July 2003

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Temple of Elemental Evil Interview at eToychest
Posted Thursday, July 31, 2003 - 18:48 CET by Veldrin

eToychest has interviewed Tim Cain about Troika's up and coming game, Temple of Elemental Evil. Here's a clip:

Q: Are there any plans for multi-player questing in the future? With five player-controlled characters allowed in your party at any given time, I'm sure gamers out there would like the option of being a part of the game, rather than just watching one player give five sets of commands every combat turn...

We were given a very tight schedule for ToEE. Multiplayer was simply out of the question. I would like to player multiplayer ToEE too. Perhaps in a sequel…

Read it all here.

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Neverwinter Wednesday
Posted Wednesday, July 30, 2003 - 20:05 CET by Sorcerer

Another week's around and here are the latest NWN Wednesday goodies:

NWScript Scripting Course at NWVault
Maximus over at Neverwinter Vault has created a series of viewlet tutorials that many have been waiting for: an introduction into the murky world of scripting. The series of lessons have been crafted to introduce what scripting is, how it can enhance a module, and covers the systems of the Aurora NWN Toolset all the way up to scripting actions and special effects. Simply sit back and watch the tutorials unfold! Discuss.

Icon Wallpaper
A new wallpaper has been released featuring all the icons from Shadows of Undrentide. You can find this new desktop, along with all the others, in the wallpaper gallery. Discuss.

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Neverwinter Nights Forum News
Posted Wednesday, July 30, 2003 - 18:28 CET by Veldrin

Here are today's Neverwinter Nights forum highlights. 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.

David Gaider, Designer

1.31 Patch: There was no size limit per se, but greater resource checking of the hak paks was initiated in 1.30 that ended up making very large hak paks load extremely slowly. I don't have the fix list on hand, myself, but from NWVault it did have these two items in there:

"- Sped up loading of resources in Hak Paks.
- Added progress bars to loading of Hak Paks."

So I would assume that the problem has either been fixed or at least largely alleviated.

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Shadows of Undrentide Review at Gameplanet
Posted Wednesday, July 30, 2003 - 18:22 CET by Veldrin

The Shadows of Undrentide reviews just keep coming. This one is at Gameplanet, where they gave the game a final score of 3.5 out of 5 stars. Here's a clip:

Shadows of Undrentide does address a few of these issues but it's primary focus is on providing a fun single player experience using the Neverwinter Nights engine as it's basis. So what's new? For starters new specialised prestige classes including Arcane Archer (magic infused bowman), Harper Scout (ranger well versed in lore amongst other things), Assassin (guess what they do), Blackguard (the antithesis of a Paladin) and Shadowdancer (steathy spy of sorts). All of these specialisations are open to a fairly wide range of base classes but only when you have the requisite minimum skill set - all of which is nicely laid out in the manual. Following on are new monsters including dread basilisks, medusa, pit fiends and similarly unfriendly creatures. New terrain sets including snow, desert and a new ruin set. To round it out we also have new spells, most famously including the Bigby's hand series of spells - giant green magical hands are us!

See it all here.

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Shadows of Undrentide Review at TechTV
Posted Wednesday, July 30, 2003 - 18:17 CET by Veldrin

TechTV has reviewed Shadows of Undrentide and gave the game a final score of 4 out of 5 stars. Here's a clip:

NPC interaction has also improved. Your potential henchmen are much more fleshed out. They offer advice, words of encouragement, and comic relief throughout your adventure. They'll even pipe up when you're talking with other characters. This adds immensely to the illusion that these are companions with their own thoughts and feelings and not just tools to get you through your quest. You can also give weapons, armor, and magic items to your henchman, a feature lacking in the first adventure.

You can read it all here.

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SP Happenings #8
Posted Tuesday, July 29, 2003 - 19:59 CET by Sorcerer

So much for the idea of going straight to the new design without another site update in between. As it turned out, I will need to run all the content through the converter again (since Blackthorne TA did another welcome modification to it), so I concluded that another regular site update is inevitable. I will also be busy studying in RL for the next month or so, so the new site design will have to wait till I'm done with that. I will work on it in the background, however, as much as time permits. Now that we are nearing finalization of the new content engine, all sorts of issues are popping up (like site navigation) which seemed trivial until we actually got around to taking a closer look at them. But we are close to capping the new layout, and once that is done, things will be much easier.

