Bonus Downloader - user manual

Bonus Downloader - user manual

Added: 2022-02-10
Last update: 2022-03-31
Author:  
Table of Contents
  1. About
  2. Installation and uninstallation
  3. Running the script and GUI
  4. Requirements and additional information
    1. Windows operating system
    2. iStripper installed
    3. Diacritics and special characters
    4. Moving the collection to a new directory
    5. Quick edit mode in Windows console
    6. Windows XP Service Pack 2 Support Tools Add-on
  5. User manual
    1. Settings
    2. Automatic download of bonus content
    3. Download progress
    4. Pause and resume downloading
    5. Downloading selected range of content
    6. Resuming the previous session
    7. Extracting archives
    8. Logs
  6. Troubleshooting and known bugs
    1. Cannot launch the script
    2. Buttons in the script are not clickable
    3. Download process is started, but no files are saved
    4. The download takes a very long time
    5. Pausing downloads does not work
    6. Closing the script and console window after the download has finished does not work

5. Manual

In short, handling the script comes down to selecting target paths, selecting the range of files to be downloaded and clicking the Start button.

5.1. Settings

Before starting the first download, it is advised to select the settings. Open settings page by clicking the Settings button in the upper right corner of the window (or press the S key on your keyboard). The settings section is divided into four screens: Image path, Videos path, Videos misc, General. Switch between tabs by pressing the Tab key, by using the arrows or by clicking directly on the selected tab.

The most important setting to be made is to select the directories where the bonus files will be saved. The script allows you to select a separate path for downloaded images (Destination folder for images) and a separate path for video clips (Destination folder for videos). The default download path is the Downloads folder, however due to the restrictions on diacritics mentioned here, it is recommended to set your own directories.

Other settings:

  • Video quality - allows you to select the maximum resolution for downloaded bonus videos. When set to max (the default value), the script will download clips in the highest resolution available. Selecting a different predefined resolution will cause the script to download only clips in the selected resolution (if a clip with the selected resolution is not available, it will be skipped).
  • Subfolders - option for videos. If you select it, additional subfolders for each iStripper model will be created in the destination folder for videos. The video clips of the individual models will be saved in the corresponding sub-folders. This will make it easier to locate and sort the clips. This option is enabled by default.
  • Delay between downloads - allows you to set a delay of a few minutes between downloads. The script waits the specified time before downloading each subsequent file. The value is expressed in minutes. The minimum value that can be set is 0 (no delay), the maximum is 10 minutes. The default value is 0 (no delay). Change the delay value by clicking the + (plus) and - (minus) buttons or by pressing the Arrow Up / Arrow Down keys.
  • When completed - allows you to set the action after the download process is completed. This setting is saved only for the current window. If the script will be closed and restarted, this setting will be reset. The possible actions are: Do nothing - no additional action, Close application - closes the console window, Log off user - logs out the current user, Shut down computer - closes the system and turns off the computer. Select an action by clicking the option of your choice or by pressing the 1, 2, 3 or 4 key.
  • Logs - access to log files containing information about the download progress, warnings and errors encountered. Logs are saved in two formats: txt and html. The Clear Logs button allows you to clear the contents of log files. More about logs.

To save changes, click the Save button (or press the Enter key).

5.2. Automatic download of bonus content

Due to the fact that the first three functions of the script are similar in both how they function and how to handle them, they are described in one chapter. These functions are: Download all images, Download all videos, Download all images and videos.

All three functions are used to automatically download bonus content. The difference between them is that the download scope is limited to a different set of files.

  • Download all images - this function is used to download bonus photos of shows that are in user's collection (were purchased by the user). Photos of not purchased shows will be skipped.
  • Download all videos - this function is used to download bonus videos of all models available on iStripper.
  • Download all images and videos - this function is used to download all bonus content (images and videos), but only photos of the shows that are in the user's collection (purchased by the user) will be downloaded. Photos of not purchased shows will be skipped.

Depending on which type of bonus content you are interested in, click one of the first three options in the main menu (or press the 1, 2 or 3 key):

[1] Download all images
[2] Download all videos
[3] Download all images and videos

You will be taken to the second (and last) step where you can set additional download parameters.

In the What to download section, you can specify whether to download only missing files or to download all files overwriting existing ones. If you want to download only the missing files, click Only missing files (or press 1). If you want to download all files overwriting existing ones, click All files (overwrite) option (or press the 2 key). The selected option will be marked with a green box.

