Third-party expansions on GOG.

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Third-party expansions on GOG.

Postby Geering » Mon Feb 24, 2020 6:42 pm

Hey guys,

Congratulations on GOG finally pulling their head out of their asses. Looks like I'm going to have to buy your game yet again - as if purchasing a damn PalmTX JUST to play Dragonfire, Legacy & the Quest wasn't enough.

I've asked this question in the release thread, but since the communication with their customers is completely useless, I thought I'd ask here as well:

What's the plan on bringing Zarista and other expansions to GOG?

The expansions were ill-advisedly linked to the Steam Workshop, supposedly for ease of use, but all it did was make it look like micro-transactions to people who didn't know about this partnership between Redshift & Zarista.

I've been buying them all because I knew what they were, but I wouldn't mind buying them again on GOG, freed from the mess that is the Workshop.
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Re: Third-party expansions on GOG.

Postby Elendil / Redshift » Tue Feb 25, 2020 10:45 am

Thank you very much! :)

Unfortunately, the mess that is the Workshop is necessary on PC.

Zarista is their own entity. We think it would be the best if we didn't release their games under our name. What's on mobile is a historical artifact of what was available at the time and how the game functioned. We are committed in continuing support of it.

For the PC we hoped the Steam Workshop would offer a better alternative. It works, but yes, it's less than ideal. And there is nothing for GOG like it.

However!

The GOG version of the game can accept any PC expansion. The game will look for the following folder: "Documents/The Quest/expansions" (on both Windows and Mac). Any expansion paks put there will be picked up and will be playable.

You can buy the Steam versions and put them there (Steam Workshop expansions are called "world.pak" but can be renamed to whatever is convenient).

You can also try and buy the expansions directly from Zarista. (The how of that is theirs to decide.)

Here is Zarista Games and Catacomber's website (she is the main developer of Zarista).

(The mobile versions won't work because the image formats are different.)

(Also, please make sure you are on version 1.9.9 (or later) on Windows. The 1.9.8 release version doesn't have the feature. The Mac 1.9.8 release works.)
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Re: Third-party expansions on GOG.

Postby Catacomber » Fri Feb 28, 2020 2:59 am

We are going to pass on GOG until they have a workshop like Steam. Anything else is too burdensome for me. I initially wasn't too thrilled about DRM free but I've since not worried about it as much as the burden of maintaining our files outside a workshop like Steam has. It's very convenient.
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Re: Third-party expansions on GOG.

Postby Geering » Fri Feb 28, 2020 5:01 pm

Catacomber wrote:We are going to pass on GOG and I'll tell you why. Steam uses DRM--Digital Rights Management--for a reason. It helps cut down on piracy. GOG is DRM free and that troubles me. Most of our PC users use Steam and don't seem to be unhappy. So I think we are better off staying with Steam and, at least for now, giving GOG a pass.

My full reasoning:

http://catacomber.com/discussion/848/gog#latest


Hey Cat,

I understand your reasoning, but it's flawed.
If someone wants to pirate games, they can do it. There's no need to go through GOG.

If you don't believe me, have a look at it yourself. Search for pirated versions of games, and see how many are Steam versions vs. GOG versions.

I already bought the game on Steam, so it makes no difference to me personally. I will continue to buy your expansions through the Steam Workshop, and will use them on both versions.

However, I would urge you to reconsider at least selling your expansions directly to GOG users, just like you sold me your old expansions through e-mail.
Again, if they're willing to buy them, you can rule out piracy, and it's unlikely they'll buy a second version on Steam just to purchase the expansions.
I wouldn't've bought the Steam version of The Quest if it was available on GOG. I only bought the GOG version because it has no DRM.
There is no point in doing the opposite.

I hope you reconsider. Like I said, it makes no difference to me, but it might make a difference to you by selling at least a couple more copies of all your expansions.
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Re: Third-party expansions on GOG.

Postby Catacomber » Mon Mar 02, 2020 4:55 am

I appreciate your outlook and I know there's a lot of piracy out there that's beyond my control.

But also, for a number of reasons, I don't feel comfortable collecting money online. I don't want to go there.

I have a rescue cat, adopted as a kitten a year and a half ago. He was stuck in a fence and all his systems shut down. He was near death. They brought him back to life. I adopted him.

