Update Congestion

[Randwolf]

If I ever quit this game, it will be just prior to an update. Surely with all the brain power over there, S/E could figure out a way to make it so updates aren't a humongous cluster.

Please fix this. It's a disaster every time. And, I have to babysit the download because I never know at which point it will conk out.

[Basileus]

I'm hoping by the time I get home later today, that it won't be so bad. Of course, that is, if the game is even up by then :P

[Randwolf]

Actually, i was trying to get it updated this morning, or at least started, so I can play when I get home after work. Guessing it will probably still be bad tonight because of when the servers came up. Most Americans who work will probably be updating as they get off of work.

[Habu]

Working fine for me :)

[Dragoy]

Took a couple of hours and several errors to get the version information downloaded, and then it would be stuck at 0% downloading the game-files (this from Europe).

Guess it's not going to happen right now...

It's been years when I had it this bad previously, it almost never gets interrupted when I get it started and all, but nevertheless, it does amaze me a little that they still have not been able to improve the process (and likely never will). XIV is closer to the right track, but even that is so horrible that those who can, are more than likely to use third-party torrent software for it...


Would have been nice to start the process before I go outside to do some welding.

/sigh

[Tamoa]

The congestion is so bad, it's an outrage. I've lost count of how many times I've started to download version information and been hit with POL 1160/61 before that even finished.

[Randwolf]

Working fine for me :)

Hey you can pretend this is an HNM and you just made the claim. There you go. HNM problem solved.

[Habu]

still[/I] have not been able to improve the process (and likely never will). XIV is closer to the right track, but even that is so horrible that those who can, are more than likely to use third-party torrent software for it...


/sigh

third party tools also killed MLK Jr, JFK, and Abraham Lincoln. must put a stop to them

[Camiie]

Working fine for me :)

Is this like your claim of having cleared the entirety of Legion? A load of chococrap?

[Randwolf]

Well, time to go to work. I'm sure it will be slightly better tonight. Although, I know the routine:

Start Download, Get Dinner, Restart Download as it quit after 4 files, Wash Dishes, Restart Download as I got lucky and 45 files downloaded, rinse repeat until it finally finishes 5 minutes before bed (or, I have to check it periodically during the night)

[Habu]

Is this like your claim of having cleared the entirety of Legion? A load of chococrap?

Why would I lie about such miniscule things?

http://images.bluegartr.com/bucket/gallery/d8908ffd42efa00cd0b810430d00eb82.png

[Camiie]

Why would I lie about such miniscule things?

Why would you say "It's working fine for me!" at all? People are having problems with the download through no fault of their own. Are you telling SE that there is no problem? I just don't get the purpose other than you saying "Na-na boo-boo it works for me and not for you!" You're about as helpful as SE's response.


Currently, due to heavy server traffic, timeout or network errors may occur at the version check screen or during the version update. This screen appears when you log into FINAL FANTASY XI and a new version update is available.

In case the version update fails, we ask that you please wait a while and then try again.

We apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for your understanding.

Apologies are meaningless. Shut up and fix it.

[Rerrer]

I have failed to post on here until today... I do not like to complain, BUT I am a fan of SE and the entire Final Fantasy series. I even tried FFXIV, and forced myself to like it (for 2 weeks). So here's the deal, Square Enix, this great name and brand you have with us, your fan base, is getting a bad name. This is not the technical competence I expect from a Square Enix MMO. Fix it.

[Habu]

So I guess if it works for you there's not a problem? Or, you just felt like rubbing our faces in it?

With remarks like that one would suspect you have a personal agenda against me :)

[Camiie]

I have failed to post on here until today... I do not like to complain, BUT I am a fan of SE and the entire Final Fantasy series. I even tried FFXIV, and forced myself to like it (for 2 weeks). So here's the deal, Square Enix, this great name and brand you have with us, your fan base, is getting a bad name. This is not the technical competence I expect from a Square Enix MMO. Fix it.

You'd think in a country where one's good name is apparently more important than life itself, they'd care a bit more about keeping theirs unstained. Of course by now there are so many stains they should change the company logo to all black.


With remarks like that one would suspect you have a personal agenda against me :)

I'd have to know who you are first.

[Habu]

I'd have to know who you are first.

