Neverwinter Nights 2 Forum News (Mar. 12, 05)

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Here are today's Neverwinter Nights 2 forum highlights, collected by NWVault from Obsidian Forums. Please take into account that these are only single parts of various threads and should not be taken out of context. Bear in mind also that the posts presented here are copied as-is, and that any bad spelling and grammar does not get corrected on our end.

Adam Brennecke, Programmer

Questions to the Developers

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I have 4 major questions for developers that would be really cool of you guys to answers.

#1) I read alot about the engine design being much different which disallows tiles. So my question is, do you use a Height Map or Formable Terrain solution of some sort? I simple yes or no would be awesome. I thought NWN1 needed a system like that since wilderness tiles seemed a bit rigid.

#2) Are we going to be able to set object names? This was a major issue that was in NWN1 that upset people for scripting. I'm not sure if there was some engine problem that made it too difficult to pull off. And I'm not sure if someone already asked this.

#3) Are we going to be able to control body dynamics from within scripts? I know you have stated the low-level 3d mechanics have changed for NWN2, but one issue I personally had in NWN1 was the inability to change body parts from scripts, like giving a character wings or the fly, or changing an arm skeletal (like some of the prestigue classes do).

#4) Did you guys consider the proposition of allowing dynamic linked libraries (DLLs) as a way of allowing outside interfaces into persistent servers?

Well, that's it for now ^_^ Thanks for alot of the info you have given us so far, NWN2 is one of the few games I'm eager to play in the coming year.

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1. We aren't abandoning tiles. We are changing how they work.

4. It's highly unlikely we will do something like this. The scripting system is our interface to the game engine that we are providing to the public.

Erik Novales, Programmer

Modal Toolset Windows
I wouldn't call the modal windows a small inconvenience. At any rate, they are pretty much gone.

Brian D. Lawson, Programmer

Engine Q: Set to Scale?

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n is that Obsidian is attempting to build an engine from the ground up. But they wouldn't be that crazy. Trying to build a new engine from the ground up has to be a multilmillion dollar effort and one huge risk that I just can't see any company with an eye on the bottomline taking.

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No really...it's been done already.

Lighting, lighting, lighting
Believe me, it will be just as easy as the original tool set. Simply drag, drop, set the light parameters and wham...there you have it. It doesn't take a super lighting genius to make it happen. You'll like it...you know you will.

system requirements?

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...if noone cares because u don't get money from ATi to use it like someone else does then... resistance is futile.

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I don't know what that's supposed to mean? To be clear, we don't receive money from either vendor to support features that the competing vendor doesn't support. With that being said, there's no doubt that 3Dc will definitely be the compression method of choice in the future when it becomes more mainstream.

Ferret Baudoin, Lead Designer

Damage Reduction
Damage resistances was one of the big changes from 3.0 to 3.5. We're planning on incorporating the 3.5 rules. Personally, in pen and paper I've really appreciated the changes. Things like lycanthropes in 3.0 didn't feel too mythic because you had to have silver or any magical weapon, and who doesn't have a magic weapon? It makes monsters more interesting.

Importing a NWN 1 character
We may have already commented on this one, if not... Unfortunately we're not planning on supporting importing characters from NWN1 to NWN2. There are enough changes between 3.0 to 3.5 that in many cases things won't map well. There are other changes to systems where mapping characters would potentially deprive imported characters from some cool stuff.

Damage Reduction
I just want to clear up a potential misconception. Most 3.5 damage resistance just make it more difficult to damage the beasty if you don't have the right gear to penetrate it's damage resistance. You (and your party) in most cases will be able to kill it regardless, it's just going to be a tougher fight. Some high level critters can have 15 DR (like Pit Fiends), but by the level a character encounters that sort of critter most characters should be able to damage them even without the proper weapon.

Tony Evans, Designer

non-japanese Oriental setting, building,etc.
I answered this question in another recent post. Here it is again, copied and pasted for your convenience...

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Jade Empire should satisfy your craving for samurai and ninjas. As its name implies, the setting for Neverwinter Nights 2 will be primarily in and around Neverwinter. However, when NWN2 comes out, fans are more than welcome to use the toolset to create their own Oriental adventures (ie. Kara-Tur Nights).

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Before you post questions like this, you might want to check out the FAQ and read the most recent posts on the forums.

[ March 13, 2005, 20:44: Message edited by: chevalier ]