Server: allow download of maps via http

[Rick]

Would allow for mirrored contents of the map files so the game server doesn't have to waste bandwidth serving content.

[lamster]

Not sure what you have in mind: you can already set the total bandwidth allowed for map uploads in the server configurator (that bandwidth will be shared among all simultaneous downloaders so you can cap it to something that won't kill your server) and there's nothing to prevent the map files (*.altx) from being downloaded via HTTP outside the game. Are you wanting to disable downloads from your game server and redirect users to a web page to download map packs or what?

[Rick]

Originally Posted by lamster

Are you wanting to disable downloads from your game server and redirect users to a web page to download map packs or what?

Not direct them -- just have the game directly download them from a webpage directly rather than the server itself.

If you've ever set up a dedicated Source server, sv_downloadurl is the kind of thing I'm talking about. You give it a base URL (like http://example.com/maps/) and it will attempt to download maps from that URL (http://example.com/maps/neededmap.altx).

[m!nus]

something like that should be available by default for all games.

[lamster]

Ah yeah that'd be neat -- I put it on the TODO list.

[argonide]

LOL, a vote just passed to a new map (peggle) on the 30 person goon server and it FUBARed the server. It would make a lot more sense with queue(1 or 2 people downloading at a time) so it doesn't take an hour to download a map.

[nesnl]

Originally Posted by argonide

LOL, a vote just passed to a new map (peggle) on the 30 person goon server and it FUBARed the server. It would make a lot more sense with queue(1 or 2 people downloading at a time) so it doesn't take an hour to download a map.

Probably for the best since peggle is a horrible map.

[Spirtz]

Originally Posted by nesnl

Probably for the best since peggle is a horrible map.

its to small for 14 let alone 35

[Jest]

I have a fast map download redirect server, but it seems to still download at the 40kbps.
Is there a link to any documentation on how to setup the variable downloadHttpSource="" ?
I've put a public ftp address inside the httpsource, then had a folder on there named maps where I store the maps to be downloaded.

[lamster]

HTTP Map Download Source: provides the base URL for map file downloads. If a player needs to download a map, he will first try to grab the map via http from <BASE_URL>/<MAP_NAME>.altx. If the URL specified does not exist, doesn't match the size/checksum of the server's map, or the HTTP download fails, the client will then download the map from the server via UDP.

Here's an example configuration:

HTTP Map Download Source:
http://jestgameservers.com/krawz/

If the server admin changes the map to ball_risk_015, e.g. "changeMap ball_risk_015" (which causes the server to load the map at <ALT_INSTALL_DIR>/maps/ball_risk_015.altx) then all players who don't have the map will first try to grab the map from here:
http://jestgameservers.com/krawz/ball_risk_015.altx

As you can check with your browser, that file does not exist on the specified HTTP server at that location (returns a 404 page not found -- not the valid map file) -- hence the client will fall back to UDP download.

You can change the UDP upload rate in the configurator using
UDP Map Upload Rate (KB/sec):
Note: the default (40 KB/sec) limit is fairly low; this is the max upstream bandwidth reserved for map uploads among all clients combined, meaning if 7 people are simultaneously downloading the map (as is commonly the case when creating new maps that nobody has played before) each will do so at 40 / 7 = 5.7 KB/sec.

[Jest]

Thanks, so http://jestgameservers.com/krawz/maps would be the correct value?
When using the HTTP method, does the upload rate apply?
I've seen you on like 4 forums Lamster, you're a very helpful person

[lamster]

Originally Posted by Jest

Thanks, so http://jestgameservers.com/krawz/maps would be the correct value?

Yes, looks right to me.

When using the HTTP method, does the upload rate apply?

No, the limit only applies to direct server UDP based transfers (to prevent the server from maxing out its bandwidth on map transfers and causing lag for current players). The HTTP transfer is limited only by what the designated HTTP server is willing/able to provide.