Weeks after generating tons of goodwill among fans for the Good Old Games Preservation program, pledging to continue support for WarCraft Battlechest after Activision made them delist the games, and bringing back Dino Crisis 1 & 2, GOG made a surprising announcement. As it turns out, they haven’t been doing the community right for one particular title.
They made this announcement in the official GOG forums:
“Hey everyone!
We’ll be removing Daggerfall Unity – GOG Cut from our store on February 12th at 2 PM UTC.
We’ve made this decision because, at this time, the pack is outdated and no longer fulfills its purpose of providing a hassle-free modded experience to the game.
Rest assured, anyone who already has it in their library will, of course, keep it.
We’re also working on a solution that will allow us to publish and maintain such projects better in the future, so stay tuned!”
If you read through the replies to that post, you will see GOG users are all over the place, either heckling GOG, defending them, or lecturing them to “ask the modders” next time. But on its face, you will likely be asking the same thing we did, which is: what is going on here? We’re going to provide as clear an explanation as possible, but you can also watch this YouTube to get the perspective of someone from this game’s fan community.
As you may know, The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall was a 1996 release from Bethesda, that pushed the envelope on role playing in creating a persistent world reactive to your actions. That game is on GOG, and is part of the Good Old Games Preservation Project.
However, there is another version of the game on GOG called Daggerfall Unity. This is a version of The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall that runs on Unity. In this way, it has been modernized so it can be stable on modern systems, and also has modernized controls.
Daggerfall Unity is the latest and most popular iteration of decades of mods from fans that have sought to fix and improve the original game. As such, other modders have also applied their own mods. In this way, enthusiasts have made their own versions of Daggerfall that plays exactly to their liking.
GOG made their own version of this game, called Daggerfall Unity – GOG Edition. GOG chose specific mods to go with Daggerfall Unity to provide a player experience that casual gamers can just download and play. Because they host it on the GOG storefront, it was also the most prominent and popular version of Daggerfall Unity online.
However, GOG faced a lot of flak from the community, including from the mods themselves. Some of these modders allege that they were not asked permission by GOG beforehand, and other say they were only notified the day they launched GOG Edition.
On another level, the players also claim that GOG’s curation does not fairly represent Daggerfall Unity. Their version of the game does not work with some popular mods, and some fans also criticize the mods chosen and how GOG applied them.
But the issue should be seen on a broader level, when it comes to video game mods, video game preservation, and the conflict between the gaming community and industry. While GOG work hard to make versions of games that make gamers happy, in this case, they didn’t consult with the community beforehand to understand what the players wanted and needed.
But GOG also faces a bigger issue on the unique nature of Daggerfall Unity itself. Many Daggerfall mods don’t actually work with each other. And as newer version of Daggerfall Unity came out, the mods that kept up with the newer versions stopped being compatible with Daggerfall Unity – GOG Edition.
So when GOG says that they were ‘working on a solution,’ that was probably not just PR speak. They realized that they had this dilemma facing them, because they wanted to make a version of Daggerfall Unity that they would themselves support and keep compatible.
If Daggerfall Unity is to return to GOG, GOG has to find a way to keep it up to date with the versions the community keeps making, and they also have to work harder than the community in maintaining compatibility and support. While we’re sure there are a lot of Daggerfall Unity fans in their offices, GOG may not necessarily have the money to fund such an endeavor.
GOG could, of course, simply give up. But clearly, even if they made mistakes, they had a gem of an idea that could have been a net positive for everyone. GOG has done great in reviving classic games, and the communities around them.
We wish GOG the best in navigating a path to make Daggerfall Unity available, not just to the hardcore community who will take the effort to make it work, but something that can be enjoyed by everyone. But for now, it seems they have to owe up to their mistakes before they can make it right.
For the sake of posterity, we are sharing the description of Daggerfall Unity – GOG Cut as found in its store page below.
Play a reimagined version of the all-time RPG classic from The Elder Scrolls series. Daggerfall Unity – GOG Cut brings this amazing experience to modern gamers. It has been made possible thanks to a whole team of passionate creators working under the banner of Daggerfall Unity.
This ambitious project, launched over a decade ago by Gavin “Interkarma” Clayton, is aiming to bring the unique experience of the classic open-world RPG game to a new generation of gamers. Thanks to the efforts of the GamerZakh, a gaming content creator with a love for classics, you can now enjoy a special GOG Cut of the Daggerfall Unity title.
All you have to do is download the game and simply launch it. The GOG Cut of Daggerfall Unity doesn’t require any special actions or updates on your behalf. Thanks to settings and mods that were selected by GamerZakh you can explore the rich world of Daggerfall with enhanced visuals and gameplay.
However, please note that although we find the experience very enjoyable the work on the title is stil ongoing. Some technical issues might occur, so it’s wise to quicksave often (F9) 😀
List of mods:
D.R.E.A.M. by King of Worms – KoW
Improved Interior Lighting by ShortBeard
Better Ambience by Joshua Steinhauer
Loading screen by TheLacus
Enhanced Sky by Interkarma
Interesting Eroded Terrains by Monobelisk and Freak2121
Distant Terrain by Nystul-the-Magician
Basic Roads by Hazelnut
Real Grass 2 by Uncanny Valley – TheLacus – VMblast
Vibrant Wind by Uncanny Valley – TheLacus – VMblast
Taverns Redone by Uncanny Valley
Handpainted model replacements by AlexanderSig
Windmills of Daggerfall by Kamer
Detailed city walls by Cliffworms
Birds in Daggerfall by Uncanny Valley
Fixed dungeon exteriors by Cliffworms
Lively cities by Cliffworms
Readied Spellcasting Hands by jefetienne
Roleplay and Realism by Hazelnut
Roleplay and Realism Items by Hazelnut and Ralzar
Daggerfall Skyshards by Uncanny Valley
Airships by Kaedius
Archaeologists guild by Hazelnut
Daggerfall Unity Quest pack 1 by JayH2971
Daggerfall Unity Quest pack 2 by JayH2971
World of Daggerfall Project by World of Daggerfall Team
Bestiary by Shapur
Famous Faces of the Iliac Bay by Cliffworms
You Can Pet The Cat by technitaur
Ambient Text by Regnier
Darker Dungeons by Ralzar
Daggerfall Expanded Textures by Ninelan
Levelling Inspiration by Cliffworms
Town Descriptions And Details by imsobadatnicknames
World Tooltips by jefetienne
Convenient Quest Log by Macadaynu
JayH’s Random Little Quests by JayH2971
Travel Options by Hazelnut
