Thanks goes out to Steve Davis for
creating such a fine instructional on using Forte Agent.
When downloading and saving multi-part video sections with Agent (Forte Agent is
the full licensed version, Free Agent is the free striped down version that does
not support yEnc), the following are the steps, along with a config
consideration:
1) The default for group properties is to combine multi-part message headers
when retrieving. It is recommended that you un-check this option � if there is a
missing part, you won�t see it, and if you are not able to download the WHOLE
section, you end up with nothing. So, I recommend going into Group/Properties,
select the Receive Files tab, and un-check the default 'Join Multipart messages
when retrieving links' check box, then click on OK.
Assuming you�ve done a great job of downloading all the parts, the rest can be
done off-line if needed.
2) To save a related group of files (For example: Dahlia Grey - Pinups - Lea
Martini, Tracy Smith - Part 06 of 12.avi.001 (01/46) through Dahlia Grey�� 001
(46/46):
Single left click on 01/46, scroll down to 46/46, hold down the Shift
key and left click to select and highlight the whole group. Note that all
the files have around the same # of lines, except the last item in the
group. For Pinups it was 5001 lines. The document symbol on the left of the
line is while at this point.
Right click on any of the highlighted files. Agent then displays a
context menu to the side.
Select the option 'Join Sections�' near the bottom of the list. Agent
then displays the Join Sections dialog box.
Click on Join. Agent then does the join. Note that now only 1 line
displays vs. the 46 before, the # of lines is a whole lot larger (227605)
and the document symbol is now yellow. But you still need to save the
file, so:
On that still highlighted line for the joined parts, right click again
and select �save all attachments�. Agent writes out a file to the working
directory under the same name (until this step, it was still in the Agent
database)
Now to avoid over-combining due to mis-selecting, before you go any
further, delete that still highlighted line, so you don�t accidentally pull
in into the next group as well, as I did twice. Agent has a trash-bin, so if
you delete the wrong line, you can bring it right back, but once you�ve
joined the sections, ya can�t un-join �em. How to further protect yourself?
Before you start joining/saving, if you have 5 gb or so spare disk capacity,
copy the Agent directory somewhere else, leaving out already decoded
binaries. So, if you dork a join as I did, you go back to the other
directory and re-do the join and save attachments, then copy the resulting
files from that Agent directory to where you have the rest of the files for
the vid. There was a good reason the A.B.P FAQ recommends using Windows
Explorer rather than the desktop.
3) Now for joining the parts. I downloaded hj-join, and I don�t know if I got an
old version, but both the 16 and 32 bit versions work differently than I would
have expected, and what the FAQ leads me to believe. So, if your version does
not work like mine, probably neither of us are too CNS impaired, it�s a matter
of free internet software. But this worked � eventually. When I tried to execute
Join in a directory where there were no files to join, it did nothing. When I
copied the files there out of desperation, it never prompted me for anything,
just joined the files and left me with a really fine .avi (thanks not only to
hj-join software creators, but the great A.B.P posters who made such a wonderful
contribution)
So, what I recommend, for not only working with Join, but to also protect
yourself against error, is to set up a Join directory, and copied the
movie.001, 002 � files into it. Have Join there as well. When you have copied
all the parts there, execute Join. It joins the parts.
4)Test the resulting AVI/mpg/mov�. If it plays well, you can now delete anything
relevant � 001 files, files out of the Agent trash bin� But not till you test,
as you will have just really compromised your recovery ability to recover. Which
is another topic, and another day.
If anyone can think of any additions or corrections please email me
and I will add it or make the appropriate corrections.
