05:29, 24 December 2008 | 60 Comments | [ Add comment]

Enjoying the Christmas fallout
So Bethesda came through good in the end and the G.E.C.K. was released on the 11th of December. As far as I am aware there was no official word on what exactly caused the cold PR comments as to the likelyhood of an SDK being released but I think that one can get swept under the rug quietly and we can get on with what we like the most; modding our game.

That same day I had just returned from a two week trip to China visiting my sister, who has just had her first born and is living in Shanghai. Two weeks on I'm still yet to recover from the trip, having picked up a nasty infection and finding it hard to fall into a proper sleeping pattern. I've got the constitution of a flea. Never the less it has given me the oppurtunity to play some Fallout 3 and Left 4 Dead which I'm really enjoying.

And alas now it is Christmas eve and I find myself in the familiar position of having to wrap all my presents but, for once, not actually having to do any last minute shopping. For all the whining about internet shopping being the down fall of the shopping town centres it doesn't half make christmas shopping easier.

I hope you all manage to escape Fallout 3 and modding long enough to spend some time with your families and friends this christmas. Happy christmas, knock back a few drinks over new years and be safe.

Dark0ne | 14:03, 5 June 2009 | 43 Comments | [ Add comment]

Just a heads up that the closing date for all entries in to the millionth member competition will be midnight on the 20th of June. Happy modding!

Dark0ne | 18:26, 22 May 2009 | 158 Comments | [ Add comment]

The matter of people requesting others to rate and vote for their files as file of the month has been discussed several times within the staff forums over the years. With the introduction of the files of the month section authors have begun to notice that they can get more people to vote for their files if they ask people to do it, and provide a link to the process, at the top of their file description. Now, this was fine because we made no mention of whether it was allowed or not.

However I've decided to add in a few new checks on file ratings and votes to prevent authors from doing this from now on. Why you ask? Well, because only the people that are asking for votes are getting in to the top 5 of the files of the month section. This isn't a god awful terrible thing, but I'd rather every author had the oppurtunity to get their files in to the top sections without having to solicit votes and ratings from users.

This will be offset in the near future by a new feature that will allow users to better see what files they have and haven't rated and whether they have voted for a file of the month (with some gentle encouragement if they haven't). This functionality will go hand-in-hand with a complete overhaul of the rating system in general, due to be worked on after I've finished my 4th and final year of exams at university. I haven't got £15k in to debt with student loans to throw it all away now!

Dark0ne | 15:07, 20 April 2009 | 410 Comments | [ Add comment]

I'm still getting reports almost daily in my inbox about people thinking they've been banned unfairly for rating down mods, leaving abusive and unconstructive comments or just generally being a nuisance. There are numerous warnings posted on the site and available within the terms and conditions that everyone has to agree to before they can post or make ratings on the site and I'm begrudgingly taking the time out of doing other more productive things, like adding new features to the site, to write this small article on why so many accounts are getting banned at the moment.

First of all let me start by saying you don't have an inalienable right to post, rate or say whatever you want on these sites. I've been saying this for 8 years and I'll continue to say this; this isn't the U.S. of A., this is a website with clear terms, conditions and rules. Your false perceptions of free speech don't exist here. "But Dark0ne", I hear you say, "that sounds so Draconian, you're not going to make any friends like that!", well, that's how it is folks. It's our way or no way.

We're not some crazy mad men on power trips, we're active members of this community who want to see as many people happy as possible. We're nice like that you see. Unfortunately we want to run a tight ship, a ship where the people making the great (and sometimes not so great) content that you download (for free, I'll add) can feel free to do so without being spat on by every Tom, Dick and Harry that doesn't like something for one reason or another.

Let me reitterate exactly what we want and what we don't want. The terms for rating and commenting on files states that it provides:

• an interface to offer positive feedback on the functionality of the file in question based on the author's initial intentions
• the ability to offer constructive criticism on aspects of the file that could be improved
• the chance to ask for feature requests and discuss such requests with other users of the site or the author
• the ability to ask for help in troubleshooting problems with the file in question

I've put the key points in bold because they are the parts that people fall short on and what ultimately gets people banned. Essentially our saying is "If you're got nothing good to say then don't say it". It's so, so, so simple and yet every day I get complaints from banned people who are wondering why they can no longer access the site because they told an author they can go to hell for adding content to the game that didn't fit in with the lore of the game.

