_Sin_'s Ultimate (?) Download Guide with Azureus!

[_Sin_]

Introduction

I have seen so many posts regarding download issues and client problems which can easily be solved by changing the client and/or configuring the client correctly. That’s why I decided to write a guide about my favourite BT client: Azureus

Azureus is 2.1.0.2 is out! Check the post below this one to see what's new and how to configure it!

Q: Why should I choose Azureus over my current client? I mean it was my first and we already have such a deep relationship and other stuff…
A: Azureus is by far the best BT client to date and it is updated regularly with bug fixes and new functionalities and other enhancements. Since Azureus is a Java based client, writing and embedding Plugins is easy and improves the client even more.
The most useful Plugin to date is SafePeer which blocks certain IP ranges that are connected to certain companies. Note that I don’t support abusing this Plugin to download illegal stuff, but downloading unlicensed Anime is a grey zone nonetheless (“better safe than sorry”). See Screenshot1 for visualization

Spoiler for Screenshot1:SafePeer in action!:

As you can see, the Plugin already blocked 3 IPs from connecting to me - which is a good thing

Other advantages:

• One window for everything
• Can queue downloads/uploads
• Is aggressive in terms of getting seeds and peers connected
• 2 different priorities for torrents (high/low)
• You can choose what to download from a batch
• Other useful stuff

Q: No way I gonna use Azureus! It is said to be hogging all my system resources!
A: I can’t speak for the older versions, but that is what my client uses:
First my system stats:
CPU: AMD Athlon XP 2400+
RAM: Slow SD-RAM, 256MB (clocked at 133MHz). Since most of you are using DDR RAM, the usage should be less than mine.
7200rpm 8MB cache HD
Windows XP Professional SP1a

3-10% of my CPU power (average of 5%) and about 20-40MB RAM (average of 30MB – for the sake of comparison: my Word session uses 30MB of RAM at the moment) with 3-4 downloading torrents, same number uploading and maxed bandwidth usage (768/128). Nevertheless, don’t neglect the fact that Azureus will use more resources if you are downloading tens of torrents at the time though (which should be the case with any client anyway).

Q: OK, you persuaded me. Where do I get Azureus and how do I configure it?
A: You can get the newest Azureus version 2.1.0.2 here and only there! Don’t fall for Trojan sites like Azureus.org!

You will most likely need Java as well, grab it here .

Installed both and ready to go? Then let’s configure Azureus:
Skip the Configuration Wizard since you got me

Open the Configuration window by clicking on View and then Configuration. Then click the appropiate spoiler for further information

Files Tab

Spoiler for Screenshot2:Files:

Allocate and zero new files on creation: Check this if you want a less fragmented file as this option reserves the space on the hard disk. If you are gonna download a big batch and only want one file of it or you don't have that much free space yet, check Enable incremental file creation. Check all the boxes I have checked in the screenshot since they are kinda self-explanatory. Note that I have configured my client so that the incomplete files will be stored at \Temp\ and moved to \Incoming\ if they are finished downloading. If you don't like it as organized as me, uncheck the appropiate boxes . If you want the *.torrent files to be moved to the directory where the complete files are stored, check Move .torrent and only if in default data dir (it is handy if you are seeding alot and don't want to look for the torrent file). If you leave both unchecked, the torrents will be moved into one directory you can specify under the Files-->Torrents Tab.

Spoiler for Screenshot2.2:Torrents:

Type in the folder where you'd like to save your torrent. Unchecking the box is not recommended as you'd have to download the torrent again if you did not finish the download in this session (You're kinda screwed if you tend to forget where you downloaded that torrent (read: me) if you uncheck this box )

Transfer Tab

Spoiler for Screenshot3:Transfer:

Yay, we are at the interesting part already: Type in your upload cap in the first box. Don't know what your upload cap should be? No problem: ISPs tend to state your download/upload in kilobits and not in kilobytes. Since 8 Bits are 1 Byte, divide the number with 8 to get your speeds. Then substract 3-4 kb/s and you got your ideal upload cap. Let me clarify that with my connection: 768kbit/s / 128kbit/s equals 96kb/s download and 16kb/s upload. Substract 3-4kb/s and we get 12-13kb/s as ideal upload cap. Easy, isn't it? Note that substracting 3-4kb/s is necessary because you'll send confirmation packets for every packet you download. If you use your maximum upload, there is no bandwith left to send these confirmation packets, you therefore lose download speed. If you are seeding however, there is no reason why you shouldn't upload with your maximum bandwith. (This turned out to be a rather long paragraph...)