Shall we call it a date?

[Rerrer]

I got all excited to see that the update is running to find out that it could take up to 8 hours... *sigh*

[Zyla420]

this is what i find absolutely amusing. you can go download any f2p mmo, install it, fully update it, and be playing the game in a literal fraction of the time it takes for one of ffxi's major updates to finish. that's if you're even able to access the update server when it goes live lol.... not to mention any major updates these f2p mmo's have finish in like 5 min or less.

anyone see the problem i'm pointing at here?

p2p mmo takes 2-6 hours connecting/getting booted from update server, 8+ hours to download + install said update.

f2p mmo takes 1.5 hrs for full install + update, or 5 min or less for major update.

really makes you wonder where all our subscription money has went for the past 10 years XD lol@uSE...

[Dragoy]

Zyla420,

Even more 'funny' is that this isn't a major update even, or most probably would not consider it as one. The file-size is rather large though, perhaps rival to the major ones (around the same'ish even?), which is more or less the main deal why it takes so long for the congestion to settle down. It's still a tiny package in general considering the amounts of data moved around in this day, I think.

At this time and age where there is an abundance of bandwidth around earth, it does seem weird that this big of a company can't handle such transfers more efficiently. Heck, they even seem to limit it per user, as I remember monitoring the download speed for two different computers at the same location: the speed would be basically the same for each.

Even so, my download today has not moved even a 0.000etc.1%...


Habu,

I dare you to press cancel and try again!
Also, I'll be crashing your date, but I wont tell you how, when, and where.

[Habu]

Lol I'm already logged on :( I honestly just think I got lucky, went the whole time with an interruption ;o I will say in the past I've had that crap happen to me where I had to restart update over and over

[Kaisha]

It's been 10 years and people still get mad over this?

Either camp POL and update the files right when the option becomes available during maintenance, or wait until the next day if you can't stand the POL-1160 message spam.

[Dragoy]

Yeah, as I mentioned somewhere above, I usually don't have these issues. Being in Europe, this obviously means I most likely initiate the update either after the majority has already done it, or before they get to it, but I have done it often during any prime time just as well.

Most often I start the update nearly as soon as it is possible, so that's another thing fer sure that 'gets one in'. The update today started around midnight for me, so I was not up and around to spy on the 'Play' button to jump in a.s.a.p. to get it going.

Right now it seems it's more or less dropping people from establishing new connections until the congestion dies down a little. Even though it is a matter that is not on-going all the time, due to the fact that they changed their ways a little in that they're releasing updates more often, even if smaller in general, these issues become more and more apparent with more frequent updates.

Even if it's monthly, they're probably not going to touch it at this point. It's probably some kind of a monster, that no one really should go poke at all or that will be the only thing they can do for a year or two to fix!

I've got the patience, though, and I'm not even playing much these days so I'm not mad. I am, however, amused. ^^

[Reiterpallasch]

Minus the congestion cockblock in POL, the whole update took all of ~5 minutes.

Yet another reason to play on PC.

[Rerrer]

Minus the congestion cockblock in POL, the whole update took all of ~5 minutes.

Yet another reason to play on PC.

I play on a PC, with the fastest connection I can get here in Atlanta, GA... it has nothing to do with what you play on and how good your internet is when it comes to these issues... if it did, Playonline would not have a statement out about congestion.

[Demon6324236]

Minus the congestion cockblock in POL, the whole update took all of ~5 minutes.

Yet another reason to play on PC.

I want whatever you got cause I never take only 5 minutes...

I'm on PC... I started it, waited for 6 hours, came back to having 15 minutes left, then it craped out on me... yay~ T_T

[Dazusu]

If I ever quit this game, it will be just prior to an update. Surely with all the brain power over there, S/E could figure out a way to make it so updates aren't a humongous cluster.

Please fix this. It's a disaster every time. And, I have to babysit the download because I never know at which point it will conk out.

Been like this since 2003. What makes you think they're going to do something about it now?

[Kaisha]

Minus the congestion cockblock in POL, the whole update took all of ~5 minutes.

Yet another reason to play on PC.
You're under the reliance of someone else to update first though to provide you the files. Would be the same case for PS2 users who do have hard drive file access.

360 users though? They're boned.

