BSN is shutting down; files there could be lost.

[Tarshana]

I'm sorry for being slightly off-topic on this, but as I recall the only way to get patch 1.05 of DA:O without steam or whatever the other steam is called is from the BSN. Will you be backing this up too or do I have to do my own back up ASAP???

 

You are not off topic and your question is exactly why we are trying to get the word out. We do not know what will happen to these patches for people who bought Bioware games before the EA merger. And what Thandal said- go download whatever you think you may need in the future and hold onto it. If you use any mods from the Nexus make sure they do not have requirements from the Project site, or at least download to hold onto in case you format your hard drives, or something like that. The files are small enough to be held on a thumb drive which is where mine are at now :)

[moho25]

I'm sorry for being slightly off-topic on this, but as I recall the only way to get patch 1.05 of DA:O without steam or whatever the other steam is called is from the BSN. Will you be backing this up too or do I have to do my own back up ASAP???

 

What Thandal says.

 

Why BW is being so tight-lipped on this, I don't know, but I highly doubt BW will give permission for others to host their game patches. They will undoubtedly announce something soon as to what new system they'll be implementing for this content, but for now, I'd recommend downloading it.

 

I suspect they'll try to get everyone to port their disk copies to Origin and have all the DLC and patches hosted through there. I hope not, but it wouldn't be at all surprising.

[Arthmoor]

I'm sorry for being slightly off-topic on this, but as I recall the only way to get patch 1.05 of DA:O without steam or whatever the other steam is called is from the BSN. Will you be backing this up too or do I have to do my own back up ASAP???

You could pick up a copy of the game on GoG if nothing else. DA:O is available there now and it's patched up to version 1.05 already.

 

Always safest to keep your own backups of stuff though.

[moho25]

STATUS REVIEW

Since this is supposed to be the "HQ" thread, let's review where things are at:

1. Tarshana has downloaded the full BSN, DAO Toolset Wiki, and original Mass Effect sites.
2. Felexea has downloaded and ported the entire current BioWare Forum.... I think. My understanding is that this will go live on 8/25 when the existing forum goes read-only.

I know Creeper and Shades were also working on downloads. What are the status of those?

Is anyone else working on downloads? It would be very good to have at least 1 redundant copy of all 4 sites: BSN, DAO Toolset/wiki, original ME site, and current BioWare forum.

Tarshana, am I forgetting anything?

---

Some things right now warrant additional discussion:

1. How do folks get directed to the new forum sites and locations of project downloads?
I know folks are wanting BW to help us out with stickies, but frankly, I don't think we can count on them for much at this point. Also, there's the problem of once the forums actually come down in October.

We need good ways to ensure continuity for the future. What if someone went AFK in July and ends up coming back in November? They'll have missed everything. We need good ways to communicate this info.

• One thing I can do is post a sticky on ME3Explorer. This will reach the bulk of the Mass Effect modding and mod-user community.
• This thread already exists here on Nexus. Tarshana can amend her OP with a message and links to sites, if necessary.
• Nwnvault has copies of all NWN BSN Projects. It would be good if there was a forum sticky there.
• Looks like Tarshana already has a post at DAOmods on reddit.

All these are good.

One other thing we could do is pop up a free WordPress that's only goal is to provide thorough direction on this situation. Give it a name like "Resource on BioWare Forum and BSN Closure". Then include the following:

• Link to BW's blog post (or screenshot it, probably)
• Lay out the details of what happened to the new forums and old BSN
• Put a list of links and a brief overview of all the fan forums that have been created where folks can continue to engage in discussions
• Put a list of known download locations for Projects
• Explain the current difficulties with permissions and re-hosting projects
• Explain the difficulties with private blogs
• Explain how folks can continue to access game patch and DLC downloads
• Update the WP as needed

There's a stickied thread on the forums that currently does this (in part) but again, once the forums are removed, that sticky is gone. If folks think this is a good idea, I'll go ahead and work on the WP this weekend. Won't take long.


2. Contacting Mod Authors.
Tarshana has contacted some mod authors on BSN with the following results:

• Some authors already have their mods hosted on Nexus and other sites.
• Some authors haven't responded.
• Some mod authors don't want their mods on Nexus.

If a mod is already hosted elsewhere, then it's a non-issue. If a mod author specifically tells us they don't want their mod on Nexus, then I'd say these mods are no longer our concern. These authors are now aware of the closure; it's up to them to port their mod to a new site of their preference. It's not up to us to preserve their content.

