On some games (I'm looking at Strike Suit Zero right now...) the installer .exe file is just too big. For example, Strike Suit Zero, this game got 2 GB of .exe, and everytime I clicked it, I got to wait a very long time (about 3-4 minutes) before it got executed. Could GOG partition the installer so that they would only weight 500 MB max? Or is there any alternative solution?

Thanks...

NWN2 took me three days. I just turned the downloader on at midnight, turned it off at 6 am and then again for 3 nights. It should keep your rpogress even if the computer shuts down, just DON'T REMOVE it from the cache on the installer.

EDIT: I just realized we are on almost opposite sides of the world. I hope this helps anyway! :)

No, it's not downloading problem, tinyE. It's the installer .exe file that's too big, so everytime I wanted to run it, I had to wait 3-4 minutes at least.

oops, sorry, nevermind then.

I think it's because your AV is trying to scan this file, right?

Yeah. I always leave the AV on. Is that a problem?

Yes, it can be a problem in this situation. So you got 2 options:
1. turn your AV off during installation or
2. add this file to an exception list.

I also constantly use an AV and it scans every file I open. This means that sometimes I too have to wait a couple of minutes for the installer to start, yet considering that this is the reason we have them installed in the first place, I would personally advise against turning them off in order to gain a minute or two every time you open a larger installer.

Sometimes you have to turn them off and I think you are more then safe if it is a file from here. If you are downloading from some underground fetish site then I would strongly recommend keeping it ON!

I can't even play a lot of my stuff (all Lucas Arts for some reason) unless the VP is off.

Eh... No. Hugeass installers are pretty bad idea, partly because of what Devspar described, and partly because they take ages to open on Win Vista and, I think, 7 system with UAC turned on. And they should not do that, .exe file should most certainly not contain all the data files that belongs to the game - they should contain executable code itself with data in additional archives. Of course, this complicates download without the Downloader and crap like that, but... It would be the right way to do it, which turning off your anti-virus software or UAC most certainly isn't.

1) Smaller installers is more ideal yes
2) In the mean time put GOG .exe in your exception list for whatever AV you use, you're not going to get infected by GOG unless you downloaded the installer from somewhere else than GOG (and if you're worried you could always look up the MD5 signature and compare to the MD5 thread here at GOG, if there's no change -> no virus)

I agree. *.exe files should be considerably as small as possible. What's the problem with keeping exe file 1MB and the rest of the game zipped / arced / cabbed or whatever compression format?

Huge exe files are also a bigger risk of CRC errors, but that was kinda circumvented with GOG Downloader that checks file integrity on the fly (while downloading)

I'd prefer a small exe with up to several large bin files, as is the case if I download BG2, NWN2, Witcher1 and Riddick to name a few. (At least that's the case when not using the downloader).

I actually think they should expand that to only keep the download in a single exe if the size is below 500MB (at most), and split it up if it's larger. This also helps when you open a folder containing those files in windows, since the icon is located at the end of the exe or something and windows can take forever scanning that folder for the icons. (That's why I'm reduced to one folder per game now.)

Doesn't matter at all. His AV is the reason for the slow opening.

I'm generally talking about it being a bad idea to fit everything into a single .exe, not about this particular instance.