Jump to content


Photo

Two things that speedup Wii U downloads


  • Please log in to reply
14 replies to this topic

#1 Alex Atkin UK

Alex Atkin UK

    Boo

  • Members
  • 528 posts

Posted 05 December 2012 - 08:15 PM

I have been doing some extensive testing and have come to a few conclusions.

Firstly, and most annoyingly, using a Wii USB LAN adapter actually causes the Wii U to download slower, compared to WiFi. So if you are getting a good WiFi signal, keep using it.

Its likely even an old 802.11g WiFi network will still be faster, as I have yet to see the Wii U do anything close to 802.11n speeds. My guess is it doesn't have any of the fancy features of 802.11n that make it faster, many smartphones have the same problem.

Now, what do you need to do for optimum speeds then?

1) Use a proxy server. To do this you need a PC or Mac to run the proxy server on. You may be able to use one on the Internet but I suspect this will not actually speed anything up, as its not the Internet speed which is the problem, its something to do with how the Wii U is actually downloading the files. To do this lookup the instructions for how to speedup PS3 downloads, its exactly the same method and I already had one setup for my PS Vita, I just used the same settings on the Wii U.

Now, go into the Wii U System Settings, Internet, Connect to the Internet, Connection List.
Click on your connection and then Change Settings. Scroll two pages to the right and choose Proxy Settings, Configure, and input your proxy server details.

2) Grab yourself an external USB HDD, connect it to the Wii U and go to System Settings, Data Management, Format USB Storage Device. This WILL delete everything on the HDD so make sure there is nothing you need on there first. Once you have done this the Wii U will automatically use the HDD for downloads rather than the internal memory.

The only place I have seen this mentioned is in Home menu, Download Management. While a download is running it will say that its downloading to USB Storage.

By doing the above I managed to download the FIFA demo three times faster than before. For the more technical people, my download speeds went from 500-800K/s to 1.75MiB/s over the LAN adapter or up to 2.2MiB/s over WiFi.

The interesting thing about that also is that as I have a full Squid proxy server and did the test several times, those results were the actual MAXIMUM speed the Wii U was able to handle. It was downloading directly from my proxy servers RAM cache not the Internet. So unless they fix the poor LAN adapter speeds, this is pretty much the best speed we can ever expect from Wii U downloads, as its more or less what you would expect from 65Mbit WiFi (WiFi only ever does around 1/3 of the speed its advertised as supporting, due to the complexity of the protocol), which is what the Wii U appears to max out at.

What also doesn't help is that Wii U downloads are split into several parts but only downloaded one at a time, so you get several pauses in the download which also contribute to making the download take longer. It would be nice if Nintendo enabled parallel downloads, even if its only while you are on the home screen and using USB storage.

Installation was also MUCH faster to USB storage. I didn't time it, but at a guess I would say it took under a minute compared to several minutes when using the Wii U internal storage. Nintendo clearly know this as once you have USB storage connected it is used automatically, they do not even bother to ask where you want to download/install save stuff, it just goes on the USB storage. A bit annoying actually as I would rather keep my save data on the internal memory with just games themselves on USB.

With the evidence pointing to the internal memory being really slow, it makes you wonder if Nintendo will actually be able to improve the speed of navigating the OS. It looks like they are going to have to preload everything into that 1GB of RAM if we want to see any improvement.

Edited by Alex Atkin UK, 05 December 2012 - 08:50 PM.

Sheffield 3DS | Steam & XBOX: Alex Atkin UK | PSN & WiiU: AlexAtkinUK

 

How to improve the Wii U download speed.


#2 wiiufoo

wiiufoo

    Paragoomba

  • Members
  • 28 posts

Posted 05 December 2012 - 08:26 PM

Good to know, thx.

#3 SoldMyWiiUAndLeftTheForums

SoldMyWiiUAndLeftTheForums

    Pokémon Trainer

  • Members
  • 4,168 posts

Posted 05 December 2012 - 08:58 PM

Thanks for the tips dude :D

#4 ccusack

ccusack

    Spiked Goomba

  • Members
  • 19 posts

Posted 06 December 2012 - 12:31 AM

Right on, Thank you.

#5 Lebon14

Lebon14

    Blooper

  • Members
  • 183 posts
  • Fandom:
    Golden Sun and Touhou universe

Posted 06 December 2012 - 12:44 AM

I should bookmark that! Any good suggestion of free proxies to use with the WiiU?

Alas, I'm short on USB storage though (except slow a** USB thumb drives that I want to use for my data transfer needs).
WiiU NNID : Lebon14, Friend invites will be ignored. I must know you first.
Rocketman, your rocketman
Fly with me, to the moon, to the stars my heart
Rocketman, your rocketman
Take you higher
♫ - "Rocketman" by Mega NRG Man (Super Eurobeat 217)

#6 BananaCheese

BananaCheese

    Darknut Dominator

  • Members
  • 163 posts
  • NNID:Awesomesocks
  • Fandom:
    Zelda and Animal Crossing

Posted 06 December 2012 - 01:03 AM

Is there a way to copy/move USB storage to internal memory?