In the Collections section, you can specify which collections should be included when downloading files. Six collections are available:

  • iStripper - "e" series shows,
  • iStripper XXX - "f" series shows,
  • iStripper Classic - formerly VirtuaGirl HD, "a" series shows,
  • iStripper Classic XXX - formerly DeskBabes, "c" series shows,
  • VirtuaGirl Classic - formerly VirtuaGirl 2, "d" series shows,
  • VirtuaGuy HD - "b" series shows.

You can choose several collections simultaneously by clicking on the collection of your choice or by pressing the corresponding key. Selected collections will be marked with a green box.

If you are ready to start the download, click Start now! button (or press the Enter key). The download process will start.

5.3. Download progress

The download progress is displayed while downloading the files. The screen looks like this:

When downloading files, the following informations are displayed:

  • Card - information about the card, including the card number, model name and title of the show (taken from the names.xml file),
  • Item - the sequence number of the show being processed (not to be confused with the show ID) and the total number of all shows to be processed,
  • File - the number of the currently downloaded file and the number of all files included in the currently downloaded set,
  • Path - the target path where the file is saved,
  • Status - current status,
  • Speed - approximate download speed,
  • Current - progress bar of the current file,
  • Overall - progress bar of the entire process.

Information displayed in the Status field:

  • fetching file size - displayed before downloading each subsequent file. At this point, the script gets information about the file size,
  • downloading 00.0/00.0 MB - displayed while downloading the file. It shows the downloaded amount of data and the total size of files to be downloaded,
  • already downloaded, skipping - displayed when option Only missing files was selected. The file already exists in target location and will be skipped,
  • not in collection, skipping - displayed when downloading bonus images. The currently processed show is not in the user's collection and the associated images will be skipped,
  • paused - displayed when user has paused downloading.

If you lose connection with the server, Bonus Downloader will take three attempts to reconnect. The first attempt will occur after 10 seconds from the loss of connection, the second attempt after the next 20 seconds, the third attempt after the next 30 seconds. If the connection can not be reestablished in any of the attempts, the script will proceed to the next file in the queue. After the download process is complete, user will be informed that some files have not been downloaded due to loss of connection. In addition, the information about lost connection will be recorded in logs (more about logs).

5.4. Pause and resume downloading

Bonus Downloader allows you to pause the download. To pause the download, press the P key on your keyboard. The pause will not happen immediately. Sometimes it may have a delay of a few seconds. This is normal script behavior. After pausing the download, additional buttons will appear that allow you to safely cancel the download (Back button), safely close the script (Quit button) and resume the download (Resume button). The "paused" text will be displayed in the Status field.

NOTE: The pause function may not work on some Windows XP systems, while on slower computers the delay after pressing the P key may be longer. If the pause function does not work, you can workaround the problem by pausing execution of the script. The effect will be similar - the download will be paused. To pause the execution of the script, press the Pause key or the Ctrl+S combination on the keyboard. No additional buttons will be displayed, and the status in the Status field will not change, but this solution should be good enough if you want to stop downloading for some time. To resume the script, press any key on the keyboard.

5.5. Downloading selected range of content

Thanks to the Bonus Downloader script, it is possible to define a set of shows whose bonus content is to be downloaded. In order to use this function, a list of show IDs must be prepared in advance. The list should be prepared as a text file with the .txt extension. The list should contain show IDs separated by commas, semicolons, spaces or a newline. An example of such a list made in Notepad is shown in the figure below.

In addition to individual identifiers, ranges of cards can be entered in the text file. The range should be given as two identifiers separated with dash, eg the range of e0001-e0150 includes all shows with IDs from e0001 to e0150 (inclusive).

The range of identifiers can be specified in three different ways, e.g.:

  • e0001-e0150 - two full IDs, containing a letter identifying the collection and a four-digit number with leading zeros,
  • e0001-0150 - the first ID is full identifier, the second one is number, without the letter,
  • e1-150 - one letter identifying the collection and the range of numbers without leading zeros.

Each of the above forms is correct and represents the same range. An example of a list containing both single identifiers and ranges is shown in the figure below.

Having the list of shows prepared, launch Bonus Downloader and select option 4 in the main menu:

[4] Download selected images and videos

You will be asked for a path to your list. Click the Load button (or press the L key) and find your text file in the file selection window. Select your file and click Open.

You can also use iStripper playlists (files with the .vpl extension) as a source of identifiers. Loading a vpl file is similar to loading a list from a text file. To load a vpl file, click the Load button (or press the L key), in the file selection window, change the type of displayed files to "iStripper playlists (* .vpl)" and find your playlist. Select the file and click Open. The script will extract the unique IDs of the shows from the playlist and download their bonus content (both photos and videos).

