Posted July 21, 2009
Hello everyone,
I would like to update you on the latest changes to GOG Downloader (the optional app that can be used to download your GOG.com purchases).
We have just released an updated version (0.9.30) which includes three important things:
1. a faster app core (thx to updated Adobe AIR Runtime, and jQuery 1.3.3)
2. updated file resuming, witch will now allow:
- more reliable auto-resuming, witch should fix _some_ of the problems
- auto discovery of incomplete/complete files
3. an option to send bug report to gog.com
If you have the downloader already installed, you will be notified about the update next time you launch the app; if you don't have the app yet, check out the list of downloads in My Account page for any of your purchases)
2. UPDATED APP CORE
While updating our source code, we also updated all libraries involved which should make the whole app a bit faster and less resource hungry.
3. UPDATED FILE RESUMING
This was, and still is, the most important thing about the downloader. We have received numerous reports from our users, that there are issues with this, especially on slower, less reliable, connections.
The real problem with fixing this is actually recreating this situation, to have a peek at what's really causing this. We tried a lot of different setups, we've used faulty network hardware, we used cellphones as modems to access Internet, we tried disconnecting cables on different levels of the connection, we used software to slow the connection down, we tried downloading files to very slow hard drives, but so far we couldn't recreate problems that some of you were experiencing.
So, as the first step, we changed the way that files are handled, discovered, and resumed. It should help with at least some of the problems.
The second thing, was to enable the downloader app to discover files from previous sessions. This means that if you have an incomplete file backed up before the downloader encountered an error, you can copy that incomplete file into download folder, then add the game to the downloader again, and the app will continue from the incomplete file instead of starting at zero. This is hardly a resolution for the problem, but it will at least allow for some temporary workaround, until we get all the issues sorted out.
So if you have problems using the downloader, you can try to:
1. Start the download normally
2. From time to time, make a copy of the temporary files in the GOG Downloader downloads folder to a safe backup location
3. If the downloader encounters an error click "Send report" (more info below), and shut it down
4. Copy your backed up files back into GOG Downloader downloads folder
5. Relaunch the app, and resume the transfer (or add the game again using the website), the transfer should resume at the point of last backup
Please remember, that this is only a temporary workaround as we work on fixing all the real issues.
3. BUG REPORTS
As mentioned before, we are adding an option to submit bug reports straight from the downloader. Every time you encounter an error while using GOG Downloader, you will have an option to "Send report" to us - please click on it, as it is essential for understanding and solving the problems :).
The report includes:
* GOG Downloader application logs (detailed information about file transfers and errors)
* your gog.com user name
Report does NOT include:
* any personal or hardware info (no hardware logs, no apps list, etc)
We will keep these logs as short as possible and we'll be using them only to find & fix bugs in GOG Downloader. After that we will delete them. We won't spam you, won't spy on your system and won't create any stats regarding downloader and it's usage.
I would like to update you on the latest changes to GOG Downloader (the optional app that can be used to download your GOG.com purchases).
We have just released an updated version (0.9.30) which includes three important things:
1. a faster app core (thx to updated Adobe AIR Runtime, and jQuery 1.3.3)
2. updated file resuming, witch will now allow:
- more reliable auto-resuming, witch should fix _some_ of the problems
- auto discovery of incomplete/complete files
3. an option to send bug report to gog.com
If you have the downloader already installed, you will be notified about the update next time you launch the app; if you don't have the app yet, check out the list of downloads in My Account page for any of your purchases)
2. UPDATED APP CORE
While updating our source code, we also updated all libraries involved which should make the whole app a bit faster and less resource hungry.
3. UPDATED FILE RESUMING
This was, and still is, the most important thing about the downloader. We have received numerous reports from our users, that there are issues with this, especially on slower, less reliable, connections.
The real problem with fixing this is actually recreating this situation, to have a peek at what's really causing this. We tried a lot of different setups, we've used faulty network hardware, we used cellphones as modems to access Internet, we tried disconnecting cables on different levels of the connection, we used software to slow the connection down, we tried downloading files to very slow hard drives, but so far we couldn't recreate problems that some of you were experiencing.
So, as the first step, we changed the way that files are handled, discovered, and resumed. It should help with at least some of the problems.
The second thing, was to enable the downloader app to discover files from previous sessions. This means that if you have an incomplete file backed up before the downloader encountered an error, you can copy that incomplete file into download folder, then add the game to the downloader again, and the app will continue from the incomplete file instead of starting at zero. This is hardly a resolution for the problem, but it will at least allow for some temporary workaround, until we get all the issues sorted out.
So if you have problems using the downloader, you can try to:
1. Start the download normally
2. From time to time, make a copy of the temporary files in the GOG Downloader downloads folder to a safe backup location
3. If the downloader encounters an error click "Send report" (more info below), and shut it down
4. Copy your backed up files back into GOG Downloader downloads folder
5. Relaunch the app, and resume the transfer (or add the game again using the website), the transfer should resume at the point of last backup
Please remember, that this is only a temporary workaround as we work on fixing all the real issues.
3. BUG REPORTS
As mentioned before, we are adding an option to submit bug reports straight from the downloader. Every time you encounter an error while using GOG Downloader, you will have an option to "Send report" to us - please click on it, as it is essential for understanding and solving the problems :).
The report includes:
* GOG Downloader application logs (detailed information about file transfers and errors)
* your gog.com user name
Report does NOT include:
* any personal or hardware info (no hardware logs, no apps list, etc)
We will keep these logs as short as possible and we'll be using them only to find & fix bugs in GOG Downloader. After that we will delete them. We won't spam you, won't spy on your system and won't create any stats regarding downloader and it's usage.
Post edited July 21, 2009 by Venom
