[GUI Plugin] FanFicFare

[ownedbycats]

AO3s completely down. Hopefully resolves 418s when back up.

https://bsky.app/profile/status.arch.../3lt37ezbxk62k

[jesscat]

Originally Posted by JimmXinu

There's a wiki page BrowserCacheFeature and it's been discussed here many times.

Yes, I know. I've used it successfully with ff.net for a long time. But I have never gotten it to work consistently for AO3. I'll read the wiki again and give it another try.

Are you essentially not supporting AO3 anymore - if FFF works, it works, but that's it?

[ownedbycats]

JimmXinu: See this post. https://bsky.app/profile/status.arch.../3lt2xgdyed22g

[JimmXinu]

Originally Posted by jesscat

Yes, I know. I've used it successfully with ff.net for a long time. But I have never gotten it to work consistently for AO3. I'll read the wiki again and give it another try.

Are you essentially not supporting AO3 anymore - if FFF works, it works, but that's it?

You may interpret it that way, if you wish.

I have explained how to use Browser Cache Feature over and over for literally years now. I do not have the energy anymore to help each individual user with getting it working.


What I think is going on is AO3 (and Cloudflare) are on one side, trying to protect their computational resources and content from the AI/LLM/Big Data companies trying to slurp everything on the net on the other side.

And we don't know how all that will shake out yet. For example, this popped up in the news recently from CF: Introducing pay per crawl: enabling content owners to charge AI crawlers for access.

The fact is, FFF is an automated tool for downloading from web sites. I like to think we're more respectful about it, but it's a difference in degree, not kind.


And, of course, the AO3 site is down entirely right now. Rather hard to fix that from my end.

Assuming AO3 comes back to normal, the worst case scenario is that you have to download epubs from the site instead of using FFF.

[Meangreentea]

Hi,
When I try to download any fanfics from Elysian Fields (dark-solace.org), I get a 403 error. I've tried it on a number of stories now, but am unable to download them. I'm probably making a really basic error, but I can't work out how to get these to download

HTTP Error in FFF '403 Client Error: Forbidden for url: https://dark-solace.org/elysian/view...r=all'(403)

HTTP Error in FFF '403 Client Error: Forbidden for url: https://dark-solace.org/elysian/view...r=all'(403)

https://dark-solace.org/elysian/viewstory.php?sid=2474
https://dark-solace.org/elysian/viewstory.php?sid=9446

[Meangreentea]

Originally Posted by Meangreentea

Hi,
When I try to download any fanfics from Elysian Fields (dark-solace.org), I get a 403 error. I've tried it on a number of stories now, but am unable to download them. I'm probably making a really basic error, but I can't work out how to get these to download

HTTP Error in FFF '403 Client Error: Forbidden for url: https://dark-solace.org/elysian/view...r=all'(403)

HTTP Error in FFF '403 Client Error: Forbidden for url: https://dark-solace.org/elysian/view...r=all'(403)

https://dark-solace.org/elysian/viewstory.php?sid=2474
https://dark-solace.org/elysian/viewstory.php?sid=9446

Meant to add, I've also tried using the browser cache feature but end up with the error:

HTTP Error in FFF 'Page not found or expired in Browser Cache (see FFF setting browser_cache_age_limit)'(428) URL:'https://dark-solace.org/elysian/viewstory.php?sid=9464&action=printable&textsize=0 &chapter=all'
https://dark-solace.org/elysian/viewstory.php?sid=9464

For both stories that require logging in and those available without logging in. The browser cache feature works fine on ff.net etc, only having issues with it on elysian fields.

[ownedbycats]

Clearing the cache first sometimes needed. Try it.

open_pages_in_browser:true may also be useful.

[jesscat]

Originally Posted by JimmXinu

You may interpret it that way, if you wish.

I truly just meant this as a question out of curiosity, not as a challenge or something! I hope you don't give up on AO3, but it does seem to be a source of constant trouble (still down!}. I've used and supported FFF since its earliest days and am eternally grateful for it. Epub doenloading, while nice, doesn't compare!

[steltek]

Originally Posted by jesscat

Yes, I know. I've used it successfully with ff.net for a long time. But I have never gotten it to work consistently for AO3. I'll read the wiki again and give it another try.

Are you essentially not supporting AO3 anymore - if FFF works, it works, but that's it?

If browser cache is working on your system with FFN, you have the correct browser cache location so the issue has to be in either your browser settings or your A03 personal.ini settings in FFF.

