Multiple Instances

[lemmon]

Hello.

I've been using BitComet for some time now.

Am currently using BitComet 1.40.

Am running Win 8.1 and BitComet is installed in D:\Programs\BitComet

All the .torrent files are stored in that directory.

 

I wanted to create a separate instance of BitComet for a certain category of torrents and also because

the number of torrents in the existing instance was quite high and it was probably getting a bit slow because of that.

 

I fetched the latest BitComet 1.44 and gave it D:\Programs\BitComet_144 as the installation directory.

 

I had a BitComet icon on the 'Start Page'.

After installation of 1.44, that icon pointed to 1.44 version.

Clicking on it opened the new BitComet, without any torrents loaded.

 

I've pointed the icon back to D:\Programs\BitComet, for the moment.

When I attempt to open BitComet 1.44, by double-clicking D:\Programs\BitComet_144\BitComet.exe,

I merely get transferred to the existing (already running) 1.40 instance.

 

Is there a way out please ?

 

I guess some people refer to this as 'Portable version'.

If so, is such a thing possible.

 

I currently am able to do it with uTorrent, using the '/RECOVER' option.

Something like that would be very helpful.

 

Thank you very much.

 

[The UnUsual Suspect]

BitComet has always made a portable version, it's packaged in a .zip file and once extracted you can run it without installing, but I don't recommend running more than one instance at a time as it may cause conflicts.

You can download all releases from the link in my signature.

[Rhubarb]

In addition to what the bossman said, running two separate instances won't increase your speed (if anything it would reduce it as the two apps 'fight' for control of the downloads).  If you want certain torrents to go in a separate folder, that option is there in properties - you simply change the download destination from default to whatever you like.

Additionally, your download speed isn't solely controlled by the client; there are other factors involved - your bandwidth for a start. You can share that, sure, but it will be split between the apps and still remain the same. Don't overlook the fact that, as well as bandwidth, your speed also depends on the guy(s) at the other end uploading speed. If that's low or if there are a large number of people downloading the same file from a small pool of seeders, it WILL be slow and there's no way round that.

[lemmon]

Thanks 'T.U.S.'

Am new to these forums. I couldn't locate the signature. But found the archive here => http://www.bitcomet.com/en/archive

I hope that's the one.

 

I didn't know until now, that BitComet was available as a portable package. That's nice to know.

I downloaded and extracted BitComet_144.zip, to a folder on my PC and double-clicked BiComet.exe.

It merely transfers control to the already open BitComet 1.40 version. No new process is created.

 

Thanks Rhubarbfian. I should clarify that I meant to say the application response was getting slow due to many existing torrents; my downloads speeds are good.

I just wanted a certain set of torrents to all go into one 'copy' of BitComet.

[The UnUsual Suspect]

I fixed the signature problem, seems a recent forum update disabled signatures, we've had a lot of small issues like that to deal with.

 

By default bit comet stores task info in "app data", but this can be changed in advanced settings if you want the portable version to have it's own task list.

[lemmon]

I have installed BitComet (1.40) in D:/Programs/BitComet. All the .torrent files are in the torrent/ subdirectory. Nothing in AppData to my knowledge.

I took this precaution after the last time I upgraded my OS and forgot to backup AppData folder.

There are some files in AppData/Roaming. But they don't seem to have any context related data. (files like fav.xml, passport.mht)

 

However, something is preventing a second different BitComet.exe from starting up. Perhaps it was designed to run as a 'single instance' as is the case with some windows applications. The windows registry too has some BitComet related entries.

Anyway, I am able to run them one instance at a time.

But would be nice to be able to select the appropriate instance when I click on a magnet link. Am able to do this with utorrent. I find it useful when using private trackers, where I assign a separate utorrent instance per tracker. (It was rather simple: Copy the base exe, create a shortcut, set the /RECOVER flag in properties.) Wonder if we could have something like that for BitComet too.

 

[The UnUsual Suspect]

As I mentioned BitComet is not designed to run multiple instances within the same windows account. You could probably figure a way to work around that, but as I mentioned, there will be conflicts. I've never tried to find a work a round, but even if you are able to do so, you won't be able to get all the features like comet ID and emule plugin to work properly. If you want to run them one at a time using different task lists this can be easily done, but if you want to run two instances simultaneously, then you are on you own. I'm sure it could be done, just not sure what features will or won't work. 

If you want to discuss with with the developers and you are fluent in Mandarin, you can post in the chinese foum at Cometbbs.com, otherwise I won't be of much help beyond what I mentioned.

[Rhubarb]

Bitcomet data is stored in <username>\AppData\Roaming\BitComet. Emule is stored in <username>AppData\Local\eMule. However, unlewss you have Windows set to 'show hidden files and folders' you'll never see them.

