[GUI Plugin] FanFicFare

[JimmXinu]

Due to AO3 hiding locked stories in series(etc) pages, FFF automatically attempts to login for AO3(all OTW) for 'Get Story URLs From Web Page' if you have a username setting. You can comment out username to prevent that.

use_archiveofourown_gay:true login worked for me yesterday, so it's not a general failure. I assume it's different levels of blocking for whatever random reason some AI hallucinated at this point.

We did have some one yesterday report updating to latest Calibre helped them.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by JimmXinu

use_archiveofourown_gay:true login worked for me yesterday, so it's not a general failure. I assume it's different levels of blocking for whatever random reason some AI hallucinated at this point.

I added my "reboot the modem" advice to the Problematic Sites page yesterday, for what its worth.

[JimmXinu]

New Version Released

2025-11-07
- writer_epub: Only do svg check for epub3
- writer_epub: More epub3 - prefix & prop cover-image
- Don't include default_cover_image with use_old_cover with a different name.
- adapter_storiesonlinenet.py - tolerate contest stories with "(Hidden)" author, #1272, thanks bpothier
- Find and use epub3 cover on update--relies on Calibre's calibre:title-page property.
- writer_epub: Also write the calibre:title-page property for epub3.
- writer_epub: Rearrange to detect and flag files containing svg tags for epub3.
- Preserve original titles for Reader Post blocks from fiction.live #1269, thanks MacaroonRemarkable!
- adapter_ficbooknet: Collect additional metadata #1270, thanks dbhmw!
- OTW/AO3: Don't apply series page handling to non-series pages


FYI, I'll try to get back on the 1st of the month release schedule next month.

[Clem2605]

So, I've finally had the time to do more tests, and it's weird, it's like my FFF can't log in AO3 anymore, anytime it tries to log in, with or without the 'ao3.gay' option, I get the error:

HTTP Error in FFF '403 Client Error: Forbidden for url: https://archiveofourown.org/users/login'(403)

I have both the last version of Calibre and of the plugin.
I've checked, it's the right username & password.

Have I made a mistake somewhere in my personal.ini? Here is the first part of my AO3 section: (Everything is tagged out because I was trying to see if the error was exclusive to ao3.gay or not)

[archiveofourown.org]
username:*****
password:*****

#use_archiveofourown_gay:true

## Cache settings
#use_basic_cache:true
#use_browser_cache:true
#use_browser_cache_only:true
#open_pages_in_browser:true

Since I was exclusively using the cache settings for the last year, I wouldn't have noticed if a mistake suddenly appeared in the code, but everything looks good to me. Could the error be somewhere else in the file? Honestly the rest are mostly cosmetic changes and regexes.

[JimmXinu]

I am not aware of any FFF code or setting that will cause--or fix--403 blocking on AO3 login.

You can avoid it by just not trying to login. Turn off always_login, comment out username (for Get URLs from Page), and don't download locked stories directly.

ownedbycats has suggested that changing your source IP address can help--if you're on a home broadband connect, rebooting your cable modem will often do that. Some users in past have reported success using VPN to effectively change your source IP.

If use_browser_cache was working for you, but direct and use_archiveofourown_gay are not, I'd go back to it.

[JimmXinu]

New Test Version Posted

2025-11-11
- Fix for add_chapter_numbers:toconly and unnew. Closes #1274

[applegaa]

RoyalRoad has added a new status called INACTIVE that it sets automatically 180 days after the last activity on a story. This is the next step after HIATUS, which is set after 35 days. Since the adapter doesn't expect it, it leaves the status blank.

When you get a chance, would it be possible for you to add it?

Thanks!

[JimmXinu]

Example Story URL? SFW, please.

[applegaa]

Originally Posted by JimmXinu

Example Story URL? SFW, please.

Sorry about that.

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/101390

[JimmXinu]

New Test Version Posted

2025-11-13
- adapter_royalroadcom: New status Inactive

[chrisric]

Hi - Is there a way to add and/or update books via FanFicFare from the command line? I've checked the help and googled what I can but still didn't find the answer.

I tried the below as a test:

calibre-debug -r "FanFicFare" -- -d -b 1 -e 3 --library-path="/Users/username/Calibre Library/" "https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/132540/abaddon"

It seems to ignore the "--library-path=" option and dumps the epub in the current directory.

Ideally, I would like to mirror what the GUI does. Add the new book, run word count and auto convert to new format.

I'm running an old version (6.29) of calibre as my Mac is super old. I don't think its an issue for this though.

Thanks.

-Chris

[JimmXinu]

The FFF plugin CLI is basically the same as the pip CLI version.

About the only advantages are that a) you can call it without having python/pip and other dependencies installed, and, b) it will use your personal.ini settings from the library specified by --library-path.

If you want to update an existing book in your Calibre library using purely CLI, you need to get a copy of the epub out of the Calibre library using calibredb, run the FFF CLI to update it, then push it back into the library using calibredb again.

Honestly, FFF plugin CLI was added more because it possible than because it was useful.

[chrisric]

Originally Posted by JimmXinu

Honestly, FFF plugin CLI was added more because it possible than because it was useful.

Understood. Thanks for the quick reply. I appreciate the CLI as it works great when creating and testing new adapters.

[WinterPhoenix]

Hello! Not sure if this is the right place to ask about these things, but I think it is.

I've recently started using the function that fetches story URLs from email, and I've noticed that the process slows down significantly whenever one of the URLs is from Royal Road. My first thought was that it might be related to Royal Road’s email-click redirect URLs, but I'm not certain, so I wanted to ask here to see if that's expected behavior.

I also feel like fetching metadata has been noticeably slower since a recent update. I’m not sure whether that’s just my imagination, but I can’t think of anything specific I changed that would cause it—although I *have* been modifying my `personal.ini` quite a bit. As far as I can remember, the only changes I made are listed below. Could any of these cause slowdown?

I also added some URLs to my previously empty reject list, and may have enabled the setting that splits URLs into separate jobs by site. I’m about 95% sure I already had that turned on previously.

Here are the relevant parts of my configuration:

[defaults]
# Commented out
#open_pages_in_browser:true

# Added:
skip_threadmarks_categories:Media,Apocrypha,Informational,Staff Post,Extras,Voting,Index
order_threadmarks_by_date:true
mark_new_chapters:true
use_reader_mode:true

custom_columns_settings:
 "FanFicFare"=>#downloaded_by,n
add_to_include_metadata_pre:
 parentforums==Quests

strip_chapter_numbers:true
add_chapter_numbers:toconly

[epub]
# Changed from true to false
include_images:false

# Added:
[www.scribblehub.com]
username: <not included here>
password: <not included here>
#use_flaresolverr_proxy:true

[https://forums.spacebattles.com/thre...i-oc.1211852/]
skip_threadmarks_categories:Media,Apocrypha,Informational,Staff Post,Extras,Voting,Index,Sidestory

[https://forums.spacebattles.com/thre...elow.1225985/]
order_threadmarks_by_date:false

[JimmXinu]

Originally Posted by WinterPhoenix

I've recently started using the function that fetches story URLs from email, and I've noticed that the process slows down significantly whenever one of the URLs is from Royal Road. ...

I don't remember anything that changed recently that would have that effect. And except for logging in (and slow_down_sleep_time of course), most personal.ini settings don't change anything during the metadata fetch process.

Honestly, I'm inclined to blame it on the ever increasing levels of screening and blocking aimed at the AI training bots vacuuming the entire web over and over--especially written prose.

Considering the issues we have with other sites, I count myself lucky that FFF still works at all.