The FanFicFare Cover Settings wiki page documents using covers in FanFicFare Plugin after the changes made in FanFicFare v4.16.
FanFicFare v4.16 adds a Set Calibre Cover Only for New Books checkbox in the plugin config Calibre Cover tag plus use_old_cover and force_cover_imagepersonal.ini settings to be cleaner replacements for Update EPUB Cover? and never_make_cover.
You can get the same behavior as unchecked Update EPUB Cover? with personal.ini setting:
Since practically day one of the FanFicFare Plugin, every download has had a 'Download Option' checkbox labeled Update EPUB Cover? (And corresponding Default Update EPUB Cover when Updating EPUB? setting in FFF Config.)
This was for the benefit of early users who wanted to use the plugin, but only wanted to download covers some of the time. They were vocal enough about FFF overwriting covers at the time that Default Update EPUB Cover when Updating EPUB? has always defaulted to unchecked for new users.
In their defense, the first generation of FFF plugin users often had existing libraries of fanfics and FFF (then FFDL) overwriting their hand crafted covers was rude, at best. And, at the time, FFF shipped with include_images:false set by default, so downloading images at all was a bit novel.
How it worked:
The way Update EPUB Cover? worked, was when it was UNchecked FFF literally appended an extra setting to personal.ini when it was processed:
[overrides]
never_make_cover: true
In retrospect, a Plugin setting that changed personal.ini was a mistake.
never_make_cover: true causes the FanFicFare downloader to not use a story's specific cover images (if there is one) and suppresses any cover that may have resulted from make_firstimage_cover:true. It does not prevent any default_cover_image that may be set, nor the inclusion of an existing cover image during epub update.
What Update EPUB Cover? did not do (directly) was control whether Calibre's cover is updated. This has long been a point of confusion, especially with the later addition of the 'Calibre Cover' tab in FFF's Config.
Removal of a Feature
In FanFicFare v4.16, the 'Download Option' Update EPUB Cover? checkbox is disabled. The corresponding Default Update EPUB Cover when Updating EPUB? setting in FFF Config still works, but a warning dialog is displayed any time Default Update EPUB Cover when Updating EPUB? will be used or when it is unset.
Update EPUB Cover? and Default Update EPUB Cover when Updating EPUB? will be removed completely in a future release.
At the same, the 'new install' default values for several other Calibre Cover features are changed to be more useful and intuitive for new users and some new features added, namely:
Set Calibre Cover Only for New Books in FFF Config 'Calibre Cover' tab;
use_old_cover in personal.ini, and;
force_cover_image in personal.ini.
FanFicFare CLI --update-cover option
The FFF CLI's --update-cover option is analogous to Update EPUB Cover?, eg, applying never_make_cover: true when --update-cover is not specified.
But while Update EPUB Cover? was applied all the time, including to new downloads, the absence of --update-cover in CLI only applies never_make_cover: true when actually updating an existing epub.
That, and the tendency for Calibre Plugin users to care about covers significantly more, means the CLI --update-cover option is not being changed at this time. But use_old_cover and force_cover_image in personal.ini will be available for CLI.
TL;DR
The FanFicFare Cover Settings wiki page documents using covers in FanFicFare Plugin after the changes made in FanFicFare v4.16.
FanFicFare v4.16 adds a Set Calibre Cover Only for New Books checkbox in the plugin config Calibre Cover tag plus
use_old_cover
andforce_cover_image
personal.ini
settings to be cleaner replacements for Update EPUB Cover? andnever_make_cover
.You can get the same behavior as unchecked Update EPUB Cover? with
personal.ini
setting:But you might find a better idea in FanFicFare Cover Settings.
The 'Update EPUB Cover?' Checkbox, a History
Since practically day one of the FanFicFare Plugin, every download has had a 'Download Option' checkbox labeled Update EPUB Cover? (And corresponding Default Update EPUB Cover when Updating EPUB? setting in FFF Config.)
This was for the benefit of early users who wanted to use the plugin, but only wanted to download covers some of the time. They were vocal enough about FFF overwriting covers at the time that Default Update EPUB Cover when Updating EPUB? has always defaulted to unchecked for new users.
In their defense, the first generation of FFF plugin users often had existing libraries of fanfics and FFF (then FFDL) overwriting their hand crafted covers was rude, at best. And, at the time, FFF shipped with
include_images:false
set by default, so downloading images at all was a bit novel.How it worked:
The way Update EPUB Cover? worked, was when it was UNchecked FFF literally appended an extra setting to
personal.ini
when it was processed:In retrospect, a Plugin setting that changed
personal.ini
was a mistake.never_make_cover: true
causes the FanFicFare downloader to not use a story's specific cover images (if there is one) and suppresses any cover that may have resulted frommake_firstimage_cover:true
. It does not prevent anydefault_cover_image
that may be set, nor the inclusion of an existing cover image during epub update.What Update EPUB Cover? did not do (directly) was control whether Calibre's cover is updated. This has long been a point of confusion, especially with the later addition of the 'Calibre Cover' tab in FFF's Config.
Removal of a Feature
In FanFicFare v4.16, the 'Download Option' Update EPUB Cover? checkbox is disabled. The corresponding Default Update EPUB Cover when Updating EPUB? setting in FFF Config still works, but a warning dialog is displayed any time Default Update EPUB Cover when Updating EPUB? will be used or when it is unset.
Update EPUB Cover? and Default Update EPUB Cover when Updating EPUB? will be removed completely in a future release.
At the same, the 'new install' default values for several other Calibre Cover features are changed to be more useful and intuitive for new users and some new features added, namely:
use_old_cover
inpersonal.ini
, and;force_cover_image
inpersonal.ini
.FanFicFare CLI
--update-cover
optionThe FFF CLI's
--update-cover
option is analogous to Update EPUB Cover?, eg, applyingnever_make_cover: true
when--update-cover
is not specified.But while Update EPUB Cover? was applied all the time, including to new downloads, the absence of
--update-cover
in CLI only appliesnever_make_cover: true
when actually updating an existing epub.That, and the tendency for Calibre Plugin users to care about covers significantly more, means the CLI
--update-cover
option is not being changed at this time. Butuse_old_cover
andforce_cover_image
inpersonal.ini
will be available for CLI.