Tutorial has outdated [reportedly malware] link for Cookie value generator

[Gaerthal-Estelmist]

Hello,

It seems about two months ago, Get cookies.txt extension written in your tutorial (Under Wiki) was declared malware. My extensions window also showed that to be the case, so I had to uninstall it and change passwords for safety concerns. Is there another newbie-friendly way to get the cookie value to use in the GUI? If so, can you please update the tutorial?

Thanks.

[Twombs]

Sorry for the late reply.
As of yet I have not looked into it.
It is possible, that it has only been marked as malware, due to the nature of what it does ... get your cookie data.
You could do as I did originally, and search for a similar extension. If you don't find anything, that in itself is probably revealing.
I'll look into it soon.

[Gaerthal-Estelmist]

No problem.
The thing is that extension seems to start "acting differently" in March. Sending stuff to developer and whatnot. After that, and numerous reports later, google acknowledged it to be malware as well. At least this is what I gathered. I was late to the scene 2 months.
Thanks for looking into it, hopefully you can provide an alternative method since I could not find a newbie-friendly one.

[Gaerthal-Estelmist]

Hi, the link in the wiki is still not working. Have you had an opportunity to look into this?
In the meantime I solved my problem by using cookies.txt extension in Firefox. Maybe you'd want to update the wiki with this one.

[Twombs]

Hello, Sorry for my slow response, had a lot on my plate lately. Here's the latest update. https://mega.nz/file/pAAxTTgT#oQEBI2eWXTk05yqyVrv4YQZOqME5zz0whF2Xuo3s8_Y Hopefully I will upload it to GitHub soon. Are you talking about the Tutorial via the Wiki? The link works fine for me. https://github.com/Twombs/GOGcli-GUI/wiki As for that cookie addon, I have now checked out a different one, with my browser (Brave a Chrome clone), called - Get cookies.txt LOCALLY

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On Tue, 27 Feb 2024 at 17:08, Gaerthal-Estelmist ***@***.***> wrote: Hi, the link in the wiki is still not working. Have you had an opportunity to look into this? Thanks — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#3 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AESHGWIZYOVEOD4SHGOFZILYVV5OPAVCNFSM6AAAAAAYM4KQDGVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMYTSNRVHA4DEMBQGQ> . You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[Gaerthal-Estelmist]

No worries about the late replies. I hope things are going well for you.

"Are you talking about the Tutorial via the Wiki? The link works fine for me."
I was talking about the Get cookies.txt link here: https://github.com/Twombs/GOGcli-GUI/wiki/Usage-~-(1)-Part-1

Which needs to be updated (leads to empty page).

As I wrote in my previous comment, I found a working one in Firefox, here is the link if you want to update the Wiki along with your Brave one: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/cookies-txt/
This looked trustworthy enough. Can never be sure, but still... I uninstalled right away after getting my Cookie file.

By the way, once every few months, the games keep failing to download. When that happens, I delete the Gogcli folder contents and start from scratch. I do setup and put my old Cookie.txt in there. It works. I don't know why it does not work in the first place, since I do the same thing every time.

By the way, I tried v4.5 and it works without issues. Maybe you'd like to upload it to GitHub - Releases?
EDIT: I checked the other issues and there is even a v4.7! I guess I'll try that one once the downloads start failing again and I reinstall the program.
Thanks for your work!

[Twombs]

"I was talking about the Get cookies.txt link here: https://github.com/Twombs/GOGcli-GUI/wiki/Usage-~-(1)-Part-1 Which needs to be updated (leads to empty page)." Okay, I follow you now, and yes I should probably update that link. I use a different Chrome addon myself now. "By the way, every few months, the games keep failing to download. When that happens, I delete the Gogcli folder contents and start from scratch." No idea why that might be happening. Never happened to me. Are you maybe talking about downloads failing to show up in the download window? Or do you mean the actual downloading process fails? If the former, then that would only be because they exist in the Database file as having already been downloaded. You can switch that behavior off on the SETUP window, if you need to redownload some file(s). "By the way, I tried v4.5 and it works without issues. Maybe you'd like to upload it to GitHub - Releases?" I've been meaning to get around to providing my more recent updates, but are annoyed with GitHub right now, with their painful twofactor login process. I am wanting to use something else, but haven't come up with a full solution yet. All my updates are available through MEGA, but they don't provide a counter, and I like to know how many folk are interested in my program. My latest updates feature some major changes, due to me countering slow download speeds with GOG, as well as some data queries failing due to changes GOG have made to their website. So the use of curl.exe is kind of required now, plus some other programs if you want multi-thread downloading (i.e. aria2 or Free Download Manager 5). Using them is somewhat experimental still. I've also more recently added a lot of additional support for dealing with game updates and more. I've not had any recent complaints or queries about issues, yours excepted. So I have kind of left things to being 'provide on demand', so sing out if you want the most recent update.

