Today I've tried to verify/repair one of my good old game's files (the particular game in question is "Beneath A Steel Sky", though I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that all other of the good old games that are currently getting bundled with ScummVM in their GOG installation package would have exactly same problem, so this is not a message that pertains to one single game only, but to pretty much every GOG-distributed release that comes automatically bundled with ScummVM upon the game's installation), through an option available at GOG/GOG Galaxy and I've noticed a pretty bizarre thing happening:

As it stands right now (at the moment of me writing down this message), GOG is automatically bundling ScummVM version 2.0.0 with it's good old games, which is a 2017 release. ScummVM has been officially updated to stable version 2.1.0 roughly a month ago (October of 2019) and it's a massively improved rendition of ScummVM in comparison to that of the previous (2 years old) release.

The main problem lies in the fact that, when you have any good old game installed and you apply the "verify/repair" option from the said games' menus (via GOG Galaxy or on the site), GOG's system is downloading ScummVM 2.0.0 AND OVERWRITES IT OVER A NEWER VERSION! Yes, GOG is automatically installing OLDER (inferior) ScummVM over a NEWER (much better) one, when you're trying to verify or repair your game files! And it doesn't even ask from the user if a user wants to overwrite the said files or not! It overwrites the files immediately and without any prior consent whatsoever! And it's clearly not aware of newer version of the software already being installed, so it writes an inferior older release of ScummVM over a new better one while completely disregarding the end user's preferences!

This is clearly a major problem and should be fixed, either by updating GOG's bundled ScummVM to the proper latest official release, so that ALL of the good old games which come bundled with ScummVM would have ScummVM 2.1.0 (or newer, down the line) by default, instead of the clearly inferior and much older 2.0.0 version, or by making GOG's updater/fixer ScummVM version-aware so that it doesn't immediately write the bundled version it has over the one that's already installed (and if it sees that there's already a ScummVM available - it should ask first from the user for the permission on any file modifications). Please fix this ASAP, because as it stands at this current time being we (the users of GOG service) are simply afraid to use GOG's game file verifying/repairing feature because it writes older ScummVM over a newer (that was either updated from ScummVM's own integrated options, or was manually installed from official site) one! That is a very big no-no and messes up the overall experience of using GOG's services quite significantly!

Thank you in advance for any reply (if any at all) and have a nice dawn/morning/noon/day/evening/dusk/night.

If you want any kind of control on your games, I would strongly suggest *not* using Galaxy.

The thing is, the version they're already using is already fully tested. They have no reason fix what isn't broken. I'm not sure what you expect. You say it does it without getting any consent at all, but you literally gave consent when you asked it to repair the installation. The whole purpose of that feature is to make sure your installation is exactly as GOG sells it, so of course it's going to undo whatever changes you've made (e.g. changing to a newer version of ScummVM). You've already granted permission by telling it to verify/repair your installation.

This really is a load of fuss over nothing.

That is a rather ignorant approach to the issue (and there IS an issue present). GOG doesn't "sell" ScummVM, because ScummVM is an emulator and it's completely free. It's just bundled for free alongside. When I, as you say, "gave consent" - I gave it for the repairing of game's (in this case - BASS) files only, NOT for the touching of the third-party software that is ScummVM. ScummVM's files are NOT game's own files. ScummVM is NOT "Beneath A Steel Sky". ONLY game's own files should've been renewed, while ScummVM shouldn't have been touched upon by the "fixing/verifying" system at all. Yet it was. And it did that very badly so.

As others have said it's the nature of Galaxy. If you want manual control over your ScummVM version, and GOG isn't going to update them, the best way is to simply install it directly from ScummVM.org, then create folder names like:-

C:\Games\ScummVM\Beneath A Steel Sky
C:\Games\ScummVM\Sam & Max Hit The Road
C:\Games\ScummVM\The Dig

(where "C:\Games" is wherever your normal gaming install directory is, and copy / move the required data files (list of files required per game is here) over from the normal GOG installation to above relevant folders, then add each game using ScummVM's "Add Game" menu. The advantage of this is that once you have it set up just right, you can 1. Zip the whole lot up at once then for future reinstalls you can unzip and "install" dozens of games at once, 2. You only need one copy of ScummVM installed (not one per game) which saves a lot of space, 3. You can update ScummVM version in future without changing any game files (and Galaxy won't break anything either), 4. It works just as well for non-GOG ScummVM games you may have (eg, disc-based Blade Runner, The Neverhood, etc).

