I've noticed that the wait time between updates is around 3-4 months. The community seems to get the most impatient during this wait time. The main issue is, we have to wait 3-4 months on average for ANY new content. It feels like "Here you go, come back in 4 months for some more!". This is my vision for a possible to the issue. What are "Content Micro-updates"? Content Micro-updates would be usually monthly "Updates" that include a small bit of content to keep the community interested. Usually a few pieces of content is more than enough to keep the community interested and occupied during the long waits in-between major updates. They are not really true updates, as they only add bits of content to the game, and don't result in major changes to the engine or game that could be unstable. What content would be included? Skins Scenarios Configurations Vehicle Parts Quick Race Tracks The reason that only these kinds of content would be included is that they are the most stable in between releases. The reasoning for this is to make it easier for the developers to make this content without causing issues due to differences between the development builds and public builds. An example "Micro-Update" would be like this: " October 2018 Micro-Update: Vehicle Changes: Ibishu Hopper: Added new configuration- Beam Safari Wentward DT40L: Added new configuration - Belasco Transit Added Belasco Transit livery Added interior police equipment to the Gavril Grand Marshal, Gavril Roamer, and Gavril H-Series. More vehicles will be supported in future updates Scenarios: Added "Bus Safari" Scenario Added "West Coast Chase" Scenario Quickrace: New tracks: Redwood Forest, Dam Drag, Highway 54 " Also, these could use the mod system in a way, by installing the new files via the repository upon launching the game. In the next update, the installs for that content would be disabled and the files would then be in the release version. Feedback would be appreciated. Please vote in the poll and provide feedback below!
Doing this micro-update would be a hit for those with datacaps. Updating a file in a ZIP (ie. 3 files for a skin) would have Steam updating an entire ZIP because of how it works. Also the content of these updates will be very limited to small stuff, as bigger ones may need new features. And finally, having more time between updates allows us to have the game broken/unstable for longer, allowing to work on core stuff. So, from our point of view, this update scheduling works best for what we are working on currently (the scheduling changes based on what we are working on as you see)
Can't say for anyone else but with my internet being quite slow I often don't even download the hotfixes between updates, so stuff like this seems like it would be a nuisance imo, especially as nadeox says the file size is still going to be several hundred MB even if its only very small changes. I'd much rather wait for one big download at once with all the content.
For me it would be about same, but then again I have unlimited 50Mbps connection, which is around 2MB/s during slow time and can be over 6MB/s during fast time of the day, which means that small updates come fast and big updates come pretty fast too.
What, by your definition, is "small stuff"? Also, these could use the mod system in a way, by installing the new files via the repository upon launching the game. In the next update, the installs for that content would be disabled and the files would then be in the release version.
