[GUI Plugin] FanFicFare

[texasnightowl]

Originally Posted by Elaine T

I took Jimmy's advice and set a second browser to use solely for downloads on Ao3.


Now I've gotten one successfully, the others all fail with this error:
[WinError 2] The system cannot find the file specified: 'C:\\Users\\Elaine\\AppData\\Local\\Waterfox\\Prof iles\\ra4tiq7j.default-release\\cache2\\index'




Now when I checked what I'd put in for the file path what I see is:
browser_cache_path:C:\Users\Elaine\AppData\Local\W aterfox\Profiles\ra4tiq7j.default-release\cache2


The only difference is those extra back slashes. Where could they be coming from and how do I fix it?
I don't understand enough to know where to look for the answer, please help.

I was also trying to do this last night, also with Waterfox, and got the same error. Interestingly though...when I did a new story, not in my library, it worked. But when I tried to update an existing story it failed with that WinError 2.

Now...my next step was to tell it to overwrite instead of update and see what happens...but AO3 when down as I was doing that. So I'll be waiting until AO3 comes back up.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Note that AO3 is undergoing maintenance, so it won't work until its finished.

It'll be a while.

We estimate that service restoration for #AO3 will take around 2 weeks but it could be up to 4 weeks. We are hopeful that we will be able to bring the site back up in a degraded state sooner. If that does happen, there may be times when the site has to be brought down temporarily until this is fully resolved. Please stay tuned for further info.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by JimmXinu

(emphasize mine)

Good heavens.

What are they doing that needs 12+ hours??

My best guess (from the lack of detail about what they're maintaining) it was a security vulnerability and either they broke something while patching or it was worse than expected.

[JimmXinu]

New Test Version Posted

2026-10-29
- adapter_royalroadcom: Take Legacy dateUpdated/datePublished from oldest/newest chapter dates. See also #1445
- Update translations


FYI, image download using camoufox is still not 100%. It's kinda weird and I'm not sure how or why yet.

[MorbPtact]

As far as I can tell I fixed the certificate error I was having on my end, and now it works just fine when attemting to update a story with no new chapters (stating that there are already the correct number of chapters), but when trying to actually update something it threw the following error:
HTTP Error in FFF 'HTTP 403'(403) URL:'https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/181303'

[ernand]

Ao3 will be offline for 2 to 4 weeks. The OTW has not detailed the exact technical issue or root cause of the extended shutdown. The site's data remains intact, meaning user fanworks and accounts are safe. The team noted they are hopeful they might bring the site back in a limited, "degraded" (read-only) state sooner than the full 4-week window, though temporary shutdowns may still happen during that process.

[culytera]

Update - Earlier today, we detected evidence of a security incident on AO3. We are still in the early stages of response to this security incident and determining its scope. AO3 will remain down while we continue investigating and addressing what has been found so far.

Read the full status update here: https://www.otwstatus.org/

Big day for Calibre + FanFicFare users.

[readerboy7]

Whenever trying to download a royalroad story with the latest ( 2026-10-29) version, I get a 403 forbidden error (e.g. HTTP Error in FFF '403 Client Error: Forbidden for url: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/146850)'(403 )
[edit: never mind, I'd messed up and accidentally downloaded the regular version when trying to grab the 2026-10-29 version]

My personal.ini contains

[www.royalroad.com]
use_browser_cache:false
use_camoufox:true

however, use_camoufox is highlighted red, implying it isn't a valid config option.

Using the exact same personal.ini and downloading the exact same fic, the 2026-10-28 version runs successfully*. Was a banch not merged or something?

*well, it ran a lot slower than I remember, taking 181 seconds to download a 7 chapter 8k word story; but I assume that's mostly caused by precautions to avoid getting a 403 error

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by readerboy7

?

*well, it ran a lot slower than I remember, taking 181 seconds to download a 7 chapter 8k word story; but I assume that's mostly caused by precautions to avoid getting a 403 error

Camoufox was only added to calibre a short while back. The delay on downloading that one story is likely due to having to download camoufox before it could be used.

[readerboy7]

Okay, I spent too long figuring out what the delays were caused by. the log contains the message "Camoufox ready in 1.4 seconds', so that's not it. The biggest delay is "https://i.imgur.com/eieNbK9.jpeg did not finish loading within 60.0 seconds, using it as it stands" (60 seconds)
after that, the actual fetching of the chapters took 46 seconds in total, random sleep(2.50-7.50)* took 70, and I couldn't be bothered figuring out the other few seconds.