Type in your download cap in the second box (usually left at 0)
In the third and forth box you can type in your maximum number of connections per torrent and globally, respectively. If you got a stable connection like mine, you can leave it at 0/0. If your computer gets too slow and/or your download drops with lots of peers connected, try this:75/300. This allows you to have 4 active torrent with 75 peers each.
Check Prioritize first piece of file(s) because video files can be previewed if you got the first and the last parts. Useful, ne?

Tracker Tab

Spoiler for Screenshot4:Tracker:

Remember how I said that Azureus is aggressive in finding seeds and peers? (I most likely forgot to write that, but please pretend I said it )
This tab is the reason why: Tracker client poll interval (secs) If you want Azureus to speed up with connecting to peers/seeds, you can change the numbers here. For instance Minimum 60 Maximum 300 will check every 5min for new peers/seeds regardless to how many you are connected already. But please remember: Do not set the maximum interval too low, or Azureus will hammer the tracker which is not a good thing to do. In the worst case, this might get every Azureus client banned! (So use my configuration if possible which is already tweaked!)

Queue Tab

Spoiler for Screenshot5:Queue:

Not really much to say here since everything is self-explanatory.

Spoiler for Screenshot5.2:Seeding:

Hah, no screenshot here! Seriously, you don't have to change anything in this tab, I just want to tell you about super seeding: You should check this box only if you are the only seed of the torrent since that will favorite the faster peers and only upload to them which results in more seeds after a shorter period of time. (If they disconnect, you are screwed tho )

That's all about the configuration for now.

Q: How do I prioritize torrents?
A: Right click on them in the My Torrents Tab (see Screenshot1 if you don't know where that is) and then Priority -->High/Low. The same goes for specific files in batches. You can either prioritize them to High/Low/Do Not Download. See the spoiler for visualization.

Spoiler for Screenshot6:Prioritizing in batches:

Double click on the torrent in the My Torrents Tab, then click on the Files tab to get here

Q: How do I download only specific files from a batch?
A: Follow the instructions of How do I prioritize torrents? and prioritize the files you do not want to be downloaded as "Do not download"


Q: How do I install Plugins?
A: Download them here. Extract them in you Azureus\Plugins folder. Please note that the plugins are already zipped in that format: Plugins\{Name of plugin}, so make sure that you don't unpack them in Azureus\Plugins\Plugins accidently. In the case of SafePeer, you don't have to configure it since it updates the IP ranges automatically. To confirm if your Plugin is correctly installed, check out Screenshot1 for SafePeer and/or the Plugins Tab in the Configuration.

Reputation received for the guide:1 Positive and 0 Negative

Damn that 10000 letters limit!

[_Sin_]

Q: Is there a way to make Azureus connect faster to peers and seeds?
A: Of course. There are two possiblities. Check Screenshot4 for the first. The second one goes like this: Double click the torrent in the My Torrents Tab (you are now in the General Tab). Click "Update Tracker" ("Manual Update" for Azureus 2.0.8.4). And again, check out the cool screenshot!

