I am reopening this topic, as it is different in purpose from other threads about the closure, and could not be discussed elsewhere without significantly impacting communication efforts.
So long as it remains on topic, this can remain open.

We are looking into what we can do to assist with archiving, though I have no further details at this time.

 

I appreciate you re-opening the topic. I also hope you can appreciate the time-sensitive nature of the situation BioWare has put it's customers in. BioWare created this time table, not us. We're only asking for additional details so we have full understanding of what's about to happen.

To be clear, we are not *only* asking what's going to happen with hosted Blogs and Projects. We are asking what's going to happen with BioWare's own DAO Toolset and Wiki, as well as with the DLC and Game Patch downloads that pre-date Origin (and are not available on Origin) and are hosted on Legacy BSN. Is BioWare's goal to close the entire Legacy BSN site?

The DLC and Game Patch downloads is vital to users retaining functionality of their games. In addition, many folks still actively use the DAO Toolset and wiki, and download mods from Legacy BSN.

No disrespect intended, but "No futher details at this time" simply isn't good enough. The questions we're asking of BioWare should have been anticipated prior to this announcement and made clear as part of the announcement.

No kidding. This is ridiculous, BioWare.

 

We're asking about 4 things. Actually 5:

 

1. DAO Toolset (your product)

2. DAO Wiki (your product)

3. Projects

4. Blogs

5. DLC/Patch downloads for pre-Origin games (your products)

 

All of these are currently linked to the Legacy BSN site. As your customers, we'd appreciate an explanation of what's going to happen to these resources.

 

My original thread that you just locked has nothing to do with establishing a new forum community on a 3rd party site. It has everything to do with trying to get information about what's happening with the above content.

Ah! Finally found it, it was in Feedback and Suggestions: https://forum.biowar...loses-for-good/

 

Ah, thanks for the link.

 

It's  great and everything that they're keeping it, but the Keep is a completely separate site. I'm not at all familiar with it, but it's not connected in any way to the old BSN (or this new forum) URL-wise.

 

In other words, the fact that it's "safe" doesn't have any bearing on the DAO Toolset/wiki, or Projects/Blogs pages. We still need an answer about this content.

Hi all - just want to clear things up! The forum/BSN closure will not affect the Keep in any way. The Keep is safe, and not to worry

 

It would be nice if BioWare would respond officially about the DAO Toolset & wiki and the 8340 Projects hosted through the old BSN.

 

Which, if any, of those resources will stay accessible to BioWare's customers? We've been asking since the day of the announcement and haven't received a single response.

I believe they also made a reply on these forums saying that the Keep would be remaining, too (it was in one of the Social Groups, no idea which one).

Now if only we could get information on the BSN projects, blogs and toolset wiki.

Do you have a link to this post?

So... does anyone have a twitter account where they can tweet BioWare and try to get a response about Projects and the DAO Toolset and Wiki? Really nice that they drop this announcement on a Friday and then completely ignore all relevant questions.

 

Have you tried contacting Dark0ne directly at the Nexus. He just got done archiving another mod site (FileFront/Gamefront) that got closed down and it was massive compared to the number of BSN projects (100,000+ files). I don't know how he did it it from a technical viewpoint but at the very least he should be able to offer some advice and would almost certainly be pleased to do so.

Yes, I'm aware of the recent port, and yes, Robin cares a lot about continuity of mod availability when sites go down.

I don't want to waste his time, however, so I was waiting for direct confirmation from BioWare. The DAO Toolset and Wiki are caught up in this mess, as well, so we need to be clearer about what's happening.

I suggest contacting Fexelea. Also, see this thread:

https://forum.biowar...-collaboration/

 

If BW is indeed closing Projects -- which we likely won't have a confirmation on until Monday -- downloads should be placed on a legitimate mod hosting site like Nexusmods. Many of the projects are already hosted there, but many are not. Nexus has also been very good when it comes to allowing uploading of content without original mod author permission under circumstances such as these.

