A desperate request

[moribund112]

Hi all,
I've had FFXI for about a month now, and my 30-day trial is almost up. I was out of town for two weeks, and now I've still had trouble updating - I have no problem using PLO viewer, but I do have a problem updating some 8000 .dat and .spw files from SE servers here in China!
Would anyone be able to perhaps make a .torrent for me, or some type of FTP where I would be able to download the most current .dat and .bgw and .spw files? Would this even work? It seems like it should, as SE would simply check to make sure the files are up to date, and if they were then I could play FFXI with all of you!

I understand this is a big request, and might not even be possible, but I'm running out of options. I've done a total XP reinstall, I've turned off firewalls, antivirus, disconnected my router, etc. but still time out updating so many files!

Thanks everyone

[Sabaron]

Re: A desperate request

You just need to be patient and keep going. The servers always do this. Each time a file is downloaded, it will never need to be downloaded again. Just keep reconnecting until all of the files come down the wire.

This was a nightmare with ToAU... It took me 3 days of reconnecting (during the time I was able to do so) to update my pc. I just picked up some old skool SNES games...

[Kurb]

Re: A desperate request

I remember the first time I started ff11 i got the game when it came out and was told by the teeler it was like fantasy star online and the net was optional so i got it i didn't go online for 2 years ><.
Update said 12 hours...........nearly 20 hours later some files still didn't download nearly drove me mad but the next day things were ok

[neighbortaru]

Re: A desperate request

not only is torrenting illegal, but you're asking someone to put up over 7 gigs of data

I am sorry about your current situation, but there is nothing much I can tell you, but to keep trying. perhaps if you can get your hands on the new vanadiel 2007 collection DVD there would be less you'd need to update (and thus not time out).

[Legal Fish]

Re: A desperate request

(1 Torrenting updates is not possible.

(2 Torrenting CD data is not illegal.

[Rostum]

Re: A desperate request

(3 7GB is nothing for torrenting.

[moribund112]

Re: A desperate request

Sorry guys, didn't mean to bring up anything that would be illegal. That's the last thing that I'd want to do on this board...
If I'd bought Vana'diel Collection then that would be my third copy of FFXI not sure I really want to do that!
In any case, it was just an idea, I had no clue whether or not you could simply download the updates from somewhere else...although I do wish SE had an FTP for updates, this way if I timed out, I wouldn't have to go through the process of checking the files again and again and again.

[neighbortaru]

Re: A desperate request

(2 Torrenting CD data is not illegal.

incorrect mr fish. the cd and it's contents is copyrighted material. unless one receives the explicit permission from SE, one cannot distribute it in any fashion.

[Icemage]

Re: A desperate request

Well, the issue is that the updates change specific files, so unless you had someone with a differential between your exact version and the current, you'd still end up with problems most likely (unless you somehow got hold of all the files - but see above legal reasons for why you can't do that).

The problem isn't at S-E's servers or your computer - it's most likely your ISP that is causing the problem. Have you tried running a traceroute to see if you're dropping data across the net (this would not surprise me if you're located in China).


Icemage

[moribund112]

Re: A desperate request

hi there,
Well, I know my ISP isn't blocking anything - I play CS myself without any issues and have some friends who also play WoW or FFXI in other parts of China.
How do I conduct a trace route for my computer? I'd be interested in looking into this...

as of today I have about 3000 files left to update - beginning with 8775 or so. So things are looking good!

[Icemage]

Re: A desperate request

Start > Run > [type "cmd" then hit enter]

In the black window that pops up, type:

tracert <whatever IP address>

I don't remember what the IP range is for the Square-Enix update servers for FFXI, but if you can test it just by enabling Windows Firewall for a moment and seeing where it wants to connect to. Take the IP address that Windows Firewall reports, type it after the word "tracert" in the box, and hit enter.

What you'll see is a numeric list of "hops" - the tracert program will try to send data and track it at every connection point if possible, and will report how long those packets are taking to clear each point. If you see a lot of large numbers (more than 300ms), then you've got at least some network congestion.

Another thing to try is to ping the server. Use the ping command exactly like the tracert command. In the black box, type "ping <IP address>" and it will try to send one data packet at a time to the specified IP address 10 times and wait for that packet to come back. At the end, it will tell you how long the round trip for each packet took, and also if any of them failed to return. If you see a lot of ones that fail, you've got a connection problem.


Icemage

[moribund112]

Re: A desperate request

Hi there,
I conducted a tracert command to this website and the worse I got was on one IP address where it hit 530ms, however all of the others were around 20-220ms. So it appears I do have some congestion going on, but I'd have no clue as to where or how I'd fix that issue.
It's strange because I have no problems with p2p or any other sort of bandwidth-intensive software.

[Kurb]

Re: A desperate request

give SE a ring or e mail em and ask

[Icemage]

Re: A desperate request

Hi there,
I conducted a tracert command to this website and the worse I got was on one IP address where it hit 530ms, however all of the others were around 20-220ms. So it appears I do have some congestion going on, but I'd have no clue as to where or how I'd fix that issue.

It's strange because I have no problems with p2p or any other sort of bandwidth-intensive software.

You can't fix congestion. The reason you get terrible response times on occasion is because the computers that form the Internet sometimes have difficulty transferring enough data from one place to another in a timely fashion. Usually this is because one of the "hops" in your travel path for the data is malfunctioning, or is dealing with too much traffic.

If you have an IP address for the hop that is showing 500+ms, you can do a IP information lookup at http://www.dnsstuff.com to see where, geographically, you're having a problem, but that doesn't really get you any closer to a solution.

Generally speaking, short bursts of congestion are commonplace on the Internet. However, if this is chronic, you should call your ISP and ask them about it.


Icemage

[Legal Fish]

Re: A desperate request

incorrect mr fish. the cd and it's contents is copyrighted material. unless one receives the explicit permission from SE, one cannot distribute it in any fashion.

Not quite the case mr bortaru. Under the current copyright laws for videogames you are allowed to download the CD contents as long as you have previously owned/bought it. You can not sell it however. That's the situation atm. You can "lie" and download them via torrent anyway, or you can honestly need them. It seems his problem is involving updates however, making this irrelevant. You can not torrent updates as they must be downloaded via Playonline.

If I'm not reading this correctly, and you do need CD data, you should search on the many, many torrent sites out there for a copy. It is against the rules to post links to such content, so you'll just have to google it. Good luck.