Sparse files are created so that P2P file sharing can take place, like torrents. Sparse files are pre-allocated to the full file size on the file system, but aren't actually filled with data yet. If you right click on the game folder and examine properties, (sorry, only viewing on Windows 7, I can't check UI differences for Windows 8 / 10.), you should see a property called "Size on Disk", which should more closely match the download reported by the installer.
That's super informative, thanks much. Of course, the size on disk also doesn't match what the downloader says, so I'm still confused.
So, while I'm growing old waiting maybe someone can shed some light on how these downloads work.
Anyone knows how P2P works in this thing? Do I have to play the game or have the installer open for others to download from me? Or can they download from me as long as my machine is turned on?
Why is the speed bouncing up and down? I can go from 15 B/s (yes, that's bytes) to 600-800 kB/s and back again within 10-15 seconds. Am I connecting/disconnecting to peers that rapidly? (6 Mb/s connection)
More generally: What are companies (Beamdog for example) actually doing up to a release like this to avoid problems on launch day? It's a known problem, so I very much doubt it's something they're not aware off.
One thing I've never quite understood is why marketing people have never realised a very simple principle:
Tell people they can expect up to a 24 hour queue before they can access a speedy download and then deliver them access in 20 hours instead. That'll bring you happy customers. If you don't tell them anything and they have to wait only 10 hours with a slow ass download, they'll be borderline raging (as seen in this thread). It all comes down to setting the right level of expectation. Forget everything about extra download performance. If you set the right level of expectation (which is free) then you'll have happy customers.
@Dee: The download speeds *are* unjustifiable (though your point about the forum rules obviously remains). After approximately ten hours, I've had about 30% downloaded. The last time we've been used to this kind of stuff was in the 1990s.
I agree, it's frustrating. Our servers are working hard to keep up with the demand. Make sure you have P2P enabled in the client's settings; that should help with the speed. I'll poke our server robots this morning and see if there's anything we can do on our end to make it faster.
What is frustrating actually isn't just the ridiculous download speeds but the fact that you guys must have known about the problem when i bought the game and didn't bother to tell me. I bought it directly from you guys but i should have gone with steam. Some people said to ask for a steam key and i did and i'm still waiting for it. i don't understand why they aren't given automatically considering the problem.
Just to add a name to the list ... I started downloading the standalone launcher for SoD last night UK as soon as it was available. It is now 18:00uk so almost 24 hours of downloading and I have only managed 140mb of 3.7gb not to mention i have to keep checking periodically that it has not stopped working. Four times now I have had to restart and have lost progress on the downloaded data.
99.5%, but now I am experiencing what others have already said: the download speed is even slower at the end (yes, that can be possible). Down to just 1 to 4 bytes per second. Even a human being can write faster than that. Welcome to prehistoric times.
Ok, it's finally over. With me, the download took just over 10 hours. The last 50% of the download were reasonably fast: approximately 5-6 MB per second. No problem with that, at all. But the first nine and half hours or so were from another world completely.
Aagh! I had 3.4GB downloaded (after only 22 hours of trying) when the launcher froze and when I re-booted I was back to 1.7GB! What the Hell is going on?
This is ridiculous, I pre-ordered and I get this? I can only imagine how many pre-ordered. Beamdog should have servers that can handle a load, there's really no excuse. I do apologize for coming off harsh.
NO! Game and patch downloaded, BG1 runs OK (apart from f-ed up portraits) but SoD crashes at Character Import and Character Generation - I can't even get a game started!
NO! Game and patch downloaded, BG1 runs OK (apart from f-ed up portraits) but SoD crashes at Character Import and Character Generation - I can't even get a game started!
Do you have a mac? because i read it's a problem of missing directory
ALL IS FORGIVEN!!! Speeds increased to 800kb/s - SoD now downloaded. Look down on your fickle customers and laugh BeamDog - once they have had a taste they forget what hunger was...
@Daevelon No, just a bog-standard Windows 7 desktop.
Since writing the above I've found out that BG1 does NOT run OK - it crashes when I try to start a new game (just like SoD).
So i'm sorry i can't help you... i have the same OS and used the stand alone installer, just finished my download and tried everything (mostly because of your post)... I can start a new game, import bgee characters, load previous saves without problems
I'm about done with this slowness, I stop and started it to see if I could kick it in the rear and not only are the speeds slow again, it's starting me near the beginning of the download, AGAIN.
Due to my download repeatedly crashing, forcing me to start all over again each time, I've just had an e-mail from my ISP warning me that I'm close to my download limit because, in order to download the 3.7GB of SoD, I actually downloaded a total of 28GB of data!
Now I have a really big problem because my SoD (and now BGEE) installation is so bolloxed (due to the repeated interruptions) that I'm going to have to uninstall it and try to download it again - except I don't know if I'll be able to do it within my download limit if it screws up again.
Comments
Anyone knows how P2P works in this thing? Do I have to play the game or have the installer open for others to download from me? Or can they download from me as long as my machine is turned on?
Why is the speed bouncing up and down? I can go from 15 B/s (yes, that's bytes) to 600-800 kB/s and back again within 10-15 seconds. Am I connecting/disconnecting to peers that rapidly? (6 Mb/s connection)
More generally: What are companies (Beamdog for example) actually doing up to a release like this to avoid problems on launch day? It's a known problem, so I very much doubt it's something they're not aware off.
One thing I've never quite understood is why marketing people have never realised a very simple principle:
Tell people they can expect up to a 24 hour queue before they can access a speedy download and then deliver them access in 20 hours instead. That'll bring you happy customers. If you don't tell them anything and they have to wait only 10 hours with a slow ass download, they'll be borderline raging (as seen in this thread). It all comes down to setting the right level of expectation. Forget everything about extra download performance. If you set the right level of expectation (which is free) then you'll have happy customers.
Edit: 1.7 Gb and counting...
What the Hell is going on?
Not made much progress during the day...
YAY!
582mb's of 3.7 gig.
Since writing the above I've found out that BG1 does NOT run OK - it crashes when I try to start a new game (just like SoD).
Look down on your fickle customers and laugh BeamDog - once they have had a taste they forget what hunger was...
Now I have a really big problem because my SoD (and now BGEE) installation is so bolloxed (due to the repeated interruptions) that I'm going to have to uninstall it and try to download it again - except I don't know if I'll be able to do it within my download limit if it screws up again.