Thanks oldmariner (and Jenny100) - and I appreciate your review, oldmariner, with which I concur

I finished the game this week, playing the GOG release, but I don't use GOG Galaxy. I download games from GOG by just using my browser so I didn't suffer any annoying (to me) "achievement" stuff

Thanks oldmariner.

Thanks Jenny.

Ana

Thank you very much for the review, oldmariner. I hope to play this game at some point, as it sounds quite interesting.

Hi Jenny

Thanks oldmariner.

Jenny.

It doesn't matter how you download, Mad. It makes no difference if you use Galaxy to download or click a link on your games page on the GOG website to download the game. Parts of Galaxy are now integrated into GOG's games (not sure about all the oldest downloads, but the newer releases all seem to have Galaxy hooks and I'm sure they're "backporting" the Galaxy hooks into their previously released games). When you start the game, it will try to go out on the Internet to contact some server somewhere, and if you have a firewall that blocks outbound traffic, you'll get the problem oldmariner did.

Unless you unplugged your Internet connection before playing the game, you can be sure it sent its information out on the Internet when you started it -- and probably continued to do so as it collected data on any "Achievements" you "earned" as you played, even though you had no interest in Achievements.

Microsoft's firewall, which is probably what most people use, only blocks inbound traffic. There may also be firewalls that block most outbound traffic but allow outbound traffic from ports that are commonly used by online games or game clients like Galaxy -- ports the firewall considers "trusted."

Anyway, if a person considers "DRM-free" to mean "doesn't try to contact some unknown server over the Internet" then GOG is no longer DRM-free by that person's definition.


I've heard that if you unplug your computer from the Internet that the game will still start, and by some peoples' definitions that makes it "DRM-free." However crawling down under the desk to unplug the cable (and even worse, fumbling around trying to plug it back in after a playing session) is no mean feat for some of us. A firewall will block an outbound probe before it gets anywhere near the ethernet cable, so allowing the game's Galaxy hooks through your firewall is required whether you've unplugged the cable or not.

Jenny is correct. I downloaded using the browser and do not have Galaxy installed. If you look into the Kathy Rain folder C:/Goggames/Kathy Rain You will find a file named Galaxy.dll 3417KB. Removing that file does not solve the problem. The game will not start noting there is a missing file. You can install the game with your internet cable unplugged. Upon launching Zone Alarm will ask for permission for Kathy Rain to connect to the internet even though there is no connection. By granting permission Kathy will launch. You can play it that way without GOG gathering information. Just remember to adjust your firewall to ask or block before reconnecting. You don't want to provide open access when you are on the internet. Unless you set your firewall to ASK you have no idea when something is outbound. Yes the constant popping up of a ask box can be a pain, however that's why you have a firewall to control who is intruding. Just because your firewall list something as trusted does not mean you trust it. Often I check and find I need to change things back to ask because the firewall assumed.

As Jenny says Which in my opinion makes MS Firewall worthless. But then again I trust MS about as far as I can throw Google. Therefore this GOG version is not DRM free but then again they did warn you by listing Achievements as a Features. It's too bad I didn't pay attention. At least my review tells you how to not play their game. It is good to know the work around allows you to play the game on a non connected computer. You should not have to do this.

Thanks for the great review oldmariner, and thanks for the heads up regarding Internet connection.
I just sent an Email to Clifftop Games to ask them if there is a workaround for not having to connect to the Internet at all. I also told them that if there is no way to do this without having to disconnect from the Internet that I am not interested in buying the game.

Just a possible tip for some of you who have already bought the game, instead of having to reach "Under or behind" the table/desk, most of you should have an Internet Icon on your Desktop where you could simply "Disconnect" your Internet from there.

Also thanks to Jenny100 for the the Heads up about this game.

I just received a short reply from Clifftopgames, here is the reply I got:



Hmmm, Really?!!!

I I agree starcom. Mad didn't have any issues.

To prove to myself that I'm not "losing it", after reading the discussions here, I just reinstalled Kathy Rain to my Win7 machine - using the setup files I downloaded from GOG (via IE).

It installed and launched in the normal way that all my games from GOG do.

I wasn’t asked to connect to the internet, nor was there any mention of “achievements”.

I didn’t “unplug” anything.
[I wouldn’t have a clue what to unplug anyway !!]

I use Norton 360 which provides a “two way” firewall.

[I checked the game files and there is one called “Galaxy.dll” so if somehow I secretly earned "achievements" last time I played the game I wasn't informed of them. I never saw anything to do with achievements at all.]

Thanks Mad. Much appreciated! It sounded like a GoG Galaxy thing to me too.

Ana

That is not true. I do not have Galaxy installed on my machine. Obviously it cannot be running if it is not on the system. The root directory of the game has a Galaxy DLL installed. When you launch the game it attempts to connect to the internet. If I tell my firewall NO!!! the game will not load. To get the game to play I have to allow my firewall to let Galaxy connect then pull the plug. When they say no internet connection is required it's a half truth because if you deny it's ability to connect it will not activate.

