Fixing the download mirrors @ GCW...
 

As everyone has noticed by now: we are having download mirror problems for about the past week

We know that the mirrors are down so please do not mail is that they are ;)

The problem has been fixed for now but it will surely happen again as the amount of visitors is getting bigger, thus creating so much traffic (> 30Mbit/s). This is quite hard to maintain without real financial backing... (donations are still VERY welcome).

As we do NOT want to be a members only systems where members will have to pay a monthly fee to be able to download, we are seeking other means to keep GCW "alive" and free.

One of the idea's is to use eDonkey for sharing the small files but we think this will mean that most of the files will not be available anymore after about 3 months or so. But this is a start.
For this to work we need code in perl or php to generate the ed2k hash which is needed to create the ed2k link. If anyone has this code let us know!

Another one is using BitTottent but this will die so much sooner as it too much centralized to a single tracker

If anyone has a better idea or solution let us know! And do not be scared if you think that your solution is not good enough to tell!

Sounds like a great idea to me.

As for the problem with old files not being available, how about enabling HTTP-download of files when they become unavailable on the ed2k-network?
I see several ways to do this:

1. A pure timelimit. After a fixed time (like a couple of months) the file will be made available on the HTTP-mirrors wether it is still available on ed2k-network or not.

2. Some reporting-system where people can click a button to report that the file is no longer available on ed2k-network (possibly another button for "yes, it's available)
and when enough people have clicked "not available" it will be made available by HTTP.

3. The most advanced way would be to have some script do a search for complete sources of the files on ed2k-network, record how long ago it saw a complete source
and if it passes a preset timer (like a week) it will enable HTTP-download.

I'd definately go for number three if someone could implement it.
Unfortunately I am not a coder, so I can't help with implementation, just thought I'd supply some suggestions...

Edit: Just wanna stress the point of complete sources if someone decides to go for method #3.
I think we all know how annoying it is that jigle only reports "a source", but that source may have just 2 percent of the file.
That does not really help anyone...

Hi guys, if I may say so, I'd insist that there should still be a way to download stuff via HTTP or FTP. At my workplace, we have a _very_ strict firewall: I'm unable to use ICQ, Napster, Kazaa, eDonkey, eMule and any other peer-to-peer program... Even having problems with FTP sites, too...! :( Thanks,

Joe

You could insist this but there is just not enough bandwidth to only support http/ftp... We do this for the fun of it and the, not to get rich... Banners and other advertising just do not pay for the required bandwidth. It used to but the last 2 years it only seems to cost more than it pays... This is not a healthy solution...

Have you thought about Bittorrent? Its a little bit different from Edonkey.

The users have to download only a torrent which isn't greater then a txt-file.

Servers still host the crack but there are other servers (routet by trackers) who also have the cracks prepared for downloads.

The speed for new cracks is really fast, about 50 in the middle.

Old cracks could be asked, and then upped (seeded) by your servers or by us powerforumusers.

Hmm, just got another idea.
To help people like "Joe Forster/STA" there could be a delayed queueing system for HTTP-downloads to complement the ed2k-downloads.

This would mean that the prefered method would be to go through P2P, but if you can't you can request HTTP-download by clicking on a link that puts you in a queue for the file.
That queue would have a timer in it so that the download will not begin until a preset waiting time has been reached.
The waiting-time should of course be more than what is to be expected from ed2k-downloads...

This system should encourage using ed2k as a primary download-location, but still enables those who can't use that to get the files albeit with a slight delay.
Also, to pay for the download there could be a rotating banner in place on the queueing-page so that people downloading by HTTP will effectively pay for their download by advertisement revenues.

Most people still think that just showing banners get's someone paid (someone gets paid for sure but it ain't us).

BANNER FACTS:

o CPM banners (get paid to show a banner) are virtually extinct (or are only used for popups, which we do not want to use)

o CPC banners (get paid when a user clicks the banner) are paying about $0.01 per click making them almost useless as people just do not click banners as much as they did before (2 years ago).

o CPA banners (get paid when someone buys or signs-up for something from the link/banner they clicked) are the only ones that are preferred by advertisers as they only have to pay when they make a sale. But you need very targetted banners, like DVDXCOPY, to make them profitable... so this is the best deal for the advertiser and the worst for the webpublisher!

Average we get, for the same amount of visitors, about 50-100x less then we got about 2 years back... So you can see the predicament we (and everyone else running a website) are now in


@ b9AcE

Most of the mirrors we are given do not support scripting that is why GCW is a static website without any scripting. Still it would be possible but it would take some programming (anyone interested ;))

Like I said before, I'm no coder, so I can't really implement it, but i have a suggestion for anyone who wanna give it a try:

A nifty javascript+cookie+referer thingie.
Javascript is executed on the client, so it does not require anything specific by the server.
The first page would be a timer-page with a javascript that counts down the preset "discouragement-time".
When 0 is reached a cookie is set and you get sent to the real download page.
This page has another javascript which checks for the cookie (to make sure that the timer was not bypassed) and checks for a valid referer (to prevent external linking).
Since it is all executed on the client it can of course be bypassed, but most people wouldn't put the effort in I think?

