Download speed

Drednort

Just ordered Character Artist 3. I know it's a large download, but I'm being told it's going to take upwards of 14 hours to download. I've got a pretty fast connection at this end, so I'm just wondering if this is normal or not.

I know fast connections cost money and Profantasy isn't a huge company so maybe the speed I'm getting is what I should expect - if so, fine. I'm just asking in case there is something wrong, because if there is, the sooner I ask, the better.

Monsen

Are you using the Web installer? For me at least, I had better luck speed-wise just downloading the 3GB full installer. It does require that you have some more disk space available because you need to manually unzip it, and the unzipping also takes some time (depending on your computer and HDD speeds), but for me at least, it was the best option.

JimP

Windows ftp and copy 'estimated time' has never been accurate.

Mmurphy

It took me about 15-20 minutes from start to finish to download the full 3gb file.

Clercon

For me it took around 30 minutes to download the 3 GB installation file.

Dogtag

My speeds with ProFantasy have historically been my fastest, actually. They have a really good server.

~Dogtag

Drednort

I was downloding the full install, and I don't know how long it took in the end, because I let it finish overnight - but at least five or six hours.

Now to see if it unzips and works

Drednort

And it looks like it won't.

"Unexpected end of archive"

I'm not impressed. I was planning on using the software today.If I have to redownload it all, at the speed I had last night, that's not likely to happen.

OldGuy

I've always had very fast downloads from profantasy servers as well. It sounds more like you must be having some sort of connection issues.

Drednort

I have had a better connection today - downloaded in about an hour and this time it unzipped. Currently installing. Looking at a screen saying 'Extracting Patch', so hopefully everything is going to work.

Drednort

Now, can anybody who has installed CA3 give me any idea how long their computer sat at the 'Extracting Patch' stage when installing, because that's now been over an hour with no visible signs of progress.

OldGuy

I just download and installed ca3 (full install). Downloading took 10 minutes, manually extracting took 10-15 minutes, installation around 20 minutes.

Drednort

Well, I'm now over 2 hours into this 'Extracting Patch' stage. Beginning to get rather frustrated.

Drednort

Finally reports it has installed. Now to see what I can do with it

Dogtag

Glad to hear it installed!

I originally downloaded the web installer to see how it would work. It went slowly. Then I downloaded the full, 3 GB, installer in about 15 min +/-.

~Dogtag

Robert X

Took about 15-16 hr to download the CA3 download .zip onto my Mac this weekend. I couldn't copy the installation folder to my VMware Fusion Windows XP image for some reason (couldn't determine why), so I'm now trying to download the setup folder .zip from within Windows XP, and I'm looking at another 15-16 hr download period. I don't remember Profantasy software downloads taking this long, and I don't know why things are different now.

Blondini

Hi , sorry to jump on an old thread, but i am having problems downloading. I bought the three-pack. I am in New Zealand. I have fairly good broadband, plus access to wireless broadband too. neither seem to be doing any better than the other.

I keep getting 'network error' after 20-30 minutes of super-slow download. I tested other sites in the US and UK and have top speed satisfactory downloads. Also video streaming etc is fine. It just seems to be when I try to download my three purchased items that I enter slow motion mode.

I have tried only downloading with nothing happening in the background, no surfing etc, but this still leads to eventual network problem or failed download.

After a day struggle (constantly resuming downloads that failed) I managed to get CC3. I am now many hours into trying to get past 400meg of DC3. I am tearing my hair out with this. It cost 130 NZ dollars so really dont want to spend more on some program to help me do what should be a standard download.

I there other sites other than the one i got in my purchased items list to download from?

Can we get a digital copy on a disk or something? The postage time would surely be less than this download (plus I am burning up my internet cap with each failed download).

Sorry to sound like i am grizzling, but this is so frustrating.
Please can anyone help?

Monsen

Sounds weird. I am doing a test from my location right now (Europe), and I get abut 25MB/sec, so the server itself is definitive not slow. The IP of the download server belongs to Amazon.com, they seem to be hosting all their downloads on Amazon Web Services (hosted in Virginia, US, according to the IP),and as far as I know, amazon is set up to provide decent speeds to the entire globe.

I suggest you contact ProFantasy support. They may have an alternate download location, or some other way to help you.

JimP

My connection speed to anything varies. Its not just the end, like Profantasy's servers, but every server and backbone connection between you and there. Any part of that series can have an effect on a download.

Blondini

No idea why, but last night the speed went up and I was able to download all the files :) Thinking it might have been a local NZ thing? Thanks for the help, and loving the software so far :) Already thinking about getting the character picture generator too

Monsen

Posted By: BlondiniThinking it might have been a local NZ thing?

