136 réponses à ce sujet

[Mr. Versipellis]

NWN 1 won't "die" so long as there's still an interested and active community. It's unreasonable to expect a master server to be maintained for more than a decade in the current gaming climate. To be honest, it's been such a niche game for so long that the ability to find public games quickly and easily hasn't been an issue for years - most people either aren't interested the game or are keen enough to work things out for themselves without the help of the MS.

[PlasmaJohn]

Mr. Versipellis wrote...

... To be honest, it's been such a niche game for so long that the ability to find public games quickly and easily hasn't been an issue for years - most people either aren't interested the game or are keen enough to work things out for themselves without the help of the MS.

It hasn't been an issue because the built in GameSpy server browser still works (kinda).  GameSpy has nothing to do with NWN account authentication and the Master Server did nothing for server browsing.

Re: topic change

Enough of "the sky is falling!" topic titles, you're just trolling now.

Most people have accepted the fact that the partnership between Bioware, Atari and Hasbro that made NWN
possible no longer exists.  No partnership means no commercial support.  We are left to make do with what we have and most of us have figured out how to cope.  And until something else comes along that matches NWN's modability, we'll still keep chugging along.

[Lazarus Magni]

I didn’t change the title of this topic to claim the sky is falling. It already fell, and the community is the only thing still holding it up. I changed it to be less confrontational to Bioware.

I have been pleased to see some good ideas put forth here which address some of my concerns.

[OldTimeRadio]

I just wanted to pop in and thank Baaleos for his post. 

[NWN_baba yaga]

i thought this is a new thread? forget it, long live NWN...

Modifié par NWN_baba yaga, 14 novembre 2012 - 09:35 .

[SHOVA]

Yes, official support it finished. Yes, there will be no other patches, premium mods, or even sequels. It is now up to, and dependent completely on the community to make NWN worth playing. The funny thing is, it always has been up to the community to keep things going. Nothing has really changed.

I get that Laz is frustrated about dealing with problem players, and has a hard time figuring out how to use what the community has offered as a solution. Scripting can be very painful for those that don't know what they are doing. However, continued posting, re-posting, and even topic name changing about the Death of NWN, that Bio is trying to kill NWN, or what ever else doom and gloom, titles that keep popping up do not do anything for the community, NWN, or with how the poster of that garbage is perceived by this community.

If NWN is not the best platform for you to build with, there are others available. If you don't like how Bio ended support, or Atari, or WotC, there are other games out there for you to try. Most of the people here have been here since the beginning. We have heard the sky is falling for the release of NWN2, the Atari buyout, the EA buy out, and the 100 other or so reasons that have come and gone. Its been done to death, and we are still here. Most of us will still be here after you have moved on, still playing and building in NWN. You are not going to change our minds on how we view this game. Your not going to get sympathy either. There are solutions for what is causing your frustration. There are community members willing to hold your hand, walk you through installing them, and even help you tweak the scripting to work best for you. Its on you if you choose to not ask for the help. If all your gonna do is whine about it, then the answer your going to get, is too bad. Here is a hankie, and here is a link to the scripting forum. http://social.biowar...egory/192/index

[henesua]

Since I have small children, this is what pops into my head at these times.

[Baaleos]

@OldTimeRadio

Here is a more complete solution.
This static class - just call SetupBypassMServer();
And also have the Memory class in the same namespace.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Management;

namespace RhunDownloader
{
    public static class NWNGame
    {
        public static void SetupBypassMServer()
        {

            ManagementEven****cher star****ch = new ManagementEven****cher(
              new WqlEventQuery("SELECT * FROM Win32_ProcessStartTrace where ProcessName like '%nwmain%'"));
            star****ch.EventArrived += new EventArrivedEventHandler(star****ch_EventArrived);
            star****ch.Start();
            ManagementEven****cher stopWatch = new ManagementEven****cher(
              new WqlEventQuery("SELECT * FROM Win32_ProcessStopTrace where ProcessName like '%nwmain%'"));
            stopWatch.EventArrived += new EventArrivedEventHandler(stopWatch_EventArrived);
            stopWatch.Start();
            //Console.WriteLine("Press ENTER to exit");
            //Console.ReadLine();
            //star****ch.Stop();
            //stopWatch.Stop();