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On Sun, 28 Jul 2024 at 02:21, Gaerthal-Estelmist ***@***.***> wrote: No worries about the late replies. I hope things are going well for you. "Are you talking about the Tutorial via the Wiki? The link works fine for me." I was talking about the Get cookies.txt link here: https://github.com/Twombs/GOGcli-GUI/wiki/Usage-~-(1)-Part-1 Which needs to be updated (leads to empty page). As I wrote in my previous comment, I found a working one in Firefox, here is the link if you want to update the Wiki along with your Brave one: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/cookies-txt/ This looked trustworthy enough. Can never be sure, but still... I uninstalled right away after getting my Cookie file. By the way, every few months, the games keep failing to download. When that happens, I delete the Gogcli folder contents and start from scratch. I do setup and put my old Cookie.txt in there. It works. I don't know why I does not work in the first place, since I do the same thing every time. By the way, I tried v4.5 and it works without issues. Maybe you'd like to upload it to GitHub - Releases? Thanks for your work! — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#3 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AESHGWLF5KKFISUAKEEYINTZOPFZHAVCNFSM6AAAAAAYM4KQDGVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZDENJUGE4TQMRWHA> . You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[Gaerthal-Estelmist]

"Are you maybe talking about downloads failing to show up in the download
window? Or do you mean the actual downloading process fails?"

Downloads show up without problems. I mean when I choose a game to download, and I try to start the download, they all give error "FAILED". Meaning, the actual downloading process fails. I have no idea why this may happen because it works in the beginning (let's say 2 days ago), but may not work after a while (let's say today, nothing changes in between). Reinstalling everything solves this problem (until next fail) so at least I got that going for me. Using Windows 8.1 here.

I'm sure many people use your program because it is still a major problem to download games via browser from GOG and this is the only stable option.

And yes, I'd love to have the latest version whenever you have the time.
Also, when you update that link, please let me know so that I can close this issue. Have a good day!

[Twombs]

Okay, thanks for the feedback. Thanks for the link reminder. I'll look into it and provide an update soon. I think I know what the issue might be, but are quite busy right now. I also need to deal with the two factor login that GitHub has imposed on me, which is not like other 2FA I use, so painful and annoying. The later updates to my GUI, and there has been several, feature new abilities, some of which will likely be tricky for some (perhaps most) users, so I am considering creating a guide.

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On Sat, 24 Aug 2024 at 22:29, Gaerthal-Estelmist ***@***.***> wrote: "Are you maybe talking about downloads failing to show up in the download window? Or do you mean the actual downloading process fails?" Downloads show up without problems. I mean when I choose a game to download, and I try to start the download, they all give error "FAILED". Meaning, the actual downloading process fails. I have no idea why this may happen because it works in the beginning (let's say 2 days ago), but may not work after a while (let's say today, nothing changes in between). Reinstalling everything solves this problem (until next fail) so at least I got that going for me. Using Windows 8.1 here. I'm sure many people use your program because it is still a major problem to download games via browser from GOG and this is the only stable option. And yes, I'd love to have the latest version whenever you have the time. Also, when you update that link, please let me know so that I can close this issue. Have a good day! — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#3 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AESHGWNTDY3MV6NRBABVV3DZTB7ULAVCNFSM6AAAAAAYM4KQDGVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZDGMBYGM4DMMZQHE> . You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[Twombs]

