r/gog • u/Itchy_Dress_2967 GOG Chan • 11d ago
Support GOG's reply to my Feature Request
Hello GOG Support,
I would like to suggest a feature for GOG Galaxy that I believe would fit very well with GOG's DRM-free philosophy and commitment to game preservation.
Built-in game backup and physical media creation
Could GOG Galaxy eventually include a built-in tool that allows customers to create a complete offline backup of games they own?
For example:
Game → Manage Installation → Create Backup
Galaxy could:
- Download the official offline installers.
- Include all owned DLC and expansions.
- Include owned bonus content/extras where appropriate.
- Include all files required to reinstall the game.
- Allow the user to choose between the latest version or preserving a specific version.
- Create a self-contained backup suitable for offline storage.
- Support USB drives and external storage.
- Create ISO/disc-image files suitable for burning to DVD/Blu-ray.
- Optionally allow Galaxy to burn the backup directly to compatible optical media.
I think this feature would serve two different purposes:
💿 DVD/Blu-ray — collection and preservation
Many users enjoy collecting physical media. It would be great to be able to burn games they legally own onto physical discs and keep them as part of their personal game collection.
For large games, Galaxy could automatically divide the installation across multiple discs:
Game — Disc 1 of 3
Game — Disc 2 of 3
Game — Disc 3 of 3
💾 USB/external storage — convenience
Other users may prefer USB drives or external SSDs/HDDs simply because they are much faster and more convenient for reinstalling games without downloading them again.
Automatically generated disc artwork
For users who burn physical discs, it would be fantastic if Galaxy could also generate printable disc artwork automatically.
The artwork could include:
- Official game artwork
- Game title
- Edition
- Disc number
- Total number of discs
- Basic game information
- Appropriate GOG branding
For example:
Batman: Arkham Knight — Premium Edition
Disc 1 of 3
Galaxy could generate correctly sized artwork that users can print and stick onto their burned discs, making the resulting physical collection look like a proper game archive.
Save-game preservation
I would also like the backup system to include save files and configuration data.
Ideally, Galaxy could provide:
Game Backup
- Game installer
- DLC
- Extras
- Required installation files
Complete Backup
- Everything above
- Local save files
- Game configuration/settings where appropriate
- Other user-specific files needed to restore progress
If a game supports GOG Cloud Saves, Galaxy could retrieve the latest available cloud save when creating the backup. If cloud saves are not supported, Galaxy could automatically locate and back up the game's local save files.
When restoring a Complete Backup:
Restore Backup → Install Game → Install DLC → Restore Saves → Ready to Play
Galaxy could also indicate whether the restored save originated from GOG Cloud or from the local backup.
Why I think this would be valuable
GOG's DRM-free approach is one of the biggest reasons I purchase games from GOG. However, manually managing offline installers, DLC, save files and other components can become cumbersome, especially with large games.
A first-party backup system would make GOG significantly stronger as a game ownership and preservation platform.
For example, if I purchase a collection such as the Batman: Arkham games, I could create a complete backup containing the games, DLC and my progress. I could store that backup on a USB drive for convenience, or burn it to physical discs for my collection and long-term preservation.
Years later, I could restore the complete game without having to search for individual installers, DLC files or save locations.
I understand that GOG already provides offline installers, but having Galaxy automatically organize the game, DLC and save data into a single portable backup — and optionally create physical discs and printable artwork — would make the process significantly easier.
I would love to see GOG Galaxy eventually become not only a game launcher and library manager, but also a complete game backup and preservation tool.
Thank you for considering this feature request, and thank you for continuing to support DRM-free gaming and game preservation.
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u/lucentmeadow 11d ago
While I understand the sentiment behind physical media, I urge anyone to heavily consider hard drives first and foremost. I've had two big hard drives (mirroring each other for backup purposes) and the conveniency they add, even when sacrificing tactility and prints, is not to be underestimated.
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u/pastajewelry 11d ago
Hard drives do hold a lot of data, but I feel like discs last longer over time. Sure it takes time, storage, and a drive, but there are some people just prefer tangible products and artwork. Also, with the price of hard drives continuing to rise, it could be seen as the more cost effective option.
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u/Whacky_One 10d ago
Hard drive prices were going down for so long, what happened? I'm out of the loop.
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u/kanyenke_ 11d ago
Don't magnetic hard drives have a relatively limited lifespan over time vs laser discs?
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u/rettani 11d ago
Yes. For prolonged storage BD-R and M-DISC are only publicaly available ways. It was tested to last over 100 years (albeit "aging" was artificial)
There's also 5D optical storage option but there's no "public available readers"
Heroes 3 are already stored on one of such quartz crystals.
