Appallingly low download speeds when syncing files

Highlander71

Highlander71
UPDATE:
Dipping into my client.log I noticed a number of "DownloadException" reports with either "Exception starting download: Unable to connect to the remote server" or "
Exception starting download: The operation has timed out". I'm suspecting there to be a problem in the way the launcher and the ED servers interact with my specific network during a Sync.
I've disabled the "detect settings automatically" for Proxies, but not being near one of those, I'm sure that's not making any difference. I've alse created a support ticket, giving more details about what's going on so hopefully the issue can be clarified or even solved and I'll report it here.

MY ORIGINAL POST:
This has always been an issue which has never improved: when syncing game files to download Elite Dangerous I get download speeds varying between 0.01 megabytes per second and maybe 11 megabytes per second. Notably the download speed varies strongly and irregularly in this low band, causing a download of Elite Dangerous to last hours instead of minutes. I simply cannot understand why Frontier would allow this to continue. They are absolutely the worst download times I encounter. And I fear what this means for data being transferred in-game. Loss of connection with the Elite servers is not an uncommon thing. And giving them cutesy names like Scarlett Cobra, or Pink Krait doesn't make that any more fun.

I have a very decent maximum download capability of up to 500 megabits per second which allows me to download Gigabytes of data in minutes. Which I regularly do, so my own download speeds are definitely not the culprit in this case. Nor is my provider. The one and only poor performer is and has always been an Elite Dangerous download. The Launcher itself downloads very quickly, no problem there. But the "sync files" process is a different matter altogether.

Unsurprisingly I would very much appreciate more up-to-date download times from the Frontier servers. I wouldn't have had time to write all this if the current sync process hadn't taken so much time.
 
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Windscreen Smudge

W
Part of it is your PC's performance. ED does updates differently, only downloading what it absolutely needs to at the moment and installing the files as it goes, instead of grabbing the whole wad and dumping it on your machine in one go, whether you need it or not. If your PC chugs when decompressing and replacing files because your install is on a clogged platter HDD or your memory is slow, it shows in your download speed.

Edit: Which is to say this - I had similar problems until I moved the install to an SSD, and I still see periods during an update when I drop to .1MB just because the installation process is slow because sometimes installs do crap like that.

Depending on your machine, updating a bottleneck in your hardware might improve your speeds significantly. But you're right, some of it is also the update servers.
 
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Crank Larson

Crank Larson
Unless a large update had just dropped that is particular popular, the download speed usually hovers around my max connection speed, so no issues here.
 

Highlander71

Highlander71
Windscreen Smudge said:
Part of it is your PC's performance. ED does updates differently, only downloading what it absolutely needs to at the moment and installing the files as it goes, instead of grabbing the whole wad and dumping it on your machine in one go, whether you need it or not. If your PC chugs when decompressing and replacing files because your install is on a clogged platter HDD or your memory is slow, it shows in your download speed.

Edit: Which is to say this - I had similar problems until I moved the install to an SSD, and I still see periods during an update when I drop to .1MB just because the installation process is slow because sometimes installs do crap like that.

Depending on your machine, updating a bottleneck in your hardware might improve your speeds significantly. But you're right, some of it is also the update servers.
Click to expand...
The "MB/s" the launcher mentions during syncing includes some unpacking and installing, yes. But even some archive unpacking wouldn't result in hours of waiting. Anyway, I'm already running off an SSD with a Ryzen 7 so that can't be (all of) it.

Thanks for thinking with me, by the way. I'm mostly hoping someone at Frontier will give some explanation of what's going on during the sync.

Oh and it works slow during updates as well as a full install. Doing a 'verify' is much quicker.
 

Highlander71

Highlander71
Crank Larson said:
Unless a large update had just dropped that is particular popular, the download speed usually hovers around my max connection speed, so no issues here.
Click to expand...
I looked at the actual activity on my PC during download and it was minimal. It just seems like the process is busy waiting for something. Good to know that the sync CAN at least be fast. I know it's not my download speed, so I'm guessing it's a router setup issue. The way in which the Launcher communicates with Frontier servers.
Thanks!
 

VR StarLightPL

VR StarLightPL
EUS said:
Transfer to steam using the key they supplied long ago to avoid the lousy frontier speeds.
I did that a couple (4?) years ago.
Click to expand...
This. I never get the weird Steam (or any storefront) hate anyway... I guess they keep the speeds abysmal so that people migrate 😈
 

Nick Sticks

Nick Sticks
I have two PC's side by side. On one ED is installed on an SSD and on the other one it's installed on a spinning HD.
The SSD PC always updates ED much faster. Same router.
 

Windscreen Smudge

W
Highlander71 said:
The "MB/s" the launcher mentions during syncing includes some unpacking and installing, yes. But even some archive unpacking wouldn't result in hours of waiting. Anyway, I'm already running off an SSD with a Ryzen 7 so that can't be (all of) it.

Thanks for thinking with me, by the way. I'm mostly hoping someone at Frontier will give some explanation of what's going on during the sync.

Oh and it works slow during updates as well as a full install. Doing a 'verify' is much quicker.
Click to expand...
Built PC or manufactured?

Just bought a laptop with a Ryzen 7 myself and the manufacturer crammed a bunch of crap on it that destroys performance as a "power saving feature" during tasks it thinks are low priority, low resource but which I actually want done instantly. I had to cut out every reference of the software with a hacksaw and muriatic acid to keep it from reinstalling itself and running in the background.
 

Highlander71

Highlander71
Windscreen Smudge said:
Built PC or manufactured?

Just bought a laptop with a Ryzen 7 myself and the manufacturer crammed a bunch of crap on it that destroys performance as a "power saving feature" during tasks it thinks are low priority, low resource but which I actually want done instantly. I had to cut out every reference of the software with a hacksaw and muriatic acid to keep it from reinstalling itself and running in the background.
Click to expand...
Hmm, that doesn't sound very nice. The guy who built my PC had overclocked the memory. It was in spec, but in my specific circumstance it wasn't very stable.

The download problem is due to timeouts between the client and the server. I'm sure it's something to do with who they communicate and my specific router setup. We didn't figure out the problem, but there's many people with the same problems. Just loads of timeouts. Downloading the game through Steam or Epic is very quick, so it's a specific Frontier related problem. I opened an issue, exchanged some files and messages and we decided to close the issue.
 
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