Some of you might have noticed that we now have a new Download system for the Halo Maps websites. We are no longer delivering maps via FTP and no longer limiting you to one file at a time. All files are delivered via HTTP so people should not have any problems downloading due to their firewall or internet security program.

The new system also prevents direct linking to the files so links that go to directly to the FTP site will no longer work. example: (ftp://dl3.halomaps.org/maps/Zanzibar_H2_v2.zip) so the thousand or so websites that are direct linking will need to update their links to point to the actual web page. example: (http://hce.halomaps.org/?fid=2584).

You are now at the mercy of file leeches but we have enough bandwidth so that it should only impact you at peak times which is between 5:00pm and 8:00PM EST. Let me know if you have any problems or see any issues I am interested in your feedback.


Dennis

Thanks Dennis! Its going to take me time to get over the fact i can download more than one file at a time.

Again, we are forever in your debt for all the nice things you do for us here in the Halo community, Dennis.

Thank you once again for being awesome :P

it sucks :(
Edited by milkkookie on Apr 2, 2011 at 02:05 PM

I love you.

Woo, thanks Dennis :D

Download speeds are generally slower? :(

HTTP is Always slower than FTP and now you have the people who want to download two three or four maps at a time to contend with.

Can I have ftp access? (lol) I'd rather get 1 download at a fast rate than 10 at the same rate.
Edited by Dwood on Mar 31, 2011 at 11:51 PM

same here

Downloads are slower when someone hogs a lot of bandwidth.
Edited by Dwood on Apr 1, 2011 at 05:32 PM

Scratch that, I disapprove.

I second this.

You could setup a "subscription" service which people can invest (ie, pay for) in to get priority speeds in their downloads...

After a while, you may even get enough subscribers to invest in more servers/bandwidth!

Just a thought.

Ya'll a bunch of indecisive asses.

I agree with you but then again Dennis is the master, owner, and controller of this site and everything that happens in it, so the change is beneficial for some and tragic for others so I don't think it'll change.

Nice but I hope leechers don't steer up too much! I liked the old system except one file at a time was sometime buggy... when I needed 3 or 4 files at the same time it could be somewhat slow.

Is it possible to put both ftp and http options like idltp mentioned? Get the best of both worlds...

Perhaps BitTorrent or Download Managers?

Infact, BitTorrent protocol might be a lot nicer. Faster, simultaneous downloads. Only problem would be finding trackers and seeds for the thousands of maps on this site.
Edited by AGLion on Apr 2, 2011 at 09:43 PM

BitTorrent would be awful for an archive. It's only good when there are a large number of downloaders.

The new system was put in place for various reasons in order of importance:

1) Because there were too many people who could not download via FTP and didn't know how to open the ports in their firewall.

2) There was an endless and continuous rant, cursing and nonsense about the one download at a time policy regardless of the technical reasons why it was put in place.

3) FTP File leaching programs were constantly attacking our servers and sucking up bandwidth.

4) People were direct linking to the files in direct opposition to our policy. Link to the page not the file.

5) Because it was time for a change and I knew no matter what change I made people would complain.

We will not be offering any other method of download because people wanted to be able to download more than one at a time, regardless of the limited bandwidth we have, and moving away from FTP to HTTP solves 4 of the main issues we have encountered.

We will never use Bittorent for the file archive because as good of a protocol as it is for swarm behavior it is horrible for a file archive where there are intermittent requests for files over time. It is the wrong technology for the purpose.

We are still consuming the same if not more bandwidth that before the switch so if downloads seem slower it is only because there are more of them at the same time while we have the same amount of bandwidth. Over the years I have repeatedly explained to people how it was actually faster to download the maps one at a time than start multiple downloads but no one would believe me so now I am giving people what they asked for: multiple downloads via HTTP and true to expectations people are complaining about that as well.

If I ever asked for multiple downloads let me know- my hands are washed from this tragedy!

However my opinion is that the main driving force behind this decision was in fact the problem with people direct linking. :)
Edited by Dwood on Apr 2, 2011 at 11:09 PM

Which, I do respect. Who is John Galt?
Edited by Dwood on Apr 2, 2011 at 11:10 PM

If Dennis believes that this is the best, then it is the best. C'mon guys, does a couple extra minutes really matter?

However I don't care for the fact that Dennis did what the community wanted him to do. That usually spells disatser. (Jokes)

I don't really like this type of download process. I always try to avoid side that use it because most are just too full of viruses. I know this site to be trusted and i see what Dennis is doing for the members but downloading one file at a time wasn't that bad although i guess people just had no patience. Go back to the old?

Well before sometimes the downloads would send me to the PLEASE NOTE page. So I'd just have to hit back and refresh and then click download again. Now if I get the PLEASE NOTE page I get to wait an additional 30 secs. Making a complete minute of my life wasted. I never needed multi-downloads; but I can see the security reasons in the thought of the new system.
Edited by MatthewDratt on Apr 3, 2011 at 12:05 PM

I'm surprised that somebody as experienced and 'wise' as you hadn't figured that out. Nobody can be satisfied, which is why we have BS like religion.

It was a statement of the result not a complaint on my part. I fully expected people to complain. People don't deal well with change. The major complaint - "can't download" - was a weekly event in my email. Not a single one since the change so in my book it was a qualified success.

I don't like your rather close minded attitude so I made it less close-minded and dumb.
Edited by Dwood on Apr 6, 2011 at 10:45 PM

Instead of obliterating your bandwith by allowing multiple downloads at once, I would have just set up a queuing system for downloads. It would still only download one file at a time, but you could select several maps you wanted and walk away.

that would be better than having about ten windows or tabs open as i usually did.

and this download system is not very good in my opinion, i can only download at 70 kbps

I never had any problems with the download system but what kornman said would be a good idea. I'd be willing to throw some cash in to have higher download speeds and whatnot and support this website.

How about setting up a mirror system?

People with dedicated hosting can setup FTP accounts for halomaps to upload to and then provide a http directory for halomaps users to download from. Have it check the files integrity etc so that people can't just replace map.rar with virusmap.rar....


This would allow for less bandwidth being used on halomaps servers and also allows for more download locations on certain map files. Maybe have it push the latest uploads or popular uploads to the mirrors.

Unless Dennis was in full control of the mirrored content, I doubt he'd go with such a thing. The only way for it to check the integrity of the archive would be for halomaps.org to download it first, then run a hash on it, then compare (which would have to be done for every download because the file can be changed at any second). If halomaps.org has to process it, then the mirror because useless. The hash can't be done remotely because then it can easily be counterfeited.

Just leave it up to Dennis guys. He's what you'd call...a professional, who also happens to have...experience and some would even say...wisdom.

Basically, if Dennis doesn't trust anyone else to moderate his forums, he's sure as hell not going to trust 3rd party dedicated hosters for mirroring files.

If you were a Mod, then this place would go to hell faster than a bass drop in a dubstep song.

Seriously, let Dennis do his thing, and forget about the trolls.
Edited by UBE Chief on Apr 12, 2011 at 10:07 PM

You are not. If you wish to moderate start your own forum then let me know how that works out.