Hi everyone; I'm a school teacher that's using NWN2 Toolset to teach my students about game narrative. For some reason I have a few students who keep having their areas disappear... basically their entire project just goes missing. They can still see the .mod file but when they open it it's like they're opening it for the first time... no areas, no conversations, nothing.
We're running this on Windows 7, and I've searched everywhere on the net but can't find anything about this. Can anyone help? It would be great to get a chance to recover some of these files.
Areas go missing in toolset.
Débuté par
jagrfelm
, févr. 06 2012 05:19
Retour en haut
#2
Posté 06 février 2012 - 07:21
Lugaid of the Red Stripes
-
- Members
- 955 messages
They should be working in directory mode, anyway. Sometimes the toolset chokes up when saving a large .mod file.
#3
Posté 06 février 2012 - 07:47
M. Rieder
-
- Members
- 2 530 messages
What you are describing is a sign that the .mod file has been corrupted. It happens from time to time, especially if you have autosave turned on and if you are saving as a .mod document and not as a directory.
Now, if autosave is turned on, you probably have a recent save somewhere on the machine. It's tough to track down because it is going to have a waky name, but if you search thoroughly, you might be able to find it. I had a .mod that I was working on for 4 months go bad on me but after several hours I found it.
1) search for backup
2) save as directory
3) turn off autosave
I recommend you turn off autosave because it has a way of popping up when you are doing memory-intensive things and crashing the whole thing and corrupting the mod in the process as a nice little bonus treat.
Best of luck!
Now, if autosave is turned on, you probably have a recent save somewhere on the machine. It's tough to track down because it is going to have a waky name, but if you search thoroughly, you might be able to find it. I had a .mod that I was working on for 4 months go bad on me but after several hours I found it.
1) search for backup
2) save as directory
3) turn off autosave
I recommend you turn off autosave because it has a way of popping up when you are doing memory-intensive things and crashing the whole thing and corrupting the mod in the process as a nice little bonus treat.
Best of luck!
#4
Posté 06 février 2012 - 08:01
painofdungeoneternal
-
- Members
- 1 799 messages
Areas are likely in the temp folder if they are still around at all ( might have gotten zapped since it's temp ). Look in the modules folder for any oddly named folders temp, inside you likely will find sets of 5 files with the names of the previous areas. Those are the actual areas you are looking for.
Directory mode is preferred, and module mode means the game will go and extract all the files in the module file into a temp folder, then when you save it writes changes to this folder and then saves the temp folder back to the module, which actually has brief moments when the module will be permamently lost if you pull the plug on the machine or it crashes. This becomes more of an issue when it's a large module which takes longer to save, or which nears the cap of memory.
Directory mode just saves resources into the directory and is a lot less complicated. You can switch between both modes, but i'd suggest using nwn2packer when doing so. ( Directory mode is simply the contents of the .mod file inside a folder, much better for building, but if you share your finished module i'd suggest converting to a .mod module at that time. )
Note that using the paid version of dropbox or other backup system can actually track changes to files in directory mode and allow your end users to restore things if needed. You might want to talk to the IT department about if they have any assistance they can offer since directory mode is just a folder with content most tools for windows can work with as is, you can even use a batch file to copy the contents to a central server. ( most programmers will use version control systems, but anything that does incremental backups can really save a builder a lot of time. )
I actually work in a building module folder, and copy the areas i am changing into this folder only, as i've got 65 areas at this point. Having a module with only 2-3 areas in it saves a lot of time when i open and close it. Then i just copy the completed areas back to the real module. Remember it's JUST a FOLDER. It just needs the correct files in it to get things working right again.
Note that there are memory leaks when using areas, when you open multiple areas, restarting the toolset is recommended immediately, generally i just work on one area at a time and restart between sessions. When i need to do linking i open the 2 areas i am connecting, and then restart toolset in between.
