Far Cry 3

Taking down the GameFront files

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Back in April 2016 the owners of GameFront.com, Defy Media, announced that they would be shutting the site down within two weeks and that all the mods hosted on their site would no longer be available.

In order to save over 60,000 mods that would otherwise have been lost entirely, we spent hundreds of hours archiving every mod that we could from GameFront and eventually provided them for download here at Nexus Mods over the course of many months.

Thankfully, with outside help, the staff of GameFront were able to reclaim the domain name and created a new site to host all the mods that had been lost when GameFront went down.  This new site launched in March 2018.

Members of their team were quick to get in contact with us and chat about our GameFront file archive. We offered straight away to remove all the files that had been archived, as GameFront was now back up, but they were happy for us to keep the files up as a secondary backup source for their files. In return, we agreed to link back to the original file on the new GameFront site as a sign of respect.

Unfortunately, we've now been informed by the GameFront staff that other sites have now tried to exploit this situation by claiming that if Nexus Mods can host the files, so can they. We think trying to compare uploading the files to other sites now that GameFront is actually back, to us archiving the files back when GameFront went down and looked likely to never come back is, frankly, disingenuous. However, I'm not surprised by what I've been told considering who is involved.

At the request of the GameFront staff and to help them with this situation, we have agreed to take down the files we archived back in 2016. These files will continue to be available on GameFront for the foreseeable future and a link to this message will be shown on any files we were originally hosting from the archiving process.

We hope this puts an end to the unfortunate situation that the GameFront staff have had to deal with recently and I want to personally thank them for their work over the years, and the respectful way in which they've communicated with us on these issues. I wish them all the best.

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  1. Dark0ne
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    Thread locked as it has now been several months. If you have any issues with the Game Front site or service please take it to them using their contact form, forum or Discord server. They're a friendly bunch -- promise!
  2. n0e
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    Sorry but this is just bad. I was trying to look for some maps for CnC Generals and then I see this. Great. So I go to GameFront and find a category which contains all the maps people uploaded. No subcategories, no filters, just nothing except search, but it's useless if you don't look for a specific map. Are you really expecting me to click on every single damn map, load the file's page, and check the description if it mentions the amount of players and hope that it's the amount I'm looking for? The files don't even have preview pictures! Are you serious? Do you expect me to load every single map into the game and see if it's an actually playable one?

    In this kind of situation I'll just have to live with not getting some of the gems from the past. THIS is not going to work. And this is only one game backup from old FileFront that I checked.


     
    1. Categories have subcatgories. Infact the categories on GameFront are EXACTLY the same as they would have been on here, cause, well, it's the same source data. The new site runs on the exact same category structure and database as the old site, and thus the category structure used here.
     
    subcats.jpg

    2. There are filters on some pages but we're working on adding more advanced filters and an advanced search.
     
    3. We've already rolled out an update today that changes category views to use cards with preview screenshots, ratings and other information that makes this easier
     
    category.png

    Like we've said before we're not closed to feedback. Infact if people contact us directly with an issue we've been known to roll out fixes and test them within the day, sometimes hours. But for us to do that, you need to contact us directly. We aren't regularly monitoring this thread. We have a support ticket system on the site.
     
    Honestly if there's something wrong and we can fix it we'll fix it, you just need to work with us. As you can see from today's update, it's already an improvement, and we'll roll out more in the next week, i.e. the filters etc.
  3. RaceRed
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    So what exactly is the big deal? tbh if they weren't archived they would of been gone forever you think the authors would of wanted that? Unless people had the mods already installed on the PC and they can back them up for others. It just seems to me GF is trying to get back on its feet by nixing some of newer competition. GF while was a great site died out multiple times can we be sure it wont happen again? IDK if it was a domain issue or what but other modding sites picked up the slack. No one knows where a lot of these modding authors went many did move on just let bygones be bygones.
    1. axonis
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      if they weren't archived they would have been gone forever you think the authors would have wanted that?


      That's exactly why GF was properly rescued instead of stealing the works of these authors in the name of "archiving".