Spoiler for Screenshot7:Updating the Tracker:

Q: I want to publish my own .torrent file. How do I do this? I heard I don't even need an external tracker to do this.
A: Yup, you can create .torrent files with Azureus fairly easily and you can use Azureus as tracker as well. Here is how to do it (including the option to use an external tracker)

How to create a torrent with Azureus:

Method 1:Using Azureus as a tracker

1. Find out your external IP.
2. In Configuration:Tracker, Tracker external IP address type in that IP.
3. File-->Create a Torrent
4. Check Use Azureus Embedded Tracker and check Directory and type in "_Sin_ is the greatest" in Comment (actually, that's optional )
5. Click Next Point Azureus to the Folder containing the files. Wait and click Finish
6. Upload the torrent to your web space
7. Create a thread containing the torrent link in the Torrent Submission Sub Forums

Advantages: Fast because you don't have to ask someone to host the file and to provide the tracker.
Disadvantages: If you don't have a static IP and you disconnect from the Internet you might get a different IP and the people in the swarm won't find you. I heard you can circumvent that by creating an account at www.dyndns.org. You'll also need a program that will update the address whenever you get another IP.

Method2:Using an external Tracker

(Copy and Paste is my friend ^_^)
1. File-->Create a Torrent
2. Check Use an external Tracker + type in the Announce URL* and check Directory and type in "_Sin_ is the greatest" in Comment (actually, that's optional )
5. Click Next Point Azureus to the Folder containing the files. Wait and click Finish
6. Upload the torrent to your web space*
7. Create a thread containing the torrent link in the Torrent Submission Sub Forums

*You may want to ask mxs, the admin of http://a.scarywater.net/ to host the file and provide the tracker for you. His eMail is: mxs2099NOSPAMgmx.net (Replace NOSPAM with @)

Advantages: You don't have to care about disconnecting and getting a new IP because the .torrent file points to a static IP.
Disadvantages: Slower than creating an Azureus embedded tracker

Azureus 2.1.0.2 is out!

The greatest feature being automatic mapping of ports through UPnP:
Credit goes to AnimeOni who won the race due to time zone differences :P

Originally Posted by AnimeOni

It [Azureus 2.1.0.2] is much better - especially for those of us behind Firewalls. I am getting 250k down vs the old one where I was only getting 150k.

BTW, make sure you backup your settings before the upgrade otherwise you will lose your settings.

The major difference is the uPnP. uPnP (enabled by default)for those routers which are uPnP- no more need to open ports since uPnP takes care of it. Must have for n00bs.
Also set uPnP to hide to avoid those annoying msg every startup

BTW, I'm using a Linksys 802.11b and 802.11g routers and it works perfect.

Actually there is nothing to configure for you guys because UPnP is enabled by default but I will show you where to find these configurations nonetheless

Spoiler for Screenshot7:UPnP:

As you see Enable UPnP is enabled by default and should not be changed. You can, however, uncheck Report successful mappings if you get annoyed by them at start-up. PS: If you change your Incoming TCP listen port (Configuration:Server) during an Azureus session without restarting it, click on the Refresh button and Azureus should map the port by its own.

Also, Green² was so kind to show how to configure a LinkSys router to utilize UPnP - other routers should be configurable similarily. Thanks, Green²!

Originally Posted by Green²

Spoiler for How to configure a LinkSys router to work with UPnP:

Also be sure that the UPnP services within the router are enabled in order for the UPnP plugin to work.

Complete changelog of 2.1.0.2

PS: While uploading the new image I realized something: www.imageshack.us is advertizing for Azureus, too! Isn't that reason enough for the nonbelievers to turn to the dark.. um Azure side as well?

Q: Wow, _Sin_, you are the greatest! How can I thank you?
A: If you are female, PM me and I'll see what you can do for me And if you are American, don't vote for Bush (well the second part is obviously a )

That's it for now folks. I will update this post if I see fit. Please post comments and question in this thread (but don't quote the whole post!).

[anime_layer]

That SafePeer is pretty much useless and more to soothe the worry of leechers. The RIAA isn't so stupid not to notice SafePeer and using one of their IPs to scan for pirated files. Downloading Animes and especially unlicensed ones should be pretty safe anyway. The only thing you could do is blocking japanese IPs.