[Reiterpallasch]

You're under the reliance of someone else to update first though to provide you the files. Would be the same case for PS2 users who do have hard drive file access.

360 users though? They're boned.
Well that link was posted last night (11:42pm est), so they're generally very fast about it. You'll have the update done before the servers are live.

[Reiterpallasch]

And for those who don't care to navigate the site itself, you can almost always find a link directly to it via Guildwork, FFXIAH, even Allakhazam.

[Stan64]

http://i.imgur.com/agNll.png
It's the new error 37 from Diablo III.

[Komori]

I can get to the update downloading files screen but mine is repeatedly stuck on 0~98% on "patch.txt" which sucks so much ass. It's the only file that seems to give trouble and it's the first.

[Astarek]

I have the same damn error, it worked for like 30 mins and then It stacked to D:ROM/284/55 something

after that I got lots od POL-1160 and i cant go forward at all..... been trying for 4 hours

[Astarek]

Can someone tell me whats POL-1160 error for? too much congestion?

:(

[Jeubond]

What an utterly despicable balls-up to put it mildly !
I am still unable to update, it looks like I shall be without my beloved FFXI for at least 24hrs, amid much weeping & beating of my breast & through a thick veil of tears I see a solution.
SE will refund all of us that have been unable to access a service we pay for with a days free play . . .
Can you imagine if you failed to pay your subs & made them wait 24hrs they would cut you off & have you locked in Mordion Gaol, however we are the underdogs, they have the upper-hand & we are powerless to take any direct action apart from vent our feelings here.
It would be nice if a mod or SE rep could post & let us know how & why this has been allowed to happen & what exactly they intend to do with regards to restitution of our lost days [24hrs +] subs.
I won't hold my breath waiting . . .

[Vivivivi]

Cachefly (http://www.cachefly.com/), Akamai (http://www.akamai.com/), ((Do you need it?)) :P

[Twille]

I'm also unable to connect. Sort of pathetic actually. Suppose I'll just read a book and try again tomorrow.

[Benihana]

Lol I'm already logged on :( I honestly just think I got lucky, went the whole time with an interruption ;o I will say in the past I've had that crap happen to me where I had to restart update over and over

IT'S a CONSPIRACY AND SIGN OF THE TIMES COMING!

CLEARLY THEY LET PEOPLE WHO DO WORLD SPAWNS, UPDATE GAME FIRST.

[Tamoa]

533 people online on Asura right now, and maintenance/update finished over 5 hours ago. SE really need to do something about this.

[Benihana]

And I'm not one of the 500 people online. Ridiculous.

[Komori]

I think I finally got "in" let's hope it doesn't stop at like 2 files left and freeze.

[Komori]

Problem is not all of us are on the PC. I'm using XBOX.

I thought I was in the clear but it stopped and restarted after I got to 1217 files. Now patch.txt is giving trouble again.

[Jerbob]

How is it even possible for this to be such an issue? It's an embarrasment to everyone concerned, not least of all us for playing a game that is obviously so badly supported. I've not actually managed to download a single file yet.

I've got an image in my head of a single overworked server from the mid 1990s in the centre of a completely chaotic scene; SE's four FFXI employees are screaming and running around with their hands over their eyes, tripping over cat5 cables and colliding with metre high stacks of 720k floppy disks as magnetic tape spools whirr furiously overhead and literally kilobytes of data are transferred per second through a single, overworked ISDN line. In the corner a small twitching man flails hopelessly with a telephone switchboard-type construct, desperately trying to plug each FFXI user into a new port for every file they attempt to download.

Don't be angry if your download cuts out half way through. Think of the poor file switchboard man.

[Jeubond]

Ok, now I'm getting peeved, I have limited time to play each day & now by the time I update, if at all today, it will be too late, it's already nearly 6pm here in the UK.
As a disabled person the one joy I have in life, sad as it may seem, are my jobs & friends in FFXI so thanks SE, you really made my day & sure know how to build confidence in your products, FFIV ? You have got to be kidding, once bitten etc . . .
Interesting to note that they have not updated the 'Latest News' section of the official SE website since 13.20GMT [1.20pm] over 4 hours ago & that the 'Live Vana'diel' feed is not available either, just what is going on here ?

