New P2P on the block: Perfect Dark

[Quarkboy]

Originally Posted by jfs

Tell that to the Japanese. (Also, AFAIK, in Japan, symmetrical lines are the norm, rather than asymmetrical lines such as ADSL which are the norm in Europe and the US.)

Yeah, but even here in Japan I usually end up uploading at like, 2 MB/s when downloading only at 1 MB/s.

I think I have one of the better fiber lines... Well, not like it matters to me really.

[rainrix]

Yes i'm in Europe and my connection is indeed asymetrical. I'm not getting angry I want to know if there is a workaround like editing the setting file?

[Quarkboy]

Originally Posted by rainrix

Yes i'm in Europe and my connection is indeed asymetrical. I'm not getting angry I want to know if there is a workaround like editing the setting file?

It's not a matter of hacking your client. The network adapts to your performance dynamically. If you throttle the program other clients won't send to you.

The reason you get so poor performance is likely your geo-location. The way PD's network works is based on small clusters of computers that are looking for similar files... In one those clusters if you are slower than the rest of the nodes the peers will almost always prioritize those computers that are faster to send to, but they don't mind if you send to them.

[Hestia]

Didn't have the patience to read all 15 pages, but Perfect Dark works fine for me. Took about a week to work around my router's firewall and port forwarding at first, but has been working like a charm since then. Never had any trouble with finding the files I need either. 720p HD raws come out a couple of days after being aired in Japan, whereas there are some pretty old shows in there too. Also had my fill of books, etc. Only draw-back is the 40 GB cache. Half my computer's storing capacity gone down the drain...

So, simple advice for new people trying to set it up:
- Do not turn off the Windows firewall. If you're having connection problems, it's more likely because of badly set up ports, not your firewall.
- You need to set up your own ports. That usually includes:
a) Connect to your router (try http://192.168.1.1/ or some other variation, depends on your router)
b) Look around until you see a port mapping tool
c) Select a random 5 digit number for you Perfect Dark port (i.e. 12345)
d) Change the router settings so that particular port always gets forwarded to your current computer and not some other computer in your house
e) Put the same port number in your Perfect Dark settings

Other than that, I find it a good idea to look for shows using search words in Japanese. Try copy-pasting the titles from anidb or some other anime info site if you can't write in Japanese with your computer.

Also, if you're having trouble finding new files, look around for a better node list.

Hope these help, even though I'm still relatively new with it too.

[martino]

Uhhh what. PD doesn't use the concept of node lists like Winny and Share do... :/

[Hestia]

Umm, yes it does. Or actually, the japanese guide I followed provided a node list in any case, no idea if it's supposed to work the same way as Share and Winny. I got mine from here (scroll down till where it says Perfect Dark ノード). I think it's cluster words that PD doesn't use at all.

Edit: You add the node list in the "add ip address/port" option. It's actually a bad translation from the japanese "add ip address/nodes". Paste the node list where it says "Encrypted text".

[martino]

As far as I know, PD doesn't need a node list to start working. All it needs is to connect to one node, then it gets the others from that node, and so on, like a spider web (if I'm understanding it correctly that is). Providing your network is set-up well it should work straight from the box without having to fiddle with any nodes and clusters like you had to do with Winny and Share.

[Doughnuts]

You're right about it retreiving nodes from existing ones, but that's nothing new. Share and Winny used the same concept. There's still the question of where the initial node comes from in order to connect and retreive more, which is why the node list is required. (Technically, you should only need 1 node from the list, provided it's online and accepts your connection to it).

Due to the decentralised nature of the network, the client installation can't come with any initial nodes placed (they would expire, eliminate the anonymity etc), so you manually add some nodes atleast once.

[Hestia]

Oooh, I see... Thanks for the heads up then. The nodes thing really annoyed me with Share, so I just assumed the same applied to PD. I suppose it's something in between after all.

[Starks]

Here's a great nodelist site just in case.

http://p2p-db.net/

[Emess]

This morning, I noticed that PD shut itself down and re-opened, along with the history.txt file. I also noticed a different icon, and after a bit, that it now said 1.03, but it hasn't been released on the main site yet that I can see. Anyone else got 1.03 yet? Seems to function fine in WINE, as well as utilising my network a bit better, it's slightly faster, and less system load. Just doesn't look official, and iirc PD doesn't auto update, discuss?

E~

[Aurelia aurita]

I think it does auto-update, and Wikipedia says a new version's out too. I haven't been around for anything before 1.02, so this was my first time. I reconnected the drive it's installed on recently, so when started up and got a message from my security software asking if I wanted to trust it, I thought it was just readding it to my whitelist. I noticed the "1.03" and the new icon after that (kind of a cool looking one). I thought the new version would bring a new subtitle, but it's still "STAND ALONE COMPLEX". No programs monitoring the stats or anything, but it definitely feels a bit faster when searching.

Very late edit:
Nope, my unity is fine.

[cyberbeing]

As a rule a thumb, the only official place to get updates is from Perfect Dark's authorized auto-updates from the developer 会長=Mk-0H07yLdYZNIDtmPevs0l4FP0 (Kaicho).


Anyplace else you find Perfect Dark versions are files put up by people other then the developer and there is no way to verify that they are legit (unless you know the official hash). This should never really be an issue though because it auto-updates by default, as you just saw.

The icon was changed to the old Perfect Dark icon.

[Ichigo81]

Just got home (had it running all day) and saw the history.txt on my screen. Indeed it did auto-update... along with deleting all my unity, plus my upload size (my unique uploads) are now 0 lol. 40GB space freed up I guess :P

[neothe0ne]

Yeah unity gone, except for ongoing downloads.....

Now I can try re-downloading the DVDISO from hell that would never successfully decode into a file, even though I got the unity to self-delete such that I would go back to 99.0% done...

[cyberbeing]

Odd that you guys had your unity deleted. Mine is still there, all 40GB with files dating back to 2007. Upload size is still the same as well.

I use WinXP SP3 x86.

[Quarkboy]

Originally Posted by cyberbeing

Odd that you guys had your unity deleted. Mine is still there, all 40GB with files dating back to 2007. Upload size is still the same as well.

I use WinXP SP3 x86.

Maybe they had their unity in a non-default directory and it got reset for the update.

Mine wasn't deleted either.

[martino]

Mine was deleted too, running under Wine and the folders are all default.

[neothe0ne]

Running Windows Server 2008 x64, using default folders inside the pd directory. I went from ~40gb to 7gb after the update.

[Vide]

Originally Posted by cyberbeing

Odd that you guys had your unity deleted. Mine is still there, all 40GB with files dating back to 2007. Upload size is still the same as well.

I use WinXP SP3 x86.

I use the same OS and my unity stayed intact.

Edit: Also have another machine at my mother's house with WinXP SP2 x64 and no changes there either.