It's the authors who haven't responded and the authors who haven't yet been contacted that are the most problematic. Contacting mod authors is a large project and it should be handled by more than one person. It would be great if we could get some help with this so it doesn't continue to fall to Tarshana. My plate is very full with my toolset responsibilities.

Tarshana, I know you mentioned a spreadsheet. Can we get this up on Google Docs? That way we can have a bunch of people contacting authors and everyone will know what's what. If you want to send me the sheet, I'm happy to get it uploaded and set up for us. I'll put it up using the ME3Explorer account.


3. Project Hosting.
Right now, Nexus's position is still the following:

• A bulk transfer of BSN Projects isn't possible since some mods already exist here.
• Mod author permission would need to be explicitly given.

This situation may or may not change.

Assuming we can get permission from some authors to upload here, then that's something we should work into the spreadsheet above. That way we have a record of the mod author name, permission status, what's been uploaded, etc.

Some mod authors are apparently very anti-Nexus. I don't understand why, but that's their prerogative. Again, I want to reiterate that these mods are not our concern. If an author doesn't want their mod on Nexus, it's only on BSN, and they know about the closure, it's up to them to preserve their own mods.

One thing I want to reiterate to everyone reading this is that tumblr is NOT a mod hosting platform. I realize that some folks use tumblr for this, but it's a horrible idea. ME3Explorer gets questions all the time from users of tumblr mods. Why do these folks come to us? Because they are essentially at the mercy of the mod author, who hasn't responded to their question. Tumblr mods are essentially unsupported unless the author chooses to engage the commenter. Not to mention there's no versioning system, no good way to report bugs, and no community. In addition, blog article comments are not a proper place to troubleshoot issues -- and there *is* no good place to troubleshoot issues. Tumblr is a blog. It's not meant to host mods.

Hopefully, the mod authors we continue to contact will re-upload their mods themselves, and hopefully, they will do so to Nexus. Nexus already has the largest amount of DAO and ME mods on any website. Far more than ModDB. The closure of BW/BSN is already fracturing the community. It would be nice to fracture projects less by putting them all here on Nexus.

Edited August 11, 2016 by moho25

[CreeperLava]

 

Well, I haven't done much with the BW forums except download small chunks of it. Fexelea has two of the forums ported on her website. But what I have is BSN legacy and ME Original. No one else has copies yet, I need to make sure my login info is wiped out of the files and that the files could be read after I delete info. The link to download it will only be shared with the original team working on this project- I'm giving Creeper the first download so she can view if I have fubared.

 

It's not a "she" :P.

 

@gift

I don't think Fexelea downloaded the whole forums, only a few subforums afaik.

 

My download is still going steadily : 290 GB, 230k/1027k (yup, over a million...)

At this point I'm thinking some of the links must be duplicates that will get sorted by HTTrack later. A million pages seems excessive, even for such a forum.

 

The WP is a good idea, but it needs to be linked to in every other post mentioning the BSN shutdown (as you said, ME3Explorer, Reddit, Nexus...). Otherwise it will never be seen. It would be the best way to centralize information, latest news will be there, in case the other posts aren't updated.

 

I'd be glad to help contact mod authors, once you upload the gdoc. A sample message would be nice, too. How many of them are there still left to contact ?

[Tarshana]

 

 

Well, I haven't done much with the BW forums except download small chunks of it. Fexelea has two of the forums ported on her website. But what I have is BSN legacy and ME Original. No one else has copies yet, I need to make sure my login info is wiped out of the files and that the files could be read after I delete info. The link to download it will only be shared with the original team working on this project- I'm giving Creeper the first download so she can view if I have fubared.

 

It's not a "she" :tongue:.

 

@gift

I don't think Fexelea downloaded the whole forums, only a few subforums afaik.

 

My download is still going steadily : 290 GB, 230k/1027k (yup, over a million...)

At this point I'm thinking some of the links must be duplicates that will get sorted by HTTrack later. A million pages seems excessive, even for such a forum.

 

The WP is a good idea, but it needs to be linked to in every other post mentioning the BSN shutdown (as you said, ME3Explorer, Reddit, Nexus...). Otherwise it will never be seen. It would be the best way to centralize information, latest news will be there, in case the other posts aren't updated.

 

I'd be glad to help contact mod authors, once you upload the gdoc. A sample message would be nice, too. How many of them are there still left to contact ?

 

 

Whoops. I should not have assumed your gender. Please consider it a compliment and not at all meant to take away your manly-manliness.

