" Crafty "patching system for Unity projects.

hey rocki,
We will definitely work on a mobile version of Crafty but for now we need to be 100 % sure that Crafty is as stable as possible, we need to add few more features and ultimately add full binary patch creation process to make patches as possible as it is possible.

When Crafty will be able to compete with the best patching systems there are ( which should took as few more months as there is only two of us ) we will than works on other versions of Crafty.

 

Hi, I have not yet purchased your asset but it is at the top of my "considering it" list. I am impressed with your community interaction and the quality of the product that I have seen so far. These are very important to me as a asset consumer (just so you know).

Anyway, I had a quick question. I like how this asset handles patching in game, and I would not want to stop it from doing that...but is there any way to access it externally? Is there any way to do a launcher patch type thing?

My concern is this type of scenario:

• I create a patch and upload it to the server.
• Player either has a problem downloading the patch or couldn't get into the game to begin with.
• Player's game is broken and can not be patched because the game won't start.

I imagine this wouldn't be the end of the world or anything but it feels like I would be amiss to not consider it.

 

Hello Nakor sorry for the late reply but for some time now i am sick and it's getting worse for me. ( that is also the reason i am slowing down with Crafty for this week ).

But towards your question. We are thinking about creating some kind of security towards Crafty to help players in accessing the patching system from other sources.

We see it in two ways.

Additional exe file inside the game folder that would allow to check the files and repair them using the standard version of the game that is located on the server.

Or creating Standalone Crafty that will work similar to typical Launcher. ( this is the end goal for us, but because of the massive changes to the Crafty overall this version will take us some time to create as it is most likely ending in rewriting most of the system from the start. )

It's hard for me to tell any estimated time on when this system will be out, but for now i can say that we are aware of this kind of possibilities and that we will work on solutions.

 

Ok thank you for the reply. That was actually a very quick reply when compared to most asset developers so don't worry about that at all

It is good enough for me to know that it is planned to happen. My ideal situation would be to have it patch the way you have it right now but provide an external repair tool in case anything goes wrong. A loader would be ok but I'm really not a fan of them personally. If I try to start a game (as a gamer) I want the game to launch, not the tool to launch the game.

 

That's what i meant when i said,

Lately a lot of people start to use in-game launcher as it starts to be more appeal than the standard launcher version. A specially because you can use in game patching system to patch the game while player is still in the game without him even noticing it.

One of the games that have such system is Star Trek Online ( game patching between the loading screens ), World of Warcraft ( emergency in game patching system ) and Star Wars The Old Republic ( similar to star trek patching system ).

 

Ok but you can provide them that when the want to start the game.exe directly to say. Please start the game over Launcher.exe.

A check and repair tool sounds really nice.

Then everything is in like in Hegza Patcher. Which is really expensive for a low mount on features i think.
Crafty is from the system really good made
Keep on that work.
For me im on the way to build the first Scene as an launcher and then start to fullscreen.
Was a good tip from you. And also works like an external launcher but with one exe file.

 

Your welcome always happy to help .

That goes without saying. A notification will be naturally added.

 

Cant wait for updates. This is really great
allready promoted this on other forums when someone asks for a good launcher solution.
Because its really nice

 

Sorry to hear that you are sick Thinker :/ I really hope you will get better soon i think that everybody can wait for you to get better before releasing new crafty so dont worrie about it and take time off .

UltraTM can you please post the link to the forums you posted about Crafty ? I also want to leave my ten cents and promote this assets .
It's awesome product that deserve much more attention.

Perfect World and Neverwinter online is exactly the same, thats the main reason i trusted Crafty as i saw such patching system already in use and it works awesome !.

 

I was thinking about doing that myself because it would be pretty safe but I would still rather have the final solution. I might still do this as well though.

 

I dont want to be a jerk or anything but i must ask if you will be able to add those two additions that i ask for ? It is really important for me and my project if you cant because of being sick i will understand but i just want to know now if its ok :/

 

All has been done. There is one more thing to do before we can submit Crafty 1.1 to Assets Store - small bug that prevents Launchie to remove temporary folder after applying patch.

