Triton

[Phayzon]

Already preordered PC LCE last month Good to know 7/11 (<-- lol. For those that dont know Seven-Eleven is a convienient store, not sure if its outside the US [or even my area for that matter]) is the release date.

You think best buy will let me preload

[Damien_Azreal]

Would be nice if Triton would let you pre-load like Steam does. Pre load the game to your PC and then when you get your retail version, just enter your CD-key and your good to go.

But I don't mind installing it the old fassioned way, gives me time to look at the manual.

[marty56]

Well I took the plunge. I purchased Prey through Triton and its downloading now. I figure worse case I could always buy the game in hardccopy later and best case I help drive a stake in the heart of Macrovision and Sony and I dont need a CD/DVD in my drive.

I used Steam to play HL2 and I had no major issues with it. Once or twice I had to play in offline mode since Steam was down.

Let you know when I finish downloading.

[Guru]

I purchased from Triton also because I am in New Zealand and it will not be here till the 14th so I am glad to be able to play it on the 11th via Triton Preload. Thank you for giving me this choice 3drealms

[marty56]

The preload stop after creating 2 folders:
Assets
DATS

Inside Assets, there is a file called 0001_Preload.dat which is 322MB.

Inside DATS, there are 2 small .DAT files.

No indication about it is done or if an error occured.

Anyone else tried this?

[9Nails]

I'm right there with Marty56, a huge thumbs down to Macrovision and Sony protection schemes. Digital downloads are the way to go.

I would buy through Triton, however I am significantly bothered that Triton couldn't ship the contents of the LCE then offer a download of the game. It's unfortunate that there wasn't an LCE package for them to offer. I understand that instead of paying for packaging, they're charging for bandwidth. But I'm referring mostly to the two figures, sound track, and the art book. It would have been nice if they could send just those items.

[marty56]

Originally Posted by Joe Siegler

Prey is now available for preload on the Triton download system. If you pre-order the game through Triton, you can begin pre-loading the game on your system. If you pre-load the game this way, you will be able to play immediately upon the game's release. Here's some details from Triton:

Pre-ordering is now available through the Triton Player for $49.95 by clicking the "Preload Prey" box. By pre-ordering you will be able to start playing Prey within minutes of the release at 12:01 a.m. on 7/11/2006. In a little over a week you will be able to start pre-loading Prey so that there will be no wait once the clock strikes midnight.

You can also check out the Prey demo via the Triton system as well, so check out all the digital distribution goodness for Prey at Triton's Website.

It seems that Triton doesnt download the entire game during preload but it downlaods a portion of it and streams the rest to your computer while playing. This begs the question about performance. It is my understanding/hope that once a level is downloaded or some other part you need, Triton doesn't need to downlaod it again. To be honest I dont really like this and had I read the Triton page a little more carefully, I might have changed my mind by buying the game in this manor.

It would have been better that you clearly describe how Triton worked. Event the Mod in anopther post stated you didn't need Triton to play the game which may confuse other people here.

[Guru]

This is ridiculous!!

I bought from Triton to PRELOAD the game before the 11th so I could play it the same day. Now it only did 8% (322mb) like mentioned above and said I will have to wait till the 11th for the rest. I do not have a fast connection and it will take over 3 days to get the rest of the game, will I have to play 322mb worth then wait another 3 days to play?. What is the point of preloading if I have to wait till it is out to download 92% of it. Sorry for the frustration but please anyone else thinking of purchasing look into this in more detail!

[Steve]

Originally Posted by Guru

This is ridiculous!!

I bought from Triton to PRELOAD the game before the 11th so I could play it the same day. Now it only did 8% (322mb) like mentioned above and said I will have to wait till the 11th for the rest. I do not have a fast connection and it will take over 3 days to get the rest of the game, will I have to play 322mb worth then wait another 3 days to play?. What is the point of preloading if I have to wait till it is out to download 92% of it. Sorry for the frustration but please anyone else thinking of purchasing look into this in more detail!

Oh man that sucks mate

[Joe Siegler]

Prey over Triton doesn't require you to have downloaded the whole game to actually start playing.

[Steve]

Originally Posted by Joe Siegler

Prey over Triton doesn't require you to have downloaded the whole game to actually start playing.

Really? I'll read a tad more.

[Guru]

Thank you for the reply joe, I appreciate your time.

I have a few questions regarding this though. Since I have downloaded 8% and it will take 20hrs to finish the rest what happens when I get to the point where I have played more than it has downloaded?. And also what kind of performance hit am I looking at for streaming content?.

Cheers.

[marty56]

Given the choice, people may want to actually download all the game first.

I understand that just-in-time game content saves bandwidth and may hinder priracy, but I would like to know for example, once a level is downloaded, it is need to be downloaded again if there hasnt been any changes to it or do you always have to download a level. This would come into play in MP and replaying single player mode?

