MTS2 New Years Changes

[Delphy]

Hi All,

With a new year comes more changes here at MTS2, and today is something that I only thought up a week or so ago, and implemented in the past few days on the dev server.

As we all know, the vast majority of people on the site aren't here for the great game help, or awesome tutorials... no, they just want free stuff in the shape of downloads. :) Considering the download script itself is 2.2k lines of pure hand crafted goodness, optimising this (and the showthread pages for downloads) is one of the priorities I've had on MTS2 for a while, since changes here will speed up the entire site. It wasn't until recently, however, when I implemented the delayed replies/poster code, that I realised that I could also cache the download pages too.

So, without further ado, I now present MTS2s brand new download page cache system - completely transparent to the end user, but with big wins in speed and efficiency.

Essentially, what happens is that when you view a download page, it first checks to see if that page has been generated in the past 5 mins. (Since the information on the page is fairly static and doesn't change much, this is a win win situation). If it has, then the site just loads the cached copy from disk, saving some pretty intense database calls and generally speeding everything up. If no cache file exists, or the existing one is old, then we just perform a normal download page render, and save the results. The net result is (so far), slashing the database traffic by half (down from 12-14mb per second to about 6.2mb per second), and drastically dropping the queries per second from 170ish to 107. All this means a faster database server which means a faster site which means better stuff all round.

Please note this doesn't affect the actual fileserver itself - so that'll still be busy when the site is busy. :)

I intend to monitor the caching over the next few days and make adjustments and optimisations to see how it performs.

If you see any of the download pages having problems (no thumbnails, incorrect download listings, wrong page number etc), then please let me know exactly what URL you are going to.

Thanks, and have a great 2007!

Regards
Delphy

[dbg92]

Wonderful, Delphy :)
Sounds like a win-win situation, so thanks for the speed-up :D

curly

[AbstractSIMmer187]

This is great Delphy as usual, a new downloads page cache with improved speed, hahaha yeah thats pure goodness :D, thanks

[djsclaus]

awesome update delphy, that's a huge change!

[GoldenSimmer]

This sounds great, thanks Delph.

[Zexxa]

Yay! Making the site happy is always good. *thinks about making a donation*

[General Oohoh]

Anything that speeds up the site is a good thing! Thanks Delphy! :D

[Astymma]

When browsing "all downloads" , it will eventually send me to HystericalParoxysm's list of downloads. So far, it happens when I attempt to go to page 3 ,4 or 5 of the all downloads list, whether I click the direct links to pages 3, 4 or 5 use the "next" link.

Links which have so far behaved oddly and sent me to HP's creator list:
http://www.modthesims2.com/download.php?f=38&page=3&showType=1
http://www.modthesims2.com/download.php?f=38&page=4&showType=1
http://www.modthesims2.com/download.php?f=38&page=5&showType=1

These were reached after starting at:
http://www.modthesims2.com/download.php?f=38&page=1&showType=1
and then using next to reach pages 3, 4 and 5.

[skintling]

That's great, thanks! I do have one question though. On the main downloads page, the sidebar keeps going to "show all downloads" even if I set it to "compatible downloads only." This just started today. Any advice? Thanks!

[Delphy]

Astymma, hrm, can't replicate that but I'll keep an eye out.

skintling, Yes, thats becuase it currently defaults to "All Downloads" as opposed to just compatible ones. :)

You should be able to select "Compatible" though from the sidebar...

[Evilgirl1774]

Thanks again Delphy. And to those who do post the amazing game help tips and tutorials - Thank you. I would have lost my game (and possibly my laptop via thrown out of the window in frustration) several times had it not been for your sage advice. You all rock!

[ronn772]

I have been having similar problems to Astymma's. First, when I clicked on the downloads button (http://www.modthesims2.com/download.php) from the main page, it took me to all downloads by Moon_EZ. Eventually, after trying several times, I got to the main downloads page. Clicking the Body Shop button (http://www.modthesims2.com/download.php?f=342&showType=1) took me first to a list of all Body Shop downloads by HystericalParoxysm, and after a few more tries, the result was all Body Shop downloads by applesoveroranges. Clinking the Buy Mode button (http://www.modthesims2.com/download.php?f=385&showType=1) took me to all Buy Mode downloads by applesoveroranges, and after trying several times, all Buy Mode downloads by Fresh-Prince. In all of these cases, clicking the link "To return to the normal download view Click here" just took me back to the same page.

This looks like a very exciting new change here to make things better for everyone. I'm sure there's just a few bugs to iron out.

[Delphy]

Okay the download cache should regenerate the pages after 5 mins and clear those probs, but obviously I haven't caught all the exceptions yet... thanks for the reports everybody.

[skintling]

Astymma, hrm, can't replicate that but I'll keep an eye out.

skintling, Yes, thats becuase it currently defaults to "All Downloads" as opposed to just compatible ones. :)

You should be able to select "Compatible" though from the sidebar...