Somewhere in there you could also set a cookie if a banner is clicked and thus require X amount of banners to be clicked.
I'm not even sure if javascript can do those things (cookie- and refererchecks) but I'm sure someone else around here knows?

I know I would sure dislike downloading that way, and so I'd go for ed2k-downloading instead... ;)

they did have a e-donkey search thing which was coded here: http://www.analogx.com/contents/news.htm but I cant seem to find it.

How about getting in touch with the guy that is running jigle to see if he could customize his software to only include full sources?
GCW being such a well known and respected site, I'd assume he might do it.
His email is on the page linked to below (don't wanna cause him spam...).

If you are satisfied with only partial sources you can include a jigle-feature as it is today:
http://jigle.com/background.html#ways2jigle

for the emule hash implementation:

empire, did you ask the emule team? maybe they will be helpfull.

The edonkey hash is the quite known RSA MD4 checksum.

It should be possible to get the source code for an calculator. :)

Sad news.
Could you please keep in mind that not all people will be able to use e-Donkey and BitTorrent :(
I am myself behind a very restrictive firewall...
Anyway, thank you very much for the great service you have provided for years :D

For the edonkey hash (Message Digest 4): http://search.cpan.org/author/OTAKA/...MD4-1.3/MD4.pm

I think it is a good idea, to put share the cracks through p2p networks. And since most cracks are rather small, it is fairly easy to keep them in the share for a while.

And after a few months (when the files are vanishing from ed2k) it should be nor problem to provide them by http (not to much traffic to be expected).

An extension: what about sharing a weekly (or monthly) collection of GCW patches? if the patches are bundled together in larger archives, they typically stand longer in the network, and it is easier to help with a reshare.

Adding an ed2k link in addition to the http/ftp site links would be an excellent idea as I'm sure many of us have the eMule/eDonkey client running 24x7 and would be happy to leave the small(usually <5MB, often just a few KB) files downloaded from GCW shared indefinitely.

Incomplete files won't even be an issue as eDonkey works in 9.28MB chunks, any file smaller than that is a single chunk which is either available or unavailable, and I believe almost all the files on GCW are under 9MB.

All thats needed is for an ed2k link to be added to the download page for every file and they'll probably become available on the eDonkey network over time if you request that eMule/eDonkey users place them in a shared folder after downloading from an http/ftp server, to reduce the load. Provided the contents of the files hosted on each server are identical, the resultant ed2k hash when its shared will be identical regardless of the filename or datestamp; it won't have to be downloaded using ed2k to be shared on it so the number of people sharing it should steadily increase. Theres nothing to lose by giving it a try and its got to be better than the current situation!

Those people unable to use eMule at work, can't you use it at home instead? Also its possible to configure eMule to use whatever ports you want, eg. port 80 which obviously won't be blocked, to get around restrictive firewalls implemented by workplaces, colleges, lame ISPs etc.

I got a suggestion. Why don't you create a before add, before the requested crack or download link show up?

example,

GameCopyWorld are supported/sponsored by:


ad




page button, continue to the download. Like megagames do.

We need a real solution
 

Gees you guys what you realy need is a peer to peer network like Kazaa. Its easy to write and would eliminate all these silly bandwidth issues. I can write this in my sleep, Im a C#.net coder.

banners
 

i click on banners all the tim :D
only on sites like GCW (free but useful)

y not make a post with a banner in it
i'm sure lots of ppl will click it ;)

Id have to suggest Bittorrent its being used by more and more "respected" pages, to cut down on the bw usage.

Its even posible to use HTTP servers as seed ( Shares the compele file ) link . Wich will enable users being able to download all the files on your site, but the files highest in demand would allwas have extra seeds. to save BW

That wouldn't last. Seeders are always a few people. sometimes never. Downloading fairlight XIII by bittorret, took a while. But nice suggestion, maybe he come up with an idea to make it work! ;)

offcourse, ppl will stop seeding the file, as they will on e-mule to. Thats where the http seeds come in. I dont know how many downloads GCW has, at one time. But if you check the biggest BT site, you will see the small torrents ( IE a few mb ) are allways best seeded.
Im sure if you contact them, you can use their tracers for a test period. Since they allow everyone to add new torrents to their site ;)

Why not use both methods in the begining to see which one is used most?
A script could be added to count which of the methods are prefered (clicked most).
After a predetermined period of time (like a month) these statistics will be collected and a method chosen.

