Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity - Original Sin - General GOG version. Be aware

1. First, this is a non issue. Get divinity from GoG.

2. Second, nothing is eternal. I do not have the CDs from the games from 20 years ago anymore, in the same way I expect I won't have the games I have on steam right now anymore in another 20 years. Where's Steam shutting down any different from what we experienced with the 3,5" disks?
Even if I still *had* a floppy, I would not have my Amiga anymore, this is not even talking about the tapes for the VC20 (the computer before the C64 or stuff that ran on my 80286 (the younger ones of you probably do not even know what that means; you're probably running a 80986 with 64 bit extensions (with fancy market names as "Core" or "Phenom" instead of generation numbering)). Steam is nothing different, but the chances are much higher Steam will still be there in 20 years than the ones have been for 3,5" disks surviving. There's one reason where Steam sucks: when you have an unreliable net connection.
Btw, the executables from today's software *also* won't work on the PC hardware/operating systems in 20 years anyway, DRM or no DRM, net required or offline. So what's the big issue?

But go for 1. and stop worrying?

Probably steams lifespan will be longer than yours. Just saying.

I point out to you my post above. Though in retrospect, it may not have been months plural, but it was at least a month minimum. Admittedly, it was a few years back.

No this isn't being a bit melodramatic at all Stargazer.
This is why:
When I tried to install the latest hotfix via GOG'g downloader I got an error message along the lines of..... your game is the incorrect version. please download another installer.
So GOG is telling me to download their latest 8+gig installer so I can apply the patch.
So how is that being melodramatic? The damn error message is telling me what to do?!
You say that GOG will address this? what proof do you have? I have contacted their support and was given a generic response telling me that I must have missed one of the updates and that made my game un-updateable. Rubbish. I have installed every patch released by GOG since the game was released and I sent them proof of that.
And guess what?...since I sent them them that info I have heard, nothing, nill, zlitch, from them.
So please Stargazer, before you tell me that I am being melodramatic, take a moment to re-read what I have just said. And please keep in mind that doing another 8+gig download will cost me. Perhaps you are not in the situation where bandwidth is a problem.
Good for you but for me it is a problem.


And I am telling you that it is an issue if you have limited bandwidth. My point is that GOG is the only distributor that can, and apparently will, require you to re-download the whole game again if they decide, for whatever reason, to update their installer.
No other distributor requires that.
For hecks sake.....if you have proof that I am totally wrong then show me and my gratitude to you will abound and I will name my next born after you...if not then please don't criticise me for warning others to a truthful statement.

Yes, I was highly annoyed by that as well, horribly stupid by gog to make it that way.

And I'm not arguing against your warning, but argue against damning steam, which is as far as online distribution services go relatively uninvase.

It's being melodramatic because you're making a big protest over a triviality. The hotfix isn't needed unless you're playing in French or German (see the hotfix notes here) so if you're playing D:OS in English, you can just ignore it.

And if bandwidth is such a problem in your case then Steam is unlikely to be any easier, given others have reported 10GB+ downloads.

All the excuses in here are beyond unbelievable. All anyone does is defend this inexcusable garbage with with even more excuses. Totally trying to bury and justify a problem that shouldn't even be in existence.

There is absolutely no reason a patch to a game needs to be larger than 1 GB EVER. It's inexcusable to make a patch so big that it's literally the same exact size of the game itself.

But regardless of that:

It's inexcusable to not use compression:
Case in point If I was able to compact 27.5GB down into 1.5GB and 11.5GB down to just over 600MB, then there is sure as hell absolutely no reason for an 8GB patch to remain that size...there just isn't.

Well updates to games often come in that size. Depends on what they are patching, like for instance with Space Hulk they replaced a number of the graphical assets and that ended up being close to a GB.



Just because you might be able to compress some things from 27.5GB to 1.5GB or 11.5GB to 600MB, does not mean that that applies across the board. Some things simply don't compress this is why more and more games are coming in multi gigabyte downloads, multiple DVDs or blurays (for consoles).

I don't need to test it. Two years ago, I had an internet outage from a storm. Gone w/o internet for 2 days. That's how I found out about Steam's offline mode. Every once in awhile, I'll also lose internet connection (checked the modem status) for a few hours and I had to use offline mode. With that said, I can't speak for future versions of steam or if steam will go under. Personally, even if 10 or 20 years from now that Steam changes their offline feature, it wouldn't really matter for me. Decade old games by then will be so cheap it wouldn't even be a concern to rebuy it all.

I believe it is way over the top melodramatic.

1. GOG can be updated with a few day's lag. Big deal.

2. Steam version of D:OS is DRM free as well. You can copy the game folder over to another computer without Steam, if you like and the game will still run.

And please do not fall for the filthy mouth troll posts from tx3000

The games are DRM free and you own them, as far as you can own software. The GOG website is simply a convenience.

One example in which this can be relevant is if you want to legally transfer your ownership of the game, for instance if you die. In the EU this is always legal for digital games (clauses in EULAs prohibiting it are void) but Steam DRM is reliant on your Steam account ... and as of yet the EU has not said anything about transfer of such accounts. Valve prohibits it, so at the moment a Steam library basically dies with it's owner from a legal perspective.

PS. presently the GOG ToU doesn't even prohibit transfer of your account, even if that changed everything I said above remains true.

PPS. nice to know D:OS doesn't use the Steam DRM though.

Oh dear.....still you are misguided.
The hotfix is an official patch released by Larian.
So what happens when the next patch released by Larian requires me to be fully patched and up to date?
That patch could well tell me that I don't have a current up to date game so please update.

Do you not understand that stargazer? So I would then need to download the 8gig GOG installer to get any future patches.

The fact that the hotfix is a simple language correction is irrelevant.
Actually the fact is (going by past experience) that any future Larian patches will probably need that patch installed anyway.

