Stop Patching CS!!!

[old.Johnny Jackal]

Hello, I've spent hours downloading all the files, patches and maps for CS and I still can't play it. The latest 30Mb patch won't activate at all and took 5 attempts at 2 hours a time to get it in the first place.

Can you at least give a month or so after a patch gets put on cover disks so us humans can have a go. I honestly don't believe anyone can play counterstrike without a cable modem for the downloads.

Why don't you just settle and stop patching? What's the point in continuing the tortous downloads? Why patch something that can't be played because of patching?

I've heard so much about this game. I have counterstrike. Have I played it at all. No, never, not bloody possible.

 

[Embattle]

These mods are often based around an american consumer market and as such it doesn't matter how big since so many of them have some sort of BB connection

 

[granny]

Erm Johnny you *are* downloading the patches using an FTP client yes? That way you can resume downloading where you left off if you get disconnected etc. Makes life a lot easier...

Also you only need to download 2 large patches to get CS working "out of the box" as it were - the latest Half Life patch and then the full CS install. After that there are update files for any patches released since then and they're small.

I know the HL patch is huge but that's because it contains TFC which I really think should be an optional extra - Valve, in my opinion, have made a *huge* mistake in forcing people to download that, not least because it's f*cking _rank_ I delete the TFC directory straight away after installing... waste of bloody disk space it is, not to mention bandwidth.

But if you are having trouble working out which patches you need to download and where's best to download them from pop onto IRC quakenet, #barrysworld, someone'll point you in the right direction

 

[old.jobbie]

One of the best things about CS are the new beta's

if they stopped bringing them out CS would probaly Die

Use GoZilla or get it right to download

Yeah it is a pain to download them, but in my opinion its well worth it.

 

[old.Johnny Jackal]

Yes *granny* I am but if a connection is interrupted the download will restart from the beginning - thus preventing corrupt data. Why don't you try yourself and you will see.

This leads to the other problem that servers in the uk currently disconnect after 2 hours or even within minutes on some (a new annoying trend to free up lines because of the great increase in usage this year). If you're playing Voyager online for example you will notice disconnection now and again but only for a second or so as the game cleverly reconnects.

The problem is that with the huge CS patches/versions it's nearly impossible to download them. Currently I have version 6.6, I can't download 7. PC Gamer said in the magazine and cd jacket that it was on the cd, but only 6.6 was. Already there is a 7.1 (or whatever when you read this), so by the time 7 is on a cover disk there will no doubt be another 30Mb patch before you can play.

I've been downloading versions of CS for 6 months now and still, still have never played it.

I feel a complete idiot for chasing the shadows of something that's obviously beyond reach.


[Edited by Johnny Jackal on 27-09-00 at 08:52]

 

[old.Johnny Jackal]

Also I think CS is setting an appalling patch trend in the market. If you go to a forum for a brand new game the first question there is "when's the patch out?". It's making multi-play for any game increasingly difficult. It's nice to see continued work, support and extra levels appearing for a game after it's release but I think one a quarter would be more than enough or even better in small downloads.

If it's not sorted out then the new consoles will end up dominating the market.

 

[Insane]

*Duh* well sherlock...

I dont think Counter-Strike is setting an appauling trend.. dont forget that its STILL A BETA.. if it was the likes of FINAL then you can complain, but the fact that its beta "software". if you dont want to download any patches then dont bother.. you can wait until it goes final.

Yes I know Beta 7 is somewhat like 70 meg or something.. so just get some FTP client like Bulletproof FTP or Terrapin, stick your line on overnight and let it download while you sleep.. and setup a redialler program to reconnect your modem if it disconnects...

By the way... if you want them to stick it on a coverdisk, go complain to the magazine company instead of posting it on this forum.. im sure you'll probably get farther that way!

=P

InSaNe

 

[old.MeddlE]

Originally posted by Johnny Jackal
I've been downloading versions of CS for 6 months now and still, still have never played it.

I feel a complete idiot for chasing the shadows of something that's obviously beyond reach.

Yes, it's so beyond reach that it is difficult to get on a BW server of an evening from all the people not playing it. Duh.

 

[old.QorbeQ]

Yes *granny* I am but if a connection is interrupted the download will restart from the beginning - thus preventing corrupt data. Why don't you try yourself and you will see.

Ummm, noooo. Decent ftp packages resume from where the download broke. Plenty of freeware resumable-download packages out there.
http://www.casdk.com/downloads/ctp2000_setup.exe is one I quickly found on http://www.winfiles.com - I've not tried it out.

If it's not what you want, have a hunt around.

If your current "resumable download" software simply restarts the download from the beginning then it's isn't "resumable download" (n.b. the place you're downloading from has to support resumable downloads too but the software should tell you that).

