Aug 30, 2007, 12:40 PM // 12:40 | #1 |
Ascalonian Squire
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: NL, Canada
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56k - Loading core files, towns, etc.
I bought Guild Wars on Monday and it arrived yesterday. This morning I decided to go ahead and install it, but I noticed the first thing I was greeted with was a prompt to download files. I'm on dialup and have no patience so I went to the library and it downloaded those files. Great, time to play. I let it install the files off the CD, and then it prompted me to let it download more files. How fun. Close to 80MB of files, 4000 files or something, too. I let it (slowly) download them at the slow speed of 100kb/s that the library's broadband could let out and went to play it. When signing up for my account, it needed the access key, which I didn't bring so I went home, entered the access key and was really excited to play. I made my character and all that and when it was finished, it wanted to download 12,000 more files for the first city.
Seriously, does it ever end? No way I can do that with a download speed of 4kb/s. I can't make a thousand trips back and forth to the library either. Can't I just let it download everything it needs first all in one giant file and then actually play the game? Any comments appreciated! P.S. - I live in the middle of nowhere (actually 3 miles from the middle of nowhere which is 30 miles from somewhere) so broadband isn't an option. |
Aug 30, 2007, 12:47 PM // 12:47 | #2 |
Krytan Explorer
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: England,UK
Guild: Incredible Edible Bookah [YUM]
Profession: R/
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yes you can...
use the -image in the desktop shortcut and it will d/l ALL GW files so you right click on the gw desktop short cut and where it says target enter a space and -image and it will dl all |
Aug 30, 2007, 12:51 PM // 12:51 | #3 | |
Ascalonian Squire
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: NL, Canada
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What about if updates are released in the future? I'll still have to download them, right? |
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Aug 30, 2007, 12:58 PM // 12:58 | #4 |
Jungle Guide
Join Date: Nov 2005
Profession: W/Mo
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Take a break...
Step 1: Right click on your GW shortcut icon. Click on "properties". Step 2: Locate the target. It's a line in properties where you can see something like "my computer/shitty programs/Gw.exe". Step 3: Add -image to the end of this line (so your target is like this:"my computer/shitty programs/Gw.exe" -image). Step 4. Click on Okay or apply. Step 5: Double left click on the modded shortcut. It will download EVERY FILE on one big donwload. It is advised to do thos before going sleeping if you have a 56k. Step 6: Play and Enjoy. With a 56k though, it is unadvised to play with people in PvP. You numerous lags/disconnects will really piss off some guys. |
Aug 30, 2007, 12:59 PM // 12:59 | #5 |
Krytan Explorer
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: England,UK
Guild: Incredible Edible Bookah [YUM]
Profession: R/
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Yep, if there are updates then you'll need to dl them. doing the -image will give all town etc details, usually the updates arent to bad, occassioanly there will be bigger ones so you're dial up should handle the updates ok
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Aug 30, 2007, 12:59 PM // 12:59 | #6 | |
Wilds Pathfinder
Join Date: Sep 2005
Guild: Pwn Appetit [NJoy]
Profession: W/
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I have dial up as well and I always read these forums to try to get advanced notice on how large the updates will be, usually its doable on a 56K but when a new expansion or chapter comes out I always try to do a -image at a high speed location. Also for dial up users I recommend making a backup of your GW.dat file (around 3.5GB) because if you get a new comp or you decide to reformat or whatever happens, its nice to not have to start completely over. |
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Aug 30, 2007, 01:08 PM // 13:08 | #7 |
Ascalonian Squire
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: NL, Canada
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Can the -image download be paused and resumed in the event that it's not done before the library closes? I'll have about 4 hours (I think) to do it or less and I don't know if it can download all 88340 files at 60-100kb/s within that time.
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Aug 30, 2007, 01:36 PM // 13:36 | #8 | |
Site Contributor
Join Date: Jun 2005
Profession: R/
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Another good idea, instead of modifying your gw shortcut, make a new one. Just copy and past next to it. Add the -image to the target and then change the shortcut name to image downloader or something. That way you can do it on a regular basis without having to change your gw shortcut. |
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Aug 30, 2007, 01:39 PM // 13:39 | #9 |
Ascalonian Squire
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: NL, Canada
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You didn't get what I meant. I want to download all 88340 files as soon as possible but if I don't get them done in time and there are some left but I have to go, can I just stop the download and let it start again some other time from where it left off?
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Aug 30, 2007, 01:49 PM // 13:49 | #10 |
Lion's Arch Merchant
Join Date: Mar 2006
Profession: Mo/
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Gw.dat is 3.5 GB, easily under the 4.2 GB limit of a DVD-R. A 1 GB USB thumb drive is also under US$20. And yes, the download is resumable, but not ideal. I don't know if GW has error checking for the DAT file, so you may run the risk of corrupting files if you do that. Having said that, I've done it a few times without a problem.
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Aug 30, 2007, 01:58 PM // 13:58 | #11 | ||
Site Contributor
Join Date: Jun 2005
Profession: R/
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Aug 30, 2007, 02:02 PM // 14:02 | #12 | |||
Ascalonian Squire
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: NL, Canada
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One last question: Any idea on how big the 88340 files are? Are they 3.5GB or does the 3.5GB include what I installed off the two CDs? Last edited by ~NeonFire372~; Aug 30, 2007 at 02:05 PM // 14:05.. |
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Aug 30, 2007, 02:11 PM // 14:11 | #13 |
Krytan Explorer
Join Date: Aug 2005
Guild: Black Cats
Profession: E/Mo
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All those files are stored in a single file (called gw.dat) which, when fully up-to-date, is ~3.5GB.
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Aug 30, 2007, 02:11 PM // 14:11 | #14 |
Forge Runner
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Mancland, British Empire
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Yeah, right now the total size of GW.dat is around 3.5 gb, included the files from the install cds/dvd.
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Aug 30, 2007, 02:32 PM // 14:32 | #15 |
Ascalonian Squire
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: NL, Canada
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My current Gw.dat file is 1.17GB so I still have another 2.33GB to download?
If I download part of it and then take the -image command off the shortcut, can I play the beginning of the game? Or would that corrupt it? |
Aug 30, 2007, 05:25 PM // 17:25 | #16 | |
Frost Gate Guardian
Join Date: Aug 2006
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I would suggest have some patience and wait for the entire update to finish, or else you might cause yourself more frustration if the dat corrupts and you have download it all over again. |
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Aug 30, 2007, 06:47 PM // 18:47 | #17 |
Forge Runner
Join Date: Mar 2007
Guild: Astral Revenants
Profession: P/W
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Some people posting have serious reading comprehension problems.
To answer one of the previous questions, if you close GW.exe while it's downloading and open it later, it'll automatically resume downloading the files you have yet obtained. It won't start from scratch again. I don't think leaving your laptop at the library would be a good idea. |
Aug 30, 2007, 08:14 PM // 20:14 | #18 | |
Site Contributor
Join Date: Jun 2005
Profession: R/
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Aug 30, 2007, 08:36 PM // 20:36 | #19 | |
Ascalonian Squire
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: NL, Canada
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Aug 30, 2007, 09:40 PM // 21:40 | #20 |
Krytan Explorer
Join Date: Aug 2005
Guild: Black Cats
Profession: E/Mo
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In answer to your last question, while you can use -image to download part of it and then stop it relatively safely, there is no guarantee the files downloaded will be for the beginning of the game rather than the end.
Also, the amount you will be downloading will be less than 3.5GB because the files are downloaded in a compressed state. |
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