Downloaded files missing their extension?

[wingnutta]

Hey all, weird one this - I have just upgraded to 1.32 and i noticed with files lately (using the magnet system) - that when they were completed, they had no extension ie mp4/avi etc..and such windows didnt know what to do with them? When the properties box comes up for the first time, the details about the file are correct - it just doesnt transfer it to the filename section above it? If i look at the file and see it is an mp4 - i just add the extension to it and all is well. It didnt do it with 1.31 though??

Not a major problem, just an annoyance - but hey its damn good free software so not complaining! Is it something i can fix?

Appreciate the help.

ps Never posted before because always found answer for problems beforehand - but stumped with this one??

[The UnUsual Suspect]

This sounds like a windows problem, not a bitcomet problem, but would require some investigation to be sure. At very least I can tell you that it doesn't do this for others. The first thing I'd check is your folder settings, windows defaults to the option to hide file extensions if it recognizes the file type. This is perhaps the dumbest thing microsoft ever did. Perhaps for someone who knows nothing at all about computers, they might not want to see an .mp3 or .avi on the end of their files, but when they ask for help later, they have no idea what kind of files they have, so it serves no one.

I've even seen people try to add an extension on when one already exists, so they change the name from "song.mp3" to "song.mp3.mp3", and they assume it's fixed because they can see the extension, but everyone else will see the extension, and the redundant .mp3 added to the name. Please double check and make sure this isn't whats happening in your case.

[kluelos]

This isn't a likely failure mode for BitComet, as it simply transfers what is sent. If the file you got didn't have an extension, the file that was sent didn't either.

I have a couple of other candidates for the dumbest thing MS ever did, though...

[wingnutta]

Yeah that solved it thanks! - Cant believe i didnt look at that first. Weird how it changed automatically though as with 1.31 it was fine? Hey ho - all sorted.. Thanks!!!

[lilvader321]

Same thing happens to me olny thing that sucks is when you forget to pay attention to what type it was. Anyone know the names of Identify software?

[kluelos]

TriDNet http://mark0.net/download/trid_net.zip

[bjhabal]

Nothing wrong with both your OS or BitComet, and I guess it was an episode of a series uploaded by {eztv}, I have downloaded 9 episodes from them (6 Bent, 2 Justified and 1 Bones) all aer without extentions. windows will ask you to choose a program to open it and it will work with most of the player available, however if you want to make the changes permanently you can just add (.mp4, avi or mkv) at the end of the file name and the file logo will be changed according to the default video player installed in your computer. I have started with (.mp4) because {eztv} started using this format lately, but adding different extentions as (avi or mkv) will still works too.

[gbullzebub]

i have this problem. however that has nothing to do with windows. i know how to display file extensions. also ive downloaded the exact same torrent with utorrent and that file got its file extension. so it IS a problem with bc.

i use the 1.32 version.

[kluelos]

Trying to think of how you could be any more vague, but failing, gbullzebub.

[The UnUsual Suspect]

agreed, I just read that post that referred to "exact same torrent", but I have no idea what torrent it's referring to...

How can we test a torrent if you refuse to provide it, and why bother to report a bug if you're not going to provide any info on how to reproduce it?

[gbullzebub]

http://thepiratebay.se/torrent/7173064/House_S08E16_HDTV_x264-LOL_%5Beztv%5D for example

[kluelos]

Don't know what to tell you, gbullzebub. 1.32 created the file with an .mp4 extension on my system with no trouble at all.

[The UnUsual Suspect]

I too got the following file created by bitcomet

House.S08E16.HDTV.x264-LOL.mp4

[bjhabal]

Again, this is {eztv} file, which I guess they noticed that the extention was missing and add to the filename later, maybe just before you downloaded it again with Utorrent. If you have this problem with any other uploader then there might be a problem somewhere, but if it is only with {eztv} then it is just a missing extention.

Now what is the big deal here? just add (.mp4) at the end of the filename and you are OK.

[bjhabal]

I forgot to tell you, don't change the filename meanwhile seeding it as BitComet may not recognize the file after adding the extention, just wait untill you have finished seeding it and then add the extention. If you want to see the episode earlier, then just choose a media player when windows asks you what program do you want to open this unknown file with (I tried it with KMPlayer, VLC, GOM, UM, Real, Windows and Media Player classic) no problem whatsoever.

[Bacchus15]

hiya! I had the same thing also, but ONLY with magnet links, with either 1.31 1.32 beta and 1.32 final, regular links are fine. However i cannot tell if it has always been like that since i dont regularly use magnet links, i was just testing it. just sharing

Edited April 24, 2012 by Bacchus15 (see edit history)

[kluelos]

A torrent, once made, can't be changed, even so trivial a thing as a file's extension. The hashcode of the block it's contained in, would no longer match, and it would be rejected as a bad block ad infinitum. This is the mechanism that prevents somebody from inserting a trojan or virus into a torrent. It's not possible to "fix" a torrent, because what you then have is a new torrent whose hash does not match the old torrent.