I read this kinda stuff time and time again and as much as I agree that it's great and necessary Galaxy being optional, this is simply not true. In Galaxy you can in fact turn off automatic updating and select any previous version of a game that was once available on GOG. Even if the offline installer for this version is no longer available.

EDIT: Needless to say, this fixes OPs problem as well since Galaxy would not attempt to tinker with any modified installations.
However, I agree that AB2012's solution makes a lot more sense - especially if you have multiple ScummVM games. Saves you a lot of redundancy.

If you must do such you should run the game/scumm outside of galaxy....then in the scumm/save menu(F5) you can go to the scumm menu, and from there click options and go to the page with an update button......it will then update your copy quickly/easily, though you may then need to reset some scumm settings.

Also a tip: I usually install ScummVM itself to a folder in c:\games, and then I add the needed files(Listed on scumms website) to subfolders(named for each game) within the main scumm folder and set them up to all run via the same copy of scumm. A bit more work, but it cuts down on copies of scumm needed and allows one to run all gog scumm games via the same menu/scumm copy and keep scumm updated easier.

===========================Even though it is bundled with the gog game files scumm is still(due to how the verify program is setup/made) checked as well during such verifications and if it differs from the one shipped with the gog games then it is reset.

Again, my advice above works wonders for such instead of the repair option.....update via the main scumm interface(which one can get to via the pause menu for scumm games(F5) via the options button, then looking for the update option on one of the options pages, OR just making a scummVM folder with a new scumm install and dumping the gog game files(only the needed ones, listed on the ScummVm website) into subfolders in the main scummVM folder & then setting up that copy of scumm to run said games. Hope this helps. :)

======================And ninja'd by a much better speaker than myself......this will work wonders, Op....

*Tips hat to AB2012*

<—

You can easily just install ScummVM yourself from their website and use a backup file of the game data. You'll never need to touch the GOG version again after that.

GOG sells a package that includes a particular version of ScummVM. You're free to use any other version of ScummVM, but if you tell Galaxy to repair your installation, of course it's going to restore the version of ScummVM that GOG includes. That's just common sense. And tell me, where was this version of ScummVM that it shouldn't have touched? Was it by any chance placed in the folder of the BASS installation? Did you perhaps overwrite the included ScummVM file with your own? Then yes, by clicking verify/repair you asked Galaxy to fix any files in that folder that aren't the same as when they came from GOG. You not only gave permission for it to downgrade your ScummVM file, you asked it to.

If Galaxy was going into your standalone ScummVM folder and changing things then there would be a problem. Is that what it did?

GOG did update the installers for ScummVM games to 2.0.0 back then. Are the advantages of 2.1.0 over 2.0.0 enough to repeat the process again? As they'd need to test every new build, you could expect the process to take some time.

What happens if you install a game that comes with ScummVM on a system that already has it installed? Are you always better extracting the files and adding them to your own ScummVM instead of using the GOG installer?

At least with offline installers, a new instance of ScummVM is placed in each new game folder, so it won't affect an already present version of ScummVM. I can't tell about Galaxy.

It should be fine.

Dunno about others but I usually just install ScummVM to it's own folder(usually in c:\games) and then i copy the gog files that are needed to a subfolder in that scummvm subfolder and setup scummvm to run such.

It allows me to have less disc space used(don't need multiple copies of scummvm or extra gog files), less clutter in my file system, keep all the games in one place/copy of scummvm, etc.

This. The work/resources needed to test ever ScummVM game on 2.1.0 vs 2.0.0 (when they were fully functional) would be cost prohibitive.

In theory, GoG could code something that allows you to repair only game files or emulator files, but for the vast majority of users, this would just cause confusion and would take effort to do.

I have some sympathy for OP, but feels like a lesson learned rather than a major crisis...