 

Wasikuss and Thinker you guys are FREAKING FANTASTIC ! I saw already few good support teams but you guys are way new league Those are perfect ! Just one more question how much controle i have over the indicator can i make it show how much there is still to download or how much i already downloaded ? Once again thank you

 

Haha, good question. I argued with Thinker that in many programs download process is presented by indicating "how much data have been already downloaded". But he says that games prefers second option - "how much data is remaining" Because of that we prepared both versions. You can choose by uncommenting specyfic code.



---EDIT---
Example included in asset was built for Crafty 1.0. And with any new version, code was updated. But now it seems to be little bit messy. I will try to rewrite code to achieve more flexibility and to replace operations( like 'uncomment code') for function.

 

I also think that way as thanks to that players knows how much there is more till it will be updated, if it was only showing how much it already downloaded than player would never know how longer he will have to wait.

BUT i have to say if you guys arguing ends with more fantastic options and better work than you guys should always fight over everything haha.

 

A question this is not a launcher like that from wow or others? a exe program after open unity build?

 

No this is In-game launcher just like it says on the first page of this thread.
But World of Warcraft and others is using this type of launcher in-game.

If i remember correctly this type of launcher was activated in World of Warcraft when you launch the game without updating it and went to the character selection. A bar appears that starts to update your game.

 

Will implementing Crafty dramatically change with 1.1? I've just discovered Crafty and don't know whether to buy it now or wait until yall submit 1.1.

 

Yes Crafty 1.1 is a big change from Crafty 1.0.5 but we created a special system in Crafty that allows you to patch the older Craft 1.0.5 ( that is already been used by your project ) to the Crafty 1.1 without risking any damage to the project.

We want to make sure that changes that we implement to Crafty no matter how big, won't interfere with the development of any project.

More information on the Crafty update will be available in the Crafty documentation.

 

Hello,

do you have a release date for Crafty 1.1 ?

Thanks

 

Don't want to bother but just wanted to know some ETA for mobile so that I can make plans accordingly.
You mentioned that it will be in a few months... Is this (1,3,6,9,12 months ?)

Keep up the awesome work.

Cheers.

 

If we will be able to fix one issue with Crafty today, than today i will send it to the asset store. In worse case scenario it will be Monday.

Like i said many times already first we need to make sure that Crafty on Unity is as stable as possible with all the build in requested features. After that we will work on other versions of Crafty. We hope that it will take only few months but mobile is not our priority.

 

Ok, thanks

 

Crafty 1.1 will be released tomorrow. There is one more thing to do - we know that 2 blue bars during making patch aren't "verbose". Below we add log which will contain all information about current process. It will look something like this:

Code (csharp):

1.  
2. File:
3. Test_Data/example_file.txt
4. compare ( 0%...50%...100% ) SAME
5.  
6. File:
7. Test_Data/example_file2.txt
8. compare.... ( 0%...50%...100% ) DIFFERENT
9. determine patch method .... ( 0%...50%...100% ) PACKET
10.  
11. File:
12. Test_Data/example_file2.txt
13. compare.... ( 0%...50%...100% ) FAILED
14. determine patch method .... ( 0%...50%...100% ) CLASSIC
15.  

 

We just send Crafty 1.1 to the Asset Store, now we are waiting for the approval.
I will post all the changes in a changelog as soon as it will appear on the Asset Store.

 

AWESOME i cant wait for this update ! When will the website update ? with the new documentation and changelog info ? Will it be before asset store approves or after just like here on forum ?

 

I will update the website at the same time the asset store approves Crafty 1.1, tutorial had change and i don't want to confuse people till they wont be updated with the new version.

 

Hello Thinker,

My name is Thomas I'm representing a small Indie Team working on Windows/Mac/Linux project, which highly needs a patching system. I already tried few types of patching system here from Unity and from other sources and I am disappointing of lack of support or the amount of error provided with Unity / Patcher integration.

