Fast Downloads

Fast Downloads (FastDL) mirrors a chosen set of a service's files to a public web location, so game clients can pull large assets — maps, custom content — directly over HTTP instead of through the slower in-game transfer. Source-engine games (CS, Garry's Mod, TF2, HL2DM, …) support this natively and will even decompress .bz2 files automatically.

Fast Downloads works for both game and Docker blueprints.

How it works

There are three pieces to set up:

1. Storage (on the server) — where the mirrored files are kept and the public web address they're served from.
2. What to sync (on the blueprint) — which files to mirror, plus compression and quota options.
3. Per-service — each service can override whether Fast Downloads is on, and trigger a sync.

A sync is incremental: only new or changed files are uploaded, and files removed from the service are removed from the mirror.

1. Storage (server)

On the server's settings page, under File Paths & Providers → FastDL Storage:

Setting	What it does
Enabled	Master switch for this server. If off, no service on the server can sync.
Storage location	Either a local path on the server, or a File Server (for storing the files on a separate box).
Base URL	The public web address the files are served from, e.g. https://fastdl.example.com/.
Folder template	The per-service subfolder under the base URL. Default: ${UserName}/${ServiceId}/.

To store the mirror on a separate machine, create a File Server with the FastDL category — it can use Local, FTP, SFTP, or S3 storage.

2. What to sync (blueprint)

On the blueprint's Fast Downloads page:

Setting	What it does
Enabled	Turns Fast Downloads on for services using this blueprint.
Include patterns	Which files to mirror, as glob patterns (e.g. maps/**/*.bsp). Use **/ for "any depth".
Exclude patterns	Files to skip, same pattern style.
Relative root	A subfolder of the service to scan. Leave empty to scan from the service root.
Compression	How files are compressed before upload — see Compression.
Max compress size	Files larger than this are uploaded uncompressed (compressing already-compressed assets wastes CPU).
Disk quota	A per-service ceiling on how much can be mirrored.
Strip paths	Path prefixes removed from the public URL — for Source games this is usually addons/ so the client sees maps/… directly.
Requires HTTPS	Forces https:// on the generated download URLs.
Auto-sync on file change	Re-sync automatically whenever the service's files change.

note

Auto-sync picks up changes made through the web file manager and FTP. Changes from other sources (scripts, SteamCMD, mod installs) are mirrored on the next manual or scheduled sync.

3. Per-service

The blueprint's Enabled setting (above) applies to every service that uses the blueprint. To change it for a single service, an administrator can override it on that service's Settings page, in the Fast Downloads section. The override is a three-state checkbox:

Override	Effect
On (checked)	Force Fast Downloads on for this service.
Off (unchecked)	Force Fast Downloads off for this service.
Inherit (indeterminate — the default)	Use the blueprint's Enabled setting.

The service's own Fast Downloads page then shows the current status and lets you run a sync:

• The current usage, file count, and last sync time.
• The public download URL.
• A Sync now button to run a sync immediately.

note

The service's Fast Downloads page only appears while Fast Downloads is enabled for that service — by the blueprint default or by the per-service override. If you turn it off for a service, re-enable it from the service's Settings page.

Compression

Format	Notes
None	Files are uploaded as-is.
BZip2	Required for Source-engine clients — they decompress .bz2 automatically.
Zip	Used by some Garry's Mod content launchers.
Tar / TarBz2	Available for customers who group content this way.

Config file variables

When you reference these variables in a config file or command line, TCAdmin fills them in automatically:

Variable	Value
${FastDownloadUrl}	The service's public Fast Downloads URL.
${FastDownloadEnabled}	1 when Fast Downloads is enabled for the service, otherwise 0.

For a Source-engine server.cfg, that typically looks like:

sv_downloadurl "${FastDownloadUrl}"
sv_allowdownload ${FastDownloadEnabled}
sv_allowupload ${FastDownloadEnabled}

Scripting

You can run scripts around a sync — for example to prepare content beforehand or notify an external service afterward.

Events

Event	Fires
BeforeFastDLSync	At the start of the sync, before files are scanned. If the script throws an error, the sync is aborted.
AfterFastDLSync	At the end of the sync. The result is provided to the script as the FastDLSyncResult variable.

Available variables

Sync scripts run with the standard service objects (ThisService, ThisServer, ScriptConsole, the managers). The AfterFastDLSync event additionally provides:

Variable	Type	Description
FastDLSyncResult	FastDLSyncResult	The outcome of the sync (see properties below).

FastDLSyncResult has these properties:

Property	Type	Description
ServiceId	long	The service that was synced.
FilesUploaded	int	Files added or re-uploaded this sync.
FilesDeleted	int	Files removed from the destination this sync.
FilesUnchanged	int	Files that already matched and were skipped.
BytesUploaded	long	Source bytes uploaded this sync (before compression).
BytesDeleted	long	Destination bytes freed by deletes this sync.
TotalUsage	long	Total destination bytes after the sync.
FileCount	int	Total files on the destination after the sync.
Duration	TimeSpan	How long the sync took.
Errors	List<string>	Non-fatal per-file errors. A non-empty list does not mean the sync failed.

Example: report what a sync did

This AfterFastDLSync script reads the FastDLSyncResult and prints its properties. Attach it to the blueprint and add the AfterFastDLSync event to it.

//refAssemblies: TCAdmin.SDK.dll, TCAdmin.GameHosting.SDK.dll, TCAdmin.Scripting.dll, TCAdmin.Monitor.dll
using TCAdmin.SDK.Models;

var Globals = new TCAdmin.Scripting.Engines.Addons.CSharpGameGlobals(); // DO NOT MODIFY THIS LINE

var result = (FastDLSyncResult)Variables["FastDLSyncResult"];

ScriptConsole.WriteLine($"Fast Downloads sync finished for '{ThisService.Name}':");
ScriptConsole.WriteLine($"  Files uploaded:  {result.FilesUploaded}");
ScriptConsole.WriteLine($"  Files deleted:   {result.FilesDeleted}");
ScriptConsole.WriteLine($"  Files unchanged: {result.FilesUnchanged}");
ScriptConsole.WriteLine($"  Bytes uploaded:  {result.BytesUploaded}");
ScriptConsole.WriteLine($"  Total usage:     {result.TotalUsage} bytes across {result.FileCount} file(s)");
ScriptConsole.WriteLine($"  Duration:        {result.Duration}");

if (result.Errors.Count > 0)
{
    ScriptConsole.WriteLine($"  {result.Errors.Count} non-fatal error(s):");
    foreach (var error in result.Errors)
    {
        ScriptConsole.WriteLine($"    - {error}");
    }
}

Example: start a sync from a script

//refAssemblies: TCAdmin.SDK.dll, TCAdmin.GameHosting.SDK.dll, TCAdmin.Scripting.dll, TCAdmin.Monitor.dll
var Globals = new TCAdmin.Scripting.Engines.Addons.CSharpGameGlobals(); // DO NOT MODIFY THIS LINE

// Queue a Fast Downloads sync for the current service
await ServiceManager.SyncFastDL(ThisService.ServiceId, ThisService.OwnerId);
ScriptConsole.WriteLine("Fast Downloads sync queued.");