)===========================================================( _ _ _ _ __ / \ | | / \ | | / / / _ \ | | / _ \ | | / / / / |_| ____ _ _ | |/ / |_| ____ ____ | |/ / \ \ / __ \ | | | || |\ \ / __ \ / __ \ | / \ \ | | | || | | || | \ \ | |__| || |__| || \ \ \ | | | || | | || | \ \ | ____|| ____|| |\ \ \ \ | |__| || \__/ || | \ \ | |_____| |_____| | \ \ _ \ \ \____/ \____/ |_| _ \ \ \_____/ \_____/|_| \_\ | |_/ / | |_/ / \ / \ / TIPS AND TRICKS \_/ \_/ by: redfly256 3/28/03 )===========================================================( - Intro --> Let's face it, Soulseek isn't the most user-friendly P2P program out there, but it has got a great community of people and the lack of adware and spyware make it an absolute gem :) Well, in order to battle with its sometimes frusterating interface, I've created this guide of tips and tricks I've discovered while using the program. If you've used Soulseek for awhile then this file might seem very trivial, but I hope someone gets some use out of it! :) :) - TOC --> 1) Problems with Soulseek 2) Finding Files 3) Restarting Files 4) Giving Privileges 5) Making Rules 6) Sharing Offline Files 7) Getting Good Speeds )===========================================================( - Part 1: Problems with Soulseek -- > 1) Searching The thing you probably will find most frusterating about Soulseek is the search feature. It's basic. Extremely basic. Don't expect to filter any of your searches. When you search, you can't limit the file type, file size, bitrate, length, number in queue, connection speed, or anything of that sort. It's basically a text box and a button. Furthermore, don't plan on using any boolean expressions in your search such as AND, OR, or NOT, to narrow your search. Also, don't plan on using quotation marks to find exact phrases or combinations of characters. These very useful options are not available (hey, I don't blame nir, Soulseek's creator.. he's only one person). Another problem is that the search is way way way too sensitive. Cases mean nothing to the search. If your search string contains any general word such as "the" or "a" then watch out. Expect to be hit with thousands, no, hundreds of thousands of files that you will have to sift through. It's not fun. It sort of defeats the purpose of searching. Furthermore, the only way to tell the file type is to check the extension on the file. Well, some files have REALLY long names and you'll have to do some window-rearranging to see the extension (ie: maybe you want .iso and the file is .bin). There is some hope, however (see part 2). 2) Memory Soulseek hogs memory. And I mean HOGS it. If you plan on letting Soulseek run for a few days, expect things to slow down a great deal. Furthermore, running other programs with Soulseek running can really make things get chunky fast. The program is also prone to severe memory leaks that can cause your system to crash. I have 256 MB of RDRAM installed and letting the Soulseek run with a few other programs over a day or two will cause my taskbar clock to be behind by as much as 20 minutes. Every crash I've had so far due to Soulseek was memory-related. I've heard rumor of a low memory-usage version coming out, let's cross our fingers! :) 3) Server Downtime This isn't a major problem, but occasionally the server will go offline for repairs (understandably). When this happens, nir sends out a global alert regarding the downtime. However, I've been on Soulseek at times where the server just closes down for no apparent reason. I guess that doesn't really have to do with the program itself (and is probably a problem among all P2P services). Still, don't be surprised if you wake up one morning to find Soulseek disconnected during the night. It supposedly reconnects you, but this doesn't always work, atleast not reliably. Additional to server downtime is the risk of losing Soulseek all-together. It is starting to get some recognition and is therefore at risk of being shut down. It has been shut down for awhile in the past due to some hosting problems. Also, one music artist has already complained about music being shared on Soulseek. 4) Restarting Downloads Soulseek doesn't support multiple-source downloads, which can sometimes make finishing a file rather difficult. Multiple- source downloading is where you start downloading a file from one person. If that person goes offline or something, the program searches for another user with that file and picks up where the file left off. A nice little feature, but it doesn't exist in Soulseek :(. Consider, for instance, if you start a file overnight. The person you're downloading from goes offline while you're asleep. Multiple-source downloading would attempt to continue the download through the night. On Soulseek, you're just out of luck. Hopefully, that user comes online again soon or you'll have to find the file all over again (and deal with Soulseek's search "feature"). There is some hope, though (see part 3). 