Many frequently asked questions are answered below. Also check out the official BitTorrent FAQ page.
BitTorrent generic questions
Q: How do I start downloading from BitTorrent? A: Download a BitTorrent client, install it and click on a BitTorrent link. You download should start automatically.
Q: Where can I download a BitTorrent client?
These days alternative clients usually have much more features than the official client.
Recommended clients are BitTornado and µTorrent.
Many more clients can be found on this site.
Q: Why are the downloads so slow? A: The faster and the longer you upload to others, the faster your own download will go.
So please give it some time, your download may pick up speed after a while. It's also important that other downloaders can connect to you directly, so be sure to set up port forwarding if you are behind NAT and to adjust your firewall accordingly if you use one. More information can be found in this thread on the forum.
Q: Can I resume? A: Yes. Just save to the same location as last time if you are using a client that doesn't remember where you left the file.
Your BitTorrent client will check the file and continue downloading.
Q: Can I resume with FTP/IRC? A: No. BitTorrent downloads the parts of a file in random order. This means you could be missing any part of the file,
perhaps at the beginning, middle or end. You can only resume the download with a BitTorrent client. The temporary file format
of certain BitTorrent clients may differ from others, so it's usually best to use the same BitTorrent client to resume.
Q: Can I resume from FTP/IRC (or other source)? A: Yes! If you "resume" with a BitTorrent client on the incomplete file, it will
try to "fix" it for you. This trick also works great for files with a few corrupt bytes.
Q: Why is the file corrupted / Why is the file already full size? A: Certain BitTorrent clients "pre-allocate" the file when you start downloading. This is why it seems the
file is already complete on your harddrive. But don't be fooled by this: the contents of the file is still empty. Your BitTorrent client will
"fill in" the parts of the file as they come in. Only when it says Download Succesful (or similar message) is the file complete!
Q: How can I help uploading? A: With most BitTorrent clients you only need to start a download and save it to the location of the complete file as if you were doing a resume.
Your BitTorrent client will check the file and start uploading to others if you leave the window open.
Consult the help files if this does not apply to your BitTorrent client.
Q: How do you stop BitTorrent from uploading? A: You can't. You could hack BitTorrent, but remember that how much you upload affects your download speed.
So if you don't upload your download speeds will suffer and you will also destroy the BitTorrent community.
Remember: if nobody uploads, nobody can download.
Q: I have ADSL/Cable, is there a way to limit the upload speed? A: Any good BitTorrent client should have the ability to throttle upload speeds.
If you set the upload speed to just below your maximum upload speed, download speeds should improve.
Q: How do I set up my own BitTorrent downloads? A: See this page for
how to setup your own BitTorrent downloads.
If your fansub group needs a place to host torrents, there are several sites
which might be willing help you with this, such as a.scarywater.net, bt.edwardk.info and tracker.anirena.com.
BitTorrent troubleshooting questions
Q: I get the error "[Errno2] No such file or directory" when starting a download A: This is a problem with Internet Explorer. It can usually be fixed by clearing your
"Temporary Internet Files" by selecting "Tools" followed by "Internet Options"
from the Internet Explorer menu and clicking the "Delete Files" button on the window that will appear.
If that doesn't work you can bypass this problem by right-clicking on the link and select "Save as..." to
save the torrent file to your HD and then double-clicking on the saved file.
Q: I get the error "400 Not Authorized" when starting a download A: This means the tracker (which controls communication between downloaders) is configured
to only allow tracking of torrent files it knows about and the file you are trying to download is not known to it.
There is no way for you to fix this, other than contacting the people in charge of the site on which
you found the torrent.
Q: I get the error "10054, Connection reset by peer" (both when starting a download and during downloads) A: This is probably a connection problem between you and the tracker. It can be the connection on your side or on
the tracker's side. If the download is still progressing though, you don't need to worry about it. If you were just starting
a download, just leave the window open, your BitTorrent client should retry every few minutes automatically.
Q: I get the error "got bad file info" when starting a download A: This means the torrent file BitTorrent is trying to read is corrupted. If you
are sure the torrent file should be fine (as for example AnimeSuki shows many other
people downloading), you could try downloading the torrent file by right-clicking on the link and
selecting "Save as..." or alternatively with a download manager (such as GetRight).
Then double-click the file to open it in your BitTorrent client.
Q: I get the error "a piece failed hash check" during a download A: Somehow a piece you downloaded from others got corrupted during the download.
As BitTorrent has build in checksum support, it noticed this and will try to download
the piece again. As such this message should be treated as a warning and
not really as a problem.
AnimeSuki.com related questions
Q: What does the "ul" column mean? A: The "ul" column refers to the amount of people connected which have a complete file (seeders).
In general you always need at least one seeder, otherwise you probably won't be able to download the file completely.
For this reason if the number of seeders is positive (above 0) it is good (and colored green) and if it is 0 it is bad (and colored red).
Due to the way BitTorrent works however it is possible to complete your download even if there are no seeders as
long as all the different pieces each of the downloaders have combine to a complete file.
Q: What does the "dl" column mean? A: The "dl" column refers to the amount of people connected who are trying to download
the file, but don't have a complete file yet (leechers). Due to the way BitTorrent works, having many leechers and few sources does not have to be a problem, in fact it might help you as
with BitTorrent leechers also upload to others.
Q: What's AnimeSuki.com's policy on licensed anime? A: AnimeSuki.com will only list unlicensed anime. When a show is licensed it will be removed from the list. For a list of of shows that have been recently licensed see our License Database.
Q: Can you share (insert episode/series here) for me? A: AnimeSuki does not create nor share any of the files listed on the site. AnimeSuki is merely an index of links to other sites who host torrent files, so we can not add torrents to our database that do not exist elsewhere.
Q: Is downloading fansubs illegal? A: Technically, yes. See the Licensed Anime page for a detailed explaination. If you only download unlicensed anime you are unlikely to get into trouble however. Note that none of the files on AnimeSuki belong to companies assocatiated with the MPAA or RIAA, so you can't get in trouble with them for anything listed on AnimeSuki.