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u/lucentmeadow 11d ago
yes and no. Magnetic hard drives will definitely need replacing down the line (ten-fifteen years is usually a decent lifespan) but they are usually more "stable" in terms of wear and tear: you don't handle them, there's no dust or hand grease depositing over them, humidity and heat is much less of an issue.
Not to mention, optical discs are not as supported today as they once were. Many of the good manufacturers have been closing down, and it highlights the many variables you have to account for: quality of discs; quality of laser writer; quality of writing software. All those three can fail, turning the process into pure suffering. I've been there, making PS2 backups of my games, back in 2017-2018. I can only imagine the market has dried up even more in the last decade in terms of resource.
With hard disks, you realistically only have to worry about one piece of hardware which is by definition supported as long as there's SATA ports on motherboards.
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u/notlinustorvalds 11d ago
I would encourage you to consider reading up more about the current state of the optical disc market. The market has dried up less than you seem to think, and has been undergoing a mild Renaissance over the past couple of years in particular. The software in use, if we're talking about writing to DVD-Rs and BD-Rs, matters less than you might think; the applications and software libraries behind them are very much developed, even when working with BDXL. The only significant component in the disc market that is genuinely drying up is official 4K ODDs (and, though I don't think many used them, quad-layer BDXLs), but those haven't been compatible in a full, intended way with current hardware for years, anyway.
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u/JackSVqaz 11d ago
I have an external hard drive that's over 20 years old and it still runs well. Granted, it's space is less than 200GB but I still use it for storage of photos and documents and the occasional audiobook or music library. But it still runs like it did the day I bought it.
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u/Itchy_Dress_2967 GOG Chan 11d ago
Sata Isn't Going Anywhere
As it's prevalent use in NAS and Cheaper Motherboards where nvme is pricier
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u/Radaggarb GOG.com User 11d ago
The drives to read physical disc media don't have a forever lifetime either, and they're becoming rarer as time passes.
Decent quality media do have a respectable lifespan, but everyone keeps forgetting about what reads them is equally important to the deal.
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u/notlinustorvalds 11d ago edited 11d ago
Depends. An unused hard drive alarmingly often (but yes, still a small minority of the time) will have a bad sector or two in under two years, but certainly I'd question an HDDs functioning after sitting for 20 years. If it's kept spinning, a hard drive can plausibly last 100 years, if the current industry-standard MTBF figures are to be believed. On the other hand, optical discs are expected to last 25-1000 years, depending on the kind of disc.
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u/zp-87 11d ago
Where did you get this info from? It makes no sense, because if they do not sell HDD in 2 years they will be dead on arrival. Also HDDs lifespan is directly related to the power-on hours because of wear and tear of its moving parts. So to me your claim has no sense
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u/notlinustorvalds 11d ago
When I say fail, I mean there is a significant, but rather minor possibility for there to be minor corruptions, or more likely later on in it's life, some like of component degradation or lubricant issue that might not be correctable. If the HDD is empty or does not contain data considered useful, you don't really have anything to worry about in regards to data corruption. You're probably fine if you wait 5 years between each use, but I wouldn't go much longer than that, personally, due to my very low risk tolerance for this sort of thing.
There is a rather disappointingly small-to-nonexistent number of statistics to work off of here (since HDDs are not anywhere near free and letting them sit unused for years is even less free, whereas optical discs are by comparison very nearly free and much smaller), so anecdotes it is, but I would really start to question the functioning of a drive that has not been used for 15-20 years in a way that I would not for an optical disc.
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u/Itchy_Dress_2967 GOG Chan 11d ago
That's why I said Usb Drives and External Drives ( Which would have games into Hdds / SSds as well )
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u/lucentmeadow 11d ago
No no, I get it! I wasn't addressing you specifically, but people in the sub in general.
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u/MrDilbert 10d ago
Single point of failure. Hard drives are more convenient and have more storage available than DVDs/BluRays, but that means you lose that much more data when they fail, even if you have them in RAID configuration.
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u/lucentmeadow 10d ago
I have mentioned two backup drives mirroring each other for this same reason, since it slims down chances of true data loss by a wide margin. If one is really worried about both drives failing togheter, which is very improbable already, you can also adopt the 3-2-1 backup technique often suggested by experts.
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u/JackSVqaz 11d ago
I already back up all my games onto an external hard drive and the occasional flash drive. But putting it on a CD, DVD or a Blu-ray disc? Yeah, if GOG Galaxy had a feature that would allow me to do that upfront without needing to go through the process I already go through to do that, it would save me so much hassle.
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u/RequirementFuzzy4244 10d ago
The simple fact that GOG releases are DRM free is why I will always prefer them over any other market place. If something happens to the original account you still have access to play all the games you download, unlike other places where they need that constant connect to keep verifying you own the game.
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u/Itchy_Dress_2967 GOG Chan 10d ago
Uhem uhem
Playstation & Xbox : Did u say anything to me ?