Try starting with the following absolute base settings, which will open the AO3 pages in your default web browser window. It will generally (for multiple chapter fics, anyway) open three AO3 tabs per fic (one for the A03 fic navigation page, one for the first chapter of the fic, and one containing the entire fic). If it doesn't do this, it could be an issue with your web browser tab settings on your default browser (I have mine set up to always open a new link in a new browser tab). I've used it on Vivaldi, Firefox, and Waterfox with no problems beyond those suffered by A03 itself due to Cloudflare and A03's server issues.

Once you have it working with these settings, you can then start to experiment with the other settings shown in the Wiki to get it set up like you want it.

[www.archiveofourown.org]
use_browser_cache:true
use_browser_cache_only:true
open_pages_in_browser:true

For fics requiring the user to be logged in to read, log in to your A03 account in a separate web browser tab in your default browser so you will also be logged in to A03 in any subsequent web tabs opened by FFF.

Additionally, you may need to periodically clear your default web browser's cache. I have noted (in Waterfox, anyway) that FFF sometimes has issues working correctly immediately after the cache has been cleared if the A03 page is the first page accessed by FFF. I just make a habit of loading a webpage (any site will do) in the web browser before starting the FFF download and it then mostly always works.

Hope this helps.

[JimmXinu]

Originally Posted by Meangreentea

When I try to download any fanfics from Elysian Fields (dark-solace.org), I get a 403 error. I've tried it on a number of stories now, but am unable to download them. I'm probably making a really basic error, but I can't work out how to get these to download

My notes indicate that I was blocked there last time I tested it, too. Yay, more cloudflare!

You can't use Browser Cache with that site because the 'print' page is marked 'no-cache' by the server and isn't cached to disk.

Also failed with Flaresolverr for me with a 60s timeout. I have no solution for this site.

ADDED: Look for where it says "Print or Download Story" on the chapter list page, the third icon is for download epub.

[slantybard]

Originally Posted by JohnnyBook

Recently started using FFF on scribblehub and as recommended in previous posts used FlareSolverr as a conduit(?)

Works mostly ok.

Most times it seems to there is no challenge. But every 10-15 chapters(?) there is a challenge and most times it is solved. Occasional however there is a hick-up when it times out while solving the challenge.
About 10% of the stories I try to retrieve fail due to timing out, but trying again will eventually get it.

But I am only a guest at scribblehub.

Currently my personal.ini entry for scribblehub is only:

[www.scribblehub.com]
use_flaresolverr_proxy:true

Would creating an account and putting a username and password in FFF's personal.ini skip the challenge?

You can use this chrome extension for downloading scribblehub fics as epubs

[Mari_Len]

https://archiveofourown.org
http://insecure.archiveofourown.org
https://secure.archiveofourown.org
https://archiveofourown.gay
https://archive.transformativeworks.org
https://i❤ao3.ws

[JohnnyBook]

Thanks, Using the chapter range works better. Although the tool tip says [1,20] both [1,20] & [1-20] work.

But it appears to add to the previous download, you have to increase the range, instead of limiting it to the new chapters.

Instead of [1,20] then [21,40] then [41,60] This gave me some error. I think it could not add the 2nd download to the first.

You to do [1,20] then [1,40] then [1,60] This gives me the complete book. Skipping the previous downloaded chapters and adding the new.

Originally Posted by JimmXinu

I don't actually know anything about scribblehub in particular.

You can set continue_on_chapter_error:true to save any chapters that completed with placeholders for failed chapters. Updating the epub will attempt to replace the failed chapters.

You can put a chapter range after the story URL when you download it to limit which chapters are downloaded, example:
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11111/1/Title[5-8]

Search also ignore_chapter_url_list and first_chapter / last_chapter.

[ownedbycats]

Update: They resolved the AO3 issue, broke again. Comments indicate that it's still blocked for some people. Better settle in for a while.

[JimmXinu]

Latest from AO3:

The temporary block on bots and VPNs has now been lifted. Thanks for your patience!

Posted: 16: 41 UTC July 4, 2025

FFF is working on AO3 for me again -- on the main site domain even, without use_archiveofourown_gay.

I downloaded 6 stories without issue, albeit with sleep time bumped up to 6 and several images, so effectively even slower. And got some significantly long response times.

But still... Here's hoping this happy state of affairs continues.