84 réponses à ce sujet

[OldTimeRadio]

After looking into this for several hours I can say that GameSpy server support for NWN was intentionally revoked and almost certainly won't be coming back.  This does not appear to be a technical issue.

What happened?
In a nutshell, a company called GLU Mobile purchased GameSpy Technologies from IGN sometime back in August of this year.  I've been registered as a GameSpy Developer for about a year now and noticed that the licensing for developers was changing but there didn't seem to be any other big changes.  Starting sometime as early as October, the people who purchased GameSpy began contacting developers and publishers for games which were part of the GameSpy network, attempting to get them to "re-support" their games.  I am assuming this is a euphemism for paying some amount of money.  The original GameSpy left a huge number of legacy games on their network and this new outfit has now "conducted an audit" and those games which are "nolonger supported by their publisher" (their verbiage) have been removed.

It appears this has been a rolling thing, not done to all games at once, and what we're seeing now is either in the middle or the end of those games being decoupled from the GameSpy network.

A very large number of games and users are affected.  We are not the only ones, not by a long shot.

Can we do anything about it?
Well, if you can get the word out to Joystiq, Slashdot or any other gaming news website, the sheer number of disaffected users might be able to pressure GLU Mobile to reconsider their move.  It's really their call, though.  You can also communicate with "Powered by Gamespy" on Facebook here.

Is this THE END™ of NWN1 Multiplayer?
Not at all.  All it means is that, worst-case scenario, you won't be able to list servers with the built-in GameSpy server browser again.  That's all.  There doesn't seem to be any problem at all with hosting a server or connecting to a server via Direct Connect, or your History.  The way NWN works, you really couldn't kill it off even if you tried.  Some of the other games that are affected by this are not in such a good position, though.

At the time of this writing, while the in-game server browser does not list servers, the Chat tab works fine.

Modifié par OldTimeRadio, 07 décembre 2012 - 05:47 .

[Pearls]

if its glu mobile then im not surprised

redirecting to a new server would be easy, mimicking gamespy functions less so

[Celvantis]

Bioware stopped supporting NWN and axed renewing gamespy along time ago Im afraid. (Same with 2 and alot of other unrelated games.) The reason gamespy stayed up tell now was they didnt bother looking at all the unsupported games accessing it still til a audit on monday.

"Powered by GameSpy
As you've seen our posts on other titles GameSpy is a service provider to game publishers, we have service agreements in place for each title we provide services, when a publisher declines to renew the service we follow their lead and disable the services we provide. It's up to the publisher to communicate their plans to their game's communities - this, unfortunately, rarely happens. You should reach out to MS and share your indignation. I know I was suprised."

[TheBlackstaff]

It's a shame really, so many Legacy games will be effected by this; NWN is still technically playable (The History page works, the Favorites page works) but a lot of other games are gonna be completely unplayable.

ALSO IMPORTANT: XFIRE CLIENT DOES HAVE A LIST OF NWN SERVERS, so if you need it just use that for now until neverwinterconnections can create a good solution for this.

[Celvantis]

*Likes*

[OldTimeRadio]

And the price to keep it all going?  Maybe....$200 a month?

Not sure if it's worth it to Atari/Hasbro/Whomever, though.

[Celvantis]

A headsup from bioware would be nice, It effects both neverwinters....

[kamal_]

OldTimeRadio wrote...

And the price to keep it all going?  Maybe....$200 a month?

Not sure if it's worth it to Atari/Hasbro/Whomever, though.

I didn't think the NWN1/2 community was that large, I thought it was in what they say is the $20 a month range.

[Visavant]

Tinkering with an application I wrote that just requires players and server hosts to make a single line edit to their OS' host file which simulates what GS used to do at least for server matchmaking only. I'll dust it off and see if I can't get something production'ish available by Sunday.

Modifié par Visavant, 07 décembre 2012 - 02:10 .

[OldTimeRadio]

kamal_ wrote...
I didn't think the NWN1/2 community was that large, I thought it was in what they say is the $20 a month range.

That would be great, but from the way I figured they calculated the API calls I thought it would be higher.  I'm wondering if Atari wouldn't be interested in ponying up- NWN1 & NWN2 are probably still on the shelves in a pack.

[henesua]

I wonder if we could get a user's group together to pony up donations, and ask for support from whoever still makes money off of sales of NWN.

[Tyrakasaurus Rex]

At any given time, yeah, there's almost certainly no more than a thousand in NWN1. Trouble is, that's a count of individual players, on at any given time during the month. So if you're counting everyone who plays NWN at some point in a given month, it's almost certainly over a thousand or so. Definitely, if you add in NWN2.

Still, that's $200 a month for an entire gaming community. Seems like penny change for a company like Atari.

[Visavant]

About 1,300 in NWN1 player wise, roughly half that in NWN2 when I was running a separate query site.

[OldTimeRadio]

henesua wrote...
I wonder if we could get a user's group together to pony up donations, and ask for support from whoever still makes money off of sales of NWN.

From what I'd seen on the FB page (there were several responses from the "GameSpy" folks), it appears the money might have to come from a publisher.  That's just the vibe I got, don't know if it's grounded in some kind of contractual reality or whatever.  Heck, I'd love it if there was a "GameSpy - Click HERE to donate to your game's Master Server" kind of deal.

