I'm completely new to this. How do I get started?

Click here for interactive tutorial (Flash required)

Well, you've already taken a first step by finding this website. If you haven't registered already, please do that now on the registration page. The link opens in a new window so you can register while you read this. Once you have registered and confirmed your email address, you have access to all the content available on this site.

Step by step

• Download and install a BitTorrent client. We recommend BitComet. Go on click, it opens in a new window. If simplicity is your thing uTorrent is also a very good client, and has ironed out the annoying bugs it used to have.
  
• Search through this site and find the .torrent file you want (e.g - The Rock Saturday video torrent). A list of all torrents can be found on the Download page.



• Download the .torrent file to your computer.



• Open the torrent file with your torrent client you downloaded in step 1. (Screen shot is how to download with BitComet, it should be similar with uTorrent)



• Select a place on your harddrive to where the file you want will be saved and click ok.
• Sit back and relax while the file downloads.

Here's a summary of what happens. This site contains .torrent files. Think of these torrent files as instructions on where to find the file you want to download. You open the .torrent file with a BitTorrent client. The client follows instructions in the .torrent file and connects to the people who have the file, and starts downloading.

That's it. If you have any more questions, please post it on the forums help section.

How do I select only certain files from a torrent?

You might have noticed some torrents containing multiple files - music torrents which have multiple mp3's or music video torrents that have multiple video files. So what do you do if you want to download only one file from the bundle? Simple. Most torrent clients have a feature that allows you to select and deselect files from bundled torrents. This explanation is on how to do it with BitComet.
Note: If you have no idea what this means, you either probably have to read the tutorial above ^^ or you don't need to read this. Move on. If not, please do read since this will save you a lot of bandwidth and frustration.

Open the torrent you want to download

You will be faced with the screen below. Unselect the files you don't want and leave selected the files you want downloaded.

If you want to download unselected files later on, right click the torrent inside BitComet, click Properties and select them again.

If you need any help don't hesitate to Contact Us or cry for help on the Forum.

How do I upload files?

If you have Sri Lankan content you would like to make available for download, follow these steps. This tutorial is written for BitComet. If you're using a different client, the settings should mostly be similar. Content that is not related to Sri Lanka will be removed.

NOTE: If you're not able to seed the files you submit, please don't submit it. Contact me and we will sort something out.

Preparing your files

If you have multiple files you want to share, such as a music album, read through the following steps. If you want to upload just a single file such as a video or a sinlge mp3, you can skip these steps.

Create a new folder and name it appropriately according to the content to be uploaded.

Move or copy all files you want to upload into the newly created folder.

Creating the torrent

Open BitComet (or whatever client you are using). Navigate to File > Create Torrent. The Create Torrent window should open.

If you're uploading multiple files (music album etc) - Under 'Source File', select the Directory (Multi Files) option. This tells BitComet to look for folders, and not single files.
If you're uploading a single file (one video or mp3) - Under 'Source File', select the Single File option. This tells BitComet to look for files.

Click Browse and an explorer window should open.
Multiple Files - Navigate to where you saved your folder, select it and click ok.
Single Files - Navigate to where your file is saved, select it and click ok

Next is selection of the network type. Select Only select peers from tracker (No DHT or Peer Exchange). This will give the torrent you're creating a 'private flag'.

VERY IMPORTANT: Under 'Tracker Server List', you will have to delete any existing addresses and insert "http://www.lankantorrents.com/announce.php" (without brackets). That should be the only address in the text box.

Next, make sure the Generate .torrent file checkbox is ticked. The textbox below that is where your torrent will be saved to.
Mutiple Files - The default location to be saved is the folder in which your content folder is in. e.g - If my mp3's are in C:\LankanTorrents\New Upload Content, then the torrent will be saved in C:\LankanTorrents.
Single Files - The default location to be saved is the folder in which your file is in. e.g - If the mp3 is in C:\LankanTorrents\Funky Mp3, then the torrent will be saved in C:\LankanTorrents\Funky Mp3.

Click OK and you should see the torrent being created (small greenish progress bar at the bottom of BitComet).

Once the torrent has been created, it is automatically opened into BitComet. We don't want this happening since this newly created torrent hasn't been through the tracker yet. Right click the torrent in BitComet - select Remove > Remove Task Only. This should remove the torrent task from BitComet and NOT the torrent on your harddrive.

Now you have to upload the torrent to the LankanTorrents tracker.

Uploading The Torrent

Go to http://www.lankantorrents.com/upload.php, or just click Upload from the left menu.

On the upload page, click Choose to open an explorer window. Select the newly created torrent and click ok.

Choose a suitable category from the drop down list for your torrent to be listed under.

Enter a filename. This wont be necessary if you named your file or folder properly. Note that this is the name that will appear on the site for members, so don't hesitate to enter a suitable name if needed.

A description is important for most content. You can give in information like file formats, bitrates, length... and other information like details about the content you're uploading - maybe some background on the content.

Selecting the Send as anonymous option will not reveal who uploaded the content to members. This is generally not recommended, but is not prohibited. Use it wisely.

Unfortunately forum discussions aren't created automatically as torrents are uploaded, so you'll have to create a new forum discussion in the 'Torrent Discussions' section of the forum. Once created, paste the direct link to the discussion into the Forum Discussion text box.

Leave Allow the tracker to retrieve and use information from the torrent file checked.

Click OK and your file is entered into the database. The next page you see should be something like this.

Seeding the torrent

Seeding the torrent is VERY important. Since you're the only one with the file at this point, it is important that you be connected and ready to any members wanting the file.

The screen which you see just after uploading the torrent to the tracker should give you a Download link which lets you download the newly uploaded torrent. If you missed it, you can always download the torrent the traditional way - go to the download page, click the torrent and download.

Click it and either download the torrent onto your harddrive or directly open the torrent with your torrent client. (At this stage it's assumed that you have removed the torrent task as instructed earlier. If you have not, you will get a Torrent Task Exited error.)

Your client should ask you where you want to save the content of the torrent. If you've set a default path for your downloads to be saved, you will have to set it to ask you each time where downlaods should be saved.
Mutiple Files - Select the folder in which your content folder is in. e.g - if C:\LankanTorrents\content is where my mp3's are, C:\LankanTorrents has to be selected.
Single File - Just select the file.
Once this is done, your client will recognise that you have 100% of the file and start seeding the torrent.

That's it! Any questions can be directed to the contact page or forum help page.