5) Forgetting You! I've talked with a few people this has happened to. It's happened twice to me. I ran Soulseek and rather than logging me in (you set login/password when you install the program and then you never need to type login/password again), it asked who the heck I was! It requested my login and password. Well, I was pretty sure I remembered, but the information I gave wasn't recognized. I had to make a new login and password. This did several bad things: - I lost my userlist - I lost my current downloads - I had a new name so people would have to find me again ***SIGH*** 6) Files? Info? Occasionally, you will run across someone that you just can't download from. Try to view his or her files and you'll get a nasty error message about retrieving the file list. The same goes with the personal info. With these people you simply can't download from them. They may be able to download from you, though. What a gip! It all has to do with network settings and configurations... nothing you can control. )===========================================================( - Part 2: Finding Files -- > It seems a bit silly to have tips on finding files, but Soulseek's lack of search filters makes it neccessary. I actually have a better way of finding files than using the search (although I do still search). Rather than doing my own searching, I let the searching come to me!! :) You see, I soon discovered that after leaving my computer on overnight I would have gobs and gobs of people downloading my files. After some examination of their downloads, I realized we shared the same intrests. Thus, many of these people had files in which I was interested. Now, I just let people find me, I check their shared files, and I can download things that interest me. It takes longer, but is more accurate. In a way, it is sort of like a filter. I call it reverse-searching. Plus, you have a good excuse for getting someone's files (or getting on his or her list): they downloaded from you first. Of course, if you are going to use the actual search field, then there is a trick or two. Once a bunch of search results come up, click the "size" tab. This will sort the files in descending order according to size. Now, files on top will be the large files (500-800MB or more!!), like movies and games. You can sort through them as you wish without worrying about the small files. The files in the middle (50-200MB) will be things like bootlegged movies, tv and anime episodes, videos, and the like. The files at the bottom (usually about 5MB each, but they can be less or even a LOT more) will be the songs. If you're really lazy, you can click the size button again to sort the list in ascending order, effectively bringing the music files to the top and sending the movies/games to the bottom. This is one way to filter the files. You can also try sorting by filename (this is default), but I wish you goodluck. You can't guarantee that the file you want will be sorted correctly by filename. People often but letters, numbers, or symbols at the beginning of filenames that will change where they are sorted. People may also spell the name of the file incorrectly, rename it, or remove part of the name. Each of these things can move the file around when the list is sorted, making the file more difficult to be found. Another way to point out MP3s is the "Attributes" tab. Usually, MP3s will have information displayed under this (but not always!), so sorting by this can help you pick out MP3s. However, don't believe the information under this tab. The attributes are usually wrong. It's only good for pointing out music. Another tip: if you find a song from an album you want, view that user's files. He or she may just have the entire album. Another thing you can do with filtering is sort by "In queue." This will not help you find the files you're looking for, but it can be used to find people with open download slots (otherwise you'll have to wait in a queue even if you find the file). I use this filter to to avoid people with huge queues (Like 1000 files! That's insane! I would have to wait days on end). Usually, I combine these different "filters" to find files. Another tip in searching is to avoid common words like "The," "A," "It," "Of," etc. These words are so common you will get thousands of unrelated files. Stick to keywords. For instance, if you were searching for the movie "The Count of Monte Crisco," the search phrase "Monte Crisco" would yield better results. One last topic on searching is the wishlist. This isn't really a trick because it is a listed feature in Soulseek. It is a little window that you enter search phrases into. Then, Soulseek does periodic searches for these files in the background. This is particularly nice because it runs automatically when you start Soulseek. Keep in mind that if a user with a particular file is offline, then Soulseek won't find that file. When the user is online, Soulseek may find it. The wishlist comes in handy because it constantly searches for the file and may eventually find it when you start Soulseek one day. Soulseek informs you every so often about the matches it has found (so you don't get one huge list all at once) and as long as you don't restart Soulseek, it won't report