Edit: D'oh, I see that's part of what you were saying now. 

Modifié par OldTimeRadio, 07 décembre 2012 - 02:47 .

[MrZork]

Thanks for the heads up and the links to other info. Obviously, this isn't positive news. But, I don't think this has a negative impact on me or most PW players, directly at least. I usually direct connect anyway, and other resources list the servers, in addition to their posts in the PW forum here. And, there's always Google.

The biggest annoyance is that this will bring forth another pointless, unproductive cacophony of doomsayers, proclaiming that the end is, once again, nigh. <_<

Modifié par MrZork, 07 décembre 2012 - 03:05 .

[BelowTheBelt]

If we can create a list-matching service similar to GS and host it in an environment like nwnconnections or other site that allows players more direct contact with the community, it could actually reinforce the strength of the community.

Gamespy was great because it was easy, but you never 'had' to interact with the larger community, so it could be isolating as well. So few players actually come to these forums, that any solution should be considered to help create a NWN 'homebase'.

[Hazelthorne]

This really is a bummer though. We are not done! We will not go into the night without a fight. One of our BG:TSC PW techs said that we can use Skywing Client and modify it to work as Gamespy once did. We have the mind power, we just need a team and the technology.

And Bioware, I love your your work, I saw what you did with Dragon Age and how EA buried the multiplayer option and I tried the toolset as well. If anyone can buy your game-child back, get it back from Cryptic. Convince Atari you need it back. They are butchers to whatever content they touch and everything they touch (such as Star Trek) turns to crap. We want Neverwinter Nights 3 with customizable module content and that wonderful rich connection to the FR lore continued on in your capable hands. For ten long years we have built international communities around the NWN multiplayer options. People have married over it. Babies were born and now play it as adults; a second generation legacy. International boundaries have been crossed and people are playing D&D style RP from around the world. This is your beautiful child, please invite it back home!

[hensk]

 This is a bloody shame i wonder if there is anything we can do to rememdy this situation. The NWN Anthology is still

available on game stop and NWN on GoG its a shame those new players who buy it will never know how to find

Multiplayer servers.

[Lazarus Magni]

This bites.

[luna_hawke]

I've sent gamespy a message asking if it's possible to directly pay to have nwn2 put back up.
I'll let you know if I hear back.

As an alternative, I would think having a web site like this one with all the populated PW's on it might be helpful.
And also include the direct connect info.
Something like this can be posted on all the nwn2 related sites if someone was willing to host something like this.

http://www.neverwint...Players_Online2

[Melkior_King]

In the mean time, I have started a proboards forum for the purpose of listing the direct connect details of nwn (1&2) servers.

I will be happy if an alternative can be found which will make this list redundant.
http://nwnserverlists.boards.net

[Visavant]

If you're a NWN1 or NWN2 server host, pm me at your earliest convenience.

[Fergoose]

Thanks to anyone helping compile a list of servers and direct connects. Wouldn't an updated version of this thread also be a fairly elegant and low maintenance solution? Particularly as it allows people to see how many other players are logged on (which is often a spur for others to log on).

Modifié par Fergoose, 07 décembre 2012 - 07:44 .

[SkywingvL]

Should GameSpy support be permanently discontinued, there are some options available. I am willing to investigate creating and hosting a barebones emulation BioWare master server that would track connectivity information for game servers that connect to it. Given that the master account database doesn't seem like it is coming back up, it makes more sense to just pass through all auths as succeeded and have the only function of the emulation master server to track which game servers are online.

Servers would need to be modified to connect to the emulation server. I'm willing to update the xp_bugfix NWNX4 plugin for this for NWN2, otherwise a hosts file update to redirect nwmaster.bioware.com / nw2master.bioware.com to the appropriate address would suffice in a pinch without any binary modifications needed (however a nwnx plugin that doesn't hardcode an IP address would be far better - datacenter hosting providers can change over time etc.). The master server protocol is more or less the same for NWN1 and NWN2, and provides the capability to track enough data to allow end users to be told of how to find a server, enabling both games to be served by the same project.

This would enable providing matchmaking information for direct connect provided a web interface were to be created to frontend that data, with enough information to show online player counts per server, for participating servers.

Actually surfacing this information within the server browser for the NWN2 and NWN1 clients themselves is more involved and will probably require client-side modifications. The CE for NWN2 could in theory (time allowing) be modified to query an alternate source, backed by the emulation master server, for this information.

https://github.com/S.../nwn2dev-public  is the beginnings of a github project for a minimalistic master server able to track connection information for game servers that talk to it. Additional contributors are welcome, particularly on displaying matchmaking information in a web interface, as well as client interface for the matchmaking service for NWN1.

Modifié par SkywingvL, 07 décembre 2012 - 09:04 .

[NWN_baba yaga]

i like the donation idea. I dislike most of the new generation of developers, publisher policies and fans anyway and dont throw my money at them. So I can invest some good money on the continuity of NWN, count on me here. And i dont mean i donate just a $ you know:wizard:

Modifié par NWN_baba yaga, 07 décembre 2012 - 09:00 .