Downloads

Hoard keeps local copies of what you own on Booth, Gumroad, Jinxxy and itch.io, and keeps them up to date when creators update their files. Payhip is listed, not downloaded: see Payhip.

Downloading

• Sync (top right) reads what you own from each store you use, then downloads anything new, as one job.
• The routine check (in Settings: off unless you choose every 6 or 12 hours, once a day, once a week or once a month) runs by itself while Hoard is open: it reads your stores, checks your downloads (see Checking your downloads) and checks for updates. It downloads nothing itself: when it found something new or updated, both pages say so, with Choose what to download (the list Download new shows) and Not now. It leaves Payhip out (Payhip needs you there for its bot check), waits for any other job to finish, and when you're offline it tries again 15 minutes later instead of marking your stores as unreachable. Hoard doesn't run it while it's closed. From 3.1, with Hoard in the background, a notification from your system says how many new products and updates it found (never their names): once, and again only when it finds more. Turn that off in Settings.
• Your tasks go first. Start something while the routine check runs and the check stops safely to make way; Tasks says so, and it carries on after yours. Anything you start also waits ahead of automatic ones in Tasks.
• Download new (in Downloads) and Download everything new (in Stores) download without refreshing your Library list first, from the stores switched on in Settings. A store's Download button does one store. Each first lists what it would get: what's in your library with nothing on disk yet, and the updates the last check found. Untick anything you don't want this time; left all ticked, it downloads everything new as before. Where Hoard knows a product's files before downloading (an update's new and changed files, and a Booth product's files), Choose files under it lists them to untick one by one; what you leave out is listed as skipped, and downloaded another time if you choose it. Always skip leaves a product out of every download and sync, including automatic ones, until you choose Stop skipping (under Always skipped in the same list). Update all lists the updates the same way.
• Download in an item's details (in the Library) downloads just that product, and so do Update in Downloads and Download for several selected products in the Library. A product you always skip still downloads when you choose it like this. Hoard goes straight to it on Jinxxy (its item page) and Gumroad (its download page). On Booth it still reads your library list (Booth lists the files there), and on itch.io it asks itch.io's API.

Progress shows as Hoard works. At the end, a summary lists what's new, what was updated, what was skipped and anything that couldn't be downloaded, with the reason. A file that fails to download is tried again first (twice, after a short wait; Failed downloads in Settings), unless the store says it isn't there or isn't yours.

One thing at a time, in turn

Hoard does one job at a time, but you don't have to wait for it: start a sync, a download, a refresh or a sign-in while something is running, and it's queued, and starts when its turn comes. The same job isn't queued twice.

Tasks (next to Library and Downloads) shows what's running, with its progress, what's waiting, and what finished, newest first, each with how it went (Done, Partly done when a store couldn't be read or a file couldn't be downloaded, Failed or Stopped), how long it took, any problems and its full progress. A sync that can't read any of your stores (offline, say, or signed out of them all) fails and says which, without trying to download. The download panel closes by itself a few seconds after a job that went well; one with problems stays until you close it. Take a waiting job off the queue with its ×, or Clear them all; Stop stops a download or sync within a few seconds. Force stop ends any task at once (a refresh or a sign-in too): it closes the store's browser, the sign-in window or the browser download straight away, and keeps what finished. What's running also shows beside the store tabs; click it to open Tasks. The list of finished tasks is kept between runs (the last 60), in tasks.json. While your hidden library is locked, hidden products' names are left out of it.

Stop pauses safely within a few seconds, even part way through a big file. A file Hoard downloads itself (Gumroad, itch.io, and Booth and Jinxxy unless they turn Hoard away) resumes where it stopped next time; one the browser downloads (Booth or Jinxxy when they do) starts again. Everything that finished is recorded. If the store's browser has stopped answering, so the job can't notice Stop, Hoard closes that browser after 20 seconds and the job ends; Hoard's log notes where it was waiting. A job that goes 5 minutes without any progress says so, and the log notes where it is (Open logs folder in Settings; see Where Hoard keeps things).

If a store's browser closes by itself part way through (Jinxxy, or Booth through the browser), Hoard opens it again and tries the product it was on once more, then carries on. If it keeps closing, Hoard leaves the rest of that store for next time, with one message saying so, rather than a failure for every product left.

Closing Hoard while it's working

In Hoard's own window, closing it minimizes Hoard to the taskbar (the Dock on a Mac), and Hoard carries on with whatever it's doing; click it there to bring the window back. Quit Hoard in Settings quits. To have the close button quit instead, turn off Closing the window minimizes Hoard to the taskbar in Settings.

With that off, closing Hoard's window (or Quit Hoard in Settings) while something is running, or waiting its turn, asks what to do:

• Stop it, then close: what's waiting is taken off the queue, what's running is stopped as Stop does, and Hoard closes as soon as it has.
• Minimize, and keep working (in Hoard's own window): the window goes to the taskbar and Hoard carries on.
• Close now: Hoard closes at once, ending any store browser it has open. Use it if stopping takes too long.

