Patch Size?

Yes there is a very simple explanation for this.  Stardock creates games that have tons of little files.  GPG has always created games with lots of little files compressed within 3 or 4 big files.  Stardock impulse checks to see if a file has changed and if it has it updates that file.  This means if gpg updates 1 text entry in a tiny file a ~400mb update needs to be redownloaded.  Stardock and GPG are both aware of this and have devised two plans to solve this, 1) GPG can create autopatcher files for future updates that extract and replace the files in a an old, non-impulse sort of way, or 2) gpg can reformat how they store files within the install directory to store small files not compressed in larger files.  Last I heard they were leaning toward option 1, but I think Brad really prefers option 2 and as CEO he may get what he wants unless it is too time consuming.

So this leaves us with the reality that for gpg to reformat this while trying to hit release will be difficult and is not priority number 1, though it may happen.  Given they are on tight deadlines right now, reformatting and releasing a patcher will take longer.  Patchers would add a couple of hours to every patch for them, if any problem occurs that means it would be 6 hour later, which in the case of 3 and 3a means it would have come out on monday or maybe later.  Unfortunately for a little while this is the system we will have.  Here's hoping this is not a reality when we are having balance only updates.

since we are still in the beta, not having a patching system is'nt such a big deal.

i imagine they will add that for the release (having a neat netcode and a balanced game is more important, but still, those that still have slow connections would probably apreciate a patching system).

We have it in now but we were behidn schedule on getting beta 3A up so we just had to bite the bullet and put it up the old fashioned way.

Which system did you go with?  

1)  Old School Patcher that decompresses itself and updates the larger files.

or

2)  Smaller files with impulse updates.

It's RTP patcher based. So it'll look at what you have installed and download the patches and apply them.  But for beta 3A, we just did a full file update.

It would not be nearly as bad if it downloaded at a decent speed. I am stuck downloading at 15 - 30 kB/s.

Thanks for clearing this up.

@Frogboy: Will the next balance patch be using this new method or will it stick to the old one?

It just depends on timing really. We were rushed with this patch (was supposed to go out on Thursday).

What is RTP patching?

Maybe a blog around the build/patch system that impulse uses? 

Y'know, it's funny, I used to know what RTP stood for there.  But now, nope.  It's patching method by which a difference file is used to update old files to new files.

The RTP contains mostly just the 'differences' and some information to the patcher knows where to apply those differences.  And well, I believe some checksums to verify before and after against.

i have 2 computers both with demigod installed and have slow internet... is it possible to move the update files from somewhere to the other computer instead of downloading it all again?

Yes, it is actually super easy.  Simply open impulse and the do the following:

1)  Right click on Demigod, Choose "Archive Application"

2)  Wait while Impulse backs up Demigod.  Took about 4 minutes for me while multi-tasking, give or take a minute.

3)  Navigate to C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Stardock\Impulse\backup to get the file.  You may wish to change the backup archive directory in impulse before stating this.  The file currently weighs in at 1.7 GB

4)  Copy the file to usb flash drive or DVD.

5)  Take it to your other PC and open impulse.

6)  Click on the blue orb in impulse and choose "restore archive". 

7)  Close release notes and allow the archive to install.

8)  Hit update to download a small 7kb file that confirms/authorizes you own demigod and can use the update version.  You are now done!!!

Hope that helps.