[TelstraClear] TelstraClear Steam Content Server: Coming Soon

Forums › One New Zealand (including Vodafone, WxC, Farmside) › [TelstraClear] TelstraClear Steam Content Server: Coming Soon

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55 posts

Master Geek

#515208 1-Sep-2011 17:29

I've been able to download CS:S, STALKER: SoC, Portal, Portal 2, and TF2 so far, though Steam really, really doesn't like downloading more than one at at time from TLC. In fact, it basically refuses to.

I had updates for Portal 2 and TF 2 set to download, and I was installing STALKER: SoC at the same time. The only one of those that was actually downloading was STALKER: SoC. I had to wait until it had finished before I was able to update P2 or TF2 (Or I could have paused S: SoC, I suppose).

But hey, it appears to be working, and I get very good speeds with it - up to 1.7 MiB/s, which is basically maxing out my cable connection. As far as I can tell, it's not using up my cap (using SteamWatch to make sure of that), which is good.

The only issue I've had so far is that it seems to occasionally pause or set the game I'm downloading to "Suspended". I'm not sure exactly why this happens, but it means I need to keep an eye on the current download so I can restart it if it gets suspended. Maybe Steam suspends the games if SteamWatch kills a connection to a non-TLC server?

RmACK

196 posts

Master Geek

#515230 1-Sep-2011 17:52

Great to see it's ready now! http://www.telstraclear.co.nz/sub-sites/gaming-steam/

I'm looking forward to saving a bundle of cash and having faster game downloads.

I just wonder about the whole bungled arrangement with Windows only (Steam is on Mac too!) 3rd party tools that TCL recommend you use, but at your own risk of course, to find out whether or not their server is doing its job. (And yes I realise it's largely out of their hands due to Steam's load balancing, but that makes it no less inconvenient for the end user).

Meanwhile at Orcon:
"To check that you are downloading from the Orcon server click ‘play’ on the game you are downloading and check that the Orcon Games banner is displayed."
Sounds a lot simpler than 3rd party convoluted tools. Couldn't TCL do this rather than advocate using tools that they suggest are flaky?

Just seems like a far simpler approach, especially for the many gamers that are far less tech literate than many of us here on GZ are.

ipsi

55 posts

Master Geek

#516461 4-Sep-2011 15:22

I imagine the reason they don't do that is that, for many games, you'll typically go away and leave it downloading (unless it's a pretty small game), and I'm pretty sure that all the Orcon Banner means is that *right now* you are downloading from the Orcon Content Server, but there's no guarantee that Steam will continue to download the game from that server... So I don't see that as being particularly helpful, to be honest, unless you constantly re-check to make sure it's using the Orcon Content Server, and stop/start the download if it's not.

@Simcore Seems like you guys still have a lot of games to load - I have roughly 30 ready to download right now, and the only one I'm actually pulling down is Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction. Which would be great, except that I'd like to download the first two in the series before playing that one... But that's neither here nor there. And least I've managed to get all my Valve games down :)

Skolink

1081 posts

Uber Geek

#518808 8-Sep-2011 22:36

TelstraClear (and other ISPs) are now selectable in Steam!
http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/2236/unledxyk.png

geek4me

843 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#519302 10-Sep-2011 16:20

Skolink: TelstraClear (and other ISPs) are now selectable in Steam!
http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/2236/unledxyk.png

Does this mean that if we select TelstraClear we no longer require a third party product like SteamWatch to control download sites as it will always use just use TeltraClear for downloads?

Is it still possible other Steam sites are used for Downloads if SteamWatch is not used?

blakamin

4431 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#519305 10-Sep-2011 16:25

My cousin is setting up steam on his PC for the first time right this minute (he's a console gamer but wants to play me in black ops) The first setting I wanted him to change was content but it had already auto selected TCL server!

Yeah!

(funny that I got the notification email from GZ as he was installing steam too)

ipsi

55 posts

Master Geek

#519306 10-Sep-2011 16:28

geek4me:
Skolink: TelstraClear (and other ISPs) are now selectable in Steam!
http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/2236/unledxyk.png

Does this mean that if we select TelstraClear we no longer require a third party product like SteamWatch to control download sites as it will always use just use TeltraClear for downloads?

