force download
 

I really want a command for forcing downloads.

Like for downloading sounds without having to play them, we can force downloads on startup for certain files.


also maybe for playing a sound or showing an image we can play a file from a zip file

ie:

play sounds.zip[music.wav];

that way we can do:

NPC Code:

---

if (playerenters){forcedownload egsounds.zip;}

---

and then later do

NPC Code:

---

if (playerenters){

playlooped egsounds.zip[egadventure.midi];

}

---

would be MUCH more efficient and save space in my already huge graal folder.

This feature could be abused very easily :\

not really

no more than the level copying command

what would they force you to download? a virus?

yeah and then teh pw would be shut down immediatly

so what do they have to gain?

Kirar has a good point, though. Most of the stuff automattically downloads if it is not present in the appropriate place in the Graal folder. Most anything gets downloaded straight away to the webgifs folder including midis and wavs. And to my understanding, Graal already checks to see if what you have of common files including midis and wavs is current and if not, it updates them. You're just looking for something that will extract from a zip file :p A slightly sneaky way to compress large things that Stefan may not want online, hmm? Because you are supposed to go to him if you want large files uploaded.

Easiest way to make someone download something:

setimg filename; or setimgpart filename,1,1;

That actually will force someone to download the file including text files, midis, wavs, etc. so long as they are in your PW's FTP. But only if they don't have it already.

no?

its so i can have people download all the sounds\music on my server instantly without having to do it when they try to play it

and also without having to do
setimg filename;
setimg filename;
setimg filename;
setimg filename;
setimg filename;

for every sound

I concur

or run it through a for loop :p or have it available elsewhere to download at thier time of choosing. Although it may not be you who would use zips to smuggle things, others would be prone to it unless if only Stefan can upload zip files.

For the most part compressing certain filetypes is very pointless such as wavs. I just did a small check using a bunch of small wav files. The folder has rather small wav files (less than 150k at most), but the total space taken is ~1.8mb. I compressed all those wavs in that folder and the compressed file's size is only a few bytes less than the all the files uncompressed. And that is with maximum compression so I don't see how trying to compress even small files because most files don't compress well such as pngs and wavs. Midis might compress okay, but they are already small so I fail to see the reason. Zip files can also get corrupted during download (as well as any other file). Not everyone that plays Graal has a spiffy broadband connection. I understand that you're just trying to efficiently use your space, but there are other ways to do that. Breaking images apart and reducing color count works with images and lowering sound quality works well for wavs. I suppose the only positive side to using zip or some other compressed format would be for security. But nothing is unhackable and the more you try to stop someone, the more they will do it.

I dont really care about the compression at all.

I care about being able to download many files all at once.

I know wav's are small but itd be better if I can have them download my wav's pack at the start of the game.

And if someone abuses it, its just like abusing anything else.

They get shut down or fired.

Simple.

then setup a list of strings containing the file names for each wav file and do a for loop. Considering that they have to be less than 64kb to even be uploaded by you they download rather quickly :p

Or just make a wav pack that players can download at thier time of choosing. People could easily bloat zip files or pack virii in them and that is really nasty. Yes, banning them works, but its only something temporary for those who are determined to cause a lot of damage. Do you honestly think that if anti-Graal players get banned they give up?

Perhaps a compromise will suffice. Rather than wasting time compressing wavs needlessly, why not implement a command that asks players if they want to download a file or set of files. The command would let you specify a range which tells the client to get files from a specific folder that are in that range.

yes but do yuo really think someone who trojaned a persons computer to get an account will just stop if we ban them? no but its a risk we take and as long as we keep taking care of them in a quick manner things wont be a problem.

And the person would have to have FTP or NC to put it up, so if it does happen its the managers fault for giving it tu un-trusty staff.

Just like if you give someone ftp and they use the level copying command 10000x over in a for loop itll crash the database...
but its also a very useful command.