Gopher is gone on a 3 week holiday, so the SP merchandise will also have to wait until he gets back. When I thought we were already done with it, such an incredibly big blunder was discovered, that it still amazes me how we managed to miss it with staring at the images for literally weeks. (In case you are curious, it is just one character in a word that is misspelled, but it completely alters the meaning of the quote. And it will have to be fixed on a number or merch images, of course.)

The upcoming site update should go up in the next few days.

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Neverwinter Nights Forum News
Posted Tuesday, July 29, 2003 - 18:00 CET by Veldrin

Here are today's Neverwinter Nights forum highlights. 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.

Georg Zoeller, Designer

Bugs: Before 1.30 they had no AppearAnimation attached to them. If the creature has the Appear Animation activated in its spawn script, it may still spawn in with an animation. You may need to create a custom creature with a different OnSpawn script to remedy this.

Level Cap: It is not possible to go above 20 as a normal character, there were no rules for that when nwn was created. Level 20 is a hardcoded limit in the engine. We are discussing the inclusion of "epic levels" (20+) with the hordes of the underdark expansion

Changing Ability Scores In Scripts: There is no way to permanently modify an ability score from the scripting language. You can apply Extraordinary or Supernatural effects to him while he is in a module, but those will be lost once he ventures to another world. The only solution would be a character external character editor, but those can easily corrupt or damage your character file. Adding more ability points will also result in the character from being rejected from most servers for not passing the ELC (enforce legal character) tests.

SoU Items: NWN and SoU use different treasure systems, items created for shadows of undrentide could not be included into the official campaign because there are people who do not have shadows.

Al Schilling, Product Manager

Rage 128: The problem lies with your video card. NWN uses hardware cursor to draw the custom cursors used in the game. Unfortunately, the Rage 128 is not capable of using hardware cursor. (Actually, the hardware is capable, but the drivers don't support it.) Given that the Rage 128 is by far the most common 16MB card on the Mac, we were forced to up the sys req to a 32MB card. All Mac 32MB cards support hardware cursor. Any of you using a G4 Powerbook with a 16MB card are in luck. The Rage Mobility card in your PB does support hardware cursor and you'll be able to play the game. (You will have to make some compromises with texture quality and screen resolution.)

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Neverwinter Nights Beta 1.31 Patch Available
Posted Tuesday, July 29, 2003 - 17:50 CET by Veldrin

BioWare has released the Beta 1.31 patch for Neverwinter Nights. It comes in two versions, one for regular Neverwinter Nights and one for Shadows of Undrentide. Here is a list of fixes:

- Fix to database system referencing player name variables. This fix is already in Live 1.30 but will break compatibility between player-specific data between SoU 1.30 and 1.31. We apologize for any inconvienience.
- Fixed up some SoU vs. non-SoU compatibility issues.
- Fix to henchman not loading in from the database after module transition.
- Fixed Monk Glowing eyes
- Made a theoretical fix to the "body switching" bug. Let us know if this fixes it or if its still happening at nwbugs@bioware.com
- Added a new console command - "setfogdistance x" where x is the distance to set the fog. At this time, this command can only move the plane out, not back in.
- Removed penalty for point blank shots (firing into melee penalty).
- Made a fix to the GameSpy autologin process.
- Deflect arrows feat now works if either of you hands are free. Rather than the left hand always having to be free regardless of whether or not you have something in your right hand.
- Added a new DM "Jump Single Player to DM" radial menu option. Also moved the DM "Examine Character Sheet" and DM "View Inventory" icons to their own examine sub-radial menu, in order to make room for the new option.
- Fixed the portrait not being saved out for DMs when the DM is hosting the game and saves.
- Added 7 scripting commands. Please see the script editor for more details.
void ExportSingleCharacter(object oPlayer);
void SetSubRace(object oCreature, string sSubRace);
void SetDeity(object oCreature, string sDeity);
int GetIsDMPossessed(object oCreature);
int GetWeather(object oArea);
int GetIsAreaNatural(object oArea);
int GetIsAreaAboveGround(object oArea);
- Added gender option to GetStringByStrRef()
- Sped up loading of resources in Hak Paks.
- Added progress bars to loading of Hak Paks
- Fixed 6 memory leaks.

2DA Files Changed in this Update:
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-
- iprp_spellcost.2da
- spells.2da

You download the patch here.