While a file downloads, the download panel and Tasks show a progress bar with how much has come in, how fast, and how long is left (for a file coming through the browser, how much and how fast: the browser doesn't say how big it is). A download that stops coming in (the store stops sending it but doesn't hang up) is given up on after 2 minutes with nothing new, and tried again like any other failed download, so it can't hold up the job, or the jobs waiting after it.

Hoard waits a moment between pages on a store (1 second, request_delay in config.json) to stay polite.

Your downloads folder

Downloads go to a Hoard folder in your Documents unless you choose another in Settings. Inside, everything is sorted by store, creator and product:

Hoard/
  Booth/
    Kitsu Studio/
      Rusk Avatar Base/
        Rusk.unitypackage
        _thumbnail.png
        asset.json
    _manifest.json
  Gumroad/  Jinxxy/  Itch/  Payhip/
  catalog.json
  tags.json

• A product keeps its folder even if it's renamed on the store.
• Two products or files whose names clean up alike never share a folder or overwrite each other.
• Names are cleaned before anything is saved, including invisible characters that could make a program's name look like a picture's.
• Downloads only ever go inside this folder.

The files Hoard writes there (catalog.json, tags.json, asset.json and each store's _manifest.json) are explained in Where Hoard keeps things.

Library folders on other drives

When your downloads drive fills up, add a folder on another drive in Settings, under Library folders (up to 10): in Hoard's window, Add a folder… opens your system's folder picker and adds the one you choose; or type its path. Each is laid out like the downloads folder, a folder per store, and Hoard reads them all as one library: Downloads, Hoard for Unity, the routine checks and syncing cover every one.

• A tab for each folder. Once you've added one, Downloads has a tab for every library folder after the stores' tabs, named for the folder and its drive ("Hoard (E:)"), with how many downloads it holds. Choose one to see only what's in that folder; choose it again, or Everything, to see them all. A folder whose drive isn't connected shows its tab dimmed.

• New downloads go to the downloads folder. A product already in another folder is kept up to date there.

• Moving products: open one in Downloads and, under Library folder, choose where and Move here; or choose Select, pick several, and use Move here in the selection bar (each move is a task of its own). Hoard copies its files, checks each one by size and fingerprint, and only then deletes them where they were; if anything goes wrong, it stays where it was. Anything of your own in its folder isn't moved. Follow it in Tasks.

• A drive that isn't connected: its products are left out of Downloads until it's back, and a sync skips them rather than downloading them again. The routine check says which folders it couldn't check.

• Removing a folder in Settings only stops Hoard reading it; its files stay, and come back when you add it again.

• A library folder can't be inside the downloads folder or another library folder, or around one, and can't be Hoard's own folder or Hoard Edits.

Updates from creators

A file counts as updated when the store offers a new version of it: a different size or file link on Gumroad or Booth, the same file name under a new label on Jinxxy, or a new name or size shown for the same file on itch.io. Updated files are downloaded again and listed as updated in the summary. (When the new version has a different name, the old file stays in the folder too; Hoard never deletes your files.)

Sets

From 4.0, a set groups products you use together: an avatar, its outfits and hair, and the shaders they need, say. Make one with New set (under Sets in the sidebar), or choose Select, pick products and use New set (a set of them) or Add to set; a product's details list its sets, with Add and × to take it out. From 4.0.4, Make a set in Projects makes one of the products a Unity project uses. Choose a set in the sidebar to see just its products; Rename set and Delete set are beside its filter (deleting a set leaves its products as they are). Sets are kept in sets.json in Hoard's app-data folder, and listed in catalog.json for Hoard for Unity, whose Import set imports them in one go (see Hoard for Unity).

Previous versions

From 4.0, when an update replaces a file (the same name, new contents), the old one is kept: it goes to _Previous versions/<date and time>/ in the product's own folder. A product's details in Downloads list them under Previous versions, with when each was replaced and Restore, which puts it back as the current file and keeps the one it replaces there in turn, so you can change your mind. Hoard keeps the last one of each file unless you choose otherwise in Settings (Previous versions: none, or the last 1, 2, 3 or 5); older ones are deleted. They stay out of everything else: the files Hoard checks, Disk space and Hoard for Unity only see the current files. Delete downloaded files deletes a product's previous versions too, and Move to takes them along.

Checking for updates without downloading

Check for updates (in Downloads, under Updates on the left) reads your stores the way a download would, but downloads nothing. It lists each thing you've downloaded that has newer files on its store: files the creator added since you downloaded it, and files they changed. They show in the Updates view, and with an Update badge on the card. Choose Update all there, or open one and choose Update to download just that one. Each item's details also have Check for updates, to check only it. In the Library, an item with updates says Update available, with a link to it in Downloads.

What counts as changed depends on what each store shows: a new file, size or file link on Booth and Gumroad, itch.io's checksum (or else the name, size and date it shows), and on Jinxxy a new or renamed download button. Jinxxy doesn't show sizes, so a file the creator replaced under the same button name isn't spotted there. A file you deleted from your computer isn't counted as an update; Download new fetches it again. Payhip isn't checked, because Hoard doesn't download from it.

