Downloading Files from IRC/XDCC Bot Guide

How do I download off of XDCC bots?

XDCC bots work using PMs (private messages) sent to the bot with a request for a particular pack number.

The syntax is usually something like:

"/msg [bot-name] xdcc send pack-number"

To request that the bot send you a pack, or:

"/msg [bot-name] xdcc info pack-numb

To request info from the bot about a particular pack

The pack number representing a file you would want to download from the bot. To find out what files a bot is carrying and what their pack numbers are, you have to obtain their packlists. Sometimes the packlist is stored on the bot itself as a text file (.txt), other times it may be on a website, sometimes both, it depends on the bot.

Where do I find a bot's packlist?

XDCC bot packlists can usually be retrieved in one of four ways described below.

From the XDCC bot in the form of a PM

In file distribution channels where typing !list is acceptable, the bots may reply to it with an ad displaying a trigger
As an example, after typing !list, one might receive a PM like: -[CAT]Food- (XDCC) Packs:(12) Trigger:(/msg [CAT]Food xdcc list) Sends:(1/1) Queues:(33/100) Record:(76.3KB/s) Note:(Brought To You By ScientistsDiet) =iroffer=

After Typing the trigger (/msg [CAT]Food xdcc list) the bot would simply PM the sender its XDCC list

From a website

In a distro channel's topic a website with the XDCC list somewhere on it will usually be listed (usually in the forums) or when typing the bots trigger from its XDCC ad, /msg [CAT]Food xdcc list, you would receive a reply back like:

-[CAT]Food- XDCC LIST Denied. For a Listing visit: "http://tasty.food.land/CatFood.html"

Where "http://tasty.food.land/CatFood.html" would be the location of the packlist.

From the XDCC bot itself in the form of a text file

Again, after typing !list in the channel window, and getting the XDCC bot's trigger ( /msg [CAT]Food xdcc list, for example ) and typing it in the network window, you would get a response back like:
-[CAT]Food- XDCC LIST Denied. For a Listing type: "/msg [CAT]Food !blist"
or
-[CAT]Food- XDCC LIST Denied. For a Listing type: "/msg [CAT]Food xdcc send #1"

Upon typing the trigger the bot messages you in reply, you would be sent a text file containing the packlist for the bot.

Timed message displayed in the main channel

The last but most popular method for displaying a bot's trigger to get it's packlist, or displaying the whole list itself is timed messages displayed in the channel window every 10, 15, or 20 (or whatever) minute time interval. All you to do is just idle in the channel, and the bot will display it's ad (or whole packlist in some cases) as a text message. /msg ARUTHA-BATCH|1080p xdcc send #6971

All right, I can see the packlist, now what?

The packlist itself should have all the information necessary for downloading from the XDCC bot contained in the first few lines.

For Example, below is part of the [CAT]Food's packlist:

** #Cats-R-Us ~ For XDCC packlisting Type /msg [CAT]Food xdcc send #1 **
** 3 packs ** 0 of 13 slots open, Queue: 75/999, Record: 1792.7KB/s **
** Bandwidth Usage ** Current: 1276.4KB/s, Cap: 1500.0KB/s, Record: 3244.1KB/s **
** To request a file, type "/msg [CAT]Food xdcc send #x" **
** To request details, type "/msg [CAT]Food xdcc info #x" **
#1 97x [ 42K] [CAT]_Releases.txt
#2 22x [123M] [CAT]_Cooking_fish_howto_video.avi
#3 14x [123M] [CAT]_Meow_Mix_advertisement.avi

Packet number 2, for example:

#2 22x [123M] [CAT]_Cooking_fish_howto_video.avi

Starts from the left side with the packet number (#2), followed by the number of times the pack has been sent so far (22x), followed by the file size ([123M]), and finally the file name for the pack ([CAT]_Cooking_fish_howto_video.avi ).

If I wanted to download "[CAT]_Cooking_fish_howto_video.avi", I would send request via private message to [CAT]Food for pack #2:

/msg [CAT]Food xdcc send #2

If the request successfully went through, it would send a private message back to me:

-[CAT]Food- ** All Slots Full, Added you to the main queue for pack 2 ("[CAT]_Cooking_fish_howto_video.avi") in position 118. To Remove yourself at a later time type "/msg [CAT]Food xdcc remove".

In this case, all of the thirteen send slots (3 packs ** 0 of 13 slots open) are full, and there are 117 people with pack requests in front of me. What that means is that I'll have to wait for 104 (117 in queue minus 13 send slots) packs to finish sending before the bot will send me the pack I requested.

How do I find out what my "slot" number is and how long do I have to wait before the bot sends me the file?

Unfortunately, there isn't a way to manually access an XDCC bots to find out your position in the queue, however most XDCC bots will PM you your position after a certain amount of time automatically, depending on the bot's set-up.

For example, [CAT]Food has a time interval of 10 minutes, so after waiting in queue for 10 minutes the bot sends me a private message letting me know what my current position is:

-[CAT]Food- Queued 0h3m for "[CAT]_Cooking_fish_howto_video.avi", in position 118 of 119. 5h44m or more remaining.

Keep in mind the time remaining is only a ROUGH ESTIMATE, there is no guarantee the bot will start sending the file in 5 hours and 44 minutes, it depends the connection speed of the people in front of me.

Why is the file I requested not the one being sent to me?

Occasionally, older files may be removed from a bot to make room for newer ones to be added and the bot's packlist is updated. When requesting a file off of a bot, make sure you are using an updated packlist. Also, delete any older copies of packlists you may have in your download folder before requesting a new one, sometimes newer packlists will not send properly if an older copy is in your download directory.

I can't seem to download with mIRC

Probably you didn't configure mIRC correctly. Essentially, two things have to be changed in the options: Automatically accepting incoming file requests, especially when you have to wait in the queue of a bot and are away from the screen. Also, to be able to receive files at all, you have to stop mIRC from automatically ignoring all incoming transfers.

To do that, head over to the options, and select the "DCC"-tab. You'll find the relevant options there. Be sure to set Ignore - Method: to Disabled and that “Turn Ignore back on in” is unchecked.

If the file is not transferring, the XDCC bot owner may have configured the bot to only send to Registered Users (not registering mirc, registering a nickname on the network server) or downloading may require a user to be in both the XDCC channel and the corresponding XDCC Chat channel.

mIRC XDCC Scripts

You can also use mIRC addon scripts such as BeaST-XDCC Script or XDCC Browser.
The script will list the XDCC packets that are listed in the channels you're in, and display them in an organized fashion.
It also has a search option that will allow you to search for packets that aren't necessarily on the networks and channels you're currently on, although this feature seems broken due to lack of updates. A list of working search engines can be found at [1] and by doing a search on Google for "XDCC search".

XDCC Search Engines

Here are a few XDCC search engines that are currently working:
- SunXDCC