What really gets my goat is that the new update has absolutely nothing of any interest to me or anyone that I usually play with on my LS, good job SE, good job . . .

[Randwolf]

Been like this since 2003. What makes you think they're going to do something about it now?
Because I'm an eternal optimist? Actually, I'm usually quite the cynic. But, even if I don't think something will change, it doesn't mean I won't say anything.

[Frankbrodie]

Well I'm down to 588 files to go on my second machine now doing the SE download.
So I should hopefully make it in for 7-pm UK time. Nothing going wrong from now.

That download is confusing me that a few people are referring to.
I downloaded it. And it says on the site "Drag the contents of the zip into C:\Program Files (x86)\PlayOnline\SquareEnix"
Well the contents of the zip is a folder called strangely enough FINAL FANTASY XI.
Which surprise surprise, I already have a folder with the same name in my \SquareEnix folder.

So I am being told to basically overwrite my 10.4GB folder with the downloaded one containing 1509 files totaling 844MB guys?
You must think I was born yesterday :/
What are the actual proper instructions with what to do with this download please?

[lllen]

Finally got past the checking version screen, now locked at 3% preparing update.......omg this is like years ago.

[Komori]

I'm pretty sure if you ask it to be overwritten, it keeps the older files in it, it just adds the newer files...

[Frankbrodie]

I'm pretty sure if you ask it to be overwritten, it keeps the older files in it, it just adds the newer files...

Yes thank you.
Finally read a bit further in the topic on the site with the download and some other doofus like me asked the same question.
Just dropped the folder straight from winzip onto the SquareEnix folder and it merged them.

Now to get it to do the file check.
This is going to be the good bit. Can't get in for love nor money :/

*edit*
yes cheers whoever posted the update download link.
2 mins after finally getting it to do the file check, I'm in ^^

This better be good SE.
I want 1000 free Traverser Stones for this. I mean it :mad:

[Demon6324236]

Honestly I'm not sure how some people are supposed to update this, not everyone has 8 hours to sit at their PC/Xbox/PS2 waiting for an update, some people only have hours a day, leaving your platform on for hours on end while your at work or sleeping isn't necessarily a good idea (I'm one to talk -_- my PC hasn't been off for more than a hour or 2 in like 4 months...) and the magical errors that pop up half way through cant be stopped, all in all very sad for some people who are hit badly by this.

[Demon6324236]

Yes thank you.
Finally read a bit further in the topic on the site with the download and some other doofus like me asked the same question.
Just dropped the folder straight from winzip onto the SquareEnix folder and it merged them.

Now to get it to do the file check.
This is going to be the good bit. Can't get in for love nor money :/

*edit*
yes cheers whoever posted the update download link.
2 mins after finally getting it to do the file check, I'm in ^^

This better be good SE.
I want 1000 free Traverser Stones for this. I mean it :mad:

*Hands you 1000 Trav stones* Not like I need em, have thousands sittin there... really wish I could make a Azure Traverser Stone, that gives me unlimited time/don't have to zone to add time...

[Komori]

Finally, I'm at like 200 files left (82%), I started trying to update at 5 or 6 AM, it's 2 PM now.

[Vivivivi]

finally finished updating and am logged in.

[Jile]

What is even funnier about how long this one is taking me (4hrs so far)... once I eventually finish on my pc, I still need to update on my wife's pc and then my xbox /sigh.

It's really been a long time since an update had this many issues for me so I'm not really complaining much but it is indeed painfully funny.

[Komori]

Finally got to the installing files! Oh happy days, gonna fix food while it's on this last leg.

[JustAnotherJosh]

For anyone who's been lucky enough to get the update by now, are you experiencing any in-game lag? After almost 8 hours I finally managed to get the update downloaded and installed, but now FFXI is running unusually slow for me. I'm trying to figure out if it's an issue with my ISP or if it's due to the number of people attempting to update their game.

[Kaisha]

SE get a clue .. all you had to do is distribute a file like the one so kindly linked to in the above.. and 90% of PC would be done by now.. relieving the congestion for console updates..

Or they can continue doing what they do, by doing nothing and letting the congestion sort itself out in a couple days of users fighting to get it finished.

Remember that this game has hardly a budget. Everything runs under SE Account now and they couldn't even be bothered to slim down the POL viewer to make it faster to launch into FFXI for instance.