Regarding Mad's response that she did not have that difficulty was explained by Jenny. If Mad is using MS firewall that program does not report outbound connections. "Microsoft's firewall, which is probably what most people use, only blocks inbound traffic." This is according to Jenny. In other words when attempting to connect my firewall asks my permission before allowing outbound traffic. Microsoft's firewall simply allows it without informing you. IT does not block outbound traffic. You don't have any idea who is receiving communications from your computer or connecting to the internet under those circumstances.

I'll stand by my review in this matter

I don't use Microsoft's firewall, oldmariner. As I said, my internet security is managed by Norton 360, which provides a two way firewall.

I'm so sorry that some people are having problems with this game

Hi oldmariner, just to clarify things when I said at the end re: Hmmm, Really?!!! It was not meant for you but the answer from Clifftopgames, whether they answered too quickly or not on this issue.

After all, I would Not Want an Old Mariner mad at me

Don't understand this talk about GOG not being DRM-free anymore. The last I heard was that GOG galaxy is completely optional and that the DRM-ness of the games are not affected at all if you chose not to use the client. And no GOG game I have downloaded and played outside of Galaxy has ever showed any sign of connecting to the internet, including Kathy Rain (I did play the Mac version though). Just went over to GOG.com to check and there is no mention of GOG having introduced DRM to the games outside of GOG Galaxy. I'm sure there would be chaos on their forums if something that even resembles DRM had been introduced and made mandatory.

The Galaxy dll may be included with the download to make it easier to import an already downloaded game into Galaxy without downloading it again. There's an option for that within the Galaxy client.

I hate DRM as much as anybody else, but in this case I just can't understand the complaints. If Kathy Rain asks to be connected to the internet outside of GOG Galaxy I'm sure there must have been a mistake made somewhere. I know there were some problems with the game related to Galaxy when it was released.

We are removing the part of the review about oldmariner's firewall conflict because it is not something unique to Kathy Rain. It is caused by GOG's Galaxy integration, occurs with other GOG games that have Galaxy integration, and does not affect all firewalls.


The game doesn't need to "activate," but if a firewall is blocking the Galaxy hooks that GOG has integrated into the game, the game won't start. People use firewalls to block traffic to the Internet, so if a game doesn't work when you are using a firewall to block Internet, it "looks" like the game needs an Internet connection.

GOG could certainly fix this, either by offering an alternative download of the game without the Galaxy hooks or by allowing the game to start even if there is a firewall blocking its search for a Galaxy installation.


Norton 360 is known to let stuff through that it considers benign.
http://community.norton.com/en/comment/2314403
http://community.norton.com/forums/why-does-norton-360-fail-leaktest
Most people would probably consider this an advantage because they wouldn't want to keep being prompted by their firewall about "Do you want this through? Do you want to let that through?" and the average person is thinking "How do I know? I don't even know what that is." Norton tries to make it easy for their customers by deciding what is harmful and what isn't.

...which doesn't necessarily mean the game sent anything out onto the Internet -- just that Norton "could" have let something through that it considered harmless. And I'd expect most other preconfigured consumer firewalls to be the same way -- not bothering the user about traffic that looks harmless.


Too bad GOG doesn't allow a download of the game as the developer made it -- without the part that looks for a Galaxy installation (and is causing problems with some firewalls). Knowing that there were additional problems with Galaxy integration at release makes it even harder to understand why GOG is forcing Galaxy integration on their customers, whether they want Galaxy or not.

According to GOG, their games with Galaxy integration do not actually send anything out on the Internet unless Galaxy is installed. Since a software firewall blocks outbound traffic before it tries to exit your ethernet cable, it's difficult to know whether anything from the game is actually being sent out without using some sort of network monitoring software like ***Wireshark***. For most people network monitoring software is too technical, so you either trust GOG or you don't.

Hi to all,

1)After an exchange of emails between oldmariner and myself I am happy that she is not mad at me, I am the one who misunderstood and my apologies to oldmariner.

2)I broke down and bought the game from GOG.

3)Before installing it, I disconnected myself from the Internet via the Desktop Icon, after installing the game I was able to Start it with no problems. Mind you I just tested the game for about 10 minutes, so I am not at any "Points of achievements" so I will not know of any internet connection interference as I play the game, this will be awhile since I have other games, but I will make sure to disconnect the game just to see if....

One other small note about this game, I have a Widescreen monitor and when I tested it, it did not fill the whole screen and I had a Black Bar on each side. Luckily there is a file in the Game Folder called "Winsetup.exe" where you can remove the check mark to "Black Bars on Widescreen Monitors". I restarted the game and I now get the Full Screen and the game seems to work Ok.

Again, thanks to oldmariner for the review and other tips to look for in this game.

Starcom, just an FYI, oldmariner is a "he".

Oops once again I muffed up, sorry for the Type-O, and once again my apologies to you oldmariner.

oldmariner and Jenny.