 

If Fexlea has the desire, space, and resources to relocate and host all the blog entries related to game mechanics, character customization, modding, and whatnot, then that's great. I'd still rather see this content moved to something more public, but that it's preserved is my primary concern. Right now the biggest problem I see is that searching for blogs on BSN is glitched; no page numbers appear in the search results, so you are limited to accessing only the top 10 results for any search. There is literally no way to do a manual preservation of blogs due to this.

 

Mostly I wanted to move this information into it's own thread for visibility and discussion; it's getting drowned out in the 75+ pages of the main thread.

Due to the impending closure of both these forums and the old BSN, the BioWare player community is about to lose access to a wealth of information.

 

So far, preservation efforts seem to be focused on building a new forum community, which is fine. However, my personal, primary concern right now is the preservation of the following:

• Blogs -- Many old blogs contain a huge amount of information about game mechanics, character customization, and more.
• Projects -- There are at least 8340 projects (mods) hosted on BSN. Many of these were never moved to Nexusmods or ModDB and cannot be found anywhere else. Come October, they will cease to exist.
• Specific Forum Posts -- There are a slew of forum posts that act as "project pages", in addition to an abundance of information on game mechanics and modding.

Currently there's a thread on ME3Explorer OT section where we're discussing options as to what can be done. I encourage anyone interested in helping to drop in and participate in the discussion. I'm willing to set up a new forum section on the ThaneMOD forum, a Google Doc, a WordPress, coordinate with Nexusmods, or whatever we determine needs to be done to best preserve this content.

 

BioWare's DAO Toolset & Wiki

I'm going to link to my post in the other thread, b/c this is a major issue that the community needs an answer about. If BW is considering actually *removing* access to this content, it also needs to be preserved.

 

EDIT -- I'm assuming closure of the forums includes blogs and project hosting. If it doesn't, it would be very good for BW to communicate this to the community.

Considering BW's recent announcement, I Just want to remind folks that the ThaneMOD forum is still open and active. Development on v3.0 slowed while I worked on BackOff and the recent release of ME3Explorer v2.0, but things have picked back up again The "Shore Leave" section is for all your OT needs; Thane-related or whatever. Warning: moderation will be fully enforced. Trolls are not welcome, you have to register to view content, and there is a 24-hour hold on posting once you've registered.

 

Also, the ME3Explorer forums are still around, and we also have an OT area there where anything may be discussed

That's not even mentioning how all the DLC isn't even on origin.

 

Yeah. There are several things I'm not mentioning.

 

I haven't used these forums in years. I stopped during the ME3 debacle, as it was clear the moderation that was needed, wasn't going to happen. However, the *vast* quantity of information in forum posts, on blogs, the 8340 projects alone are all worth saving. I'm not talking about creative-level discussions. I'm talking about player research about game mechanics, character creation, modding, and more.

 

To simply remove all of this content is a horrible, horrible disservice to BioWare's *most dedicated and devoted player base*.

@BioWare --

 

I've read all the BioWare employee posts in this thread and a few important details weren't addressed by those posts or the original blog post:

 

1.How is this closure going to impact the DAO Toolset and wiki? These are both your products. The toolset is hosted on the BSN Project pages, and the wiki is also tied to the same URL. Where will this content be migrated to? I hope you aren't seriously thinking about pulling this content from your customers.

 

2. Where will all the Patches, DLC, and other downloads be hosted for old games? DAO, ME1, ME2, DA2? These are all things your customers still use when they migrate PCs. Not everyone has the old games on Origin and not everyone *wants* to migrate their old games to Origin. How will you be dealing with this?

@paramitch -- Hey there.

 

Double-checking, it looks like you and I conversed about this on the TM forum, but I'll respond here, as well, in case other folks have similar questions:

 

1. Both are still in planning, yes. BackOff is now in Beta and should be out before the end of the year. ThaneMOD v3.0 is still very much a WIP, but has been on hold for a lot of this year as I grew my dialogue and scene editing skills by working on BO. This also gave modding tools time to mature a bit. So, once BO is officially released (soon), I'll be diving back into ThaneMOD.

