Patch suggestions

[Master of Puppets]

<p>I feel Sony should allow other sites to host patch files like Blizzard does with wow or at the very least allow files that are being downloaded to be installed during the download...again like the wow patcher.  If for any reason I'm disconnected before an eq2 patch is complete I have to redownload every file again from the begining.  This isn't a major complaint but I'd like to see these suggestions in use.   </p>

[ShadowMunkie]

This was one of the things that has been boggling my mind for weeks. Why has th launchpad not been updated since launch? Why does SoE not host updates on their site(or at least major updates)? The launchpad could be updated to have more features. <ul><li>    Pause/Resume Support</li><li>    File list of files that was updated</li><li>    New GUI layout</li><li>    New browser inside the launchpad that doesn't use IE, make it use Mozilla such as the in-game browser</li><li>    Estimated time for download to actually show the correct time.</li><li>    Speed its downloading at</li><li>    Make it download the smallest files first, so that it gets done quicker(one thing I hate about it now, it downloads them in a random order)</li></ul> There are a few other features but these are the main ones that could be updated. And they have the source to update it so that these could be possible features.

[Josgar]

pssst the patcher already resumes where it left off

[Rijacki]

I think SOE likes having more direct control over its patch files than Blizzard.  If other locations were used, exploits would be eaiser to add in by unsavoury individuals.

[Eriol]

<cite>Josgar wrote:</cite><blockquote>pssst the patcher already resumes where it left off </blockquote> Exactly.  I don't know what this guy is complaining about.  It DOES resume.  As soon as a file is down, it is DOWN and shows up in the directory. And the comment on "smallest files first so it's quicker."  There is so much wrong with that statement.  /shudder

[Tid]

<cite>Rijacki wrote:</cite><blockquote>I think SOE likes having more direct control over its patch files than Blizzard.  If other locations were used, exploits would be eaiser to add in by unsavoury individuals. </blockquote>/Agree, If Blizzard do not mind their players getting hacks for dodgy sites host the update patch, then that is their business. Personally I would rather wait and get from the official source.

[Sanati]

<cite>ShadowMunkie wrote:</cite><blockquote>Why has th launchpad not been updated since launch? </blockquote> It has been. Many times. New skin, new features, new images, and tons of little bug fixes and stuff you don't notice.

[lilmohi]

Not only that but it downloads a lot of content in the background while you play.  This system is way better.

[Nakaru-Nitepaw]

I never had any problems with the launchpad except that it uses IE. I hate IE as much as Dark Elves hate EVERYTHING. ;p I have my IE set to require permission for anything it attempts to do because it's so vulnerable to exploits from websites and junk. So i have to click Yes/No dialogs a lot during the patching. Usually i just run everquest2.exe instead and log in from there. As you can tell I'm a firefox + opera user.

[Master of Puppets]

<p>If the patcher does install as it downloads I offer my apologies.  I've been away from eq2 since a few weeks after release and have forgotten if the patcher resumes or not although it didn't seem to while I was downloading updates the other day.  </p><p>Blizzard actually lists somewhere on the main site where their patches can be downloaded.  They prefer a peer to peer system which is slower than downloading from a server...at least in my opinion (they claim the server is slower).  So they allow several reputable sites to host patches for those who prefer a different method and for me the process is faster from those sites.  No problems using alternate sites so far.</p><p>I'm eager to try eq2 again.  </p>

[Jrral]

I don't think the patcher installs as it downloads because many of the files are interdependent. Installing modified data files without having already patched the executables that'll read them to support the changes will make the game break, as will patching the executables without having the changed data files available. The only way to safely do it is to download all the files, verify them, patch copies of the game files, verify the results, <i>then</i> move the patched files into place in the game directory (usually via a rename dance, since that's the one operation unlikely to stop working in the middle of a sequence). But I'm also pretty sure the patcher caches downloads and won't download files it's already got in the cache if they're identical to what the server has to send. The cache itself is the hard part to set up, and you pretty much have to have it to insure you don't leave the game unusable if the Internet connection breaks part-way through the download. The client and server already have to compare checksums for the game directory to determine what may need updating, adding the checksums of the cache directory as well is a fairly easy thing.

[Sanati]

Jrral@Unrest wrote: <blockquote>I don't think the patcher installs as it downloads... </blockquote> It does. Just watch it next time. The patcher isn't downloading a "patch" as you might call it, it's just going through and updating individual files. It works one file at a time and doesn't move on to the next until the previous file is ready to go. If you stop the patcher mid-way, on start up it will rescan and see all the files already "patched" as up to date and it picks up right where you left off. Assuming you stop it while it's in the middle of a file, it should resume downloading that file, although it's not much of an issue since 95% if the files EQ2 uses are tiny (under 25MB).