My apologies for not getting back to you sooner with an update, but there remains good reasons for that. Apologies also for the following long read, that might also be hard to understand, but it is necessary to have a grasp of what is going on. The first as I have already mentioned, is the requirement to provide some instructions because of significant changes. The second is further new features and improvements, with the latest being a significant update to the code for the Database portion, to overcome its flaws, which on first use will convert any existing Database. Those flaws are in relation to same named Extras files, where a few games have generic naming that is not unique (i.e. manual.zip, soundtrack.zip, artwork.zip, wallpapers.zip and so on). That needed to be fixed for the checking process to work properly. I've also fixed a few bugs, and one of those was likely the reason for the issue you mentioned. The third and very important reason, is that GOG have made a recent change to the API, which requires latest gogcli.exe (v0.24) to cater for. The fourth and perhaps most important reason, is that gogcli.exe does some things now, that I am having some issues with. In fact it has been doing that for a few versions, but the latest version goes even further into territory I wish it didn't. Primarily, when bad metadata is returned for a game, when gogcli attempts to get download links (browser like), file names, file size (in bytes) and checksum values for your Manifest file, it then uses what has been called a long work-around. That long work-around entails downloading each file to get the checksum etc. On a slow connection with GOG such as mine, it can take over an hour to do that with just one 4 GB file, and that is penalty enough. With many files it becomes too onerous, and the latest version of gogcli nows does that for Extras to get a checksum for them too, and some of those can be big files too (i.e. Soundtracks, Bonus games, Videos, etc). GOG doesn't provide checksums for Extras (zip files), and in the past we have just relied on bytes matching and testing with 7-Zip etc. The real nub of the matter though, is that a gogcli user such as yourself and myself, and especially those who use my GUI, have to realize that the checksums returned from that hidden download, might be wrong. If a match occurs with your later download, then the odds say that the checksum is correct, as any corruption is likely to be different in each download. However, if you get a failure to match, either the original checksum is wrong or the current one, and the only way to find out which, is to redownload the file in question a third time, but it would need comparing with both the stored checksum value (which might be wrong) and the checksum for the second download, and that's where the problem for the user lies, because they need to understand all that, and work out how to deal with it. So as much as I understand why Magnitus has taken this approach, I don't really agree with it. In my view it would be far better to just rely on the slower checking (test) method of InnoExtract, to see if a download is okay or not. In essence, whether the penalty of time is due to thosee first extra downloads or using InnoExtract, it all boils down to ease of use and clear understanding, and with InnoExtract it is relatively simple to queue up testing ... in fact I can already do that with my GOGPlus Download Checker program. I have had some discussions with Magnitus and are waiting to hear back from him after he deliberates some more, and perhaps modifies gogcli to suit our needs. I would like gogcli to try and get the manifest data for a game, but bypass using the long work-around method. I would also like it to skip getting what I feel is unnecessary checksum values for zip files. They to me are too much of a penalty, and the result is potentially flawed anyway for most users, asking too much of their understanding. So right now I am in a holding pattern, because I don't feel I can provide an update as is, not without a further update of gogcli that supports what we need. If that doesn't happen then I will need to do further updates to my GUI to work-around the issues. I have already implemented some things in that regard. For instance, when you click the ADD TO MANIFEST button, it reduces in height and displays 'adding' as the button text, while also presenting a STOP checkbox in the newly available space underneath. That can be used to cancel the manifest retrieval process for a game, but results in either no manifest entry (new game) or no update (existing game). So not ideal, but better than the user needing to understand they need to close the DOS console window to cancel the process. The user would then need to download their game via the browser links in their GOG library page or use the dreaded Galaxy to download Offline Installers via its Extras option. I've done a similar thing on the Game Files Selector window, with a new (repurposed) checkbox there. In that instance though, it is a three state checkbox. With a tick, the download process checks if the file available from GOG is still the same version as in the manifest, and retrieves required new values if not (file name, checksum, bytes, etc). With the block state, it is a timed scenario, where after the checking process times out after 5 minutes and aborts. The unchecked state means no checking. In most cases, this checking process is not needed, but it does occasionally happen for some of us (happened a several times for me now), that GOG update game files right when you are in the midst of downloading them, and as I am sure you can appreciate, games files that are partly one version and partly another are no use as a backup. The checking process, as you may have already seen, also stores and presents an Alert if a file version change has occurred. This three state checkbox can be temporarily changed during the download process, and can reduce the checking period to the 5 minute timeout or cancel the checking altogether. Once again, I felt I needed to provide that, rather than the user needing to understand they need to close the DOS console window to cancel the process. I am considering adding a timeout feature to the ADD TO MANIFEST button process, and certainly will if gogcli doesn't do what we need. The issue with a timeout for that though, is determining when it should occur, as unlike the checking process on the Game Files Selector window for a single file, the process is potentially getting manifest data for multiple files, and certainly for some games, a lot of them. We really don't want a timeout to occur too soon, just as we don't want it to get manifest data by using the long work-around method. Anyway, right now we are between a rock and a hard place. P.S. I am also testing and working on a program to get the basic data needed for downloading ... download links, file names, file sizes (bytes). But alas I don't know right now, how to get checksums, not without using gogcli or gogrepo.py. I may incorporate code from that program into my GUI once satisfied, or it already exports to a minimal manifest for a game, that can be imported for use with my GUI to use in the Game Files Selector window, minus the checksums. You could download the game files that way, and then use my GOGPlus Download Checker program to validate them.

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On Fri, 30 Aug 2024 at 23:51, Tim Hall ***@***.***> wrote: Okay, thanks for the feedback. Thanks for the link reminder. I'll look into it and provide an update soon. I think I know what the issue might be, but are quite busy right now. I also need to deal with the two factor login that GitHub has imposed on me, which is not like other 2FA I use, so painful and annoying. The later updates to my GUI, and there has been several, feature new abilities, some of which will likely be tricky for some (perhaps most) users, so I am considering creating a guide. On Sat, 24 Aug 2024 at 22:29, Gaerthal-Estelmist ***@***.***> wrote: > "Are you maybe talking about downloads failing to show up in the download > window? Or do you mean the actual downloading process fails?" > > Downloads show up without problems. I mean when I choose a game to > download, and I try to start the download, they all give error "FAILED". > Meaning, the actual downloading process fails. I have no idea why this may > happen because it works in the beginning (let's say 2 days ago), but may > not work after a while (let's say today, nothing changes in between). > Reinstalling everything solves this problem (until next fail) so at least I > got that going for me. Using Windows 8.1 here. > > I'm sure many people use your program because it is still a major problem > to download games via browser from GOG and this is the only stable option. > > And yes, I'd love to have the latest version whenever you have the time. > Also, when you update that link, please let me know so that I can close > this issue. Have a good day! > > — > Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub > <#3 (comment)>, > or unsubscribe > <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AESHGWNTDY3MV6NRBABVV3DZTB7ULAVCNFSM6AAAAAAYM4KQDGVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZDGMBYGM4DMMZQHE> > . > You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: > ***@***.***> >