Directory mode is preferred, and module mode means the game will go and extract all the files in the module file into a temp folder, then when you save it writes changes to this folder and then saves the temp folder back to the module, which actually has brief moments when the module will be permamently lost if you pull the plug on the machine or it crashes. This becomes more of an issue when it's a large module which takes longer to save, or which nears the cap of memory.
Directory mode just saves resources into the directory and is a lot less complicated. You can switch between both modes, but i'd suggest using nwn2packer when doing so. ( Directory mode is simply the contents of the .mod file inside a folder, much better for building, but if you share your finished module i'd suggest converting to a .mod module at that time. )
Note that using the paid version of dropbox or other backup system can actually track changes to files in directory mode and allow your end users to restore things if needed. You might want to talk to the IT department about if they have any assistance they can offer since directory mode is just a folder with content most tools for windows can work with as is, you can even use a batch file to copy the contents to a central server. ( most programmers will use version control systems, but anything that does incremental backups can really save a builder a lot of time. )
I actually work in a building module folder, and copy the areas i am changing into this folder only, as i've got 65 areas at this point. Having a module with only 2-3 areas in it saves a lot of time when i open and close it. Then i just copy the completed areas back to the real module. Remember it's JUST a FOLDER. It just needs the correct files in it to get things working right again.
Note that there are memory leaks when using areas, when you open multiple areas, restarting the toolset is recommended immediately, generally i just work on one area at a time and restart between sessions. When i need to do linking i open the 2 areas i am connecting, and then restart toolset in between.
Modifié par painofdungeoneternal, 06 février 2012 - 08:03 .
#5
Posté 07 février 2012 - 12:32
jagrfelm
-
- Members
- 4 messages
Thank you all for the help and advice; I've taken a look in the directories and unfortunately no longer see any temporary ones. I also have two more questions:
1. Is there an easy way to switch from autosave to directory mode? I'm not sure what nwn2packer is.
2. You seem to be very involved builders. Is there a profit to be made in this or are these just very intricate hobbies?
3. Is there any way I can have two students work on one module at the same time without overwriting each others' work?
Thanks again.
1. Is there an easy way to switch from autosave to directory mode? I'm not sure what nwn2packer is.
2. You seem to be very involved builders. Is there a profit to be made in this or are these just very intricate hobbies?
3. Is there any way I can have two students work on one module at the same time without overwriting each others' work?
Thanks again.
Modifié par jagrfelm, 07 février 2012 - 01:35 .
#6
Posté 07 février 2012 - 12:54
jagrfelm
-
- Members
- 4 messages
Aha... actually figured out how to turn off autosave mode. So saving in directory mode just involves going to File>Save Directory once, correct?
Thanks for putting up with my noobiness.
Thanks for putting up with my noobiness.
#7
Posté 07 février 2012 - 04:05
painofdungeoneternal
-
- Members
- 1 799 messages
jagrfelm wrote...
1. Is there an easy way to switch from autosave to directory mode? I'm not sure what nwn2packer is.
NWN2packer for getting files into and out of .mod .erf .hak and the like.
Autosave is an option in prefs to save every 10 minutes, go into options and adjust it.
Directory and module mode are accessed by using save as directory. ( it actually is safer to do this with nwn2packer as if the game crashes while you convert your module is toast )
This is just a hobby2. You seem to be very involved builders. Is there a profit to be made in this or are these just very intricate hobbies?
3. Is there any way I can have two students work on one module at the same time without overwriting each others' work?
They could each do a single area. Then you could copy the 5 area files into another computer ( all easily named same as the area name, but with 5 extensions ) and put it in that directory. The entire class, or portions could work together to make a large module quickly. If they name the waypoints and transitions right, they can link everything while it's all still separate too. I'd suggest each student prefix all their resources ( tag names ) with a prefix such as their student first name or an id number.
Modifié par painofdungeoneternal, 07 février 2012 - 04:05 .
#8
Posté 07 février 2012 - 06:22
jagrfelm
-
- Members
- 4 messages
painofdungeoneternal wrote...