Last year, he stopped eating. He got fatty liver disease. I spent $5000+ in hospital bills and fed him through a tube in his neck, four times a day, for over a month. I could have done a go fund me on Facebook or other places or asked for money at my website. I didn't do any of that and I'm still paying off that bill happily because he's a great cat.

I don't feel comfortable collecting money on the internet. That's just me.

When you bought from us long ago, you bought from my partner Dr. Vlad who manages the Zarista Games website. He doesn't have time to do it anymore. He has a family and other time commitments. He handled payments for Zarista Games for a long time but now it's on my shoulders. I'm quite happy dealing with the Steam, iOS and Android payments because I don't have to collect them myself directly. I just have to handle the paperwork.

So that's where we are. I appreciate your support and love making the expansions but collecting money on the internet is not for me. My website is a very simple forum and not really set up to do that.

Anybody who wants our expansions to work on GOG, can just buy them from Steam. They're set up to collect money on the internet and they pay me routinely, for which I am very thankful because it helps me pay that humungous vet hospital bill down.

When you buy our expansions on Steam or anywhere else, you're helping me pay back the Animal Medical Center hospital in New York City. I owe them Zeus' life. I can't put up a picture of him here but you can see him at my page in Facebook. Zeus and Juno. : ) Juno is my rescue kitten who had a broken paw. I was wiling to pay to have her paw fixed (probably another $5,000) but vet said leave it alone, she'll be fine. And so she is.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... =3&theater
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Re: Third-party expansions on GOG.

Postby taz » Mon Mar 02, 2020 1:59 pm

I've been lurking without an account for years, probably since The Quest launched on iOS. I bought all the expansions on iOS and Android, and also bought the Steam release to make expansions of my own (I really loved working with TQ Editor). I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty hesitant on rebuying all the expansions on PC because I just dropped money on the all current Android expansions a few months ago (and bought HoL V on day one! Woohoo!).

Seeing this post from Cat, I'm going to buy the expansions on Steam. My ma took in two cats from the same litter, both starved and on the verge of death. The whole family will do anything to give them a more fulfilling life. Seeing the same mindset from one of my favorite game developers is, for the lack of a better word, spectacular. If I can't donate money to help clear that pesky bill and ease the financial burden, then hell, I'll just grab those expansions on Steam.

Cheers Catacomber :)
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Re: Third-party expansions on GOG.

Postby Geering » Mon Mar 02, 2020 2:51 pm

That's perfectly understandable, handling money online can be a bit iffy.

I'll keep buying the expansions from Steam day one of release, hopefully you'll be able to port the rest of them soon.

One other thing, I read somewhere that the Lost Archipelagos expansion was a joint collaboration by Zarista & someone else. Is this true, and if so, is there a possibility it will end up on Steam eventually?

By the way, I passed on your reply on GOG. They weren't happy. It's off my hands. There is nothing I can do. I'm so, so sorry. :cry:

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Re: Third-party expansions on GOG.

Postby Catacomber » Tue Mar 03, 2020 3:52 am

Fortunately, I have a suit of armor! :)

Lost Archipelagoes wasn't a collaboration with Zarista. I have no control over that one.

i read the posts at GOG. I don't think we Zarista Games deserved some of the negative comments there.
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Re: Third-party expansions on GOG.

Postby Catacomber » Tue Mar 03, 2020 7:20 am

And one more thing. I did not know The Quest was available or going to be made available on GOG until after the fact. It was more or less dumped on me that I had the one possibility of selling the expansions for it anyway I could.

Dealing with big companies like Steam, the Apple app store and the Googke Play Store are what I'm comfortable with. If GOG gets a workshop, fine.
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Re: Third-party expansions on GOG.

Postby Geering » Tue Mar 03, 2020 1:02 pm

Catacomber wrote:i read the posts at GOG. I don't think we Zarista Games deserved some of the negative comments there.


If I posted something that can be misconstrued as negative, it wasn't intentional. If I did, please point me to it & I'll edit the post to remove it.

From other users, as far as negative comments go, they were pretty tame. Some people were just disappointed they couldn't get your expansions directly on GOG & vented a bit.
Seriously, I've read A LOT WORSE over much smaller things. I never even saw someone calling names! That's as civilized as you can get on the internet.
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Re: Third-party expansions on GOG.

