EQ2 client downloads the same data over and over again

[Skandragon]

<p>Greetings develoers.</p><p>I have tried to explain this problem to a tech person named Stephen, but to no avail.</p><p>Everquest 2, the client, starts out by wanting to download over 14.1 GB of information each time it starts.  Turning off streaming "fixes" this in Stephen's eyes, but this feels like a hack to me, and is really just hiding the issue.</p><p>From my understanding of the way the streaming client works, and from a presentation given by SoE, it downloads a manifest of files, and then downloads what is needed as it is found to be needed, while playing the game.  I'm not clear if it downloads agressively or not and will refresh stale data before it is needed for game play or not.</p><p>My question is, where is the manifest written on the client side? Stephen seems to think that is company confidential.  Heh.  I fear there is a permisson issue, or other type of issue that is causing the client to fail to properly store the downloaded manifest or maintain the copy of what has been downloaded.</p><p>While the client is downloading my network indicates around 7.5 to 15 megabits of traffic, which stops immediatley after turning off background downloading.  Also, the hard drive activity stops once that checkbox is unchecked.</p>

[Skandragon]

<p>And thanks for moving this from the developer's forum, where SoE tech support person Stephen told me to post this question, to the tech support forum.  I assume I'll get just as useful answers from here as I did on the phone, which was not useful.</p>

[Chanson]

I assume by now you have gotten this resolved? What was the solution? My sister-in-law is coming back to the game and is having the same problem.

[Daelekin]

<p>I do would like to know if there was a way to resolve this issue.  This particular problem has been an thorn in my side for a while now as well.</p>

[DreaddJester]

<p>Wife and I have same issue on two different comptuers.  I posted in a similar older thread in the general boards and someone came in and said, "oh this issue has been talked about before and there's several ways to resolve it in the general forums and more on the Support Forums."  However, several searches over that forum and this one have yielded little info on how to fix this problem. </p><p>I allowed the download to complete twice now and it still restarts at 14GB every time I restart the game.  I know I have the files for the game because my EQ2 file is around 27GB big.  However, I also know it's still streaming the game even after all this time using the new launcher because of all the lag, glitches, and pauses it does that were not there before the new launcher when I had the whole game downloaded.</p><p>As others have said, please let us know how to resolve this issue.  Link us to the forum post that contains the resolution if you have one, not just, "oh the answers are out there." Because they aren't anywhere I've looked yet.</p>

[Idalo]

<div><p>I'm having the same problem as described above and here: <a href="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m?topic_id=511744">http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/...topic_id=511744</a></p><p>I followed all the steps mentioned in the above thread by Joshua but I still have the dragon icon starting to download 14gb+ every time I start the game (unless I unselect the streaming client option in Options).</p><p>I have even uninstalled everything and then reinstalled EQ2 (made sure everything was gone related to SOE) and now wasted well over 14gb of my bandwidth (it's not unlimited in the country I currently live in) but it still starts over every time I start the game... how to fix this?</p><p>Please help!</p></div>

[DreaddJester]

<p>From another thread I've read a post that says the game is currently hardwired for streaming only.  This is quite possibly the worst idea ever. </p><p>How did this go at the EQ2 board meeting?</p><p>Dev #1:  I've got an idea, lets screw husband/wife, parent/child, families, and other players who have live in the same house or have limited bandwith by making EQ2 stream only.</p><p>Dev #2: Sounds like a wonderful idea.  We don't want those loyal players anyhow.</p><p>Please, tell me this isn't true.  Tell me there's a non-streaming version of EQ2 that I can use so I don't have to put up with all the lag and pauses while it loads.</p>

[Skandragon]

<p><cite>Chanson@Everfrost wrote:</cite></p><blockquote>I assume by now you have gotten this resolved? What was the solution? My sister-in-law is coming back to the game and is having the same problem.</blockquote><p>You would assume incorrectly.</p><p>Not ony has no one from tech support responded to this thread, the answer I was given is "disable streaming in the client by telling it not to download while you're playing."  This does not actually disable streaming, it just disables PRE-LOADING of the assets while I play.  Say, I'm in the Guild Hall, it would normally download all that other zone data I don't yet have.  The problem is, it seems to download all the data each time.</p><p>Sure, turning this pre-loading off makes it not download the whole game each time I log in, but it also makes me have to wait when I zone into new or changed zones.</p><p>Would someone from SoE tech support please contact me about this issue?</p>

[TSR-JoshuaM]

