diff --git a/simulator/config/example.cfg b/simulator/config/example.cfg
index 3179e900..acc832c7 100755
--- a/simulator/config/example.cfg
+++ b/simulator/config/example.cfg
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ protocol.3kademlia peersim.kademlia.KademliaProtocol
 protocol.3kademlia.transport 2unreltr
 protocol.3kademlia.BITS 256
 protocol.3kademlia.NBUCKETS 17
+protocol.3kademlia.FINDMODE 0
 
 
 # ::::: INITIALIZERS :::::
diff --git a/simulator/src/main/java/peersim/kademlia/KademliaCommonConfig.java b/simulator/src/main/java/peersim/kademlia/KademliaCommonConfig.java
index 1d009eb2..c108df3e 100755
--- a/simulator/src/main/java/peersim/kademlia/KademliaCommonConfig.java
+++ b/simulator/src/main/java/peersim/kademlia/KademliaCommonConfig.java
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ public class KademliaCommonConfig {
   public static int MAXREPLACEMENT = 10; // number of items in the replacement list for each bucket
 
   public static int FINDMODE = 0; // find mode: 0 find by node id / 1 find by distance to node
+
   /**
    * short information about current mspastry configuration
    *
diff --git a/simulator/src/main/java/peersim/kademlia/KademliaProtocol.java b/simulator/src/main/java/peersim/kademlia/KademliaProtocol.java
index 45edf606..09dfe3ee 100755
--- a/simulator/src/main/java/peersim/kademlia/KademliaProtocol.java
+++ b/simulator/src/main/java/peersim/kademlia/KademliaProtocol.java
@@ -197,10 +197,13 @@ private void handleResponse(Message m, int myPid) {
         if (neighbour != null) {
           // create a new request to send to neighbour
           Message request = new Message(Message.MSG_FIND);
+          if (KademliaCommonConfig.FINDMODE == 1) request = new Message(Message.MSG_FIND_DIST);
           request.operationId = m.operationId;
           request.src = this.getNode();
           request.dest = m.dest;
           request.body = fop.destNode;
+          if (KademliaCommonConfig.FINDMODE == 1)
+            request.body = Util.distance(fop.destNode, (BigInteger) fop.body);
           // increment hop count
           fop.nrHops++;
 
@@ -241,10 +244,14 @@ private void handleResponse(Message m, int myPid) {
   private void handleFind(Message m, int myPid) {
     // get the ALPHA closest node to destNode
 
-    logger.info("handleFind " + (BigInteger) m.body);
-
-    BigInteger[] neighbours = this.routingTable.getNeighbours((BigInteger) m.body, m.src.getId());
+    logger.info("handleFind received");
 
+    BigInteger[] neighbours = new BigInteger[KademliaCommonConfig.K];
+    if (m.getType() == Message.MSG_FIND) {
+      neighbours = this.routingTable.getNeighbours((BigInteger) m.body, m.src.getId());
+    } else if (m.getType() == Message.MSG_FIND_DIST) {
+      neighbours = this.routingTable.getNeighbours((int) m.body);
+    }
     // for (BigInteger neigh : neighbours) logger.warning("Neighbours " + neigh);
     // create a response message containing the neighbours (with the same id of the request)
     Message response = new Message(Message.MSG_RESPONSE, neighbours);
@@ -284,7 +291,7 @@ private void handleInitFind(Message m, int myPid) {
 
     // set message operation id
     m.operationId = fop.operationId;
-    m.type = Message.MSG_FIND;
+
     m.src = this.getNode();
 
     // send ALPHA messages
@@ -293,6 +300,12 @@ private void handleInitFind(Message m, int myPid) {
       if (nextNode != null) {
         m.dest =
             nodeIdtoNode(nextNode).getKademliaProtocol().getNode(); // new KademliaNode(nextNode);
+        // set message type depending on find mode
+        if (KademliaCommonConfig.FINDMODE == 0) m.type = Message.MSG_FIND;
+        else {
+          m.type = Message.MSG_FIND_DIST;
+          m.body = Util.distance(nextNode, (BigInteger) fop.body);
+        }
 
         logger.info("sendMessage to " + nextNode);
 
@@ -325,7 +338,7 @@ public void sendMessage(Message m, BigInteger destId, int myPid) {
     transport = (UnreliableTransport) (Network.prototype).getProtocol(tid);
     transport.send(src, dest, m, kademliaid);
 
-    if (m.getType() == Message.MSG_FIND) { // is a request
+    if (m.getType() == Message.MSG_FIND || m.getType() == Message.MSG_FIND_DIST) { // is a request
       Timeout t = new Timeout(destId, m.id, m.operationId);
       long latency = transport.getLatency(src, dest);
 
@@ -362,6 +375,7 @@ public void processEvent(Node myNode, int myPid, Object event) {
         break;
 
       case Message.MSG_FIND:
+      case Message.MSG_FIND_DIST:
         m = (Message) event;
         handleFind(m, myPid);
         break;
diff --git a/simulator/src/main/java/peersim/kademlia/RoutingTable.java b/simulator/src/main/java/peersim/kademlia/RoutingTable.java
index d023bf7e..d26e095c 100755
--- a/simulator/src/main/java/peersim/kademlia/RoutingTable.java
+++ b/simulator/src/main/java/peersim/kademlia/RoutingTable.java
@@ -65,6 +65,23 @@ public void removeNeighbour(BigInteger node) {
     bucketAtDistance(Util.distance(nodeId, node)).removeNeighbour(node);
   }
 
+  // return the neighbours with a specific common prefix len
+  public BigInteger[] getNeighbours(final int dist) {
+    BigInteger[] result = new BigInteger[0];
+    ArrayList<BigInteger> resultList = new ArrayList<BigInteger>();
+    resultList.addAll(bucketAtDistance(dist).neighbours.keySet());
+
+    if (resultList.size() < k && (dist + 1) <= 256) {
+      resultList.addAll(bucketAtDistance(dist + 1).neighbours.keySet());
+      while (resultList.size() > k) resultList.remove(resultList.size() - 1);
+    }
+    if (resultList.size() < k & (dist - 1) >= 0) {
+      resultList.addAll(bucketAtDistance(dist - 1).neighbours.keySet());
+      while (resultList.size() > k) resultList.remove(resultList.size() - 1);
+    }
+    return resultList.toArray(result);
+  }
+
   // return the closest neighbour to a key from the correct k-bucket
   public BigInteger[] getNeighbours(final BigInteger key, final BigInteger src) {
     // resulting neighbours
@@ -85,7 +102,7 @@ public BigInteger[] getNeighbours(final BigInteger key, final BigInteger src) {
     // else get k closest node from all k-buckets
     prefix_len = 0;
     while (prefix_len < KademliaCommonConfig.BITS) {
-      neighbour_candidates.addAll(k_buckets.get(prefix_len).neighbours.keySet());
+      neighbour_candidates.addAll(bucketAtDistance(prefix_len).neighbours.keySet());
       // remove source id
       neighbour_candidates.remove(src);
       prefix_len++;