Update using too much bandwidth

[Jon8RFC]

I'm not sure if this is bug-territory or not, but I always inferred "please use the auto-updater" to be for a reduction in bandwidth usage, for the benefit of both the Factorio server as well as the clients.

I just did an auto-update from 0.15.37 to 0.16.6 on Windows, and the total download bandwidth used was over 1.4gb (it only showed one decimal place). I used NetBalancer to monitor usage of factorio.exe.
The 0.16.6 Windows zip is ~825megs (quick start/stop download, didn't check the actual size), so either the update packages are including redundant files, or some form of a "smart downloader" would be appropriate to calculate update packages' total size versus the full zip, and have the auto-updater take the route of less bandwidth, for benefit of all.

This was something I wanted to bring up since I know many countries' ISPs have some form of bandwidth cap. I'm not complaining in the slightest--I'm speaking out for those who DO have slow ISPs and/or bandwidth caps.

[JimBarracus]

The file size is still ridiciously small compared to any other game. Like gta or fallout or anything else.
Consider that many graphic updates were made, thats a huge piece of the pie.

[Hamster]

The problem is that the updater does a sequential update.
Like this:
16.1 -> 16.2 -> 16.3 -> 16.4 -> 16.5 -> 16.6

Better would be if it would do a direct: 16.1 -> 16.6 update.

[ThaPear]

The problem is that the updater does a sequential update.
Like this:
16.1 -> 16.2 -> 16.3 -> 16.4 -> 16.5 -> 16.6

Better would be if it would do a direct: 16.1 -> 16.6 update.

The issue with this is that there would have to be an update process for every version to update from that specific version to the latest.

[Hamster]

The issue with this is that there would have to be an update process for every version to update from that specific version to the latest.

Solution would be:
If version difference is more than 2 --> download the full pack. It would save bandwidth and time.

[HurkWurk]

The problem is that the updater does a sequential update.
Like this:
16.1 -> 16.2 -> 16.3 -> 16.4 -> 16.5 -> 16.6

Better would be if it would do a direct: 16.1 -> 16.6 update.

The issue with this is that there would have to be an update process for every version to update from that specific version to the latest.

this is easier than you think, as there are differencing/repository softwares out there that automate it.
any dev that is using a repository with file control most likely already has this anyway, they just need to populate the downloader with the logic to grab the appropriate repository.

[bergi9]

Use Steam, problem solved.
I'm using SteamCMD for multiplayer server. Because auto-updater requires start the game and the GUI and SteamCMD can be called directly to update factorio without load the game to update.