13 réponses à ce sujet

[EntropicChaos]

Hello forum. I've been interested in a NWN2 PW for quite a while now (been RP'ing on good ol' NWN for years now), and wouldn't mind a bit of a chance of pace. My wondering is the quality of these PW's. As I understand it (and please correct me if I'm wrong), but NWN2 isn't quite as well put together for the creating of PWs as say, NWN. This in turn leads to poorly made PWs, very small zones, etc. Are these type issues still around, given how the game has been out for a time now, allowing the devs to correct tehse issues, or are they not as much of a problem as they once were/I was lead to believe?

That being said, what PW's are out that that focus on a more low/medium magic range, are Role Play centric, have a mature playbase, and 'things to do'. I'm not necessarily interested in one that must be Faerun based.

Many thanks and internet points!

[Quilistan]

Saying it isn't good for building a PW is far from the truth. I ran a NWN1 PW for years, and I like NWN2 much better. I am much more free to create my vision. Though it isn't as easy.

There are several good RP servers out there. One of my favorites is Abyssya www.abyssya.com .
If I could remember the actual name I know there is couple forgetten realms servers that are well done also.

Search on the NWVault through the game worlds many have good listings and screen shots.

Aslo hopefully more admins will post here for you.

I would recommend mine but it is an Action PW so role play isn't the focus there. Non-the-less it is below in my sig if you just need a challenge and some action.

Modifié par Quilistan, 17 août 2010 - 06:45 .

[MasterChanger]

Yes, I totally agree with Quilistan. NWN2 has some excellent PWs, though there are fewer of them than for NWN1. A NWN2 PW cannot be put together casually: it requires a huge investment of time on the part of builders, as well as often money for server hardware and hosting.

When my PW launches (projected for September) we'll have been working intensely with a firm agenda for over nine months, and that's not counting the planning stages. We also got a jump-start because we're partially building our world on the remains of a previous one and so don't have to re-create 100% of our resources.

There are some very highly-polished, professional PWs for NWN2. While some teams have to admit defeat before their projects can see the light of day, those that do tend to be quite good.

Modifié par MasterChanger, 17 août 2010 - 10:48 .

[NWN DM]

Sounds like the OP has been listening to too much misinformation from people who have dedicated themselves to creating an artificial rift between people who would otherwise love and play both games.

Either that or he/she has been hearing opinions based on information from 2006, which is not the reality in late 2010.

NWN2 is a solid platform for on-line gaming.  Any average computer built in the last 3 years can run it well, and any high end computer built in the last 5 years can do the same.

With what we got in patch 1.23 NWN2 is an excellent on-line game, whether your style is PW based, or an ongoing weekly campaign in the style of traditional PnP gaming (like mine is - links in my sig).

"Haters gonna hate" I believe is a popular refrain on the internet these days, and in this case it's true.  But give NWN2 a chance and try it out.  The worst thing that can happen is you end up with two games that deliver stupendous value for your gaming dollar, instead of one.

And I say that as someone who loves and plays both games.

Modifié par NWN DM, 17 août 2010 - 03:18 .

[c i p h e r]

You can determine for yourself the quality by taking a look at the screen shots and videos of the work being done. The kinds of customization I've seen in NWN2 - and still see - just blow me away. I don't know what keeps people playing NWN1, but I assure you it's not because NWN2 is an *inferior* gaming platform.

As for your criteria, many PWs have enumerated their features and qualities right here in this forum. Drink some coffee. Have a look around.

Modifié par ç i p h é r, 17 août 2010 - 08:40 .

[painofdungeoneternal]

EntropicChaos wrote...

As I understand it (and please correct me if I'm wrong), but NWN2 isn't quite as well put together for the creating of PWs as say, NWN. This in turn leads to poorly made PWs, very small zones, etc. Are these type issues still around, given how the game has been out for a time now, allowing the devs to correct tehse issues, or are they not as much of a problem as they once were/I was lead to believe?

NWN2 has a lot of the same limitations that NWN1 has, it also has some pretty major features which leave NWN1 in the dust, but since it's a completely new game some features taken for granted are no longer in NWN2. NWN1 also was a much more popular game, with thousands of people playing it, i believe it was 8000 people playing it at it's peak, which translated into a lot more content, modules, creatures and basically stuff. However quantity is not always quality and the pace of development for NWN1 and number of people in PW's is much less than it was in it's heyday, but even then at a portion of what it was it's still a large community and will likely keep at it's current pace until everyone starts getting new computers that will no longer run it.