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Neverwinter Nights Forum News
Posted Monday, July 28, 2003 - 17:56 CET by Veldrin

Here are today's Neverwinter Nights forum highlights. 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.

Georg Zoeller, Designer

Monster Info: Some notes

- Some monsters got true sight (i.e. through their creature hide)

- Monsters can win a listen/spot check immediately when you go HiPS, if they are good enough.

- If you hide when the monster is already in it's attack script, there is a good chance that it will still hit you and reaquire you as a target for the next round. While this is annoying I think this also offers some protection against player's exploiting the way the AI works to get not hit at all.

- I also found that using a certain fan created AI replacement will cause them not to loose you at all if you are hiding in the middle of combat, because the monsters store their last target as local object and use these object to determine their target for the next combat round without checking if they still can see the player. This may cause Hide in plain sight to break.

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The Temple of Elemental Evil Updated Impressions at GameSpot
Posted Sunday, July 27, 2003 - 23:12 CET by Veldrin

GameSpot has posted some short impressions of Troika's up and coming game, The Temple of Elemental Evil. Here's a clip:

We were able to see a few different levels with a few different parties, including a small but powerful group consisting of an elf fighter wielding two maces and a dwarf warrior carrying a battle axe enchanted with fire magic. The game's spell effects and ambient fires, such as torches and campfires, will be presented with particle effects for both the animated flames and the smoke. All options in battle can be pulled up from a radial menu by right-clicking on the active character, which, according to an Atari representative, actually seemed intuitive enough for new players at the convention, especially since each item on the radial menu is clearly labeled as a heroic feat, a magic spell, or another option.

See it all here.

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Neverwinter Nights Forum News
Posted Sunday, July 27, 2003 - 19:10 CET by Veldrin

Here are today's Neverwinter Nights forum highlights. 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.

Georg Zoeller, Designer

Random Location: Not the most simple thing to ask for:

Here is what I would do. Measure the dimension of an area in on x and y, then generate a random point between these constraints and try to create an object (i.e. waypoing) there. If it is successful, use GetLocation on the object to make sure it is valid (and to find out at which location it was really created)

Quote: so there is no way to give a PC a level without calculating the Xp required to get to the next lvl???

I am not sure what you want to achieve:

if you...want to level up the PC one level, using the standard skill and feat choises of his package, calling LevelUpHenchman(oPC) once will do fine... you want to give him enough XP to get the next level but allow him to pick feats and skills for himself, you can use this script

void GiveNextLevel(object oPC)
{
int nHD = GetHitDice(oPC)+1;
int nXPNew = ((nHD * (nHD -1)) / 2) * 1000;
SetXP(oPC, nXPNew);
}

I think it should work with prestige classes, but I am not sure about that as I never tried to do that.

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Neverwinter Nights Forum News
Posted Saturday, July 26, 2003 - 18:40 CET by Veldrin

Here are today's Neverwinter Nights forum highlights. 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.

Georg Zoeller, Designer

Hail Of Arrows: My interpretation of "sneak attack", is, that the character performing the sneak attack is doing a precise attack targeted against vital areas of the opponent in order to inflict as much damage as possible. Since hail of arrows hits any creature on the screen, even if they are behind the archer, he has no chance of actually aiming his attack against vital parts. Thus I do not think this kind of magical attack is eligible for a sneak attack bonus. but again, this is my interpretation, not neccessarily the interpretation of those who actually implemented this feat

Quote: In PnP we can imbue arrows with multiple spells. Will NWN have any other arrows besides firballs as imbued. (acid arrow, etc.) Or is there a way to script our own?

"No comment" on the first part of this question. "possible" on the second part

Al Schilling, Product Manager

NWN Mac: First, let me thank all of you who have taken such an interest in NWN Mac for you participation in these forums. It's been very enlightening. As you are all aware, I've been on pins and needles awaiting the various approvals necessary to get NWN Mac into production-trying to hit a ship date of July 30th. I promised you all that you'd be the first to know when the approval process was over, and I'm happy to report that all approvals have been granted! I've handed off the gold master CDs to duplication and we will begin shipping from our facility on July 30. You should start seeing NWN on store shelves as early as next weekend. A big thanks to Derek, Darcy, Andrew and all the other folks at BioWare who have put so much effort into getting this done! Let the games begin.

