[Tutorial] WinMX

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 7:06 am Post subject: [Tutorial] WinMX Post Rating: 0

Perhaps there are not too many fansubs on WinMX, but it is an excellent source for the latest raws. WinMX has everything from the latest episodes of Bara no nai Hanaya 薔薇のない花屋, Galileo ガリレオ and Abarembou Mama 暴れん坊ママ all the way back to old classics like Haru Ranman 春ランマン. It is also probably one of the easiest p2p clients to use: just type the title into the Search screen, and right click on the files to download them. There are usually more sources than BitTorrent, so the downloads can be surprisingly quick. Also, there are many active forums and chat channels in English which can provide support. Another feature is that you can view incomplete video files from start to end, just by clicking on them.

WinMX runs on most versions of Microsoft Windows, and there are versions available for Linux. The company that first developed WinMX, Frontcode Technologies, no longer runs any servers, but programmer groups like the WinMX Group put together new servers and a patch in September 2005, mere days after Frontcode shut down. You can download the latest version (3.54 Patched) at:

WinMX ConEx

If you are using a firewall, you will need to add WinMX to the list of programs with access to the internet and/or open up a couple of ports, so that traffic can get through. In WinMX, you can find (and change) the port numbers by clicking on Settings, and then Incoming TCP Connections and In/Out UDP Packets under Internet Connections. If you are using the Windows XP SP2 firewall, click on Start, Settings, Control Panel, Windows Firewall, Exceptions and then Add Port, ie. the same numbers as listed in WinMX.

Once you are online, click on the Search tab. Under 'Artist and / or Title,' there are two empty text boxes, one above the other. In the top box, type in the title of the drama you are looking for. Make sure that the button left of "Search in a New Window" is set to "Any File / Bitrate" or "Video" and not "MP3 Audio."

If you are only getting few results from your searches, add the most popular file to your download queue, switch to the Transfers window, right click on the file, and choose Search for Alternates. This will open a new search window, searching by hash, so it will find files that have been renamed for example from Japanese to English or other languages.

The lower box on the Search tab is for hash values, a long series of numbers and letters that uniquely identifies each video or mp3. The ability to search by hash means it would be possible to post hashes here to help people who can't read Japanese to find their favourite dramas.

There are various ways to try to speed up your downloads. One of the best ways is to find another user who wants to trade files with you, tell each other what number you are in the queue, and then start each other. Browse the files of users in your queue to see if they have anything you want. Many have an add-on called MX Monitor set so that if you start their upload, and are in their queue, they will automatically start you too.

It is a good idea to share a large number of files similar to what you are looking for because users who are uploading to you may be browsing your library as well, or may have MX Monitor set only to upload to users with some minimum number of files.

If you are in the transfers window sitting in someone's queue and not downloading, you can right click on the file, and choose "Search for Alternates" to find other sources which may have shorter queues.

For files not even in queue, you can set "Auto Find Sources" to 10 minutes, and "Auto Enter Queue" to 100, and then WinMX will automatically go looking for other sources. If a queue is longer than 100 you may want to right click the file, and "Enter Remote Queue" anyway. If you try to download two files from the same user the second one gets Queued Locally, but you can right click on the file, and choose Start Transfer.

Vladd44 runs a useful WinMX help site, or you can ask questions in the WinMX World Forum. WinMX World also has a friendly help chat room once you get connected.

To view Japanese in WinMX in XP, under Settings, Control Panel, Regional and Language Settings, you may have to extend support for advanced text services to all programs, and set Japanese as your language for non-Unicode programs. Windows 2000 and probably Vista have similar settings. After this in Windows Explorer dialogs, back slashes will appear as yen marks, and you will have to switch back to English when installing new programs. Some people recommend using Microsoft's free AppLocale program which allows you to change code pages on the fly without having to fiddle with Regional Settings.

Vista users: If WinMX 3.54 with WinMX Group patch 3 won't connect, uninstall it, and try Install-2.2.exe from the KingMacro's Windows Connection Fix page of the WinMX World Archive. See the Vista threads at WinMX World Forums for details.

Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 4:46 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Thanks for the links, havn't been on WinMX for a while (few years, lol).

Just a question, whenever i try to type Japanese characters, the letter will turn into a question mark ("?") when i press enter to type it in the search box....it seems like WinMX isn't recognising japanese charcters at all.... Unsure

Any solutions to this?

Anyways, thanks Laugh

I touched on this topic in the second last paragraph of the TutoriaI. In Control Panel - Regional and Language Options, have you extended support for advanced text services to all programs, and set Japanese as your language for non-Unicode programs? Or have you tried AppLocale?

Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 3:55 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Thanks and sorry Fuurin Laugh

I obviously didn't read the bottom part properly! Tongue

Anyways, i tried applocale, and it is working fine now Mr. Green

Thanks!

Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 5:30 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

That's OK, nak. I'm glad you've got it working now.