Ideal size for downloads on a server

[Gatekeeper828]

I'm not exactly sure if this is the right spot to be asking but I don't think it qualifies as a help & support thread.

I've been trying to find out an ideal size for downloads on a server. I reduced my content pack to about 66 MB (Bzipped) but I kinda feel like that is still too much. What do you guys think is an ideal size for a content pack?

[NiandraLades]

I'm not sure if you can get anything other than an rough estimation, 'cuz you need to take into consideration how fast the user's internet speed is and how much of the content they'll have from other servers.

For example, if you add ten hats to your pointshop from Gmod Tower, the odds your players'll need to download them is rather slim, since a lot of servers use them and the workshop download has, like, over 100k subscribers. Compare that to if you add ten hats where you personally made the model, or used some obscure items you found, then obviously on average it's going to be longer.

[rejax]

The less the better.

You don't need another 100mb of custom hats for just another TTT server.
Try to be resourcefulwith what you have

[Gatekeeper828]

[QUOTE=NiandraLades;43007493]I'm not sure if you can get anything other than an rough estimation, 'cuz you need to take into consideration how fast the user's internet speed is and how much of the content they'll have from other servers.[/QUOTE]

This is one the personal issues I have; as someone with a terrible internet connection that can barely manage 512kb/s download speed, I don't like fucking over users with tons of downloads because I have been in a position where I needed to wait 20 minutes to join a server

[QUOTE=NiandraLades;43007493]For example, if you add ten hats to your pointshop from Gmod Tower, the odds your players'll need to download them is rather slim, since a lot of servers use them and the workshop download has, like, over 100k subscribers. Compare that to if you add ten hats where you personally made the model, or used some obscure items you found, then obviously on average it's going to be longer.[/QUOTE]

This is an issue I have, some of the addons are a bit out there and not so well known.

I'm gonna look into this and see what I can remove to make it much less than what it is currently.

[editline]28th November 2013[/editline]

Reduced to 48 MB, 15 MB can probably be taken off because of two common addons being in the mix.

[Johnny Guitar]

i dont care how big it is, I just dont want to wait more than 5 minutes or so unless the server is actually worth it.

[lorde banana]

When I ran a server I always said CSS content only (since it's basically a requirement to play anything on GMod) and as few downloads as possible. I got it down to 1 map, 1 model and 2 textures.

There's already a [i]huge[/i] selection of models available, chances are you can find what you need in the CSS or HL2 files.

[Thelurker1234]

when a server download is taking forever because it's downloading a bunch of hats/models I hit cancel, so don't add TOO many

[Gatekeeper828]

Looks like I fucked up and used a better compression method than what was actually used for the server so shit jumped up to 62 MB. :suicide:

Oh well, I'm gonna look into testing it out to see how long it takes to download with a shit connection and then I'll work from there. Thanks for the info.

[bliptec]

[QUOTE=Gatekeeper828;43008730]Looks like I fucked up and used a better compression method than what was actually used for the server so shit jumped up to 62 MB. :suicide:

Oh well, I'm gonna look into testing it out to see how long it takes to download with a shit connection and then I'll work from there. Thanks for the info.[/QUOTE]

For the guy with a 512 kb/s that will take over 16 minutes. It'd be nice if you remove unnecessary things from the content pack, like hats, and have users download that separately.

[editline]28th November 2013[/editline]

Or you could just remove custom hats and models all together, I never really liked them anyways.

[Gatekeeper828]

Well I'm not really adding useless shit like hats, it's more stuff like wire items and some GBomb stuff that is taking up a decent amount of space for the most part. I'm gonna see if I can replace GBomb models with some generic HL2/CSS models. I guess in the end it should be fine though since Wire adds the most to the download and a lot of GMod players already have it.

[Lenny.]

[QUOTE=bliptec;43008854]For the guy with a 512 kb/s that will take over 16 minutes. [/QUOTE]

More like 2 minutes.
But 6 minutes for me with my 250kb/s

Best download size is 0.
Only up it if it's really unavoidable.

[bliptec]

[QUOTE=LennyPenny;43009130]More like 2 minutes.
But 6 minutes for me with my 250kb/s

Best download size is 0.
Only up it if it's really unavoidable.[/QUOTE]

I think you forgot to notice that the file is 62 megabytes, but internet speeds are measured in bits so that the ISPs can advertise big numbers. If you multiply 2 by eight then you get 16

[Lenny.]

[QUOTE=bliptec;43009477]I think you forgot to notice that the file is 62 megabytes, but internet speeds are measured in bits so that the ISPs can advertise big numbers. If you multiply 2 by eight then you get 16[/QUOTE]

He isn't a ISP however, and normal people talk about bytes when comparing speeds against download volumes. No point in comparing two things in two different units.

[bliptec]

[QUOTE=LennyPenny;43010166]He isn't a ISP however, and normal people talk about bytes when comparing speeds against download volumes. No point in comparing two things in two different units.[/QUOTE]

When you use the lower case b that denotes bits though, you are comparing two different units.

[editline]28th November 2013[/editline]

It's not as important of a distinction to make for file sizes since those are almost exclusively measured in bytes, but the ambiguity of internet speeds makes the distinction important.