<p>Didn't read every post just your original so let me know if I miss something.</p><p>How did you obtain your current LP?  Was it automatically upgraded from a previous iteration or did you manually install one of the latest LP4 iterations?  Did you install the Full or Streaming client?  This is just filling in holes from the information I could get out of your post.</p><p>The reason I am asking is that the Full download version can be converted to a streaming iteration, and it has occurred in error for some people, and it also has that background downloading option which will further complicate things.</p><p>I'll just briefly go over the process then we can open a dialog with each other to proceed with addressing your particular issue.</p><p>The Full download version downloads all the individual game assets to the PAKS folder.  This is completely different than the streaming process which does not download individual files but instead builds an asset cache under teh AssetCache folder.   So if you have the Full download version and encountered an error or it is misconfigured to pre-load assets it will start over as it would be safe to assume that the AssetCache folder for your Full download iteration either does not exist or does not contain any of the actual game files (so the LP will start from scratch).</p><p>If you are using the Streaming LP then I'll need a bit more information on the process.  Have you allowed it to completely pre-load?  I understand it says 14.1GB but I'm just identifying what the problem is and where it is originating in the process.  The manifest file does not change in any manner that would assist with this problem.</p><p>In a nutshell, the full download version will have hundreds of files (*.vpk files and others) located under PAKS while the streaming version archives all of those files to 6 or 7 cached files (*.VDB files.).  Setting the configuration files to stream while using the full download version, or checking the background download option, will start that download from scratch and will show you that it needs 14+GB of downloading because you, in fact, have none of the files it is looking for.</p><p>Compare this to your experience and lets fill in any other blanks left over so I can have a full grasp of your problem and make some recommendations.</p>

[Skandragon]

<p>Thank you for responding, JoshuaM.</p><p>I don't remember how I originially installed this on my desktop, but I will describe my environment based on the differentiators you list.</p><p>Within the game folder, I have a directory called "assetcache" but do not have one called "paks" or anything similar.  Within assetcache, I see 9 files named asset.vdb and asset[1-8].vdb.</p><p>I have allowed what I thought was the streaming version to fully download twice.  Each time, the on-disk size does not increase by much (other than logs perhaps) and eventually the downloading stops.  However, I can restart immediately, and it starts downloading the same data again.</p><p>I can also observe this on my router.  I can watch the network traffic both in terms of bytes/sec and which HTTP requests are being made.  Both of these show the EQ2 client is downloading data while I'm playing, and loads of it.  I have not yet done a comparison of the URLs being fetched nor the data received.</p><p>The strange thing is the on-disk size does not increase.  That is, even though it downloads the same data, and the disk shows it's writing it <strong>somewhere</strong> I have yet to determine where.  As far as I can tell, it's just constantly overwriting the same VDB files in the assetscache directory.</p><p><span style="font-size: 11px;"><strong><em></em></strong></span></p>

[TSR-JoshuaM]

<p><cite>Skandragon wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Thank you for responding, JoshuaM.</p><p>I don't remember how I originially installed this on my desktop, but I will describe my environment based on the differentiators you list.</p><p>Within the game folder, I have a directory called "assetcache" but do not have one called "paks" or anything similar.  Within assetcache, I see 9 files named asset.vdb and asset[1-8].vdb.</p><p>I have allowed what I thought was the streaming version to fully download twice.  Each time, the on-disk size does not increase by much (other than logs perhaps) and eventually the downloading stops.  However, I can restart immediately, and it starts downloading the same data again.</p><p>I can also observe this on my router.  I can watch the network traffic both in terms of bytes/sec and which HTTP requests are being made.  Both of these show the EQ2 client is downloading data while I'm playing, and loads of it.  I have not yet done a comparison of the URLs being fetched nor the data received.</p><p>The strange thing is the on-disk size does not increase.  That is, even though it downloads the same data, and the disk shows it's writing it <strong>somewhere</strong> I have yet to determine where.  As far as I can tell, it's just constantly overwriting the same VDB files in the assetscache directory.</p><p><span style="font-size: 11px;"><strong><em></em></strong></span></p></blockquote><p>Chances are its patching the VDB files without actually redownloading it all.  The way it works is if even 1 bit is changed on a 1GB file, it will say 1GB patched/needs patching, even if the download only gets 1 bit and it only writes that 1 bit.</p><p>If its actually downloading then its just overwriting the existing files.  You can try setting the existing assetcache folder to read-only and see if it stops acting that way or just creates a new set, let me know what it does.  I'll do my own independent testing here as well.</p>

[Skandragon]

<p>Oh no, watching the bandwidth on my router, it is clearly downloading that much data.  Trust me here, the data flow is real.</p>

[yohann koldheart]

<p>im having the same problem, sent the pm to the csr and havent heard back yet.</p><p>im giving it till the weekend then im going to wipe my pc of all eq2 and do a fresh install from my cd's.</p><p>figured id give the streaming client a shot, but its turned out to be nothing but problems for me.</p><p>on a  side not im not sure what its downloading but my bandwidth is way down so its downloading something. but when i zone im zoneing fast, unlike i was when i first started using the streaming client.</p>

[DreaddJester]