In comparision NWN2 is a small community, we never really had the NWN1 folks come over to NWN2, and a lot of dissension - ie folks with an agenda to put nails in the coffin of NWN2 because it "might" draw folks away from NWN1 to play NWN2 which seem to be most vocal when NWN2 has some big advancement. But those who do work for NWN2 are many of the same folks who loved NWN1, and often are more skilled and do more advanced artwork and features. We also work together more, so you might see features on some PW developed on another competing world and freely shared, and the leading developers often are chatting with each other the entire time they work on their projects.

There are some great features to say NWN1 is worth developing for, however, and i am biased here, there are enough features in NWN2 which make NWN1 just not capable of doing what i need to do.

• Visual Effects Editor - doing visual effects in NWN1 is pretty hard, in NWN2 it's quite easy and almost anyone can start making new visuals. It's biggest problem is it's pretty fun to use so you tend to do something which should take a half hour and then later realize it's hours later and way past your bedtime.
• Walkmesh Terrain - We have an added terrain type besides tiles, which adds to the download size, but it also allows non modelers to recreate areas just like they want, and can put a lot more detail and content in a smaller area. NWN2 has the exact same Tile system but has no tile models for exteriors, which if created would make it just like NWN1 but all of our modelers feel that would be a step backwords. I like it like this, some in NWN1 parts see this as a major issue.
• XML based UI, which allows us to add features to the interface. This is everything from a NWN1 like interface, to a revamped DM client to add features like editing characters and look at inventory. All the dialogs in NWN1 can have windows, list boxes, and interface buttons to make things a lot easier. A good example of this is the pirate cards game by Adam Miller, used in his NWN2 module, but it allows you to play something like pokemon inside NWN2 - it's completely unique and different. We have bars on PW's in NWN2 in which you can actually play card games with the other players.
• More scripting functions - NWN1 has about 20-30 functions not in NWN2, most are because we don't have the same features those functions use. Many of them allow direct editing of a characters stats, skill points, known spells, even a duplicate area function. We also have some low level functions to help with arrays like getting a var by index which seems obscure but allows many new features to be added to the game.
• NWNx has far fewer plugins, so a lot is missing, but this is mitigated by the face that NWN2 has far more script functions AND has some completely new functions and features which really outweigh anything else. The xp_bugfix for example REPLACES the networking in NWN2 and allows many bugs to be intercepted. The NWN2 client extension does the same thing for the game client that NWNx does for the game server in replacing the networking, improving area load times. Basically entire chunks of the engine and game are being replaced by refactored versions that work much better, right now skywing is doing a scripting engine replacement to fix issues there and also improve performance.
• TonyK's AI is a reworking of the AI in NWN2, and it is based on projects done in NWN1, but it's in the current patch of NWN2 without needing to install anything, the monsters are a lot smarter because of it.
• Hellfire and RWS, Bouncy Rock, Robinson Workshop, Nytir - not as many models, we don't have every monster like NWN2, but the stuff these folks do just makes it not matter. Project Q is similar in upping the quality level for NWN1. The Nytir project of the building construction kit allows us to build entire areas using oblivion like tools where you just use blocks. You should see Hellfires new Lizard man, really cool stuff which just amazes me, and we are in process of implementing swimming, flying, horse riding since we have working skeletons recreated by the community.
• Autodownloader - I can deploy content without causing major issues, using hak's in NWN1 can lead to major crashing and instability if they don't match up with what is on the server and players system. I download about a gig of files, others have less, quite a few have 4-6 gigs of content. Some of us are sharing the hak names soas to make less downloads needed ( once you got it you don't need to redownload ). Unlike with NWN1 you don't have to deal with the CEP, and using drop box it makes the downloads go very very fast.

All of the above are just a few of the reasons why i use NWN2, are things NWN1 cannot do, or cannot easily do. And of course NWN1 has good reasons at well, but that is just why i personally do things for NWN2 and not NWN1 (beyond the fact i have a lot invested in NWN2). Some might prefer not having them due to file sizes, but then i don't see folks having an issue installing gigs of content for new games if the result adds to the fun factor, which all of this does to a large degree.

Both are great games. NWN1 is more capable of larger worlds due to smaller file sizes, and NWN2 has more overhead due to it's better graphics and models, well a game made 5 years after another game is just going to have larger file and memory size requirements since it's designed for computers that have larger hard drives and more memory when it ships. It also is a lot simpler which means those building things don't take as long. If you don't really see the "eye candy" as adding much value then NWN1 is likely a better option for you. At the end of the day NWN1 was ground breaking, one of my all time favorite games and i can entirely understand prefering it to NWN2 since it does what it does very well.

