110 réponses à ce sujet

[ehye_khandee]

Some of you may be familiar with the fan site

neverwinterconnections.com

a wonderful multiplayer NWN Matchmaking resource that includes its own forum, and has been around almost as long as NWN itself.

Recently it was announced that the hosting arrangement for this wonderful site, provided for the last decade by (our heroes) Shawn Schultz and GILAUN, would be changing.

As a result of this change, the site neverwinterconnections.com site MAY go dark for a few days while all the support systems it requires are brought online, configured and tested.

Please be patient as we work through the site-move process.

MANY THANKS to Shawn Schultz and GILAUN for their many years of dedicated service to the NWN and NWN2 communities! KUDOS to you both!!! May your futures be prosperous and your names live on in community lore!

Many thanks also are due to Erin / Eriniel, our team's technical guru who is supervising the move and setup at this time. Many thanks due to DM_Ioovius also for kindly providing the hosting services and space (a lot of space).

We will update this post when the neverwinterconnections.com site is responding fully at the new host location, we hope this to be 'very soon'. Meanwhile, any questions/comments regarding neverwinterconnections.com can be sent to me by PM here.

Be well. Game on!
GM_ODA

playnwn.com

[henesua]

When is the plan for the move? I plan on using NWC to help me organize some game events I have planned over the next few weekends.

[Elhanan]

Techless One here....

While I have not used the site myself, I have recommended many others try it out based on a stellar rep, so Thanks for the update!

Will the site name remain the same?

[ehye_khandee]

henesua - the folks hosting it now (the old host) said they would allow it to run 'through the end of the month' that is March, so I have no idea how long they will let it online. We are working at speed to ensure functionality of the system on the new host - but cannot guarantee when we will be done nor when the old hosters will 'pull the plug' - sadly, that is all the information I can give you at this time. We are working at speed tho and hope to have it up very soon on the new host.

Elhanan - we will try to preseve all functionality on the new host. Once we have all that was working working again, we will begin to review the features and plan for expansion, repair, improvement, etc. for the site.

Be well. Game on!
GM_ODA

[henesua]

Thanks, ehye_kandee. Its good to know. And not a problem. I can find other ways to organize upcoming events until NWC is back online.

I wish you well in your efforts, you and the team you are working with. Thanks much.

[Vanya Mia]

As anticipated, NWC went down at the end of March. I appreciate it's no simple task but is there any update for those of us seeking to schedule weekly campaign sessions, and our players too of course, at this point in time?

[ehye_khandee]

Eriniel and I are working on the code (even as I type this message). We obtained the code only very recenly (the last week in March) so we are still wading thru it all and getting our bearings on what is what. Our task includes not only provisioning the new server to support all the features of the nwc site code, but also a security review (absolutely essential). I know better than to make estimates - I can only say we are wading thru as fast as we can and will get the site up ASAP. Meanwhile, we've prepared a temporary page which should be visable soon... it will contain any/all updates on progress as we go - and should soon be the default page on the neverwinterconnections.com site.

Please take no offense from these words (I really just don't want to make a promise of time to release at this stage as it could be hugely wrong and waste your time and mine).

Be well. Game on.
GM_ODA

http://playnwn.com

[Karvon]

Appreciate the update and the work your team is doing to keep NWC alive.

Regards,

Karvon

[Vanya Mia]

Yes, thanks for the update but we do need a place for people to keep in touch if the down time is going to stretch. For old and new players alike a few of us are moving here...

http://nwncampaigns....orums/index.php

... at least until the new host is ready.

[ehye_khandee]

UPDATE - We continue to make progress at a goodly rate on the neverwinterconnections.com web site and forum.

We can disclose - while the original neverwinterconnections.com was coded in Cold Fusion and proved an excellent system for many years, Cold Fusion is a tad bit expensive - costing anywhere from $1300 to $2700 US.

We are very practical sorts here - and not so flush with cash that we can lay out such funds at this time - so we have a solution. To ensure that we can operate neverwinterconnections.com well going forward, and to ensure that who-ever may inherit the neverwinterconnections.com site if we ever "pass the baton" we have chosen to RE-CODE the neverwinterconnections.com site in PHP - which is FREE SOFTWARE.

We are pleased to announce that these are not mere 'plans' but a process well underway. Eriniel has, just this week, completed conversion of the old site's databases. Yesterday, we began testing on the new neverwinterconnections.com code, and hope to have further good news regarding the neverwinterconnections.com web & forum VERY SOON.

KUDOS to Eriniel our Programming Lead, and - my FAVORITE genius in the whole world.

For the community, please stand by - neverwinterconnections.com will return to operations VERY SOON.

Be well. Game ON!
GM_ODA
http://playnwn.com

Modifié par ehye_khandee, 13 avril 2012 - 12:48 .

[henesua]

Good news. Thank you.