Kripes...is it that hard to understand.
And I still stand by my initial post and feel confident that my warning is neither melodramatic or trivial.


A poor and not relevant example.
This was referring to a one off patching of a cd version. And the 10gig you refer to was explained by the poster that their original 5gig download failed.
One off patching is not an uncommon event with retail cd's of games.
I see no reference in there stating that Steam will ever require a person to fully download the whole game from their site even if they have the cd version.

No stargazer you have missed my point entirely.
And that is that I think it is unreasonable for any distributor to require people to download the full version of a game (insert installer) just because the distributor decides, for whatever reason, they want to change their installer version.
10gig repeated downloads are not yet a part of the majority of internet usage...... at least in these neck of the woods.

Anyhoo, lets agree to disagree Stargazer.
I gave what I think is a fair and informed warning for people to consider. What they do with the facts as I have presented is up to them.
Too much other more important stuff is going on in my life than to try to continuously explain my meaning in forums such as this.

Bantering back and forward just leads to long winded and boring posts like this one I have just posted.

Steam manages your games. It installs a base game and applies updates as they are released. If you install a game and go to the moon for half a year, then come back and connect via steam - it will download all updates to this point - perhaps even by delta difference. It can do this, because Steam knows what version/files you have installed and which you need to be up to date.

New installs simply get the updated files, no downloading and applying patches.


GOG cannot do this yet. Because GOG does not manage your software.
In the interest of reducing hassle for new installs, GOG regularly update the base install. They do not keep old base installs and old updates!! I know, because I politely asked them for an older version of a game.

Unless you're on the ball and keep your game updated with the small updates as they are doled out, you'll end up with having to download the game again.

I'm amazed this thread got this far before someone mentioned the DRM aspect to Steam...;) I've got to agree with Klixen.

The chief problem with Steam as it currently is setup is that you have to go online in order to initiate off-line mode. Basically, if you are not already in off-line mode, and your Internet connection goes down, you can't play any of your Steam games. Gog is a huge advantage over that--and I own both Steam and Gog titles. Gog stuff plays anywhere, anytime.

IMO, whether you use Steam or Gog, your downloading bandwidth will make a lot of difference--so get the fastest Internet access you can afford. Truth is, if you have fairly poor Internet access bandwidth--you need to be buying on disk whenever you can. The world is a long, long way away from being universally wired so we can count on games continuing to be available on disk for quite sometime to come.

The *problem* is that, increasingly, game devs and publishers are turning to services like Steam to deliver their goods--like Skyrim, for instance--you cannot buy a non-Steam version of the game IIRC. You can get it on disk, but it still runs through a Steam account! Still, for people with slow Internet access, disk is by far the best way to go, imo.

I have a separate folder in which I keep all of my Gog titles in their installer state, along with any patches and so on, quite apart from the space required to actually install my Gog games. My folder is "GOGinstallers" and every game has its own sub-folder inside that main directory--so if I need to reinstall I don't have to go to Gog again and re-download the game--I already have it available. Everyone should be doing something similar. Don't have enough hard drive space? Then buy a bunch of blank DVDs and keep your master Gog copies there.

My Internet access averages ~5MBytes/sec (not bits), so is pretty fast & quick, and I sympathize with people who have slow ISP service. I like the way Gog does its thing because I'd rather have a new installer version of a game than have the old installer version with umpteen zillion patches to keep up with...

Gog's specialty, remember, is "Good Old Games" and it's a blessing for people buying them for the first time if they can download the latest version without having to worry about patches--all of the old games Gog sells are fully patched when you buy them--download once and you are done. Also, when Gog sells an older game the newer installer versions are deliberately enhanced to improve compatibility with the latest OSes..all of the 2.x Gog installers are now compatible with Win7/8, pretty much. I downloaded all the newer installers for my games...;)

No, it's an update released by GOG to correct an error with the previous patch, affecting French and German users. GOG produce their patches based on updates they receive from developers, and they decide what pre-install checks each one makes.
It could, but hotfixes are typically considered outside the normal patching regime so it seems unlikely. It's even possible for the opposite - later patches refusing to install over the hotfix. Until the next GOG update is released, no-one can be sure so it's of little use speculating.

And not every GOG patch has required the latest version - the current patch for D:OS will update from 1.0.74 to 1.0.107, without needing the 1.0.81 update.

Exit Steam, disable your network adapter, restart steam, see what happens, learn something new ...

All you need to enter offline mode is a steam client which gracefully exited the last time you logged in while online (you can remove the internet connection while Steam is still running as well, won't prevent you from entering offline mode). Only when credentials get screwed up because the client is force closed or your computer crashes will you have trouble entering offline mode (ignoring bugs).

I think there are good reasons to still go with GoG (my preference goes direct from developer > GoG > Steam) but not this FUD.

This game does not require offline mode. Or any mode. It will run with or without an internet connection, with or without Steam. Simply run the .exe. It has NO DRM.

Thank you for clarifying incorrect information on my part Stargazer.
I just assumed that the hotfix was an official patch from Larian.
I stand corrected.
This however makes me rather cautious of ever buying another game from GOG.
Perhaps that is a bit harsh.
Shall we say another game from GOG that is actively being patched by the developers.
See I never came across this problem with GOG before as I only have bought old classic games from them. Not a new release.
Lesson learnt.

If I'm understanding things correctly, the GOG version of D:OS is different/unique in that when Larian releases an update/patch, the folks at GOG have to modify that patch somewhat first before it can be applied to my GOG install of the game?

If the above is correct, which version(s) of D:OS can I apply the latest Larian patches the moment/instant they are released?

Thanks in advance!

I have all the GOG patches downloaded so the question is how do we get them to you?