Is it still possible other Steam sites are used for Downloads if SteamWatch is not used?

No, it doesn't. I've got mine pointing to TLC, but games still download from other servers if Steam can't get them from the TLC server for whatever reason. You'll need to setup the firewall rules, or use SteamWatch (or other programs) if you want to only download from the TLC servers (I temporarily disabled the firewall rule to test this).

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blakamin

4431 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#519309 10-Sep-2011 16:49

If you cant get them from TCL, what are ya gunna do anyway? Most TCL gamers will have a reasonable cap... I think TCL having a Steam server is just a huge bonus, really!
I still game, I will still buy games, the fact some/most common ones are available without effecting our cap is just that... a bonus!

ipsi

55 posts

Master Geek

#519310 10-Sep-2011 16:52

Oh definitely. In my case, though, I've purchased a *lot* of games - over 180GiB worth (Thank you, Steam Sales...). Several of these games are > 10GiB each (Total War: Shogun 2 being nearly 20GiB!), so I'm holding off on downloading them until they're available on the Steam Server, because our data caps aren't *that* reasonable. :)

blakamin

4431 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#519312 10-Sep-2011 16:56

ipsi: Oh definitely. In my case, though, I've purchased a *lot* of games - over 180GiB worth (Thank you, Steam Sales...). Several of these games are > 10GiB each (Total War: Shogun 2 being nearly 20GiB!), so I'm holding off on downloading them until they're available on the Steam Server, because our data caps aren't *that* reasonable. :)

Lol, fair call!

We're about to see how 2 steam gamers get on in the same house with our 40gig cap!
Lucky for me, my cousin has been a console gamer forever and steam is all new!

Steam sales are getting my collection up these days too!

Skolink

1081 posts

Uber Geek

#519383 10-Sep-2011 21:01

blakamin:
We're about to see how 2 steam gamers get on in the same house with our 40gig cap!

You do know you can copy games between PCs using the backup/restore functions of Steam?

blakamin

4431 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#519385 10-Sep-2011 21:08

Yeah we are, but he's into mainly different games. The ones we share, we sharing!

geek4me

843 posts

Ultimate Geek

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Lifetime subscriber

#519490 11-Sep-2011 10:47

I found that selecting New Zealand (TelstraClear) for Steam downloads and running SteamWatch with only IP 203.167.129.4 allowed still caused significant data usage (about 1 GB) on my TC account. Is this because the TC Steam Service has not been officially launched so it currently still counts against ones download quota?

Edit: I also found that stopping SteamWatch tripled the download speed while using the same amount of TC download data blocks as when SteamWatch was running. It's like SteamWatch slows download speed to a third or less while still counting against your download plan.

ipsi

55 posts

Master Geek

#519545 11-Sep-2011 13:40

I think the real problem is that SteamWatch doesn't prevent connections from being formed, but rather kills them after they've started. So chances are that the games you're trying to download aren't on the TLC server. If you have Windows 7 / Vista, you'd be better off using the firewall rule someone posted on the On3 forums (I think there's a link somewhere in this thread? If not, I'll post it). If you're using XP or a Mac, it should be possible to create a firewall rule, but the instructions will be different... Using the firewall rule prevents connections from being formed to other servers at all, so you won't see any bleeding if Steam can't get a game off the TLC server.

If you are able to use the Firewall rule, then to tell if the TLC Steam Content Server has your application, just hit the 'Play' button next to the game you want to install. If it says "Server too busy" or the like, then the game isn't on the server - you'll have to keep waiting. Otherwise, it will start downloading it, and it should show a TLC banner under the "Content Hosting Provided By" label.

That's what I'm doing, and I've got 22 games that I'm still waiting for to appear on the TLC Content Server.

geek4me

843 posts

Ultimate Geek

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#519549 11-Sep-2011 13:56

Thanks ipsi. I downloaded Forsaken World which must not yet be on the TCL Content Server. I'm using XP Pro. If anyone knows the firewall rule for XP I'd appreciate you posting it here.

Haven't tried the 'Play' button method as I'm near my 20GB plan limit so don't want to go over it till it renews later this week.

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