[Gropitou]

Instead of things improving over time, SE has mastered the art of screwing up things that were'nt broken (kinda).

Why keep making updates that are so huge they take 12hrs and cause congestion for 2-3 days? WAKE UP!!!

[Zumi]

Instead of things improving over time, SE has mastered the art of screwing up things that were'nt broken (kinda).

Why keep making updates that are so huge they take 12hrs and cause congestion for 2-3 days? WAKE UP!!!

I wouldn't call 88 mb huge.

[Habu]

It's funny that the two people you are worshiping are the two people who created the top two bots for HNM lol

[Komori]

No lag for me. But only 650 people have been able to get on and it's 4:30 PM lol

[Zumi]

Well I just downloaded it took 5 min to download. I downloaded it at 1:30pm PST. I see you guys were having like problems at 4 AM PST, do you really got to play FFXI that early in the morning when like all the JP players are trying to download it? There is the problem.

[Komori]

Maybe that was the problem in the morning, but people are still having trouble at 12~5 in the afternoon.

[Dragoy]

I think it's worth mentioning that getting them files from a third-party might not be as safe as people make it seem (you know the internet, malicious stuff lurks everywhere!). I certainly would not recommend it to someone not knowing anything about what they're doing.

I'm not accusing anyone of anything, but strictly speaking it probably is a violation of the User Agreement et al., to distribute the game files like that (can't remember fer sure, and I'm not going to check right now), and same goes for 'DAT mining'. Sure, it's been going on for ages and seems like SqEX doesn't care, but it's worth acknowledging, methinks.

Then again, I'm also very paranoid when it comes to account security and such, which is one reason to never using them cheats. That, and preferring to play myself and by them rules. ^^;

Just my opinion, of course~


For those like me with multiple PCs (or other systems), it can indeed be handy to find all the tmp2 files. You would also want to preserve the directories (can't remember how to do that in windoze, but it's very easy to do on Linux (SPONsor!)).

Though as I mentioned before, for me example, it doesn't really speed up the process since any system would get 0-30~ KiB/s which is rather ridonkulous (this is what I always get, congestion or no congestion).


Any ways...

Congestion should be done fer now. I was excited about making many AF+1, especially since it took somewhere around 10 runs to get one certain item, but after logging in, I noticed I must have given the OTHER item to the goblin whose box gives absolutely nothing useful ever, remembering the item was for another job...

Oh well, seeing Sagheera is M.I.A. for a time, it's not even an issue. ^^;


/etc/init.d/blabber stop

Play safe,
Cake tare~

[Camiie]

Why do people come on here blaming the users when the problem is obviously on SE's end? I was still getting a few POL errors more than 12 hours after the maintenance ended even after using the download from blugartr. Also, "early in the morning" doesn't apply to everyone the same as it does you. For some that is their playtime whether due to their schedule or their time zone.

I don't get how anyone can defend SE on this and blame the users. Even if you didn't have problems downloading, wouldn't you still be for any improvements that can be made? Do you really think the same people that design your in-game content are the ones who'd be working on improving the update system? Do you really think SE would be financially ruined if they put resources toward this?

[wildsprite]

the congestion is indeed an issue SE has yet to address, they could easily fix it on the PC by making it a torrent, and allowing users to share it, or they could change POL Viewer to have a Torrent client in it to relieve congestion(you being able to control the bandwidth of course) also giving you the choice to save the updates for later use in case you need to reinstall, I'm sure there are solutions that could be done, I just think SE has no intention, very little about what they are planning for the future of XI is worth getting excited about at the moment

[Dragoy]

wildsprite,

I think they're avoiding doing anything with the POL viewer (other than stripping features off of it, that is). It is understandable, thinking how much work it would likely be!

As for “Torrent client in it to relieve congestion(you being able to control the bandwidth of course)”, can you do that with FFXIV? If you don't know, the answer is: no, you have no control over it at all what comes to the regular GUI/options which is why I mentioned most people probably use a third-party torrent software for it.

