Thread: Slight Launcher Annoyance

While watchign the launcher update my client with Update 7, I noticed something. When it has downloaded it file, it applies that files changes before downloading the next. This is slightly annoying to me as my download speeds aren't always that great. Is it possibile to a change to be made ot the launcher so that it can apply changes while it downloads the next file and queues it for application?

I know its probably not high on the pirority list, but if someone has some spare time, I'm sure many other players would appriciate it you could make patch application just a little bit faster by having it multi-task.

Please?

I can understand your point of view. It is a vaild one. But with all the back-end processes that occur. I do not see that happening. Its like asking the launcher to delete the TEMP files it stores to update the game, once the update finishes.

Also on your launcher Question, Are you taking into consideration of the validating of files that are part of that back-end process?? It might be micro-seconds in time but w/ internet caps as they are the validating of files saves you in the end from a re-download of an update. And the simpler a launcher is in its handling of an update, the lighter it is on your computer resources (such as memory). Even thou most people today have 4+ GB of memory

The problem is that all the 20,000+ files are contained in 13 compressed library files called .DAT and .DATX. It is necessary for the patching utility to compress and insert each individual file into the proper pace in each library and update the library headers before doing the next one.

The mechanism Turbine uses seems to be one of the standard ways of doing updates. We do it the same way on our software. We have compacted libraries. We update one file in each library at a time. It has the advantage of being easy to retry a single small file update, suspend, restart. We never know when a customer going to lose their wireless link. Or press the power off button. On power off we find a good stopping place before powering off. Or the battery low goes off. We need to stop patching.

We also have a bulk patcher option. That requires the customer to bring the device into a service center. Or connect it to a PC with the bulk patching tools. The bulk patcher consumes all the resources on the device. It is typically only used when the device has been compromised or damaged in some fashion.

Turbine's concept of bulk patching is the remove and reinstall or repair followed by running the normal online patcher because Turbine does not offer an offline patch any more. Turbine is using the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) principle. It is not a bad way to go.

Oh I agree that the way it works now it great. Its jsut that it was buggin me slightly that applying each file took longer than downloading it in some cases and it would be nice it that downloading could be done in the back ground and queued up. They would have to limit the size of the queue.

And I understand it will probably never happen, for the reasons the two of you gave. Just a bit of wishful thinking I guess