Contingency plan?

[Legacy_HipMaestro]

               With the advent of our BioWare-granted NWN resources "rug" being gradually pulled farther and farther from under our gaming feet... is it worth considering to provide every current patch file on a satellite server like the Vault and/or Nexus?  I am referring to every possible patch version along with those for foreign languages, Linux & Mac.  Thing is... there is no guarantee that these files will remain downloadable through the BioWare site as support becomes leaner and leaner.  Most of the community-made resources like CEP, PRC, etc. assumes that v1.69 will always be available for all to download.  I am sceptical as to that assumption especially in light of the events in the last few years.

With the custom resource saturation of community content, I would think that to assure the PWs & modules that rely on the standard upgrades being in place, it would be in their best interest to provide a dependable alternate site to procure all the prereq files.

Wadya think?  Am I just being typically neurotic or is this view a consequence of using those ultraviolet goggles to discern the writing on the wall of the future?
               
               

               

                     Modifié par HipMaestro, 08 juin 2012 - 07:28 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_ehye_khandee]

               We can cover that via neverwinterconnections.com - thanks for the tip.

Be well. Game on.
GM_ODA
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Knight_Shield]

               I don't think your neurotic.I have been downloading all kinds of stuff and backing it up.Who would of thought the main web page would go down for this and only basically have a small mention on bioware page.

I would definitely suggest to anyone planning to continue building or playing to make backups of content you like.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Rolo Kipp]

               <feeling an unreasoning...>

Like the patches for NwN2 are available on the vault? Good idea, HM!

Maybe I'll dig into getting NwN1 up there too, to compliment (not compete) with whatever the Nexus, Connections or neverwinternights.info does.

<...jealousy>
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Rolo Kipp, 09 juin 2012 - 08:52 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_omen_shepperd]

               Remember it is better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_ehye_khandee]

               Redundancy is a good thing.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_The Amethyst Dragon]

               

Rolo Kipp wrote...
...nwn.info...

Just to clarify, it's neverwinternights.info.  Don't want to start confusing visitors. '>  nwn.info was already taken by some unrelated person/company. '>
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Rolo Kipp]

               <slaps his forehead...>

D'oh! You're right, of course... edited.

<...obliterating a defenseless blood-sucker>
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Urk]

               Now that there are no more updates isn't it enough to have the critical rebuilds for each language?
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_ehye_khandee]

               Some older modules may only work with older versions of the software.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_jackkel dragon]

               After an hour-long adventure finding an uncorrupted executable for the 1.69 English patch, I'd say it is a *very* good idea to back up the updater files on community sites. It was bad enough when the patch page dissapeared... we don't want the patch to vanish too!
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_QlippothVI]

               I have the patches on a drive here at home, taken from the sources listed on neverwinternights.info so another backup is done. Wish we could get the data from NWVault directly somehow. I'd buy a couple of big drives to make a couple of complete backups of that site.
               
               

               
            

[Baaleos]

               My PW Uses a Resource Downloader app that might be useful for this type of thing.
It allows for p2p sharing of files, which would lighten the load on web sites.

eg- Why should one website have to bear the burden of downloading a 80mb Patch file to thousands of people.
Too many people download the patch file, and then your website uses its months bandwidth in a short time.

The way my Resource Downloader works is

1. The Resource Downloader App
    - When started, it signals my Server App (on remote host/server machine) - of the Downloaders IP Address. This is added to a Host List.
    - It downloads an XML from my website, about 1-200 kb in size - depending on how many files are being downloaded. (I download hundreds to my clients = hense it is about 200kb)
    - The XML Is parsed, it contains info such as file size, file name, and md5 of the file.
    - The Downloader then checks to see if the file exists locally, and if its md5 and file size match up to expected values. If not - it adds them to a download list.
    - When the parsing is done, it starts the download queue.
    - Asks the remote server for the Host/Client list. (just a list of ip addresses of people using the downloader)
    - Downloader then sends a message to a member of the host list, asking for the file, the downloader on the remote host then checks if they have the file being requested - and it if matches md5s - if they do have it, they send it, if not, they send a sorry message back, and then the Requesting Downloader asks another peer for the file, if all peers get exhausted, then it resorts to downloading from the website - as a last resort.

(Using this system, the only strain on the website, is the transfer of the xml to the client/downloader - and in worse case scenario's, the download of the actual files, if the peers are all offline, or dont have the files)


I introduced this method, because I found that hosting a 200mb Rar'd Portrait pack on my website, in an unrared format, equated to about 500mb-700mb of bandwidth per 2 -3 clients downloading the package.

I've been tempted to try and develop a system for the community that would be released publically.
If you guys think this might be of use, let me know, and I can try to get a public release together.

I've also been thinking of building another auto updater for the CEP Team, if they wanted one.
I think the old one they had was pretty useful, but I think the original creator of that left the team, and thats why they dont have it any more.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_virusman]

               Wouldn't it be easier to use Transmission or libtorrent for this?
               
               

               
            

[Baaleos]

               good point- although alot of ISP's are actually blanket blocking Bit-Torrent protocols as result of the crack down on Illegal File Sharing.

Eg - You run uTorrent for any long duration, and Virgin Media (here in the UK), have been known to send out an automated warning letter, asking you to desist from file sharing = they dont care about the content, they just dont want you to use torrents.
Granted - they cant take legal action, if the content is legal, but still... its a little disconcerting that they are blanket targetting any users of torrents.