Derek French, Assistant Producer

Bugs: Any repeatable crash that was identified with enough information was fixed. We did fix a number of them. There was a sound/music crash issue that was in the TT, but was resolved be the fine folks at RAD Game Tools. The new version of the Miles Sound library works great and is in the final version of NWN for Mac.

Patch 1.31 Beta: 1.31 Beta 2 should be out Monday. Beta 1 had some nasty issues.

David Gaider, Designer

NWN Engine: To use a brand-new engine for NWN2, as in starting right from scratch, would be pretty unrealistic. It would completely cancel out any good that comes out of having the original engine to begin with... doing BG2 was a dream, for example, because we had something that existed already right at the beginning. An engine can be modified as much as it needs to. Heck, look at Knights of the Old Republic... that was based off the Aurora engine. It all depends on how much work you're willing to put into it. Whenever we say "it's an engine limitation", keep in mind that we're talking about this iteration of the engine and the fact that big modifications take the kind of manpower and time that is ONLY available in a full-product project. At some point, though, you can only rip out so much of an engine's guts before keeping the superstructure becomes more trouble than it's worth. I guess there would be certain things beneficial about starting over completely... but in my opinion you're throwing the baby out with the bathwater. You're also inviting that whole new-engine process all over again, which is such a headache. Not saying that there are any plans to use the Aurora for NWN2 or that there is even a NWN2 in the works.

Quote: Does this mean that the next iteration of the Aurora toolset might be multiplatform friendly? (Seeing as how the current iteration isn't?)

Hmm? I'll assume you don't mean consoles... so you must mean platforms like Mac and Linux. If you want to talk mights and maybes, anything could happen. I really don't know Bio's plans regarding it.I have my doubts that it would be a priority, considering how small a market we're talking, but that's just my personal opinion. My assumption would be that such a decision would belong more to the publisher... Bioware is, after all, primarily a PC and console developer.

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Shadows of Undrentide Review at Firing Squad
Posted Friday, July 25, 2003 - 18:43 CET by Veldrin

Firing Squad has posted a 5 page review of Shadows of Undrentide, and gave the game a score of 74%. Here's what they had to say:

Dumb name and all, Shadows of Undrentide is a worthy way of continuing the Neverwinter Nights franchise. Especially if you appreciated the original game, and aren’t too broken up over the somewhat premature ending of the Baldur’s Gate saga. The story remains tightly leashed to fantasy conventions from first to last, some neat new monsters have been provided for your carving, the terrain ranges from frozen northern waste to Egypt-inspired desert, and Prestige classes let you do additional roleplaying long after the beginning of your character’s career. Module makers will appreciate the additional tilesets and Aurora engine tools that make it a snap to craft plots and set up stores. Just keep in mind that this isn’t Baldur’s Gate, that the focus of play is far removed from the tactical combat mechanics of yore, and that you’re mostly adventuring solo.

You can read it all here.

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Greyhawk: The Temple of Elemental Evil Team Q&A at RPG Vault
Posted Friday, July 25, 2003 - 18:37 CET by Veldrin

RPG Vault has posted Q&A #5 with the team of Greyhawk: The Temple of Elemental Evil. This time they talk about the AI and what kind of characters the developers are using. Here's a clip:

Jonric: What are some aspects of the AI in Temple of Elemental Evil that you find particularly effective, interesting or otherwise notable?

Tim Cain
Project Leader and Lead Designer
I like the new scouting AI. When a creature is marked as a scout, he will run back to his buddies to report any enemies he sees before he attacks. So this means you may be walking down a hallway and see a goblin, who immediately turns and runs through a door, and seconds later, a goblin war party comes boiling out of the doorway.

Scouting is cool because it's realistic (the goblin goes for reinforcements rather than take on the five PCs himself), and because it makes strategies besides hack and slash more viable. If your rogue can sneak up on the goblin and take him out, or your cleric can hold him, or your wizard can zap him before he gets through the door, then you can avoid fighting the war party altogether.

Read it all here.

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Neverwinter Nights Forum News
Posted Friday, July 25, 2003 - 18:29 CET by Veldrin

Here are today's Neverwinter Nights forum highlights. 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.