This leads to the other problem that servers in the uk currently disconnect after 2 hours or even within minutes on some (a new annoying trend to free up lines because of the great increase in usage this year). If you're playing Voyager online for example you will notice disconnection now and again but only for a second or so as the game cleverly reconnects.

"Servers in the UK..."? Game servers? ISP's? For ISP's it totally depends on who you're connecting to but even then, there are autodialler programs that will reconnect you and resumable FTP programs to let you download in chunks.

The problem is that with the huge CS patches/versions it's nearly impossible to download them. Currently I have version 6.6, I can't download 7. PC Gamer said in the magazine and cd jacket that it was on the cd, but only 6.6 was. Already there is a 7.1 (or whatever when you read this), so by the time 7 is on a cover disk there will no doubt be another 30Mb patch before you can play.

Granted, even the 6.6 -> 7.0 patch was quite large, but it contained several new maps, changes to the old ones and other enhancements. It's the maps that take up the majority of the space in the downloads, the problem being that to fix even a small bug in a map generally means that the whole map file has to be included in any download.

As someone else said, if you can't stand the ever-changing nature of BETA software that is being written by PART-TIME coders and maps created by members of the community that WILL have odd little obscure bugs in them then DON'T USE IT.
Wait until they release a stable finalised version (and it will come eventually...) You must remember there isn't a software house working on this with deadlines and money coming in and lots of alpha and beta testers and huge QA departments.

I feel a complete idiot for chasing the shadows of something that's obviously beyond reach.

Well, it patently isn't beyond reach for a great many people, including those on modems.


[Edited by QorbeQ on 27-09-00 at 10:35]

 

[old.Johnny Jackal]

Thanks for the replies.

I'll try some of the other ftp's suggested.

I'm well aware of what CS is and that there will be no 'final' version. This is really designed for cable-BB users. It's a shame no-one has produced a split series of patches in small downloads like I've seen for other games.

Until BT and others decide we can have BB at a reasonable cost and allow us to catch up with Europe and the States I guess we'll have to struggle on.

BTW I'm not knocking CS (I can't I've never played it), in fact I'm very keen to play it. I'm just saying how difficult it has been chasing the latest version of something that's patched in large chunks every fortnight (or so it seems).

 

[stu]

I'd rather they kept patching CS thanks. That way the dev team are constantly responding to player input, improving and changing the code (generally for the better). Usually when a new change comes out there's a big backlash (mainly from players who have gotten too used to how it was before), but imo the latest iteration of CounterStrike is the most balanced and playable it's been. There's also the 'minor' issue of cheats/bugs etc - that votemap thing could have killed CS in days if they hadn't patched it straight away.

Use a half decent client. Download stuff during free hours (ie evening/weekend if you're on BT). You only have to do it once, and it doesn't take that long, even on modem.

 

[old.Johnny Jackal]

The trouble I'm having is the 2 hour connection limit (as mentioned above - still better than freeserve though).

Some of the kind posters above have directed me to certain ftp packages that might get round that. It's not like an interruption though, it's a full disconnection requiring you to manually re-dialup. I don't know whether the ftp packages will get round this, I'll try when I have more free time.

 

[old.QorbeQ]

Depending on your operating system you may be able to get the dialup to automatically reconnect if the link is dropped (I know Win2k does it out-of-the-box, but I don't know about Win98 or 95).

Failing that, grab one of the freeware autodialler programs (http://www.winfiles.com/ has always been a good source for nifty stuff like that) which will keep your connect going for as long as you need, even if you get regular kicks from your ISP.

Hopefully with an auto-reconnected connection and a truly "resumable download" ftp program you should find it a lot less painful getting the releases as-and-when they come out.

 

[kryt]

for god sake its a BETA... if it wasn't kept patching, wtf is the point of releasting a beta...

[Cw.F]Kryten

 

[old.Johnny Jackal]

Thanks Qorbeq, I'll give it a whirl when I have some more time (I'm working on a new contract at present).

 

[old.QorbeQ]

Johnny... you will be dismayed to learn that Valve are going to release another Half-Life patch sometime soon... however, on the CounterStrike front...

Here are a couple shots of the new SIG SG-550 Sniper Rifle which will be featured in CS version 1.0 (note that there will not be a beta8, as we're finally leaving the beta stages).

So fairly soon CS won't be BETA any more... happy happy...

 

[stu]

Originally posted by Johnny Jackal
The trouble I'm having is the 2 hour connection limit (as mentioned above - still better than freeserve though).

Some of the kind posters above have directed me to certain ftp packages that might get round that. It's not like an interruption though, it's a full disconnection requiring you to manually re-dialup. I don't know whether the ftp packages will get round this, I'll try when I have more free time.

They will. As will pretty much any standard FTP client, if the server you are downloading from supports resuming. Maybe that's what you should be checking

 

[old.Edameii]

i downloaded the whole cs 'package' about 3 weeks ago...im on a 56k modem and using BT's free calls thingy so it cuts me off every 2 hours..

but the downloads went fine...in total the HL patch and CS files were 104 mb..
i just used download accelerator to get the files straight from BW...whenever i got cut off i just reconnected and resumed downloading...no problems whatsoever..
when i read the guide to CS it mentioned that the download was worth the wait...and i have to agree..its great

 

[old.Si_Se]

Originally posted by Johnny Jackal


The problem is that with the huge CS patches/versions it's nearly impossible to download them. Currently I have version 6.6, I can't download 7. PC Gamer said in the magazine and cd jacket that it was on the cd, but only 6.6 was. Already there is a 7.1 (or whatever when you read this), so by the time 7 is on a cover disk there will no doubt be another 30Mb patch before you can play.

So you failed to spot the 7.0 installer on the same disk then ? In a different folder but there all the same !

Go take a look - you may be suprised

And i know cause thats where i installed it from only last week

 

[old.~CP~]

CounterStrike: IT'S WORTH IT!

I think everyone made good points about how CS would die w/o updates but the fact remains still that it's very big, even for a broadband connection (in some cases). With my feeble 56kbps modem it takes a while to d/l this kind of stuff. I would recomend you getting PC Gamers every now and then becasue they usually have patches for games like CS on "The CD." Still CS is really worth the hours of d/l time.

~CP~
----------------------------
"Defy the system!"
----------------------------

 

[old.YORX Excelcus]

Originally posted by Johnny Jackal
Hello, I've spent hours downloading all the files, patches and maps for CS and I still can't play it. The latest 30Mb patch won't activate at all and took 5 attempts at 2 hours a time to get it in the first place.

Can you at least give a month or so after a patch gets put on cover disks so us humans can have a go. I honestly don't believe anyone can play counterstrike without a cable modem for the downloads.

Why don't you just settle and stop patching? What's the point in continuing the tortous downloads? Why patch something that can't be played because of patching?

I've heard so much about this game. I have counterstrike. Have I played it at all. No, never, not bloody possible.

Awwwwww check this guy out. Reminds me of way-back-when, the time I didn't have a clue either. Here's some info that might you out tho m8.

Firstly, I play online using a modem, and while I've tweaked my pc and modem and config files etc so that I get a constant ping of 120 even on a packed server (sometimes as low as 90), I am still playing online using a MODEM. I too had to download the various patches, only having CS version 6.6 on a CD-ROM. The BETA 7 patch is the biggie and yes it took a while. However, I recommend you and anyone else interested get hold of DOWNLOAD ACCELERATOR PLUS (DAP). Not only is it an application that allows you to resume downloads, break them up into chunks, find the fastest place to download from, it also DOES WHAT IT SAYS ON THE TIN, accelerates downloads. I find it works about 35% faster than any other I've tried, and that includes GetRight and uh, the lizard one. I have a RAM cache on both my modems so that makes it a little quicker, but anyone can do that. Mail me at YORRIC@AOL.COM if you want/need to know how. It's a short download itself and it easily configured. Well worth the effort. Get it here:

http://www.downloadaccelerator.com

I just had to reinstall CS last night, and did it all in 10 mins flat. I've kept all the sequential patches on my hard drive and on a ZIP drive. Even downloading the big 7.0 patch only took 2 hrs (at most) so I'm suspecting that you're doing something quite wrong m8. I know it can be daunting but something isn't right. What sort of connection do you have to the internet? Not on a 33k are you?

Finally, if/when you get started, you're probably gonna have a huuuuuge ping, so, mail me at the above address and I can trim it down for you,both for gaming and downloading. I cut my Cstrike ping from 400+ to 90-130 really quite easily and cheaply.

Good luck.
:skull:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
known and loved as YORRIC elsewhere ...

 

[shabazz]

am i the only one who never gets cut off from bt?

To this date I've only been cut off about 5 times since it first came out.

Maybe it's cos i'm on ISDN, maybe not.

But i can regularly log on at 6 and still be connected at 2:30 (that was a big cs day - i could hardly stand after)

Fun Fun Fun!

 

[stu]

ISDN rarely cuts you off until 6 the next morning (when the server flush occurs).

Modemers will get cut off every two hours or so.

Ironically it used to be the other way round - I stayed on BT weekend for two weeks solid on my modem.