the same file twice(it finds new matches each time). The wishlist seems to be more sophisticated than the standard search. The search results are often much more accurate. I've personally used it to find some very rare files. The only downfall is that it can take quite awhile to finally find your file. If you get annoyed by it popping up search results, open the wishlist window and remove the search strings (by right-clicking). )===========================================================( - Part 3: Restarting Files -- > Because Soulseek doesn't support multiple-source downloading, you may find yourself out of luck if you're downloading a file from someone and he or she suddenly goes offline and doesn't return (atleast, not when you're on). You have a partial file. The first thing to note is that if it is an MPEG or MP3 file, you can play it even if it isn't complete. If it is an AVI file, you can't without some software (either a program like VirtualDub, which allows you to edit AVI's, or a partial-file viewer, which can be downloaded off of any P2P program). Other files are "iffy." You can try em if you like. I'll take the time to mention here that while Soulseek has some difficult-to-use search features, it supports any file type. This means ANYTHING can be shared! :) Other P2P programs only allow some choice file types (of course, you could get around this by encapsulating a file in a zipped folder, as ZIP files are allowed). Now, the problem is that not all files can be viewed in partial form. Plus, who wants a bunch of incomplete files anyway?? There are 3 options: 1) Wait and pray that user will come back online 2) Delete the file and start over from someone else 3) Restart the file with a different user!!!!! I know, I know, I said #3 wasn't supported in Soulseek, but if you're sneaky, it can be done. First, and this is the most difficult part, you have to find someone with the exact same file you want. I say "exactly the same" because if it is a different version of the file, (ie: mpeg when the original was an avi, or just a different rip of the same movie), it won't work. This means you have to deal with the searching stuff again. But how will you know the same file when you see it? Unfortunetly, you may not. You can immediately tell if the file type is the same (AVI, MPEG, RM, MOV, etc). This is a dead giveaway to the file not being the same one. The only other thing you have to go on is file size. The problem therein is that you only can see the filesize of a file when the user with the file is online. So, either you need a great memory, or you need to have written down the filesize before the user went offline. Consider the filesize as an ID number (A filesize for a movie might be something like 707889102, which is the number of bytes). In my experience, if you find what you think is the same file and the file sizes match EXACTLY (not 1 more or less), than it is the same file (which for movies means the same audio and video data rates, screen resolution, codecs, and encoding quality). If you don't remember the exact file size, then try to remember what it started with. If it was a 7, then you can be sure that any files you find starting with 1-6 or 8, 9 aren't the file. From there it's guess work. It's possible there are two versions of the same file out there each starting with a 7. You might be wondering why you can't just go by the filename, they should be the same, right? Well, not neccessarily. Users often change the filenames. Now, assuming you've found another copy of the file, what you have to do is open the folder with the partial file. Rename the file like this: - Leave the "INCOMPLETE~" part (this is how Soulseek determines if a file is finished or not.) - Change the rest of the filename to the name of the second copy of the file you've found (don't touch the file extension). For instance, if the partial file you have is called: INCOMPLETE~Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.avi And you find the same file with the name: CrchingTgrHddnDrgn.avi Then rename your partial file: INCOMPLETE~CrchingTgrHddnDrgn.avi - Now, attempt to download the new file. With a little luck, your file should resume downloading at 37% or whereever you left off. This little trick saves you time!! )===========================================================( - Part 4: Giving Privileges -- > This is not the same thing a Soulseek privileges, which you can get by donating $5 to Soulseek's creator (this allows you to get great spots in anyone's queue. If there are 900 people waiting, you can be moved way down in the queue rather than being stuck at the end). What I mean by privileges is controlling who gets to download what from you and when. There aren't many features built into Soulseek for this, but you can control who downloads. First and formost is the one feature for this included with Soulseek: the userlist. If you add someone to your userlist (right-click on his or her name), that person will have priority over other downloaders that aren't on the list. Thus, if there is any question about whose download will start