Georg Zoeller, Designer

Expertise: Expertise is working as intended. You must remain stationary to gain any effects for it. It is not intended to help spellcasters avoid getting hit in melee as it is a melee combat feat (read the feat description)

Al Schilling, Product Manager

NWN Mac: I couldn't have said it better myself (or else I certainly would have). Having spent the last several weeks hammering on every little piece of NWN, our QA guys are very impressed with the "depth" of the game. Their concern is that there is so much to the game that it's tough for them to test it all. Tomorrow is D-Day for getting NWN to ship on time. If you don't see me post that all the approvals I've been working on for weeks on have been granted, you can all arrange the lynching party. However, the smart money says we ship July 30 (knock wood).

I'd love to answer your questions but I'm afraid I'm not in a position to do so. MacSoft has absolutely no say as to what Bioware, or anyone else can do with SoU. We have an agreement to publish NWN for Mac. We have no ownership of the IP. As to whether anyone from Infogrames (they're called Atari now) or WotC reads these posts, I really don't know. I worked for Atari until this past February, when MacSoft was purchased by Destineer. At that time, MacSoft handled just about all of the Mac publishing for Infogrames. I'm not sure if there's anyone there now who is monitoring Mac stuff. I can say that MacSoft would really love to publish SoU (and any other expansions) for the Mac. Now that we are days away from releasing NWN, I'm hoping that we can make some headway with getting an agreement in place for the expansions. But, I want to be perfectly straight with you here-don't expect an announcement within the next week or 2. Just to give you an idea of how tough finalizing something like this can be-I once spent 13 months trying to put together a deal for several titles with a certain large toy company. Of course, we don't have that kind of time to do something with SoU. Also, keep in mind that if and when we get a deal done, we'll likely be well under way with development before we can make an official announcement. Official announcements (in the form of press releases) have to be approved by more lawyers than you can imagine. (I know how much you like to hear about approvals so I thought I'd mention them here.)

Don Moar, Tools Programmer

Toolset: Looking at the toolset objectively, well as objectively as I can - :), I know that it is a real mixed bag of interface conventions. And the lack of the documentation that we hoped to provide doesn't help. So don't worry that one of the more obscure operations didn't immediately jump out at you. That being said, please be sure to check some of the fantastic tutorials that are available on this site and elsewhere on the 'net.

Toolset Limitations: Bijwi, you're right. There are more than a few game limitations cooked into the toolset itself. In most cases it was done to keep things as simple for the user as possible. By preventing the value of certain properties from exceeding certain ranges, for example, it frees the game from having to do the validity checks itself (and slowing the game down or outright crashing). If I were to do it again though, I think I'd take the approach of fewer restrictions and more warnings. That way, if you really, really wanted a 1x1024 or 2 x 512 or even larger area, the toolset would tell you that it's not a good idea but you could still do it. The topic of open-sourcing the toolset has been brought up many times in the past. Unfortunately, the toolset is tightly integrated with some of the key game systems. This means that it would require us to open-source them, too and we aren't going to do that.

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Last Week's Poll's Results
Posted Thursday, July 24, 2003 - 19:55 CET by Sorcerer

What we asked:

Q: Do you keep the boxes of the computer games you buy?
(343 votes total)

Yes, always (207) 60%
Some of them (100) 29%
No, never (36) 10%

60% of poll participants (a clear majority) voted that they keep the boxes of the computer games they buy.

29% of those who voted keep only keep some of the boxes, but not all.

Only 10% of poll participants don't keep any of the computer game boxes.

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Shadows of Undrentide Review at RPGDot
Posted Thursday, July 24, 2003 - 18:49 CET by Veldrin

RPGDot's Jeff 'EverythinXen' Layne has posted a Shadows of Undrentide review and gave the game a final score of 81%. Here's a clip:

In conclusion I would have to say that if you liked NWN single-player you'll probably like SoU single-player. The strength remains in multi-player, however: it's pretty much the only way I can see using a lot of the new spells, feats, and prestige classes to their most advantage. Are these new features enough to spend money? If you're already a NWN fan I believe so. One thing I liked best was how almost every decision had an effect on your alignment (and there were some brutal things you could do as an evil character). Unfortunately this didn't change the end movie in the slightest: chapter two plays out the same for absolutely everyone, as NPC interaction drops to basically none.

Read it all here.

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Neverwinter Wednesday
Posted Wednesday, July 23, 2003 - 20:24 CET by Sorcerer

Another week's around and here are the latest NWN Wednesday goodies:

Androsphinx
The Androsphynx is a good natured and extremely intelligent creature that can be a powerful ally or a savage enemy if provoked. It possesses great strength, the ability to cast powerful spells and a roar that will obliterate the most stalwart of warriors. Discuss.

