RPUK Altis Mission File Downloads / Syncing

[Ciaran 5,953]

To make joining the Altis Life server easier for people with slower internet connections, and to relieve load off the server, we are making the mission file available on Google Drive.

The mission files can be found here: https://www.roleplay.co.uk/missions 

FAQ:

• Q: Why are there multiple files?
  A: There are three mission files, although we only have one server. We alternate between the three when we update, which allows the mission file to be updated in the background while you are still playing on the server. This mitigates issues where Google Drive has to wait to update since the file is in use by the game.
• Q: Do I need to do this?
  A: Not necessarily, however it will allow you to completely bypass the mission file downloads in game, and allow you to join immediately after updates.
• Q: Are these updated automatically?
  A: Yes, our build system automatically pushes updated pbos, which in most cases will be well in advance of the restart.
• Q: Does this give people a way to steal the mission file?
  A: Not really, no. We already have protections in place for this, and someone who would be able to bypass these would already have the knowledge to easily extract it from their game folder (or get another person to get it for them if they were banned).

Instructions for setting up automatic synchronization can be found in the HOWTO.txt, including a link to instructional images on how to set it up.

I'd appreciate if you could give feedback on whether the setup instructions where easy to use, and if you are using these files in any way, just to gauge the usage.

[Norman 3,453]

This is awesome!

The instructions are also really good, I'd advise reading them before people comment they don't know how to do it

 

Common issues I already foresee

- people adding folder into somewhere deeper than the root level of their google drive and not adjusting the mlink command to point to this location (or moving the folder afterwards)

- people having their google drive and/or mission cache saved in a different drive / location (I have x2 google drive accounts syncing so had to specific the 'correct' folder in the command)

- people having google drive backup and sync turned off / not running - however I guess this will just download from ingame instead if it ends up out of date

[Nomad 318]

First of all this is a super smart way to deal with this, I especially like how you went to the effort of now only giving us a download but actually having it sync automatically, really clever!

 

When it comes to problems that might happen I think Norman nailed it, but for what it's woth I had no problems following the instructions.

[Nuclear 1,291]

This is great, thank you for taking your time to sort this out and writting up a simple yet detailed step by step process.It took me only a few minutes to get it done and set up, looking forward to seeing it work in action and being able connect & play immediatly after an update .

[Simon Ross 1,737]

<image removed>

The mission file folder has not come up as an option for me with the folders - and I signed in and synced it after I had already added it to drive so I don't think it is directly an issue of it not being synced recently since putting the folder there. There is something which has synced, however this isn't in the folder format and also is not the same size as the folder shown in the imgur instruction(that one is 200mb, whilst this is 1kb) - does anyone know what I may have done wrong here?

 

EDIT: NVM. I figured it out

[Norman 3,453]

16 minutes ago, Simon Ross said:

<image removed>

The mission file folder has not come up as an option for me with the folders - and I signed in and synced it after I had already added it to drive so I don't think it is directly an issue of it not being synced recently since putting the folder there. There is something which has synced, however this isn't in the folder format and also is not the same size as the folder shown in the imgur instruction(that one is 200mb, whilst this is 1kb) - does anyone know what I may have done wrong here?

 

 

You've right clicked and added shortcut to drive, rather than Shift+Z to add directly to drive so it wont sync

[Simon Ross 1,737]

12 minutes ago, Norman said:

You've right clicked and added shortcut to drive, rather than Shift+Z to add directly to drive so it wont sync

Everything works now - Norman came on and fixed everything for me

[Koromiko 45]

What a great idea! I initially had issues in that that despite following the instructions correctly, the folder didn't sync to my local drive. That despite the RPUK Mission Files folder showing up correctly (not a shortcut) in my online drive view.

Turns out, previously I had set google backup and sync to only sync folders of my choice, not all. And of course, the newly shared folder wasn't included until I selected it.

So the instructions are fine, perfectly clear to me. They just assume an out of the box state for Google Sync, maybe a line to say that if you've manually altered the sync settings you'll need to choose the folder to sync manually. But really, I should have remembered I'd done this, the instructions can't account for every variable that people can change.

Really great work as always and thank you.

[Ciaran 5,953]

3 minutes ago, Koromiko said:

What a great idea! I initially had issues in that that despite following the instructions correctly, the folder didn't sync to my local drive. That despite the RPUK Mission Files folder showing up correctly (not a shortcut) in my online drive view.

Turns out, previously I had set google backup and sync to only sync folders of my choice, not all. And of course, the newly shared folder wasn't included until I selected it.

So the instructions are fine, perfectly clear to me. They just assume an out of the box state for Google Sync, maybe a line to say that if you've manually altered the sync settings you'll need to choose the folder to sync manually. But really, I should have remembered I'd done this, the instructions can't account for every variable that people can change.

Really great work as always and thank you.

I did put this part in the pictures for that reason, did you use the pictures or just the txt? Maybe adding that to the HOWTO.txt too would be a good idea.

[Koromiko 45]

Ah, I did just use the HOWTO.txt, had I looked at the pics, that would have pointed me in the right direction too.

My bad.

Also, not sure if this is mentioned in the pics but becuase I had already joined the server since the new 3 file system was in place and before I set up the google sync, one of the 3 files was already in my Arma MPMissionCache. The B file as it happens.

So the mklink cmds worked for A and C but couldn't place the link for B as there was already a file of that name. I renamed the existing B file then ran the mklink cmd again, just for the B file.

[Ciaran 5,953]

7 minutes ago, Koromiko said:

Ah, I did just use the HOWTO.txt, had I looked at the pics, that would have pointed me in the right direction too.

My bad.

Also, not sure if this is mentioned in the pics but becuase I had already joined the server since the new 3 file system was in place and before I set up the google sync, one of the 3 files was already in my Arma MPMissionCache. The B file as it happens.

So the mklink cmds worked for A and C but couldn't place the link for B as there was already a file of that name. I renamed the existing B file then ran the mklink cmd again, just for the B file.

I'll add two things to the HOWTO.txt then - del commands to remove the existing files, and then notes for your fix.

 

[Tuna 816]

Everytime I click Shift+Z and "Add" I get this error message:

Had this everytime I've done it in the last month.

[Norman 3,453]

5 minutes ago, Tuna said:

Everytime I click Shift+Z and "Add" I get this error message:

Had this everytime I've done it in the last month.

There's an ongoing discussion about how best to get around this issue (a limitation of Google Drive)

A few potential workarounds were brought up last night that I'm sure Ciaran will investigate when he gets chance