The new bz2 support for compression of maps

[Strike Harder]

Originally posted by notIAN
It appears that you must have the bz2 file and the bsp for the server to be able to run the map.

Bz2 for webhost.. bsp for the server.
Hurricane.. when can I get a hold of you? I am available after 7:00 P.M. eastern US time. That number didn't work in skype.. said it is not valid.

negative.

on my gameserver, I have the .bsp's

on my webserver, I have on the .bz2's

the .bsp on the gameserver I think is only used as a reference for what to look for on the webserver (the sv_downloadurl source)

the .res's are only needed on the game server, and NOT the webserver.

as many have said, you can bzip all your files, or just the ones you think are too big. I personally only bzip the .bsp's themselves, and leave the materials/sound/etc alone. It's not worth my time or space to bsip a 100K texture, considering that when compressing small files of that size, even the bz2 is still nearly as large, and the requires to be unzipped by the client, thus not saving any real time.

but, in summary, your gameserver should have all normal files/materials/sounds, etc, in their original, uncompressed formats. the webserver should have all the zipped up stuff, and none of the original stuff (if you zipped it).

oh, and here's my next topic.

for map packs that clients download from websites (such as mine), would it be possible for me to bzip these maps, put them into a downloadabel file, and then let clients install them as a map pack?

If I, as a client, place a .bz2 map into my maps folder, and then start up my source game........when I play that map, will source unzip and start it up?

anyone tried this?

my map packs are getting pretty big. It's not the downloading that bothers me, but me (the web master) having to upload the pack that's killing me. If I could bzip the bsp files.....it would be MUCH smaller, and save me and the client time when they download my map packs.

[Strike Harder]

Originally posted by ...bdserver...
oh, and here's my next topic.

for map packs that clients download from websites (such as mine), would it be possible for me to bzip these maps, put them into a downloadabel file, and then let clients install them as a map pack?

If I, as a client, place a .bz2 map into my maps folder, and then start up my source game........when I play that map, will source unzip and start it up?

anyone tried this?

my map packs are getting pretty big. It's not the downloading that bothers me, but me (the web master) having to upload the pack that's killing me. If I could bzip the bsp files.....it would be MUCH smaller, and save me and the client time when they download my map packs.

I am pretty sure not. Time to call your service provider for more upload. Try it, but again I doubt it. All you have to do is stick one in your client folder and see....

yeah.....I'll give it a go today......I bet it works.

if my clients are downloading the bz2's to their pc's.......they must be going into the map folder, and then they are de-compressed.

I would ASSUME that this means any bz2's in the map folder....whether downloaded or put there deliberately.....are going to be de-compressed.

I think it's just an automated process when Source tries to access the .bsp, and finds it has a .bz2 on the end of it.

[Strike Harder]

Originally posted by ...bdserver...
yeah.....I'll give it a go today......I bet it works.

if my clients are downloading the bz2's to their pc's.......they must be going into the map folder, and then they are de-compressed.

I would ASSUME that this means any bz2's in the map folder....whether downloaded or put there deliberately.....are going to be de-compressed.

I think it's just an automated process when Source tries to access the .bsp, and finds it has a .bz2 on the end of it.

Not neccesarily, steam can use a temporary cache (even in memory maybe, not sure though) then deposit the out put (.bsp) into the maps folder.

Also, I would think if this WERE the case you would no longer see bsp(S) and everyone would just trade bzip's. Only time I see a bzip is when a map auther includes BOTH to help a server admin upload it quicker.

Plus I think I tried it before.

people trade bsp's for the same reason why a majority of servers out there don't use sv_downloadurl's and bzipped maps.

they do so because they don't know any better.

I bet it works. We'll see who the man is....

[Strike Harder]

Originally posted by ...bdserver...
they do so because they don't know any better..

Your right. You are the first person to think of this.

oh......the mockery. Oh the joy shall have I when be it proved how I so right thy be-est.

If it works, then I am the first, and I get the credit.

[Strike Harder]

Originally posted by ...bdserver...
oh......the mockery. Oh the joy shall have I when be it proved how I so right thy be-est.

If it works, then I am the first, and I get the credit.

Don't worry. I will shout it from the roof tops for you!
**Looks for key to storage where megaphone is kept.**

nope. it didn't work.

I tried it on DoD:S, with dod_salerno_rc1. Took the .bsp.bz2 file off our webserver, and put it in my maps directory (after removing my already downloaded salerno_rc1.bsp

started up DoD, "created a server", and ran an RCON maps * command. All maps were displayed, except for salerno.

changelevel dod_salerno_rc1
and
map dod_salerno_rc1

did nothing.

so, if maps * doesn't show it, and the changelevel and map commands don't load it..........

it doesn't work. I have been defeated.

BUT IT SHOULD WORK, HINT, HINT VALVE LOOK!

first off i am a noob . I have read every post in here and it definatley has helped me understand a lot. I just was wondering if anyone can help clarify a few things for me.

First off, from what it sounds like all of you have a seperate box for your game server and web server. Is that correct? The reason I ask is because my CS:S clan has just got a Server box and want to run a custom map server on it as well as our normal server, and there is no way we are going to use the trickel method because who wants to wait that long when they can find other servers that use bz2. We are also going to send our website to the server and host it off of there, so me being the noob that I am I don't know if it will be able to host the files/maps as a web server with the url ect, or if we would need a completely different web server. The connection is definatley fast but we of course have bandwidth that we can't go over.

If it is the case that you need completely different box or web server then is there anyone that has idea's of where to find a good one.

we are running a windows 2003 server on a level 3 network out of chicago, and bandwidth is around 1000-1500GB per month (i think I had that bandwidth limit right, if it doesn't sound right to you guys then it probably isn't)

I've tried finding this elsewhere but failed so I figured I would try here, since you are all geniouses.

If I have any info on this wrong please let me know and correct me as I am very intrested in learning about this.

Thanks in advance for any help and thoughts on this.

Artimus
www.NexRevolution.com

you could have them both on the same box....shouldn't be any different than having it on seperate servers.

the bandwidth downloads and website traffic aren't going to influence too much game performance, however, considering how cheap webdomains are these days......I don't see why you would do this.

we use ceasar.dreamhost for our website. I think it's unlimited bandwidth/month, and it can't be more than $10-$20/month. They're on the west coast, but since it's your webserver, you're not dealing with latencies and pings for gaming....you're just concerned about bandwidth and downloads.

If they were both on the same box....I'm sure it would be just as fast, but I bet it's not worth even the slight performance drop it may cause.

As well, if you're thinking about also having your own private psychostats installation on your webserver (which you should), you do NOT want to have this on the same box, because the stat calculations and CPU time are HUGE when psychostats has to to it's thing.

Bumped to prevent purge

[Strike Harder]

What a kind gentelman/lady.