Shadows of Undrentide - Complete Spell List (Printable)
The remaining Shadows of Undrentide spells have now been posted, including Stone to Flesh, Banishment, and Inflict Serious Wounds! There is also a printer friendly version of the page. Discuss.

Grenade-like Weapons
Shadows of Undrentide introduces grenade-like weapons to combat. These items can be thrown at your enemies for different devastating effects, and include Acid Flasks, Alchemist's Fire, Caltrops, Choking Powder, Holy Water, Tanglefoot Bags, and Thunderstones. Discuss.

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Neverwinter Nights Mac Preview at IMG
Posted Wednesday, July 23, 2003 - 18:56 CET by Veldrin

Inside Mac Gaming has posted a three page preview of Neverwinter Nights for Mac. Here's a clip:

Let me disclose from the beginning, that I have been involved in NWN beta testing for some time. It has been a long process, but the game looks great. Be sure to note the system requirements and make your purchase accordingly. The game does run pretty well on my G4 450 with 512MB RAM, OS 10.2.6 and a 32MB Radeon card. If your system falls below these specs, NWN may not be the game for you as it likes lots of horsepower. Also, you must have OS 10.2.6 or better for optimal performance.

See it all here.

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Neverwinter Nights Forum News
Posted Wednesday, July 23, 2003 - 17:57 CET by Veldrin

Here are today's Neverwinter Nights forum highlights. 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.

Tim Smith, Programmer

Random(): Well, I took a look under the covers to try and find out what might be going on. The d6(1000) results did look goofy and there was a good reason why. It turns out that for all types of dice rolls, there is a limit of 255 dice that can be rolled at once. As far as the quality of the random number generator, it appears we use "rand". Thus we are inheriting any imperfections found in Microsoft's "rand"

Darcy Pajak, Assistant Producer

Henchman: Henchmen are local to the module they are created on. The writting and scripting that is attached to henchmen are saved in the module. Deekin cannot be used in the OG, but could be made for future modules.

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SP Happenings #7
Posted Tuesday, July 22, 2003 - 18:06 CET by Sorcerer

Yet more complications with the site redesign. Nothing drastic that couldn't be done, but it adds to the delay of the final launch, which I was hoping would be nearing completion by now. (It isn't... yet.) I've also had to deal with some real life issues that needed my attention, and this blasted heat (35° C) isn't helping to strengthen my dedication to spend most of the day doing the tedious content conversion needed to bring the new layout online.

Looking on the bright side, the SP merch store item design is practically finished, now all that remains is for me to write the item descriptions, set the item prices, check out samples of what will be available and then let all of you check it out for yourselves as well. Kudos to Gopher for working tirelessly on this with me.

As far as site updates go, there probably won't be another till the new design goes live. Now that I have run all of the content through a partial converter and started modifying it, I would either have to do it again after a site update, or do it twice (once for the old layout and once for the new), which would not be very productive...

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Neverwinter Nights Forum News
Posted Tuesday, July 22, 2003 - 17:34 CET by Veldrin

Here are today's Neverwinter Nights forum highlights. 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.

Georg Zoeller, Designer

Include Files: Changing include files will not make files located in the gameresources to be recompiled, they must be added to the module:

i.e. changing a function in nw_i0_generic will have no effect until you recompile (i.e. add to your module) the scripts that include this file (i.e. nw_c2_*). In your trap example you would have to recompile the trap spellscripts (x0_t?_* or something) so your changes to the include files will take effect. In HotU we will have a few scripting hooks into the more often changed functions (i.e. DetermineCombatRound()) to allow players to override these functions on a per creature basis without having to recompile all dependent scripts

Blueprints: you always need a blueprint for an item you want to create, thats how the game works. In the future you might be able to change items at a very detailed level, but you will still need a blueprint for the basic item.

Don Moar, Tools Programmer

Bif & Key Files: Did I say what you can and cannot do? ;) I'm just saying that by default the game won't recognize any .key file we don't explicitly tell it to. While there are work arounds to this (hacking either the .exe or one of the existing .key files), the simpler and more elegant solution is to use a .hak pack - that's what the system was designed for, after all. As Ras pointed out, the documentation on this format was really provided to allow people to read the data out using their own utilities. However, if creating your own .key / .bif files allows you to get more from NWN, within the guidelines specified in the section FAQ, then go for it!

