What won't be answered.

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Esselinithia

Fledgling Freddie
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They say it is impossible to patch partially to 1.70 without modifications on client side, let me tell you the reality: Most patches have 2 kinds of things: Changed files, of course you can't download them BEFORE they are needed, since the game would use the old version. And *added* files. As you can download missing files as daily hotfixes when goa and mythic finds them you can download them before patch. Why? Because they are simply in the same spot as the installer would put in them, and the game ignores them just the same way, the last patch with changed files that makes 1.70 active can be downloaded at release day. It is a patch much smaller than the 270 megz download. Same with individual files that can be downloaded.

Can the patcher download individual files in smaller batches? Yes it can since it does that when they hotfix missing files. Can 1.69 work with added files from 1.70/NF already in place? Yes it can, this is how it works even if NF installer places the same files to same location. It is made into an expansion, and it grown in size for reason of publicity, tbh. goa was unable to use patcher since they ghet patches mostly from mythic, and probably they can't change a lot of things (except changing zones to be event specific, adding items, quests, etc.. They can't add zones, and haven't asked Mythic to put empty zones for event in the EU version of patches) probably what they taugth about how to use patcher isn't handle differences between EU and US.

Some forum troll who said I can't answer how game would run with half of the 270mb downloaded yet with 1.69. I think it is the same as with running the NF installer, the added files not used by the game, won't hurt it, so the game remain playable. This is why most of 1.70 was in NF expansion and you had a chance to download and install them, and have most of 1.70 in your dir, yet the game worked as 1.69. On patch day, you simply downloaded the files changed in 1.70 (and not just added).

Size of patch: I think a lot of things changed in NF, yet most of it isn't code changes, when the game code needs to be changed significantly that makes a patch a big one. Support for new and different ROG types, very different monster types, etc. all means: Code has to be changed, and the whole game is affected. The patch before TOA was needed mostly for this. NF has many many models, yet most of the code is old. Probably the biggest code change in 1.70 is the probe packet code, a bit more secure communications protocol, the rest looks much smaller.

Will catacombs have a lot of code changes? Probably it will have it, in the graphics engine, but instanced and dynamic content aren't that new to the game, lets see why: A house is just a small instanced dungeon, yet it is persistent, and you put only merchants in it and no monsters. This is why I say foundations were a true expansion that added a lot to the game and changed a lot of code, and did the groundwork for many other expansions, including TOA, Catacombs, and yes you see most of the code used in NF as well. (Question to all who experience bugs in SI client other than boat related bugs: Do you have Foundations installed?)

Before Foundations it wasn't simple to have different versions of the same zone, since it was essentially a new zone, and most open zones were easier to create than dungeons so they gave you different zones for each realm. Dungeon modeling is hard so they reused some models in different places in original DaOC. And here comes TOA. You see the difference? Yet TOA is another big expansion, since it changes a lot of code. Display routinges, adds new data structures to the game, etc. and these addons are used in future expansions. Same can be said about Catacombs code: It changes the game code significantly. NF can look big but certainly changes far less than this :)

I think both questions answered, unlike the one that ask: Ok the daoc branch website is shown in sigs, but where is the web for other activities of goa.com and their corporate site that isn't product or branch specific. Or one that ask: How they explain no other backbone than OT, when pingplots and tracert results see routers of another backbone provider in france. (to be a bit more precise. Spiritilink has a line betwen Milan and Paris to my best knowledge) Or one that ask why phone support is impossible for an MMORPG when you can list a few MMORPGs with working phone support. Or how pingplots done after LD show what caused what happened before the LD? (and probably caused the LD). How it happens, that the same people haven't seen reliable satelitelinks say for digital television, some phone network, etc. Yes, they use much more expansive hardware than your home "satelite DSL" but they work for "backbone" :)

Wonder when GOA starts admiting most of the proven facts? Think if a GM would say: He has to belive his technical staff, and he can't do much about these problems, then it would be better. We would know what will be solved and what won't be solved.

Lets see one thing: Mythic had mirrors for NF download, official mirrors, at big download services, GOA had none of this. Most of the low bandwidth problem would be solved, if GOA would say: Ones who host a reliable official mirror gets a trophy cloak, or anything like that. Same if they would have a collection of smaller files (self extracting multi volume rar, with an install SFX module) that can be downloaded a bit safer. Also a .torrent link can help. They had many options to solve the download problems, including buying more bandwidth, buying temporary ftp space for a month and having mirrors, sending the files to fileplanet, etc. ask the community for help. They did nothing and now they say doing nothing was their only option. The question: When goa will admit they did something that worked before but wasn't the best for the current situation?

I have no problem with choosing OpenTransit, but saying the spiritlink node I can ping doesn't exist is a problem, I have no problem with using a single .exe file for NF installer, there are more efficient ways to do it, but it is their decisions. But ones who make the decisions should stand up and admit when these decisions weren't the best. They can afford failures, but they can't afford saying the customer is inherently wrong and they as GOA staff has no failures, only Mythic, OpenTransit, "Spiritlink with nonexistent nodes", customers, and everyone else, but GOA staff is above failures. This attitude with a few times they are proven wrong, makes people doubt if GOA staff can be trusted and wonder about other MMORPGs.
 

Thrinnor

Fledgling Freddie
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You know, for 5 seconds then I almost cared enough to read this.........
 

Spirou

Fledgling Freddie
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Esselinithia said:
Lets see one thing: Mythic had mirrors for NF download, official mirrors, at big download services, GOA had none of this. Most of the low bandwidth problem would be solved, if GOA would say: Ones who host a reliable official mirror gets a trophy cloak, or anything like that. Same if they would have a collection of smaller files (self extracting multi volume rar, with an install SFX module) that can be downloaded a bit safer. Also a .torrent link can help. They had many options to solve the download problems, including buying more bandwidth, buying temporary ftp space for a month and having mirrors, sending the files to fileplanet, etc. ask the community for help. They did nothing and now they say doing nothing was their only option. The question: When goa will admit they did something that worked before but wasn't the best for the current situation?

Couldn't be arsed reading it all, but to comment on the above...
Like has been stated about.. uhm.. 100 times (?), the download was available one MONTH ahead of time.
I downloaded it as soon as it was made available and got it at 350Kb/sec.
I kind of assume a 56k user would also cap their speed, if they had bothered downloading it early.
Also, if they had bothered downloading it early, a 56k'er using a download manager would have been able to get it without suffering from loosing connection and thus having to restart the DL from scratch.
I downloaded loads of large files when I was on 56k, it took time yes, but I never felt the urge to complain to the DL provider for my local ISPs inability to provide my area with faster connections at the time.

Now get over yourself.
 

Flimgoblin

It's my birthday today!
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NF was available for download without having to register at a random website (e.g. fileplanet) for a month before release - it's available on cover disks.

Incidentally zone changes involve 250 meg patcher downloads - I've been betaing catacombs, zone changes = hell on your bandwidth. Having the new zones ready to download before would a: involve extra faffing about with the patcher, changing patches (something Mythic does I believe), b: a 250 meg download that is totally unneccessary but blocks you from playing since people can simply go and download the damned installer.

Stop posting the same thing again and again please it's getting very tiresome.
 
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