So take away that command just because a hacker can use it badly?
No, make forcedownload serverside.

and the whole point of this is to do it automaticly, making things more professional.

if i wantd them to manualy download it id put it on a site and just do openurl to download the pack.

but this is more professional

YEAH THAT SOUNDS FUN LETS HAVE AUTO VIRUS AND HACKING DOWNLOADS SO WE GET ALL THE FRIGGEN FILES DELETED IN OUR COMPUTOR!!!!:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D
:rolleyes: when will people learn.....

uhm?

people can make you download virus' already

I can make a virus thats <64k

and put it up and make you dl it

but if that happens ill get fired and i dont want that

you are making it sound like ever player can use this.

ill just suggest it to stefan privately
dont act like im a ***** when you are being the ***** yourself btw

I think it would be in the best interest of the player at this point to merely offer the download rather than force. Either way, they'll eventually have the file(s) they may need.

You also seemed to ignore my compromising idea. Using zip files to zip already compressed files is a waste of time. PNGs and GIFs are already compressed formats in thier own way as well as wavs. I think implementing a command that downloads files from within a range would work best or let it accept a wildcard of somekind so that the user downloads all the files in the specified folder.

idea:
download <folder>,<startingfile>,<endingfile>;

<folder> - obviously the source of where the files are
<startingfile> - the name of the file that is first in the series (they would need to be named the same but with a changing variable like a file_001, file_002, etc.)
<endingfile> - the last in the series.

or just put 'all' or something that the server will understand as a wildcard and it will download all the files in the folder. That would make a good use of the download variables Stefan added a while back which can be used to check files being downloaded in Graal.

zip = bad idea
force download of a file which could already be forced through an awkward setimg command = good idea
People will be no more capable of distributing an executable virus via forcedownload than they already are via setimg. Further, it is worth noting that a virus' code must actually be executed for it to do anything - it is harmless while dormant, that's what makes them virii.

Well, I'm all for it if it will help prevent getting stuck in things that just finished downloading. Which happenas all the time to me...

Then it is upto the PW manger and his or her dev team to do something where players can download images prior to playing via the setimg command.

And for Tyme: Isn't it possible to imbed a virus with an image or something? I know you can do it with sub7 and there are ways to fake the file extension but it when the file is opened, it will execute the virus code to infect the user's system.

I won't say it here because it is not something that should be said here.

Yes yes, and you can embed virii in MP3s and in the subject lines of emails. You can put a virus anywhere, even in a forum post's text - what matters is if the recieving person uses a viewer stupid enough to execute any code it comes across. Some viewers are, it's called a Memory Leak: If they read a text box with "; format c:; print ", it processes that as print""; format c:; print "" instead of print""; format c:; print ""; with the obvious effects.

Point being, unless Graal has a memory leak I could rename the melissa virus frog.png and force everyone to download it, a few virus checkers would detect and delete, nobody would properly see the frog graphic, but nobody would be attacked by the virus. If virii were as sci-fi dangerous as you think, they'd dissolve the disk they were stored on.

I don't look at virii in a sci-fi fasion. My point is that most of Graal's players use computers purchased by parents who may fly off the handle if there happens to be a virus on the computer. Then little Johnny can't play Graal anymore because his parents think its a living and breathing virus of some sort and are extremely paranoid about thier "expensive" computer. And some parents are the activist types who will make it thier sole duty to inform and steer people away from Graal.

what were saying is... you can give players a virus already.

ive made virii that are less than 64k

but the point is....... the pw manager has to be resonsible with his access.

should we minimize the quality of graal just because we have to be careful for careless managers? i have a better solution.... take care of the careless managers, instead of taking care of teh commands.

Forcing players to download zip files and what not has nothing to do with quality. And as far as removing useless managers...GOOD LUCK :D

Is it possible? Yes. Is it probable? Not likely unless you scrutinize the one to take the place of the former you're not going to change much.

This can be abused by low staff with FTP access when they go crazy =/.

If you want someone to have all the files just link them to a zip file on your site, and TA DA they have all of your imgs and sounds.

again...
its the managers responsibility to make sure only staff who are responsible get this kind of access.

And the Admins, *removes Warcaptains NC access* ;) all better.