 

2. I think we hammered this out on the forum.

 

Glad you are enjoying the mod

Wow, does this thread need a serious bump, lol.

My BSN attendance started dwindling rapidly during the days of Romance DLC/Cosmic Love, as the atmosphere of the old site grew more and more toxic. But, I thought I'd poke my head in just to let folks know development on ThaneMOD (and a new mod called, "BackOff") is still underway. I post regular updates on the ThaneMOD tumblr, the Client Review section of the ThaneMOD Forums, and ME3Explorer.

Obvious spoiler warning.

BackOff is an extension of ThaneMOD that will come bundled with TMv3.0 but will also be useable on its own. It's all the TMv2.0 "antiflirt" content moved into its own mod--and greatly expanded-- to be used by all players. BO v1.0 focuses on ME2 LIs and FemShep LIs. I recommend reading up on the tumblr for full details, but here's a snapshot of what you can expect for each LI:

• General Changes -- BackOff fixes a lot of bugs. Typos and dropped words in subtitles, bad lighting, DOF camera fixes, floating characters, jerky/fubared animations, dialogue wheel text, and more. BO also modifies lots and lots of dialogue wheel options creating a situation more reminiscent of ME1 and ME2. Three choices won't always be present, and often there's a new "friendly" choice in the upper left. This should clue players into the fact that flirting with that NPC will have ramifications.
• Restored Cut Dialogue -- There's a good bit of new dialogue in BO. Whenever I came across cut dialogue in the game files that made sense to restore, I restored it.
• Cabin Photo for All -- The cabin photo will now appear (with a general "Photo" caption) for all players once any romance is locked in. This includes Thane and Jacob (some big strings on that last one, read below). A photo texture will be provided for each LI and is up to the player to install with TPFTools or use it with Texmod.
• Jacob Overhaul -- This isn't as in depth as the overhaul ThaneMOD does for Thane, but it's pretty significant. Those with an imported ME2 Jacobmance can expect a substantially modified convo with him on Gellix, where he is no longer seeing Brynn. Instead, he simply feels obligated to protect the scientists and has grown into more of a leader since Shepard has been away. He also won't leave them -- at least not yet -- b/c that's not something I can change, lol. There's no confrontation with Brynn, and Jacob sends a new LI-specific email after Gellix that provides a better transition for his relationship with Shepard. His Huerta convo is also modified, and no baby, of course. Citadel DLC will have some modifications, as well. While it's not a true romance, BO presents a way for the player to headcanon that Shepard might just end up with Jacob in the end.
• Kelly Overhaul -- Like Ken and Gabby, Kelly will now be in the game for all ME2 new ports. New dialogue paths have been created for those with a less friendly relationship with Kelly. She is now also a true LI, locking out all other LIs once her romance is active. Kelly will also look more like her ME2 self.
• Liara Overhaul -- I just finished spending two months working on Liara; she was a huge job. Pretty much every significant conversation with her in the game has had some type of modification. She no longer has "relationship amnesia" for those with an imported romance. I've also tried to put her level of "friendliness" with the player more in the player's control. Most players will no longer have two "dates" with Liara. They'll have either the time capsule or Presidium convo, not both. Those trying to romance her for the first time can have both as long as they do the TC first. Those rekindling will not have the TC convo at all. Liara's "gift" in London now requires a much higher friendship level (or romance) to trigger. Dialogue with Aethyta was already fixed in TMv2.0; this has been relocated to BO.
• Steve -- Not too many changes for Steve, since folks were generally satisfied with his romance. The DW for the Purgatory convo has been modified and like every other LI, BroShep will no longer be able to flirt with Steve if he's already locked in a relationship.
• Sam -- Lots of similar changes as in TMv2.0, but now all of her CIC convos have also been overhauled. Sam will no longer flirt once Shepard has locked in another LI.
• James -- James' flirting has been restored, b/c it's now in the player's control via a new dialogue option during his very first convo. If the player chooses to flirt, then James will flirt for the rest of the game. If the player does not, then James will keep things platonic. All Cargo and Citadel convos for James have been edited.
• Joker -- A couple tweaks were already present in TMv2.0. These have been relocated to BO.
• Allers -- No changes. If you dislike her, I recommend AVPen's Allers mod to remove her from the game without penalty.
• Samara-- No planned changes since there really isn't anything to work with. But, I'm going to take one more look before release.
• Garrus -- No changes outside of the new plot changes that will affect every LI (like Kelly's a real romance). Garrus probably has the best romance in the game. No reason to mess with a good thing. If there is a BO v2.0, I will look through Garrus's dialogue to see if there's anything worth restoring, though.
• Ashley/Tali/Miranda/Jack -- Like Garrus, no changes outside of plot changes that will affect every LI. All will be addressed in BO v2.0, assuming there is one. If so, it won't be until after TMv3.0 is released, so...next year for certain.