[Besual]

Jrral@Unrest wrote: <blockquote>I don't think the patcher installs as it downloads because many of the files are interdependent. Installing modified data files without having already patched the executables that'll read them to support the changes will make the game break, as will patching the executables without having the changed data files available. The only way to safely do it is to download all the files, verify them, patch copies of the game files, verify the results, <i>then</i> move the patched files into place in the game directory (usually via a rename dance, since that's the one operation unlikely to stop working in the middle of a sequence). But I'm also pretty sure the patcher caches downloads and won't download files it's already got in the cache if they're identical to what the server has to send. The cache itself is the hard part to set up, and you pretty much have to have it to insure you don't leave the game unusable if the Internet connection breaks part-way through the download. The client and server already have to compare checksums for the game directory to determine what may need updating, adding the checksums of the cache directory as well is a fairly easy thing. </blockquote> HINT: As soon as any single EQ2 file has not the most recent version you can't play EQ2. This means patching as a install package is not need. What does the patcher do? It caches the version, time stamp and file length of each file. When you run the patcher it downloads the same list from the server and compares both lists (you can find the downloaded list in your EQ2 directory; it's a .txt file IIRR). If you are missing a file the patcher downloads the whole file. If there is only a newer version of a file the patcher downloads the difference of the two files and applies the difference (you can monitor this procedure when the patcher has to do some work). The patcher does this file by file. If you stop the patcher or the patcher gets an error downloding the the file it will resume with this file on the next run. I like the kind of patching much more then anykind of P2P. I <b>pay</b> to play the game. Why should I have to use <b>my bandwidth</b> to distribute patches?

[Bromir]

<cite>ShadowMunkie wrote:</cite><blockquote>This was one of the things that has been boggling my mind for weeks. Why has th launchpad not been updated since launch? Why does SoE not host updates on their site(or at least major updates)? The launchpad could be updated to have more features. <ul><li>    Pause/Resume Support</li><li>    File list of files that was updated</li><li>    New GUI layout</li><li>    New browser inside the launchpad that doesn't use IE, make it use Mozilla such as the in-game browser</li><li>    Estimated time for download to actually show the correct time.</li><li>    Speed its downloading at</li><li>    Make it download the smallest files first, so that it gets done quicker(one thing I hate about it now, it downloads them in a random order)</li></ul> There are a few other features but these are the main ones that could be updated. And they have the source to update it so that these could be possible features. </blockquote><p>Regarding some of your suggestions. The pause thing is kinda there . You can cancel and resume .. It's not a pause i agree but at least it's a partial kinda fix .</p><p>Why would you need a file change update ? And if you realy want to see just go to the eq2 folder and sort by "changed"</p><p>new GUI ? </p><p>And why change the browser ?? I use IE7 and love it .. ( i'm not a MS hater i guess <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> ) </p><p>How would downloading the smallest files first make it quicker .. no matter what way you sort it you still need the same files . </p><p>There is actually a complete Patcher overhaul  on the way . It will combine the several different ones used allready into one unified and it will include new friends options including a way to communicate with your friends in other SOE MMO's  </p><p>Yours</p><p>Brorim </p>

[Bromir]

<cite>Besual wrote:</cite><blockquote>Jrral@Unrest wrote: I like the kind of patching much more then anykind of P2P. I <b>pay</b> to play the game. Why should I have to use <b>my bandwidth</b> to distribute patches? </blockquote><p> That is SO true . I absolutely hate the way Blizzard does this .. </p><p>The way they do in EVE and Anarchy Online is pretty cool too if you take your time to think about it .. They have just about any patch to patch your current version of the game available on company sites for quick download . That should actually save quite some bandwith IF the customers actually does the manual download .. </p><p>But the SOE way is pretty cool to IMO . You allways get exactly what you need for your version of the game .. no fuss at all .. I can easily see how it would be a good thing for people on slower connects to FTP their patches but that would be a SOE call . </p><p>Yours</p><p>Brorim </p>

[Wingrider01]

<cite>Nakaru-Nitepaw wrote:</cite><blockquote>I never had any problems with the launchpad except that it uses IE. I hate IE as much as Dark Elves hate EVERYTHING. ;p I have my IE set to require permission for anything it attempts to do because it's so vulnerable to exploits from websites and junk. So i have to click Yes/No dialogs a lot during the patching. Usually i just run everquest2.exe instead and log in from there. As you can tell I'm a firefox + opera user. </blockquote> Not going into it, just suffic to say try reading the official security websites (like CAIC) for a couple of months and see if modifes your opinion of other browsers. It is logical they utilize IEas the base line, it is coded to access a single location through a non-standard browsing port, not much chance of a security issue there. The new launcher they demo'd previouslyappears to be based on the same logic, and adds a lot of functionality to the application, like out of game chat (EQIM style).