Postby Catacomber » Tue Mar 03, 2020 7:08 pm

taz wrote:I've been lurking without an account for years, probably since The Quest launched on iOS. I bought all the expansions on iOS and Android, and also bought the Steam release to make expansions of my own (I really loved working with TQ Editor). I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty hesitant on rebuying all the expansions on PC because I just dropped money on the all current Android expansions a few months ago (and bought HoL V on day one! Woohoo!).

Seeing this post from Cat, I'm going to buy the expansions on Steam. My ma took in two cats from the same litter, both starved and on the verge of death. The whole family will do anything to give them a more fulfilling life. Seeing the same mindset from one of my favorite game developers is, for the lack of a better word, spectacular. If I can't donate money to help clear that pesky bill and ease the financial burden, then hell, I'll just grab those expansions on Steam.

Cheers Catacomber :)


Thank you so much, Taz. You touched my heart. Shelters like Animal Control in NYC try to help the animals brought to them. They try to get them adopted. But they are overwhelmed. I was very hesitant to adopt my kitten Juno because the thought of another huge vet bill troubled me. Then I heard a little old guy there tell them he wanted her. He had 50 cats at home, all in nice, clean cages. I interrupted and said I'd take her and take her to the vet for her broken paw. She's a free spirit, not meant to live forever in a cage. It all worked out because her paw healed on its own.

I don't want to turn this thread away from gaming but bless you and thank you.
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Re: Third-party expansions on GOG.

Postby Catacomber » Tue Mar 03, 2020 7:31 pm

Am thinking about making Mithril Horde free on Steam as a bonus to those who have been so loyal there.
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Re: Third-party expansions on GOG.

Postby taz » Wed Mar 04, 2020 1:11 am

Catacomber wrote:Am thinking about making Mithril Horde free on Steam as a bonus to those who have been so loyal there.

That'd be awesome! Any plans on porting the other expansions for purchasing on Steam like Cursed Chess Set and the Asteroids series?
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Re: Third-party expansions on GOG.

Postby Catacomber » Wed Mar 04, 2020 2:35 am

taz wrote:
Catacomber wrote:Am thinking about making Mithril Horde free on Steam as a bonus to those who have been so loyal there.

That'd be awesome! Any plans on porting the other expansions for purchasing on Steam like Cursed Chess Set and the Asteroids series?


Yes, all of them. : ) Asteroids 1 is almost ready for testing. Just started working on the graphics for Mithril Horde 1.
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Re: Third-party expansions on GOG.

Postby Catacomber » Tue Mar 17, 2020 3:33 am

I might have a solution to,this but will do it slowly.
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Re: Third-party expansions on GOG.

Postby Pka4916 » Mon Mar 14, 2022 2:35 am

Elendil / Redshift wrote:Thank you very much! :)

Unfortunately, the mess that is the Workshop is necessary on PC.

Zarista is their own entity. We think it would be the best if we didn't release their games under our name. What's on mobile is a historical artifact of what was available at the time and how the game functioned. We are committed in continuing support of it.

For the PC we hoped the Steam Workshop would offer a better alternative. It works, but yes, it's less than ideal. And there is nothing for GOG like it.

However!

The GOG version of the game can accept any PC expansion. The game will look for the following folder: "Documents/The Quest/expansions" (on both Windows and Mac). Any expansion paks put there will be picked up and will be playable.

You can buy the Steam versions and put them there (Steam Workshop expansions are called "world.pak" but can be renamed to whatever is convenient).

You can also try and buy the expansions directly from Zarista. (The how of that is theirs to decide.)

Here is Zarista Games and Catacomber's website (she is the main developer of Zarista).

(The mobile versions won't work because the image formats are different.)

(Also, please make sure you are on version 1.9.9 (or later) on Windows. The 1.9.8 release version doesn't have the feature. The Mac 1.9.8 release works.)


Where is this folder located? Documents\The Quest\expansions
I tried in Documents , in the game folder, and i cannot get anything to show about enabling expansion
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Re: Third-party expansions on GOG.

Postby Elendil / Redshift » Mon Mar 14, 2022 11:38 am

You have to create the folders (if they don't exist) and put any expansion .pak files into the last one. (.pdb expansions won't work, those are for the old game)
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