[Snap] Any update on the Steam cache server?

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › [Snap] Any update on the Steam cache server?

nzgeek

618 posts

Ultimate Geek

#100913 20-Apr-2012 23:07

I've just switched to snap, and one of the bits that I thought I'd make use of is the Steam cache server. I've got a good collection of bits (mostly thanks to holiday sales and daily deals) and I'd like to get them downloaded.

I installed Steam Limiter to force my downloads through snap, and tried to download a bunch of titles from my games list. All of the games below showed "no server available", meaning that they're not on the snap server:

Batman: Arkham City
Bioshock
Bioshock 2
Blur
Burnout Paradise
L.A. Noire
Mass Effect
Neverwinter Nights 2
Prototype
Sam & Max season 3
Super Meat Boy

The only bits I did manage to grab from the snap servers are CS:S, TF2 and Ghostbusters.

I did see a thread from late last year that mentioned that the content server needed a storage upgrade to hold the full list of titles. Has this been done, or if is hasn't, is it still planned for sometime in the foreseeable future?

vexxxboy

4227 posts

Uber Geek

#612661 20-Apr-2012 23:34

you dont need steam limiter, just click on steam on top left corner when you start steam , then settings then download /cloud and then set your download limit then under region look for New Zealand (snap) and then it should work . i have downloaded over 40 GB this way and nothing has shown in my data usage

Common sense is not as common as you think.

Quic Broadband

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McGee

200 posts

Master Geek

#612675 21-Apr-2012 00:12

Otherwise activate a $5 overnight and start a couple a night and do them over 3 nights :)

Ragnor

8185 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#612677 21-Apr-2012 00:20

vexxxboy: you dont need steam limiter, just click on steam on top left corner when you start steam , then settings then download /cloud and then set your download limit then under region look for New Zealand (snap) and then it should work . i have downloaded over 40 GB this way and nothing has shown in my data usage

Nope!

The download region setting in steam is just a guide it does not restrict usage to only that content mirror at all. You can easily verify this by looking at what connections Steam makes with sysinternals tcpview.

Steam can and will use multiple content mirrors, so if the snap Steam content mirror doesn't have the game and you don't have a any 3rd party application blocking other content mirrors it will download from other mirrors eg: affinity, orcon, telstraclear, slingshot, overseas etc.

Also some games are served by http from international cdn's now and doesn't come from the "classic" content mirrors which use custom tcp to download.

Ragnor

8185 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#612678 21-Apr-2012 00:26

"Data coming from the Snap! Steam Cache is unmetered, but is not if it comes from another Cache. Consider it a plus if it comes from the Snap Steam cache. Please note, these methods are not infallible and may not always work."

http://www.snap.net.nz/support/content/3/63/en/what-is-the-steam-content-server.html

nzgeek

618 posts

Ultimate Geek

#612681 21-Apr-2012 01:18

Ragnor: "Data coming from the Snap! Steam Cache is unmetered, but is not if it comes from another Cache. Consider it a plus if it comes from the Snap Steam cache. Please note, these methods are not infallible and may not always work."

http://www.snap.net.nz/support/content/3/63/en/what-is-the-steam-content-server.html

Ragnor is right on this one. I've set snap as my preferred server in the Steam settings dialog, but this is definitely only a hint. That's why I used Steam Limiter to force the snap cache.

Whether the snap cache is used or not depends on the game. The snap server has a number of games, including the Valve titles, but is missing a bunch more. I would have thought that Valve would have put a newer AAA title like Arkham City on there, but maybe they're happy with the coverage of the other NZ servers (e.g. TelstraClear, Orcon).

Here's a thought for the folks at snap: given that TelstraClear are your upstream provider, perhaps you can come up with an agreement to have unmetered access to their cache server too. That would help cover more games, hopefully at little or no cost to the company.

nzgeek

618 posts

Ultimate Geek

#612682 21-Apr-2012 01:28

McGee: Otherwise activate a $5 overnight and start a couple a night and do them over 3 nights :)

I only realised after making the initial post that I've got about 8GB of data to play with every day. I'll see how the first couple of months go, but I might need to move to a smaller data bundle.

I used to be with Actrix, who have 2x daily data caps. I had a 2GB cap from 8am to 2am, and another 2GB from 2am to 8am. That's 4GB per day at full speed, assuming that you manage to use your entire allowance. Now that I have twice that, plus unlimited YouTube, I'm not sure if I'll be able to use it all. Downloading my Steam library will certainly help make a dent.

McGee

200 posts

Master Geek

#612686 21-Apr-2012 01:52

These days with data more is more.
Its always good to have more than enough so you can be careless with it to a degree and just go nuts with online content.
That's what I think anyway

NZSimplicity

135 posts

Master Geek

#618087 1-May-2012 20:46

Is there any place we can view exactly what is on the snap content server??

Steam got supreme commander 2 on special atm for $5, so am downloading it, seems it not on snap cause with my steam limiter it doesn't download anything...
Soon as I turn off the limiter I am dumped into telstra server, at an amazing 408.1 KB/S with my brand new VDSL connection... sheesh could it get any slower :(