I have never had a problem with Humble Bundle before. Paizo failing to provide contributors books for more than a week after they purchased them is a sure way to cause people to steer clear of Humble Bundle in the future. Because of Paizo, Humble Bundle should now make sure that clients have the technical capability to deliver their products before allowing them to participate.
I have never had a problem with Humble Bundle before. Paizo failing to provide contributors books for more than a week after they purchased them is a sure way to cause people to steer clear of Humble Bundle in the future. Because of Paizo, Humble Bundle should now make sure that clients have the technical capability to deliver their products before allowing them to participate.
They did, the popularity of the humble bundle was an order of magnitude bigger than the maximum that both humble bundle and paizo thought.
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I just grabbed one of the ACG scenario PDFs with no wait. Not sure if that was luck or reduced load or improved capacity or what.
Indeed, I have been able to download books using Chrome without any workarounds on the first try for a couple of days now. The process is slower than normal, but back to a straightforward 'click on the title and wait for download to complete'.
At this point, anyone still having trouble getting files, even with the many workaround options posted in this thread, should probably post the particulars. It could be an issue already discussed or even something unrelated to the traffic spike.
CBDunkerson wrote:
"At this point, anyone still having trouble getting files, even with the many workaround options posted in this thread, should probably post the particulars. It could be an issue already discussed or even something unrelated to the traffic spike."
There are more than one thousand posts in this thread. The "many work around options" need to be summarized on the first post or some place obvious. It is ridiculous to ask us to search through 1000 posts, especially when the server is so slow that there is a lag even in the forums.
Telling people to install a different browser on their computer is not a reasonable solution. In February, 2016 Chrome was used for 69% of all page accesses.
(source: http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp )
This market share continues to grow. Like it or not, chrome is now the browser standard.
In response to the comment to post particulars, the particulars are simple.
I click on the link, it says personalizing.
I wait much longer than the suggested 60 seconds.
If I am lucky, I get to the message at the top of the page that says "If the download doesn't start in 5 seconds, click this link".
The download doesn't start.
I click the link, Chrome eventually times out.
Tomorrow when I come back here, this file will be marked as having been downloaded yesterday, when no such thing happened.
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There are more than one thousand posts in this thread. The "many work around options" need to be summarized on the first post or some place obvious.
The most recent post in the Download Issues thread, which is linked at the bottom of the red text on the homepage, downloads page, et cetera, includes a summary and a link to one of the more detailed posts on workarounds.
Telling people to install a different browser on their computer is not a reasonable solution.
I suspect that the many people who were able to get their files because of those suggestions would disagree.
Like it or not, chrome is now the browser standard.
I like it just fine and use Chrome exclusively myself. However, the simple fact is that Chrome has a fixed timeout period which was too short to handle the delays caused by the initial Humble Bundle traffic surge.
As noted, the last three downloads I attempted went through even with Chrome and no special workaround. If you aren't seeing that, you may be attempting to download during higher traffic times or possibly have a slower connection or transfer. Applications like McCaffee or various Chrome extensions could be slowing the transfer and causing you to hit the timeout more often.
I wait much longer than the suggested 60 seconds.
If I am lucky, I get to the message at the top of the page that says "If the download doesn't start in 5 seconds, click this link".
The download doesn't start.
I click the link, Chrome eventually times out.
Copying that link to a browser with a longer timeout period (e.g. Firefox where you can set the timeout per the instructions in my second link above) should allow the download to complete.
Failing that, several days ago I was able to get the download to start in Chrome. After getting the time out message I used the back button to get back to the downloads page, copied the link location, pasted it into a new tab, clicked on the download link again, right clicked to open in a new tab, et cetera until it eventually started the download. I'm not sure which of those actually worked because I no longer get the timeout and thus can't test it further.
However, the point is that once you get to the "If the download doesn't start in 5 seconds, click this link" message you have a link to a viable download file and just need to get past the browser timeout to get that download to begin. Keep that URL and try it at different times of day or launch it repeatedly until it goes through. Some people also had luck using a download manager (which presumably had a longer timeout period). The file is sitting there on Paizo's server, but Chrome is timing out before the download can begin.
Failing any of those options, you're probably stuck waiting until the traffic dies down far enough that Chrome seldom hits the timeout.
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CBDunkerson wrote:
"At this point, anyone still having trouble getting files, even with the many workaround options posted in this thread, should probably post the particulars. It could be an issue already discussed or even something unrelated to the traffic spike."There are more than one thousand posts in this thread. The "many work around options" need to be summarized on the first post or some place obvious. It is ridiculous to ask us to search through 1000 posts, especially when the server is so slow that there is a lag even in the forums.
Telling people to install a different browser on their computer is not a reasonable solution. In February, 2016 Chrome was used for 69% of all page accesses.
