Would an Auto Updater benefit Daidalos Team and the community?

[Aviar]

Originally Posted by Tuco22

It would be nice for small fixes, but the bulk content updates would probably be best left in the form we currently get them.

I certainly respect your opinion, but let me give you a valid example and see what you have to say about it.

We all know that true widescreen support is something the community has been asking for. Dt has already released a video and told us that widescreen support will be included in 4.12.

For the sake of this example, let's say this feature was 'completed' 3 months ago. Now, let's also say that 4.12 won't be released until 3 months from today. That means a really cool new feature that so many people would love to see is just sitting around for 6 months instead of possibly being released via an Auto Updater.

I am just giving this scenario as an example...I don't want to sound like a spoiled child who wants everything 'yesterday'. We all appreciate Team Daidalos and we would never think of pressuring them to release any content before they were totally comfortable doing so.

However, new technology is always a part of the computer scene and an Auto Update program is at least something to consider. So far, it seems to be working quite well for the HSFX community.

Tuco22, I am simply responding to your post, and using the scenario from above, are you saying that you would prefer to wait the extra 6 months for something like widescreen support when it could possibly be released 6 months earlier as an auto update?

Aviar

[Tuco22]

Perhaps i wasnt clear in what i said. Widescreen support certainly isnt a small fix but id clump that in with things id like to see an auto updater used for. What i meant were things like new aircraft, maps, etc (you know the content part of the update) in the format we have now.

[JtD]

It's a good idea but I don't think it is technically as easy as it is for HSFX.

[EJGr.Ost_Caspar]

Not being in such stuff... was it possible to have more than one server to load from? As you know, we mainly rely on mirrors.

[fly_zo]

swell, another app which would cause more confusion and possible screwed game installations ( faulty download ; broken files which cannot be checked after update ...etc.)

please stick with classic patch style or give us option to choose .

regards
Z

[wheelsup_cavu]

Originally Posted by fly_zo

swell, another app which would cause more confusion and possible screwed game installations ( faulty download ; broken files which cannot be checked after update ...etc.)

please stick with classic patch style or give us option to choose .

regards
Z

I agree with fly-zo on this one. I am not at all interested in an auto updater but if one comes about I want the option to chose not to use it and still be able to get the updated content by other means.


Wheels

[TheGrunch]

Originally Posted by EJGr.Ost_Caspar

Not being in such stuff... was it possible to have more than one server to load from? As you know, we mainly rely on mirrors.

Hi Caspar,
Depending upon the program used as the basis for the updater (rsync is one of the best bandwidth-wise as it only transfers changed files), nearly any number of mirrors could be provided. Using rsync or similar is usually as simple as distributing the sync software and including a short batch file, e.g.

@echo off
if not exist il2fb.exe goto :noexeerror
echo Sync IL-2 1946 with mirror:
echo 1 - http://www.jgzbv.de/downloads/IL2-46/
echo 2 - http://www.atomicgamer.com/files/IL2-46/
set /p mirror= Please enter mirror number: 
goto %mirror%
:1
echo cwrsync -avz http://www.jgzbv.de/downloads/IL2-46/ ./
goto :eof
:2
echo cwrsync -avz http://atomicgamer.com/files/IL2-46/ ./ 
goto :eof
:noexeerror
echo Please run from the main IL-2 1946 directory!

Try it out, just create a file with the above content, name it whatever.bat and run it from the command prompt in a directory that also contains a file called il2fb.exe. It won't do anything because the actual file operations are just printed in this example but it proves the concept. If there is no il2fb.exe it prints an error and exits. There are various ways to make this more sophisticated including providing the mirrorlist as a separate file that can also be updated.

However, if the mods have a more sophisticated updater built around this concept already that could possibly update itself and its own mirror list etc., I don't see why it wouldn't be easier to just use that providing the authors are happy for you to do so.

[T}{OR]

ED has gone the same way with the latest v1.2.1 of the DCS World.

+1

[TheGrunch]

Here's an example cobbled together which uses a mirrorlist.txt file:

@echo off
set index=1

if not exist il2fb.exe goto :noexeerror

echo Sync IL-2 1946 with mirror:

setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
for /f "tokens=*" %%f in (mirrorlist.txt) do (
set url!index!=%%f
echo !index! - %%f
set /a index=!index!+1
)

setlocal disabledelayedexpansion

set /p selection= Please enter mirror number: 
set url%selection% >nul 2<&1

if errorlevel 1 (
	echo Invalid number selected!
	pause
	goto :eof
)

call :resolve %%url%selection%%%

echo Selected mirror: %mirror%
echo Replace this command with sync command for %mirror%

pause

goto :eof

:resolve
set mirror=%1
goto :eof

:noexeerror
echo Please run from the main IL-2 1946 directory!
pause

mirrorlist.txt is simply any text file with a single URL to each line. The bold line should be replaced with a reference to the sync software. There are several pieces of software which will do this kind of task easily from a command line in Windows, but Duplicati seems the most complete.

[theOden]

I like the idea.
:thumbsup: