Sorrow's Furnace and Dial-up Users - Guild Wars Forums

Wolfie_ · Sep 08, 2005, 01:10 AM // 01:10

As I understand it, the Sorrow's Furnace update will consist on two brand new locations: Grenth's Footprint which will be located "on the eastern slopes of Lornar's Pass, north of Camp Rankor rests the deep, slag-strewn expanse of Grenth's Footprint" (quote taken from GW web site), and Sorrow's Furnace which will be reached through Grenth's Foorprint.

I am thinking if these are totally new content (and not content already included on the installation CDs, and just needing "unlocking" by Anet), then we're going to have to download the terrain map, new monster models, sound effects, etc etc, it could potentially be a 30-40Mb download (purely a guessing). For modem users, this could take some time (while the streaming technology used by GW is great, in the case of a new location, much of the data would need to be present before being able to enter). So my quest is for some kind-hearted soul to note down how large (in terms of megabytes) the download for each of these two new areas is.

TIA

One and Two · Sep 08, 2005, 01:13 AM // 01:13

err...i dont notice cus it downloads so fast usually. but yeah, they should release a patch for bigger updates, cus it sucks for you people.

Aniewiel · Sep 08, 2005, 01:14 AM // 01:14

Good idea and you might also want to look on the official site to see if they note the download size.

*makes a note to self*

Wolfie_ · Sep 09, 2005, 12:03 AM // 00:03

Well I can half-answer my own question now

Grenth's Footprint: When entering Grenth's Footprint for the first time, the location loading screen downloaded about 1.1MB of content before continuing, and when warped back to a town, had an extra 6.3MB streamed in the background.

Wolfie_ · Sep 09, 2005, 09:01 AM // 09:01

And now for the second half of answering my own question!

Sorrow's Furnace: First time in the location screen downloaded about 2.5MB of content before continuing (it did time-out on me midway through, so had to add two attempts together), and there was no streamed download upon returning to a town, so would appear that's the lot.

mm00re · Sep 09, 2005, 07:03 PM // 19:03

The download time is really not all that bad, I play on dial-up for 1 more week and then i get my dsl service.

What is the most irritating is when you zone into an area with a group, and you had told them it might take me a minute extra to join you because of dial-up they say ok no prob.

You get there and poof they are either almost all dead, or have left your game entirely because they died once and can't face having a death penalty.

I had 4 groups in a row do this on a run to the war camp.

People are supposed to be working as a team instead of every one of them running into a battle without the whole group there for support.

RRAAWWRRR!!!!!

my gratuitous gripe of the day, thanks

Nisha · Sep 09, 2005, 07:09 PM // 19:09

I don't remember Grenth's but Sorrow's Furnace was 311 files for me, about 7. something mb and roughly half an hour, maybe less, of download time. I made dinner while waiting

That's on 56k.

Wolfie_ · Sep 10, 2005, 11:11 PM // 23:11

Yeah, I hear ya. I've made the suggestion to ArenaNet that they colour the party "grey bar" differently for when user is downloading (ie, so other team members would see your name bar in the party window as a shade of yellow for example when you're on the "loading screen" instead of the greyed out look because a user has bugged out), but had no response to the idea.

Would also be nice to include a time estimate on our loading screens, so for example if say more than 5 seconds has past at 5% downloaded, then use time elapsed as an estimate and add a "Estimated mm:ss remaining" or something underneth the percentage bar.

But all told, the game plays wonderfully well for players in remote locations over a modem. Many of my guild mates are US-based, with large DSL bandwidths, and they often forget I'm on poorly dial-up because there's no performance difference (until something like a long load screen comes along).

Phaetos · Sep 11, 2005, 01:44 AM // 01:44

Odd, on my cable modem, it only took about 30 seconds, and it showed only about 2 megs worth to download the first few times I zoned in and out. I haven't seen any downloads that large.

