now detect all exes from old GfWL games and display that message. If gog do their development on Win 7 that might explain, why they missed this.

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Yep thats my thoughts too, it may even be specific to Win 10 Creators update, previous Win 10 did not block installing some things as much as Creators update does with the newer smartscreen filter, but whatever it is I think GOG need to stop it (possibly by giving MS a big fat nudge, maybe at their Windows smartscreen .. or whatever is triggering windows to offer the download link as a 'solution') ..

.. Otherwise I reckon many people will just try installing gfwlsetup.exe going on the say so of thatĀ prompt. The way it goes is start game, warning appears, click find out more and it gives you a download - So the logical conclusion would be windows has provided an installer to solve the compatability problem it perceived, so people not so used to occasional windows hiccups will just assume its the best course of action and install it. Which sucks, its an unnecessary installation. I need to get home again to see any response from GOG, but hopefully they get on it.

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GoG is usually pretty good about this sort of thing. They already know about the missing Oblivion CS and plan to address it but are skittish about doing a product rebuild this soon after release. IMO, they should do it now rather than wait, that way less people will need to update to begin with.

Also there may be nothing they can do if this is in fact a Windows 10 Creators thing getting in the way. Microsoft is notorious for pushing this sort of thing through undocumented means when they should just butt out of peoples' business.

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Let's be clear the part of the runtime binaries that "play" the gamesĀ are STRICTLY identical to the last version available on steam except for the LAA flag. So no they did not optimize or corrected them in any way.

Ā Also, I tested the gog version on an up to date Windows 10 insider version and did not have this message.

Ā 

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I don't see how they can be identical to Steam binaries when Steam versions would include the hooks to make the Steam api work, and these versions simply don't have that anywhere in the files, and they don't make any attempt to invoke calls to Steam at all.

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Fallout3Ā  never had the steam hooks (it was not encrypted).

FalloutNV and Oblivion are just the steam binaries decrypted without theĀ added steam segment(s). So the game binary code is the same.

Ā 

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It still can't be that simple because just decrypting them isn't going to be enough to remove the Steam API calls that would be embedded in the exe files. FO3 may never had have them but OB and NV certainly did.

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Believe me it is that simple. All the reference to steamĀ areĀ in the stub code that decrypt the exe and then pass control to the program original entry point.

Though I never bothered to check how the steam achievement where handled.

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GoG Connect has the following from Steam

Darwinia
EvolandĀ Ā Ā Ā 
Brutal LegendĀ Ā Ā Ā 
Amnesia: The Dark DescentĀ Ā Ā Ā 
The Walking Dead: Season 1

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That's not all they have, lots of stuff available there right now.

War For The Overworld fans will be happy to note it's also just been added to Connect for the next 6 days. Liberate it while you can :P

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On 2017-06-12 at 10:26 PM, DSoS said:

Amnesia: The Dark DescentĀ Ā Ā 

That game title sounds similar to the "A modders disease" phrase the people in the Morrowind modding community often posted on the old forum. :P

Ā 

Anyway, Arthmoor's post reminded me to have a look at the Steam shop.Ā  Which I did and found a link to a list of 1001 games and some games I remember quite well plus I still have a few of those games.Ā  A few games in that list of 1001 games is also free of charge.

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Finally, I found the Settlers 3 Gold Edition, although now called Settlers 3 Ultimate Collection, on GoG and I have been looking for that game for years.

Ā 

Buy it it's worth every dollar you pay for this game and enjoy it very much back then and still I wanted to play the original and not a Settlers 3 GE copy with wrong in-game music, in fact it become one of 3 favorite games ever played.

Ā 

Ā 

Almost 20 years ago I could no longer play Settlers 3 GE, because the boot CD (1/2) got scratched and beyond repair.Ā  After I tried a few things I could play Settlers III GE and I had to use the CD for the previous Settlers 3 version (1.56?) to launch the game, but it wasn't the same at least the in-game music was the same.Ā  So after a few years I gave up to find another copy of Settlers 3 GE then a gaming company in Stockholm called Vendros re-release Settlers 3 GE and I bought it.

Ā 

Unfortunately, I dunno why but the in-game was wrong and only one faction or tribe (can't remember now), the Romans, had the correct music in-game.

Ā 

So I contacted Vendros and told them that the in-game music was wrong and they simply said nothing is wrong.Ā  Because the master disc had that music.

Ā 

I got so disappointed and hadn't played that Settlers 3 copy I dunno for how long, but I think the last time I played that copy was about 10 years ago.Ā  And now I found it again.

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I know it's not what we usually post about as being cheap, but the base game for Fallout 4 has dropped from the usual $60 to $30 on Steam and appears to be a permanent thing since it isn't listed as a sale. Now if they'd only do the same for the Season Pass :P

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That was my thought too, possibly in November along with the VR version.

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Anyone looking to grab Fallout 4 cheap, now's your chance! Base game is 50% off, at $15 now (yes, regular price dropped to $30 recently). Season Pass is also 40% off.

Also if you haven't already got SSE and were looking for a sale, time to buy. It's 50% off, at $20.

No excuses people :P

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SSE purchased here. Thanks.

Now to clear up some of the junk on this rig before installing Steam etc.Ā :geek:

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  • 2 months later...

ThanksĀ  for this.Ā  This is a perfect opportunity for me to pick up the few games I was missing in my id games collection (I have them all on CD but I'm willing to pay $1.24 for a Steam managed version) so I'm taking advantage of it. :)

A little bit of trivia: way back in 96 I worked at Intergraph when they were getting their Rendition Verite card ready and I helped beta test VQuake. I doubt anyone remembers that short-lived port, but it was OMG awesome at the time. Looking back on it now however, it was fairly terrible compared to GLQuake which knocked the Verite version stone-cold dead overnight.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 3 weeks later...

For those who haven't already noticed, GoG has a sale on a number of popular titles including The Witcher (1, 2, and 3), Morrowind GOTY, Oblivion GOTY, and Fallout (1 ,2, and 3).

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  • 1 month later...

No Mans Sky (If you havent already got it) is going cheap on GOG for Ā£16Ā https://www.gog.com/game/no_mans_sky

X Rebirth Home of Light Ā£10Ā https://www.gog.com/game/x_rebirth_home_of_light_complete_edition

X3: Terran War Pack (Includes X3AP) Ā£7Ā https://www.gog.com/game/x3_terran_war_pack

Ā 

.. In fact a whole heap of stuff on GOG is on sale now.

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