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Server2 Workshop Experiment
DataSchmuck
Registered, Moderator Posts: 147
So with the latest gmod update, we now have the ability to push workshop addons to users on join. Its way way faster than fastDL. I have set up a little experiment on Server #2.
Right now, the first time you connect, you will download 4 workshop addons. They download compressed, which turns out to be about 140MB. They are then extracted and the total size after extraction is around 700MB.
The 4 addons contain every model, material, particle, and sound that the server uses (minus CAP). This includes spacebuild, SBMP, wire, all player models, etc. There are NO LUA files or anything else included. The workshop files are also private, meaning you cant see them in the workshop browser. They are only accessible by joining the server.
Now, depending on your connection and steams server connection, this can all be downloaded within 2 or 3 mins. (everyone has 50+ megs down speed, right?) There are still a few FastDL things on there (brandons e2 stuff) but that takes seconds to get.
Compare this to the 2600+ FastDL downloads a first time joiner with no addons will have to sit through, and even on a fast connection this can take upwards of 10 minutes to half an hour, and that doesn't even include all the content on the server (no wire or SBMP).
I have literally emptied my addons directory and cleared out all the download/downloads folders in Garrys mod. I then joined, let it download the workshop stuff, and within a few minutes I was playing on the server with all content showing. NO MORE ERRORZ, EVER.
Also note, to stop people from downloading everything twice, I went through each addon on the server and disabled all the addFile/addDir stuff. Brandon, please keep that in mind when updating anything on the server, new weapons stuff especially. (that was a pain to stop fastDL)
Problems:
It is not ideal to have every addon spread through 4 workshop files. If brandon does any updates that include adding models or materials, that means re-creating and updating a 300MB file, which will then have to be re-downloaded by everyone (though its compressed to 60MB).
Currently the 4 addons are
1: SBMP models, sounds
2: SBMP Materials
3: All wire content (minus LUA)
4: Everything else (spacebuild/life support, mining, weapons, playermodels, etc) minus LUA
So in the future we should separate the "everything else" addon so individual updates to other addons dont affect the whole thing. Also, it looks like wiremod and maybe SBMP will soon be officially adding their stuff to the workshop, so I won't need to use my private addon for those. But like I said this is currently an experiment.
Also, I have not done anything with the maps and workshop. Maps are all still on FastDL.
Right now, the first time you connect, you will download 4 workshop addons. They download compressed, which turns out to be about 140MB. They are then extracted and the total size after extraction is around 700MB.
The 4 addons contain every model, material, particle, and sound that the server uses (minus CAP). This includes spacebuild, SBMP, wire, all player models, etc. There are NO LUA files or anything else included. The workshop files are also private, meaning you cant see them in the workshop browser. They are only accessible by joining the server.
Now, depending on your connection and steams server connection, this can all be downloaded within 2 or 3 mins. (everyone has 50+ megs down speed, right?) There are still a few FastDL things on there (brandons e2 stuff) but that takes seconds to get.
Compare this to the 2600+ FastDL downloads a first time joiner with no addons will have to sit through, and even on a fast connection this can take upwards of 10 minutes to half an hour, and that doesn't even include all the content on the server (no wire or SBMP).
I have literally emptied my addons directory and cleared out all the download/downloads folders in Garrys mod. I then joined, let it download the workshop stuff, and within a few minutes I was playing on the server with all content showing. NO MORE ERRORZ, EVER.
Also note, to stop people from downloading everything twice, I went through each addon on the server and disabled all the addFile/addDir stuff. Brandon, please keep that in mind when updating anything on the server, new weapons stuff especially. (that was a pain to stop fastDL)
Problems:
It is not ideal to have every addon spread through 4 workshop files. If brandon does any updates that include adding models or materials, that means re-creating and updating a 300MB file, which will then have to be re-downloaded by everyone (though its compressed to 60MB).
Currently the 4 addons are
1: SBMP models, sounds
2: SBMP Materials
3: All wire content (minus LUA)
4: Everything else (spacebuild/life support, mining, weapons, playermodels, etc) minus LUA
So in the future we should separate the "everything else" addon so individual updates to other addons dont affect the whole thing. Also, it looks like wiremod and maybe SBMP will soon be officially adding their stuff to the workshop, so I won't need to use my private addon for those. But like I said this is currently an experiment.
Also, I have not done anything with the maps and workshop. Maps are all still on FastDL.