Map-pack through BitTorrent

[Fnordia]

Gnome has assembled a Spring map-pack for download through BitTorrent. It is supposed to be updated regularly, and the idea is that you can simply point the download to your Spring map folder, and only maps that you are missing or have been updated will be dowloaded. So it should be easy to keep up-to-date on maps without having to check and download each one manually. You can find the torrent file on FileUniverse.

[SinbadEV]

Dude, this is so awsome.. I can just point it at my maps folder and when a new torrent comes out I can just upload all the stuff I already have and get the new stuff... WOO0T!
Edit:
well.. I mean I could have if it had the sub-folder called "maps" instead of "mappack"... oh well... maybe next time

Edit-again:
acctually.... I think that might be my dumb fault

[Gnomre]

Actually it'll be fine. Just move the stuff to the Spring maps folder, and then when the updated torrent is released, tell that one to download to the maps folder. If you do it right, it'll scan the files there and only download the new and updated stuff.

[IMSabbel]

Thats a great idea!

Not only it helps fileuniverses bandwith, it also makes updating much quicker and less work intensitive.

(in fact, one could use a similar system for a "spring network install", i.e. a complete networking package updated in a similar way (just make a torrent of the complete install without the config files...)

But it would be nice if fileuniverse used the correct mime-type for the torrent..

[Gnomre]

Heh, I'll see what we can do about that.

[mongus]

Whats the difference between

MetalWasteland.sd7
Metal-WasteLand.sdz

?

well, mainly, they are different maps..
different maps for the tasclient and for spring.

but im pretty sure the contents in the files are the same.

another difference?

one of those was downloaded from the torrent,
the other from FU.

I wonder why i want 2 copies of the same map in my maps folder.
What is certain, is that now i can play MetalWasteland.sd7
with the guys that got the maps from the torrent,
not only the ones that dld all the content from FU previously.
Now i have a 250 MB maps folder again! and they say 7zip is powerfull..

now i realize why azureus found only 18% of the content as already downloaded.

[mother]

ack! MOnG's right.

The filenames have all had the -'s concatonated out!

D'oh!

[Gnomre]

Well, a lot needed recompressed (CPIA with its 24 MB loose skybox, for example, when spring can now read that from the archive), as you pointed out... the filenames inside the archives aren't different, though, so that's just an issue with spring itself

I'm open for ideas. I could just replace all the maps on FU with the same .sd7 files in the map pack torrent.

Or I guess the next release could just have the files named as the authors named them verbatim, but then it wouldn't update them automatically, it would instead give you two copies of the map. Plus several of the maps either have loose files, or have sloppy compression, or were just flat out wrongly compressed (one map was just the .smd, .smf, etc files in a zip, not even in a /maps/ sub directory).

About the filesize though: 100 MB + the 25 MB for the three packaged Spring maps (they included the path data) for 30 maps total isn't bad considering 8 maps took up nearly 400 MB in the old map format

[mongus]

Well you didnt have to know we were going to dump the torrent into our maps folder.

Still the lobby not recognizing the same map but in different compressed file is the problem.

spring may be able to find the map into another virtual(compresed) file.

maybe its only a change in the lobby program what is needed.

Same filenames as in FU sounds rigth.

Basically i think that was the flaw, first change things in FU, (contacting the autor?), then get the same stuff into the torrent.

That way, updating maps directly from the torrent works rigth :)

A standard method for compresing and naming maps fits ok, but till we get there...

[Gnomre]

Well, like I mentioned in the previous post, some maps would not function straight off the torrent if left in the state the authors uploaded them, and the entire pack would be significantly larger...

[SinbadEV]

Make a "torrent certified" map format, get that stuff on FU in it's own section with the torrent itself and the specific mini-maps and stuff... it's all compatible with the old maps anyways so you should be able to safely delete duplicates... right?

[mongus]

first change things in FU, (contacting the autor?), then get the same stuff into the torrent.

I mean, get all the files "torrent format" compatible at main source, then when they are changed in FU, add them to the torrent seed.

Does bittorrent compress the data it sends (like emule)? (think it doesnt).

if you dont use the same format as the files at FU, all files must be downloaded twice, one time when they are "released", and a second time when they are torrented, and modified by you..
Which is a waste of bandwidth and good work.

i suggest not to change the filename between map versions, but include a txt file that gets overwritten every time(aswell as the map) and that has the version number, changelog and md5.

i hope someone has much better suggestions for this.

or
B) Someone take charge of the map ditribution, meaning must check all maps at FU, before they are released and check the formatting.. tedious.

[Dwarden]

maybe it will be niec to have also torrents only to "each" map file ... and allow game autoupdate only needed pieces etc etc etc

[IMSabbel]

Read the readme again...
Bittorrent wont download unchanged maps, no matter how many there are int he torrent...

[Blue_Falcon]

[quote "FileUniverse"]
This Account Has Been Suspended
Please contact the billing/support department as soon as possible.
[/quote]
Hmm... Can't download the torrent file... does anyone happen to have it on their hard drive and can attach it to this thread?

[Tobi]

Awesome rez.

I don't think the torrent would be alive 4 years after creation anyway.

Get maps from http://spring.jobjol.nl.