GOG store uses adtraction hyperlink, which gets blocked by adblockers

[gregzme17]

Describe the bug

the GOG store redirects to https://af.gog.com?as=1838482841, which redirects to (https://track.adtraction.com/t/t?a=1578845458&as=1838482841&t=2&tk=1&url=http://www.gog.com), which redirects to (https://www.gog.com/?utm_campaign=adtraction&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_source=adtraction)

This mess of adtraction based links and redirects seems unnecessary, especially because it breaks if you have adblockers built into your router.

Can you remove the adtraction link and have the store just go to www.gog.com?

Add logs

(14:35:44) INFO:    [Legendary]:        Legendary location: /opt/Heroic/resources/app.asar.unpacked/build/bin/linux/legendary
(14:35:44) INFO:    [Gog]:              GOGDL location: /opt/Heroic/resources/app.asar.unpacked/build/bin/linux/gogdl
(14:35:44) INFO:    [Connection]:       Connectivity: check-online
(14:35:44) INFO:    [Connection]:       Pinging external endpoints
(14:35:44) INFO:    [Gog]:              Checking for existing gog manifests
(14:35:44) INFO:    [Backend]:          DRM module staus {
  "oimompecagnajdejgnnjijobebaeigek": {
    "name": "Widevine Content Decryption Module",
    "status": "new",
    "version": "4.10.2710.0"
  }
}
(14:35:44) WARNING: [Backend]:          Protocol already registered.
(14:35:44) INFO:    [Legendary]:        Running command: LEGENDARY_CONFIG_PATH=/home/pagandegree/.config/heroic/legendaryConfig/legendary /opt/Heroic/resources/app.asar.unpacked/build/bin/linux/legendary --version
(14:35:44) INFO:    [Gog]:              Running command: GOGDL_CONFIG_PATH=/home/pagandegree/.config/heroic/gogdlConfig /opt/Heroic/resources/app.asar.unpacked/build/bin/linux/gogdl --auth-config-path /home/pagandegree/.config/heroic/gog_store/auth.json --version
(14:35:44) INFO:    [Nile]:             Running command: NILE_CONFIG_PATH=/home/pagandegree/.config/heroic/nile_config /opt/Heroic/resources/app.asar.unpacked/build/bin/linux/nile --version
(14:35:44) INFO:    [Backend]:          
System Information:
CPU: 16x AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 8-Core Processor
Memory: 32.81 GB (used: 5 GB)
GPUs:
  GPU 0:
    Name: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Raphael
    IDs: D=164e V=1002 SD=8877 SV=1043
    Driver: amdgpu
  GPU 1:
    Name: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Navi 31 [Radeon RX 7900 XT/7900 XTX/7900M]
    IDs: D=744c V=1002 SD=5302 SV=1849
    Driver: amdgpu
OS: Linux Mint 21.3 (Virginia) (linux)

The current system is not a Steam Deck
We are not running inside a Flatpak container

Software Versions:
  Heroic: 2.13.0 Dorry & Broggy
  Legendary: 0.20.34 Direct Intervention
  gogdl: 1.0.0
  Nile: 1.0.1 Jonathan Joestar

(14:35:44) INFO:    [Frontend]:         Refreshing undefined Library
(14:35:44) WARNING: [Backend]:          refresh not implemented on Sideload Library Manager
(14:35:44) INFO:    [Legendary]:        Refreshing library...
(14:35:44) INFO:    [Connection]:       Connectivity: online
(14:35:44) INFO:    [Gog]:              Running command: GOGDL_CONFIG_PATH=/home/pagandegree/.config/heroic/gogdlConfig /opt/Heroic/resources/app.asar.unpacked/build/bin/linux/gogdl --auth-config-path /home/pagandegree/.config/heroic/gog_store/auth.json auth
(14:35:44) INFO:    [Backend]:          User Not Found, removing it from Store
(14:35:44) INFO:    [Gog]:              Checking if login is valid
(14:35:44) INFO:    [Gog]:              Running command: GOGDL_CONFIG_PATH=/home/pagandegree/.config/heroic/gogdlConfig /opt/Heroic/resources/app.asar.unpacked/build/bin/linux/gogdl --auth-config-path /home/pagandegree/.config/heroic/gog_store/auth.json auth
(14:35:44) INFO:    [Backend]:          Frontend Ready
(14:35:44) WARNING: [Backend]:          listUpdateableGames not implemented on Sideload Library Manager
(14:35:44) INFO:    [Gog]:              Running command: GOGDL_CONFIG_PATH=/home/pagandegree/.config/heroic/gogdlConfig /opt/Heroic/resources/app.asar.unpacked/build/bin/linux/gogdl --auth-config-path /home/pagandegree/.config/heroic/gog_store/auth.json auth
(14:35:44) INFO:    [Backend]:          Checking for new Heroic Updates
(14:35:44) INFO:    [Backend]:          Checking for current version changelog
(14:35:44) INFO:    [Backend]:          AreWeAntiCheatYet data downloaded
(14:35:45) INFO:    [Gog]:              Saved username to config file
(14:35:46) INFO:    [Winetricks]:       Downloading Winetricks
(14:35:47) INFO:    [Gog]:              Found 0 game(s) to update
(14:35:49) INFO:    [WineDownloader]:   Updating wine versions info
(14:35:49) INFO:    [WineDownloader]:   Fetching upstream information...
(14:35:49) INFO:    [Backend]:          Starting the Download Queue
(14:35:50) INFO:    [WineDownloader]:   wine versions updated
(14:40:46) INFO:    [Connection]:       Connectivity: offline
(14:40:47) INFO:    [Connection]:       Connectivity: check-online
(14:40:47) INFO:    [Connection]:       Pinging external endpoints
(14:40:47) INFO:    [Connection]:       All ping requests failed:
(14:40:47) INFO:    [Connection]:       AggregateError: All promises were rejected
(14:40:52) INFO:    [Connection]:       Pinging external endpoints
(14:40:52) INFO:    [Connection]:       Connectivity: online

