The Fight For BitComet

2008-03-29 

BitComet V. 1.00 is released - the milestone - the version we all looked forward to.
Welcome to Inside BitComet 04!

After some trouble with the BitComet server, here you have the fourth issue of Inside BitComet.

I got the opportunity to go to the Cinema this Easter to watch the new movie called: "The Bucket List" featuring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. Jack Nicholson is one of my favorite actors, and this new movie is very good and thoughtful.  

I hope you've had a good Easter.

Well, a lot has happened just recently. So much, even I have trouble keeping up with the speed.
Yesterday, BitComet 1.00 was released - and today BitComet BETA 1.01 was released. Can you believe the speed of the development? It seems like the developers have continued their frequent update on BitComet, which is great.

In this release, I'll explain what you can do, if you experience Speed Problems as I've noticed this is a huge problem for many. But don't worry - you simply have to configure BitComet properly. ;-)

In addition, thank's to Voodooman's patch, TVTorrents is now available for BitComet once again!

BitComet - The Ultimate BitTorrent application?

- 1.00! That is 100 versions, if we don't take the BETA versions into the equation. Of course, BitComet has not always been under the name of "BitComet". Back in the days, it was called: "SimpleBT" - and that is exactly what BitComet still is - pure and simple BitTorrent.

However, what has BitComet evolved to? Just another BitTorrent application like many on the net just like µTorrent for instance? 
Of course, the answer is: NO.

With 4 years in the making, 4 years, BitComet is one of the leading BitTorrent P2P applications on the net, as you have already discovered - otherwise you wouldn't read this.

As you know, BitComet isn't just a BitTorrent application - it's truly an ALL-IN-ONE application, featuring a very powerful download manager making our life a lot easier, when it comes to downloading many files on HTTP and/or FTP servers.

Not only that - it supports WebSeeding and ED2K, which makes our BitTorrent downloads faster.

Yes, BitComet is a great All-In-One client - but it can be improved.

In deed, every application can get improved - however, BitComet do have one weak spot. 

BitComet is not that Western user-friendly.

Due to the nature of the developers are Chinese, and do not speak English, the Western users are dependent on the BitComet representatives - and the representatives receives all the complains.

BitComet will always have this weakness in the Western-tracker communities that the developers cannot talk directly with the Western users and tracker-owners. They cannot defend themselves against untrue claims; they cannot speak to the masses - and one of the most important: they cannot read the bugreports as they were meant to be read. This can lead to a misunderstanding of these complaints and reports, since personal comments and misunderstandings of the contexts can lead the bug report to be incorrect.

When the developers are silent, they do seem like people that won't listen to tracker admins, and then the admins get worried because they don't know if the developers have any "dark" thoughts. (Also why the rumor about: "BitComet is a leecher-client" started.) 
However, both the developers and the BitComet representatives are kind and very competent people, and that's why we must convince the so-called "BitComet haters" that this application is a wonderful application, and the developers only want the best for everyone!

Inside BitComet - Let's dig into the new BitComet release!

BitComet 1.00 - So, what do this release has to offer? Well, not more than BC V.0.99 offer.

BitComet 1.00 is nothing more than BitComet 0.99 with a few small adjustments and a highly requested fixed GUI-bug.

No, what is more interesting is the new BETA-release:

There is a new feature introduced, called: "Anti-Leech"

No specifications are released regarding this new feature, however, Voodooman suggested:

"1) Seeded files shared by segments each of it has it own share ratio
2) leecher downloading 1st segment,
3) after 1st segment download Seed do not allow to download next segment and waiting until leecher will give away full sized 1st segment to anyone so U\D ratio of segment will be 1 to 1
4) after leecher reporting that segment ratio become 1 to 1 then Seed allow to download next segment, when its downloaded all same step happens again"

And yes, that sounds extremely similar to "Initial Seeding," with that exception that this works while leeching only.
This feature will not only grant the users of BitComet a better bandwidth use, but it will also prevent a torrent to die out due to excessive leeching (thus the name: "Anti-leech".) But if it is allowed by the BitTorrent specifications is another issue.
We've had a modification of the specs before, when SuperSeeding (aka. Initial Seeding) was released in BitTornado, but Anti-leeching isn't specified yet.
This can cause some trouble.

Anyway, it's a great new feature.

I'd just wish they would fix the rest of my reported bugs soon.

Inside BitComet - Fixed and Present Bugs.

Yes, finally the security bug got fixed! BitComet didn't make it unable to choose: "Share Torrent" even though the torrent was marked with a private flag.

Now BitComet is respecting every security aspect!

There are still some urgent bugs that have to be fixed.

1. Make it possible to disable the Hybrid Announce. (I.e. make BitComet's announce user-changeable.)

2. BitComet reports as a Seeder, even though it has not downloaded all files inside a torrent. (E.g. if you download an .NFO file inside a torrent, you'll still be listed as a seeder on the tracker-stats.)

3. BitComet does not fully respect bandwidth limiting. It ignores 4kB/s.

4. The upload connection is not limited by default in the ED2K plug-in, thus making the downloadspeed worse.

All problems are reported and sent to the developers.