That might make people like me feel better and maybe even cause people to buy the game from Triton this way as well.

[IceColdDuke]

How are people that use Triton going to be able to use the level editor if the game assets are streamed to them everytime there needed? And whats the point of preloading it to 8%...thats not even worth the time to click the button.

[marty56]

I hope Triton is not that stupid in that it only downloads content when it changes. Once its downloaded and if it didnt change, it would stay on the hard disk.

[marty56]

To be fair, I will wait till the game is released and see how Triton actually works before making a finaly judgement
But tell me that you guys didnt really think that the issues reaised her wouldnt come up or there may be some confusion?

[IceColdDuke]

(For the record I didn't buy the game through Triton) but how would the level editor work? Do you have to play the entire game through once before you get all the assets to be able to fully mod or map for Prey?

[OBWANDO]

Duke,

You will be able to use the editor either through the console or via command line (which you will see in an update in ~2 days) with the desktop icons. The assets themselves will be in the clear, and you can mod away just like q3/d4.

Those at 322 meg, you will see your preloads resume at the same time to 1.68Gb. By release day you will have 98% of the game already preloaded with only a short stream (less than 10 megs) to finish it up.

Regarding streaming mode, we keep streaming the data in whether the requests change or not. The only difference is what order its streamed in. If it is way ahead, it will keep on streaming data until its completely done. It does not stop streaming until the game is 100% complete.

--Royal

[IceColdDuke]

Originally Posted by OBWANDO

Duke,
Those at 322 meg, you will see your preloads resume at the same time to 1.68Gb. By release day you will have 98% of the game already preloaded with only a short stream (less than 10 megs) to finish it up.
--Royal

Then whats the point of preloading?

[Otto von Keisinger]

Minimise the time it takes after the purchase to start playing, I presume.

[IceColdDuke]

Originally Posted by Otto von Keisinger

Minimise the time it takes after the purchase to start playing, I presume.

384mb out of 2gigs doesn't save you much time at all ; ).

[Guru]

Thank you for that Royal!

I am very happy to know that I will have most of the game before the 11th and really appreciate that information. If this is true I will be a loyal fan of Triton for a long time to come

[George Broussard]

Originally Posted by IceColdDuke

Then whats the point of preloading?

So you can flip the switch and play it the second it's available. No waiting for stores to open, or copies to be delivered via UPS, etc.

Digital delivery is really for people that 1) want it immediately, or 2) just casually pick it up later for whatever reason, on impulse buy.

[IceColdDuke]

Originally Posted by George Broussard

So you can flip the switch and play it the second it's available. No waiting for stores to open, or copies to be delivered via UPS, etc.

Do you the option to play the game seperatlly from Triton(say make a backup DVD)?

[Mysticc]

At Triton http://www.playtriton.com/faq.asp you can read that:

1: You cannot play offline, what sucks

2: You canot burn your game on CD/DVD for Backup or for taking the game to a machine without Internet, this also sucks. (There are gamers not connecting their gaming-installation to the Internet for performance reasons and also for not having to deal with all this security you have to take care when connecting to Internet)

So Triton is no choice for me.

I remember someone from 3DRealms saying "We don`t like Stream, but we like Triton"

I too don`t like Stream, however I cannot see why I should like Triton.

The above mentioned points are showstoppers for me.

[Babe]

I prefer the boxed DVD version too. Who cares for and getting stuck for downloading chunks of the game ? And besides, you can not even burn the game on CD/DVD . Whoa , what an option for a legit purchaser ?!

[OBWANDO]

"1: You cannot play offline, what sucks"
FAQ need to be updates.. You will be able to play offline.

"2: You canot burn your game on CD/DVD for Backup or for taking the game to a machine without Internet, this also sucks. (There are gamers not connecting their gaming-installation to the Internet for performance reasons and also for not having to deal with all this security you have to take care when connecting to Internet)"

You can copy the folder / back it up, however you will need at least a net connection to reauthorize the copy. And Prey also requires a net connection to authorize the CD key itself, so either way CD/DVD or Digital, you will need a net connection to at least authorize the key on a new install.

Only thing is that if you scratch/kill your disc or lose your key, you may have a harder time than just redownloading and looking online for your key in your profile.

No matter what your decision is, its a choice you can make. Prey is a great game either way.

Also Duke, you will have 1.68GB before the 11th. The client self patches for updates.

--Royal

[OBWANDO]

I will try to answer a couple of the questions going backwards..

Marty: "Given the choice, people may want to actually download all the game first."

You can do that as well... You can just let it go and not play and it will fully download the game, or you can let it download, jump in play a couple levels, get out, go eat, go back play some more, get out / etc... it will just keep going, and if your connect breaks, it will retry until it gets 100% of it all. At that point we're just a passive.

