WoWInterface - New Cataclysm Beta Launcher coming soon

WoWInterface (https://www.wowinterface.com/forums/index.php)

- Cataclysm Beta (https://www.wowinterface.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=82)

- - New Cataclysm Beta Launcher coming soon (https://www.wowinterface.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34311)

New Cataclysm Beta Launcher coming soon

Blue post on the O-Forums;

Quote:

The new Cataclysm Launcher allows you to stream game data while you play. This will reduce the time you spend downloading, installing, and patching World of Warcraft. We will be releasing this new Launcher into the Cataclysm beta soon, and we’d like to get your feedback on the toolset and gameplay experience.

To continue playing in the Cataclysm beta after the next patch, you will need to do the following:

Uninstall your current Cataclysm beta client
- Windows
  - From your Start Menu, click Control Panel, then Add/Remove Programs
- Mac
  - Select your “World of Warcraft Beta” folder and drag it to the Trash icon on the dock
  - Right-click on the Trash icon and select “Empty Trash”
Download the latest version of the Cataclysm beta client
- Visit http://battle.net/
- Login to your Battle.net account
- Select “Account” at the top of the page, and then select “World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Beta” from the Game Accounts list.
- From the Download Game Client box, select Windows or Mac to begin downloading the installer.

What’s changed:

Launcher

We've redesigned the Launcher to explain your installation progress. You will see a new progress bar with sections (Red, Yellow, Green) that represent the amount of data you currently have installed.

There are three stages of download progress:

- SETUP (RED): Core game content is being prepared. You cannot enter the game at this time.

- AVAILABLE (YELLOW): Major game content is not completely applied. You can play, but your game experience will not be ideal.

- PLAYABLE (GREEN): Final game content is almost complete. You may experience a few game issues with playing at this stage.

Updater and Downloader

The Updater and Downloader have been integrated closely into the Launcher, resulting in less application switching when patching and installing.

Notes:

All World of Warcraft data will continue to download and apply whether you wait in the Launcher or are playing in-game. If you find the play experience undesirable, you may exit the game and allow the Launcher to continue the download. This may improve the play experience for users with low bandwidth.

Let us know about your experience with the new Launcher. When sending feedback, let us know what your connection speed is and what stage (Red/Yellow/Green) your progress bar is showing. This will help us optimize the Launcher and get you in the game faster.

I'm assuming this will be today (Tuesday)... Gonna be lots of downtime on the beta while all this gets downloaded all over again...

hmmmm, hopefully all the patch download files I have saved will still work. It will be annoying to have to download everything again :(

how much GB is it actually ?

I requested a beta key, but I can only download 10GB per month :o
(i'm on a special network for students .... i'm not a student anymore though)

Since I have been beta I've probably had to download ~10GB of patches and installers.

Recently there was combo update patch that contained all previous minor updates. So, if you installed now you would need to download about 2.5GB for the installer and 2+GB for the patches.

I doubt any patches will work, but on the bright side when a patch is released -existing files will be replaced instead of new files being added on-top the current installation. This means we may save up to 1GB of HD space, yay!
For example, when I had the trial client that used streaming technology, I could download files in the background and still play. I only got to like 3-4 zones so in the end the client was around 1GB instead of 12GB.

Reason I doubt the patches will work is because they want to test their stream based client (Trial has been using it for a while). If there are bugs, it's nice that we discover them instead having everyone download the patches and simply apply them onto the game. ;)

Bump.

Had Cairrenn retitle the thread to accurately represent what its about.

I've been following the o-forums regarding this and I gather that no one's really sure how big the new build will be as everything should be consolidated into one build, as opposed to one patch overwriting another several times.

While I like the idea of using a more streamlined patch downloading system, the idea of unininstalling and reinstalling worries me just a tad.

Discuss.

We are into the new installer and reinstall now.
Info so far: The new install is a 658MB download, then you get to do the install again, (copy from live WoW client), then...
Well I don't know what comes next, as I havent got that far yet.
But the installer is 4.0.0.12635, so there will be at least 2 patches downloaded.

I started this at 9:14 ET (its now 10:57) and I'm 15% into the install part.