In the What to download section you can specify whether to download only the missing files or to download all files overwriting the existing ones. If you only want to download the missing files, click the Only missing files option (or press the 1 key). If you want to download all files and overwrite the existing ones, click the All files (overwrite) option (or press the 2 key). The selected option will be marked with a green square.

If you are ready to start the download, click the Start now! button (or press the Enter key). The script will process the list and check if the given identifiers are correct. Wrong identifiers will be removed from queue. The download process will start.

5.6. Resuming the previous session

A session is each separate download process. Bonus Downloader saves information about the state of the session on an ongoing basis. Thanks to those informations, it is possible to resume the download process in case of an unexpected interruption. The resumed process uses the same settings that were selected in the previous session. Download process starts where the previous download was interrupted.

To resume interrupted download, select option 5 in the main menu:

[5] Continue previous session

Information about settings selected in the previous session will be displayed. Click the Continue button (or press the Enter key) to proceed with the download.

If the previous session wasn't finished and user tried to start a new download process (new session), a warning about incomplete session will be displayed. Click the Continue button (or press the Enter key) to continue the unfinished download. If you want to discard the previous session and start a new download, click the Discard button (or press the D key).

5.7. Extracting archives

In version 1.2 of the script there is an option to automatically extract archives with bonus photos. To enable it, open Settings, go to the Misc. tab and in the Image archives section, enable the Unzip option.

After enabling the Unzip option, each downloaded archive will be extracted immediately. The contents of each archive will be unpacked into a separate folder, and all archives will be unpacked within one directory selected in Settings, in the Image path tab.

The user cannot choose the name of the folder, where the archive will be extracted. Folder names are created automatically and they differ depending on whether the option Create subfolders for images of each model is active or not. If the option is disabled, folder names will include card ID, model name, and show title. If the option is active (by default), the names of the folders will only contain the card ID and title of the show. The model's name is already included in the name of subfolder and there is no need to repeat it. The figure below shows an example of the directory structure and folder names if the Create subfolders for images of each model option is disabled (folders with images contain the card ID, model name and show title).

The next figure shows an example of the directory structure and folder names if the Create subfolders for images of each model option is enabled (folders with images are located in the model's subfolder, and their names contain only the card ID and title of the show).

If you have used the previous version of the script so far, you probably have a lot of previously downloaded zip archives with bonus photos on your hard drive. Manual unpacking and segregation could take a long time. Fortunately, the Bonus Downloader script has the option to automatically extract previously downloaded archives. Archives can be extracted into appropriately named subfolders, making it easy to find photos of a specific model and her show.

To extract previously downloaded archives, select option 7 in the main menu:

[7] Extract existing image archives

A page will be displayed with additional settings that you can adjust according to your needs.

Available options:

  • Create subfolders for images of each model - check this option if you want the script to create subfolders for each iStripper model. Subfolders named after the model's name will be created in the photo destination directory. Photos of individual models will be saved to their respective subfolders. This will make it easier to locate and segregate files. By default, this option is set the same as in the Settings tab.
  • Overwrite existing images - if images with the same name already exist, the script will replace the old files with the newer versions. By default, this option is disabled.
  • Move archives to subfolders - after unpacking the images the archive will be moved to the related model's subfolder. This will keep your files tidier. Archives will only be transferred if extraction was successful. Archives will not be moved if extraction ended with an error. This option only works when the Create subfolders for images of each model option is enabled.
  • Delete archives when extracted - deletes the archive after extracting is complete. Archives will only be deleted if extraction was successful. If an error occurs during extraction, the archive will not be deleted.

If you’re ready to start the extraction process, click the Start now! button (or press the Enter key). The script will first scan the image path for zip archives. This may take a while depending on the number of archives found. After that, photo extraction will start. The progress of the process will be shown on the screen as below.

The progress screen shows information about the currently processed archive, selected options, model and title of the show, the total number and the number of processed archives as well as the target path where the files are unpacked. The progress bar shows the overall progress of the process.

5.8. Logs

Information about the most important actions, warnings and information about errors are saved in log files. Bonus Downloader saves logs in two files: session.log and session.html. Both files contain the same information. The difference between them lies in their readability. The session.log file is saved as plain text which can be read with Notepad. The session.html file has an integrated CSS style sheet. It makes the logs much clearer and more pleasant to read. The session.html can be opened in any web browser.

Both log files are saved in the script's installation directory, in the logs subfolder.





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