Neverwinter Nights Forum News

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(Originally posted by Veldrin)

Here are today's Neverwinter Nights forum highlights. Please take into account that these are only single parts of various threads and should not be taken out of context.

David Gaider, Designer

Custom Content: Point taken, rtrifts. I'm sure when a comment like the "Counterstrike" one is made, however, it's in the spirit of the community picking up NWN and running with it wherever they care to take it to... it's not as if NWN is built in such a way as modders are locked out or anything even close to that (I think it can be taken pretty far as is, even were we not going to help out problems that the custom community faces... and I never said we wouldn't) and I think the tacit acceptance on our part that NWN is going to be modified beyond the adding of new content and providing of occasional unofficial support for that deserves recognition. After all, it's not as if the skill list being hard-coded suddenly makes NWN un-modifiable in any manner... and when someone rants that NWN is broken because it doesn't do something it wasn't designed to do in the first place it does strike me as being more than a little unfair.

We would still need the license for the Toolset if we wanted it to be D&D or even D20. Just seperating the Toolset from the client doesn't suddenly solve the problem.

Quote: David, if it is legally possible and not hugely time consuming, please see if at some point in the future you can leave a back door open to add new skills. That's all I think we're asking for.

And this is where this conversation began originally. We certainly could do this, when and if we get the chance. Seeing as it's not part of NWN's design, however, it has to be a low priority... and angry demands that we "fix this" immediately are just going to be given the Hand. Doesn't mean it won't happen, however, and we'll see what we can do.

Ivy: We've had some nice results with wall-ivy placeables, actually. It's very possible, indeed, and it can look good when used right.

I mean the expansion. As for Danmar's Dungeon, yes I have tried it out. It's good, and an excellent start for a tileset built from scratch.

Invasion Of The Body Snatchers: I had this happen, myself, when I was playing on a server... right after a few players took an area transition at about the same time. There was some lag, and when I appeared I saw my character "die" and then suddenly was in the body of some vampire that I couldn't control. Unfortunately seeing the bug isn't the same as replicating it. In order to replicate it we need to do it on the heavy-duty debug machines at work, where the programmer can pinpoint what's going on in the code at the time the bug occurs. And I know for a fact that it hasn't been for a lack of trying that this bug hasn't been replicated... it's been around for a while and it's equally irritating to us. All we've been able to do up to this point is slowly optimize the network code, and hopefully that will improve the situation somewhat. But, as Derek said, we are aware of this one and are working on it.

Tom Ohle, Communications Associate

Screenshot Cridders: Faerie Dragon. Lizardfolk type guys are actually Asabi... desert-dwelling lizardfolk types. Those aren't undead gorgons. Just the regular type.

There are still better Ruins shots coming. That's the interior ruins floor tile... there's still some exterior stuff to come.

Derek French, Assistant Producer

Linux: That being said, your original original concerns are being addressed. We have not lied, we have been as honest and open as we can be, and probably more so than many other game developers. All of our actions have been to support the Linux version as best we can, with the resources we have. Many of you asked why you didn't have your own forums and just got a single thread in the General area. We listened and created this forum. Now I recognize that this is nothing in comparison to releasing the Linux Client, but its the best we can do for you right now. If you want to boycott us, that is your right as a consumer, but don't expect us to just accept this attitude here on our forums.

Quote: Which class and alignment are you?

Ranger, Neutral Good with a side dish of Chaos. I travel the realms with my mighty penguin sidekick. You can see him guest starring in the Gnolls demo module when the Linux Client Beta is released.

Body Switching: The specific issue that you are referring to we have never been able to duplicate. Please understand that I am not saying it doesn't exist. We know full well it exists, but unless we can duplicate it in-house, we cannot even begin to address it.

Linux: The reason for the download of the Linux Client is that there will be no retail package for the Linux Client. Linux users will still need to purchase a Windows copy of the game to get the resources and the CD Key. Since there will be a retail package for sale of Mac NWN, this is the version that contains the resources, executables, and CD Key that you will need to play. This question has been asked before, on and off again, for about 6 months. Each time we have replied that there will be a retail box version that you need to purchase for Mac NWN.

Jay Watamaniuk, Community Manager

NWN: A very enlightening debate here about all manner of Linux stuff and BioWare. We are waiting for paperwork the same as you at the moment which has been stating a few times. We do not discuss business matters in public as that is not very professional. The Linux stuff is about as done as done can be and waiting as far as I know (and my sources are quite good). We are not making things up when we talk to the Linux fans and we do not have some sort of strange animosity towards them either. That would be a bit silly. We have some very zealous Linux fans at BioWare who also have been keeping us focused on the goal at hand which is to hand NWN over to you folks. Game development is not an exact science and sometimes whole bunch of completely unpredictable things get in the way of a schedule. It has happened on NWN and it will happened with every project in the future. I know from my experience with NWN getting close to PC release people started to really freak out for various reasons so it's a bit expected that tempers would start to fray during this time. That's fine just don't forget that NWN is on it's way.

Darcy Pajak, Assistant Producer

Quote: Any idea on what prcs will be in it? I'd like to see the archmage,bladesinger, dwarven battlerager, even if they had to be serioously tweaked to be put in. (yes, the dwarven berserker is in ROF)

We felt we needed to shift some prestige classes from XP2 to XP1, so we will be revisiting the classes we include in XP2. We are under a constraint that we cannot add new spell caster prestige classes because of engine optimizations specific to the original classes. Whatever they will be, we will be choosing them from input from the community.

Animal Companions: We also plan to add another animal companion for the ranger/druid characters.