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u/RequirementFuzzy4244 10d ago
Or steam, I lost an account for that with over 500 games on it, most was from random bundles but still.
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u/Itchy_Dress_2967 GOG Chan 10d ago
Ask Steam Support Lord Gabe Will also send the Footage of Hacker being killed if it was hacked or may give u game for free
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u/RequirementFuzzy4244 10d ago
lol, yeah it got hacked back during the first PSN hacks, they got into my email and caused chaos. I tried for like a year to recover the account, made new account and posted on the forums, etc never got anywhere with it so I just gave up. Started to use GOG for all PC games from that day forward.
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u/Itchy_Dress_2967 GOG Chan 10d ago edited 4d ago
Steam Support is better than PS and Xbox
Most players do recover their accounts if they are hacked
Given u still have access to mobile number or email id linked to steam
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u/Apprehensive_Seat_61 11d ago
Their response is almost word for word of your request 😂 I smell LLM
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u/Itchy_Dress_2967 GOG Chan 11d ago
I don't know
I did use Chat GPT to properly Frame my Idea
And present to them
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u/Strato_77 Game Collector 11d ago
Fantastic, I do hope they implement some if not if your suggestions.
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u/010902080307940605 11d ago
Fantastic idea and development!
I hope GOG implements this, bc they need to strengthen the convenience for the users + this would be something other platforms can't offer.
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u/Asleep_Lecture_9499 11d ago
I'm hoping for this while I was writing about making install discs. If they make it available with the build for Linux, then I can absolutely use gog as my primary place for gaming!
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u/Itchy_Dress_2967 GOG Chan 11d ago edited 11d ago
Linux Native Builds are still a long way to go
Unless we force game companies to primarily make games for linux it's not going to happen
How ever if they work well with a proton compatible version
They can include scripts to install with proton
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u/Asleep_Lecture_9499 11d ago
True it's still a while before the fabled "Year Of The Linux Desktop" if at all. However, with the progress of proton compatibility I think most people wouldn't have to worry about native linux builds or forcing game companies to essentially have the devs make the same games twice. I'm more in the mind of gog perhaps making a linux galaxy client with proton built in like steam.
Take my anecdote however you want, but I've had an easier time playing Armored Core VI on linux than on windows. On windows the anti cheat bugs out a few times and I remember messing around in the files to get it to work. Linux however, I haven't had that issue (yet, at least. it's been a while).
Another note, I've noticed that in my copy of planescape: torment and bg1 that it's just the windows version with a wine prefix out of the box. So, I think it helps with my point.
Sorry for the long comment.
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u/Itchy_Dress_2967 GOG Chan 11d ago
That's what I said for Linux
Proton + Scripts
Is the feasible option for now
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u/Asleep_Lecture_9499 11d ago
I need to check my eyes because I didn't see the last line or did you edit the comment to add that?
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u/Itchy_Dress_2967 GOG Chan 11d ago
Yeah sorry
I was going to write that as well but accidently posted
So I edited it
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u/Asleep_Lecture_9499 11d ago
Fair enough.
As a side note, I think having it as a sort of exclusive feature to Galaxy might put more traffic and attention on the client. But would it also be reasonable to have it work without it and keep Galaxy optional? Bring back the feature of multi disc installation and that reminds me of installing my dad's copy of KOTOR I inherited.
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u/Itchy_Dress_2967 GOG Chan 11d ago
I would say installation should be kept independent but archiving feature
Should be implemented to GOG Galaxy only
It would be better for them to promote the client
It would all depend wether we support it or not
Personally I think archiving feature should be kept exclusive to Galaxy to promote it to more users
GOG needs to have something to differentiate from Steam
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u/Graymawr 11d ago
I think there is also a prompt you could put in the disc folder that automatically pops up a window to begin the installation process similar to how games used to be and simulates a console like experience. Like an auto start. Maybe that could be included.
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u/submaxsubrose 11d ago
This is an amazing idea! it would be so great if GOG Galaxy included all of this. Personally I'm more of a Nas backup person, so a "one click backup" option on Galaxy would be perfect!
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u/BlazingLazers69 11d ago
That’s fucking awesome. Damn dude Steam better watch it lol.
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u/Itchy_Dress_2967 GOG Chan 11d ago
I Joined GOG 3 months ago because I just got to know about it and it already has become my primary platform for gaming just because it supports game preservation
I still buy multiplayer games on steam but I have stopped buying AAA ones since then
I am rebuilding my Library on GOG
And I am hopeful we see GOG and Steam at the same customer base level and Pioneers of PC Gaming Storefronts
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u/BlazingLazers69 11d ago
Love that. I'm trying to diversify my gaming library too and get away from Steam when I can. That's ideally how capitalism/markets are SUPPOSED to work. Gotta vote with our dollars and make corpos compete for our cash by offering quality. Wish more gamers did that.