And, then there is Kaidan. I'll be starting on him in the next week or so. He's the final LI for BackOff v1.0.

ThaneMOD v3.0 is going to have some really, really fun content. I've spent most of last fall and this spring working on BackOff, so I'm pretty excited to get back to ThaneMOD. Here's some details on what to expect:

• New Install Method -- v3.0 will be the easiest install yet. I'm trying really hard to make it an "install and forget" mod, regardless of romance status, or even if Thane isn't in your playthrough. The only reason you should have to change your install is if you change your ending type (EC, JAM, MEHEM, etc). This will make things very easy for texture modders, and just less of a hassle in general.
• Galaxy Map Changes -- There will be a couple new places to travel to on the map, complete with new war assets
• Email -- A new email from Kolyat, romance-specific.
• Easter Eggs -- Two or three really fun Easter Eggs. I'm pretty excited about these; some of you will be thrilled.
• Codex -- Drell culture codex has finally been restored.
• Romance Scene for Thane -- Thanks to JohnP, this is currently working in game, but still needs a lot of work. Using an amalgam of Kaidan and Garrus's scenes, Thane and Siha will be able to truly unite before the ending. Once development on BO is finished, I'll be spending most of my dev time on this. It's possible there will also be a quest involved to pick Thane up from Noveria; we'll see. This scene is also one reason I chose to create BO -- b/c I needed to learn a lot more about dialogue editing, And, oh, what I've learned, lol.
• Revised Huerta Dialogue -- Creating a romance scene will require modifying Huerta since there is some line overlap in places. It also means Huerta might end up shorter so I can salvage dialogue for Thane. The major goal for v3.0 is to make both of these scenes as immersive as possible, and I now have the technical know-how to do so. FaceFX is still an issue, but I've also discovered a couple ways around this that should be helpful.
• Other NPC Dialogue -- Dialogue of other appropriate NPCs (EDI, Bailey, Joker, maybe others) will receive minor modification so that they ask Siha about Thane. The trick is to splice together the right audio and locate a dialogue where it feels appropriate and stays immersive.
• Citadel DLC Edits -- These will likely be minimal. After looking into the files a couple things that were planned will actually be much more complicated than anticipated. I'm not closing the door completely, but that's the current status.

In addition to ThaneMOD and BackOff, I should be releasing a couple more mods soon. One with an assortment of non-LI dialogue changes. The other will be an NPC Appearance Overhaul that overhauls Kelly, and hopefully Bailey, Udina, and Aethyta. In the case of any file conflicts with BO, I'll bundle the NPC edits with it, as well.

Well, I think that's about it :]

Question. Since, if anyone wants to do something over the top of CEM, creating a custom afc is a matter of saving file space, right? Like...anybody making a change to the Citadel DLC would pretty much always go over the top of my mod, or pretty much have to since my mount.dlc is one tick above the actual Citadel DLC.

