Regarding recent game patches

[Fury_US]

First of all, I want to state that this is not a complaint- I fully understand that my husband and I are entirely an exception to the rule here.

Thing is, there have been a lot of patches, lately. Which, sadly, for my husband and I is a problem. It's a problem because we live in a region that internet is absolutely not the readily available commodity that most people take for granted. When we were forced to move last November, our only broadband option went from a very reliable, though small, cable company to paying our cell phone provider for data. Which we pay dearly for. And that data is absolutely NOT unlimited. Under normal circumstances, this has been no problem- Neverwinter Nights 2 actually uses a very small amount of data for online play, making it about the only game we can currently play. Fortunately for us, it's exactly where we want to be anyway!

Unfortunately, this month, we're going to have to seriously cut back on playtime. I had to refuse logging in tonight, after learning there was a 1.6 gig patch. At current we patch three different computers to be able to play on Baldur's Gate- so that's the size of your patch x 3. We have 16 days left in our montly cycle, and more than half our data is gone. In order to ensure we actually make it through the end of our cycle, neither one of us can really log on until we can get somewhere with available wifi, so we can download the patch.

Again, I'm going to stress that I absolutely realize that we are a freakish exception to the norm, and by no means am I throwing a hissy fit to denounce all the patching, etc. Most people live in a wonderfully modern world that actually, you know, has unlimited data and bandwidth. God, how I miss it....

Anyway. The problem lies in "There is a very large content patch" that gets added to "This is an old game with enormously borked code, so whenever we do that large content patch, something breaks, so we have to freaking fix it". Which, inevitably, means more patching. And we just can't keep doing it. So, I suppose the point of my post is to ask "Is there a schedule to intended patches?" and "Is this going to slow down any time soon"? Because if this is going to become the norm, I'm afraid my husband and I are likely going to have to find somewhere else to go, at least until we finally find a place to live that isn't an absolute dump, and isn't on the backside of a mountain in the middle of nowhere.

[Rhifox]

As someone who used to deal with this problem a lot (5gb monthly limit)...

Take a laptop with NWN2 on it and go to a local Starbucks or other location with free wifi and download what you need there. If you don't have a laptop, then you could try bringing a full PC tower to a friend's place and using their internet.

Then...

At current we patch three different computers to be able to play on Baldur's Gate- so that's the size of your patch x 3.

Make a copy of the BGTSCC module folder (My Documents/Neverwinter Nights 2/Modules/Baldurs Gate TSCC) and hak folder (My Documents/Neverwinter Nights 2/hak) using an external drive/flash drive and paste them into the appropriate places on your other computers.

[Fury_US]

Yeah, I had planned to take my laptop into work tomorrow and just leach the wifi there to do precisely that.

I guess my main concern is about how long this sort of thing is liable to last. This past month feels like it's been absolutely constant, and nothing sucks worse than trying to start an RP arch and suddenly having to tell people "Ah... well. Uhm. I can't make it, because I don't have enough data to patch."

Hells, even if I knew in advance when they were coming that would be great- except it's unrealistic as hell to ask for it, given the necessity of hot fixes and what-not.

[Aspect of Sorrow]

This is one of my arguments against the size of the files. When we make one minute change in one Hak, it requires the entirety of the hak to be redownloaded. A 500 MB file redownloaded 8 times a month is 4GB, when the change might have only been a few KB in size to one of the files inside of it.

Next tuesday is the next scheduled update and with it is the fix to the issue you describe.

In order to avoid redownloading 1.8 GB of Hak content, I'm releasing a tool that will easily distribute the files out of the Haks and into the module directory. The ADL then can pick up the differentials of the individual files, allowing us to continue the upward trend from once a month updates to nearly once every two days without forcing players to constantly redownload the custom content that supports the module, only being concerned with a few hundred KB in size adjustments.

We're already on top of this issue.

[Fury_US]

That would be enormously helpful. I know things need to be updated, I know things need to be fixed, I know we all love new content- and I know we might just be the only people playing here who have to deal with this particular barbaric internet situation (when you think to yourself that you really, really want to live in the middle of nowhere? Factor in your internet addiction. That part is important), but for us every KB counts.

[Aspect of Sorrow]

I live fulltime at campgrounds. I can relate.

[Nachti]

Propably I should add a new hakpack for new appearances/vfxs (currently misc_appearances)?

[Aspect of Sorrow]

Propably I should add a new hakpack for new appearances/vfxs (currently misc_appearances)?

No, we're removing haks altogether.

[Aspect of Sorrow]

Migrator tool is ready for next week's update.

[ZestyDragon]

Have to agree with the OPs statement. This most recent patch is going to take me 11 hours..

[Steve]

To add to the discussion, my download for the files is maxing out at 80 KB/s. Which, is not my download maximum by far. Is this because so many are trying to download the files, the hosted source has to throttle the connection?

[ZestyDragon]

I am having the same issue. Fiber optics to the house for 100 mb/s, however BG decides i can only get 40kb/s.

[Aspect of Sorrow]

Right now we're distributing at 250 Mbps. CDN options may open up.

[chad878262]

Switch to T-Mobile?

Really great to hear that a solution is in the works AoS. Always amazing to see all of the conveniences you and the others come up with that likely would go unnoticed otherwise. It's great to get new PRC's, Feats, area's, what-have-you, but speeding up the downloads and just generally making the game run better/faster/more reliably is so key to an enjoyable experience when you sit down to play.

Thanks AoS and the rest of the team, for all the background work to make for a better playing experience!!!