I also recommend Azurus, tho. Lots of functions and settings to tweak it to work exactly as you want.
Note also that Azureus has a rather bad reputation with tracker providers since older versions almost hammer the scrape page, causing lots and lots of traffic. The devs have changed this so you should get the newest CVS version.

[_Sin_]

Originally Posted by anime_layer

That SafePeer is pretty much useless and more to soothe the worry of leechers. The RIAA isn't so stupid not to notice SafePeer and using one of their IPs to scan for pirated files. Downloading Animes and especially unlicensed ones should be pretty safe anyway. The only thing you could do is blocking japanese IPs.

I also recommend Azurus, tho. Lots of functions and settings to tweak it to work exactly as you want.
Note also that Azureus has a rather bad reputation with tracker providers since older versions almost hammer the scrape page, causing lots and lots of traffic. The devs have changed this so you should get the newest CVS version.

Why would Japanese use the IPs of Mercury Filmworks?

[Mr_Paper]

Either the image links are broken or there's something wrong at my end, but none of the images work for me.

/me doesn't even use Azureus >.>;

[_Sin_]

Originally Posted by Mr_Paper

Either the image links are broken or there's something wrong at my end, but none of the images work for me.

/me doesn't even use Azureus >.>;

That's strange since I can see them without problems (could be because they are in the cache). I hosted them on Geocities which has hourly bandwidth limits. Anyone knows a host where the pics will definitely work?

[hamhalol]

great guide, Sin, it helped me optimize my azureus greatly!
^^

(also, im having problems seeing the screenshots too..)

[_Sin_]

Originally Posted by hamhalol

great guide, Sin, it helped me optimize my azureus greatly!
^^

(also, im having problems seeing the screenshots too..)

You are welcome. I also changed the image host to Imageshack (from Geocities). I need feedback on this? Can anyone not see them??

[AnimeOni]

Great job. This sure beats the Q/A postings all over the place. Maybe Xris or any admin can move this to a sticky. It's a great FAQ.
________
Iolite vaporizer

[_Sin_]

Originally Posted by AnimeOni

Great job. This sure beats the Q/A postings all over the place. Maybe Xris or any admin can move this to a sticky. It's a great FAQ.

Thank you for your kind words ^_^

[_Sin_]

Woah! I thank the mod/admin who stickied this thread! Really, thank you.

Is it a good sign that noone posts here with questions since they have no problems configuring Azureus with the guide?

PS: Can everyone see the images now correctly?

[Shinova]

How do I make it so that Azureus doesn't automatically take some hundred or so meg chunks out of my hard drive every time I start a download for an episode?



EDIT: Huh? How did my post get moved here?

EDIT2: Nevermind. I see the mods are trying to send me a message here

[Tae]

Originally Posted by Shinova

How do I make it so that Azureus doesn't automatically take some hundred or so meg chunks out of my hard drive every time I start a download for an episode?



EDIT: Huh? How did my post get moved here?

EDIT2: Nevermind. I see the mods are trying to send me a message here

Under Configuration > Files, turning off the Allocation option should do it. Allocation sets aside the hard drive space whenever a torrent is started and fills in the file piece by piece in a less fragmented way, I think.

[Epona]

Hi,

I'm mostly using Azereus for seeding torrents. I've set it up so that it starts a torrent when there is no seed for it. However, I can't seem to get it to stop seeding that torrent when other seeds show up. The strange thing is, when I tried to seed one of the torrents from another computer, rather than showing it as a seed, it showed it as a peer in Azereus.

Anyone know how I can get this to work?

Thanks!

[anime_layer]

Originally Posted by _Sin_

Why would Japanese use the IPs of Mercury Filmworks?

