Man, am I bored...

[thistlechaser]

Spent my lunch hour trying to do the FFXI update. Failed.

Spent the last four hours sitting here, just clicking 'retry'. I'm not even halfway done. I can understand the servers being slammed, but I cannot understand this system.

Non-players: For an update like this, there are three steps. A small download, a "file check" system to see if you've partially updated already, then the main download.

First you need to get the initial download. Click the button to attempt it. Wait while it tries. In 30 seconds to a minute or two it will fail (or perhaps succeed). Assuming it fails, you must be at the PC, see the fail (thus have the window forward), and click the button to try again.

Assuming you are able to start that first download, and assuming it completes (95% of the time you will not succeed at these two things), then you have to wait through the file checking. Five minutes or so, unable to be skipped. On the plus side, it can't fail.

So once you've had the rare successful getting of the first download, plus waiting the five minutes for a check, it tries to start the main download. You are more likely to fail on this download than the first one, and way way way (almost certain) to fail it before it finishes.

And if you fail on that third download, you start at the very beginning again.

Now imagine doing this for HOURS. I have been doing it for four hours straight now (plus an hour earlier). Others have been doing it 12 hours. And I'm still not even halfway done.

As if this wasn't bad enough, yesterday was a 16 hour downtime for server upgrades.

Sigh. This week sucks so hard.

---

But look! I'm so bored, I have an offer for people! For tonight only (or until the update actually finishes), if you leave a comment I'll draw something for you! It'll be done with a mouse in MS Paint so it won't be very good, but it'll be something! It might be from your LJ interests or you could suggest something (which I may or may not use!).

To start this off (and show you the quality of the "art" you'll be getting), here's a sample: Things besides FFXI that suck! (If you squint hard and use your imagination, there is a small potentially NWS image... just a stick figure.)

So get cracking! I'm bored!

Edit: Looks like the update is nearly done! Thank god for east coast people going to bed at midnight! No more art!

Comments

[kamalloy.livejournal.com]

I may regret this, but sure. ^_~ I have a couple of unusual interests, but that's about it.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Here you go! Cy's Secret Life (http://www.hot-hot-hot-catlove.com/CySecretLife.JPG).

Heeheehee.

[kamalloy.livejournal.com]

I'd kill you if I weren't laughing so hard. ;p

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

And we need a laugh tonight!

[tharpy.livejournal.com]

POL-1160 is our friend -_-

*clicks retry*

I'm on 56k ;_; i was halfway done at last check..and had 2+ hours left of downloading -_-

*Extends Finger toward Squeenix*..... bastards

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Here's one for you, based on your comment... sort of (http://www.hot-hot-hot-catlove.com/tharpyfinger.JPG).

[tharpy.livejournal.com]

haha nice :D

[kellios.livejournal.com]

Ooh, draw for me!

And I found something very funny earlier today. I was driving to my job and passed the usual new housing development that's going on, only now it has a street. I just about died when I read "Thistle Drive."

I'll take a picture for you!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Hee! Thistle Drive! I'll love to see it!

And me? Draw for you? Ack!

My reaction to that. (http://www.hot-hot-hot-catlove.com/hiding.JPG)

[kellios.livejournal.com]

What naughty porn are you looking at? O.o

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Me? Look at porn? Innocent me? (Ha ha, it's censored, so you'll never know~)

And sorry I couldn't talk by message last night. The game was hellish, and... well, I'll make a post about it later today. *snugs lots!*

[kamalloy.livejournal.com]

Heh. There's a Thistle Road near where I live. It basically follows the path of a river through the woods, so it's all twisty and turny and really pretty in the summer, when the leaves are green and it's nice and shady.

Hmm... twisty and shady... yeah, I'd say that's an appropriate name. ^_~

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

And "pretty in summer"!

*strut*strut*

[kamalloy.livejournal.com]

You're just limiting yourself to summer now? ;p

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

As if!

Sexy in spring,
Pretty in summer,
Freakin' hot in fall,
Wonderful in winter!

[draymor.livejournal.com]

Uh... you don't start from the beginning if your download stops in the middle... all that will happen if you click on cancel is that when you go start the update again, it will check for files that are already downloaded and skip them...

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I meant at the breginning of the process, not of the whole download. And man! Knock on wood, my download is currently flying! I got hundreds of files in a minute or two! It claims 9 minutes left...

I guess that makes sense. Midnight hit on the east coast, people with jobs probably went to bed.

[draymor.livejournal.com]

{lie}s

How come everyone else gets a sketch and I get... nothing T_T

/runs and go cry in the corner {over there}

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yeah, yeah, I know. :) But the update was almost done, so I didn't want to start a picture! Maybe I'll do one at work for ya.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

You didn't have many interests listed, so I did one based on your LJ's title (http://www.hot-hot-hot-catlove.com/pokemonSMN.jpg).

I don't know why saving it as .jpg makes the colors go wonky, but they're less wonky that way than when saved as .gif. Suppose I needed to use .bmp.

[firebyrd.livejournal.com]

Man, I'm sad I didn't see this post earlier. Ah well. Happy FFXI-ing!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

If work didn't suck so badly this week, I'd continue the art-offer from there, but it's impossible. :} Sorry!

[fealu-bryne.livejournal.com]

*whine*

I'm sad too. I want art! I feel so un-special...


*waits for it*

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Special means retarded! Special means retarded!

Ha ha, I've missed you! :)

[fealu-bryne.livejournal.com]

Aww, have you? I've missed everybody like crazy! Just another two weeks, and things should get back to settling down... I hope...

Of course, I've said that before, so. -_-

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Aww, have you?

Okay, you caught me, I was lying.

Or was I?

Heh heh heh.

[wanderingscribe.livejournal.com]

And I just showed up to prove your edit wrong! :D (actually, I'm probably the only East Coaster that doesn't sleep at night. Lucky me.)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Silly East Coaster!

( <3 )

[quasilemur.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine was having trouble with the update, too, but according to my untrustworthy, panicky source, it was from a DoS attack on the server.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

That's what S-E says, yes. However many people don't believe that. The updates have always been this bad, no better and no worse. It's only in this one and the last one that they've blamed a DoS attack.

It's possible that they did put some new process in place to make downloads better, and the DoS attack made things as bad as they were before the new process, but S-E never once announce anything new like that, and they always announce things people would like.

It's highly, highly suspicious, and I fully expect to that the DoS excuse will be rolled out every big update. It makes for a nice scapegoat.