Y
Yapa
Guest
Hi,
Just recieved an email from Gabe about a question I had about Steam. Im not sure if this was already answered previously but its new to me, hope it puts light on the steam issue.
Also, I think its ok for me to post what Gabe wrote, as there was no discalimer or privacy information in his email + I've seen others post information from Gabe's emails here too. If im wrong could the Admins delete my post
Ok cut and past...
=============================================
From: Gabe Newell <[email protected]>
To: 'Wojtek' <[email protected]>
Subject: RE: Steam issues
Date: Mon, 8 Sep 2003 18:18:53 -0700
Steam has a distributed file system (DFS). Object in that file system have
manifests. Manifests contain information about the order in which objects
are needed. The DFS caches objects locally on your hard drive.
You start up Steam, it starts downloading objects immediately (presumably
Level 1 of the game). You are filling in registration information, setting
up your video mode, setting up your keyboard, etc... Once everything you
need for Level 1 is on your system in your cache, you can start playing. If
you quit right then, everything is in your cache so the next time you play,
your cache will already be filled. Whenever it is running Steam is always
figuring out what you will need next, and downloading that. If you are
connected to a multiplayer server, it uses the map rotation information to
download whatever maps or other content you need for subsequent maps (it
gets this from a content server, which is the name of the back-end of the
DFS, rather than from the game server, which is bog slow).
So Steam likes to run all the time, because it means it can be using your
connection when you are off at work or asleep to grab new stuff (new maps,
or models or updates or new games or whatever). You can manually control
how much bandwidth Steam uses if for some reason your bandwidth is metered.
You can manually configure your cache size as well. Eventually when you are
playing on level 47, the cache is full and the DFS says "well, I can
probably safely throw out Level 1 at this point, since we haven't played
that in a couple of weeks". If your cache is large enough, it never
discards anything.
If you are on vacation in Korea, you can still have access to your game by
signing into your Steam account (it's machine independent). You can have
multiple accounts on one machine sharing the same physical cache (if you
have more than one person using a machine, and you don't share an account,
say at a cyber-cafe, where you don't want to download a bunch of stuff, but
you don't want other people to grab your account either).
-----Original Message-----
From: Wojtek Borowik [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Monday, September 08, 2003 6:07 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Steam issues
Hello Gabe,
Firstly thank you for the brisk reply to my previous question, I really
didnt think I would get a reply at all! Thanks buddy!
This question concerns the Steam part of the game. I'll get to the point....
Steam will be required to play if you purchase the Steam version of the
game, how much bandwidth will this take? Some say you have to download the
game each time you play, others say its only a small connection check and
updated while others say it will be running in the background all the time
while playing.
So how much bandwidth will this take? (Mb.. Gb???) The reason for my concern
is that here in Australia many ISP's have fixed monthly traffic quotas. If
steam downloads a lot of traffic users will either be capped at modem speeds
or have to pay extra.
Thanks for any info,
Wojtek
Just recieved an email from Gabe about a question I had about Steam. Im not sure if this was already answered previously but its new to me, hope it puts light on the steam issue.
Also, I think its ok for me to post what Gabe wrote, as there was no discalimer or privacy information in his email + I've seen others post information from Gabe's emails here too. If im wrong could the Admins delete my post
Ok cut and past...
=============================================
From: Gabe Newell <[email protected]>
To: 'Wojtek' <[email protected]>
Subject: RE: Steam issues
Date: Mon, 8 Sep 2003 18:18:53 -0700
Steam has a distributed file system (DFS). Object in that file system have
manifests. Manifests contain information about the order in which objects
are needed. The DFS caches objects locally on your hard drive.
You start up Steam, it starts downloading objects immediately (presumably
Level 1 of the game). You are filling in registration information, setting
up your video mode, setting up your keyboard, etc... Once everything you
need for Level 1 is on your system in your cache, you can start playing. If
you quit right then, everything is in your cache so the next time you play,
your cache will already be filled. Whenever it is running Steam is always
figuring out what you will need next, and downloading that. If you are
connected to a multiplayer server, it uses the map rotation information to
download whatever maps or other content you need for subsequent maps (it
gets this from a content server, which is the name of the back-end of the
DFS, rather than from the game server, which is bog slow).
So Steam likes to run all the time, because it means it can be using your
connection when you are off at work or asleep to grab new stuff (new maps,
or models or updates or new games or whatever). You can manually control
how much bandwidth Steam uses if for some reason your bandwidth is metered.
You can manually configure your cache size as well. Eventually when you are
playing on level 47, the cache is full and the DFS says "well, I can
probably safely throw out Level 1 at this point, since we haven't played
that in a couple of weeks". If your cache is large enough, it never
discards anything.
If you are on vacation in Korea, you can still have access to your game by
signing into your Steam account (it's machine independent). You can have
multiple accounts on one machine sharing the same physical cache (if you
have more than one person using a machine, and you don't share an account,
say at a cyber-cafe, where you don't want to download a bunch of stuff, but
you don't want other people to grab your account either).
-----Original Message-----
From: Wojtek Borowik [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Monday, September 08, 2003 6:07 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Steam issues
Hello Gabe,
Firstly thank you for the brisk reply to my previous question, I really
didnt think I would get a reply at all! Thanks buddy!
This question concerns the Steam part of the game. I'll get to the point....
Steam will be required to play if you purchase the Steam version of the
game, how much bandwidth will this take? Some say you have to download the
game each time you play, others say its only a small connection check and
updated while others say it will be running in the background all the time
while playing.
So how much bandwidth will this take? (Mb.. Gb???) The reason for my concern
is that here in Australia many ISP's have fixed monthly traffic quotas. If
steam downloads a lot of traffic users will either be capped at modem speeds
or have to pay extra.
Thanks for any info,
Wojtek