 

I added up the number of INT files I'd have to add. Basically, instead of the original afc file weighing in at ~110MB, I'd actually be adding ~228MB worth of INT files to accommodate a custom afc. Really, any reason I should do this? I don't mind making a custom afc but I'm not really seeing the advantage not just to me but for a future modder. If ThaneMOD ever got into the Citadel DLC, just run over the top of my stuff. The backOFF mod would certainly have issues; like James in the apartment, but you'd have to use my custom INT.pcc files for any you'd be using too, if you want it compatible.

 

Anyway, let me know if I'm missing something. I already made the CEM Full INT but even there I was like...who cares? Everything will run over the top of my mod I would think.

 

Yeah, Deager that seems to make sense. If all mods have to have load priority over yours, then a new AFC probably doesn't matter. I was thinking CEM would be overwriting other mods.

 

Glad I shouldn't have too much Citadel DLC content to mod since it looks like I'll have to make all my edits twice, ick, lol. I'm not at all familiar with Citadel DLC files, so I don't have a good handle yet on which ones I'll be modifying. But, tight now, here are the expected edits:

• A small convo path change for James during his visit (new conditional)
• New conditionals for the party related to comments about Jacob's personal life
• A few tweaks to the casino convo with Jacob; audio for one line has to be edited
• Changes to the conditionals that control display of Thane's photo and flowers in the apartment. Probably will add a new texture for the photo.
• A new email from Thane delivered to the apartment
• Possible string change to the "Armax Arsenal" scoreboard

I'm hoping that's it, but there might be a couple more things. I don't discover them until I start researching the LI as I make edits for BackOff.

I'm super pumped at all this stuff. I was dreading doing the tlk edits...uh, that took under 20 minutes.

AFC is next. I'm waiting until I'm set.

Testing mods with the DLC mod method, especially on an SSD, is crazy quick compared to the old days. Gives me time to go total OCD on this thing.

 

Lol. You make me laugh, Deager.

 

I was actually surprised at how easy the AFC thing was yesterday...but I know the credits music will be an entirely different story.

@Fob -- I saw the issue in your thread on ME3Exp and sent you a PM, but I thought I'd post here, as well.

 

Are you certain the SVN actually been updated with your code? I ask b/c there's normally a News thread posted every time WV makes a new commit...but there's been no new News thread posted.

 

Also, if the SVN has been updated with your code, you should clarify with that person what rev he's on to be certain he is indeed using the correct rev.

Thanks gift. Why do you think it may have skipped the dlls though? Or are you just saying you don't know because you already had them?
(You are having me worried there.)

Sorry -- yes, I think it's fine. I forgot to pull them out, and my guess is that you are using the same versions I am as far as the dates on the files, though, so that's why it's hard to tell, lol. I didn't get any type of overwrite message and they weren't backed up, so that's the other reason why I can't say for sure.

I wouldn't worry about it, my guess is that it's fine. And, even if there is an issue, those are easy enough to upload separately and for people to pop in themselves
 

As for ThaneMOD: Hope I'll get around to it on the weekend at the latest. Depends a little on what exactly needs to be done. Could only take a couple of minutes or could take a couple of days (you can see, I hate giving timelines). I am particularly confused by that flashback thing but I'll have to look into it before saying more.
 
BTW, I will use ThaneMod v2.0D an c2.0E from Nexus to test this with, correct?

Yeah, I just posted my announcement on Nexus to try to head off some of the questions people might post in your thread. I'll post on the TM forums, as well.

Correct, versions D & E are for MEHEM.

@Fob -- Just ran the installer and uninstaller. Everything went fine -- I think it skipped the Binaries (maybe; hard to tell) b/c I already had them installed. Looks good.

 

I'm on Win7x64, fyi.

 

The installer looked...strangely familiar. Imagine that! >.>

 

Lol.

Ok, it's out.