(I really need a new and faster computer)

Quote:

Originally Posted by ricks322 (Post 201353)

You and I are in the same boat. Just got into the patch downloading process and I'm sitting at 1% after 10 minutes... Wierd though, the progress bar seems farther along than that.

ok, done with the install from old data part. (12:47)
starting the patch 15.6 GB 13hours....

Update 1:00am at 1% and have yellow status, download speed 260.9 ??

if it's yellow, you're supposed to be able to play the game. can you?

Quote:

Originally Posted by brotherhobbes (Post 201373)

if it's yellow, you're supposed to be able to play the game. can you?

That would be a limited "yes". Limited as in, not everything has loaded yet and sometimes you can't tell what has and hasn't. I was in Burning Steppes and decided to go for a stroll while I was in the yellow stage. I wandered around for a bit and discovered that no mobs had loaded as of yet. I had to force quit, and when I logged back in I was, of course, quite dead.

Oh, well. It IS a BETA. :rolleyes:

I just posted this over at the o-forums in reply to several rants from people regarding the new downloader.

Quote:

It really kills me when I see someone say Blizz "HAD BETTER DO SOMETHING" in regards to the beta.

BETA folks! BAY-TAH!

This means that Blizzard will do what they have to do to put out a fully polished product on the shelves when the time comes for its release.

If that means making us testers re-download the whole thing 20 times, then that's what they'll do.

We're not here to play, we're here to TEST. Some of that testing includes playing, but a lot of it doesn't.

This is my first beta of any game, let alone WoW, and I feel really privileged that I was given the opportunity. If some of you aren't satisfied with the experience, then maybe you're not cut out to be testers and should just wait until the product that the rest of us helped to perfect hits the shelves.

I don't know if it is still too early, but has anyone made observations about file fragmentation in connection with the streaming technology, yet?

GuildWars uses a streaming technology that sounds pretty similar to what WoW is doing with the new launcher and while it worked pretty well from a gameplay perspective, it created horribly fragmented files that caused severe loading hickups. I'm just curious if Blizzard did a better job at this.

Quote:

Originally Posted by voodoodad (Post 201375)

This is my first beta of any game, let alone WoW, and I feel really privileged that I was given the opportunity. If some of you aren't satisfied with the experience, then maybe you're not cut out to be testers and should just wait until the product that the rest of us helped to perfect hits the shelves.

It's quite sad to watch people acting in such way, I had the luck to test a couple betas and most of the time it wasn't hard to find a wall of whine/drama.

In regards of the new launcher feature; It seems quite interesting but it will be useless for me most of the time due to my crappy dsl connection at my college place, regardless I'll wait on more feedback in a latter stage of the beta, and maybe I will be able to test it myself.

I'd be interested in knowing myself. But iirc, It'll be optional ;)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nefrirr (Post 201378)

I don't know if it is still to early, but has anyone made observations about file fragmentation in connection with the streaming technology, yet?

GuildWars uses a streaming technology that sounds pretty similar to what WoW is doing with the new launcher and while it worked pretty well from a gameplay perspective, it created horribly fragmented files that caused severe loading hickups. I'm just curious if Blizzard did a better job at this.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nefrirr (Post 201378)

I don't know if it is still too early, but has anyone made observations about file fragmentation in connection with the streaming technology, yet?

It looks like all the files are pre-allocated, which means they shouldn't be fragmented on any reasonable filesystem.

EDIT: It also seems that every file ever is being downloaded. I have what looks like all the locales and even the OSX update! :eek:

Quote:

Originally Posted by IQgryn (Post 201388)

It looks like all the files are pre-allocated, which means they shouldn't be fragmented on any reasonable filesystem.

Thanks for the info. Sounds good.

I don't see this 'new' launcher. I deleted mine, and am now redownloading it, and it looks like this:

Do you delete your Cataclysm Installer Folder as well? That is what I did, if not, I'll restore it. THanks :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ferous (Post 201397)

I don't see this 'new' launcher. I deleted mine, and am now redownloading it, and it looks like this:

- don't need image -

Do you delete your Cataclysm Installer Folder as well? That is what I did, if not, I'll restore it. THanks :)

I did a complete unistall with the option off removing the folders, and than just downloaded the new client and installed it.

Works like a charm.

The new Launcher shows up after installing the 658MB that you are downloading. (The Cataclysm core version)
That new launcher downloads a patch nearly 15gigs.

ps anyone found an option to disable the p2p in the new launcher?