BioWare Continuity Network (BCN) - Preserving the BSN

[moho25]

FYI, should be getting to QA on the DAO tab today. Then I'll take a look and the Complete ID sheet.

[moho25]

@Inventoriers/Everyone --

 

Thanks to the hard work of Tarshana and all other BCN inventoriers we now are close to having a completed inventory. To be clear, this does NOT mean we've heard from all authors, nor does it mean that all BSN mods are now available elsewhere. It means that the BCN inventory spreadsheet of all BSN Projects is almost complete.

 

In preparation for the end of this stage of the project, the spreadsheet has gone read-only. I'll be finishing QA on the DAO mods, Tarshana will be wrapping up the final BSN Project entries (many of which are spam), and then there will be some changes to make the document more appropriate for folks to use as a reference (e.g.,, the Instruction sheet will be removed).

 

If you are a present or former inventorier and end up hearing from a mod author you've contacted during this time, please do one of the following:

• Leave the information in this thread for Tarshana to add
• Leave the information as a comment associated with the author name on the sheet; Tarshana or I will insert it into the sheet itself

Thanks again to everyone who helped create the inventory. You guys are amazing.

 

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Once Tarsh and I have wrapped things up we'll use the sheet data and take a look at:

• Mods not hosted elsewhere
• Mod authors who haven't responded to BSN communications
• The WIP BCN coalesced mods

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Remember, only a few days before the forums are taken down. Be sure to download any content important to you!

[impytd]

I just have one question relating to the archiving of project pages if you don't mind. With your current process of archiving the BSN projects are you archiving the entire project page and saving it to a local storage (i.e. with HTTrack or something similar), or just saving the files for the mods themselves? It's clear that you have a very dedicated team working on this but if you require any more assistance I'm happy to help.

Edited October 26, 2016 by legandalfo

[Tarshana]

Pages and files were downloaded as a whole. Still getting groups and various discussions saved, but that is a more difficult process :)

[impytd]

Pages and files were downloaded as a whole. Still getting groups and various discussions saved, but that is a more difficult process :smile:

Maybe you can help me if you've run into the same problem, I've tried archiving groups and group discussions from the legacy BSN but HTTrack seems to just redirect the process and get stuck on the language selection menu, and I haven't found a way to bypass this.

Edited October 26, 2016 by legandalfo

[impytd]

Looks like they took down the forums and the legacy BSN a few hours ago. If your team still needs any of the forum discussions or any other files, let me know.

[CreeperLava]

BSN is still online for me, at least the projects. What did you save with httrack, exactly ? We still need a complete forum backup.

Edited October 27, 2016 by CreeperLava

[Tarshana]

Finally have some time to address a few things.

 

1. HTtrack is not recommended for the BSN projects. You can bypass the language issue via a previous post (which I can send you, or help via pm!) but the issues are a. You will end up with over 500k pages of spam and useless information b. Projects that are empty c. malicious links and d. you need a lot of damn space to filter and a lot of keeping your computer on without sleep/off mode. It is far better to manually download what you want. When you right-click to save a page you can add a number after each one to keep track. Look at the google spreadsheet and make note of all the empty projects that contain no files or are spam links. Right now the BSN projects are still live- download while you can! If you still want to do it the Httrack way just let me know and I will help with what I can :)

 

2. There are 3 copies of the valid download projects so anything you save for yourself, just save! Have your own back up :) If all three copies end up in Davy Jone's locker, we can always network and see what people saved :)

2a.) It recommended that group discussions are saved on your end as much as possible; I have limited time right now and am prioritizing!

2b.) I am not saving polls

 

3. Any project that is valid with an outside link but with no downloadable file is listed with a "no file" at the end of their project name on the Complete ID project tab and will be listed as valid in the proper game tab so people can still search for the files they are looking for. Invalid files are files that are (for lack of a better English word) useless or unusable.

 

4. I will be bulk uploading the 'ready' files this weekend since we have completed 90% of all valid projects and have searched/found the open or builder permissions.

4a). Work on coalesced files are almost complete and will be uploaded in the next two weeks after making sure they work properly with various game plays in the ME series.

 

5. I have been combing through as many "fan creations" as possible to create a list, unfortunately I have barely .5% of them because I started so late. Many fan creations that were not part of BSN will be lost :( I will try to find a suitable place to post these for people.

5a.) I am going to reach out to folks on places like Deviantart who made comics and other artwork to see how best to drive traffic to see their wonderful creations without poaching views or claiming work as my own

 

6. NWN Vault has a program that if an original project was on IGN but not migrated over they can be uploaded if they had a valid IGN number. If I can find those numbers on the project I will get them re-hosted on the vault. Otherwise the files can only be shared privately.

7. Some authors have yet to contact us. If anyone has a way to help with finding these people's aliases that would be fantastic! Drop me a line or make a comment on the CMA when possible :)

 

 

I hope that helps answer any excess questions and such. On a personal note: Very much a big thanks for everyone who has helped, not just publicly but via pm. The modders who have been instrumental in moving their creations to Nexus (Wyldsong, Otte, Ele, smartek, etc) have helped alleviate worries of lost projects. Creeper and Sunshine have not only been fantastic with their inventory work but finding mod authors in creative ways (like Steam!) and a giant thanks to SirSalami, Thandal and Dark0ne for giving us the support we need to make sure the projects are not a lost cause and another thanks to LadyMilla for repackaging of a mod that was causing Anti-Virus spam alerts. The community here has been very supportive :)

[impytd]

BSN is still online for me, at least the projects. What did you save with httrack, exactly ? We still need a complete forum backup.

BSN portal site is still up but the project pages themselves aren't on my end. As for HTTrack I've just been using it to save the html files from the forums, the backup I have was nowhere near complete but I still managed to get a decent amount saved so if you want I can send you what I have.

 

Finally have some time to address a few things.

 

1. HTtrack is not recommended for the BSN projects. You can bypass the language issue via a previous post (which I can send you, or help via pm!)

If it's not too much of a hassle I'd greatly appreciate that, thanks.

[Tarshana]

It looks like the project pages are officially down now. In that case, httrack will not do much good. I will have to finish inventory on my copy. I love how Bioware completely lied to us about the projects. I wish there was a legal recourse on this for their breech of contract when their user rights clearly states we would get a 30 day notification.