<p>My issue is exactly the same as Yohann's.  In November when they went to the new launcher I followed an FAQ found on EQ2 ZAM.  It was a FAQ from Dan Kinney on the Station Launcher forums about the new launcher.</p><p>Here is a link to the article on EQ2 ZAM: <a href="http://eq2.zam.com/story.html?story=28383">http://eq2.zam.com/story.html?story=28383</a></p><p>and here is where the link in the FAQ leads you to: <a href="http://www.soe.com/getthegame/">http://www.soe.com/getthegame/</a></p><p>I did a fresh install after selecting EQ2 from that list mostly because my old install had been the "Hidden" version and it was kind of a pita so felt this would be a brand new start.</p><p>Please not that in the FAQ you are sent to that link twice and one of them is specificly for getting the full download version: </p><p><strong>"I absolutely HATE the streaming client version of Everquest II...does this LaunchPad support that?</strong></p><p>Yes. This LaunchPad also supports the full download mode of playing the game. You still cannot switch dynamically between the streaming and full-download versions. If you want to switch, please use the reinstall/repair option from the installer (<a href="http://www.soe.com/getthegame/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0066cc;">available here</span></span></a>)."</p><p>Reading the article again it seems as though I might have misread into that statement that it was a link to get the full download version.  I have since noticed at the top of the article, before Dan Kinney's FAQ, was a link to a walkthough to installing the new launcher which includes a link to the full version.   I will attempt that install this weekend and see how that goes.</p><p>Here is a link to the Walkthough with the full install link for those who may want to try it:  <a href="http://help.station.sony.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/30589">http://help.station.sony.com/app/an...tail/a_id/30589</a></p>

[Littlelove]

<p>I just built a new comp and downloaded the new launcher.  Sadly, I chose the streaming version as I needed to log in to raid.  Now, it starts over at 14+gb every time I log in.  I've let it run fully twice now, yet still starts over.  Yaay!</p>

[yohann koldheart]

<p><cite>Littlelove@Crushbone wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I just built a new comp and downloaded the new launcher.  Sadly, I chose the streaming version as I needed to log in to raid.  Now, it starts over at 14+gb every time I log in.  I've let it run fully twice now, yet still starts over.  Yaay!</p></blockquote><p>i got tired of it, downloaded the full client patcher and let it download wile i was sleeping, when it finished i removed the streaming piece of crap. </p>

[DreaddJester]

<p>Ok, so here is what I did and what is happening.</p><p>I did a new install using the full version.  It installed to the same Sony Online Entertainment / Installed Games folder but created a new folder so that I now have one new folder called Everquest II and the old folder called Everquest II Streaming. </p><p>When I first started up the new install using the browser I got the full 14 and some odd GB of download before I could start playing.  Once it was done I started playing and had no problems at all.  None of the usual hicups and lag I have been experiencing for the last month and a half.  I even checked the download in background button and saw no downloading or data transfers.  It ran smooth like it used to and I did a little happy dance. </p><p>Confident the problem was solved I moved over my old UI files for all my characters and routed EQMaps over to the new file and updated that.  However when I fired up the game for the second time there was the little dino/dragon.  Good new is he's only wanting to download 2.03GB of data instead of the full 14GB.  I let him complete the 2.03GB download while I played thinking maybe it was just a patch or something.  Bad news is this was not a patch or content update, when I closed out the game and later restarted again he was back, wanting to go for another 2.03GB. </p><p>I clicked the background download off because it does run better now than it did.  Still wonder what that 2.03GB is all about though.  Still not quite right but a marked improvement.</p>

[toofluffytodie]

<p>I am having the same issue, but it's wanting to download the entire 14 G every single time I play. I have allowed it to complete and it continues to do this. I've also verified that it is really downloading that amount of data using our server here. This is an issue because every time I try to play EQ2, everyone else is unable to get a decent speed for their machines. I'm starting to understand why seemingly half my guild has left the game since my last time playing this some months back. Why are the tech people not taking this issue seriously? Why are the responses all claims that the problem isn't really occuring?</p><p>This is a new download, by the way, completely fresh on a newly installed system. I don't know if there are two versions but this was the only download I saw on the maze they call their updated site.</p>

[Littlelove]

<p><cite>yohann koldheart wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Littlelove@Crushbone wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I just built a new comp and downloaded the new launcher.  Sadly, I chose the streaming version as I needed to log in to raid.  Now, it starts over at 14+gb every time I log in.  I've let it run fully twice now, yet still starts over.  Yaay!</p></blockquote><p>i got tired of it, downloaded the full client patcher and let it download wile i was sleeping, when it finished i removed the streaming piece of crap. </p></blockquote><p>Yup, this is solid advice!  On a brand new install on a brand new comp, these problems should NOT be happening.  I give up on the steaming client.  Downloading full client patcher now.  I recommend this to anyone else with this problem.</p>

[TSR-JoshuaM]

<p>We've submitted a great deal of reported, and now known, issues with our Streaming Launchpad that are being worked on.  In the meantime I must echo the above recommendation of using our Full Asset patcher.</p>