Good thing you came prepared Deager. It didn't take more than a couple of minutes for the first guys to ask for MEHEMtoCEM compatibility. I took the liberty of saying it'll be out shortly. Hope that's ok.

 

I know ThaneMOD folks will be asking as well. I'll go put up a new announcement on both Nexus and ModdB to try to head off some of the questions.

 

Fob, since you're going ThaneMOD's compatibility edits, feel free to give (or not give) folks a timeline for the upcoming patch when they ask. Once you have the files done I can probably wrangle up 2-3 testers, so assuming things go well, it should be less than a week from when you are finished with the files until I can release the patch on ThaneMOD's download page.

Hey guys,

Installer version is up here:

https://drive.google...iew?usp=sharing

 

Would be great if one of you guys could run through the installer and the uninstaller once, so I have confirmation that it works.

Unless any of you report any problems, I am going to upload this to Nexus and moddb.

 

I didn't get to this last night, but working on it now. Just wanted to give you aheads up that Avast is insisting the download is suspicious, so I'm going to have to suspend ti to download. Only mentioning it since other folks will likely run into the issue and you'll probably get flagged on Nexus with an "unverifiable" file or whatever the heck they call it.

 

I might have to head out before the download is finished since it's pretty large, lol. If so, I'll finish when I get back

Nice job, Fob

Oh crap. I think this is actually a problem with TPF tools. It seems to only look for the TOC.bin in the sfar or something like that.

 

It's weird because this worked in earlier versions.

 

I'm guessing Kfreon changed some code somewhere. There have been several reports recently about TOC hanging in either Texplorer or TPF Tools (I can't remember which, or if it happens to be both). I've already mentioned to him a couple times that it's almost certainly hanging due to checking for the TOC.bin in the SFAR, but...uh, yeah. We've been through this already today, lol.

OK, I realized that MEHEM must only change the 730Green file for the Additional LI because no need to change 720Blue. And Thane is already present in that file I gather as well. I'm going to work under those assumptions this evening.

 

If someone uses the current version of ThaneMOD now it is working with MEHEM v0.5 or there are still some kinks to work out>

 

This reminds me. I think I'll always keep the transitions to CEM separate from CEM itself. That can always be a moving target where CEM itself should reach a final stage this time.

 Well...he *will* be in the file. Once Fob fixes it for v0.5, lol.

 

Right now, there's no Thane

 

^Sad Panda

I didn't think you'd be that fancy! Reg edits are required for that right? Anyway, yes, uninstall like a normal piece of software worked just fine. Shepard totally deletes stuff like me on her way to real errors.

 

Texts and pictures showed up. Link to instructions and link to Julia's example worked....that was it right?

 

EDIT: To confirm, this is the upload version right? I may get on MEHEM to CEM right now to work with both Additional LI and v0.4 style. Additional LI was not working with ThaneMOD right now or is? I just want to figure out what I have to prepare and how.

 

Also, was that nsis you used? Could you share that script with me? I think it may make for a nice template and help me figure out how to maybe make an all-inclusive "ending of your choice to CEM of your choice" installer. I won't bundle CEM into yet since I'm still working on that but the transition piece seems solid and I don't plan on editing that.

 

Yes, registry edits are required for that

 

Also, don't forget the tutorial I put up on installer scripting a while back. MIght be handy for you:

 

http://me3explorer.f...-mod-t1193.html

 

I seriously almost quit the mod when I was trying to figure out the scripting. It's by far the most difficult thing I've done for ThaneMOD. It was like learning a foreign language in a month...when I didn't even understand the letters of the alphabet. I think I almost had a panic attack about 12 times.

 

The MEHEM version of ThaneMOD includes the Addtional LI mod, Deager. And yes, it seems to be working. It's only the Thane-related ending content that's currently broken until Fob can get the files re-edited (Thane's flashforwards, flashback, and his presence in the Memorial Scene). The other LIs appear in the scene ok -- at least my test with Garrus as the LI worked.