I'm not complaining about the slowdown, mind you**, just pointing it out.

*I assume this is an intentional slowdown to avoid looking like a bot/DoS attack and getting hit by a 403
**okay, okay, my ire is directed at AI people who keep scraping the web, not the devs of this plugin.

[JimmXinu]

Originally Posted by JimmXinu

New Test Version Posted
...
FYI, image download using camoufox is still not 100%. It's kinda weird and I'm not sure how or why yet.

Originally Posted by readerboy7

Okay, I spent too long figuring out what the delays were caused by. the log contains the message "Camoufox ready in 1.4 seconds', so that's not it. The biggest delay is "https://i.imgur.com/eieNbK9.jpeg did not finish loading within 60.0 seconds, using it as it stands" (60 seconds)
after that, the actual fetching of the chapters took 46 seconds in total, random sleep(2.50-7.50)* took 70, and I couldn't be bothered figuring out the other few seconds.

I'm not complaining about the slowdown, mind you**, just pointing it out.

*I assume this is an intentional slowdown to avoid looking like a bot/DoS attack and getting hit by a 403
**okay, okay, my ire is directed at AI people who keep scraping the web, not the devs of this plugin.

Each image hosting site does things a bit different. We've spent years tuning our headers and access methods to get various image hosters to work. Some have never worked. I don't remember where imgur falls.

Camoufox doesn't appear to be passing/using all the headers as I expect. Or it could be that some image hosters recognize and block Camoufox, idk.

I've already spent 2 days working just on Camoufox image download. I haven't (quite) given up yet, but at this point I'm not hurrying to keep the first of the month release date. I'd rather delay the official release than deal with complaints about broken images.

[JimmXinu]

New Test Version Posted

2026-10-30
- Add use_camoufox:directimages option See #1444

Downloading RR images through Camoufox was infuriatingly inconsistent (FG vs BG metadata made a difference, for example) and attempting to fix images by adding headers broke RR login instead.

In the end, I've taken the same approach to all the image issues we ended up with for Flaresolverr and BrowserCache -- I've added a 'directimages' option.

[www.royalroad.com]
use_camoufox:directimages

When set, FFF downloads images directly instead of through Camoufox. If it works, it works. Good luck. That said, it has worked in the cases I've tested.


ffnet only allows their own tiny cover thumbnail images, and they're working with use_camoufox for me either way.


AO3, who knows.

[readerboy7]

When trying to download from royalroad on the camufox versions, I sometimes get a HTTP 302 error (e.g. HTTP Error in FFF 'HTTP 302'(302) URL:'https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/134560'). trying again tends to fix the issue. I assume this is a problem on royalroad's end, but posting about it just in case. Relevant section of log (from 2026-10-30 update) in spoiler:

Spoiler:

---------- REQ (GET) CamoufoxFetcher
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/134560
FFF: INFO: 2026-10-31 07:44:24,076: calibre_plugins.fanficfare_plugin.jobs(449): Exception: {'title': 'Neophyte World Builder [Volume 2+]', 'author_sort': 'ThePudding', 'author': ['ThePudding'], 'comments': '', 'good': False, 'status': 'Error', 'showerror': True, 'calibre_id': 5436, 'begin': None, 'end': None, 'comment': "HTTP Error in FFF 'HTTP 302'(302) URL:'https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/134560'", 'url': 'https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/134560', 'site': 'www.royalroad.com', 'series': '', 'added': False, 'pubdate': None, 'publisher': 'www.royalroad.com', 'listorder': 1, 'collision': 'Update EPUB if New Chapters', 'uniqueurl': 'https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/134560[None-None]', 'is_adult': False, 'username': 'NoneGiven', 'password': '', 'totp': None, 'icon': 'dialog_error.png', 'epub_for_update': '/tmp/calibre-ufscpjin/fanficfare_8iex4xb2/old-5436-0oqgoa1o.epub', 'calibre_columns': {}, 'outfile': '/tmp/calibre-ufscpjin/fanficfare_8iex4xb2/bgmeta-dcymr9xp.epub'}:HTTP Error in FFF 'HTTP 302'(302) URL:'https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/134560'
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/my_name/.config/calibre/plugins/FanFicFare.zip/fanficfare/fetchers/fetcher_camoufox.py", line 89, in request
    resp = self.get_browser().open(url,
                                   data=parameters,
                                   timeout=timeout)
  File "calibre/web/automate/recipes.py", line 848, in open
  File "calibre/web/automate/recipes.py", line 840, in _open
  File "calibre/web/automate/recipes.py", line 707, in response_from_result
urllib.error.URLError: <urlopen error HTTP 302>

