In the year 2525. On Sat, Jan 24, 2009 at 3:05 PM, [email protected] <[email protected]>wrote:
> Linux Has an autoupdate feature. > > When will the windows guys get -autoupdate and -fork for l4d? > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of David Cousins > Sent: Saturday, January 24, 2009 2:39 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: [hlds] Server/client updating and L4D matchmaking > > *ahem* This is a bit long, so TL;DR: Matchmaking breaks for hours after > every update because of the automatic nature of client updates and the > manual nature of Server updates. It needs fixing by making the hldsupdate > automatic too, but with some intelligence.. > > ------ > > Non-TLDR version: > > Everyone knows the drill by now. Whenever an update is released, > matchmaking > suddenly becomes useless when trying to find a server. It's also a problem > for other games, but at least with a server browser you can see and choose > servers that have been updated. > > People already playing when the update drops are fine, but anyone they > invite gets the new update and can't play with them, and if a group logs > out > and back in to grab the update, because of how servers are updated they > wouldn't be able to find many freshly updated servers to actually play on. > > What needs to happen is for steam to be a heck of a lot more intelligent > about updating clients and servers need to self update. > > When an update is released, it should start off by being distributed to > servers only, but not applied, and trickled down slowly so as not to > disrupt > the gameplay of people on that server currently. For major updates with a > large filesize they would have to be released a couple of hours before > pushing the client update, but for most patches it could be done an hour or > so before. > > When a server has downloaded all of the update, it should then tell the > master server it has done so and is ready to update itself, but it > continues > to run until given the go-ahead to update. When a certain percentage of > servers have reported to the master server that they are ready, then the > master server should tell them to update. > > When the servers are told to restart, they don't instantly shutdown (this > would be annoying for anyone playing and potentially cause a massive load > on > the content servers with players from thousands of servers all updating > their client). Instead, servers wait until they are empty, change maps, or > end a campaign (depending on the game). This helps spread the load of > clients grabbing updates, as well as allowing people to finish their game. > Shortly before the server shuts down, it sends the players a message > telling > them a game update is available and that they can grab it at the end of the > map/campaign when the server updates itself. > > At the same time as the master server tells servers to update, the steam > content servers begin to release the update to clients in the normal way. > > This way, anyone in a game can continue playing and anyone looking for a > game can continue playing without having an update forced on them and then > needing to hunt for an updated server. When the client update is pushed > out, > anyone in a game can continue without worry that the server will boot them, > but anyone launching a game will get the update and will have servers to > use > (any that were empty will update instantly, and gradually as games finish > and maps change servers will update themselves). Anyone invited to join a > game in progress will be fine for the most part, and only inconvenienced > for > a short time while the game they were invited to is completed. > > It's probably a hard system to implement, but the current system just > renders matchmaking unusable and really needs fixing. And even in games > without matchmaking, it can be frustrating when you want a game but can't > find any empty local servers because everyone who has updated only has a > few > updated servers to choose from. > > _______________________________________________ > To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, > please visit: > http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlds > > > _______________________________________________ > To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, > please visit: > http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlds > _______________________________________________ To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, please visit: http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlds
