L4D2 supports versioning but problem there was that VPK's didn't
download from the gameserver at all and when version of the campaign was
different than the one server/people on the lobby had, player needed to
manually remove that file. Valve said that the campaings wont download
from the server directly due to large filesizes of the campaigns and
that was propably a smart solution at that time but hurt a lot the
client that was unable to join and popularity of custom campaigns. The
workshop now fixed that but i'm not sure if it helped L4D2 otherwise
than prolonging it's lifecycle.
For TF2, it could do the same but only if VPK's are able to be
downloaded from the server directly and they would support bzip2 or
similiar compression method. The benefit and real problem would be the
same name for the mod/map/whatever. Versioning could save that but then
when client has the wrong number, game should ask if the player wants to
get (download) the newer version or disconnect.Infact system like that
would be awesome to see. Same for other custom maps but detecting their
version without VPK is hard, even impossible.
-ics
Ross Bemrose kirjoitti:
L4D and L4D2 apparently require an addoninfo.txt file in the VPK,
which includes the version number. No idea if clients will use that or
not.
On 2/21/2013 2:43 AM, Denis Eliseev wrote:
Hmm.. Maybe steam-like system will be better? I mean new Steam
updating system, that downloads files with names like
bins_win32.zip.bd897e9b073e9d948c745b18f5ad0e0c8c8db402
So you can install to you server mod with filename "mymod01.vpk",
server will calculate it checksum (e.g. 00112233), and when it will
download to client, -client- will download it to
"mymod01.00112233.vpk". So, if you will update vpk files, they will
have new checksum (33221100) and client will download this file to
mymod01.33221100.vpk, but on server and FastDL they will still have a
name "mymod01.vpk". So, client can join servers with any version of
the mod files without overwriting and you don't need to modify
filename on server side.
21.02.2013, 10:48, "Ross Bemrose" <[email protected]>:
On 2/20/2013 12:35 PM, Fletcher Dunn wrote:
I've also considered adding functionality for clients to download
VPK's from gameservers, as opposed to individual files. Then the
VPK would be mounted as a map search path. This has the added
benefit that it allows custom map assets to override shipping
assets. (Something which is no longer possible, since the
tf/download folder, where the client will place downloaded files,
is the LAST search path --- this is for security reasons.) It
would also mean revving the custom assets would be simpler. If
there is interest in this functionality, let me know, I could look
into it.
I missed this from your post earlier.
The ability to download VPKs would make it a lot easier for mods which
use a lot of models, materials, and sounds, like Vs. Saxton Hale
(maintained by FlaminSarge) and Freak Fortress 2 (nominally maintained
by me). Particularly for FF2, as it support user-created boss
characters, so contributors could just create VPKs of each boss along
with their configuration file.
Needless to say, I wholeheartedly support the idea of being able to
serve VPKs to clients. The L4D and L4D2 server owners would love it if
you would add this ability to those games as well, since campaigns are
distributed via VPK.
However, when talking to FlaminSarge earlier, this came up in our
conversation:
7:42 PM - Powerlord: Anyway, I was just thinking you could download the
models, materials, and sounds up front if you needed them. Or if the
server itself could send back the VPK if they were used on teh server
side (which fastdownload can't)
7:43 PM - FlaminSarge…: you could certainly distribute them as a vpk
7:43 PM - FlaminSarge…: but updating would prove painful
7:43 PM - FlaminSarge…: or rather, annoying.
7:43 PM - Powerlord: Actually, if the server can figure out which vpk a
file is in and offer that to the client, why wouldn't that work on a
fastdownload? Clearly testing is necessary
7:43 PM - FlaminSarge…: yes, but will a client load the VPK in time?
7:44 PM - FlaminSarge…: and what happens when a VPK has been updated
but
has the same name?
7:44 PM - Powerlord: Oh, true.
7:44 PM - FlaminSarge…: servers cannot check vpk versions
7:44 PM - FlaminSarge…: even though vpks support version info
So, the problem then becomes "Can the client tell when their VPK is out
of date and download the newer version automatically?"
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