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "calibre_plugins.fanficfare_plugin.jobs", line 199, in do_download_for_worker
    story = adapter.getStoryMetadataOnly()
  File "/home/my_name/.config/calibre/plugins/FanFicFare.zip/fanficfare/adapters/base_adapter.py", line 657, in getStoryMetadataOnly
    self.doExtractChapterUrlsAndMetadata(get_cover=get_cover)
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/home/my_name/.config/calibre/plugins/FanFicFare.zip/fanficfare/adapters/base_adapter.py", line 767, in doExtractChapterUrlsAndMetadata
    return self.extractChapterUrlsAndMetadata()
           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^
  File "/home/my_name/.config/calibre/plugins/FanFicFare.zip/fanficfare/adapters/adapter_royalroadcom.py", line 202, in extractChapterUrlsAndMetadata
    data = self.get_request(url)
  File "/home/my_name/.config/calibre/plugins/FanFicFare.zip/fanficfare/requestable.py", line 128, in get_request
    return self.get_request_redirected(url,
           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^
                                       referer=referer,
                                       ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
                                       usecache=usecache)[0]
                                       ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/home/my_name/.config/calibre/plugins/FanFicFare.zip/fanficfare/requestable.py", line 118, in get_request_redirected
    (data,rurl) = self.configuration.get_fetcher(url).get_request_redirected(
                  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^
        url,
        ^^^^
        referer=referer,
        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
        usecache=usecache)[:2]
        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/home/my_name/.config/calibre/plugins/FanFicFare.zip/fanficfare/fetchers/base_fetcher.py", line 137, in get_request_redirected
    fetchresp = self.do_request('GET',
                                 self.condition_url(url),
                                 referer=referer,
                                 usecache=usecache,
                                 image=image)
  File "/home/my_name/.config/calibre/plugins/FanFicFare.zip/fanficfare/fetchers/decorators.py", line 160, in fetcher_do_request
    fetchresp = chainfn(
        method,
    ...<3 lines>...
        usecache=usecache,
        image=image)
  File "/home/my_name/.config/calibre/plugins/FanFicFare.zip/fanficfare/fetchers/cache_basic.py", line 112, in fetcher_do_request
    fetchresp = chainfn(
        method,
    ...<3 lines>...
        usecache=usecache,
        image=image)
  File "/home/my_name/.config/calibre/plugins/FanFicFare.zip/fanficfare/fetchers/decorators.py", line 107, in fetcher_do_request
    fetchresp = chainfn(
        method,
    ...<3 lines>...
        usecache=usecache,
        image=image)
  File "/home/my_name/.config/calibre/plugins/FanFicFare.zip/fanficfare/fetchers/base_fetcher.py", line 107, in do_request
    fetchresp = self.request(method,url,
                             headers=headers,
                             parameters=parameters)
  File "/home/my_name/.config/calibre/plugins/FanFicFare.zip/fanficfare/fetchers/fetcher_camoufox.py", line 114, in request
    raise exceptions.HTTPErrorFFF(
    ...<4 lines>...
        )
fanficfare.exceptions.HTTPErrorFFF: HTTP Error in FFF 'HTTP 302'(302) URL:'https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/134560'

[applegaa]

When I went to check for updates tonight, I got this message:

Add https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/197023 Update epub completed, added 1 chapters, 1 failed chapters, for 34 total.

However, when I went back and tried it again later to see if I could get that failed chapter, I got this message:

Skipped https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/197023 Already contains 34 chapters.

Looking at what actually happened, there was no good chapter added, just the error placeholder. However, on the next attempt, it was not recognized as a placeholder, but a valid chapter.

I don't recall ever getting placeholder chapters with RoyalRoad before, so I don't know if this is new behavior or not.

[JimmXinu]

Originally Posted by applegaa

When I went to check for updates tonight, I got this message:

Add https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/197023 Update epub completed, added 1 chapters, 1 failed chapters, for 34 total.

However, when I went back and tried it again later to see if I could get that failed chapter, I got this message:

Skipped https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/197023 Already contains 34 chapters.

Looking at what actually happened, there was no good chapter added, just the error placeholder. However, on the next attempt, it was not recognized as a placeholder, but a valid chapter.

I don't recall ever getting placeholder chapters with RoyalRoad before, so I don't know if this is new behavior or not.

I can duplicate.

Probably got broken by either the new chapter metadata saving or preserve deleted chapters changes.

I'll look into it.