        }
        static void stopWatch_EventArrived(object sender, EventArrivedEventArgs e)
        {
            //Console.WriteLine("Process stopped: {0}", e.NewEvent.Properties["ProcessName"].Value);
        }

        static void star****ch_EventArrived(object sender, EventArrivedEventArgs e)
        {
            //Console.WriteLine("Process started: {0}", e.NewEvent.Properties["ProcessName"].Value);
            //NWN Detected:
            Memory m = new Memory("nwmain");
            if (m.ProcessLoaded)
            {
                IntPtr i = m.ProcessHeld.Handle;
                IntPtr i2 = new IntPtr((uint)m.ProcessHeld.MainWindowHandle + 0x004D4AF7);
                byte[] b = { 0x84, 0xF2, 0x06 };
                m.WriteByteArray(m.ProcessHeld.Handle, i2, b);
            }
            m = null;
        }

    }
}

Memory class (memory.cs)

I made this memory class specifically for editing game/application memory.
Should be memory safe.
Note - The way the above class works - is that it subscribes to windows, and waits until nwmain.exe starts up.
When it does, it automatically does the memory edits for you.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.Diagnostics;

namespace RhunDownloader
{
    public class Memory : IDisposable
    {
        [DllImport("kernel32.dll")]
        static extern IntPtr OpenProcess(UInt32 dwDesiredAccess, Boolean bInheritHandle, UInt32 dwProcessId);
        [DllImport("kernel32.dll")]
        static extern bool ReadProcessMemory(IntPtr hProcess, IntPtr lpBaseAddress,
        byte[] lpBuffer, UIntPtr nSize, uint lpNumberOfBytesWritten);

        [DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
        static extern bool WriteProcessMemory(IntPtr hProcess, IntPtr lpBaseAddress, byte[] lpBuffer, uint nSize, out UIntPtr lpNumberOfBytesWritten);


        public IntPtr Handle;
        public Process ProcessHeld = null;
        public Memory(string sprocess)
        {
            Process[] Processes = Process.GetProcessesByName(sprocess);
            Process nProcess = Processes[0];

            Handle = OpenProcess(0x10, false, (uint)nProcess.Id);
            if (Handle != IntPtr.Zero)
            {
                ProcessLoaded = true;
                ProcessHeld = nProcess;
            }
            else
            {
                ProcessLoaded = false;
            }
        }
        public void Dispose()
        {
            Dispose(true);
            GC.SuppressFinalize(this);
        }

        protected virtual void Dispose(bool disposing)
        {
            if (disposing)
            {
                // Free other state (managed objects).

            }
            // Free your own state (unmanaged objects).
            // Set large fields to null.
        }

        // Use C# destructor syntax for finalization code.

        ~Memory()
        {
            Dispose(false);
        }



        //Would use this method below - for the actual writing of the Disable Patch Code 
        public UIntPtr WriteByteArray(IntPtr hProcess, IntPtr BaseAddress, byte[] NewVal)
        {
            try
            {
                // Return Value 
                bool ReturnVal;
                UIntPtr BytesWritten;
                // Write Memory Byte Array 
                ReturnVal = WriteProcessMemory(hProcess, BaseAddress, NewVal, (uint)NewVal.Length, out BytesWritten);

                return BytesWritten;
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(e.ToString());
                return (UIntPtr)0x0;
            }
        } 


        public bool ProcessLoaded = false;

        public string ReadString(uint pointer)
        {
            byte[] bytes = new byte[24];

            ReadProcessMemory(Handle, (IntPtr)pointer, bytes, (UIntPtr)24, 0);
            return Encoding.UTF8.GetString(bytes);
        }

        public int ReadOffset(uint pointer, uint offset)
        {
            byte[] bytes = new byte[24];

            uint adress = (uint)ReadPointer(pointer) + offset;
            ReadProcessMemory(Handle, (IntPtr)adress, bytes, (UIntPtr)sizeof(int), 0);
            return BitConverter.ToInt32(bytes, 0);
        }

        public int ReadPointer(uint pointer)
        {
            byte[] bytes = new byte[24];

            ReadProcessMemory(Handle, (IntPtr)pointer, bytes, (UIntPtr)sizeof(int), 0);
            return BitConverter.ToInt32(bytes, 0);
        }

    }

}

[The Amethyst Dragon]

*sigh*

If NWN were dead, I wouldn't be visiting these forums, making new content, or running the same PW that I've had online for more than six years.  As long as there are players and builders, NWN will live.