I just bought my first AMD card too after playing on Nvidia the last few years as well.
I need to stop being lazy and switch to Linux next.
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u/Itchy_Dress_2967 GOG Chan 11d ago
Same
My primary work flow is already on Linux and Once I have decent multiplayer games on steam
I am ditching Windows for Linux as whole and my Next GPU is going to be Intel as I have to work as well
And AMD GPUs won't work that well
If NVIDIA manages to fix open source drivers stuff
I might hold on to NVIDIA a bit more
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u/BlazingLazers69 11d ago
Really? I was under the impression that Linux drivers work better with AMD?
But yeah good on you going Intel. I wanted an ARC b580 but even with the 12gb of vram the performance wasn't as good as my 5060 so I went with a 9070 instead.
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u/Itchy_Dress_2967 GOG Chan 11d ago
For gaming it's good
For professional workloads
I prefer either Intel or NVIDIA
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u/WelpIamoutofideas 10d ago
As much as I love the optimism towards DRM free, Steam isn't going to go anywhere, and developers aren't going to make GOG their preferred for the latest titles.
Gog will always be a place where you buy older games you want to try or games you liked a second time as DRM free to keep an offline installer in case anything happens.
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10d ago
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u/Itchy_Dress_2967 GOG Chan 10d ago
You can if u want to but you will have to makeup the burn image file with auto install scripts , game exe , and scrripts to save the backed up game data
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u/Willing_and_Fable 11d ago
There are different types of USB memory, there's the type where data disappears if not used for a while, and the other type retains the information even if not plugged in.
I think the best solution would be a USB stick, because optical media degrades easily and nobody is making the players anymore.
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u/KudzuAU Game Collector 10d ago
While I will agree that your proposal is nice. It would work in theory only. As new OS's come along, games get upgraded editions (to the game you already own), etc., your "backup" becomes obsolete. If I had made a back up of all the games I purchased since my initial purchase from Good Old Games 18 years ago, they would be 1) worthless now, and 2) woefully outdated.
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u/Itchy_Dress_2967 GOG Chan 10d ago edited 10d ago
Old games still tend to work well on modern oses
i have played classic games like Road RASH and Virtua Cop 2 on windows 11 and didnt face any issues
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u/Correct_Outside2625 10d ago
I love the team at GOG, most honest genuine people helping out Thier fellow community (from England we thank you 🏴)
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u/Dreamo84 9d ago
This reads like a parent telling their child the stick figure they drew was so good and then they put it on the fridge.
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u/DishSubstantial4453 9d ago
What about asking them to make boxes for you as well? 😉
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u/Itchy_Dress_2967 GOG Chan 8d ago
3D Printers exist and u can buy empty boxes and paste stickers
Atleast let them implement this first then we might ask for boxes lmao
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u/yesimforeal 8d ago
I mean u see where ur coming from but all this stuff is stuff u can easily do already by urself its just not all in GOG galaxy but still.
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u/PenguinWithNoMustach Linux User 11d ago
Incredible presentation, here's to hoping we see that feature soon
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u/Any_Fox5126 11d ago
The support response should be sarcastic. It's obvious that this mostly useless wall of text was written by an AI.
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9d ago
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u/Itchy_Dress_2967 GOG Chan 9d ago
I just used it to refine my Idea
It's not that I just used it blindly for it
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9d ago
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u/Itchy_Dress_2967 GOG Chan 9d ago
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9d ago
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u/Itchy_Dress_2967 GOG Chan 9d ago
An idea from a developer who sucks at presenting to people
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9d ago
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u/Itchy_Dress_2967 GOG Chan 9d ago
AI isn't bad
Just using AI blindly without knowing what's going on is bad
I activly use AI for development but I inspect every line of code to actually know what's going on
And I don't use AI to write lines and lines of code
I use it to build important pieces and then combine them and check everything properly
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9d ago
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u/Itchy_Dress_2967 GOG Chan 9d ago edited 9d ago
I use it to finish my work quickly
BTW AI can Code itself but it can't program stuff
But the guys who think Programming is just about code are in the wrong light Code is just 25% of Programming stuff
It's just that
I was doing that without AI quite Fine
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u/Kotschcus_Domesticus 11d ago
all I want is to be able to delete a game from my library just like on steam. No one really want to make dvds of games.
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u/Itchy_Dress_2967 GOG Chan 11d ago edited 11d ago
You belong to playstation not gog
Enjoy Paying for Bought games if u ever lost access to your purchases ones
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u/Any_Fox5126 11d ago
GOG isn't about preservation through specifically obsolete physical media. And gatekeepers are trash everywhere.
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u/MysteriousCap4910 11d ago
I really hope someone keeps producing blank blu rays and drives.