[Rolo Kipp]

<arriving...>

I know it's a bit late to redo anything now, but you might look into building a Drupal site in parallel. It's free (and open source) and runs nicely alongside a more traditional site. Just create a dev.neverwinterconnections.com subdomain and install Drupal 7 in a "d7" (or whatever) folder in your "public_html" folder to try it out.

Drupal is built on php & MySQl, but is (IMO) very modular, logical, robust and secure. And most of the things I want to do have been implemented in modules already. The ones that aren't can still be programmed directly in php. Or javascript. Or...

Some prominent examples done with Drupal are the Whitehouse, United Nations and Popular Science Mag

<...late to the party>

Modifié par Rolo Kipp, 13 avril 2012 - 05:21 .

[ehye_khandee]

Many thanks for the well-intentioned suggestion Rolo Kipp (always good to see you online!) - but having run that notion past Eriniel and seen a hack list as scarey as any I have EVER seen - I think we'll stick with our usual 'hand coded' methods.

Be very warey if you are using Drupal.

Be well. Game on.
GM_ODA

[Metaldwarf]

So pleased to know this, thanks to all involved.

[Vanya Mia]

Any update yet?

[ehye_khandee]

Eriniel:wizard: continues to make great progress - even while not having a hard drive. Though, this week, the much needed hardware arrived (shipped in to her desert isle - really), in Cyprus. Suffering with a cold, her spirits are much bouyed by the arrival of the needed hardware to get her computer running again. Up until now, for the last several months, she's been using a custom linux install on a usb 4gig flash drive - and not having access to any of her favorite tools. For those unaware, Cyprus recently (last year) blew up the islands main power generation facility, the power grid has been spotty ever since and Eriniel has been suffering with it ever since. At last, she has a working, formatted, and too-loaded hard drive in her system again, and is back up to speed once more. In spite of those handicaps, and as noted in the previous message... we took possession of the data on the last week in March and since have accomplished recovery of the databases and reformatting to a FOSS standard. We have established a new format for the web site (the code was ten years old and needed a little updating to work best with modern browsers and platforms), and propagated that new format to more than half the pages required in the NWC design.

Today, I am working on the 'Schedule Game' page and the 'Manage My Games' page, among others (the named ones being the ones Eriniel requested for her next task - which can be easilly deduced from the text given). We are past a half-way point on conversions and Eriniel has been hooking up the tech behind it all as we go. The basic design was kept, along with several design elements that will make the look familiar. All the underpinning tech will be new, built to run LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP is LAMP - essentially an all FOSS means to run a server online). Testing will continue as we establish the new pages and systems - we look forward to allowing a public beta test very soon.

Please be patient with the process. This is not some "out of the box" solution, but a custom coded work - built to be solid, reliable - and carry the NWC community forward another ten years... not to mention, to allow others to take the passed baton at a later date with FOSS ensuring a no-cost easy transition when the time comes. Though the job "fell in our laps" rather suddenly, and the result has been a brief lapse in service, I think the NWC community will enjoy the advantages the new build and new server will allow, again, very soon.

We will post a notice here soon when the public beta test can begin. Anyone interested in helping in tests before the public beta should contact me by private message on this forum - state your intent and give me an email address at which we can reach you - thanks in advance.

Be well. Game on!
GM_ODA
http://playnwn.com

[Vanya Mia]

Thanks for the update! It's understood that the process is not simple, and gratitude is forthcoming for the undertaking of the work. However, there is some concern that there won't be enough of a community left to make use of the excellent new service when it arrives. If I might make a suggestion then frequent updates, if it's at all possible, would help to keep people watching and waiting in anticipation of the result. Particularly if these could be made on the NWC site itself? That way returning players who might not check these forums could see the progress.

[SuperFly_2000]

Personally I didn't use NWC all that much...but why take it offline?

Can't you just use the old site? At least while you work on the new one...

[Rolo Kipp]

<shocked...>

ehye_khandee wrote...

Many thanks for the well-intentioned suggestion Rolo Kipp (always good to see you online!) - but having run that notion past Eriniel and seen a hack list as scarey as any I have EVER seen - I think we'll stick with our usual 'hand coded' methods.

Be very warey if you are using Drupal.

I'm not really sure where you're looking, but I've been creating and running drupal sites for 2 years (up to ten sites now) and have never been hacked.
Not even seriously spammed. Mollom takes care of that.

Where is that hack list? I probably need to see it. :-(

<...to his socks>

Modifié par Rolo Kipp, 23 avril 2012 - 01:19 .

[ehye_khandee]

SuperFly_2000 wrote...

Personally I didn't use NWC all that much...but why take it offline?

Can't you just use the old site? At least while you work on the new one...

