Apokalypser 1 Posted September 10, 2012 I am interested in a solution using less disk space. I assume the server uses most of the game files to check the integrity of those file on the client. please correct me if there are other reasons, I would love to learn about them. Continuing that assumption I would first try to replace the md5 tool with a tool knowing the checksums and telling the server the correct values for every file without having the files transfered to the server. Any comments on this? The intention of this post is to learn if I have any chance of success with my idea. Greetings Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Overlord 0 Posted September 20, 2012 Or somehow, if theoretical possible, implement md5 in signature files. Then the server would need all sig-files, but still a lot less than the full game :) On the other hand, I really do think the server uses data from game files while running. What about islands? Why do the server waste time loading them if it's no use? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
.kju 3241 Posted September 20, 2012 basically all pbos are needed for simulation and AI calulcations. only music and too a degree texture and sound files are not (see DLC lite - some information is still required from both) . Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
maddogx 13 Posted September 21, 2012 On this topic: A few weeks ago, I wrote a small C# program that unpacks all game PBOs, replaces all sounds and textures within with minimal "dummy" files and then re-packs them again in a new location. (Essentially it makes a copy of an Arma2 game folder while "deflating" files that are of minimal consequence to a dedicated server.) This way, the game files (Arma2+OA) are reduced to a total size of roughly 3GB, if I recall correctly. Still quite a lot, but it should take much less time to upload to a server this way. Also, I didn't try zipping the files after deflating them, so perhaps the size could be reduced even more that way. Surprisingly, the game actually started in this soundless and textureless condition (nothing was visible though, not even the menu, so I had to exit using Alt+F4). Therefore I presume that a dedicated server would work this way too, but I never actually got around to testing it. If I manage it over the weekend, and it actually works, I'll release the C# code and executable, if anyone is interested. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tushino 1 Posted September 21, 2012 It will come in handy. Definitely Looking more into it. Thank you. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
maddogx 13 Posted September 21, 2012 (edited) It will come in handy. Definitely Looking more into it.Thank you. Well, if at least one person can use it, I guess I should release it. :D FYI, I just tried out using the deflated version as a local dedicated server and it seemed to work without a hitch. BattlEye enabled, verifySignatures=2, beta 97127 on client and server. No error messages or any problems while joining. I'll just clean up the code a bit and probably release the program today or tomorrow. Oh, and after zipping the files, the total size weighs in at just under 2GB. :) EDIT: I have been informed that simply replacing the sounds and textures with mini-placeholders isn't such a good idea - while the game will still work in principal, AI (among other things) can be negatively affected by this. The better solution would be to down-size the images and down-sample the sounds - both possible, though much more time consuming. :( Edited September 24, 2012 by MadDogX Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