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Shadows of Undrentide Review at Fragland
Posted Tuesday, July 22, 2003 - 4:25 CET by Veldrin

Fragland has posted a Shadows of Undrentide review, giving the game an overall score of 84%. Here's a clip:

The campaign of Neverwinter Nights had its mistakes, Shadows of Undrentide tries to solve these as good as possible and as a decent expansion should do. Most of the time that is the case. There is more variation in quests and it's just more amusing. You really have the feeling that there are multiple ways to solve a quest, the roleplaying aspect is really better because of this. Now you can also see what's in your henchman's inventory and put the heavy items in there so you don't need to carry them anymore. Still present though is the henchmen's weird AI. The non-playing characters are really well worked out and have a lot to say (same case with the henchmen which tell a lot more). The three new tilesets en the 16 new monsters also play a big part. Especially the tilesets (Winter, Desert and Ruïns) make the game better, although one can ask himself why these weren't already in the original game? Even now I would have appreciated more tilesets but apparently there wasn't enough time (and money) for. The new monsters are all nicely designed and match very well with the new tilesets.

Read it all here.

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D&D: Temple of Elemental Evil Preview at ActionTrip
Posted Sunday, July 20, 2003 - 4:37 CET by Veldrin

ActionTrip has posted a preview of D&D: Temple of Elemental Evil including 77 screenshots and the newest trailer for the game. Here's what they had to say:

As Troika Games showed in the past, they are quite capable of crafting a game that's agreeable to both CRPG fans and hardcore D&D role-players. In general, The Temple of Elemental Evil is a title all gamers should look forward to. This is Troika's first party-based game, but given their repute, it's safe to say they are up to the challenge.

See it all here.

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Neverwinter Nights Forum News
Posted Saturday, July 19, 2003 - 15:57 CET by Veldrin

Here are today's Neverwinter Nights forum highlights. 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.

Georg Zoeller, Designer

Placeable Bug: There was a bug with placeables created through the scripting language at runtime, that were not added to the arealist of traps, thus staying below trap detecting character's radar. This has been fix and will come with one of the next patches, hopefully 1.31

Script Debugger: This is the external script debug server for NWscript:

Usage:

add the command SpawnScriptDebugger() to your code where you want to start debugging

switch the 'generate debug information' option on in the toolsets scripting options

build your module, recompiling all scripts

start debugserver.exe

start the game

once the command is triggered in the script a debugging window will show up outside the game (make sure you use NWN in windowed mode for this functionality)

you need FullScreen=0 AND AllowWindowedMode=1 to be set. Also you must set the default resolution in your game below the resolution of your desktop. i.e. if your desktop is running at 1024x768 set the gameto 800x600

Rob Bartel, Co Lead Designer

Witch's Wake: Witch's Wake is definitely an expression of my underlying design philosophies, how I prefer to work, and the relationship I like to have with those who'll eventually be playing my creation. I was very lucky to have had that opportunity as it's one that few in the industry ever get to experience. WW1 still has its warts and flaws, of course, and a part of me is terrified of WW2. Does lightning ever strike twice? But yes, I'm a firm advocate of the Live Team because that sort of structure is what makes the proverbial extra mile possible. In the end, like all companies, it's on that extra mile that BioWare is going to sink or swim.

Darcy Pajak, Assistant Producer

Shadows of Undrentide: Why should you buy Shadows of Undrentide?

We have a brand new campaign with very interesting characters, and new scripting techniques which show off really neat things. There are better puzzles, different choices of completing quests and getting rewards. There is an alignment system inplace where you actions can alter your alignment.

We have added 3 new tilesets. Desert, rural winter, and ruins.
There are 5 new prestige classes
17 new monsters
51 more spells
Over 30 feats
Grenade like weapons.

All this for a low price of about $30, that’s about $1.50 for every hour you spend playing the game. And if you include all the newer modules that will be out there that will be using SoU tools, for just $30 bucks you will always have a RPG to play when you want to.