(source: http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp )
This market share continues to grow. Like it or not, chrome is now the browser standard.In response to the comment to post particulars, the particulars are simple.
I click on the link, it says personalizing.
I wait much longer than the suggested 60 seconds.
If I am lucky, I get to the message at the top of the page that says "If the download doesn't start in 5 seconds, click this link".
The download doesn't start.
I click the link, Chrome eventually times out.
Tomorrow when I come back here, this file will be marked as having been downloaded yesterday, when no such thing happened.
This begs the question: What do you expect when a formerly unknown problem surfaces?
An apology? Paizo did that.Acknogledging the problem? Paizo did that.
Working to fix the problem? Paizo told us they do that and I assume that to be true.
Unless you develope a blackbox with a "everything works fine" switch on it, there really aren't so many options left.
Far bigger companies encounter problems with their software/servers/compatibility with standard browsers/anti-virus software. Origis (EA), Battlenet (Blizzard) and Steam all had troublesome days during the last couple of years, making their servers and services unavailable for customers for sometimes more than a day - their entire services.
And those are far larger companies than Paizo. They lost money every minute they were "offline" and they sure as Asmodeus realm weren just waiting for things to fix themselfs - yet they needed time to fix things.
Give Paizo that time, especially since not even all of their services are down. Is it inconvenient? Sure it is. Is it fixable - hopefully and probably. But there is no way now to undo those inconveniences, they can just be fixed for the future.
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I'm sure this bundle wasn't a surprise to anyone at Paizo HQ.
I don't know why you're so sure of this. The various Paizo nerds have posted repeatedly that this scale of response to this bundle not only exceeded their wildest expectations, but it also exceeded the wildest expectations of HB itself. (The Paizo bundle's first day was the best first day in HB's history by more than three times, according to Vic.)
I want you to imagine the scene in Paizo HQ if someone had presciently said "we want to invest in a huge and expensive infrastructure upgrade on the off-hand chance that our Humble Bundle offering turns out to more than double the previous best bundle launch that HB has ever seen in their history." That's not the kind of scenario anyone takes seriously.
But that's what happened. And it caught everyone, including HB, off guard.
I have never had a problem with Humble Bundle before. Paizo failing to provide contributors books for more than a week after they purchased them is a sure way to cause people to steer clear of Humble Bundle in the future. Because of Paizo, Humble Bundle should now make sure that clients have the technical capability to deliver their products before allowing them to participate.
This is patent nonsense. More accurately, how much capacity should HB ensure?
Should HB make sure that clients have an infinite amount of capacity? That's literally impossible. No one has infinite capacity.
Should HB make sure that clients have the capacity to handle as much traffic as the absolute best selling bundle in history? Because, by definition, that's overkill for >99% of the bundles.... and it also wouldn't have been sufficient in this particular case.
What you're asking for is simultaneously unreasonable for >99% of the clients and insufficient for the tiny fraction that goes way, WAY beyond projections.
Chief Technical Officer
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The various Paizo nerds have posted repeatedly that this scale of response to this bundle not only exceeded their wildest expectations, but it also exceeded the wildest expectations of HB itself. (The Paizo bundle's first day was the best first day in HB's history by more than three times, according to Vic.)
That's not quite accurate. It was the best first day for a Humble Books bundle by a factor of almost three. They've had bigger first days in other categories.
That said, when we were estimating load, both Humble Bundle and Paizo were anticipating Books numbers, not video game numbers. We had a number that would be considered "worst case" for the two-week campaign; we passed that while I was at lunch on day 1 (and the campaign started at 11 AM!). We had a number that we were all thinking would be "pretty good" for the two week run; we hit that before I went to bed. 50,000 bundles for the whole campaign would have been a wild fantasy before this started, yet we're there after just 1 week.
Hi again everyone,
* Thanks, and kudos, to Paizo staff who got the watermarking system working again. I went through almost everything in about a week as opposed to a year. ;) (It's not a fast process by any means, but it chugs along nicely, which is good enough for me in this case.)
* I have a general question, valid for such busy times as well as regular times: What's Paizo's take on wget (or equivalents), scripted to try again every X minutes until a download starts, and try again if a download fails?
The various Paizo nerds have posted repeatedly that this scale of response to this bundle not only exceeded their wildest expectations, but it also exceeded the wildest expectations of HB itself. (The Paizo bundle's first day was the best first day in HB's history by more than three times, according to Vic.)That's not quite accurate. It was the best first day for a Humble Books bundle by a factor of almost three. They've had bigger first days in other categories.
That said, when we were estimating load, both Humble Bundle and Paizo were anticipating Books numbers, not video game numbers. We had a number that would be considered "worst case" for the two-week campaign; we passed that while I was at lunch on day 1 (and the campaign started at 11AM!). We had a number that we were all thinking would be "pretty good" for the two week; we hit that before bedtime. 50,000 bundles for the whole campaign would have been a wild fantasy before this started, yet we're there after just 1 week.