That might tell something about that. xd

[Ziyyigo-Tipyigo]

the congestion is indeed an issue SE has yet to address, they could easily fix it on the PC by making it a torrent, and allowing users to share it, or they could change POL Viewer to have a Torrent client in it to relieve congestion(you being able to control the bandwidth of course)

It'd work on PCs, but it'd probably never pass muster on consoles. PS2 probably couldn't handle the multitasking (meaning that it'd only seed the torrent while in POV itself), and Microsoft doesn't even let software open port 80.


As for “Torrent client in it to relieve congestion(you being able to control the bandwidth of course)”, can you do that with FFXIV? If you don't know, the answer is: no(.)

The XIV update is P2P. I don't know if it's BitTorrent proper under the hood, but players do seed updates to other players while downloading themselves.

[Dragoy]

The XIV update is P2P. I don't know if it's BitTorrent proper under the hood, but players do seed updates to other players while downloading themselves.

Yeah, with no controls whatsoever on the speeds. One might want to limit the downstream not to mention upstream, which can be a lot smaller in comparison (for example I have a 8/1Mbit connection; tiny upload rates are still quite common here) but of course, other software exists that can be used for throttling.


On another note, this time around was the first time I looked more into the update process as it was going on. From the looks of it, it downloads a single compressed file, and then makes it uncompressed in its designated location, then downloads the next file.
This is probably why it needs to re-check the files every time the update is interrupted (as if it doesn't know where it left off). Re-downloading the patch-info is probably a kind of a fail-safe.

I'm not quite sure why they would opt for downloading single files instead of one package, which would then be uncompressed at once, and the files implemented to the installation.

IF they were to patch the files as soon as they are downloaded and uncompressed, then this would allow for less space required for the update all in all (the uncompressed file-size for this particular update is a bit over 840MiB). Since it patches the files only after everything is downloaded and uncompressed, this is not what is happening (I can not tell if it does on the consoles, though?).

Perhaps they could not implement any other kind of a resume feature (e.g., the download would have to start from 0 were it to be interrupted at any point when using one single file).


I'd guess it is what it is more than likely due to the PS2.
That is if I'm understanding it all right anyways...

[Kaisha]

XIV uses normal torrent files for its updates at any rate, so you can just throw a proper torrent client at it to maintain connection sanity, which I needed since all XIV's client likes to do is max out my upstream and download at dial-up speeds.

[Juilan]

How is it even possible for this to be such an issue? It's an embarrasment to everyone concerned, not least of all us for playing a game that is obviously so badly supported. I've not actually managed to download a single file yet.

I've got an image in my head of a single overworked server from the mid 1990s in the centre of a completely chaotic scene; SE's four FFXI employees are screaming and running around with their hands over their eyes, tripping over cat5 cables and colliding with metre high stacks of 720k floppy disks as magnetic tape spools whirr furiously overhead and literally kilobytes of data are transferred per second through a single, overworked ISDN line. In the corner a small twitching man flails hopelessly with a telephone switchboard-type construct, desperately trying to plug each FFXI user into a new port for every file they attempt to download.

Don't be angry if your download cuts out half way through. Think of the poor file switchboard man.

You're wrong, an ISDN would just queue us getting rid of the 1160 error.

[Juilan]

Well I'm down to 588 files to go on my second machine now doing the SE download.
So I should hopefully make it in for 7-pm UK time. Nothing going wrong from now.

That download is confusing me that a few people are referring to.
I downloaded it. And it says on the site "Drag the contents of the zip into C:\Program Files (x86)\PlayOnline\SquareEnix"
Well the contents of the zip is a folder called strangely enough FINAL FANTASY XI.
Which surprise surprise, I already have a folder with the same name in my \SquareEnix folder.

So I am being told to basically overwrite my 10.4GB folder with the downloaded one containing 1509 files totaling 844MB guys?
You must think I was born yesterday :/
What are the actual proper instructions with what to do with this download please?

One action, merge all.

[Jerbob]

Was anyone else amused by the annoucement that the problem had been "resolved" (i.e. most people had finished the download) and the subtle implication that they'd actually fixed something?


You're wrong, an ISDN would just queue us getting rid of the 1160 error.
That really wasn't the point! :)

[Camiie]

Was anyone else amused by the announcement that the problem had been "resolved" (i.e. most people had finished the download) and the subtle implication that they'd actually fixed something?

Then they'll hope we forget about it till next update when the exact same thing happens all over again.