[Skywarrior]

<p>Anyone curious as exactly what the Laucher did during a patch, including what files were modified, only has to open the file Everquest2Patch.log and read it.  It contains a blow by blow description of the entire patch event.</p><p>Most of you are on connection that are fast and likely just see a blur of yellow text you can't follow.  I'm on dialup and can usually see what that text actually says.  Each file is indeed downloaded and "installed" before the patcher moves on to the next file.  If the file was a missing file (new material) it simply downloads to the correct location.  If the file was a changed file (Everquest2.exe more often than not) the patcher will download the 'delta' (fancy word for 'difference'<img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />, unpack the delta and apply the change, then move to the next file.  All of this is done serially (one thing at a time in order).  </p><p>If you stop the process at any point, it will either pick up at that point again (if you are in the same internet session) or rescan and start with the first discrepancy file it comes to, which is effectively the same thing.  The main difference here is if I stop a large file (and contrary to a previous poster's opinion, 25 mb is a large file to me, as my download speed is approx 15 mb/hour on dialup) before it is finished, I will likely lose the progress on that file.</p><p>Aaah, the joys of living in the boonies.  Sometimes I think about paying for a satellite connection just to do downloads, in addition to my dialup just to play games.</p>

[Targanos]

<p>Sometimes people just have a monthly download restriction. A mandatory download on every single EQ2 computer is simply a waste of resources. Just because of the new TSO I need to use about one third of my monthly quota. Why can't I download the data onto another machine with a different Internet connection and then copy the diffs to my gaming computer? What would be the problem to offer those files as separate download?</p><p>The complete data is on EVERY hard disk with a current version of EQ2. Everybody could easily tinker around with every single file of his/her client! Further, if somebody wanted to offer hacked code, there is still the checksum (that could be read directly from SOE). And if somebody really wants to do illegal stuff, well... would those people really bother what SOE says?</p><p>Actually, I don't see any reason why it seems to be impossible to offer the diffs directly via normal HTTP or FTP.</p><p>Anyway, do I actually have to download all the new zones, even if I won't be able to get there until I got the AddOn or would that be even more?</p>

[Banditman]

<p><cite>Eschia@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote>I never had any problems with the launchpad except that it uses IE. I hate IE as much as Dark Elves hate EVERYTHING. ;p I have my IE set to require permission for anything it attempts to do because it's so vulnerable to exploits from websites and junk. So i have to click Yes/No dialogs a lot during the patching. Usually i just run everquest2.exe instead and log in from there. As you can tell I'm a firefox + opera user.</blockquote><p>You might try adding *.sony.com to your list of trusted sites in IE.  That might alleviate some of your pain with dialogs.</p>

[MonkeyBob]

<p><cite>Targanos wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Sometimes people just have a monthly download restriction. A mandatory download on every single EQ2 computer is simply a waste of resources. Just because of the new TSO I need to use about one third of my monthly quota. Why can't I download the data onto another machine with a different Internet connection and then copy the diffs to my gaming computer? What would be the problem to offer those files as separate download?</p><p>The complete data is on EVERY hard disk with a current version of EQ2. Everybody could easily tinker around with every single file of his/her client! Further, if somebody wanted to offer hacked code, there is still the checksum (that could be read directly from SOE). And if somebody really wants to do illegal stuff, well... would those people really bother what SOE says?</p><p>Actually, I don't see any reason why it seems to be impossible to offer the diffs directly via normal HTTP or FTP.</p><p>Anyway, do I actually have to download all the new zones, even if I won't be able to get there until I got the AddOn or would that be even more?</p></blockquote><p>Just copy the files from machine to machine. I have 2 machines on my local network that i use to play eq2. I patch it on one, and copy the files to the other. Works fine. No downloads ever on the 2nd machine.</p><p>Typically the changed files are in the ../everquest2/paks directory and the ../everquest2/music directory, but to find them all just sort by date changed - the new ones (ie. the ones downloaded and patched) will have todays date on them.</p>

[Yimway]

<p><mod></p><p>There is a new launcher that has most of the requested features listed here, currently it is your option to use the new or old patcher.</p><p>The proper forum for launcher issues is here:<a href="http://forums.station.sony.com/station/forums/show.m?forum_id=200" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://forums.station.sony.com/stat....m?forum_id=200</a></p><p><lock></p><p></mod></p>

[Kiara]

<p>Holy necropost batman!</p><p>* drives the thread back into the grave where it belongs *</p><p>^^^ and what Atan said too <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>