Nintendo_Logo-600x200.png 

Nintendo Network ID: Awesomesocks | Nintendo 3DS Friend Code: 1032-1712-2862

PM me if you add me on any of the above.

 


#7 Insanity_Boi

Insanity_Boi

    Bob-omb

  • Members
  • 251 posts
  • Fandom:
    Zelda Mario Metroid Mario Kart

Posted 06 December 2012 - 05:03 AM

Thanks for your hardwork doing the research.

#8 3Dude

3Dude

    Whomp

  • Section Mods
  • 5,482 posts

Posted 06 December 2012 - 06:02 AM

Good work.

Pre loading in the os ram is definately going to be the fix.

Along with some common sense streaming. I think.its going to take a while, but these issues will be ironed out eventually. Probably by the open source long before nintendo.

We just need to find a way to stop the remote wiping (nintendo can remove any unwanted/unauthorized applications from any online wii u at any time.)

banner1_zpsb47e46d2.png

 


#9 LordWiiU

LordWiiU

    Goomba

  • Members
  • 2 posts

Posted 06 December 2012 - 09:12 AM

It would be interesting to have the OS on an external USB device to speed up everything, but alas I'm afraid it will never be possible...
But I think there is still many ways to otimize the use of this 1Go of RAM.

#10 hubang

hubang

    Red Koopa Troopa

  • Members
  • 68 posts

Posted 06 December 2012 - 11:21 AM

Thanks Alex. Set up privoxy last night but haven't tested download speeds yet.
Nintendo Network ID: hubang

#11 Alex Atkin UK

Alex Atkin UK

    Boo

  • Members
  • 528 posts

Posted 06 December 2012 - 03:00 PM

I just double checked without the proxy but with external USB storage, I can confirm that doesn't help either. So you definitely need to do both things to get decent improvements.

Incidentally yes, you can move items between internal and external storage. Just go into System Settings, Data Management (second item in menu), Move/Delete Data.

Sheffield 3DS | Steam & XBOX: Alex Atkin UK | PSN & WiiU: AlexAtkinUK

 

How to improve the Wii U download speed.


#12 Lebon14

Lebon14

    Blooper

  • Members
  • 183 posts
  • Fandom:
    Golden Sun and Touhou universe

Posted 06 December 2012 - 03:24 PM

I've installed Privoxy and set my Wii U up.
Using the browser, I went to Youtube and started a video (in HTML5) and, with Netlimiter, I've seen the download speed reacher over 2 MB/s.
However, I cannot test for an update yet because, well, I did my update before setting things up. Oh, and, I don't have an external hard drive, so install time will still suffer.
WiiU NNID : Lebon14, Friend invites will be ignored. I must know you first.
Rocketman, your rocketman
Fly with me, to the moon, to the stars my heart
Rocketman, your rocketman
Take you higher
♫ - "Rocketman" by Mega NRG Man (Super Eurobeat 217)

#13 Nightbane30

Nightbane30

    Shy Guy

  • Members
  • 33 posts
  • NNID:Nightbane30
  • Fandom:
    KINGDOM HEARTS!!!!!! RPG LOVER, ANIME

Posted 06 December 2012 - 04:51 PM

Good work studying all this man.
Posted Image

I am me! Nobody else!
I also have an account on 3DSForums.com and my username is the same there.

#14 Foot

Foot

    The most badass sociopath to ever exist.

  • Members
  • 1,038 posts
  • NNID:DPapcinEVO
  • Fandom:
    Sock Wars, Shoehorn Leghorn

Posted 06 December 2012 - 04:56 PM

There is an amazing way to speed it up too, turn of all other devices currently utilizing the same wifi so urs will be the only one using it. Then, the downloads will be at least 3x faster!
I am the foot. I do not like you. You smother me with socks and shoes, then step on me thousands of times a day.

We foot will rebel one day.

#15 Alex Atkin UK

Alex Atkin UK

    Boo

  • Members
  • 528 posts

Posted 06 December 2012 - 09:02 PM

That is also true, but for the most part the WiFi network my Wii U is connected to only has light use anyway unless I am across the road on my laptop.

My laptop when used at home is connected to a second WiFi network running on 5Ghz, only my phone and laptop run on that one so its entirely separate from the Wii U.

It still annoys me though that I can't just use the Wii U with the LAN adapter and be done with it. I think I will keep it around and periodically test after each firmware update, just in case they fix it.

Sheffield 3DS | Steam & XBOX: Alex Atkin UK | PSN & WiiU: AlexAtkinUK

 

How to improve the Wii U download speed.





1 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 1 guests, 0 anonymous users

Anti-Spam Bots!