Yes, I can, but when I do it goes right back to the "All downloads" when I click on filter downloads.

[Ailias]

I cannot see my threads in my profile - All I can see there is a download roll
http://www.modthesims2.com/member.php?u=16333
Please fix that.

Also I cannot change avatar (finally I want to do this) - the page always goes down after sending an avatar from the desktop.

Ps Ok anyway it has changed. :)

[Euromutt]

*in the voice of Sid the Sloth*

Delphy, you are a geniuth!

Euromutt

[Paleoanth]

Love the decreased loading time.

Question: with this update, I noticed that when I am on my profile page and click on Show all downloads or even pick a category to see my stuff in that category it goes to all the downloads in that category. Like everyone's not just mine. Is that normal now?

[zookini]

Hmm, I feel stupid not really knowing a thing you just said, but it all seems good so thanks :)

[WesHowe]

Question: with this update, I noticed that when I am on my profile page and click on Show all downloads or even pick a category to see my stuff in that category it goes to all the downloads in that category. Like everyone's not just mine. Is that normal now?

I replicated that here. The URL says:
http://www.modthesims2.com/member/download.php?u=33300&showType=1
and, while the u=33300 is right, I still get the whole database, instead of my piddling 3 packages (gonna work on that REAL SOON NOW). :)

<* Wes *>

[jhd1189]

Oh! That's actually a really brilliant idea! I was wondering why my name wasn't showing up under the "go to last post" option when I had been the most recent poster, but I think this explains it. It also explains why the site was moving so dang fast this afternoon! :D

[bbear0287]

Great idea - can't go wrong with a faster site! Thanks for all your hard work! :D

[djsclaus]

i am getting the same error as Astymma described, but now it is only showing poke_simmie_ 's downloads

[pagancat]

When I was trying to do a search from a creators page to see all their downloads it took me to the main downloads list or another users list (it varied which user), I finally realized that it wasn't selected the Compatible downloads only link (I noticed that this was used prior).

Also, I don't know if these is new or not, but the images on the page for accepting the forum rules to be allowed to post, aren't working.

Walk in peace
Cat

[chiqyjess]

awesome!!!thanx=]

[Delphy]

Okay hopefully all the problems of pages appearing where they should have been fixed.

If you get any more after this post time, let me know.

[rmschoon]

Great improvements Delphy! Thanks for doing all the hard, dirty, and invisible work that makes MTS2 the greatest Sims2 sites. You're the :king:

[roguesheep]

Ever since getting my Sims 2 game about 8 months ago, and now all expansions (EA should thank you for keeping interest and fun going at a high level for these games...lol)...this has been THE most visited site I go to for EVERYTHING, including the tuts and game help...It has the most reliable up-to-date info out there...the faster downloads...wow...icing on the cake....Thanks for all your hard work, it is appreciated! :cool:

[ronn772]

Everything's working great this morning! And the faster speed is great! Thanks Delphy

[Reyn]

I've noticed the difference :) And I'm actually here more for the tutorials as well as to share things I manage to make that I think look worth sharing. I do love to get the free downloads, don't get me wrong, but I love making more than actually playing the game.

[crocobaura]

Faster MTS is always good news! Thank you Delphy. :)

[porkypine]

thanks Delphy! I'm sure it will improve the performance of downloads..... but.. I really DO come here for great tutorials!
p.s.... Is there a way to get the tutorials to appear on the Sims 2 commun

(At least I think the http://www.sims2community.com/ this page is related to MTS2.)

[Keiraskyler]

Yet, ever since this new system has been up, whenever I click to download a file, it says "Cannot Find Server." Every other part of this site works except when I try to download something. Is there something going on with the downloads, maybe repairs being made?

[Delphy]

No. It's just busy. Lots of people haven't gone back to school and the download server is being hammered.

[Keiraskyler]

Oh, okay. Thank you Delphy! <33333!

[Astymma]

When browsing "all downloads" , it will eventually send me to HystericalParoxysm's list of downloads. So far, it happens when I attempt to go to page 3 ,4 or 5 of the all downloads list, whether I click the direct links to pages 3, 4 or 5 use the "next" link.

Links which have so far behaved oddly and sent me to HP's creator list:
http://www.modthesims2.com/download.php?f=38&page=3&showType=1
http://www.modthesims2.com/download.php?f=38&page=4&showType=1
http://www.modthesims2.com/download.php?f=38&page=5&showType=1

These were reached after starting at:
http://www.modthesims2.com/download.php?f=38&page=1&showType=1
and then using next to reach pages 3, 4 and 5.

I am no longer experiencing the quoted behavior :)

[newdaysdawn]

Um, the downloads are REALLY slow, like in 23 kb/s slow. It's not my net since I have a 54 mb/s connection. Help? :cry:

[tiggerypum]

Read above, the file server is still getting a lot of traffic (those are the downloads) vs. the web page speed, which is what was currently improved. It happens around holiday times that the load on the system spikes. We're of course looking into what we can do about that also, but that will probably require more than just a bit of coding magic.

