Updates as a separate Download for Windows users...

[RAIST]

There is a lot that comes into play here, some of which SE doesn't have control over. At best, SE could send the updates as a complete package, or groups of packets instead of all the individual tiny files involved. Because they are being sent as thousands of tiny flat files, it opens the process up to all kinds of issues that can crop up with the individual network segments those packets are running through--SE has no control over what happens once those packets are on the wire.

Having a large pipe on your end has no impact on download speed if someone else is clamping down due to congestion and traffic shaping, or if the source is on a smaller pipe in the first place. This DOES happen a lot over there. I have run benchmarks to other JP servers when experiencing heavy choking from SE, and the speed from those servers will choke down as well (3-6Mb down to 1Mb when SE drops from 2Mb+ down to @500Kb). You can also witness this during Windows Update as well. They are capable of streaming ISO's at a full 10Mb stream, but if you have a lot of small WinUpdates, it can be remarkably slow to download/verify each of them in comparison. FTP a bunch of MP3 files at once, then pack them up as a single ZIP file and send them--you'll be surprised at the difference in the actual transfer rate.

They could provide the download as packed files instead of the flat files, but then they'd have to revamp the whole update process with an unpacker/installer process. IDK if they're ready to undo all that spaghetti code to inject a new update process. They're having a hard enough time keeping it somewhat stable as they pare down POL as is.

Alternatively they could pack all the ROM's into a zip archive and let it be mirrored at their partner sites or (or even put it out as a torrent for that matter--so long as it's not the crappy one they used in 14's early beta)...essentially what the guys do at BG. SE would probably have a laundry list of conerns about that though...the issue of people not properly unpacking the files manually into the proper directory structure, issues with mixed versioning that might even lead to some sort of exploit somewhere... They may even be concerned if they put their files out there openly like that, other legal/monetary concerns could come into play too I guess--user sites could suddenly have their bandwith spike from mirroring patches, and all kinds of issues could crop up like compensation and such.

So, from their perspective, it's probably more attractive for them to continue with the file-by-file verification during the update process. If you have modded a DAT, they may detect it and replace it with their version. It's a way for them to safeguard against inconsistencies I guess....but it injects a lot of lag with all those verifications bouncing back and forth. Ideally, I'd like to see it actually be a patch package that downloads as a single file, launches, and unpacks all the files. Just not holding my breath for SE to get with modern times after 10 years of doing it this way....maybe if they one day actually manage to strip POL completely down?