Windows 7 and connection issues with GOG servers...

[BenjaminK]

Hello there,

GOG's provides a great service I sure wish more people would use, but it also, obviously, faces issues quite similar to any other online store. I stumbled upon a recent one with its servers regarding Achievements in various games and wanted some advice from Windows 7 or network enthusiasts...

I run a retro-gaming rig from time to time, using a dual boot with Windows 7 x64 and XP x86 in a RAID 1 structure, which has worked very fine for many years, still proves its value regularly and actually has (almost) no issues with GOG Galaxy. I don't use this client a lot - what for ? -, but it is unavoidable in rare cases of games whose Achievements are somehow fun or interesting to chase after.

Problem : apparently, quite recently - I don't know exactly since when -, GOG servers have started refusing to communicate with OSes older than Windows 10 specifically for unlocking Achievements which require non local data - understand not the simple "Has started to play game Y" or "Played game X for 10 hours". I've now experienced this issue with many versions of Galaxy, from the most recent one down to v1.2 - which is, as far as I'm concerned, already enough. All other common functions seem to work as intended, even though I also spotted issue with Cloud Saves - but I don't use those usually. This, anyway, simply means no Achievements at all for older rigs in any game bought through GOG. Nothing dreadful from my perspective, mind you, but I was still a bit startled for not a single post in GOG's forums mentions that change as far as I know... That is, before I wrote a short one about it. I've exchanged with GOG's support to obtain at least a clear, technical and definitive confirmation - apart from the usual "... no longer supported by... may not function correctly on..." (etc.) -, but last emails were pointing in that direction. It still seemed quite a touchy subject : the guy on the other side apparently genuinely didn't consider the possibly of an issue specifically related to older OSes at first, only thought about it after, and then wasn't really allowed or in position to give a precise stand on that matter. All he could say repeatedly was that, as anyone would expect, GOG couldn't guarantee anymore that functions such as Achievements (Cloud Saves, etc.) would work as intended, due to newer connection standards, security protocols and infrastructure updates... So, even though this isn't a huge hassle on my side - it's just about a couple of Achievements... -, I don't know what to think about it and, obviously, can only add that on top of anyone's reasons not to use that kind of launcher.

What's anyone's take on that matter ? Did people already run into that issue ? And is there any common networking method would allow someone to fool GOG's servers into believing that it receives packets from a 10+ rig instead of a Windows 7 one ? Apart from virtualising 7 from a Windows 10+ Hyper-V or VMware machine of course...

[K4sum1]

I had thought this would've been about GOG Galaxy not connecting since I fired up 1.2 for once in forever to download a game and it was a bit finicky and I had to restart it a couple times for it to work. Maybe that was just their servers being funny at the time idk.

I kinda stopped caring about achievements after I quit caring about Steam. I think at some point I knew GOG had achievements, but I had completely forgotten they did until I read this post.

[BenjaminK]

I had thought this would've been about GOG Galaxy not connecting since I fired up 1.2 for once in forever to download a game and it was a bit finicky and I had to restart it a couple times for it to work. Maybe that was just their servers being funny at the time idk.

Probably. I don't have issues with downloading anything through Galaxy for now. Just the Achievements gone missing... which, yes, isn't exactly the end of the world, but I wondered if there was a way to help with that.

[K4sum1]

What I had meant (I probably should've been more specific) was that the library was broken, so I couldn't get to the point where I could start downloading the game until I restarted the client a few times.

[BenjaminK]

What I had meant (I probably should've been more specific) was that the library was broken, so I couldn't get to the point where I could start downloading the game until I restarted the client a few times.

Oh, okay ! Well, Galaxy itself may behave a bit weirdly from time to time : I've noticed warnings about "Cloud Save Sync failed due to heavy load" in a few rare situations, but I don't know if they're due to Galaxy's shortcomings or GOG's issues with its servers. It's a good idea to check the offline installers whenever you're having trouble with a game - any kind of trouble - through Galaxy : if you can access your library and download a game's installer through your usual browser, it's probably just a detail about the client. So just install it the old school way, then use the "Scan and import folders" function - yes, even in v1.2 - to add it to the Galaxy's interface afterwards.
Hey, it's still branded as "Beta" even after six years of updates ! At least GOG's staff acknowledge that it still needs improvement, continue to invest in it, and usually answer quite fast in case of troubles.
Also, library updates seem sometimes a bit capricious. I never ran into such troubles personally, but some people complain about having this kind of access issues (broken library, no downloading, etc.) whenever newer items are updated shortly after release dates. Everything seems to be quickly solved - else the common user would be more vocal about it ! -, but it's probably a good practice to expect the usual potential crashes if you're a player keen on playing the latest hits right around their release day...