Sep 08, 2005, 01:10 AM // 01:10	#1
Wolfie_ Ascalonian Squire Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Australia Guild: Wizardry Players Guild	Sorrow's Furnace and Dial-up Users As I understand it, the Sorrow's Furnace update will consist on two brand new locations: *Grenth's Footprint* which will be located "on the eastern slopes of Lornar's Pass, north of Camp Rankor rests the deep, slag-strewn expanse of Grenth's Footprint" (quote taken from GW web site), and *Sorrow's Furnace* which will be reached through Grenth's Foorprint. I am thinking if these are totally new content (and not content already included on the installation CDs, and just needing "unlocking" by Anet), then we're going to have to download the terrain map, new monster models, sound effects, etc etc, it could potentially be a 30-40Mb download (purely a guessing). For modem users, this could take some time (while the streaming technology used by GW is great, in the case of a new location, much of the data would need to be present before being able to enter). So my quest is for some kind-hearted soul to note down how large (in terms of megabytes) the download for each of these two new areas is. TIA Last edited by Wolfie_; Sep 08, 2005 at 01:13 AM // 01:13..

Sep 09, 2005, 07:03 PM // 19:03	#6
mm00re Frost Gate Guardian Join Date: May 2005 Location: In a van down by the river :) Guild: After Dark Club [REAL] Profession: W/Mo	The download time is really not all that bad, I play on dial-up for 1 more week and then i get my dsl service. What is the most irritating is when you zone into an area with a group, and you had told them it might take me a minute extra to join you because of dial-up they say ok no prob. You get there and poof they are either almost all dead, or have left your game entirely because they died once and can't face having a death penalty. I had 4 groups in a row do this on a run to the war camp. People are supposed to be working as a team instead of every one of them running into a battle without the whole group there for support. RRAAWWRRR!!!!! my gratuitous gripe of the day, thanks Last edited by mm00re; Sep 09, 2005 at 07:30 PM // 19:30.. Reason: typo's :p

Sep 10, 2005, 11:11 PM // 23:11	#8
Wolfie_ Ascalonian Squire Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Australia Guild: Wizardry Players Guild	Yeah, I hear ya. I've made the suggestion to ArenaNet that they colour the party "grey bar" differently for when user is downloading (ie, so other team members would see your name bar in the party window as a shade of yellow for example when you're on the "loading screen" instead of the greyed out look because a user has bugged out), but had no response to the idea. Would also be nice to include a time estimate on our loading screens, so for example if say more than 5 seconds has past at 5% downloaded, then use time elapsed as an estimate and add a "Estimated mm:ss remaining" or something underneth the percentage bar. But all told, the game plays wonderfully well for players in remote locations over a modem. Many of my guild mates are US-based, with large DSL bandwidths, and they often forget I'm on poorly dial-up because there's no performance difference (until something like a long load screen comes along). Last edited by Wolfie_; Sep 10, 2005 at 11:32 PM // 23:32..

Sep 08, 2005, 01:13 AM // 01:13	#2
One and Two Jungle Guide Join Date: Aug 2005	err...i dont notice cus it downloads so fast usually. but yeah, they should release a patch for bigger updates, cus it sucks for you people.

Sep 08, 2005, 01:14 AM // 01:14	#3
Aniewiel Smite Mistress Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: The Land of AZ, USA Profession: Rt/E	Good idea and you might also want to look on the official site to see if they note the download size. makes a note to self

Sep 09, 2005, 12:03 AM // 00:03	#4
Wolfie_ Ascalonian Squire Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Australia Guild: Wizardry Players Guild	Well I can half-answer my own question now *Grenth's Footprint*: When entering Grenth's Footprint for the first time, the location loading screen downloaded about 1.1MB of content before continuing, and when warped back to a town, had an extra 6.3MB streamed in the background.

Sep 09, 2005, 09:01 AM // 09:01	#5
Wolfie_ Ascalonian Squire Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Australia Guild: Wizardry Players Guild	And now for the second half of answering my own question! *Sorrow's Furnace*: First time in the location screen downloaded about 2.5MB of content before continuing (it did time-out on me midway through, so had to add two attempts together), and there was no streamed download upon returning to a town, so would appear that's the lot.

Sep 09, 2005, 07:09 PM // 19:09	#7
Nisha Ascalonian Squire Join Date: Jul 2005 Profession: E/W	I don't remember Grenth's but Sorrow's Furnace was 311 files for me, about 7. something mb and roughly half an hour, maybe less, of download time. I made dinner while waiting That's on 56k.

Sep 11, 2005, 01:44 AM // 01:44	#9
Phaetos Ascalonian Squire Join Date: Jun 2005	Odd, on my cable modem, it only took about 30 seconds, and it showed only about 2 megs worth to download the first few times I zoned in and out. I haven't seen any downloads that large.