First thing I noticed after installing during the update process is sorcerers2.net was pinged by the client. It seems that Tal has managed to get the website popularized through NWN2!

EDIT: There is an update already btw :p .

Ah, I didn't know the patch servers were actually openly listed... good to know! ;)

I'm helping out Obsidian by mirroring the NWN2 patches. Currently just the autopatcher, but SP will host all the other NWN2 patches as well once Obsidian releases them.

I don't know what kind of speeds you get from the sorcerers2.net patch server, but about 70 people have already patched NWN2 via our server in the last 15 hours.

What benefit do you get from 'helping Obsidian out' like this?

Lol, who cares? If there is a benefit great, but I'm assuming like most of us here, we do things for the benefit of a group that provides us with fun games?

Or... they could be paying per the download O_O

Aha, I thought so. Now, when I autopatched it didn't supply the download speed, but I can tell you that the whole process took 15.3 minutes. I was rather surprised when I saw the server name so I typed it into the url bar to make sure it wasn't another knockoff site. Sure enough, it took me right here :D . Kudos to you Tal for mirroring!

To answer Harbourboy's original question, there isn't anything in it for me, really, short of the satisfaction of helping out and building a good relationship with Obsidian. They're not paying me or anything. I've agreed to help because I have enough free resources on the other server that I can afford to do it - for now.

Since yesterday, there's been a gigantic spike in the usage of SP's patch mirror - 1400 people have patched the game in the last 30 hours or so. At this rate, I'll probably have to shut down the mirror before the end of the month because even our huge bandwidth allowance on the other server will be used before then (the regular English patch is 82MB and 85MB for the D2D one, so this adds up fast).

Providing patch mirrors at this initial phase is really crucial since the most people will patch the game this month. After that it'll go down a bit so it won't be that bad any more, but until then, Obsidian can use all the mirrors they can get, so that their own servers don't buckle under the patch requests.

There is certainly also the name recognition factor. Everyone who patches NWN2 at this point is seeing sorcerers2.net flash on their screen. That certainly can't be a bad thing!

Problem = I tried to DL it from the atari website listed on NWN2... well, atari's link leads you to an FTP with a single .txt file that says, "This is a directorry for pathes. We have none right now" (paraphrased).

Haha, I think you're one of like 2 current mirrors... If the second is Atari, you're the only one, unless the manual download is being blocked off for some reason.

Oh yeah, name recognition certainly doesn't hurt. ;)

Regarding Atari's empty patch download location; that's because the installer patches aren't ready yet. So far, only the autopatching patch packages have been put together, so you can't download standalone installing patches anywhere yet.

I don't have the game yet so I had no idea there were so few patch mirrors... I've assumed Obsidian got a bunch of others as well. If there are so few, that explains the high usage of ours (coupled with another issue that Darren has detected a while ago...).

How come the game needs patching already? It’s only been out for a few minutes.

Also, how did you know that Obsidian had a server shortage? Did you volunteer, or did they come and ask you?

The patch has been in the works for quite a while before the game was released. NWN1 was exactly the same in this respect, so this is nothing new. With games as complex as the NWN's, there simply comes a point where you have to release the game (i.e. when the publisher can wait no longer), and everything missing from what gets burned on the CD/DVDs simply has to be introduced through patches. Well, everything that the publisher okays to pay for, anyway.

Obsidian asked various larger community sites before the release of the game if they could mirror the patches.

This certanly won't harm the publicity of the site. Geting into a frendly relationship with a game company is something I wish I could do. Do you think Bord of Magic membership will jump after this? :hmm:

The patch provides the DM client, which I know Obsidian wanted to get out as soon as possible. It also adds some new druid spells to the game, as there has been a lot of criticism around how little has been done for druids since NWN 1. In fact, the only druid specific PrC from the first game, the Shifter, is not included in NWN2. Druid enthusiasts have raised their collective voice to proclaim their dismay, and, well, apparently Obsidian wanted to give them something.

No, I don't really expect a big increase in membership here until BG3 is released. Hosting the auto and regular patches for as long as I can isn't that big of a deal anyway really.