Inside BitComet - Tweaks and Modifications.

When Voodooman told me about his new patch, which would fix the highly annoying "Tracker-incompatibility" due to the use of a browser-useragent, I felt delighted!

And when it actually worked like a charm, then this was perfect. I wrote a blog-entry about it, as you might've read.

This "bug" isn't fixed yet - neither in BitComet 1.0 or BETA 1.01, that's why I recommend you stay with that patch.

Voodooman has released a new version of his patcher: Click Here.

Now, have you experienced that painful feeling of watching a torrent that'll just never finish? That you upload way more than you download?
With other words: Are you experiencing speed problems?
If so, this is a guide for you to tweak you BitComet application to download with full speed.
Feel free to ask if you have a question.

Speed problems explained: 

1. Make sure to limit your upload connection.

Many factors determine your overall maximum uploadspeed. As a fingernote, you should limit your upload connection to about 80% of your overall internet connection, IF you're using ADSL - if you're on fibre, then this isn't required.

Take this equation as a guide:

Try this:

U / 8 x 0.8 x 0.8 = RESULT.

U = Your upload connection you're paying for in kilobits! (kbit)

(Why we're multiplying twice, is because we have to take the overhead into consideration.)

Example:

768kbit / 8 x 0.8 x 0.8 = 61.44.. ~ 61kByte/s.

So if you have a 768kbit upload connection, you should limit your uploadspeed to 61kB/s in your BitComet client. 

If you still don't experience good downloadspeeds, but you're uploading with a huge uploadspeed, then minus with 1kB/s and try again until you find the Ultimate setting for your network.

Of course, when you're seeding without downloading anything, remove the limit.

Input the limitation here:

2. Adjust Long-Time Seeding.

The Long-Time seeding can confuse many users. You can choose to disable it, but then you do not have the possibility to download from Long-Time seeders. Therefore I recommend limiting it to 10kB/s.

Because this feature enables "background-seeding", which means that you're uploading without any tasks are started, it's best to limit that connection to a very low number. Due to BitComet encourage good shares; you can't set the number below 10kB/s:

3. Expand the number of max. half-open TCP connections.

This will give you a huge improvement in how fast BitComet will connect to peers. Many disagree to modify this, but I have only experienced good outcomes.

I recommend setting it to 30. Above this number is too much - you're not connecting any faster whether you've opened 30 or 100 half-open connections.

4. Port-forward your router and configure your firewall.

Routers are evil! Many use routers, but they're making a lot of trouble when using P2P applications, since they'll block for incoming connections on your listening port. You'll have to configure your router (Port-forward it) to be able to get a data-flow.

The lack of port-forwarding is one of the biggest issues when we're talking about speed-problems.

You'll have to open for a listening port in your router. What port you're using is specified on the Options page - the same page, where you limited your uploadconnection.

How to port-forward your router: Go to http://www.portforward.com/ and find your router. There is a nice step-by-step guide there to almost all routers on the market.

Also, you can enable the new feature called: "Anti Leech". I can not say if it will have any effect on your speeds, as I've not had time to test it myself. Try for yourself. And then, do what this screenshot says:

5. Tried and done everything, but still getting a bad speed?

Well, then that is something none can help you with. You're probably on a badly seeded torrent with a lot of leechers. The only thing that'll help you in that case is patience.

On the main-page, you can see stats for how many leechers and seeders there are. The more seeders, the better constant speed - the more leechers, the better speed in the beginning, but worse speed when downloaded a couple of percent.

On the screenshot below, you can see this: "4/53[6/449]". 3/53 means that BitComet is connected to 4 seeders and 53 leechers. [6/449] means that there are 6 seeders and 449 leechers in the swarm.

The percent number is indicating how healthy the torrent is - the higher %, the better chance of getting the full file and the better and stable downloadspeeds. ALWAYS check the "Health" before downloading a file 100%. If a file has 99% or below health over a long period of time, there is a good chance that this is a fake or dead torrent. Then don't bother download the torrent - only if it's a new torrent, where the uploader is not done seeding the file yet. 

6. Enable all the neat features!

This can only be done, if the torrent is downloaded from an open tracker - otherwise the torrent is Private.

Right click on a torrent, and choose: "Properties". Now you'll see this screen:

Now, enable ALL the secondary connections. If a file is badly seeded, there is a good possibility that there are more sources on ED2K or there are Long-Time seeders. It can never hurt to try.

That's it! I hope you're now able to use BitComet without any speed related problems!

I hope you'll go from:      to:     

InSight - Recommendations!

The final words... 

I must say this has been the longest and hardest Inside BitComet issue I've ever written (also due to slow servers and problems with them).

That's why it has taken such a long time to get this out. I hope you found Issue 04 very informative - and keep an eye on this blog, as I'll describe two "small" and custom functions you can embed to your Blog. Originally I'd have posted it within Issue 04, but I figured it would be best to do it separately.
Well, it has been a very eventful month, and let's hope the updates never stop!

Until next time. 

Have a nice weekend, and thanks for reading.