Added map file compression and texture bundling in one file. All gfx of the map are in one file. This makes it overall larger but is easier for deployment. I still have to decide if I want it like this or not.
Written by MM. Posted at 4:30 pm on December 27th, 2010
4 comments.
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It’d be nice if you could reduce custom content download times, especially for us who don’t have high-speed internet available (currently on 320kbps).
Recently, I’ve been playing Garry’s Mod and connecting to heavily-modded servers is just a nightmare. I usually have to wait 10-20 minutes for their custom content to load. I’ve noticed that most of the time they include some kind of admin interface package that keeps getting downloaded over and over for each server.
It’d be nice of LD addressed this potential issue by sharing already-downloaded custom content among servers. MD5 hashes could be exchanged prior to file download to verify file integrity and prevent duplicate downloads. I don’t know if this makes any sense to you or if you’ve already planned ahead for this.
– Garcia
Certainly. I hate that too in Valve games.
I like it. Its better to download one file instead of many.
But, what if a mapper uses his own set of sprites for every map he creates?
I can’t really say if it would be better to download one file rather than many, but I dislike re-downloading content I already have (especially large files). If it is possible to package the downloaded files (which may vary from user to user, as some people already have files), then the problem may be overall worsened by the packaging/de-packaging time. But again, I don’t know much about this, and do not know what would be the best option. (packaging files are assumed to be compressed?)
Another issue I’m worried about is slight minor modifications to maps requiring users to download the whole map again. For example, the current LD map, I had it modified it to have spawn points for more than just the default two teams. If players wanted to play this map, they would need to re-download the whole thing. This can be avoided by spawn points (among other things) being outside the terrain file(s).