[Scrugio1]

ok here is what i have noticed.

Clean install of windows. clean install of bc 1.32

clicking on a .torrent file to download all is working fine. filenames and everything great.

however clicking on magnet links seems to be an issue for most files very rarely is the filename set.

then if i click cancel on the window of bit comet and click the same magnet link again the filename then appears once the file is retrieved.

if i click download the first time the filename for the file is not entered file will download without an extention.

if i click cancel and then click magnet link again the download will occur with the filename present. ive tried using IE and Comet Bird for clicking the magnet urls.

bc1.gif shows where i am talking about

Bc2.gif shows where after clicking cancel and then clicking on the magnet url the filename appears.

[kabe369]

Scrugio1, is right!!! almost everything i DL is from eztv using the Magnet link. and this problem just started in the last few days, cause it wasn't doing it last week, but i also didn't have 1.32 last week... so do i blame bitcomet or eztv? cause it also seems to be doing this useing magnet links from the pirate bay. but this re-click the link does solve the problem. so thanks again scrugio1!

[Scrugio1]

Scrugio1, is right!!! almost everything i DL is from eztv using the Magnet link. and this problem just started in the last few days, cause it wasn't doing it last week, but i also didn't have 1.32 last week... so do i blame bitcomet or eztv? cause it also seems to be doing this useing magnet links from the pirate bay. but this re-click the link does solve the problem. so thanks again scrugio1!

Also just to confirm the issue is not present in BComet 1.31

only in Bitcomet 1.32 both 64 and 32 bit.

Reinstall of Bitcomet 1.32 does not fix the issue however reverting back to 1.31 does

[kluelos]

Hmm. I can duplicate this with some TPB links, but I use 1.21, so if it is a BC issue, it's not a new one. I wonder if this is a flaw inherent to magnet links?

[Scrugio1]

that sounds very likely.

i have noticed the issue on and off with different versions of BC. but 1.32 seems to be more prevailent. mostly cause i only started using magnet links more often from bc 1.29 i think :)

be nice to get this little issue ironed out tho.

[kluelos]

I'm using v1.21. When I try a magnet link at EZTV, the filename is shown without an extension, as in Scrugio's first example, but if I wait just a second or two, the extension appears without me doing anything further to get it. I wonder if the reload Scrugio talks about is really necessary, or if a brief wait would serve as well?

I wouldn't call that a solution, exactly, but it definitely reduces the issue to "minor annoyance".

I speculate that the task gets the corrected filename(s) from downloading the .torrent, and that when this happens briskly (as it seems to most of the time), there's no issue, but if it takes longer and the .torrent hasn't fully downloaded yet, you can have this situation where the file is created without an extension.

With further reflection and examples, it looks like this is exactly the case. WHen you first open a magnet link, BC tells you in the pane usually listing filenames, (Please specify save location while downloading files.). While that may not be the clearest of messages, it does tell you that you need to provide a filename -- that the magnet link itself did not contain them. But, usually in a few seconds, the .torrent is found and downloaded, and the correct filename(s) appear.

This is, in any case, definitely not new to 1.32. It may have been around a lot longer and just not noticed as few people used magnet links.

I am speculating that the file is being created a bit too soon sometimes -- that is, before the .torrent is fully downloaded, so that the magnet link name (without an extension) is being used as the filename.

[kabe369]

you're saying this isn't new to 1.32 and yet i have been using nothing but magnet links from TPB and EZTV for months, and this extension problem just started after i downloaded 1.32.

and the wait for the extension to fill in it self is going on over 5mins for me with no change, where as the reclick magnet link takes 3 secs...

seeing as this topic was started in the first place and the fact some one figured out how to work around it would logically in my mind make it Bitcomets fault. just saying ;)

[Scrugio1]

kluelos is right that it is not a new issue.

however in earlier versions it either worked 99% of the time or it took a few extra seconds for the details to appear as correct

kluelos has mentioned.

In saying that in Bitcomet 1.32 even after waiting for 3 or 4 minutes and even leaving the file open for hours the filename does not appear correctly.

kluelos I am speculating that the file is being created a bit too soon sometimes -- that is, before the .torrent is fully downloaded, so that the magnet link name (without an extension) is being used as the filename.

This appears to be the issue.

kluelos I speculate that the task gets the corrected filename(s) from downloading the .torrent, and that when this happens briskly (as it seems to most of the time), there's no issue, but if it takes longer and the .torrent hasn't fully downloaded yet, you can have this situation where the file is created without an extension.

This issue in earlier versions was not as common and only happened from time to time. bC often took a while to get the details and sometimes appeared to hang for a few seconds while it aquired the details. however with 1.32 it is 99% of the time an issue even after waiting no file name.

I suggest to anyone having this issue to either use one of the following solutions to get around the issue for magnet links

Revert Bitcomet verison to 1.31 - in this version almost all magnet links are downloaded correctly.

or opt to click the link twice by canceling the first task as described earlier.

Until this issue is seen as an issue we will have to make do.