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Extremely slow downloads, take 2
And still the updating problem i have is not resolved. It might be a problem of my internet provider (i tried other providers too), or my system (i tried on other systems too) but updating the client (actually downloading the 260-ish kilobytes) usually takes between 4 and 11 hours for me, and that is extremely bad ...
Now, here is my question. If the actual updates are small, why cant we have them as a download link on the site, download them directly, have them automatically extracted to the directory where updater expects them, and then some magic happens and I can play the game.
And a note to all good-willed people who might reply to this post, i did try to reconfigure my router, i connected to the internet without it, i tried the download on several different PC's (including windows, linux, and MacOS), so please dont tell me to try those things :)
Now, here is my question. If the actual updates are small, why cant we have them as a download link on the site, download them directly, have them automatically extracted to the directory where updater expects them, and then some magic happens and I can play the game.
And a note to all good-willed people who might reply to this post, i did try to reconfigure my router, i connected to the internet without it, i tried the download on several different PC's (including windows, linux, and MacOS), so please dont tell me to try those things :)
i didnt see this in your list...
did you try downloading from multiple mirrors?
did you try downloading from multiple mirrors?
If the actual updates are small, why cant we have them as a download link on the site, download them directly, have them automatically extracted to the directory where updater expects them, and then some magic happens and I can play the game.
Well, because we're not magicians. That would require packing up some kind of self-extracting update for all platforms. You'd have to install all of them in the correct order (which is a side effect of them being small). It's doable in theory I suppose, but it'd be easier and better if the updater worked better and had mirrors, especially in the case where there are multiple updates available.
who me: you can't *update* from multiple mirrors. That's really what we need to do.
Well, because we're not magicians. That would require packing up some kind of self-extracting update for all platforms. You'd have to install all of them in the correct order (which is a side effect of them being small). It's doable in theory I suppose, but it'd be easier and better if the updater worked better and had mirrors, especially in the case where there are multiple updates available.
who me: you can't *update* from multiple mirrors. That's really what we need to do.
well, if the update was managed by a torrent, it would distribute the download a bit.
current population pool might not be big enough for sustained seeders, but throwing in some unfinished ship porn might bring a higher level of coopration amongst the feature-starved geeks out there.
:p
current population pool might not be big enough for sustained seeders, but throwing in some unfinished ship porn might bring a higher level of coopration amongst the feature-starved geeks out there.
:p
Well, maybe not a torrent, I'm pretty sure the devs could intergrate a more bandwidth friendly solution right into the client. I actually like this idea though, when the player base gets large enough of course, but there would always have to be a http fallback, because of course there would be the option to disable uploading updates while playing, but I'm pretty sure it would be possible for all players online to upload the update at around 30kbps wihout lag at minimum, unless yer on dialup of course.
We actually have an HTTP-based updater, too, but we abandoned it due to the prevalence of transparent proxies and things that break it in really interesting ways (mainly because I'm trying to do tricky things with HTTP to try to resume transfers and to check the local consistency).
I'd strongly prefer to use it, but we'd need to screw around with debugging the Internet for a month to get it all to work. And the worst part is that it'll work fine if we give it to people for beta testing, but if we switch to it as the "official" updater, problems will crawl out of the woodwork all the time. This is what happened last time, anyway.
I'd strongly prefer to use it, but we'd need to screw around with debugging the Internet for a month to get it all to work. And the worst part is that it'll work fine if we give it to people for beta testing, but if we switch to it as the "official" updater, problems will crawl out of the woodwork all the time. This is what happened last time, anyway.
As a corollary, I downloaded the complete game from scratch for my new PC and the entire process from initial download to being ingame took me less than 15 minutes.
Of course, I'm right next to the server and on cable, but still, I think the server is fine, it's the connections between the server and elsewhere. It's the tubes.
Of course, I'm right next to the server and on cable, but still, I think the server is fine, it's the connections between the server and elsewhere. It's the tubes.
well, if the update was managed by a torrent, it would distribute the download a bit.
It would also block a lot of users from playing VO at all, because our ISPs block torrent files.
It would also block a lot of users from playing VO at all, because our ISPs block torrent files.