No, we cannot use the old code - even for a little while. It requires a commercial software license costing over one to two thousand dollars (noted in my posts above). Our server does not have Cold Fusion and we don't need it for any of our other projects (we prefer to NOT use it for a number of reasons beyond even cost). We don't have that kind of money to put on this, besides, once we've converted this to FREEWARE - LAMP, anyone can host it most anywhere for NO ADDITIONAL MONEY.

Why was it taken offline? I am left with the impression that the hosting was no longer available. To get the full story you'd have to ask the prior admins as I have no details to share. The admins of the old site agreed to give the thing over to me to host (nobody else stepped up anyway). We chose this route after much consideration. Nobody in the community was rushing forward with a couple thousand dollars to help out, so the practical route was to convert to a FOSS that anyone could host without incurring large costs (when the time comes for us to hand it over). More, the old NWC site, written in Cold Fusion had been hacked (and was running on a windows server). We have reason to suspect some of the data (which we scanned carefully - and are pruning all suspect files) and are only too pleased to switch operating systems to further secure the system for the future (windows is very very very bad).

This all happened very suddenly. As soon as I heard about it, at the beginning of March, I took steps to offer assistance. We were not able to obtain the data until the end of March and so, from where I'm sitting, we seem to be making very good progress on SCRATCH CODING A WHOLE SITE.

Please be patient with us as we work to ensure a sound future for NWC (along with cheap hosting).

Be well. Game on.
GM_ODA
http://playnwn.com

[ehye_khandee]

Rolo Kipp wrote...

<shocked...>

ehye_khandee wrote...

Many thanks for the well-intentioned suggestion Rolo Kipp (always good to see you online!) - but having run that notion past Eriniel and seen a hack list as scarey as any I have EVER seen - I think we'll stick with our usual 'hand coded' methods.

Be very warey if you are using Drupal.

I'm not really sure where you're looking, but I've been creating and running drupal sites for 2 years (up to ten sites now) and have never been hacked.
Not even seriously spammed. Mollom takes care of that.

Where is that hack list? I probably need to see it. :-(

<...to his socks>

I don't share things like that (specifics of security flaws) with strangers, certainly not in public. Contact me privately and we can discuss the matter. Anecdotal evidence is poor substitute for security. Drupal is flawed hugely and we judged it unusable for security reasons. My partner and I have each been programming for more than 30 years, we read and write code and we judge code by its bits. Just because something is widely used or has a 'neat feature set' does not make it secure, and security is paramount these days (I would not want to run a service that infected visitors). We are very picky when it comes to code and security. The quality of our code is witnessed by our NWN server with 1337+ areas - featuring no lag, no crash and loads of features found nowhere else.

Be well. Game on.
GM_ODA
http://playnwn.com

Modifié par ehye_khandee, 23 avril 2012 - 10:27 .

[henesua]

Sounds good. In the meantime, I will learn how to integrate google calendars with my website.

[Von Stalhein]

Glad to hear work is progressing on this GM_ODA - the shell of a homepage is so tantalising! Fingers crossed it all comes through: it'd be a great resource to have back.

Thanks from myself, and all the others I know who quietly used NWC. Many of us would/have never used the Bioware sites, but we all wait with baited breath for NWC's return.

Cheers,

VS

[ehye_khandee]

Von Stalhein wrote...

Glad to hear work is progressing on this GM_ODA - the shell of a homepage is so tantalising! Fingers crossed it all comes through: it'd be a great resource to have back.

Thanks from myself, and all the others I know who quietly used NWC. Many of us would/have never used the Bioware sites, but we all wait with baited breath for NWC's return.

Cheers,

VS

*smiles* Thanks for that friend. Our goal is to bring back the full site, quality checking each and every file (*for example scanning jpg files for unwanted code), and full functionality to the site very soon. Today we are dressing up the calendar system Eriniel wrote a couple days ago. Eventually, when all parts of the old site are 'dressed in the new look' and fully functioning (tested by you nice NWC Members) - we will start adding new features (by request).

Thank you especially for the nod on the new site look. What is up now is a very rough draft from the first couple days - the new look is similar, more refined and populated with features as fast as we can roll them out.

Stay tuned people. This phoenix is about to arise.

Be well. Game on!
GM_ODA
http://playnwn.com

[ehye_khandee]

Today, we are completing the html and css for the games and guilds portions of the site. The calendar is being finalized.

Eriniel has a stable linux install running on her rig now with the new hard drives and an UPS (uninterruptable power supply) engaged - so things are picking up pace-wise as we also refine our methods for handling the cold-fusion to php+html&css build. Our goal continues to be restoring full function to all menu options on the site and we are making goodly progress toward that goal. We are unable to specify a date of completion at this time, but progress is promising and you will soon be able to BETA TEST our work. ->->->->-> to do so, send me a private message telling me you would like to be among our first BETA TESTERS and I'll get back to you with a password and other information as soon as it is available.

Be well. Game on!
GM_ODA
http://playnwn.com