Reducing your download frequency, keep downloaded files forever

Cache - download ONCE, never again

Hehe, I just saw that this topic is already covered in "Version Conflicts" at the end of the page as a side note, now in some more detail for all the unfortunate downloaders, still this one is easy :-)

Default Unreal Behaviour Basically, whenever you do not have a file which you need to join to a server, Unreal starts downloading it from the server. You can join after you received all files you need.

Problems

   1. While you are downloading, you are not playing, you are WASTING TIME!
   2. If your connection is slow, downloads are prone to failure and you have to retry and retry and retry... duh!!
   3. A map change on the server will IMMEDIATELY cause your current download to fail.
   4. If your connection is fast (or the server is on a slower connection like only a simple cable), your download will make the game unplayable for all other players on the server, because YOU CAUSE LAG!
   5. Downloaded files which are older than 30 days are deleted, and you will download them AGAIN next time you join your favorite server!

AllowDownloads - Common Misunderstanding On normal Unreal Servers, it is not possible to forbid downloads or limit download speed!!! Some administrators believe by setting AllowDownloads=False in the configuration they can stop downloads.

WRONG - sorry people, but it looks like this is a client setting, try it out for yourselves, but if you set this to true, then only YOU will not be able to download, all others will. RIGHT - downloads can be forbidden by setting a special file flag. Visit the mod section of our clanpage to find the download stopper.

NetSpeed - Common Misunderstanding As for the download speed, some server admins try to regulate the connection speed via the setting MaxClientRate=(somevalue)

That this is not working is a real Unreal bug. The problem is, that Unreal clients will always override the setting when joining a game, the only time, when this setting makes effect is, when players CHANGE their netspeed during the game (they almost NEVER do). I have heard people say on their server it is working, but I seriously doubt it, as my netstat tests always indicated the speed which the client had chosen on so far any Unreal Version I have seen...

What Can Be Done? A simple and efficient way is, tell your Unreal to never delete files which you downloaded. This can be done like this:

In your Unreal.ini file, the setting is PurgeCacheDays=30 by default, you find it right under the line [Core.System]

To stop repeated downloads of the same files, make the setting PurgeCacheDays=0 so that your cache will NEVER be purged. Your cache may grow large over the years, but that's better than having to download the same files over and over again...

I can't edit my Unreal.ini file for some stupid reason Okay, no problem, here is an alternate way to do the setting:

   1. start Unreal
   2. go to Options
   3. go to Advanced Options
   4. UNREAL GOLD / 226: forget it, there is no such option, just hit tab and type "PREFERENCES"...
   5. click on the the plus symbol left to Advanced
   6. click on the the plus symbol left to File System
   7. look for a line which says PurgeCacheDays on the left and 30 on the right
   8. click on the right where the number is, the line should become highlighted and a blinking curser should allow you to type
   9. delete the number in the line, and enter 0 (zero) in its place.
   10.close the Advanced Options window
   11.exit Unreal
   !!DONE!!

Next time you start Unreal, please go to this menu again and look if the new value (0) is really in place. I rarely use the advanced options, I usually edit the Unreal.ini file so make sure the change really took effect! ARGH NOTHING WORKS, when I get into "Advanced Options", my Unreal crashes and when I open Unreal.ini manually with an ASCII editor there is no text Okay this sucks big time, but even YOU can be helped. You have to convert your Unreal.ini to plain ASCII first. Please go back to the [UNREAL REFERENCE] index and select the "UNICODE" topic. When you are done with that, load your NEW Unreal.ini into an ASCII editor and adjust it as described above.