[Abigail31147]

Hello,
First-thank you for all your hard work (and it's free!). Now my issue- I can't use q-express to download anything. When I click the Q, the Installer box pops with no downloads showing. I've tried a number of different downloads and it just won't list them for me. Note that the installer box starts out with "Getting files......" after approx 30 sec it says " can't open....." This is a new issue for me so I deduced that the cause must be linked to these new changes. If this is due to high traffic then great I know whats wrong, but as I said, this is new to me. I do have a very fast pc so my downloads with you have never been delayed, however, I'm a fairly new member and this is probably one of the highest traffic times I've encountered thus far, rendering me ignorant of the most common effects. Thank you for your time and efforts. Abigail31147

******UPDATE*******
I JUST TRIED TO USE Q-EXPRESS AGAIN AND HAD NO ISSUES. This either means a bug was fixed or my entire issue was traffic based. If it is the latter, I apologize for wasting space in the wrong section, I blamed the most recent change prematurely- :rolleyes: Thank you again for running my favorite site- Blessed be the New Year!

[Raven98590]

I love this site and I appreciate all the hard work it takes to keep a large and popular site like this running smoothly. I love the downloads, but I really appreciate all of the well written tutorials on this site as well. Because of them, I have started doing some Maxis reColors (Clothing only so far) and I hope to move on to recoloring some of the fantastic clothing I have found (With owners permission of course :))

Anyway, I just wanted to Thank all the people involved in keeping this site such a friendly and informative place to visit.

[kcberry]

Thank You most sincerely! :bunny:

[Delphy]

Abigail,

Whenever there is a change people tend to think "Oh, downloads are broken - must be whatever changed", when in fact it's completely irrelevant. Any issues with QXpress or slow downloads are becuase of traffic.

newdaysdawn, considering that this site has an average of 2,500 people on it at any one time, and you don't have to pay a penny for it, 23k/s is pretty good.

[Ajoya]

Thank you very much!!! Your fans like myself, appreciate you! HAPPY HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

[1chris1]

ahh

it does seem a little faster, but then again, it was always pretty fast for me

[odettesmom]

Thanks for coming up with new ideas to streamline things . . . I guess that's one of the things that makes this a great site.

[supernova101]

xD cool

[Abigail31147]

[QUOTE=Delphy]Abigail,

Whenever there is a change people tend to think "Oh, downloads are broken - must be whatever changed", when in fact it's completely irrelevant. Any issues with QXpress or slow downloads are becuase of traffic.

Thank you Delphy- I'm not well informed when it comes to the inner workings of web sites and the like- that being the case, when things don't go as expected, I'm clueless as to the cause. After reading the posts here, I understand that the purpose of your recent changes is to decrease the amount of time it takes for graphics etc. to appear when you enter a download page. I have to say that the speed of everything on this site is impressive and I thank everyone on the MTS2 team for that. I've been spoiled thus far by having all my downloads happen so fast and issue free- I do appreciate you letting me know that issues in that area are traffic related- Patience is a virtue :D Thank you again for your time and know that I am very greatful for this site and all the services it provides. - Abigail31147

[amberandcarlos33]

I'm not sure if this problem is related to the changes recently but I thought I'd mention it as I've never noticed it before.

When I attempt to filter the downloads based upon the EPs that I have purchased I'm then directed to select which games I have. I click on that link and it leads me to edit my profile. I already have my games selected so I simply click on the save button, however, when I return to downloads the filter is set back to Show All.

I hope this is relevant. If not I'm not sure where to put it.

Thanks,
Amber

[Delphy]

amber,

Thats becuase the Compatible option is pre-defined by the games you already have, so no extra selection is needed. The download view itself currently defaults to "All" hence why it changes back.

[Eggs]

Oh, that's good. Although I'm wondering why the downloads are now disabled. :(

[Delphy]

Downloads get disabled whenever I work on the system.

[jlf5663]

Hello,

I cannot see thumbnails on any page besides the home page. When I click on the downloads page all I see on IE browser is x's and on Firefox I don't see anything. Please help!

Joelle

[Delphy]

jlf, can you see http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/ and http://thumbs.modthesims2.com/ ?

[Inge Jones]

I can, and I didn't log out yet either.

[Delphy]

Inge that wasn't for you ;) Also, the thumbnail servers don't have the security on them like the new fileserver. :)

[Inge Jones]

Oh well these technical differences are all to subtle for me :blush:

[jlf5663]

http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/, no I cannot see anything and the link doesn't load. http://thumbs.modthesims2.com/, yes the link loads.

jlf, can you see http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/ and http://thumbs.modthesims2.com/ ?

[Keegana]

Thanks Delphy! You rock! :gjob: