Just what does "Acquiring File List." Do?

[Minty23185Fresh]

It has to be more than just a "list"... otherwise, if it is just a list, that should be pretty quick work.

It would have to download extensions and modules, that I have shared, to clients that don't have them, correct?

What sorts of things can I do, as the GM to make the "Acquiring File List" quicker, so that it will take less time?

For instance, If the clients (players) were to subscribe to and get the free extensions (and modules) that we're going to use, so that they already had a local copy, would that help reduce "acquiring file list" delay?

Also, is it a two way street? A few of my players must be as rich as kings, they seem to have purchased everything available. If I go to modules during game play my module list is polluted by a voluminous number of modules, that I do not have. I haven't tried to open any, because I don't care nor do I have the time during the game to do so. Is there a way to limit this? Would that help with "acquiring file list" delay?

At one time I believed pre-sharing things like images (they should be masked though) was a good idea. That turned out to be false. Downloading a bunch of images during "acquiring file list" was really a time hog. It seems better to share as needed instead. (At least that was true in FG classic).

[LordEntrails]

I can help a little bit, but only a little.

For instance, If the clients (players) were to subscribe to and get the free extensions (and modules) that we're going to use, so that they already had a local copy, would that help reduce "acquiring file list" delay?
No. Rulesets (which includes extensions since they can change ruleset code) are always downloaded from the host. Otherwise players could implement code that changes the way the system works for them and not for other players.
EDIT: See Zarestia's post below


Also, is it a two way street? A few of my players must be as rich as kings, they seem to have purchased everything available. If I go to modules during game play my module list is polluted by a voluminous number of modules, that I do not have. I haven't tried to open any,
You won't be able to open them. All you can do is mark them to be allowed for a plyer to use them.


At one time I believed pre-sharing things like images (they should be masked though) was a good idea. That turned out to be false. Downloading a bunch of images during "acquiring file list" was really a time hog. It seems better to share as needed instead. (At least that was true in FG classic).
Pre-sharing changes when the load time happens. The advice to pre-load is based on teh assumption that you can get your player to join/connect early. i.e. start your game up 30 minutes prior to session and walk away. Players connect during this time and walk away. No one it waiting for anything except start time.

But, as you noticed, if everyone is going to join at start time, then it just delays the time until everyone is live in the game.

[Zacchaeus]

The only thing that would make it quicker is not to share anything. As LE says the ruleset and extensions must be d/l and many bits of the campaign database - like the PC sheets; state of the Combat tracker, party sheet etc but everything else that gets transferred is shared modules and images. Once a module is shared it won't need to download again - so that probably only happens the first time players join after the module has been shared.

As for presharing images - I do this all the time since it takes forever to upload even a modest image to four to six players with my connection during a game. Like LE says if all your players join at the same time then this might not be a time saver for you; but even if they join a few minutes apart it's worth it (IMO).

And things will go the other way as well; if your players own a lot of modules and those modules are player modules (and thus default to shared) that info needs to come up stream to your computer.

[Zarestia]

Extensions do get loaded from the host, but if a player has the same extensions as the GM in their extensions folder (not cache), then the transmitted file size is much smaller and that part will go faster. It is of course a logistical nightmare if you do this for your whole group.

Example:
- I have the Hearth theme in my extensions folder and the .ext file in cache is 17 KB
- Another player who doesn't has that extension, has an .ext file in cache of about 5 MB