If possible the HTTP method could be left as a backup alternative during this time too, so that it can be determined if
the load on the servers will be decreased enough by the alternative methods to be able to leave it there when the final solution is implemented.

This should work right?
And this way we don't have to argue over which method is the superior one since we will have statistics on usage (and availability could be manually checked)...

Hi guys, another - perhaps, far-fetched - idea for your kind consideration.

I'm frequenting a small site that needs to get some money - indirectly - from its visitors, to pay for the server space. There's a relatively simple login system:

1. Go to search site A and search for the text B. (Or there's already a direct link to the search results page).

2. On the search results page, click on the link with the text C.

3. On the next page, find the text D, with the missing word E in it.

4. Enter word E below to log in.

It has been working fine for years. Of course, GCW is incomparably larger and more popular so I'm not sure if the same idea could be applied satisfyingly here, as well...

Joe

I think know what you trying to say, but I still confused......:confused:

Is ABCDE just symbols, could be rather 12345 or something, to get to from point they must check if you have been to point A to go to point B, if you trying to acces B and not been on point A you will ge redericted to point A is that what you trying to tell? :D

That sounds worryingly similar to the system used by certain ROM sites where you have to vote for them here there and everywhere before it allows you in. While forcing people to visit a number of other sites first in order to raise revenue may well work, its extremely annoying and time consuming and those secondary sites tend to be the sort of places that open popups for adult sites (so your popup killer gets a good testing).

I can't understand the problem with simply adding an eMule link as I know it would work -- some of the files available both from GCW and MegaGames can already be downloaded from eMule; I've resorted to doing an eMule search when all the mirrors have been down and sometimes an identically named and sized file comes up. Not all the files are available by any means and those that are may only have one or two sources and you'll have to wait overnight for it to arrive, but you may be surprised by just how many have found there way onto the network unasked.

If you requested that eMule and eDonkey users place any files downloaded from GCW into their shared folder (which alongside the many gigs of material already shared by the typical user will hardly be noticed even if they share hundreds of cracks), it won't take long before all the files have plenty of sources. Being able to click on an "eMule link" from the mirror page and know you will download the correct file rather than having to do a search and go for something which looks right would be a big plus.

I think some people underestimate the longevity of files shared on the eDonkey network, its not uncommon for even large files (hundreds of megs) to remain complete many months after being first shared by an individual (and I'm not talking about files posted on certain link sites which are available for years). The usual reason for files becoming incomplete is lack of demand over an extended period meaning theres no new sources, and the existing ones unshare it to save disk space as no one is requesting it. The disk space issue will be irrelevant with small cracks, and those which really are only downloaded a few times a year can always be got from one of the normal mirrors as its hardly going to amount to much bandwidth (its the popular cracks which currently place the heaviest load on the mirrors that would be the easiest to download with eMule).

Theres nothing to lose by giving it a try especially when the mirror situation is as serious as it has been recently.

Hm Gamecopyworld is FUBAR !


Sil

Hahahahahahaha!!!:p :p

Is FUBAR really a German word? or/and just the initials for up f***** up beyond all recognition?

no, just the initials :D

The eDonkey and BitTorrent methods could work, but I'd personally rather see something like the big download sites "Queue" method.

As much as people piss and moan about Fileplanet and it's peers, they stay in business because they don't overload their servers, and when the wait is over their speeds are good. I'd much rather wait 10 minutes to get a file at high speed than get a file immediately off of a slow link.

And realistically, none of us NEEDS to get a no-cd patch immediately. If everyone queued up to get their files, we wouldn't overload GCW, and speeds would actually be better than of late.

im personaly quit conviced emule would not work. a small list of problems i could think of. emule network uses "servers", and for this to work GCW would have to have its own. Witch will creata the following problems.

• You need a server for this offcourse :)
• emule can only be connected to 1 server at the time, So ppl would have to change server to download. And then they would proberbly quit your server at once. Since you would have to make sure it "host" any warez
• Most ppl that use emule, download & share illegal files. The secound they joined your server you would be helping spreading warez.
• emule servers normaly have a limit on how many files a person can share. (from about 600-1000 in my xp). This might be less than the total # of files GCW has at one time. So your gonna need more then one "server" hosting the files on emule

As Yummy Sprinkles pointed out a queue method might work, or better yet. you can allow ppl to choose between queue or BT.

Offcourse its posible to have ed2 links on the webpage, and see if a 3d party is willing to help gcw host files on the biggest servers.

The emule network does use servers but the vast majority of them have no restrictions on what is shared on them (except perhaps a max number of files per client). A server just keeps a record of what each client connected to them currently has shared. When you want to download a file, your client first queries the server its connected to to find out if any other clients connected to it have the file you want. If it has less than about a hundred sources for the file, after a few minutes delay your client starts asking other servers if they know anyone with the file. You don't need to change servers to do this or to download from people on other servers.

