Dave wrote:Must admit I'm a tad peeved at Subsim's download limit thing. At this rate it's going to take me 3 days to get everything installed.
I sort of understand, but I don't think they're being unreasonable.
I've used Subsim for years, and for a long time they didn't charge anything to host the files. But when SH5 came along it was such a barrel of shite that almost everything needed modding, and subsequently the number of files and downloads climbed steeply. Since there were no standout supermods everyone was trying to tinker and create their own mod soup, which meant it was all terribly unstable, which in turn meant that everyone was starting over, re-downloading different mixtures of mods to try to make the perfect setup, then new versions would be made to try to increase compatibility, and it would all start over again.
I don't know the details, but I can only believe that the data costs were horrendous. My SH3 downloads come to about 8.5Gb when unpacked, and I played the game for donkey's years. My SH5 mod file (unpacked) is about 14.5Gb, and doesn't include all the stuff that I found doesn't work so threw away - maybe about 5-6Gb more I'd guess.
For years Onkel Neal tried to get by on donations from the regulars, but I guess in the end that wasn't enough so he came up with a system that would let regular users gradually tinker with their installs, but meant that anyone stumbling in wanting to download a whole barrowload at once might be encouraged to help with the costs. He doesn't force it, he don't have a pop at anyone who does it the slow way, and he's very gracious (by automatic response
) to those that pay up. Also, he doesn't try to protect the income by refusing links to other file stores - in fact I think he actively encourages people to host their files elsewhere, which wouldn't make sense if he was profiteering on the deal.
Personally, after years of good service from Neal, I was happy to help out anyway, and if it turns out that he's making a bit of money after his years of helping out the community then I'm quite happy for him to do so. SH5 cost me 67p from G2Play, so giving Neal a fiver so that I can turn it into a working game seemed like a fair deal.
Please note, this is not in any way intended as a rant, I can fully understand why at first glance it's annoying to have another impediment to gaming, but rather in the hope that you will think well of Neal and all the others at Subsim, since they have added so much to my enjoyment down the years...