StealthNet FAQ (English)
From Planet Peer Wiki
StealthNet FAQ
What is StealthNet and what RShare?
StealthNet is the client for the RShare network. In the past there was a client also called RShare. The developement of the client Rshare was stopped and based on these sourcecode the client StealthNet was created.
Is StealthNet really anonymous and secure? How does it work?
The anonymity is provided by the RShare network. Link to the description of the RShare network:
Do I have to open an incoming port at my firewall to run StealthNet?
StealthNet listens on one tcp-Port at your system. You can adjust this port in the settings. The default is tcp/6097. Make sure that communications to this port reaches your StealthNet client. In the most cases a NAT (port-forwarding) rule has to be set up at your router.
What's the maximum filesize for shared files?
Currently StealthNet supports files up to 4GB. This size is given by the used RShare protocol. If you want to share files bigger than 4GB, split them with a packing tool of your choice and offer the content in parts.
After a file was completely downloaded, the download began again and the loaded file vanished. What's the deal?
When a file is downloaded completely, StealthNet checks the hash-value of the loaded file with the original file. This method identifies errors during the transmission of the file. If the hash values differs, the file is marked as defective and moved in the corrupt folder. The Download starts again all over.
Different hash values can occur, when the source of the file is altered during the download (f.e. renaming of the file). The hash-value calculation is done in the start sequence of StealthNet.
What's does "queue" mean?
If a client gets many requests simultaneously, these request are put in a queue. The column "Queue" shows how long you have to wait until it's your turn. If the queue position is 0 means that it's your turn now. If the value is "unknown", the source ist currently unavailable or didn't respond to the request.
What are the webcaches and where do I get a current list?
Webcaches are servers with special webservices. This service provides IP-addresses and ports of other StealthNet users.
It's mandatory to be able to reach these servers (webcaches), to connect to the RShare network.
The webcaches only know the IP-addresses and tcp/ports of the StealthNet users, but not the user activity in the network.
Webcaches have nothing in common with servers in non-anonymous P2P networks.
The list of webcaches, used by the StealthNet client, is automatically updated via a central server, depending your settings.
I don't have a broadband internet connection. I use an analog modem, ISDN or UMTS (Edge). Am I able to use StealthNet?
The type of Internet-connection doesn't matter if you want to use StealthNet. But unfortunately slow connections also slows down other users, because some of the data is routed via the slow Internet connection.
What's the best setting for the average connection count? Should I set the highest value to speed my client up?
Simple answer - Nope! This setting just affects the direct connections to other StealthNet clients (nodes). The optimum for StealthNet is to leave the default value for that setting, which is between 5 and 8. Higher values could occur errors.
Why isn't StealthNet terminated immedately after I closed the program?
StealthNet has to process some files before it's able to properly shutdown. We recommend to wait until StealthNet is properly closed. This process could take up to 20 seconds, depending the system speed.
When starting StealthNet I get the error message like "The application failed to initialize properly". What can I do?
This dialog means that the Microsoft .NET Framework is not (properly) installed. Make sure the .NET Framework Version 2.0 or higher is installed on your System.
What's "swarming"?
Multiple-Source, segmented and swarming means the download of multiple sources. This advanced feature is used by nearly all p2p-clients. A file may be obtained from multiple sources in small segments. This results in a higher download-speed and independency of single users that holds the completed files. On the other hand, the new feature makes it impossible to visualize the progress of an upload. You just may see how much data is transfered during a session.
Why won't I reach the maximum amount of connections?
For example, if 10-13 connections are set in the preferences, only 12 connections are established. The last slot (13) is reserved for sessions that are initiated by a foreign router. So 12 sessions are initiated by the local client - the last one by a foreign client.
How does collections work?
Similar to eMule, there are collections files for StealthNet as well (extension ".sncollection"). This file contains download-information about files in the RShare network. The difference to eMule collections is, that the SN collection files are editable with a simple text-editor.
Structure of a collection-file:
stealthnet://?hash=Hash_1&name=filename_1&size=filesize_in_byte_1> stealthnet://?hash=Hash_2&name=filename_2&size=filesize_in_byte_2> . . .
Creation:
Collection files can only be create in the tab "shared folders". Just select and right-click the desired file and "create collection". Then select the directory and the filename. That's it.
The possibility to sort the list by the column "directory" in the tab "shared folders" can be very helpful. This way files that belongs together may be joined inside a collection.
Download of collection-files and the containing files: Collection-files are handled like normal downloads. If the download of the .sncollection file is finished, the used settings contols what happens next (please refer to [1]):
* If "parse collections" is activated, all files of a collection are moved the download queue.
* If "subfolder for collections" is activated, these files will be downloaded inside a subfolder of the incoming folder. The name of the subfolder is equal to the name of the collection file (without the file-extension).
It's also possible to load a local collection-file from the download-tab. The containing files are automatically added to the download queue (please refer to [2]).
Troubleshooting
SN starts, but I cannot see the GUI
It could happen, that SN remembers a wrong window position and is set to something like -32000. The window position values can be found in the file
- Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Application Data\The_StealthNet_Team\stealthnet.exe_StrongName_zpcuux12jepg1h41tkpblo4gzjyzvcgy\<version>\user.config
- Windows Vista: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\The_StealthNet_Team\StealthNet.exe_StrongName_zpcuux12jepg1h41tkpblo4gzjyzvcgy\<version>\user.config
<setting name="MainFormLocationX" serializeAs="String">
<value>57</value>
</setting>
<setting name="MainFormLocationY" serializeAs="String">
<value>138</value>
</setting>
