Help with fast map downloading!

[Vander]

I have been trying to get fast map downloads working for the last few days on my clan's server. I am having no luck. I'm using mani admin with the CVAR that works for counter-strike source:

//Downloadurl CVARS
sv_downloadurl "http://www.ozclan.com/~tf2/tf/"
sv_allowupload 1
sv_allowdownload 1

Here are my concerns:

Is there anything different I need to do with my file path?

How in the hell do i get files compressed with BZip2? I downloaded the program from their website but cannot get it to work.

Help!

[Paria]

you can bz2 files with 7 zip - just change the extension in program,

as for the file directory listing im using

webaddress/tf/maps/ - ftp folder structure

and then in the server.cfg


sv_downloadurl "http://www.youraddress/tf"

[Pseudo]

sv_allowdownload controls allowing downloads from the game server. I think it should be set to 0 if you have a separate server for map downloads.

[DJive]

*gasp!*

Vander its a few threads down in my tutorial =p

http://forums.tf2maps.net/showthread.php?t=1551

Heres the setup from the tf2maps.net server

sv_allowupload 1
// allow custom decals to be uploaded. 0 is off 1 is on
sv_allowdownload 0
// allow files to be downloaded from the server. 0 is off 1 is on
sv_downloadurl "http://www.tf2maps.net/redirect/"
//redirect download location


Like Paria said, 7zip works, just change the extension to bz2.

[Vander]

7 zip is a godsend! One question though. When setting up the website download location I would still place maps in a folder called "maps", right?

example: http://www.tf2maps.net/redirect/maps

But I wouldnt need to signify this in my sv_download, right? just "http://www.tf2maps.net/redirect/" will suffice, correct?

[DJive]

correct, it will auto add the "maps" so you want to just give the path to the maps folder.

[Vander]

It works, the server is redirecting the downloads now. Thanks to all, but I have more questions, yay!

I want to compress these .bsp files as small as they will possibly go. Castle3 is a huge map at nearly 43MB, 7Zip gets its down to 23MB, but that still takes some time to download. Can I get these buggers any smaller? I have fiddled with settings compression level and dictionary size, but it keeps coming back compressed the same size.

[drpepper]

i think thats as small as you're gonna get it :(

[phatal]

It works, the server is redirecting the downloads now. Thanks to all, but I have more questions, yay!

I want to compress these .bsp files as small as they will possibly go. Castle3 is a huge map at nearly 43MB, 7Zip gets its down to 23MB, but that still takes some time to download. Can I get these buggers any smaller? I have fiddled with settings compression level and dictionary size, but it keeps coming back compressed the same size.

I haven't used 7zip but I have used Winrar which can compress files with different compressions like low, good, normal, high, and best (you get the idea). You can try to compress it with the best setting if available and this will reduce the size, not a guarantee that it will be hugely significant but worth a try.

[Vander]

I haven't used 7zip but I have used Winrar which can compress files with different compressions like low, good, normal, high, and best (you get the idea). You can try to compress it with the best setting if available and this will reduce the size, not a guarantee that it will be hugely significant but worth a try.

So, it doesn't have to be in bz2 format?

[DJive]

to download from a server it HAS to be bz2.

Phatals post was more so to answer your question about getting it smaller to distribute.

[Vander]

Roger that. Thanks for all the help guys! I've got it up and running now!

[phatal]

to download from a server it HAS to be bz2.

Phatals post was more so to answer your question about getting it smaller to distribute.

7zip does have Ultra compression and I tried using it with 5 maps in 1 .7z file. The ultra does compress it more but only about 1-2%. I don't know if your results would be better or not.

[DmanWCG]

OK I have done all the above for what seems a ton of times. My game server provider says its windows based OS so is there a different rule? I have this in the server.cfg just as you see it in the bottom group.

sv_allowupload "1"
sv_allowdownload "0"
sv_downloadurl "http://www.mysite.com/***/maps/"
net_maxfilesize 64

All I get is "dont have map" after it looks like it tries to download.

[Nineaxis]

don't point to the maps folder itself, it automatically looks for a maps folder wherever you point to, so if you point to the folder with the maps, it'll be looking for a folder in there with the name "maps" which contains your maps instead of at the maps where you point.


...that probably makes no sense.

[Apex_]

don't point to the maps folder itself, it automatically looks for a maps folder wherever you point to, so if you point to the folder with the maps, it'll be looking for a folder in there with the name "maps" which contains your maps instead of at the maps where you point.


...that probably makes no sense.

To clarify that a bit, the fast download (aka redirect) isn't only used for maps. It's set up exactly like your copy on your hard drive, meaning it starts at /tf/ and from there has folders for maps, materials, sounds, and what have you.

You could think of it as "where will the player download these files to?" as well. If the file on your website is in /tf/sound/ then that custom sound effect wav file will download to the player's sound folder.

Here's an example:


<web root e.g. www.website.com>
---tf/
-----sound/
-----maps/
--------mapname.bsp.bz2
-----media/
-----models/
-----materials/


Then your "sv_downloadurl" would be "http://www.website.com/tf/"

Everything starts at the /tf/ folder, remember that. Once the game finds /tf/, it searches for the rest on its own.

[DmanWCG]

I did a quick test and YOHO!

Thanks all.

[Lolz1337]

vander, use this for compressing, it compress multiple maps at one time.

http://www.fpsbanana.com/tools/1495

When you install it, there gets a folder called, zbzip on you're desktop, put you're stuff you want bzipped (Even sounds etc) in there, launch the program, it looks like theres nothing happening, but it does. Just wait till it says: Press a key to continue, and you're done :)

[DmanWCG]

This is frustrating. It worked for a bit then it stopped.

When people connect the first time the say no map, but then they try to reconnect again and it downloads it....

Could a slow loading website or a heavy load stop the map from trying to download off the website?

[Lolz1337]

It might be possible, i'm not sure though

[DmanWCG]

Do I need certain permissions on that website folder?

Currently 755