Usage ~ (2) Part 2 - Twombs/GOGcli-GUI GitHub Wiki
INTERACTING WITH GOG
You should now see the main program window like the following image.
With your 'Cookie.txt' file populated with required data, we are nearly good to go.
Before we continue, you may want to change some settings on the SETUP window - Language and OS.
You may also want to set a different 'Download Destination' on the main program window, and the type of naming for game sub-folder titling.
While you can browse and set the main download destination path, you can also if you wish, set an alphanumeric sub-folder based on the first character of a game title, made uppercase (this happens on-the-fly during downloading). There are two conventions for the game title folder, which is also created during downloading. The first and the program default, is the 'Slug'. This is a lowercase name that only features alphanumeric characters and underslashes, much as the old GOG Downloader created (not sure about Galaxy). The second, is the normal game 'Title', with any lower and uppercase and other characters, though illegal filename characters are stripped or replaced.
An example of a 'Slug' is 'freespace_expansion', while its normal 'Title' is 'Descent: Freespace Battle Pack' (which is Descent - Freespace Battle Pack as a legal folder name).
- Click on the CHECK or GET GAMES LIST button.
This will give an error if no web connection or the 'Cookie.txt' file is missing a line starting with 'gog-al='.
NOTE - Depending on how many games you have in your GOG library, this process could take a little while, though it is likely to be less than 10 minutes, dependent on your web connection. You will see at least one black console window popup.
The process does a few things. First it downloads information from each of your GOG library game pages (100 games per page). It is pretty basic limited data. The first page also lists how many pages overall, and that is used to determine how many to download. The GUI collates them all into one big file called 'Games.txt'. Once complete, the GUI then parses that file to extract Slug, Title, game ID and some other values, which you can see in a resulting 'Games.ini' file. It also uses the Title and game ID to create a file called 'Titles.txt', which it uses to quickly populate the 'Games' list on the GUI, and on every subsequent program start.
If things have gone as they should, your 'Games' list should now be populated with game titles.
NOTE - You may need to scroll the list to see this, but a game title that has been indicated by GOG to have an update, will have its background (row) colored red.
- Click on a game title in the 'Games' list.
That should populate some input fields with values - Title, Slug, Genre, OS, etc.
If you want to see a game cover thumbnail (as seen in above screenshot), enable the 'Show' option.
NOTE - When you click a game title, and the 'Show' option is checked, the GUI downloads the thumbnail file from GOG. The program by default, is set to save each thumbnail locally in a sub-folder called 'Covers', so it doesn't need to download it again, or require a web connection to display it. This can be disabled if you wish, with a SETUP window option.
- Click the GAME DETAILS button to see a bit more information about the selected game.
This is done on demand, downloading the information from GOG, and it isn't stored locally.
- Click the ADD To MANIFEST button to get even more information about the selected game.
This is also downloaded from GOG, but kept locally in a file called 'Manifest.txt'.
A manifest entry will contain extra elements like exact file size and checksums, which along with file names and URLs, is needed for downloading game files and checking.
Once you have added a manifest entry for a game, you are ready to start downloading it.
- Click the DOWNLOAD button with the game you want to download, selected on the list.
If you haven't changed the default setting on the SETUP window, you will be presented with a 'GAME FILES SELECTOR' window, which will be populated with all the game and any extra files for the selected game.
NOTE - If you didn't add the selected game to the manifest, then the program will automatically do so for you, downloading it first and then presenting the 'GAME FILES SELECTOR' window.
You can also elect to have it always do that, regardless, just to make sure all the latest files available for the game are presented. See that option on the SETUP window. With an existing entry in the manifest, it just replaces (updates) it.