Are we averaging once per six months now for a "NWN is dead" thread? It used to be every 9-12 months, right?

Modifié par The Amethyst Dragon, 14 novembre 2012 - 11:06 .

[Fester Pot]

The inevitable is coming!
The future belongs to you!
The state of the community!
How many years left?
The death of NWN 1?
The death of NWN???!!!!
The future of NWN 1.
Is NWN dead?

FP!

Modifié par Fester Pot, 14 novembre 2012 - 11:53 .

[MrZork]

I had almost given up reading this topic, but Baaleos' post above got me interested in another aspect of programming, which is almost always worthwhile.

And, as a bonus, it actually took me a minute to see that some of the odd code in the post wasn't C# syntax that I didn't recognize, but the Bioware board's censor software doing its best to protect us all from a dangerous 4-letter word that no one reading the post would have thought about had it not been censored. ;-)

FP, if the legacy forums were available, I'd bet we could find another forty gloom-and-doom thread topics even before the MS went down...

[Baaleos]

Hi MrZork - glad you found it useful.

I actually got a bug report from one of my players - the Code fails at the WMI Query bit, if the application is not given admin privilages at run time.

Gonna try to fix it later.

[Lazarus Magni]

I was trying to be nice, but ok…. So what you all are trying to tell me is that the master server did essentially nothing, and that we are better off (or at least no worse off) with out it? (Anyone else paying attention, please note those advocating this are quite technically proficient. So for the dummies out there like me… tough luck…) So I guess me, and a couple hundred thousand other customers were under some CRAZY illusion that our accounts were actually protected, or the worlds we play on were insulated from cheaters and exploitation. Is that what you all are saying? Wow… ok… awesome.
 
P.S. Oh and Shova and uncle fester and et. AL, if calling a duck a duck makes the caller a turd, well then call me a turd. If you would like I will certainly change the title of this topic of this thread back to the original. If you think, for even the least little minute that I give a flying frack, I will happily oblige in dispelling that illusion for you. I was trying to be, as they say, diplomatic.

Modifié par Lazarus Magni, 16 novembre 2012 - 03:42 .

[SHOVA]

Laz, My apologies that you took my postings as negative. That was not my intent. Having been here since the near beginning, and starting out as a admin on the Harry Potter Server, I can tell you from Experience, That when the Master Server was up and running, and NWN was popular, That the problems you posted that your PW is having with Problem Players was in fact the regular on Harry Potter. Bans, meant nothing. Problem Players would by pass the "safe guards" the MS was suppose to deliver. In fact, It was because of this that I learned how to script, with loads of help from the folks on the scripting forum. At the time, the only way to ensure that a Problem player was denied access, was to actually script a check of known griefer CD keys into the on enter event for the module. If certain CD key tried to enter, boot PC. It was effective at keeping them from returning, provided they did not buy new disks. However, Since NWN is now downloadable, cheep, and in the hands of GOG, CD keys are even less secure than before. That is reality. As is, that Bio will not do anything about it. Complaining, whining, negative post all you can, your problem won't change. Nor will it get fixed. It is up to you to find, install and work out the answer. lucky for you, your not alone.

You seemed to have missed the part of my post that would help you. Here it is again, so you don't have to scroll back. Try posting script requests, and ask for help securing your server here: http://social.biowar...egory/192/index
Ask nicely, be patient, and if you don't understand the response, ask them to walk you through it. I am sure you will find the same level of help that I did, and do, when I post there for help. Most of those that give answers like to solve the problem. They also like to educate others, help other community members, and occasionally get the thank you, when they help someone.

I sincerely wish you good luck with finding, and implementing a solution to what is frustrating you. I however will continue to believe that from now on, its on you. I have now pointed you in the right direction twice, to take to find the help you require. Several members of the community have told you that there is a solution to the problems you are having. Several have told you that the community made solution works. Only you can add it to your PW. Only you can choose to use it.

[The Amethyst Dragon]

Lazarus Magni,

The master server did have a function, and an important one at that (authenticating purchased copies of the game and providing a level of security for user accounts).  When the master server was shut down, the NWN quickly community responded with options for providing means of server-specific security.

My PW uses a modified form of the system provided by FunkySwerve (stickied above in this forum)...it links usernames and CD keys on a per-server basis (rather than on a central server), booting anyone that tries to log in with a username already tied to a different set of CD keys.

This does mean that the individual server admins/builders are responsible for security on their servers, without official support from BioWare.  But we knew that official support from BioWare was already practically gone at the time of the 1.69 patch, so it's not a big deal to implement something like FunkySwerve's system.  Players don't even really see it at work unless they try to login with a username that's already taken.

As far as the title of the thread, I thought the original title fit the first few posts in it better than the current title does.

[Nissa_Red]

henesua wrote...

pope_leo wrote...
I think an interesting question is, could the NWN community rally around an open source reimplementation (that didn't limit itself by the most poorly done aspects of NWN)?  People in the community have the skill, there is no question of that.  The question that remains: "Is it worth it?"

I agree that this is the most interesting question.

To me, worth at least what any good game sells for nowadays.

That's why I also have been lurking at the Larian boards lately, since Divinity Original Sins is supposed to be a (more than) decent single-player RP experience, AND to have an in-built editor.

Still, the thought of an improved/upgraded version of Aurora, even without all the modern graphical crappola, and the perspective it might open for more quality made custom modules, gives me very pleasant goosebumps ^^

Insta-buy/download. Definitely.

Modifié par Nissa_Red, 25 novembre 2012 - 04:59 .

[Lazarus Magni]

Another nail in the coffin. Disabling a pre-package multiplayer functionality (e.g. game spy.) Not saying this was bioware's fault. The new owners of gamespy seem to be demanding unreasonable prices for their legacy sevices. I am saying this is bull... A intermdiate software proram holding a whole gaming community hostage, and bribing the original developer to pay an exhorbinate amount of money to continue service seems like a shakedown to say the least.

http://social.biowar...6804/1#15196855

http://social.biowar.../index/15193845

This is bull****.

Modifié par Lazarus Magni, 08 décembre 2012 - 06:59 .

[Lazarus Magni]

Once again, the community get's out it's shovels, and crowbars, digs up NWN 1, prys open the coffin, and casts raise dead on it.

[Luj1]

Today I am proud to be a part of the Nwn1 community with you guys.. The more blows our game suffers the more we fight. The games for which such efforts are made are not many. This just proves that players give life to a game, and this is why so many old games still live. Nwn1 wont die as long as we are playing it. Im proud to have some 4000 builds archived and integrated with Omnibus so i can search with ease   At the moment im playing HotU with a friend in LAN but afterwards Id love to jump onto some PW that's still around . And Lazarus Magni thanks so much for your efforts, you are a true warrior Ive signed all your petitions and will continue to do so!

Modifié par Luj1, 09 décembre 2012 - 01:27 .

[Lazarus Magni]

I just wanted to say the true warriors of this community are the players who keep playing, the CC creators who keep churning out great content, the PWs who keep providing a wealth of worlds to travel in, and those in the community that have worked very hard to mitigate the effects that this game has suffered over the past few years and continue to do so.

[CalSailX]

After almost two years without a computer to play or do CC for the game. Finally got a used laptop to start mucking about again with this game I've enjoyed so much over the years.

Glad to see the flame still burns in this community!

[NWN_baba yaga]

Just to let anyone know what Trent Oster/ Director of yeah yeah you all know him:) said about a NWN enhanced edition on twitter just yesterday?...

Well then here, i quote:

"We talked to everyone involved NWN Enhanced. Givin the almost 8 years I worked on the original I´m hesitant"

Ah man...

Modifié par NWN_baba yaga, 03 janvier 2013 - 09:40 .

[Urk]

Well, GOG.com just wrapped up it's holiday sale.

What's this?

NWN rocketed to the top of the best seller list?

Pretty good for a dead game.

[Melkior_King]

After playing around with Liberty Basic and PowerBasic for a while, I am now certain that I could use one or the other to make a new Master Server and a replacement for Gamespy. The only thing I'm missing is enough information on the communication protocols.

Unfortunately all of the information I've seen is exclusively on how the player client contacts GS and there is nothing on how a server registers itself on GS or on the protocol for communicating with the MS.

If I had the missing information, I'd try to make a replacement for both, which someone else could then run for the community.

Redirecting client and server calls to use the replacement servers is trivial. I'd probably make a patch for the purpose.

[Tarot Redhand]

At the risk of of being thought blasphemous - As some people seem to think that NwN is dead I suppose we'll have to rename it to Lazarus.

TR