The fact of the matter is that over 1,500 new people register to use this site, TESNexus and the forums every day. That's a lot of new people that need moderating. It's why we put up a lot of warnings before you rate or post that if you don't follow our ettiquette then you will be banned, because I don't have the time to go through each individual banned member case day in day out. If I did I'd get no work done at all. Being strict saves us time and allows us to provide help where it's actually necessary to people who actually deserve it. To people who can actually read. I don't think myself and the moderation staff should be penalised because people can't follow simple instructions. The fact is most people get banned from the site because they just don't bother to read our terms, conditions and ettiquette on posting and rating. That's not our fault, the message is very clear: if you don't like it, move along without doing anything.

So what do we allow? We don't want you to not post because you fear the ban hammer, this whole community revolves around interaction and sharing, but we do want you to understand that ratings are for people who have made good use of a mod and who have something productive to say. Give a rating of 5 or under to mods that have missing textures, that don't do what the description says or that have potential but haven't quite cut it for whatever reason. The point is here you need a reason other than just "I don't like this mod" or "I don't think the mod fits the lore". If the mod doesn't meet your standards then provide reasons why and how it can improve. Your rating is meant to provide help, not a way of spitting on the author and saying "screw you it sucks!". Most importantly if you don't like the concept of the mod because it doesn't fit in with your beliefs, your personal feelings, your idea of what is right or wrong or your idea of what fits in with the game then for the love of god don't rate the file; because you're going to get insta-banned. We don't care if you think Octupus-men don't fit in to the Fallout 3 canon, move along.

Lastly I will say that the people running this site are here to make the experience better, not worse, and most of all they're operating on my set of rules, so if you're going to hate on anyone, make it me. I have no tolerance for moderator bashing no matter what's been done and anyone airing dirty laundry about moderator actions is going to be shown the door very quickly. If you have problems with a moderator then you should be getting in contact with me.

There are far more people getting banned on FO3Nexus than there are on TESNexus, even though TESNexus has about 30% more traffic than FO3Nexus. I'm putting this down to the still relative youth of the Fallout 3 community. While the Morrowind and Oblivion community have had time to mature and instill the good ettiquette in authors and downloaders alike Fallout 3 is still young and many people don't understand the boundries there are within the community. The moderation team and I are hoping that this will smooth out over time, because it really is noticeable.

Dark0ne | 06:30, 20 April 2009 | 77 Comments | [ Add comment]

The Nexus sites are very close to hitting the million member milestone which is an exciting achievement for myself and the other staff here at the Nexus. We started accumulating members back in July of 2003 when Morrowind Source was launched and the site has been receiving a steady flow of new members each day since then.

The millionth member milestone is greatly coveted by me. As the owner of the site it makes me proud to see so many people registering to make use of the site's features and download modifications for some truely awesome games. But most of all the milestone is a trophy for the strong support of the modding communities behind Morrowind, Oblivion and Fallout 3. Traffic figures on TESNexus have far surpassed those of March/April 2006 in recent months, which is amazing considering the game is now 3 years old. Similarly the Fallout 3 community continues to expand, develop and mature.

So how are we going to celebrate this monumental occasion? What better way than to get the creativity flowing and set an old school Oblivion and Fallout 3 modding competition for all to enter, complete with some prizes of the monetary nature straight out of the Nexus war kitty!

The theme for the competition revolves around that of the Oblivion and Fallout 3 community respectively. I want modifications that contain unique and innovative representations of members or locations within the community that have influenced your time within the community in a positive way. Perhaps you’d like to make a tavern on some well travelled road containing NPCs representing your favourite community members, or maybe a companion mod with a representation of Buddah wielding a mighty hammer of bannage + 5. Maybe, just maybe, even a quest mod to save your friends from the evil clutches of the worm like Dark0ne? The idea is to make something fun and interesting with the emphasis on including your community friends. It’s all about the community, folks!

For full details on what to do and how to enter go visit the competition page. Top prize for winners is a $125 Amazon.com voucher, with $75 prizes for runner-ups and $50 prizes for mods with the highest potential. The competition closes 50 days after the site hits the millionth member mark, so get your thinking caps on!