Servers are just a centralised database of what everyone connected to it has shared. It therefore doesn't matter which server you connect to either for uploading or downloading (but it is more efficient when files have few sources for everyone to be on one server to help them find each other quickly).

Taking your points one at a time:

• You won't need a "GCW Server", it would be nice to have one but totally unnecessary
• Most people don't join a specific server regardless of what they're downloading, they just use the first one they are able to connect to.
• Yes, many emule users do d/l and share illegal files. As most people don't care which server they connect to, servers usually have people sharing all types of files. The server itself isn't involved in any uploading or downloading of files however, only keeping a database of what everyone on it is sharing. It might be possible to restrict the files the server keeps track of (by size, type etc), I really don't know. If thats a problem, the solution is simple-- don't have a GCW server :)
• While servers do usually have a limit on how many files a person can share, that limit is per person, not per server. In theory everyone connected to a server could be sharing a different 500 files.

I do like the queue idea, waiting in a queue for an hour or two knowing you will get a file at the end of it is better than attempting to get something from an overloaded server which keeps stalling.

There is 60+ emule servers, How are you going to share the files on all those servers ?

If this happens on a GCW server, does that not put GCW one step closer to being a "warez" site. I dont know alot about laws, but is it worth the risk ?

That means hosting a emule server that spreads warez is legal?

yes, but this again increases problems with using emule ( If GCW has need to host over 600 files at once ). Now you suddenly have have 2 clients share the files.

There is no "singel" reason why emule is a bad sollution, just alot of small once :)
If you want another p2p network then bt, why not use one of the serverless once ( With encryption ). That should eliminate most of the emule problems.

Another thing, how many ppl have a folder named "game cracks" where they store most of their cracks ? Im guessing they either delete the archive once its downloaded.
Or have it stored have file stored in the folder that contains their CD backup ( ie. .iso or .cue ).
Since you can only share folders in e-mule. That means it now takes on avarage 3 "shares" to include 1 crack. ( .bin / .cue & crack). Again you run into a problems ;) (including shareing the image files might be illegal. )

As PrinceGaz said above, you aren't restricted to download a file from one server on the edonkey network - it will search other networks.

I dont think what other stuff people share will be of any relevance. GCW would provide the user with the hash to click on and this would initiate the download of the crack. The other stuff being shared by the person they are downloading from is not GCW's responsibility. GCW will only post a link to the crack on the network, nothing else.

Using a file queue is an option but it will be too centralized as not many of the mirrors offer any scripting... and I don't even know if a queuing system is available as I do not have the time creating one!

I am currently working on a script which will index the files and will create an ed2k link on the download page (for now flat text files until I or someone else converts it to mysql)

If this does not work I can setup an emule server which only shares the gcw files but I have to investigate if this is possible

I will also look into the webseed scripts, but I still think that bittorrent will take more time to maintain (because of the static trackers)

For now I do not see any other option which is easily implemented

Well, hopefully we'll come up with some to keep you guys in business.

What I'm wondering though, and I hope this subject isn't somewhat taboo right now, is what exactly is going on in the "world" of no-cd patches.

GCW suddenly seemed to lose a lot of mirrors, and the remaining were bogged down to the point of standstill. MegaGames has been extremely slow for the last several weeks, and GameBurnWorld has been all but totally crippled for at least the last month or so.

Is there some sort of crackdown on our supposed "activities"?

"Yeah officer, I payed $70 bucks for the game, and I just didn't want to use the shiny round thing. Hmmm....... what's that? Oh, I have to use the shiny round thing by law. Go figure......"

Thats a good idea and all...but are you planning to script in cgi or php? CGI would get crippled with all the requests, and php would cripple the server with all the requests.....

You say you will use text file to store the indexed data on the files...but for the script to search what im guessing is thousands of url's and file names would be a mamoth task which would no doubt drain the server.....maybe a .dat file would be better?

Thats one of the most negative sides with bt yes, But you could do something like what <InsertBigBTSite> did. Basicly give a group of ppl accesss to your tracker. And give them access to add/remove .torrents. That way you remove alot of the work you need to do. :)

@ PrinceGaz , i dident see that. My mistake.

can't you just make it to where people make an account and then have to wait in line to download a crack like fileshack or fileplanet? you could still keep it free

While a download queue would be a nice option for the mirrors if it were possible, EMPiRE mentioned in an earlier reply that most of the download mirrors available don't support scripting so its not really possible. Of course if demand considerably exceeds available bandwidth across all the mirrors then that wouldn't really solve the problem which is why alternative distribution methods are being explored.

So sorry

There i was moaning coz i could not get my file, i had no idea it was a problem with the site.

Anyway, i say dump the old files.

Soz for the bitch'n though, just so desperate to play my pro evolution with out the horrible slowdowns.

P E A C E