Downloading
The queue, the transfers, and what to do when something will not move.
How a download works
When you download a file you are connecting directly to another user's client. They need a free upload slot; if they have none, you wait in their queue. FulDC++ keeps trying in the background, and if the same file is available from several users it downloads from all of them at once in segments. This is why adding sources speeds a download up far more than anything else you can do.
Files are identified by a TTH hash, not by name, so FulDC++ knows that the same release under two different names is the same data — and can verify that what arrived is what was advertised.
The download queue
Transfers → Download queue (Ctrl+D) is everything waiting or in progress. Downloads are organised into bundles: queue a folder and the whole thing is one bundle you can act on as a unit.
Right-click a bundle or file for:
Priority
Paused, lowest, low, normal, high, highest — or Auto, which lets FulDC++ balance the queue for you based on size and progress.
Search for alternates
Look for more users with the same file, by hash. The single most useful thing you can do to a stuck download.
Sources
See who this is coming from, and remove a source that keeps failing.
Move / rename
Change where a bundle will land, without re-queuing it.
Remove
Drop it from the queue, optionally deleting what has already downloaded.
Pause all downloads on the toolbar stops the whole queue without losing it, and the drop-down next to it exposes the speed limiter.
Watching transfers
The transfer pane at the bottom of the main window shows live connections — one row per connection, grouped under its bundle, with progress, speed, and who is on the other end. Uploads appear here too.
Common status messages:
| Status | Means |
|---|---|
| No slots available | The user is busy. FulDC++ waits and retries; nothing is wrong. |
| Connecting | Trying to reach the user. If it never gets past this, see Troubleshooting — two passive users cannot connect to each other. |
| File not available | They no longer have it, or have not refreshed their share. |
| Waiting for slot | You are in their queue. |
Browsing a file list
Double-click any user — in a hub, in a search result, in the favourites list — to download and open their file list: their whole share as a folder tree. Browse it, search inside it with Ctrl+F, and drag or right-click to queue a file or a whole folder.
Two useful buttons live here. Match queue checks their share against everything in your queue and adds them as a source for anything they have — a fast way to speed up several downloads at once. File → Match all lists does the same against every list you have open.
Your own list is under File → Browse own file list, which is exactly what other people see when they browse you.
Finished downloads and uploads
Completed bundles leave the queue. Transfers → Finished uploads shows what you have given back, with totals — useful when a hub asks about your ratio. The Upload queue shows users currently waiting for one of your slots; right-click to grant an extra slot to someone who has been patient.
Download scanning
FulDC++ only. Settings → Downloads → Download scanning can check finished downloads before you ever open them:
- SFV check — verify the download against the checksums shipped with it.
- Release structure check — confirm the folder looks like a complete, well-formed release rather than a half-queued mess.
- External virus scan — hand each finished file to a scanner you nominate, with a command line, a timeout and a maximum file size.
- Action on a hit — ignore it, or move the download to a quarantine folder. Paths can be excluded from scanning entirely.
Where things land
Settings → Downloads sets your finished-downloads folder and the temporary folder used while a file is incomplete. Keeping the temporary folder on the same drive as the final one avoids a slow copy at the end of every download. Settings → Downloads → Download locations can send particular file types to particular folders automatically.