Yea, lets have a rerun of the Blizzard downloader, where it works in the torrent scheme and you upload more then you download (which actually counts when your upload is metered [damn australia]). The whole p2p thing has most likely been discussed and it definately would cause a rather large uproar in the community. I heard somewhere that the original creator of bittorrent is working for valve now? I'm not sure how true that claim is, but aside from that, it probably wouldn't go so great for Official downloads. Sure, for mods it'd be good, but CS updates and stuff should remain on fast servers :/ And STEAM uses VGUI2 afaik.. so you won't be getting windows widgets anytime soon =)
- Bruce "Bahamut" Andrews
Andrew Foss wrote:
Another solution can be to add a tiny HTTP webserver to steam, and able Dedicated Server to query files to my Steam app :D
How about putting p2p tech in steam instead. Allow modders to create a file hosted on a machine in a special format (modname.steamdist) that has a file or list of files, servers, and CRCs. then you can distribute this small .steamdist file sort of like a .torrent file. Since steam can hook into a browser, why not add an association in Firefox/IE to let steam handle them. When steam gets one of these links, it connects to the server(s) listed in the steamdist file and downloads the file(s). You could put a single zip file on your machine, create a steamdist, and anyone who wants to download your mod can get it from you. Users can get the file from each other, and since the CRC is in place, users can be guaranteed the accuracy of the files contained.
To take it a step further, remove the whole concept of "server" from the steamdist file. Steam will automatically connect to a main steam server and query it for faster users to link up to, to request pieces from. Valve could even push updates for their tier 1 games to some clients and use the p2p method to pass it on to others, cutting the load on the content servers.
While I'm on the concept of Steam, Would it be possible for the steam client to use standard windows widgets? I like the look of windows (shock! horror!). at least make it skinnable (moreso than it is. look at Trillian, the multi-medium communication tool, or winamp...)
You could also, while you're at it, make a downloaded mod listing using standard windows "tree" views, and put currently downloaded mods under the game in question. Users want to play Hostile intent, they expand Half-Life and double click it (side note: third party game icons... ever?) They want half-life, double click half-life.
Sort by name would be lovely. (or at least being able to drag the games/mods around. Okay, so I'm a bit of a neat freak.)
These are just a few items I want to see in steam, since it's passed it's "teething" phase. It needs some teeth now.
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