TDM as a Google Drive or a torrent download?

[Arcatera]

Hello folks,

Is it possible for you to mirror the game as a Google Drive or a torrent download? Downloading from the mirrors has always been hellishly slow, not to mention slower broadband speeds in Turkey.

[Anderson]

16 minutes ago, Arcatera said:

Hello folks,

Is it possible for you to mirror the game as a Google Drive or a torrent download? Downloading from the mirrors has always been hellishly slow, not to mention slower broadband speeds in Turkey.

Hi.

There is only freyk's installer but I don't know if he has a Google Drive or Torrent download solution. I also don't know if the installer gives you the lastest 2.08 version. It doesn't seem so from the name. After downloading it, there is no update process. It installs just like any app. The installer itself is here - http://tdmcdn.azureedge.net/various/beta207_01/TDM_installer.exe

The author's profile:

https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/profile/13309-freyk/
Perhaps he can offer more information.

[freyk]

Dont use my installer to speed up TDM downloads using the updater,
because it doesnt download the game-files.

The TDM installer just creates the gamefolder, uninstaller, shortcuts, set permissions
and then download the necessary files to start the the TDM updater to download the game-files. 

My answer to Arcatera problem is to download the game-files from other mirrors.
By selecting another download mirror that the updater uses, by changing code lines in file tdm_mirrors.txt.
(by commenting out some lines, by putting "#" before the lines)
(mirror.helium.in-berlin.de is to me the fastest mirror)
Or by downloading manually TDM from one of the mirrors of Moddb.
(download 2.07 standalone and 2.08 update package)

Edited July 6, 2020 by freyk

[stgatilov]

I'd like to ask people who took part in 2.08 beta testing: was downloading beta versions significantly faster?

 

[chakkman]

Downloading missions through the ingame downloader is a hit and miss. Some missions download very fast, others are so slow that I wonder if the mirror only allows modem connections... (had a mission yesterday which took like 15 minutes to download... for 200 MB or so) That's the big issue I have. Downloading the mod files themselves through the updater always has been reasonably fast for me. The problem are the mirrors with the missions. 

Edited July 6, 2020 by chakkman

[freyk]

For downloading missions, i reccomend arcatera to download the missions outside TDM game, using another download mirror.
You can find multiple download locations at info page of a mission, at the mission list on our website.
(for arcatera problem: use a external download manager. I like to use FDM)
 

Edited July 6, 2020 by freyk

[chakkman]

The thing is, the ingame mission downloader is so comfortable (and I'm sure that many people use it, opposed to manually downloading the FM's, and having to specify the correct folder for them). I don't know how the ingame downloader picks the mirrors, but, if some of them are so freaking slow, it maybe would make sense to get rid of them.

That said, I have no idea of course how the mirros are chosen, who runs them, and why the missions are either on this or that mirror. All I know is that some missions take seconds to download, and others take 15 minutes. At the very least, I think it would make sense to implement a cancel button, when you don't want to hold a coffee break.

Edited July 6, 2020 by chakkman

[stgatilov]

I have prepared some sort of alternative.
But it makes sense only if you want to install TDM from scratch, i.e. you have no TDM installation on your machine yet.

Here are instructions to install TDM 2.08 from another server:

1. Make directory somewhere, where you can easily write files, e.g. C:\Games\TheDarkMod.
2. Download archive by this link and unpack files from it to the directory.
3. Now run the curl_install_tdm208.cmd batch file. Wait for it to download all the stuff.
4. Unpack all files with .zip archives: tdm_shared_stuff.zip, tdm_update_win.zip, and tdm_update_linux.zip
5. Delete the file curl_install_tdm208.cmd to ensure that you won't run it again accidentally.
6. You are ready to play now!

Basically, it uses the famous curl tool (built for Windows) to download all the files one by one. The files are downloaded from CDN endpoint, so it should be relatively fast. It took me 15 minutes to download the whole TDM 2.08. Also, with some technical skills, you can extract direct links to all the files from script and put them to some other software.

Note that it is still HTTP, not a torrent

[freyk]

How about using that mirror as an official tdm mirror?

[nbohr1more]

Anyway, full 2.08 package at moddb:

https://www.moddb.com/mods/the-dark-mod/downloads/the-dark-mod-208-full

[stgatilov]

On 7/7/2020 at 1:39 PM, freyk said:

How about using that mirror as an official tdm mirror?

I plan to uncover new installer for TDM pretty soon. After that I will think about it.

But I'm rather cautious about making if a mirror, because it is cloud storage, and clouds are weirdly unreliable. I still recall the case with tdmsync prototype when one particular range request to a particular file always resulted in error (with curl.exe too, not just with my C++ code). Normal HTTP server should not behave this way...