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Game data not in PAK?
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Pherael Offline
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Post: #1
Game data not in PAK?
Hi, it is possibile to not heaving game data archived in PAK file? So when I patch game on steam or gog or any other eshop, people don't have to download few GB every time?
02-11-2019 09:39 AM
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Zervox Offline
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Post: #2
RE: Game data not in PAK?
through the editor I am not sure, but you can use multiple PAKs to get around this(atleast it will allow you to split the assets into reasonable chunks to prevent multi GB patches), if you mean patch the game like content addition, then using new PAKs for those would also be better in that sense. also you don't need to submit new PAKs if the only thing you've changed is the executable itself(atleast it shouldn't)

Edit: I am not sure if this works but it should and that is dealing with the folder inside Esenthel editor folder found in projects, however I am not sure how that well that works.
(This post was last modified: 02-11-2019 11:25 AM by Zervox.)
02-11-2019 11:14 AM
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Esenthel Online
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Post: #3
RE: Game data not in PAK?
You don't need this for steam. It automatically detects similar chunks (around 1 MB size) in each file and updates only the changed ones.
As for others then you can double click application properties and toggle the option called similar to "publish data as Pak"
For this option you specify 'DataPath' in the game instead of Paks.add (which is inside EE_INIT() in InitPre)
This however gives reduced performance (to have files stored separately instead of one big Pak)
Alternatively you can just distribute an installer that auto updates itself from your own server.
And last solution as Zervox mentioned is to have base Pak and patch Paks.
02-11-2019 01:36 PM
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Esenthel Online
Administrator

Post: #4
RE: Game data not in PAK?
https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/sdk/u...ing_Depots

Quote:Each file is scanned and divided into small chunks of about 1MB. If the depot has been built before, this partitioning will preserve as many of the unchanged chunks as possible.
02-11-2019 02:10 PM
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Pherael Offline
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Post: #5
RE: Game data not in PAK?
Ok, thanks for informations. We starting closed beta today (on steam), so we probably patch game every 2-3 days. I'm going to test how steam manage it.
02-11-2019 02:33 PM
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RedcrowProd Offline
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Post: #6
RE: Game data not in PAK?
Doing base packs and patch pack add quite of bit of gamesize at some point and is not recommended for big games iirc
02-11-2019 06:16 PM
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Zervox Offline
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Post: #7
RE: Game data not in PAK?
I have to make a correction regarding what I said about multiple Paks.

what I meant is that you can split the Assets into
Models1
Models2
Audio1
Audio2

then if you only change data that belongs in Audio1 that is the only thing you need to upload to steam for patching instead of submitting one huge 10GB pak file(saves time uploading the new archive that will overwrite the original as well)

regarding the 1MB chunks data technique steam uses, the problem many developers have issues with it(I think this is why Pherael asked because it is not an unheard of problem people tend to have with some games on steam) is that they tend to use archiving methods/encryptions that gets rebuilt(their method might also be packaging the data in a random order),
then reencodes the entire library so none of the chunks will be registered as "unaltered"(atleast that is my thoughts on the matter)
(This post was last modified: 02-11-2019 09:07 PM by Zervox.)
02-11-2019 09:05 PM
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Esenthel Online
Administrator

Post: #8
RE: Game data not in PAK?
Esenthel uses compression / encryption that's still compatible with steam's chunk system.
02-12-2019 02:19 AM
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