Possibly. ProFantasy hosts their stuff on a pretty high-speed connection, but a lot of things happen around the internet that are outside ProFantasy control. Same happens with other content providers too, just the other week, I had all google services (including search, youtube, mail, calendar, etc) being unavailable for me for 20 minutes. Other service checking sites claimed everything was fine, but for me, everything was completely down. Just google, nothing else.

and loving the software so far

Great. Remember to post your creations in "Show and Tell" when you feel ready.

Blondini

Me again :)
I took the plunge and bought character designer too.

Oh dear, same download problems again. Super slow, crashed several times... now, days later i got a full download. When i try to run it, it stops at 70% and says "You should download a new copy as it may be corrupt or your password may be incorrect" or something to that extent.

Any change of hints on why this might be?

Blondini

here's the error message

Monsen

It is probably related to your download troubles. I am guessing you have either ended up with an incomplete file, or something had been corrupted during the download.

Check the file size and file hash.
The file size should be exactly 2 812 335 376 bytes long.
Using Sha256, the file has should be C6352455B37AF4143AA1F9BF15964CC485BFB233FA8C56863C0584E2472C82D4. You can find this by running the Powershell command Get-FileHash -Algorithm SHA256 .\CA3SetupForCC3Plus.exe, and you can automatically start powershell in the correct directory by having a file explorer window open to the directory you have the setup file in, and then select Open Windows PowerShell fom the file menu.

If any of these doesn't match, the file has been corrupted during transfer. (I grabbed a new copy myself just now, to make sure I got the exact same version as you.)

Nate_Der_Kerl

I've also encountered tremendous difficulty when attempting to download the software. I finally managed to get around my problem, but at some personal sacrifice of time. I do reside in Tennessee of the United States, so I expected there to be a little latency, but not at all like I had encountered. Yesterday I had purchased a triple package from CC3 on ProFantasy. I promptly began to download it. Even the larger files seemed to download quickly as expected, but within a few seconds after starting it would cease between 3-30%. The ETA given by microsoft would go from 1-2 minutes, to 3-4 hours, then a second or two later it would continue to rise into days, then the ETA counter and download progress would come to a complete freeze. I attempted this on another internet search engine. Still no luck. I used another computer altogether, just in case it was a problem with my system, yet I encountered the same problem. I drove a few streets down and used a family members system. I still encountered the same problem there on a completely different system and under a completely different internet provider. In the end, what I discovered was my downloading would work for 2-5 seconds then abruptly cease. So, I painfully would go to my active downloads, and every 2-3% when the download would freeze I would tell the search engine to "pause" the download. Then tell it to resume. It would reconnect with the host, begin downloading a few percent in a matter of seconds, then it would slow down and abruptly stop again. I repeated the "pause" and "resume" active download method, and eventually was able to reach 100% of the downloads then install the software I had purchased. I'm not at all blaming ProFantasy or the good folks behind the software. I believe this is an issue with the hosting side of the download. Possibly it has something to do with me being so far away, I don't know. Let it be noted that Ralph recommended that I turn off any ad-blockers/ virus protection/ or other various filtering software that could've been to blame. None was active on any of the attempts made, from an y of the machines I used in attempts to download CC3+, CD3+, ect.

I will post my internet speed benchmark followed by my system specs under this, so you can better understand my position.

I have gig-speed fiber access with the following speeds:

Nate_Der_Kerl

My system specs:

Nate_Der_Kerl

GPU should have absolutely no importance or effect here, but just for giggles, I am using an Nvidia GTX 1070.

JimP

Download speed depends on your connection speed, and every server/backbone between you and the place you are downloading from. Video cards and computer ram don't make a difference.

To test your download speed, ignore any sggestion to test between your computer and your ISP. Go for a nearby city instead.

http://beta.speedtest.net/

That site will give you your speed out to the Internet. I supposedly have 100 gigabits speed, but it seldom goes above 65 gigabits and is more likely to be 15 to 25 gigabits.

Blondini

Nate :)

May I thank you, you have accurately described my EXACT situation also, albeit in a much more accurate and less grumbling manner than I did. I ended up getting the three pack running. But it took several days and happened exactly as you described. I am currently having problems installing the Character Designer.

The software is fantastic, it's the process in getting it downloaded and running that I am finding challenging ;')

Monsen

Did you try contacting support and see if they could perhaps arrange something else for you?

I can't really say why your downloads are slow, as mine are blazingly fast.

I traced my actual download location, and it is from a server in Virginia, USA (hosted by Amazon.com). I am in Europe myself, so I doubt there are any other server locations, since if there were, I would certainly have been sent to an European server instead of the US. But still, even here in Europe, the US server is very fast, and downloading the full CA3 setup only takes me a few minutes, and it is definitely not because I am close to the server, as it is half a world away.

Nate's case is especially curious, since he is just one state away.

mattekure

You could also try connecting through a VPN if you have one available to use. That would let you know if it was something with your service provider.