Continuing the Xfire Options series, today the subject is options related to file transfers. This seems to be a recurring problem area, so I hope that this post will clarify the options that are available for users and how they work,


These options start with File Transfer Rates. Here you can control how much bandwidth Xfire is allowed to use for the file transfer system in different situations. You are able to select the Download rate for three different situations and the upload rate is adjusted automatically depending on your selection for the download rate.

The first situation is Playing a game. This is the effective setting whenever Xfire sees you playing a supported game. If you play online, it is generally advisable to have this one Disabled so that Xfire will not use any bandwidth for file transfers, minimizing the lag it would cause to the game.

The second situation is At my computer. This is the effective setting when you are not playing any games but you are using your computer otherwise. Personally I would recommend having some value other than Disabled here so that you will be able to get files when you use your computer. But it always depends on your Internet connection and personal preference what this should be set to.


The third situation is Idle/AFK. This is the effective setting when no game is running and you have not touched either keyboard or mouse for a while. The Idle detection shares the AFK status timer from "Privacy" tab. For example if the AFK timer is set to 3 minutes, Xfire will start using the rates set here if you do not do anything on your computer for three minutes. Of course, once you press any key or move the mouse, Xfire will fall back to "At my computer" setting.

The most common problems that people have with the file transfer rates are:

• Games lagging because "Playing a game" setting does not have Disabled value and the network connection is limited.
  
• Files to be downloaded show Disabled by user settings. This happens if you have selected "Disabled" as the download rate, so check your file transfer rate settings and adjust if needed

The Reset to Defaults button simply resets the file transfer rates to what they were when Xfire was first installed to your computer:

• Playing a game: Disabled / Disabled
  
• At my computer: 30KB/s / 10KB/s
  
• Idle/AFK: 60KB/s / 20KB/s

Under Patches you can enable or disable Automatically download patches for my games. Having this enabled will make Xfire automatically check the Xfire download system for any new patches released for the games you have installed. Note that Xfire cannot know which version of the game you have installed, so Xfire cannot reliably provide you the patches you need. Therefore this feature only makes Xfire download a patch when a new patch is released and put as download by Xfire.

You can always click the What's This? link there to view more information about the automatic patch downloading function.


The Download Folder section is special in that you need to be logged in as the computer administrator to edit it. There are several implications in changing the download location (as long as the underlying Operating System is concerned), so normal users cannot edit it. But if you are the administrator, you can choose here where Xfire downloads the files from Xfire Downloads.

If you already have some downloads added (as you most likely do, Xfire updates belong to these), then changing the location will also move the downloaded files to the new location if you want to (you will be asked what to do with the existing files).


Note that these settings do not have directly any effect on personal file transfers, for example sending a file to a friend. They are only for the P2P download system in Xfire.

The File Transfer Rates, however, can be applied to personal file transfers too. When you send or receive a file, there is a checkbox about the download rate you can enable so that Xfire will follow the rates set in here for that file. Otherwise the download or upload speed of personal file transfers is not limited by Xfire at all.


If you feel like some information here is missing or you have any question, feel free to post a comment and I'll do my best to check it and clarify.

Joonas

PS. I heard there might be a new Xfire client beta available soon.