Patcher needs rebuild from ground up, it's embarrassing

Hi all,

I've had problems with the patcher since the earliest releases. This is the FIRST thing a player sees in the game, and it's a massive let down. What a horrible first impression.

Yes, I'm aware of the Level3 problems today, which are now resolved. But right now, as usual (this is the key, "usual," this is not an anomaly), the patcher is appalling. I'm getting 426 KB/s now, and that's after 2 patcher restarts.

I've heard the "small studio" spin for too long. The studio has no problem taking the copious amount of dollars I've thrown at it, but can't patch a game? Sorry, enough alternative facts. Fix it please.

Oy.

 

I just started the patcher to update for the last couple releases and I got 7 mb/s throughout with no restarts. Not saying that there isn't any problems with the patcher but I've personally have never experienced any. Possibly could be something on your end (computer/ISP/options). I use the p2p option with no limit on upload if that makes a difference.

Just my experience with the patcher. Maybe others have problems with it as well

 

Well..I have restarted multiple times....if I could get 400+ Kb/s I would be v.happy.

I have been watching it run at around 12 - 15 Kb/s for the last 5 hours.

 

I am running at 160KB. This as always horrible.

 

Today I was lucky and got 1.98MB/s, though it is not as good as 10MB/s I get from Star Citizen's patcher.

I was uploading a lot as well so I think the download speed might be quite strongly related to the ratio of downloading/uploading players in your area. I always seem to have the worst speeds just when the release hits and few hours laters it gets better though I never saw anything close to my bandwidth.

 

When it's patch time I just start it and play another game since the only reason I log in here is to get my 500 gold and EXP daily unless I forget.
Paid for a game that is really showing no progress but adding more eye candy that hurts the performance more.

 

https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f...slow-try-these-suggestions.74491/#post-724963

I have issues with the launcher loading patches, so now on big ones (like releases) I just download the torrent. Takes less than five minutes and *poof* done.

 

Why do people not use the steam patcher? It's always going to be much more reliable.

 

32.1 Mbps over Steam

 

*Shrug* I don't have a steam account

 

If people aren't aware, Steam is a free gaming platform service where you can Buy games digitally... There is a LINK under Game Client / Steam in the Accounts page.

Just note that your SOTA Account is then linked to steam and cannot be unlinked!

 

I usually get around 5.7 megabytes per second using the updater. Maybe it just works well because it's Linux.

 

My experince has been hit or miss with the stand alone patcher. I do have Steam but do not want to link it.
Worst dl: 0 KB/s
Best dl: 6-7Mb/s
Current dl: 122KB/s (after 5+ random restarts)
Note: Going to bed, play tomorrow.

UPDATE: Latest pach downloaded at 19MB/s

The patcher is like a box of chocolates you...........

 

I did not contribute the significant sums to Portalarium that I have as an "investment". I would expect, however, that they not totally ignore the hardware side of game development which is exactly what it appears that they do when each month we have such a high number of folks who cannot get a decent download. I do not have a Steam account and am not getting one. If that was a prerequisite they should have told us so in the beginning. I cannot imagine that @DarkStarr, @Chris, @Lord British, @dallas, and the rest of the team are expecting that the public will ever put up with a weak system such as this and we keep throwing money at them. Why do you not fix this monthly problem, gentlemen?

 

You cannot buy games on Steam, you can only borrow them, at least 99% of games there. You are subscriber and although the subscription is free it is business model that is extremely unfavourable to customers in the long run, basically any issue with Steam or your account there means you cannot play your borrowed games any more.

And there are other issues like you cannot resell your games or game accounts to others. It just limits customers a little with potential to limit them way more whenever Valve deems that more profitable.

 

I feel your pain on the patcher; Steam is really the only sane solution. However I must say, if you think they're not making any progress and only adding "eye candy", you just simply are not paying attention...

 

I find that some people have philosophical arguments against Steam...considering that we're talking about video games here, I find them negligible and a little silly. But have it as you will...

 

Everything you say there is true. I remember around 2012 when valve updated their EULA and forced you to agree to it or end your subscription (which would effectively lock you out of all your purchased games; in my case that is several thousand dollars worth of games). I read that, hearing Darth Vader's voice in my head, "I have altered the deal; pray I do not alter it further."

That being said, you pretty much have to do something tantamount to credit card fraud in order to have your account locked. If they had a reputation for casually locking people out of their games, their business would decline. Steam is simply so convenient that you really need stalwart principles to resist it. I think Port will eventually update the standalone patcher, but when? Come slumming with us at steam. You can always say you were young and needed the patcher bandwidth.

 

I am not a fan of putting all of my eggs in one basket and tend to support independent distribution of games directly from producer to customer. I express that preference through behavior because words on a forum are near meaningless.

That said, I started the launcher on both my work PC at the office around noonish EST yesterday, and my home PC around 7 PM EST yesterday. They've both been going non-stop and neither has completed yet. Home PC I'll probably see if anyone has a torrent running tonight. Can't do that from work PC (sometimes I will stay a little late in the office to play after hours as work pc is more powerful ).

 

Life is about compromise...sadly, this is true. I'm not super wise I don't reckon, but I'm 40 years old and have some experience in life, so I guess that should count for something.

I guess if you asked good ol' Ben Franklin if someone is sinning by compromising by running steam, he may agree... I dunno. We are assaulted with so much legalese and contracts in daily life...credit cards agreements, real estate contracts, software contracts, laws we don't even know we're breaking. I consider myself fairly principled, but using a video game distribution system with a dubious EULA seems, TO ME, to be a fairly innocuous compromise. I got far better things to consider in our wacky, wacky world.

Then again, we all sail our own ship. Go with God's speed, and I hope you figure something out.

EDIT: Speaking to the whole thread, not you individually, @mass .

EDIT2: As an aside, I am not at all unfamiliar with issues such as these. In the early 1990s I began using the Linux operating system and was dipped into the holy waters of the Free/Open Source Software movement. There was a time 20 years ago when I would not think of using proprietary software; if Free software couldn't do what you wanted to, you wrote software yourself or you just didn't do it.

Consider that there are many people in this world (ask Richard Stallman) who would consider running Windows and SotA themselves a grievous insult to liberty. It's all relative.

These days I run Windows happily. Things change, opinions mature, attitudes soften. I'm not asking anyone to soften or compromise, but a sober look at things, or re-evaluation, are sometimes prudent activities to take part in, from time to time.