For those without the creative edge or time to create modifications for Oblivion or Fallout 3 you can always become a fan of Nexus sites on Facebook. All people who become fans up until the closing date of the competition will be entered in to a prize draw for a £30 Amazon.com voucher.

Further updates will come as the millionth member mark is reached. Happy modding.

Dark0ne | 07:13, 27 March 2009 | 9 Comments | [ Add comment]

Here's something I've been meaning to do for a while! Do you like making videos of your mods to show them off on YouTube, or has someone else made a video using your mod and put it on YouTube for others to see? Instead of cluttering up your file description you can now add links to YouTube videos that are relevant to your files.

YouTube videos you add show up in their own tab, next to your images tab, and provide a gallery of simple to operate YouTube videos for people to watch straight off the site. So stop cluttering up your file descriptions with YouTube videos and put them all in a nice easy to access area. You can add links to your YouTube videos via the new "Videos" link, under "Images" in your file management area.

Dark0ne | 07:16, 26 March 2009 | 69 Comments | [ Add comment]

EDIT 4/2/2009 by LHammonds - FileFront is no longer being closed as it was re-acquired by the original founders.

Popular file-sharing website FileFront is closing its doors in the very near future. Here's the blurb:



While FileFront wasn't as prominent in the Elder Scrolls community as it was in some other gaming communites (the KoTOR community, for instance, heavily relies on FileFront) it still represents a noticeable loss, and many people have mirrored their files on FileFront. If you are one of these individuals then you should be warned your files will no longer be available on FileFront after the 30th of March.

I wish the staff at FileFront all the best.

On a side note, please realise FileFront is not the same as FilePlanet, so PES is fine.

Dark0ne | 14:05, 25 March 2009 | 11 Comments | [ Add comment]

As per the recent file server consolidation announcement there is now a new Premium Member only server available. Located in Texas, this server has download resuming features enabled and is capable of multi-threaded downloading. I managed to get a good 1mb/sec download speed off the server using the "DownThemAll!" FireFox plugin. Without the plugin I get only 120kb/sec. So if you're a premium member and you're a big downloader then I'd totally recommend the plug-in to you.

The London based Premium only server will remain operation for another month or so yet.

Dark0ne | 06:04, 5 March 2009 | 20 Comments | [ Add comment]

When it rains, it pours! I am aware of the current issues with the file servers for both TESNexus and FO3Nexus. This is a completely unrelated issue to the down-time and work that went on yesterday and revolves around a financial move by myself to consolidate the current servers.

Several ISPs are currently in a price war with their 100mbit unmetered services that has brought prices right down. As a result TESNexus and FO3Nexus are being taken down to 1 file server each, along with an addtional premium server, but with a higher throughput than originally available. The current issue lies with the ISP incorrectly locking the network connection at 10mbit rather than 100mbit (so there's some major congestion going on!) and is being looked into as we speak.

The London based servers are being taken offline; bandwidth in the UK costs about twice as much as the US at this time, and what with being in a recession and all it is important I consolidate the available resources and save pennies where-ever possible, even if it's at the expense of some user comforts. A site that works, but is slightly slower, is better than no site at all! This also includes the premium server, which will be taken offline some time next month and replaced by a server in Texas. The Texas premium server will be available within the next week, so for a month or so premium members will have two servers to choose from!

It's important to point out that these are preemptive measures in light of the economic climate and I'm not taking a negative approach to expanding and supporting these sites.

Dark0ne | 11:28, 4 March 2009 | 16 Comments | [ Add comment]

The forums have now been moved on to their own server and I have now entered the phase of tweaking the new setup to better accommodate the situation. Please be patient if problems arise, I am monitoring all the servers in real-time and will be performing various tweaks over the next 24 hours to improve the current setup further.

Dark0ne | 11:56, 3 March 2009 | 10 Comments | [ Add comment]

As part of plans to stop the recent spate of "IPS Driver" errors I will be moving the forums on to their own dedicated server. As a result all the Nexus sites, including the forums, will be offline tomorrow from 12pm GMT to 6pm GMT while the move takes place. Please be patient during this process; I will update the sites throughout the process should any potential issues arise that require me to leave the sites down for longer.