Mollusken
Fri, 27th Aug '04, 3:53pm
Here are today's Neverwinter Nights 2 forum highlights, collected by NWVault (http://nwvault.ign.com) from Obsidian Forums (http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?showforum=21). Please take into account that these are only single parts of various threads and should not be taken out of context. Bear in mind also that the posts presented here are copied as-is, and that any bad spelling and grammar does not get corrected on our end.
<font size="3" face="Verdana, Arial" color="#cc6600">Brian Lawson, Graphics Programming</font>
NWN GUI ('http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?showtopic=10279&hl=')
<p class="quote">One of the minor but persistent annoyances about both NWN and TOEE for me was the GUI. Functionally, it was fine, but I really hated the look and feel of it. All the translucency, bright font against a grey background, the sharp corners, and the borderless boxes would work in a modern or sci-fi setting RPG, but not in a fantasy one. Though BG's interface was harder to use, it nonetheless maintained that high fantasy look. The font was slightly curvey as if penned by a scribe in the old days, instead of the straight and narrow machine font like what I'm typing now. I also like how in BG when you clicked on the spell book icon, it popped up a screen that *gasp* looked like a spellbook. In nwn you get a little translucent window which, though functional, lacks the feel of a wizard's spellbook. I'd really like to see an interface in NWN2 that both is functional like the more recent games, but retains that old BG fantasy feel to it. The best solution would be to make the GUI skinnable, though that would require more work on the developer's part.<hr />I feel change in the wind...
Poly Count ('http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?showtopic=8320&hl=')
<p class="quote">Hmm I am a little bit concerned about that statement. I hope that not only the graphics are going to be good but also the programming.<hr />I'm not sure why there'd be any cause for concern here. The bottom line is that there is no way to programatically affect the way a large texture (let's say 2048x2048 a la UE3) gets queried by the GPU for a texture look up. For that to be a repeatedly FAST operation on your video card, it has nothing to do with programming and everything to do with memory speeds and bus bandwidths. Hence, the need for uber hardware (on the order of 512 MB - 1 GB of super fast video memory and extremely fast GPU speeds) that isn't really viable for today's mainstream consumers.
<font size="3" face="Verdana, Arial" color="#cc6600">Ferret, Developer</font>
Feats ('http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?showtopic=10105&hl=')
Just to let you know, according to the rules "Mind Over Body" only replaces your CON hit point bonus with INT for first level. So at 2nd level and beyond, it's still CON. If it permanently replaced CON, it would be overpowered indeed.
<font size="3" face="Verdana, Arial" color="#cc6600">FrankK, Programmer</font>
Script Functions ('http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?showtopic=10342&hl=')
We appreciate any requests for additional script functions, at some point next year we'll be gathering those suggestions, seeing what we've already added (as no doubt our designers are making most of the same requests) and we can make an effort to get some of the most requested script functionality into the game. The whole naming thing bugs us too--we'll probably look into it at some point.
NWN GUI ('http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?showtopic=10279&hl=')
Rewriting the GUI is something we need to do to support some other features in the game. As for being able to reskin the GUI, that magic 8 ball isn't saying no yet...but we'll see.
Animation Editor ('http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?showtopic=9748&hl=')
<p class="quote">Uhm just to clarify so even I as someone who does not have English as his first language....Does this mean you will not provide plugins or exporters/importers for the 3d/2d apps you are going to use for creating NWN2 content? Or does it just mean that you are not going to release something like a gmax game pack or a standalone application?<hr />I mean more like "A small thing-ma-bob in the toolset that can allow you to create your own custom animations for characters." will probably not be done.
<font size="3" face="Verdana, Arial" color="#cc6600">Brian Lawson, Graphics Programming</font>
NWN GUI ('http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?showtopic=10279&hl=')
<p class="quote">One of the minor but persistent annoyances about both NWN and TOEE for me was the GUI. Functionally, it was fine, but I really hated the look and feel of it. All the translucency, bright font against a grey background, the sharp corners, and the borderless boxes would work in a modern or sci-fi setting RPG, but not in a fantasy one. Though BG's interface was harder to use, it nonetheless maintained that high fantasy look. The font was slightly curvey as if penned by a scribe in the old days, instead of the straight and narrow machine font like what I'm typing now. I also like how in BG when you clicked on the spell book icon, it popped up a screen that *gasp* looked like a spellbook. In nwn you get a little translucent window which, though functional, lacks the feel of a wizard's spellbook. I'd really like to see an interface in NWN2 that both is functional like the more recent games, but retains that old BG fantasy feel to it. The best solution would be to make the GUI skinnable, though that would require more work on the developer's part.<hr />I feel change in the wind...
Poly Count ('http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?showtopic=8320&hl=')
<p class="quote">Hmm I am a little bit concerned about that statement. I hope that not only the graphics are going to be good but also the programming.<hr />I'm not sure why there'd be any cause for concern here. The bottom line is that there is no way to programatically affect the way a large texture (let's say 2048x2048 a la UE3) gets queried by the GPU for a texture look up. For that to be a repeatedly FAST operation on your video card, it has nothing to do with programming and everything to do with memory speeds and bus bandwidths. Hence, the need for uber hardware (on the order of 512 MB - 1 GB of super fast video memory and extremely fast GPU speeds) that isn't really viable for today's mainstream consumers.
<font size="3" face="Verdana, Arial" color="#cc6600">Ferret, Developer</font>
Feats ('http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?showtopic=10105&hl=')
Just to let you know, according to the rules "Mind Over Body" only replaces your CON hit point bonus with INT for first level. So at 2nd level and beyond, it's still CON. If it permanently replaced CON, it would be overpowered indeed.
<font size="3" face="Verdana, Arial" color="#cc6600">FrankK, Programmer</font>
Script Functions ('http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?showtopic=10342&hl=')
We appreciate any requests for additional script functions, at some point next year we'll be gathering those suggestions, seeing what we've already added (as no doubt our designers are making most of the same requests) and we can make an effort to get some of the most requested script functionality into the game. The whole naming thing bugs us too--we'll probably look into it at some point.
NWN GUI ('http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?showtopic=10279&hl=')
Rewriting the GUI is something we need to do to support some other features in the game. As for being able to reskin the GUI, that magic 8 ball isn't saying no yet...but we'll see.
Animation Editor ('http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?showtopic=9748&hl=')
<p class="quote">Uhm just to clarify so even I as someone who does not have English as his first language....Does this mean you will not provide plugins or exporters/importers for the 3d/2d apps you are going to use for creating NWN2 content? Or does it just mean that you are not going to release something like a gmax game pack or a standalone application?<hr />I mean more like "A small thing-ma-bob in the toolset that can allow you to create your own custom animations for characters." will probably not be done.