Please Obsidian, Lend your GOG expertise to InXile...;)

[waltc]

I very much appreciate the fact that the Obsidian crew knows how to use the GOG update features really well for Deadfire--including the developer update and beta channels. I give you massive Kudos and thanks for that!

 

And I was wondering...since both Obsidian and InXile have been picked up by Microsoft now, if maybe some learned person in Obsidian could step over to InXile (or email or call the appropriate person) and offer to help them learn how to properly use the GOG developer tools for updating and patching their games, and how to use the GOG developer update and beta channels, too?  I mean, you are still competitors, but also friends and colleagues, I'm sure.  Don't mean to embarrass them, but the fact is they seem to have no clue as how to use GOG's developer channels, or how to do partial patches for their games--and the pity of it is they don't seem to think it's worthwhile to learn how to do it properly.  Every game patch--even for relatively small issues, is 25GB for BTIV.  They don't use the GOG developer channels to post the patches and releases themselves--they just shoot the entire game install to GOG and tell them to do it.   Yet they seem to have no problem in using Steam's developer channels--even though the principles behind both are similar, I am sure.  GOG has developed a front end for its customers and developers alike, Galaxy, that offers the same developer flexibility that Steamworks offers, yet is not DRM as all Galaxy-installed games can be run from their own native executables, bypassing Galaxy completely--it's up to the customer. I use Galaxy to install and update these days, and run all 326 games from their native exe's.  It's a sound system. Then later, when the game is finalized as to developer patching, I'll download my back-up copy of the game to a separate drive and store it. 

I can see by how well Obsidian is handling this GOG release (Deadfire) how much more learned and skilled the Obsidian staff is concerning this sort of thing...   People--many of us--have been asking InXile to please address these shortcomings for months,  and in every case the response is a wall of complete silence.  Evidently someone at InXile believes that Steam customers are the only ones who count, and acts inappropriately when it comes to their GOG customers--I mean, it was difficult to have them actually post update GOG.com readme's for their BTIV 25GB download updates, at one point--and betas were for Steam customers, but not for GOG customers.  I think that maybe you guys could actually teach them something if you can get them to listen.  It may be just me--but if you are going to release a game through GOG distribution, it only stands to reason that you would learn how to update and patch your games properly through GOG, eh?  Talk about self-fulfilling prophecies, the sloppier you are with GOG customer support, the fewer copies you can expect to move through GOG, eh?

 

( Filler/background: I prefer GOG because of their position on DRM.  It's very insulting to paying customers.  Always bought my games, always will.  I also like the fact that GOG provides me with a stand-alone installable copy for all of my games--started buying software in the 80's, on the Amiga, actually.  Always got an installable copy--my installable copy...   When I moved to Windows in 1995, I always received an installable copy, too, of course.  Always will buy my software. I have some 326 titles on GOG--and some 61 on Steam, about 28 on Origin and about 10 on Uplay--mainly because of my preference for the absence of DRM and for the receipt of an *installable* copy of my own.  I did, however, purchase PoE1 on Steam--but only because it was not simultaneously released on GOG, for some reason.  Yes, I am prejudiced--I have a favorite software distribution outlet--and I can tell you why--as I just did...   Last--Steam also extends its DRM to its *forums* if a developer asks for that--such that you cannot post before you buy the game on Steam!  Steam says that its DRM (having to run Steam to play the game and/or  a forum lock) is only done at the request of the developer, and that is true--PoE1 did not require that Steam be running in order to launch the game from its executable--and of course did not lock its forums (rare, but I have seen this, too, on Steam.)   Still, had I a choice, I would have purchased the game through GOG.  Valve leaves it up to the developer, but if Valve took a stance similar to GOG's, then no Steam games would require that Steam be running in order to play the game, etc.  And it would be nice to see Steam provide installable copies of my games, too.  I have hard drives and partitions lettered from C:\ to M:\ consecutively--right now I cannot even get Steamworks to install a game or move a game to L:\ or M:\--just won't do it.  Additionally, Steam has worked it so that some games must be installed installed on a particular drive--even if the customer prefers not.  But all of this is no issue with GOG, I'm happy to say.  Don't even have to think about it. )

 

Anyway, suffice it to say that I am very pleased to see the difference with Obsidian and their GOG customers!     It is night and day!  Fargo should know better, imo.  Please offer them a helping hand if you can.