first, the person on the list will get first dibs (unless the non-list person has been waiting in the queue for a long time). It isn't foolproof, but usually the userlist gives preference to people on it so they can download first and more often. Of course, the other use for the userlist is to keep track of people (and to tell when they're online). I often do a search and add users with fast average download speeds to my list. I check their files periodically to see if they have anything I want. If so, I usually get great speeds :) This saves time and effort in the long run. I also add people with a lot of files I want, or with a lot of files in general. In case I ever need to find something, I'll have a list of users with 1000's of files :) Another option to control downloading is to turn on userlist-only sharing. This disallows anyone not on your list from evening being allowed to view your files, let alone download them. To do this, select "People in my user's list" on the file sharing window. However, there are only a few circumstances when you should do this. First, if you want to reward people on your list (ie, for sharing really great files). Turn it on to give them all of the bandwidth. The other use for this is to prevent leechers from downloading your files. However, if you leave this option on and then download from someone without adding that person to your list, you're being a leecher yourself (cause the person can't see your files). Please add these people to your list if you're going to do this. You can also control your queue to let certain people download. For instance, if your queue is 50 files and someone you want to download is #50, you can move him or her up in the queue by deleting files before that user's file. Don't worry, most people have the "auto-resume download" check box set. Thus, when you delete the files in the queue, they will reappear, except now the person you want to give access to is higher in the queue. All you're doing is rearranging the queue. The same can be done to move someone's file to the end of the queue. Simply delete it from the upload window and if it reappears, it will be at the end of the queue. Why would you ever do this? Well, I've had the problem where someone will get in my queue and start downloading. I find out the person has no files shared (probably because of userlist-only downloading), so I send them a message. If I get no response, what am I to do? I don't want a leecher downloading from me, but banning them is a bit harsh, especially if it is all a misunderstanding. Well, usually I move them to the end of the queue. This pauses the download (well, until the queue can process the download) and gives time for the user to respond. If you move them to the end of the list and their download starts anyway, the problem is that you still have a an upload slot open. To fix this, lower the Max U/L setting by one and move the user to the end of the queue. Continue doing this until the file is finally queued. The only other privilege I can think of is to add someone to your list and turn on userlist-only downloading. This would be useful if you find someone you want to ensure has a chance of downloading (or possibly getting better speeds). It works best when you have few people on your list. )===========================================================( - Part 5: Making Rules -- > Look, no one likes rules but sometimes they're needed. For instance, you probably want people to limit the number of files they queue. If you want this to be a rule, then you need to put it where people will see it. Here are some ways to do it: Make a folder called "RULES - PLEASE READ" and share it. In it include a series of text files with names that have numbers in ascending order. After each number, type a rule. The numbers ensure that the rules are in the correct order because Soulseek sorts in alphabetical order (be sure to include leading zeroes on one-digit numbers). For instance: 01 - keep your queue small.txt 02 - please share your files.txt 03 - one album at a time.txt 04 - user-list only downloading on weekends.txt Or, you can type out a paragraph. The numbers keep the lines in order: 01 Hello, welcome to soulseek. I ask.txt 02 that you please only download a resonable.txt 03 amount of files because I have a capped.txt 04 connection speed. Thanks.txt Another way to add rules is to type them out in a text file and share the file. The only downside is that people have to download it (and they might have to wait in a queue for it), then go find the text file, open it, and read it. Most people don't want to do all this work to read rules, so posting them with the first method is more effective. You can also just make the names of folders the rules (kinda like the first method) and share the folders. I usually use the ~ character before each rule to ensure that the folders are sorted at the top of the other folders. IE: ~ Keep your queue small ~ Share please! Movies MP3s Videos Finally, you can post your rules in your user information. This method isn't nearly as effective because most people