I had intended to avoid this sort of complaining post during all of the FileFront host service fiasco.  And I think I did fairly well.  But now they’ve irritated me.

Pardon any typos or errors.  I’m actually very tired and need to go to bed.  But I wanted to make sure that I both explained the issues with the Resource Depot forum and our broken file download links… and to complain about how sorely out of touch FileFront has become.

I received an email today, warning that I had files about to be deleted.  I had four days to request that my files remain, starting at nearly 11:00 pm on the 8th of June.

I only received the email today, but I jumped into action and followed the link to save my files.  The only problem is, the link was outdated already.  All of my files… the custom re-skins, the maps, the old GargArena FGD and prefabs… everything… had been deleted.

It’s all gone.  Wiped out by a process that Google reveals to be fairly common.  Particularly of interest were statements that indicated that logging in could be a prerequisite.  Specifically, if you don’t log in often enough, you could loose everything.

But I also found a number of gamers that had a similar experience.  I could now go into just what I think of our former host, their communication skills, and their current state of service.

However, I’m tired and don’t feel like being so negative.  So I’ll just leave my coments to the important statement… the downloads are all down.  And worse, I have not had occasion to update a few of my file backups.

Files such as Devil1’s Young barney re-skin, and the GargArena FDG are all gone.  For now, none of the links work.

I will be using my ModDB account for some of the fileage, as soon as it

EDIT:

I told you I was tired.  You can’t tell by the post, but the Soprano’s style ending was not the only error.  I’ve just corrected some of the spelling mistakes.  I also made many mistakes that I caught while typing the original post.  I was trying to go to sleep at the keyboard, so random words would pop-up or my text would degenerate into letters and garbled words.

Anyway, the point was that our download links are all down and I will be using ModDB to post some of the files when I get around to it.  I also have plans to possibly use the forum software’s attachment options for smaller files.

As for FileFront, I have no intention of trusting them with my files again.  Not until such time as they clean up their act.  When I tried to host videos there, they would last days at best and then be deleted because fifty or so views weren’t enough.

None of the issues I’ve experienced or described are terribly new.  And many people have had these problems before.  But since the entire April Fools incident, this has become more common practice as the company tries to save money by alienating their users.

Good Job folks!

I was browsing a few websites this morning when I stumbled on a brief message and a link.  Looking further, I found out something I really didn’t want to know.

Duke Nukem Forever… may be dead.

Duke creator 3D Realms has closed.  At least, that’s the story from Shack News.

“The closure came about as a result of funding issues, our source explained…”

They have updated with recent messages from related companies Apogee and Deep Silver stating that the issues with 3D Realms have not affected them or their own PSP/DS hand held Duke Nukem project known as the “Duke Nukem Trilogy”.

There has also been a statement from Joe Siegler on the 3D Realms forums that explains, “It’s not a marketing thing. It’s true. I have nothing further to say at this time.”

To read the ShackNews article, which has been updated 3 times thus far, go here.

I just hope one of the surviving heirs to the Duke Nukem Empire can revive the title and give it proper development service.  I certainly feel for the employees of 3D Realms as apparently, they were “let go”  with almost no warning apparently.

As late as Tuesday afternoon, Seigler was involved in an interview and apparently had no idea this was happening.  Here’s the TechDish interview part 1 published yesterday.

EDIT: Just be aware, the 3D Realms forums are being overwhelmed by visits, so take it easy if you can’t get in.

Also, the BBC has picked up the story… http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8037688.stm

UPDATE:

It’s official…

I’m sorry to give you the bad news guys, but due to lack of funding, filefront and all network sites will shut down this month (march, 30). Since you are hosted on xx.hl2files.com still, back up your files right away! I’m terrible sorry guys, but even I have been restriced of access on hl2files and I am also fired. This is all suddenly. Got any questions? Email me back.

Regards,
Skyrider

I’m working on setting up a new host now.  Please click the PayPal link in the right column and donate to help with the cost.  I’ll be paying some set up fees and don’t really have the money to spare.

Even something as small as $1 would help.

__________________________________

I haven’t payed as much attention to my filefront account lately as I used to…

Tonight I realized that I forgot to set up my catch-all email in my mail client, so I prepared the needed data and… found a bunch of emails that still went to my old friendlygarg.hl2files.com address.

Among them were notices that my Disorientation 2-part video was being deleted for inactivity and that the other disorientation ziped file was also being deleted for inactivity.

I then decided to check my account and make sure that those were the only files I had lost… then I noticed a link at the top of the page.

http://farewell.filefront.com/

Filefront is shutting down.

Oh dear.

At first, I thought about March 30th being 2 days before April Fools Day… but this could just as easily be legitimate and according to some site’s I have visited… it is legitimate.

If that is the case, this could be bad news for us.

Obviously, all my downloads are hosted on FileFront.   But also… and more importantly… HL2Files is a file-front network site.  That’s right, our host might also be a part of the shut down.  Which means we may need to find a new host.

This is bad timeing as I am low on funds at the moment and would rather pay for a host then go on skipping around the web as we have so often in the past.  Cat-Life, Garg Arena, our stories and comics, forums, and even our SF Studios hosted site will be in danger.

There is a rumor that UGO may be interested in purchasing filefront… but who knows.

Stay tuned… I will be looking at hosting options and am making backups now.  Just in case.

On a side note… one point I have noticed that still makes this suspicious to me is the lack of emails.  I have received no emails regarding a shut down of the file hosting nor a webmaster email warning of a site shut down.  That seems a little odd… but the host could just be careless.

[EDIT]
As far as preparations go, I’ll try to make the transition to a new host as easy as possible.  I’ll be making use of our steam group [ http://steamcommunity.com/groups/BWL ] and our ModDB Profiles…

http://www.moddb.com/groups/bwl-development

http://www.moddb.com/mods/cat-life

http://www.moddb.com/mods/gargarena

http://www.moddb.com/groups/special-forces-source