I am watching this thread for some time and read the reviews of your Crafty system and I see that you don't lack great support and you work hard to keep it up to date. This is indeed amazing but what i need is outside Launcher as I don't care at all about in game Launcher. Not that it is bad but we already created most of the security outside of the game and a small program that requires out side Launcher.

Will it be possible for you to provide us with the out side Launcher and or ( if possible ) out side patch creation system ? Just like the Crafty is now, ( by it i mean ) full support with Windows/Mac/Linux and constant support just like Crafty in Unity is now. Or at least update me on a date of when you will release it as i see you already plan this.

I must add that this is my today made profile not connected to my private profile so if you may please inform me about your decision here on the forum. Thank you.

Cheers Thomas.

 

You can use your private profile here as you know Unity Forum is very nice community . Also you can send me all your request and questions to the support@penkura.com email as there I'm much easier to reach.

You are correct that we want to release the outside source Crafty and yes it will be representing same version as Crafty here. The problem is that Crafty outside will not use Unity build in GUI that means that creating Launcher will be more complex and will require programming knowledge. Also Crafty outside will be release after we will update Crafty in Unity as much as possible. We don't want to leave our current buyers behind and keep them up to date with as best as possible solutions to the patching problems.

Our ultimate goal is to make Crafty 100 % binary system but as you know Unity engine ( at least for now ) have very specific bridge in memory it can use, after passing it Unity will simply Crash. Binary patching is not a problem for smaller project but when you want to generate patch from 8+GB project we will end up in the memory limitation and Unity most likely will crush. When we will go pass this problem we will start to work on the outside source Crafty.

If you want you can send me your email and i will try to keep you up to date with the information towards Crafty outside source.

 

Yes I know that community is very professional here but we are starting more professional approach to our work. When our email system will be finally online I will send all the information to you via email.

This is one of the problem that we had with patching system already bought in the asset store. That's why we drop it and came here to Crafty. Also if binary is such a difficult addon for big project can't you try composition patching ? I heard it haves great potential.

But back to Crafty outside version. I do understand that you want to be loyal towards your buyers and I respect that but even here on your thread I found a lot of people asking you for outside source version of this asset. Can't you just make two version of Crafty and keep both up to date ?. I know it will be difficult as you already stated that it's more about how much time you can give up from normal work towards working on assets.
But I can assure you that you will have much much more buyers when Crafty will be outside. I can assure you that.

I think that people who really work on their project have some kind of programming knowledge or at least someone who helps them with it. So I don't think that you have to be worried about it.

Also most important question wasn't original Crafty an outside source patching system ?

 

Yes the original Crafty was outside source, but we were not able to put it on asset store as it was working with Unreal Engine, Cry Engine and Unity Engine. Which back then was a taboo deal ? I didn't get the answer on exactly why they didn't allow it to the asset store but non the less we rewrite entire system to make it In Unity program only. I think i still have the old video tutorials on outside source Crafty on Penkura YouTube ( as private video).

That's is true but we want to support even those developers who are more art oriented.

This is exactly what we already did. Crafty 1.1 is composition patching system operating on search patterns that you can provide by simply specify the number of B search. I will post more information on this when Crafty 1.1 will be release which should be 2 days.

I do understand that a lot of people want outside Crafty we got over 50 emails already with that request. But we already release Crafty in Unity and we need to finish our work first before we move to new type of system.

We don't know if we can handle working on two system at the same time as we have a very limited team (limited by numbers).
If there is really that much hype about Outside source Crafty than i can talk with the programmer and see what we can do.

Its a big deal as we want to release a proper version that is working on all the main systems ( windows/mac and linux ) that supports Unity 100 % and give all the power on programming the launcher ( with access to website creating connection log in system all those important addons ) and the ability to completely modify the look to adjust it to any game just like Craft now.

As you see its a lot of work, which we want to make as professional as possible.

