Why do games need to download even more data when you download the game, cant they download all the data at once when you actually download the game?
In: Technology
are you talkin about hotfixes because if that’s what you’re talkin about that many updates that are more like a server-side to client-side update
A game developer makes a game. They combine the thousands of different files the game is made of, put them in a downloadable “package” and release it as a version 1.0. When you get the game, you download that package and then the installer unpacks it and puts everything in place on your computer.
Then, they find bugs to fix, or make minor balance changes or add little bits of content here and there. They make a little file that contains the new and altered content, and call this a “patch”. Once you download the patch, it puts all new files on top of the old ones and sets your game version to version 1.1.
Now, when you download the game, it downloads version 1.0, installs (by unpacking everything and putting all the files in the right spots). Once it’s installed and runs for the first time, the game phones home, realizes that patch 1.1 is out, and downloads that and installs it later.
If you downloaded the patch before you installed the game, the patch wouldn’t know what to do, because the files it’s supposed to alter haven’t been put in place yet (they’re all in their nice downloaded packaging). So the game has to download and install first before it can patch.
A way the developer can fix that is by making a whole new download package, where the whole game, including the new fixes, is packed from the beginning as version 1.1. Now new downloads will get the newest, already patched version.
In games that see rapid patching cycles, this might not be feasible – there might not be a distinct 1.0, and 1.1 and 1.1.1 and 1.1.3 and 1.1.7 “big pack” with everything included. There is only 1.0 and then the relevant latest patch. After a few versions, say, when version 1.2 is ready to come out, then the developer makes a 1.2 prepackaged version, and then you no longer need to use all the 1.1.x patches on it.
They can download all the data, but a lot of players prefer to actually get to play the game as soon as possible, so the game is designed to download the minimum data to start (in order to give the player the option to do that), and then downloads the rest of the data.
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