Mass Effect 3 How to find Bioware's BSN Forums for Modding Information, and other dead websites

[UhuruNUru]

Lots of mods, used the old BSN Forums for support, and EA has removed the entire Forums, though project pages can still be used, no guarantee's exist on how long. and EA has said they will be removedf at some point.

 

An efforts being made to move mods here, when possible, but all the Forum info, is already gone.

 

All is not lost though, the Wayback Machine has archived the Data, indeed for any dead site, there's a good chance of finding the info, and even old mod files, though they are not usually saved with this method, it's possible to find files buried inside the webpage folder, especiallky with older small sites, that aren't dedicated hosting sites, and thus less organised.

 

To see if a dead link has an arcived copy use this link, and paste your target page in the search bar:

Internet Archive: Wayback Machine

 

It's worth trying the main sites page, as well, if a direct search fails, as links can change and browsing the site through wayback machine will often find the info.

These are snapshots made on certain dates, so one dates version may fail, but another succeed, it can be difficult, but is rewarding when you find that vital info you need.

 

The last Snapshot of the active Bioware Forum, was 11^th October 2016, (the later ones are the same message you see now, saying EA don't give a damn, about us):

The BioWare Forum

[moho25]

Uh, you are aware of https://whereisbioware.wordpress.com/, correct?

 

And pretty much the entire BW Forum was ported to Fextralife.

[UhuruNUru]

No I wasn't, I've simply used Wayback Machine for years to mod old games, with dead informatin links.

So never looked further for it, I got DAI when released, but only recently returned, to play with the DLC as well as the Entire Series again, and the Mass Effect series, for the first time.

Moddings a damn sight easier now, as far as users go, thanks to DAI Tools Suite, and ME3Explorer, with the new MEM texture Installer speeding that process up.

 

Thanks for the info though, the DAI modding tools forum seems dormant, and there's little activity here either. Other options for knowledge are most welcome.

 

Having said that is the Continuity network the same as the team, porting some BSN mods here, I'd spotted a few when the BSN project Links went down, a month or two ago, when I was modding DAO/DA2

Further reading confirms it is, but also says the Fextraluife site, doesn't have the fan creation/character section, which do exist on Wayback machine.

Mod files may even be found buried inside web page folders, though usually hosted files are not intentionally archived, some do get missed, if hidden inside web page folders.

 

The information exists there, regardless of the mod files, and that makes it useful.

[Thandal]

The DAI Modding Tools site is "dormant" because... it works. Nothing much to discuss since they went about as far as the FrostBite3 engine would allow the Community to go. New mods are being produced, but no new version of the DAI ModManager is needed. :geek:

[UhuruNUru]

I wouldn't say that a new version wasn't needed, as certain parts of it do not work very well, the config script section, and the editing of the assets preview data, are not functioning, for me at least.

I'm using an external Hex Editor to alter EBX files directly, and have just found

DAIMod Config Script Editor

on the site, that I'm about to try to use

 

However I was talking about the forums having little recent user activity, rather than the tools being updated, and I'm not complaining, the Mod Maker is a damn sight better than what existed at the start of 2015, when I gave up on DAI the first time.

I'm just stating the basic fact that few recent posts exist.

 

I tend to trawl the sites to find out things, rather than ask any questions, I'm more likely to answer others queries, than ask my own, as I learn what's possible

[Ottemis]

The DAI Modding Tools site is "dormant" because... it works. Nothing much to discuss since they went about as far as the FrostBite3 engine would allow the Community to go. New mods are being produced, but no new version of the DAI ModManager is needed. :geek:

Well no, it's dormant because the tool is so incredibly limited and buggy that I suspect most people are just waiting for the new version of the tools to come out. Development has been dormant for a good year now I think. We also have our own Discord server now and a lot of DAI Modding discussion (and general banter) is held there.

 

The current coder is working on an overhaul, it has most definitely not gone as far as the FrostBite engine will allow. Keep an eye on those forums because there is definite change on the horizon.

Edited January 10, 2017 by Ottemis

[Thandal]

@Ottemis; Quite happy to be proven mistaken about the DAI ToolSuite not being as complete as is possible for the FrostBite engine. Would love to see a new version.

 

Just have been around long enough to recognize that when progress seems to have stopped on an amateur-only effort, it's much more likely to be because it STOPPED than because the devs were "taking a break" or "researching". :laugh:

[Ottemis]

@Ottemis; Quite happy to be proven mistaken about the DAI ToolSuite not being as complete as is possible for the FrostBite engine. Would love to see a new version.

 

Just have been around long enough to recognize that when progress seems to have stopped on an amateur-only effort, it's much more likely to be because it STOPPED than because the devs were "taking a break" or "researching". :laugh:

Yeah you're quite right haha. Honestly, only reason I know is because I'm on staff for both ME3Explorer and the DAI Tools so I've got my ear to the ground for both of them.