You didn't get it.
1. Why blocking an IP from Mercury Filmworks from downloading Kono Minikuku mo Usukushii Sekai? They don't hold the copyright or a license for it (or any other Anime, AFAIK) and thus can't sue you even if they wanted. The person trying to download this episode from you is propably just an anime lover that uses a comp at work to download.
2. Everyone who looks out for IPs who share material they hold the copyright or a license for won't be so stupid to use their own IP ranges. SafePeer won't protected you from any company trying find pepole illegally distributing work they own. Maybe I have to explain to you what IPs are and how easy it is to use IPs SafePeer doesn't block.
3. When downloading unlicensed fansubs, no american company will be able to sue you, because they don't hold any copyright or license (thus unlicensed). If anyone could sue you for downloading Kono Minikuku mo Utsukushii Sekai it's propanly Gainax and some other japanes producers. Thus, most reasonably would be blocking japanese IPs.
Everything else is just self-deception.

[panianna]

A question to Sin. How do you control Azureus from remote computer? I know there is a plugin, but no explanation how to use it.

[anime_layer]

Originally Posted by panianna

A question to Sin. How do you control Azureus from remote computer? I know there is a plugin, but no explanation how to use it.

Have you already installed the plugin?
If not, get it here (1.3_CVS) and put the contents of the zip in the plugin folder. If you use a recent version of Azureus, you should be able to either put it in a directory called 'plugins' in the Azureus folder (you might have to create it) or inside your user folder. You should be able to see where either of those folders is located when you open the configuration tab in Azureus (View > Configuration) and select 'Plugins' from the list on the left.
Don't put the files directly into the plugin folder. Create a folder (name it as you wish, eg 'webui') inside the plugin directory and put the files there.
Then restart Azureus and if you go to the plugin configuration tab again, the plugin should be listed.

With the standard settings, you should be able to type 'http://localhost:6883/' into the browser of your choice and the webui should show up. You can configure it using the 'plugin.properties' file inside the plugin directory. The plugin will use the same password as you have set for the tracker web.

[mantidor]

Nice FAQ I switch to azureus a looong time ago 'cause the original client crashed my computer everytime I tried to download , since I already had Java installed I thought this client would be a good choice, and it was! and now is better that ever with the new version.

QUESTION:

In this moment the tracker appears as disconected, but im still downloading and at max speed!!! why is this happening? is maybe some bug?

[anime_layer]

Originally Posted by mantidor

QUESTION:

In this moment the tracker appears as disconected, but im still downloading and at max speed!!! why is this happening? is maybe some bug?

The tracker keeps track of who is currently downloading or uploading a file. It serves IPs of those clients to any client that connects and then the client connects directly to other clients downloading/sharing the same file. You don't get any data from the tracker except IPs from where you can get the file (and some stats). If you had a connection to a tracker during a session and that connection got lost, you still have all the IPs the tracker sent you and all connections to the clients remain open. So you'll get the same speed for as long as the IPs you have are up to date. It might be that clients using those IPs disconnect or quit sharing the file and then your download rate will get bad and finally fall to zero (if you don't finish the file first).

[_Sin_]

Originally Posted by anime_layer

You didn't get it.
1. Why blocking an IP from Mercury Filmworks from downloading Kono Minikuku mo Usukushii Sekai? They don't hold the copyright or a license for it (or any other Anime, AFAIK) and thus can't sue you even if they wanted. The person trying to download this episode from you is propably just an anime lover that uses a comp at work to download.
2. Everyone who looks out for IPs who share material they hold the copyright or a license for won't be so stupid to use their own IP ranges. SafePeer won't protected you from any company trying find pepole illegally distributing work they own. Maybe I have to explain to you what IPs are and how easy it is to use IPs SafePeer doesn't block.
3. When downloading unlicensed fansubs, no american company will be able to sue you, because they don't hold any copyright or license (thus unlicensed). If anyone could sue you for downloading Kono Minikuku mo Utsukushii Sekai it's propanly Gainax and some other japanes producers. Thus, most reasonably would be blocking japanese IPs.
Everything else is just self-deception.

Yes, it is common sense that those guys normally wouldn't use their IPs to search for illegal material, but it could happen nonetheless. If it does not, great. If it does, they will be blocked. There is no disadvantages using SafePeer so I don't see a problem there.

And sorry guys that I didn't answer but I was gone for more than a week, but anime_layer provided the answers I would have given anyway, so thank you