Resuming

A download that stops partway leaves a .part file, and the next download picks up where it ended. Hoard only adds to it the part of the file that follows, and only puts the file in place once it's complete, so a file is never stitched together from two versions: if the creator changed the file in the meantime, it's downloaded again from the start. Beside the .part file Hoard keeps what the store said about the file when it started (its ETag, date and size, in .part-info), and only resumes when the store says it's still that file.

The Downloads view

• Search matches names, creators, tags and file names. Filter by store, creator, tag or File types, and sort by name, creator, newest or size.
• Open a product to see its files, sizes and folder. Open folder opens it in Explorer (or Finder), Show in folder shows one file there, and Copy path copies the folder's location.
• A file that's been moved or deleted since it was downloaded shows as missing. Rescan checks the folder again, say after you've tidied it yourself.
• Look inside (from 4.0, beside each .unitypackage and .zip) shows what it holds without extracting or importing anything. A Unity package's files are listed in their folders (each opens as you choose it), with their sizes and the preview pictures Unity keeps inside the package; Search in it finds a file wherever it is. A .zip lists its files, and what each Unity package in it holds. One locked with a password says so (the store page usually gives the password), and one that isn't what its name says, or is damaged, says that. Hoard keeps what it read (in its cache folder) for the 40 files you looked inside most recently, so a second look is instant.
• What it needs (from 4.0, in a product's details) lists what its packages use that isn't in them: tools such as lilToon, Poiyomi Toon (with the version its materials were made with), Modular Avatar, VRCFury, NDMF, Avatar Optimizer and the VRChat SDK, each with Get it (its own website); and whether it also uses files from other products (often a base avatar or a paid shader). Hoard works it out by reading each package once, in the background while nothing else is running, and again only when it changes: Unity names everything an asset uses by an ID, so the IDs a package's materials and prefabs name, less its own, are what it needs from elsewhere. Hoard knows the tools' IDs from their own published releases. (4.0.0 to 4.0.2 also named which of your other products those files are in; from 4.0.3 they aren't named, as creators share and reuse files too often to tell a real need from noise.) Hoard for Unity uses the same list to warn you before importing.

Checking your downloads

When you choose Check now, and as part of the routine check if you've turned it on in Settings, Hoard checks that your downloads are as it downloaded them: every file there, the size it was downloaded at, and unchanged since. The first check reads each file in full and keeps its fingerprint (SHA-256) in Hoard's records; later checks read a file again only if its size or modified time changed, so they're quick. A file downloaded since the last check isn't read until the next one: it was checked as it came in. It also checks the seal on Hoard's own records.

The Downloads sidebar says when it last checked and what it found, with Check now. The check is a task like a sync, so Tasks lists it, with the files that are missing or changed. A file that changed may be your own edit; see the next section for editing safely. Delete a changed file and sync to download it again as the store has it.

Disk space

Disk space (beside Downloads, Updates and the rest; from 3.1) lists every download biggest first, with how much it takes, and how much they take in all. Two ways to narrow it down:

• Same file kept twice: files of 1 MB or more you have more than once: in two products (a bundle and the product also sold on its own, the same package bought from two stores) or in two library folders. It says how much you'd free by keeping one of each. Open a product to see which of its files are elsewhere, and where. This uses the fingerprints Checking your downloads keeps, so it reads nothing itself: a file the check hasn't fingerprinted yet, or that changed since, isn't compared, and the view says how many there are, with Check now.
• Not in any Unity project: downloads none of your projects use, as Hoard for Unity reports them (see Projects).

Choose Select to pick several, then Move here (to another library folder), Archive (as in the Library; the files stay) or Delete downloaded files (after you confirm; anything of your own in their folders stays, and what's in your library can be downloaded again). Those work in every view, not just this one. Your own folders listed in Local where they are aren't counted: they aren't Hoard's to free.

Changing a download: make an editable copy

Hoard keeps the downloads folder as the stores sent it: a sync replaces a file there that was changed, so edits made there are lost. To change a texture or anything else, open the product and choose Make an editable copy. Hoard copies its files into a folder of their own, in Hoard Edits beside your downloads folder (or the folder edits_root names in config.json), and opens it. A read-me there says what it is.

• Hoard never checks, updates or replaces the copy, and each copy is a new folder (Rusk (2) beside an earlier one), so your edits stay yours.
• Only files that still match what Hoard downloaded are copied. One that was changed or replaced since is left out, and the read-me names it, so a file someone else changed isn't passed on as the store's.
• What you add to the copy later (a texture from a website, a tool someone sent you) hasn't been checked by Hoard. Be as careful with it as with any download.

Payhip

Hoard doesn't download from Payhip: its check for automated browsers made that unreliable. Your Payhip purchases are in the Library, each with Open on Payhip, where you download the files from Payhip. Sync and the download buttons leave Payhip out. What earlier versions of Hoard downloaded from Payhip stays in the Payhip folder, and in this view. See Stores.

itch.io

itch.io's files go in the Itch folder. Game builds (files marked for Windows, macOS, Linux or Android) are skipped unless you turn off Skip game builds in Settings, and files kept on other websites are skipped too; both are listed in the summary. See Stores.