Curse

silvertemplar · May 03, 2005, 04:20 PM // 16:20

Still can't find a proper suggestion place, so here goes. Since i bought the game online and thus getting the entire game streamed to me as i play i was wondering if there's absolutely no way to stream it before i click "play" ?

They already stream the patches that way [the little zap sign on top right corner]. So how hard can it be to do a quick check on what parts of the game i don't have and starting to stream that too? Basically i can then log in, and let it sit there and it'll stream whatever i'm still missing in the meantime. If i do start playing then it obviously stops and either download on demand [like it is currently] or do so in the background somewhere.

That way i don't have to wonder when i'll hit a 50MB download in the middle of a mission with a group.

EnDinG · May 03, 2005, 04:27 PM // 16:27

I'm not quite sure what your saying.

So you bought the game online, you downloaded the game onto your computer, and you don't like how Areanet sends you information while you play?

rathstar · May 03, 2005, 04:30 PM // 16:30

I think he's saying, why wait until you actually get to Green Hills county before downloading it? You could have it being downloaded while you're chilling in Ascalon or something.

EnDinG · May 03, 2005, 04:35 PM // 16:35

Wow, no way that would happen. The amount of memory and disk space needed to "remember" all of these areas would be huge. If it was to save that information for "future" use people would have to make sure they have a very good PC to handle it.

You might need a faster computer if you want something like that to happen. It takes maybe 4 seconds for a decent computer (2.8 - 3.2 on average) to load most areas I find. Memory could also be a problem. Its all about system specs. =)

silvertemplar · May 03, 2005, 04:36 PM // 16:36

I bought an -account- online. All you get from Arenanet is a 72KB setup . This setup will first download about 30MB which is the basic login and bare bones of the game. Once you actually log in, it then downloads another 50MB which brings you to character creation screen. Once you created the char and go into Ascalon it downloads another 70MB for that area and i assume covers all the 'lounge' areas' basic features.

Now once in Ascalon, when you walk out the gate to Lakeside it downloads another 20MB before you enter that area. When you walk to the right and enter Green Hills it will download another 15MB for that area.....And this will happen every single area i enter for the first time.

Now imagine you're in a group, you enter Northfields another 10MB is downloaded and by the time you enter the area your party already cleared half the area....

So what i'm asking is, that before i play they start streaming areas i don't have already, so that i don't get hit with a 20MB download in the middle of a quest. In other words, i log in, go to bed, it downloads .

[So no, i'm not asking it to preload the areas, just download the datafiles, that can't possibly take that much CPU+memory..it's just downloading files]

I'm fortunately not on something like dial-up or ISDN , if i was the game would be unplayable as every area would take HOURS to download.

Soul Monarch · May 03, 2005, 04:38 PM // 16:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by EnDinG

Wow, no way that would happen. The amount of memory and disk space needed to "remember" all of these areas would be huge. If it was to save that information for "future" use people would have to make sure they have a very good PC to handle it.

You might need a faster computer if you want something like that to happen. It takes maybe 4 seconds for a decent computer (2.8 - 3.2 on average) to load most areas I find. Memory could also be a problem. Its all about system specs. =)

No, he's talking about the download. Not simply running the area files through your RAM.

And I agree with the assessment, why wait until you go to the area for it to download? Even on a nice cable, some groups get quite annoyed if the need to wait for you to download the area (as opposed to simply decompressing it and loading it.)

If the game client would look ahead and pre-stream the areas in your vicinity, that would be very helpful for some folks.

EnDinG · May 03, 2005, 04:41 PM // 16:41

Ah... I see now.

Its weird that they just don't offer a full client download. Its something I would strongly suggest to them silvertemplar because I can see how that can be annoying.

Can't offer any advice here... Just good luck on getting a full download. If you have a friend who owns the game, ask to borrow the CD and install it that way to save yourself time?

Loviatar · May 03, 2005, 04:42 PM // 16:42

that is exactly the way it was for the beta events

also they plan on having that HUGE amount of data on your system or hadnt you noticed that the minimum is now 2 GIGS of drive space?

silvertemplar · May 03, 2005, 04:48 PM // 16:48

Quote:

Can't offer any advice here... Just good luck on getting a full download. If you have a friend who owns the game, ask to borrow the CD and install it that way to save yourself time?