Oh and just to toss a spanner in the works here - Mandarin and Cantonese are different SPOKEN languages - written there's no difference (but then I neither speak or write it and haven't got a Big5 keyboard either). I just have a couple of local acquaintances who do speak one ot the main languages and they told me that the written language is standard - the spoken isn't ;)

[lemmon]

Thanks again 'T.U.S'. I think i'll stick to running one instance at a time.

I found, by googling that there are ways such as running another instance in a virtual machine, but it is just too much work.

 

I picked up a few words in Mandarin during a recent trip to China, but am afraid it is not enough to converse with another person. :)

 

Thanks Rhubarbfian for that info. I think I've used the Emule plugin long ago; and come to think of it, I missed taking a peek at a Chinese keyboard, while there.

Thanks again both of you :)

 

[The UnUsual Suspect]

there are virtual chinese keyboards you can use, but I only speak to a few in the development team who are willing to use english. Although the chinese are taught english in school, it's mostly written english and it's very different than any other english dialect, but is usually enough to get by in commerce, but I'm sue we've all giggled at chinese products that provide incomprehensible documentation. . Bitcomet's has always been good with documentation, but our forum team has rewritten it so it's more fluent to most international members. 

Also, unlike other torrent clients bitcomet does much more, which is why it's not so easy to run two instances at once. It integrates with Internet Explorer so it can display html web data, it has an active as well as passive port checker, connects with cometID servers to share files on a private proprietary p2p network and also can connect to http/ftp sources to to complete files within a torrent when not available elsewhere, as well as emule if the optional plugin is installed, so getting all this to work multiple times on the same computer is very complicated. 

To further complicate things, your user files could be in several different places depending on windows version and settings, to counter then we added an option (on by default) to use %appdata% for storing these, but they also could be in your programfiles folder, your %vitualstore%, or in case of the portable version can be stored in it's folder

[Rhubarb]

There's also the effect that by having a string of simultaneous downloads the whole system comesd under stress - CPU usage, RAM usage, disk access times all having to be shared. I've a 4 core i7 with 24 GB of DDR3 and, even running one instance of BitComet, it takes a hit on performance if there are several downloads running. Running a second instance would, really, double up on the access times.

As I mentinoed, if the OP wants certain files to go to another folder apart from the default, then that's easily selected in properties. Simply stop the download for a moment and open up properties and the 'save' location can be changed there (it's not exactly brain science or rocket surgery) and then restart the download and the files will then go to the directory of choice.

[lemmon]

I actually did not know / realize the developers were from China.

However I've always looked up the documentation here, which is so very well-written. Every sentence and paragraph is so beautifully put together.

I realize now from para 2 you've written how much more BitComet does.

I usually run a max of 10 torrents at a time, as otherwise it is likely to slow the system down. Mine is just a Intel dual-core with 2 GB RAM.

 

I noticed very recently there is a Downloads.xml file along with my .torrent files.

I suppose this is the file used by BitComet to quickly load the torrents when it is started.

Yes Rhubarbfian, I do know how to change the torrent to locate the file in another directory.

BTW, did you intentionally mix up your idioms ? brain science ? :)

OT: The Chinese accent was indeed a little difficult to understand. I'd recorded some of it. Even now when I play it back, I can't quite follows it in places. The Shanghai-ites ("Shonghai" as they pronounce it) were a little better, perhaps because of more exposure to western culture. But it is true, there are not that many English speakers. Communication in many places is usually one word at a time, repeated with gestures. In the end, my English took a slight Chinese slant, dropping verbs and using shorter sentences. The traffic in Beijing was unbelievable. One morning we saw a 3 km long queue of cars stuck in traffic. And it is 3 lanes. All waiting patiently for their turn. I guess the process is repeated at night too.

Edited January 12, 2017 by lemmon (see edit history)

[Rhubarb]

"... did you intentionally mix up your idioms ..."

Attention grabbing isn't it?  (says he, grinning)

[The UnUsual Suspect]

13 hours ago, lemmon said:

 

However I've always looked up the documentation here, which is so very well-written. Every sentence and paragraph is so beautifully put together.

I realize now from para 2 you've written how much more BitComet does.

.

Thank you, a lot of hard work went into re translating from chinese english into international english. Most of the credit for the grammar we have Cassie to thank, even though English isn't her original language, she understand it better than most. The technical details were a done by a joint effort of myself, grey wizard, and Kluelos, whom we fear may no longer be with us. We represented distinctly different parts of the world and ou collaboration helped render a text that was easy for all to understand. 

Yes, BitComet is arguably the most advanced client in the world, and as far as I know, no other client has even attempted to design a torrent client that can download it's content from other torrents with some or all of the same content, or from non bittorrent sources, and I've personally witnessed the benefits of this technology when I download unseeded torrents and bitcomet finds the content elsewhere and uses the data to seed the torrent so the incomplete peers can complete the torrent and become seeds, saving long dead torrents. 

[Rhubarb]

What would be nice is a Linux version so I don't have to switch to Windoze every night in order to download torrents. Sure, there are torrent clients available but I prefer this one