NWN2 is better at customizing and deviating from the default vanilla game because its easier to deploy custom content via the autodownloader, and it's got more ways you can customize things within easy reach, either new visuals, User interface, or the new scripting functions, which are why there can be less content but it's also why the content which is there tends to be customized a lot more. Yes i can spend a month or longer doing a new area making it look perfect, adding creatures, scripts, custom AI, but then when done you can keep finding new things in that area even if you've been roaming around it for years.

Modifié par painofdungeoneternal, 18 août 2010 - 04:29 .

[painofdungeoneternal]

And to find a PW, read this thread http://social.biowar...1/index/3122535 which lists quite a few. I need to update the top post some but you should be able to find one that meets your specific needs. ( there is a similar list in the NWN1 forums as well, which you can compare, frankly what the PW admin is doing and if it matches what you are looking for is far more important than whether it's NWN1 or NWN2 )

[The Puppeteer]

Hello.  I hope you choose to give NWN2 a try sometime soon.  Nearly all the old problems with NWN2 have been resolved and developers are constantly expanding the possibilities.

I'm a developer for Sea of Dragons which is a role-playing server that you may wish to check out.  We are dedicated to building a PW that has a PnP feel and free-roaming gameplay.  Though less than a year old, Sea of Dragons is already ranked third out of all the NWN2 PW's listed on the Vault.

Being rather new, we lack systems such as crafting (planned for the future) and much of what we use are still placeholders for better things to come.  However, in spite of this, I've heard many compliments from the players about the custom systems we have deployed.  We do make use of the latest ground-breaking developments from the NWN2 community such as RWS swimming and Pain's rewrite of the entire NWN2 spell system

You can view more about us at the following links.

Vault Page:  http://nwvault.ign.c...s.Detail&id=238

Website:  http://seaofdragons.com

Forum:  http://seaofdragons.com/forum

[EntropicChaos]

First off, I appreciate being enlightened. It would appear that what I 'knew' of NWN2 wasn't completely factual, or perhaps, wasn't up to date. I've always enjoyed the community that works together, and it's good to see that alive and well with NWN2. I do greatly appreciate all of the responses I've received, as you've put to bed pretty much all the concerns I had. Seems like I must head to the nearest store that still carries this game, and give them some of my monies. Again, thank you all!

[Banshe]

A surprising as it sounds, there are still people out there that do know that things have improved but still point to the early problems as a reason not to try NWN2.

[Anno Domini]

Banshe wrote...

A surprising as it sounds, there are still people out there that do know that things have improved but still point to the early problems as a reason not to try NWN2.

Very true. After so many years NWN2 has become better than what NWN1 is. It only needs more players.

[Kail Kordan]

This was a great question and response. I used to do quite a bit in NWN1, and a few years back decided to try to make some PW type of content for NWN2, and was quickly turned off by a number of bugs. I decided at that time to abandon the NWN platform completely, and instead do my projects on a lower level. Very recently (yesterday) I reinstalled my gold copy and patched to read up on changes, as I have a small project I want to mess around with. I made my way here to see if many of the seemingly random crash bugs were fixed, and I found this thread (among others) which gives me great hope that extended workarounds won't be needed for relatively basic stuff.



It also seems the community has been hard at work the last 3 years or so putting things together and working together. This weekend I will poke around and decide if I want to use NWN for what I am doing or unity.



quick add on question, one reponse included "NWN2 is better at customizing and deviating from the default vanilla game" I didn't really dig deep when I was playing with nwn2 before, my question is how much can you change the core mechanics of the D&D system? Is it as simple as scripts that can do these things, or would it require making a game patch of sorts?

[Banshe]

@ Kail,



I think it depends on what you would want to change. There is a turn based combat system that appeared on the vault about a week ago. You can make custom classes, races, feats, spells etc.

[Kail Kordan]

I didn't have anything specific in mind at the time, just more curiosity. Examples off the top of my head would be things such as: How AC is handled, wben you are forced to be "dead", the rate of multiple attacks per round (base is every 5 base attack after 1), etc. From looking at it, you can prolly (guess) integrate custom systems easier due to the ui being xml. That means you can completely rebuild the UI if you so desired and had the time/manpower. Or am I off base there?



Anyway the question has become jjust idle curiosity now, after digging back in to things I am finding for anything outside of a casual diversion, that nwn2 is undesirable for a number of reasons (for me).I probably still will be futzing around with it here and there over the next month or two but for anything serious, I will be using other platforms.