Steps to reproduce

1. Go to Heroic
2. Click on Stores, GOG Store
3. See error

Expected behavior

Open GOG store without issue

Screenshots

Heroic Version

Latest Stable

System Information

Linux Mint 21.3

Additional information

No response

[imLinguin]

Duplicate of #3569 I believe

[awalon]

This is different to issue #3569. As this case is just caused by adtraction (redirect) link https://af.gog.com (tracking) instead or regular https://gog.com (without "af" host). Works as expected after initial domain was changed to https://gog.com in file Heroic/resources/app.asar (one time, still works after Heroic was restarted).
Why there's only a tracking URL for GOG and not for Amazon and Epic, is this caused by Heroic or by GOG?

[gregzme17]

@awalon , how did you modify that asar file. Text editor or something else?

[Lariaa]

@awalon AF stands for affiliate. We teamed up with GoG and get a small amount of every purchase made within Heroic Games Launcher or a browser that uses this link,to support our infrastructure.
Neither Epic nor Amazon has a similar agreement and therefore we use the direct store links for these platforms.

@gregzme17 you don't need to modify Heroic in any way. If you don't want to support us, either use your browser or block the af domain on your system. Heroic will automatically fall back to a non-affiliate store when it can't reach the affiliate-domain

[gregzme17]

@awalon AF stands for affiliate. We teamed up with GoG and get a small amount of every purchase made within Heroic Games Launcher or a browser that uses this link,to support our infrastructure. Neither Epic nor Amazon has a similar agreement and therefore we use the direct store links for these platforms.

@gregzme17 you don't need to modify Heroic in any way. If you don't want to support us, either use your browser or block the af domain on your system. Heroic will automatically fall back to a non-affiliate store when it can't reach the affiliate-domain

@awalon its not that I dont want to support you, its that I have adblocking built into my opnsense router and the automatic redirect is not working.

[awalon]

Sorry but for me and at least some other users (see initial issue) this redirect is a bug, as the redirect isn't working and as a result GoG Store can't be used at all. "af.gog.com" is blocked by local firewall and cannot be modified here, as all tracking stays blocked.

So this modification is currently the one and only option to use this app with GoG.
Another option, which needs some adjustment within application could be a fallback without AF redirect (after some timeout an/or error message) or an tracking opt out by a onetime fee?

[Bluejay47]

Same problem, ad trackers are banned at my network firewall so the GOG store just doesn't work in Heroic on my network. There needs to be a way to disable this and just use the actual GOG site address.

[imLinguin]

I think I tracked down the issue. It's a funny one.
Basically af.gog.com is a middleware that redirects user through track.adtraction.com gatweway, which triggers tracking logic.
The way we handle a fallback is detect a failed connection to track.adtraction.com and get a URL that GOG passed down. The thing is the URL is not quite correct, failed connection going through https://af.gog.com/?as=xxx returns a https://www.gog.com:80 which is simply rejected by Heroic's webview.

For less technical people

The URL https://www.gog.com:80 is invalid because when using protocol https, it already hints port 443.
Here the port 80 is provided, which corresponds to http protocol. You see why it doesn't make much sense

[imLinguin]

Addressed in #3845