Guru: "And also what kind of performance hit am I looking at for streaming content?. "..

On a 2ghz pc with 768 meg the tested differential (by another firm not us) came out to be ~1-3 fps under heavy load from the game, and was determined that it would be hard to determine the difference.

Duke: "Do you the option to play the game seperatlly from Triton"

Triton will create an icon on your desktop so you can go into prey without looking at us. We are a delivery system, and the idea is for us to help get the game to you, not stand in between you and the game. The more transparent we can be, the better.

One of the cooler things is running from the icon with only 30% of the game installed, having the game pop directly up and forgetting that you are actually still receiving the game while you play.

--Royal

[Chris Dri]

Sounds good, being able to play a game while its still downloading, imagine being in a multiplayer game, and its still downloading the map, u go round a corner and its all wireframe because the textures havent downloaded yet, lol.

Seriously tho it sounds good, but... there must be a but!

[GambitMR]

Another Question:
What I like about Steam is that I can install the game on my old pc@home with slow internet connection ... leave my copy of the game at home and when I log into steam on my new pc@appartment it will give me the option to download my regsitered games.
Can i expect something similar with Triton or would I have to have the DVD to install Prey on my 2nd PC ?

[CameO73]

Am I the only one that noticed this remark from OBWANDO?

And Prey also requires a net connection to authorize the CD key itself, so either way CD/DVD or Digital, you will need a net connection to at least authorize the key on a new install.

I thought the CD/DVD install didn't require an online authorization? Not that it really matters to me, but there were a couple of hot dicussions on this subject...

[motionblur]

Prey does NOT need an net connection to authorize the CD/DVD. He apparently missed the topic about it.

HH didn't have the time to implement it so they scrapped the activation.
Which is a good additional reason for me to buy Prey. I hope DNF will have no activation, aswell (even though I doubt they won't have the time to implement it... )

[OBWANDO]

GambitMR: Yes, you can expect the same thing. You will have the ability to load it and play from each place, but if 2 people try to play on the same account at the same time, it will boot them off.

I get to test this every day when one of the other developers decides to use my account and i get punted in debug mode.

And actually the multiplayer mode is funny how it works. (Putting my D3 dev hat on for a second)... D3 engine based games load each player model needed before getting into a map plus any objects that are going to be on the map + of course mesh / etc... So basically the only real thing that loads dynamically are sounds. And many of those are loaded with the sound shader references from the model.

So what would happen? well, if the object wasnt there, and you were playing, it would go after it in realtime, the doom 3 timer would have a frame tick, we would already be requesting it, then hold on next tick, grab the object, plant it, and release. so you would probably see a stutter in play, but only for that sound. From the testing we've done.. MP games have been pretty easy on us.

--Royal

[Kristian Joensen]

Well I have already preordered Prey trhough Triton bu all I get now is a box with this text on it: "Congratulations on your preload purchase of Prey. Next week, when preloading begins, you will see this box update."

I also have a question, will you be able to pause and resume the downloads ?

[trackit]

i dont mind triton as long as its only optional and i still can get my game from retail store and play it offline etc...
i cant see that some people may like digital delivery... having options is a good thing.

i really hope though that they wount make it the only way to get games in the future.

[trackit]

Originally Posted by motionblur

HH didn't have the time to implement it so they scrapped the activation.
Which is a good additional reason for me to buy Prey. I hope DNF will have no activation, aswell (even though I doubt they won't have the time to implement it... )

well said

i can live with one time cd key activation though... but i dont want to have to be online every time i want to play

[marty56]

Originally Posted by OBWANDO

Marty: "Given the choice, people may want to actually download all the game first."

You can do that as well... You can just let it go and not play and it will fully download the game, or you can let it download, jump in play a couple levels, get out, go eat, go back play some more, get out / etc... it will just keep going, and if your connect breaks, it will retry until it gets 100% of it all. At that point we're just a passive.--Royal

So we cant download the rest of the game until the 11th or when it is released.

Is there a function to validate the download or to re-download the content if desired. Downloading stuff can get correctupted and I will assume that Triton uses something stronger than CRC to check data.

[8IronBob]

Bah, still have it preordered on EB Games' website, so I'll be waiting around for those to show. Triton sounds great, but it's too little, too late...

[birty]

Originally Posted by Kristian Joensen

Well I have already preordered Prey trhough Triton bu all I get now is a box with this text on it: "Congratulations on your preload purchase of Prey. Next week, when preloading begins, you will see this box update."

I also have a question, will you be able to pause and resume the downloads ?

I had that too. You are probably on the old blue client which doesnt seem to update itself. uninstall it and then download the new client and it should work (this is what I had to do)