Something we rolled out on the sites a couple of weeks ago without any kind of announcement was a new file publishing system when adding file pages to the Nexus. The inherent problem is thus; if you want to (properly) release a mod on the Nexus you need to first start a file page, add a good long description, add and setup all your images, upload your files and setup any videos and mirror links. If you do this without hiding the file (so that others can see it) you run the risk of some hasty (and annoying) users asking you why you haven’t uploaded your files/images yet. If you do it while your file is hidden then your file is losing “valuable” exposure in the new today and recent files pages and columns.

So what we’ve done is added an extra step to the process. You no longer choose whether you want your new file page to be visible or hidden. All file pages start off hidden and you now need to “publish” your mod before it becomes visible on the site. Until you publish your mod your file page will have no comment thread, no upload date and you have all the time in the world to upload and setup everything exactly how you want it before your mod is visible to everyone. It also guarantees you complete control over when the file is released to the public, and as the upload date isn’t updated until you publish the file, you can have your file unpublished for as long as you like without suffering any drawbacks.

For an added example of why this might be handy, take if you will a new mod you’d like to upload to Skyrim Nexus. You think this mod is going to be the next big thing. Now the Hot File system on Skyrim Nexus has a 7 day turn around time, so it only shows the most endorsed files uploaded over the past 7 days. If your mod is 1GB+ in size it might take you a very long time to upload it to the site, anything from a few hours to days depending on your upload speed. So by the time your file is actually up on the site and ready to be endorsed you’ve lost a hell of a lot of time, and perhaps dented your chances at hitting the (sometimes) coveted hot files. With the publishing system in place, your mod only gets properly added to the site when you click that publish button, ensuring you’re absolutely ready to launch. Now, if you don’t care about the hot files or your mod’s exposure then this isn’t a big deal for you, but I know it is for some. So that’s what the publishing system is for, and it’s going to come in handy for the partial down-time I’m about to tell you about.

We’re hoping that on Monday (the 11th of February) we’re going to be taking the forums down for a long overdue software update. Now the forums are pretty integral to the operation of these sites, and lots of functionality is linked to it; the commenting system, the user login and registration system, messaging, chat, and so on and so forth. We’ve been running some tests over the past couple of weeks, doing some mock runs, and we believe we can keep the majority of the site’s functionality operational during this forum downtime. You’ll still be able to browse the sites, download mods, look at images and even read comment threads, but you won’t be able to browse the forums or post any new posts or comments either on the forums or in file or image comment threads. Similarly new registrations will be locked down during this period.

As the forums are going to be locked down during the upgrade we’re also going to lock down the publishing of new mods to the database, as publishing a mod during the forum upgrade would result in the mod comment topic being lost. As such, you will be able to add or edit new file pages, upload files, images and everything else you do before publishing a mod, but you won’t be able to actually publish the mod so it’s visible to the public until the forum upgrade is finished. This only affects new file additions to the site. You’ll be able to manage any current files already published on the site no problem. We’re doing this for the integrity of our data, and for the safety of maintaining the effort you’ve gone into getting your file up on the site.

We’ll be putting notifications up on the site to let you know when we’ve taken the forums down and I’ll try to keep you updated. This is one of these things where any number of problems can occur along the way. We’ve tried to account for everything (and there’s a hell of a lot to account for considering how integral the forums are to the running of the sites) but it’s logical to assume that at some point something unexpected is going to happen that we’ll have to react to. So while I’d like to tell you that this forum downtime will probably only last 6 hours, it could last 12 hours, a day, or hell, even longer. But I hope not.

Fingers crossed!