      Don't worry. The files were uploaded at GF by their authors and are now again at GF.
    2. Phoenix4646
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      ''stealing the works of these authors in the name of "archiving"'' rofl. Stop being a fool and stop crying about mods being ''stolen'' already. It's a stupid and invalid argument regarding Nexus. No one knew if the site was going to come back and it looked A LOT like it was gone forever. That's a fact. No one else took credit for it on Nexus and the original authors were still on their files. But sure, next time we should just do nothing because we can't ''steal'' these mods and just have to hope *something* happens that results in whatever page getting rescued / revived, as unlikely as it may be! Unicorns don't exist, btw. And if it doesn't come back, oh well, then the mods are gone. Who cares? /s
  4. Phoenix4646
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    Sorry but this is just bad. I was trying to look for some maps for CnC Generals and then I see this. Great. So I go to GameFront and find a category which contains all the maps people uploaded. No subcategories, no filters, just nothing except search, but it's useless if you don't look for a specific map. Are you really expecting me to click on every single damn map, load the file's page, and check the description if it mentions the amount of players and hope that it's the amount I'm looking for? The files don't even have preview pictures! Are you serious? Do you expect me to load every single map into the game and see if it's an actually playable one?

    In this kind of situation I'll just have to live with not getting some of the gems from the past. THIS is not going to work. And this is only one game backup from old FileFront that I checked.
  5. DartTorn
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    Nice
  6. FileTrekker
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    In response to post #68600281.


    Spoiler:  
    Show

    shaggoth wrote: awesome. now we have mods that cannot be find on gamefront, and hidden here. AWESOME


    Yeah, I ran into this when I had to reinstall Knights of the Old Republic and couldn't find my favorite mods on Nexus anymore. They're all still here, just "hidden".

    Unfortunately I can't find them on the new GameFront site either because the new site is so horribly broken. Search doesn't work in any meaningful way, and browsing categories is a mess. Is the mod I need under Clothing, Skins->Clothing, Graphics->Characters->Clothing, or Graphics->Skins->Characters->Clothing.

    It's sad that the modding community has to suffer like this because GameFront doesn't know how to manage their IP.
     


     
    Again, you could, y'know, contact us directly and let us know the issues you're having so we can fix them.
     
    The site isn't set in stone. We're constantly developing and improving it.
     
    There seems to be a small group of people who like to say we're missing mods but when I do a search for them I find them in five seconds. If you're feeling like stuff is missing then you can let us know and we'll get it fixed.
  7. shaggoth
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    awesome. now we have mods that cannot be find on gamefront, and hidden here. AWESOME
    1. cadika
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      Yeah, I ran into this when I had to reinstall Knights of the Old Republic and couldn't find my favorite mods on Nexus anymore. They're all still here, just "hidden".

      Unfortunately I can't find them on the new GameFront site either because the new site is so horribly broken. Search doesn't work in any meaningful way, and browsing categories is a mess. Is the mod I need under Clothing, Skins->Clothing, Graphics->Characters->Clothing, or Graphics->Skins->Characters->Clothing.

      It's sad that the modding community has to suffer like this because GameFront doesn't know how to manage their IP.
  8. TLau18
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    What the heck is Gamefront?
    1. deleted9152072
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      Another site which hosted a lot of mods for games. It was really popular for some particular games. Most of the Star Wars and Star Trek games had a lot of mods on there.
  9. Crypto341
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    Well that sucks. I get where gamesfront is coming from but they couldve left them up on the nexus as a backup. Screw the other sites hosting anything since you had a legitimate reason for putting these on nexus. I would've never found mods for Stalker games if they weren't on nexus. I don't know other modding sites aside from GUN and i cant stand them; and now gamesfront i suppose.
    1. axonis
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      Screw the other sites hosting anything since you had a legitimate reason for putting these on nexus.


      As legitimate as anyone hosting mods without authorization. But in your logic, when the Nexus copies mods without authorization it's "archiving", when others do the same, it's "mod theft".
    2. Emberwake
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      @axonis I disagree. According to the above write-up, the people who run Gamefront had reached an agreement with the Nexus. Other sites who hosted the files had no such agreement. The Nexus was under no obligation to renegotiate, but did so out of courtesy to their peer.

      With that said, this entire issue of redistribution rights for freeware is simply not well addressed in the current body of IP law. There is little real recourse in such a dispute, and I think the Nexus absolutely took the high road in this situation!
  10. BuzzParsec
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    After a long time away, I was searching for mods for a game and had two separate search-engine results that link to this site for two separate mods, give me a "hidden file" page with an explanation to the effect of "Game Front is now back therefore we can't let you access the mod because ya know stepping on toes or some such. Are you not entertained?"

    I just don't see it. It seems like unnecessary and excessive self-deprecation on the part of Nexus Mods which has been steadfast to the gaming community -- while others, not so much.

    Maybe I missed something. Wouldn't be the first time. As I said, been away from this site for awhile. Sigh. Off to GameFront to search for those mods.