Actually, I think a Torrent would already fix this.
Did you ever look in the UT Cache folder? Files in there don't have their UT names. To obtain their UT names, there's a file [cache.ini] that contains a list of downloaded files and their associated names. This list uses a data dependent name to identify the file, not it's UT name. For example...
Code:
CBC22FA011D40648A000678B649656CC=DX.u
This indicates the actual name in cache of DX.u, is CBC22FA011D40648A000678B649656CC.uxx. Incidentally, DX.u is a mod I created to deal with the version mismatch I often ran into with DU.u.
This architecture is why the "Version Mismatch" one experiences when attempting to connect to a server can be resolved by removing the local copy of the conflicting file from your UT client installation, and relying only on the downloaded and Cached version.
Even if two different files of the same name are served by two different servers, the cache can hold them both and your UT client differentiates them just fine by their
.uxx name.
This same mechanism is what should be used to identify the file to the Torrent Cloud and allowing it to be fed. It also allows multiple versions of the same file to exist in the Cloud without ambiguity.
Most Torrents already have a similar mechanism - the system just needs to be tailored to align with what UT does.
Oh and your point about "Pathetic Speeds" when a file is sent directly from a server is well taken. But it raises another annoyance a Torrent would fix... Did you ever notice that once a file comes from the UT server [...like when it's not on the redirect] the client never goes back to the redirect for successive files? It just continues at "Pathetic Speed" and gets them all from the UT server. I usually abandon the connection attempt, and re-connect to cure this, but it's an unnecessary PITA. This could be fixed in the usual web.u code dealing with redirects, or by replacing / augmenting the mechanism to use this Torrent concept.
I'll have to read that DrFlay link in the morning. I'd be happy to work with a coder on this concept if it would help get it going. I'd need to re-read the Torrent Specification again to refresh myself in the jargon and do a more meaningful project outline.
Somehow I'm not sure there's enough interest anymore - hope I'm wrong though. Do these same issues exist in UT3 too? Might help if the solution applied to both.