 

If its possible can you please allow me to see those videos ? I sent you my YouTube account name check your notification.

So this means that Crafty in Unity is already very well equip and can operate on very complex level.

So you see that a lot of people already want outside Crafty. I don't want to look like a greedy developer that forces you to work on a project.
But I see a very big potential in this work from the support alone I can tell its very high class team and by video that you already posted on YouTube I can tell you take this very seriously.
I do think that you will get much more buyers if you will focus on outside source Crafty.

If you can make same quality of Crafty outside source as it is now. Than it will be worth to wait. I am just asking if you will make it and if possible when ? This year or next. Because there is not patching solution for Unity that will work at the same time on Windows/Mac and Linux and have so much addons build in already, Crafty now is already mind blowing but even as it is now some people can't have in game launcher even if they wanted.
But I do have to admit that Crafty and Support is mind blowing just like already people review it.

 

I send you the link but please keep in mind those videos and this type of Crafty is way over a year old.

Thank you for the kind words .

 

I understand that you are John from the video.

John let me ask you why the hell you are not releasing this on your website ? This is the most advance system I ever saw.
It haves everything you need ! This competes with AAA system why you don't release this ?

Please don't tell me that artist would have hard time, this script and tutorial is so detailed even developer who never spoke English could easily create launcher with this.

100 % Microsoft Visual easy transfer between Windows and Mac system, patching and launcher outside, website connection security why is this not being sold !? I can pay you right now 200 $ if you give me the copy of this program via paypal.

I really think you are doing a massive mistake by not focusing on this version of the Crafty.
( by this i mean outside source Crafty )

 

Correct.

Selling asset from a website is risky as people normally don't trust any website they find and buy products from it. I for example would not buy anything from a website i just found.

When and if we will be selling, it will be most likely the same price of 50 $ we always said that we support indie developers.

You are most likely right.
I cannot promise anything, i will talk with the programmer and we will see what we can do. If we had more people and time we would already release all the types of Crafty we planed from the start, but even now when we works as fast and as hard as we can it will take time till everything will be released.
I will inform you about our decision after we will meet and talk this threw.

 

Good evening, would it be possible to also access these videos? I'm really interested in the standalone system even if right now i'll keep the one I already have.
I sent you a YouTube message.
Thank you

 

Well Thomas i think you were right that people prefer outside source Crafty as after our conversation i receive 27 messages asking me when Crafty outside source will be available.

Still for now i have to say that i need to talk with the programmer and check if its even possible to provide quality support and assets for both Crafty users, in Unity and outside. So no promises.

I didn't receive any messages from you on YouTube. Also i rather not show those videos as they are highly out of date and not made professionally.

I will keep everybody posted on our decision towards both Crafty systems.

 

Just purchased Crafty and have been doing some tests as I was slightly skeptical at some claims.

I hope I am wrong but this is what I have found, please let me know if this is not correct and I'm doing something wrong.

As you will know each scene has a sharedassets.assets file. This contains all the assets for that level, models/textures etc. etc. This is normally the largest file in the game, depending on the game's structure. What I have found is if I add or delete a single asset, I have to redownload the entire assets file. I may have mis-interpreted what has been said in this thread but I was under the impression that I should only be downloading the difference of that file. It is quite feasible that this file will be many gigabytes in size and if I add or remove 1 asset I have to download the whole thing, it is compressed but still way too large for a patch.

It's still useful in the fact that I can update game code without having to re-download all game assets again but this limitation doesn't seem to be mentioned anywhere?

Like I said hopefully I am doing something wrong, please let me know.

Edit: Just realised there is a new version coming out, maybe it will improve this issue?

 

Just like Thomas already stated, now in Crafty 1.1 we are using new patch creation system operating on composition patching which will lower the size of the patch significantly.

 

Yeah, I did read that I mistakenly thought it had already been released, looking forward to the new version

 

Honest mistake . This patching solution is not perfect as it is created for more advance big project rather than small one that can use binary system to the fullest.
That's the reason why we worked so hard to implement the composition patching it's still not the ultimate patching system but much better than it is currently.

