14 réponses à ce sujet

[El Condoro]

I have seen a number of tutorials on the DMFI but have not seen one (yet) that addresses how to

- get the required pwc, hak, etc. files to the players
- update the files and have the players' files updated (automatically?) e.g. if I make a change to an area or some other detail
- explain how pwc files work

I know I've seen something on these questions but I can't remember where. Can anyone help, please?

Cheers

[Banshe]

I think you are looking in the wrong place. If you are hosting a module and/or the required files, you need to look for the info about servers and using the autodownloader.

The easiest part of your question to answer is that you should use Dropbox. Most PWs use it. It is free and both hosts and delivers your required files to your players without any impact on you (bandwidth etc.). The autodownloader handles the modified files and Dropbox once again does all the work in getting the changed files to your players.

Here is a thread about Dropbox. Don't forget to use my referral. It gets you and me extra storage space:

http://social.biowar...2/index/4812123


Also, I don't think you use the pwc file anymore. Instead use the trx/trn files. These are made when your module is saved as a directory.

Modifié par Banshe, 05 décembre 2010 - 07:25 .

[El Condoro]

Dropbox seems to be down ATM - all links to its site not working, including from Google search. I'll give it a try a bit later. I also found Audolo as the means to create downloads and distribute to players. I will be using a network so may not need Dropbox but will still look into it. I think you're right about the TRN/TRXs, too.



Cheers.



Now to work out why I am not getting emails when people respond to my subscribed topics...

[El Condoro]

OK, I don't get it.



Unfortunately, when Dropbox came back up again I forgot to do the referral thing and just got a 2Gb registration - sorry.



What I don't get is how the players' modules are updated when they start a multiplayer session. What configuration settings need to be set and where? I can understand how Dropbox can be used to get files to players but it seems like a two-step and manual process (get file from Dropbox - copy to the modules et al folder) and not an automated one like I've seen in PWs.



I've looked at Audolo and got into all sorts of trouble.



The autodownloader I can use to set servers and create the shared content. I can put the LZMA files onto a web server but how do the players automatically update their modules? I can see how it's done by setting a PWC location but that seems redundant now.



What am I missing? Apart from a brain.

[NWN DM]

El Condoro wrote...

OK, I don't get it.

What am I missing? Apart from a brain.

Try this link - it doesn't tell you how to configure the ADL, but unless you like self-inflicted pain and suffering, you'll want to pay heed to the advice:

http://social.biowar...5/index/3136229

There are two PDFs floating around which give pretty easy instructions on how to configure the ADL so it works for everyone - your players and you when you connect as a DM.  By 'easy' I mean that I was able to get it working, so anyone should be able to.

I believe they're on NWVault.  If not, PM me an email address and I'll send them to you this evening.

Don't use anything other than the ADL... it's the gold standard for NWN2 now; built right into the game meaning you and your players don't need to screw around with a 3rd party application. 

If we had the ADL earlier... and I'm talking pre-MotB, or even as part of MotB, then the game and it's community would be much stronger now than it is (a great shame IMO).

Use Dropbox as your primary data host.  Even with just 2 GB, you should be able to have everything you'll ever need on it under one account.  Usually speeds are good (400+ k/sec) as well, although not always.

Worth noting; I've been running an ongoing MP campaign like this for the past 13 months or so.  It works great.

Modifié par NWN DM, 06 décembre 2010 - 03:07 .

[El Condoro]

I think I found my problem.

After a lot of trial and a lot more error I got the downloader to work but it kept getting stuck at the first file. When I looked at the servers.xml file it did not have the ftp server listed. Checking the servers.xml in both the module and campaign folders I found the campaign one did NOT have the server listed but the module one DID. When I copied the module servers.xml into the campaign folder and re-staged the files the problem is now resolved. I did not see any mention of this in documentation. Am I staging the campaign correctly?

Now I have the next problem - the one hak file is not downloading to the hak folder. Continuing the investigation...

Just checked the client folders: the campaign has downloaded the files but the module has not. I am thinking I am not staging the campaign and module correctly.

Modifié par El Condoro, 06 décembre 2010 - 09:12 .

[NWN DM]

PM me an email address; I'll send the PDFs to you tonight.

[El Condoro]

If you mean the autodownloader PDFs, I have those but am obviously missing something simple. Just tried again and the campaign files download but the module ones don't.

[El Condoro]

I got it to work!



Not sure what the problem was but I decided to delete all XMLs, all staging files, all files off the web server, and start afresh. I suspect there was a problem with an XML file that was generated during my 'experimental' phase.



Anyway, thanks for the help. I think it's all working now.

[NWN DM]

Great to hear.

Still, you'll want to pay attention to the advice in that post I linked you to.

If you build and play/DM on the same computer... otherwise you'll mess up all your work sooner rather than later.

Modifié par NWN DM, 07 décembre 2010 - 12:16 .

[El Condoro]

Sure will. Thanks for that link, too.

[El Condoro]

It seems to me that it is best to create a single module (even if it's for a campaign) and work on it as a directory, rather than have a campaign with many module directories and a campaign folder. The reason I say that is, when the nwn2server is started it asks for a specific module to load and will download the module files for the client if not already done.. However, if a player moves outside that module, by a LoadModule script from a World Map, for example, the server bombs out because it hasn't yet downloaded the new module files. To get those module files updated the server has to be started with the new module, clients updated, then the server restarted with the old module so that the players can use the World Map, or whatever, to get to the new module.



If it were all in one module the update process would be so much easier.



Am I right or have I missed something again?

[NWN DM]

Don't know if that's the "right" way to do it (work in directory mode), but that's how I do it and haven't had any issues.  Others work in .mod and swear there are no issues, but every time I've tried it I ended up loosing hours of work.

As you build, your module may get too big for your system to handle, or there will be a natural place to split it into a 2nd one (if necessary). If you have a beefy system, this might not even be necessary. 

Get yourself a 64-bit OS and you can devote an extra GB of memory to the NWN2Server.exe process. 

When I host a game, I dedicate CPU 1 to NWNx4, CPUs 2-5 to the server and CPUs 6-7 to the DMC.  In my experience, this provides the best outcome for everyone in terms of stability and responsiveness.

Modifié par NWN DM, 07 décembre 2010 - 02:10 .

[El Condoro]

It's not the server load that is my concern - it's how the update works. For example, I tested it on my campaign (3 modules). When the PC used a World Map transition from one module to another, that hadn't been downloaded, the server bombed. I hoped that there would be some way that the game would 'know' that and would initiate the update process for the next module files. In any case, I have put the 3 modules into the one and the update process works for all areas etc. I just wondered if there was a better way to set up things. How do huge PWs do it?

[NWN DM]

Generally, I believe, huge PWs are built and hosted on monster systems and are all one self contained module, usually in directory format.

Honestly, I have close to 100 areas in my campaign... with a pretty good ratio of interiors to exteriors.

I'm still only approaching around 700 mb for directory size, and it hasn't yet required more than a GB of ram when the server has been running for 8+ hours.

So for a campaign like you're talking about, I'd say throw it all into one module... how much you can do will depend on your system specs.

Modifié par NWN DM, 07 décembre 2010 - 09:13 .