I also believe that Httrack is sending you to private messages and you are getting error pages- that is what happened to me on the BSN Legacy and caused a serious amount of bloat; another reason why I've been spending many days going over so many pages, I did not wish to send all these error pages.

 

There are probably another thousand, two thousand, more? to contact. I have no idea. You see... I am a derp. The kind of derp that forgets to follow directions. As MohoFish pointed out to me last night, I had not selected "all projects" from the drop down, I had been on "released." So out of the released people I had contacted a handful... now that I see there are a lot of "planning" and such.. I do not know the number. I told Moho that I prioritized who I contacted now, but I know that we will still be messaging people -after- all of this.

 

Sample message

 

Good day to you!

 

I am currently working on the preservation of the mods at the BSN Project website. Bioware has announced it will be shutting things down and as of yet have announced any plans to hold onto those mods (instead of losing them forever!). I noticed you have a few mods that are on that site I figured I'd drop a note and let you know in case you wanted move anything from there to here (that haven't already been moved).

Have a great day!

-Tarshana

 

[moho25]

Okay, here's the plan:

 

--I'm going to first get up the Google Doc and make it publically editable. I'm concerned about vandalism, though, so I need to check on how they handle versioning. If we end up with problems, then I'll have to revert to providing separate editing permissions, which will require a Google/Gmail account.

--With the doc will be instructions, as well as a standardized message to include when contacting authors. PLEASE USE THEM.

--This doc will be important. Very important. It will essentially be an inventory of BSN Projects. Accuracy will be paramount, and it's obviously imperative that it's complete prior to the end of October when the site will be taken down.

--The doc will be linked to the ME3Explorer account, which all ME3Explorer admins have access to, so it isn't reliant upon me, personally.

 

Once the Google doc is up I'll get started on the WP. We can also then link the doc in the WP so folks know where to get the information.

 

Google Doc shouldn't take long. Give me an hour or two :)

[addictinsane9]

The deadline is august 26th, right? Which should be accounted for as august 25 given time differences, since we don't know what time zone they're using. At least I don't. And I remember one of you guys saying they lived in Ireland? Isn't that +8 compared to east coast? (I'm in Venezuela and internet is horrible here, which is why I'm not actively helping with the downloads. I'm cheerleading for you though XD)...

[Tarshana]

MohoFish- great idea :)

I will be using the EA timezone, which is PST. Since that is the time/day they are using it will make it easier. Everything that needs to be downloaded, sans the forums, is completed. Once we have more organisation of who is where on what project we can release more details.

[moho25]

@Everyone -- Okay, Google Sheet is ready.

 

Wait!

 

Lol. Currently, anyone can edit the sheet. Certain sections are protected to prevent tampering. If we have problems with vandalism, we'll have to resort to giving permissions only to folks who explicitly ask for it.

 

It is IMPERATIVE that you fully read and understand all instructions before editing. The goal of this is to not only help us know who to contact, but to have a reference, in perpetuity, of all BSN Projects. Accuracy and completion are very important.

 

ALSO. The real pain in the ass is due to how Projects are organized. There are 397 pages of projects and we cannot access specific pages. Instead, you must start at the beginning and click the arrows repeatedly to cycle through. This means it's especially important for folks to not jump around. Work one page at a time and don't start a page unless you can finish it. We need to do this quickly, so it's important folks don't have to search the spreadsheet for each individual mod to ensure it's not already catalogued. Instead, they should be able to jump ahead a few (dozen, lol) pages, search the mod name at the bottom of the page, see if that's in the inventory, etc. Then move forward or back depending on whether that mod is in the sheet. We can also communicate on here to know what project range (not page range!) is currently being catalogued.

 

I think I've covered everything necessary in the spreadsheet, but if folks can think of something else, let me know. All sheets except NWN have examples set up to follow, in addition to the instructions. These examples, however, are NOT a substitute for the instructions.

 

NOTE: I'll be working on the WordPress this afternoon, so if I'm slow to respond, bear with me. It's important that it is up as soon as possible so we can start spreading the link around.

 

Also, if someone can post the link for the sheet on Felexea's forum and in our BSN thread (the Archiving one), that would be great. @Creeper, can you post it in the ME3Exp thread? I'll post it in the ThaneMOD thread, as well.

 

----

 

@Thandal -- Do you mind reading through the directions and making sure everything is on the "up and up" as far as Nexus is concerned? Also, I have a question about projects that specifically provide source code, and if that essentially means it's open source and can be uploaded to Nexus, despite no explicit permissions in the read me. You'll see it :smile:

Edited August 11, 2016 by moho25