See? That'll teach you to go to lunch. If you'd sat around waiting on a Hot Pocket instead, the system wouldn't have been overloaded. ;)
I am still not able to download with firefox, even after using the workaround. I am getting stuck at the personalising point. What is worse, and really starting to grind my gears is that this website keeps logging me out and sending me to a page saying "I am not a witch, I am your wife". This just isn't good enough. I paid the $25 pack and I cant even get the physical copy as postage is $60!!!! There should be very clear explanations that postage is absolutely extortionately expensive!!!
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I am still not able to download with firefox, even after using the workaround. I am getting stuck at the personalising point.
Can you use a different browser for the personalization and then switch back to Firefox (if need be) for the actual download link?
I paid the $25 pack and I cant even get the physical copy as postage is $60!!!! There should be very clear explanations that postage is absolutely extortionately expensive!!!
There actually are disclaimers to that effect. It is linked on the HB page... under the notice about the beginners box being sold out and backordered.
Oooohhh ok I didn't know it was a comics bundle I thought it was a rulebook type thing. My mistake.From what I can recall, the d&d bundles sold well...There has been a D&D comics bundle, but I'm pretty sure there's never been an RPG bundle. (Wizards hasn't sold PDFs of their current edition core RPG books in many years.)
Speaking of comics bundles, there's a Pathfinder comics bundle that just launched too.
Tonight our System Admin Lissa Guillet is working on some server maintenance. You may see a hiccup in connectivity, but after it's complete, some more responsive performance. Folks may have also noticed that the duration time on personalizing has also changed to "60 seconds." This has now been made into an easily adjustable component that we'll endeavor to keep as accurate as possible given our current traffic.
WWhat is this Hells revenge players guide people are talking about I can't find it in my list.
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WWhat is this Hells revenge players guide people are talking about I can't find it in my list.
The Player's Guides for most of the APs are free downloads. They're not part of the Humble Bundle, but the latest Player's Guide, for Hell's Vengeance, launched the same day as the Humble Bundle so was caught up in the same downloading vortex.
Hell's Vengeance Player's Guide
Parts of the Hell's Rebels AP are included in the Humble Bundle, and you can get the Player's Guide for that AP here.
Many thanks Joana :)
Edited my previous post/removed a response. My post wasn't accurately representing what's being done tonight. My bad! Been a long week and had my wires crossed on this one.
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I have been able to get all of the humble bundle downloads using FireFox and the timeout workaround. I was downloading them at 1:30 - 3:00 AM PST though so the 30 seconds between the first click to personalize and the second click to get the download started is most likely X minutes during peak times.
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How can Humble Bundle require that in light of these facts?
That said, when we were estimating load, both Humble Bundle and Paizo were anticipating Books numbers, not video game numbers. We had a number that would be considered "worst case" for the two-week campaign; we passed that while I was at lunch on day 1 (and the campaign started at 11 AM!). We had a number that we were all thinking would be "pretty good" for the two week run; we hit that before I went to bed. 50,000 bundles for the whole campaign would have been a wild fantasy before this started, yet we're there after just 1 week.
-snip-The inability of Paizo's distribution scheme to scale and the pain associated with it has helped me decide NOT to buy the comic book bundle.
The Comic Book Bundle is not affected by Paizo DRM. It's all hosted on Humble.
As a side note, I've got everything downloaded, plus four new purchases to take advantage of the rain16 promotion. No more issues for me!
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Folks may have also noticed that the duration time on personalizing has also changed to "60 seconds." This has now been made into an easily adjustable component that we'll endeavor to keep as accurate as possible given our current traffic.
This is a great update Chris. However, you may want to make a corresponding change to the red text at the top of the downloads page which still refers to the "10 second" prompt.
Folks may have also noticed that the duration time on personalizing has also changed to "60 seconds." This has now been made into an easily adjustable component that we'll endeavor to keep as accurate as possible given our current traffic.This is a great update Chris. However, you may want to make a corresponding change to the red text at the top of the downloads page which still refers to the "10 second" prompt.
Ack! Yes! Will do when I get to the office this morning.
Hey guys, just FYI things on my end have gone from a slow process to files not downloading at all after the Personalization step, or else the download failing midway through (three consecutive attempts).
Just passing along the info. Thanks for making this Humble Bundle available - great material incorporated into it (and it appears my excitement is shared by a large number of others).
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I'm completely unable to download my bundle. I've retried over 24 hours. Very annoying. Stop selling it, pull all your advertising. Give your site a chance to recover.
System Administrator
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I've been trying to download my purchases, however instead of receiving a "personalizing" message, I get nothing when I click on the links in My Downloads. The page just refreshes and then nothing...help me? ;)
Hi there. Can you go ahead check it again. I think I found the problem and fixed it.