don't bother reading it (or writing their own). )===========================================================( - Part 6: Sharing Offline Files -- > If you're like many P2P users, you may eventually come to the point where you run out of hard drive space. Hey, it happens. And the people that sold you your computer said "OH, you'll never fill that 60 GB hard drive. It is huge." Yes, it's huge, but so are movies and videos. Download too much and you're in trouble. Well, not everyone can go buy a new hard drive whenever they run out of space. Plus, hard drives require some knowledge to setup (unless they're external, then they just require lots of money :) ) The solution is to go from hard media to shiny media :). Go chuck out $20-$30 for a 100 stack of 700MB/80min CD-R's (or, if you're like me, find a deal.. I get 100 CD-R's for $10). Think about it, it's like buying a 70 GB hard drive for $20. Not bad. Of course, you need the burner too, but they come standard nowadays. Anyway, start backing up movies onto CD-R. You still probably want to share these files, of course. Here's what I did. I created a folder called "Movies." Every time I get a new movie, I create a file in the folder with the name as the movie. Now here's a tip: don't give the file an extension. This allows you to list your movies without the annoying file extension getting in the way. Thus, it looks something like: 13 Ghosts Bad Company Lord of the Rings ... ... ... Zoolander Or whatever. Soulseek sorts them in alphabetical order, which saves you some time (cut corners where you can). Now people can browse your files and look in the movies folder for a list of your offline movies (without having to download a list). Be sure to indicate somewhere (in your rules for instance) that these movies are offline. People can request for you to put one online. Now, I know this is more work but you can leave the heavily requested or high-demand movies on your hard drive and leave the lesser ones offline. By the way, it is a good idea to back up your files. Imagine if your hard drive crashed and you lost 40GB of downloaded movies.. you'd be pissed! :) The same thing can be done with MP3's, eBooks, pictures, games, etc. For CD images, you'll need to indicate that you're not burning the CD as an image, but rather as a plain data CD. Another way to burn CD images for storage is to put them in a ZIP file or compressed folder and burn that. If you're having trouble getting movies onto blank CD-Rs keep in mind that most 700MB CDs actually allow up to 703MB of data. In order to burn this much you need a good burning program such as Nero. With Nero you can also do something called "overburning" of which I'm not too knowledgable. But, I've heard you can fit up to 720MB on a single CD. There are also higher capacity CD-R's out there that hold 750MB, 800MB, or even 900MB on them (though they're more expensive). Also, if your movie just won't fit because it's more than the CD can hold, try compressing the file in a ZIP archive or even a Windows compressed folder (in Windows ME). This can trim many megabytes for storage. The only downside is the length of time it takes to uncompress and copy back onto your computer. Sacrifices, sacrifices. In any case, atleast you didn't spend $300 on a new external firewire drive. :) )===========================================================( - Part 7: Getting Good Speeds -- > Clearly if you're on dial-up you're SOL. Sorry folks, dial-up just plain sucks. Now, I have gotten speeds of close to 26kps on 56k dial-up before, but my AVERAGE speed was well below 10kps, probably more around 5kps. That's just how it is. If you're blessed with a fast connection, then things are much better. Unfortunetly, speeds are a two-way street. Your fast connection means nothing if the file you want is on someone's computer with dial-up access. The rememdy is to avoid people with low average speeds. This little statistic is placed next to a person's username in chats, on user lists, and in the search window. Be careful though, because even if they average is low, YOU may still get decent speeds from them. I said this earlier: One thing I do is run a search that comes up with a ton of results. I then sort the results according to average speeds, "D/L Speed (Avg.)". I then add people to my list that have really good averages (50-200kps). Later, if I see they have a file I want, I'm assured good speeds (usually). This saves me time in the long run. Keep in mind that the time it takes to get a file also depends on how long you have to wait in a queue. Speed is also affected by connection types on both ends, internet traffic, and distance between users. Sometimes downloads from the same person will go slower than usual. Hey, here's a final tip that doesn't fit anywhere else: you can access the ban/ignore/browse files menu you get for any user by right click on their name in personal chat (either in the chat window or at the top of the window where it says the name) Well, that's the end of my Soulseek Tips and Tricks guide. I hope someone got some use out of it :) :) :) Peace ^_^