Can anyone who has bought a game on GFWL give me the lowdown on how backing up the files would work?

For example I usually buy my digital games on Gamersgate or Direct2Drive because I like that you get a simple install file you can backup. If they have DRM on them it is separate from the downloader, so it's sort of like GOG only they activate during/after install.

So my question is with GFWL do you get a simple install file you can run without the GFWL client running?

Ends up they have a free game on there, Tinker, and it is completely DRM free. I downloaded it through the client, then closed the client and unplugged my internet. Installed Tinker from the file I downloaded and it installed and played fine. I then backed up the file.

So that's excellent. Does every game on there work like this? I know most games would have some kind of other DRM on them, but I mean do most install without GFWL being involved?

from my experience most of the ones that work and or don't suck do not involve GFWL at all

I have a few games from GFWLM (STALKER, Viva Piñata, Age of Empires 3). Downloading through the client gives me a bunch of .cab files, which are promptly deleted after installing the game (again through the client). Haven't tried backing up the files before installing though.

Yeah, it downloads them as a sort of temp file but I simply moved Tinker to the desktop, closed GFWL, then installed it myself.

This is how I created an actual DVD from my AoE3 download: http://didimatic.com/forum/index.php/topic,190.0.html

Can you explain what this means? When you tried to install AoE3 outside of GFWL it wanted to use the client? Or had some other kind of activation on it?

AoE3 on disc was DRM free for singleplayer, as was the norm back then.