I went through the whole 'support question answer' thing NCsoft have set up. Supposedly should get a response in 24hours, haven't heard anything in 3 days. So obviously they must have a problem with making a full client available but since they stream the entire game to me -anyway- i thought i would suggest they just do it all in the login/char selection screen if they don't want to put one gigantic .zip online.

I mean here i'm writing this and i'm curently in my char selection screen and on the top right some patch is being streamed..it's already at 7MB ...so no reason why they can't just give me a tickbox saying 'download the game now' also :P

Quote:

also they plan on having that HUGE amount of data on your system or hadnt you noticed that the minimum is now 2 GIGS of drive space?

I don't have a problem with having 2GB of files on my HD. I just don't want to get it in the middle of a play session. Check when i log on what i don't have, give me the option to let it download before i play. So if they do add 10 new zones [which didn't ship with the box] they STILL should give everyone the option to download it before they play.

Of course i have no problem with the 500KB 'updates' or 'patches' being downloaded when i change areas, that's great. Anything larger than 2MB imho i'd like to avoid getting 'streamed' to me between loading screens.

EnDinG · May 03, 2005, 04:52 PM // 16:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Loviatar

that is exactly the way it was for the beta events

also they plan on having that HUGE amount of data on your system or hadnt you noticed that the minimum is now 2 GIGS of drive space?

I was just thinking he ment he wanted basically the entire game buffered and preloaded instead of compressed. LoL.

Lonely Wolf · May 06, 2005, 07:21 AM // 07:21

Actually I have the full version of the game which I bought at gamestop, and I still have this problem. I tried playing it on a 56k setup, and ascalon city takes hours and hours, and I still have 600+ files left says the progress bar. shouldn't ascalon city and other areas be included on the cd so you already have them on your computer when you log in? just a suggestion/question...

also, all of my system specs either meet or exceed the recommended requirements, so I know that's not the issue.

Veus Vaim · May 06, 2005, 12:01 PM // 12:01

Ascalon City was already on the CD for me. All of the main areas were.

If i even have a loading page its only about 5-10 files to download and it takes a few seconds.

I suppose GW could release a CD copy of the game so people could start straight away, as if they purchased the CD.

Tarkhan · May 06, 2005, 07:27 PM // 19:27

ohhh i get it now. the retail store version requires no downloading (besides patches added since the 28th, of course), but the online purchase option you dowload whole areas when you first enter them, i can see the problem.

what they should do, is host the game files to download, and have you enter in the cd key to access the files. then online buyers could just do it overnight, and retail buyers could get it from there if they lost a cd or it got damaged, etc.

LiquidLithium · May 06, 2005, 07:36 PM // 19:36

you shoulda just bought the cd's, now the time it would have taken to drive to the store and buy it, is spent downloading it.

Or another option that arenaNet AND halflife 2 should have done. When you buy it online, they let you DL the client and give you the CDKey, but then they mail you the CD's. That way you can play while your CDS are shipping and if you have to reinstall sometime, you dont have to wait during a quest.
Im disturbed about HL2, i bought the gold edition through steam and i didnt get a hard copy of the game. It costed almost 100$ and i dont have a CD backup. Its all tied to my steam account. Kinda scary to depend on a game server.

CodeXXX · May 21, 2005, 03:12 AM // 03:12

This sounds rediculas I will not be buying this "Online"...

aeroclown · May 21, 2005, 04:16 AM // 04:16

The only option that would be viable here would be to Pre-stream the areas in your vicinity. It is far more resource intensive for Anet to provide a full 2gb file for download to every user who make a purchase online. Simply for the fact that having ex 200 users leeching a file from a server on the network to download the full client would seriously hurt overall network performance.

MaglorD · May 24, 2005, 03:45 AM // 03:45

The solution is to borrow somebody's CDs and reinstall the game. What I did, coz I happen to like the game a lot, was to buy the Collector's Edition after buying the game online.