"This personalized download is currently unavailable"?


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I keep getting this error when I try and download some books. I realize this is probably going to be fixed when everyone gets back ... but I hadn't seen anything on it.

Silver Crusade

Sketchpad wrote:
I keep getting this error when I try and download some books. I realize this is probably going to be fixed when everyone gets back ... but I hadn't seen anything on it.

It's probably capping the number of people that can download at any one time in order to keep the servers from 'sploding.

Don't refresh the page with your browser. Give it about a minute and then click the "check back in a minute, mate" link for that item. It will probably take several tries. Don't panic if when you finally get the link up to personalize it it goes back to saying it's down, just keep trying(but don't do it in rapid succession).

Chill and relax to some music, bring up a flash game, open a pdf you already have, it makes the wait easier. Took me quite a while to get mine today.

Shadow Lodge

It did this to me as well. I was albe to get my downloads this morning before peak hours.


Yup. Just keep clicking "check back". It took me two hours to do mine - at 1 in the morning.

Paizo Employee Senior Software Developer

Wait about twenty seconds or so and then refresh the page. I'll be tweaking some things later today after I've had some coffee but for now 20 seconds is probably the magic number.

Sovereign Court

I think we should give a big thanks to Gary and Ross for keeping things running as smoothly as possible during what must have been a very difficult couple of days for them.These guys gave up on Gen Con to ensure we get what we want when we want it.

and next month the Bestiary will be as bad I guess

Paizo Employee Senior Software Developer

I've rolled out some changes to the personalizer code that should improve its availability. If you've had trouble before getting it to show up, please try it again.


Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Society Subscriber

Given that the load on the personalization server is a problem, why do freebies like the conversion rules and the bestiary preview need to go through it anyway? Wouldn't it be simpler to just set up zips for download like the character sheets?


Paul Ryan wrote:
Given that the load on the personalization server is a problem, why do freebies like the conversion rules and the bestiary preview need to go through it anyway? Wouldn't it be simpler to just set up zips for download like the character sheets?

That is the method by which they "watermark" the PDFs that are downloaded. It is a method to discern pirate scum. :)

Liberty's Edge

Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber
Turin the Mad wrote:


That is the method by which they "watermark" the PDFs that are downloaded. It is a method to discern pirate scum. :)

Yes, but since those PDFs are free anyway, there isn't much point in watermarking them.

RPG Superstar 2011 Top 32

But I'm sure Paizo does not want to automatically put all items that are Free into folks downloads. A few are put for download at the top, the rest are ones you've chosen to take, and those need personalized by the way the code currently is.


Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Society Subscriber

I can understand that adding items to a customer's download page would put them into the personalization required system, but the character sheets are just a direct download from the site, bypassing the individual customer downloads page entirely.

From my experience with Paizo, they probably do have a good reason for setting the freebies up the way they have, but I'm darned if I can figure out what it is for myself.

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

Nikosandros wrote:
Turin the Mad wrote:


That is the method by which they "watermark" the PDFs that are downloaded. It is a method to discern pirate scum. :)
Yes, but since those PDFs are free anyway, there isn't much point in watermarking them.

"Free" is not equivalent to "May redistribute."

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

Paul Ryan wrote:

I can understand that adding items to a customer's download page would put them into the personalization required system, but the character sheets are just a direct download from the site, bypassing the individual customer downloads page entirely.

From my experience with Paizo, they probably do have a good reason for setting the freebies up the way they have, but I'm darned if I can figure out what it is for myself.

Stuff that goes through the personalization system is connected to your account, and stuff that doesn't, isn't. Requiring personalization allows us to learn more about our audience for those particular items. For example, we might want to know what percentage of people who bought the book from us came back for the extras.

Also, we can send notification of updates for personalized products, but not for the other kind.


Vic Wertz wrote:
Nikosandros wrote:
Turin the Mad wrote:


That is the method by which they "watermark" the PDFs that are downloaded. It is a method to discern pirate scum. :)
Yes, but since those PDFs are free anyway, there isn't much point in watermarking them.
"Free" is not equivalent to "May redistribute."

What Vic said. :) Pirate scum = those redistributing without consent.


Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Society Subscriber
Vic Wertz wrote:
Also, we can send notification of updates for personalized products, but not for the other kind.

Thanks for the explanation. I can see why the information you get would be useful for planning ahead to figure out what new cool stuff to do, and the notification ability is definitely a good thing for downloads like the conversion guide which could need errata or clarification.

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