Putting all that aside that is the reason why everybody wants us to builds Crafty outside of Unity as there is no limitation towards the memory and we can build full 100 % stable Crafty binary system that will create patches kilobit by kilobit and bit by bit.

Today i will provide everybody with the information on if we will make the Crafty with the outside source.

 

Have you considered releasing a Crafty Pro version that includes the source? I would be interested in it for sure.

 

To be honest no I didn't think of such option. Today I will have a general meeting with the team and we will decide about entire future of Crafty Project.
I will also ask around about the source code.

But on the off topic some members of our team are a bit paranoid when it comes to release the source code as the think that someone will just copy and paste and release as their own work.

 

Well that was to be expected people want a high quality patching system with great support that you already provide but they prefer the outside source of the program and not stitch permanently to Unity.

Also if yesterday my post look a bit aggressive than I want to apologize. I didn't mean anything negative about you or the product I am just still shock that you have such an amazing product and not releasing it. I really wish you and your team all the best but please consider releasing the outside source Crafty.

 

CRAFTY 1.1

Crafty 1.1 is available in the asset store. With this update we introduce big changes to the Crafty
program. Please make sure you read the new documentation as it provides users 1.0.5
with the necessary information on how to update their project to 1.1.

Changelog.

1.1

+ Added download speed indicator.

+ Added patch size download indicator.

+ Added two types of download indicator to the script. (Left to download and already downloaded).

+ Added rounding system to the Launcher patch size indicator.
(Allowing launcher to round the number in Bytes, KB, MB, GB)
+ Added support for files outside of Standard Unity build.

+ New compression methods allow creating much more complex and smaller patches.

+ Added Patchie Compat, allowing users that already release their game using Crafty 1.0.5
to allow their game to Crafty 1.1.
+ Fixing Patch Creation indicator not showing properly patch creation process.

+ Added timer at the end of patch creation message window providing users with patch creation time.

+ Minor script clean up.

+ Added new step to the Crafty documentation “Updating from Crafty 1.0.5 to Crafty 1.1“.

+ Updated example files

+ Added full console log at patch creation window allowing user to check patch creation process with
all the necessary information.

+ Added percentage indicator at patch creation process.

 

THIS IS AMAZING ! I just tested new Crafty this change makes it look like completely new asset. I LOVE IT.
Really good fracking job !

Also i wanted to give my ten cents on what InfermIndependent said i personally love this Crafty but i would also love to have the outside source Crafty. I even have plans to use outside source as the main launcher and inside Crafty as emergency patching system. So if you can make both types of Craftys that would be really amazing and i would buy it in a heartbeat if its as amazing as Crafty now.

 

Just tested the latest version, unfortunately I can't get any improvement over the previous version with the large sharedassets file. I have tried the default 512 packet size down to the minimum recommended, according to the manual, of 16.

After examining the console I found why. Most things had "DIFFERENT ADD USING PACKET" but the scenes shared assets just had "DIFFERENT ADD", which I assume means add the whole thing. For all my tests I have just been adding a single model.

I'm not sure why it's not doing a packet update for it?

 

Crafty works better with smaller files. Because we haven't implemented binary method, in certain cases when most data of file is changing, there is problem how to add that file to patch. In early versions of Crafty, we added the entire file. For small projects, it was sufficient, but bigger projects generate huge patches. Then we tried to implement binary method, but bigger files during comparision bloated memory. We replaced binary method for packet method. Time and size of creating patch was decreased. But it still lack of some features of binary methods, for e.g. like detecting kind of change ( if some part of file was added, removed, or replaced ). To visualize differece between them:

We working on binary method that won't bloating memory. Then it will be included in Crafty for in Unity use and Crafty Standalone.

 

Crafty Standalone ? Those this means that you will release two types of Crafty's ? Both at the end Binary ?