NWN2packer for getting files into and out of .mod .erf .hak and the like.
They could each do a single area. Then you could copy the 5 area files into another computer ( all easily named same as the area name, but with 5 extensions ) and put it in that directory. The entire class, or portions could work together to make a large module quickly. If they name the waypoints and transitions right, they can link everything while it's all still separate too. I'd suggest each student prefix all their resources ( tag names ) with a prefix such as their student first name or an id number.
That would be awesome. I just downloaded and installed NWN2packer, but I'm not quite sure what it does. In fact, I'm not quite sure what the differences are in the extension names. Are there any tutorials you could point me to that explain how to have multiple people work on a single module and/or how to use NWN2packer? Thanks again.
#9
Posté 07 février 2012 - 07:42
painofdungeoneternal
-
- Members
- 1 799 messages
Try not to over think this. There is not really a tutorial, but if you do some trial and error yourself i think you will see it's pretty simple. Mostly what i am describing is how i do things, but it's pretty effective.
NWN2packer can open a module file, and save it's contents out to a folder of your choice. This is all that directory mode is. ( So if you have a .mod file, open it up with nwn2packer, save it into your modules folder in a folder -- with the same name as the module generally but your choice -- all those files, then when you select open directory you can open it ). Note that if you use .mod files nwn2packer is needed to merge and manage things, but directory mode allows you to do all this with just the file system itself.
When you create an area and bake it, you get 5 files. ( might be less but keep them all together to avoid issues ). You don't have to know what they are, they just are what you have, all named the same name as each area you create.
If you want to move an area from one module to another in directory mode, just copy the files for the the area as described above from the first folder to the second. Once you do that you will see the new area in the new module. It probably would be helpful to have both windows explorer aimed at the modules folder and the toolset open while you do things. Make a few directory mode modules, add some blank areas with names and watch the files in the actual folder with "windows explorer". Then try moving said files as a group back and forth. When you load/open the directory with the toolset, you will see the effects of moving those files back and forth.
You can with this idea merge multiple students work easily.
File formats are listed here
NWN2packer can open a module file, and save it's contents out to a folder of your choice. This is all that directory mode is. ( So if you have a .mod file, open it up with nwn2packer, save it into your modules folder in a folder -- with the same name as the module generally but your choice -- all those files, then when you select open directory you can open it ). Note that if you use .mod files nwn2packer is needed to merge and manage things, but directory mode allows you to do all this with just the file system itself.
When you create an area and bake it, you get 5 files. ( might be less but keep them all together to avoid issues ). You don't have to know what they are, they just are what you have, all named the same name as each area you create.
If you want to move an area from one module to another in directory mode, just copy the files for the the area as described above from the first folder to the second. Once you do that you will see the new area in the new module. It probably would be helpful to have both windows explorer aimed at the modules folder and the toolset open while you do things. Make a few directory mode modules, add some blank areas with names and watch the files in the actual folder with "windows explorer". Then try moving said files as a group back and forth. When you load/open the directory with the toolset, you will see the effects of moving those files back and forth.
You can with this idea merge multiple students work easily.
File formats are listed here
Modifié par painofdungeoneternal, 07 février 2012 - 07:43 .
#10
Posté 07 février 2012 - 08:19
Clyordes
-
- Members
- 300 messages
Hi Jagrfelm,
Nice idea you have for using the toolset - a while ago I saw a news report of a teacher at a college in Mansfield (UK) using the NWN1 toolset with his students - is that yourself? I only ask as I live about 15 minutes away from the college!
Anyhow - it looks like everyone's pretty much covered your questions - so good luck with the project, but keep asking questions if its not working right.
Cly.
Nice idea you have for using the toolset - a while ago I saw a news report of a teacher at a college in Mansfield (UK) using the NWN1 toolset with his students - is that yourself? I only ask as I live about 15 minutes away from the college!
Anyhow - it looks like everyone's pretty much covered your questions - so good luck with the project, but keep asking questions if its not working right.
Cly.