Trent Oster, Producer

Weapons: I created the weapons in NWN trying for a balance between minimal texture usage, low polygon count and visual impact. Many of the original weapons are slightly exaggerated so the silhouette would be visibly different for the other weapons. We also designed the entire system to be very general and multipurpose so the three weapon parts weren't always used in an optimal way. When creating weapons I would suggest you also think in terms of the silhouette from the default view and polygon/texture efficiency. I used the same 512x512 TGA for every weapon in an attempt to keep the number of texture binds on the video card down as each texture change introduces a state change in the gpu. Btw. swell looking weapons everyone. I might just have to add some new weapons into the HotU expansion now.

Death Attack: Death Attack is just good clean fun. I spent a great deal of time playing an Assasin character before SoU went gold and it was truly a blast. The other posters are correct, Death Attack follows the same rules as Sneak Attack.

PLT Transparency: We do have issues with sorting alpha transparencies. Unfortunately it was a compromise we had to accept when we designed the engine.

Don Moar, Tools Programmer

.Key Files: Each .key file and the order in which it is loaded is determined by the application. Therefore, you cannot simply create a new set of .bif files and the corresponding .key and expect it to work in NWN. Keep in mind that by attaching one or more .hak files to your module you accomplish the same thing.

You're right. It would be more convenient for the developers if you could just toss in a new .key file into the game root and some bifs into the \data directory and the game and toolset would just take it from there, but that's all and only just barely. Now that modules can support multiple hak packs, you can create a cep.hak attach it to whichever modules require it and you're done. It will have no impact on whatever other .hak files you wish to use. From the player's point of view, the process is exactly the same. In fact, it's probably even easier for the player to use a .hak file since it's only 1 file instead of 2.

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Chris Glenn comments on ToEE's Box Art
Posted Saturday, July 19, 2003 - 1:25 CET by Gopher

Here are recent D&D: The Temple of Elemental Evil forum highlights. 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.

Chris Glenn, Troika's Concept Artist, commenting on the ToEE box art, chosen by Atari:

Chris Glenn, Concept Artist

I don't like the Box Art, why can't you change it?

Alright guys, here's the official word. The box art that I delivered to Atari and the box art on the box are two different things altogether. Someone up at Atari thinks they know what they are doing and did some auful things to the delivered art, and that includes the incredibly awful piss-yellow fog. Everyone here hates the piss fog.

Mike and I went back and forth with Atari after they made their first changes and we were able to rectify most of them ourselves on our end. Unfortunately, they still went ahead and made their own changes anyway.

All in all, we've been dissapointed with the results from Atari. We still haven't seen the final game logo. All the ones we've seen so far are pretty bad. When the game ships I'll post my original version on my website.

Quote: Um, are you specifically talking about the box art, or in general?

Box art, ads, logos. We are fortunate that we get to give Atari any feedback at all. We give them our opinions on stuff, and some times they listen and sometimes they don't. That's all part of it, it's their money, their game, their marketing.

Let me say also that alot of what Atari has done has been very cool and very good. I don't want to blanket all of Atari with negativity. Alot of those guys are kicking ass.

Quote: Is this the way things are usually done, that the graphics used in advertisements and packaging aren't done by the people who do graphics for the game

Yes, this is the way things are normally done. Most often, a developer doesn't have the time or extra resources to have someone work on promo paintings and marketing stuff. This is all handled by the publisher and their marketing department.

An no, please do not petition Atari to change box art stuff. It's too inconsequential to make a big deal out of. But thanks for the props :D

Quote: If the developer does not have time to do such things, why does Troika have time to do such things and even then those things are not accepted as those things were, but those things will even then be changed by the publisher?

well, our box art situation was outside of the norm. They originally had Brom do the box art, but Atari didn't like what he turned in, but they had liked some of my previous "promo paintings". So, they decided to give me a shot at doing a cover image, and if they liked it better than Brom's, then they would go with it. I had a bit of free time in my schedule at that point, so I gave it a shot.

It was a hook-up for both parties. They got a better image, and I got a chance at doing a high profile illustration. I feel very fortunate to have had that opportunity.

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Neverwinter Nights Forum News
Posted Friday, July 18, 2003 - 19:35 CET by Veldrin

Here are today's Neverwinter Nights forum highlights. 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.

Georg Zoeller, Designer

Action Queue: The problem is that the action queue of your creature gets overflowed:

If you add actions faster to the action queue than they are performed, you will eventually reach the limit of 75 actions in an objects queue. Examples where this can happen. Putting creatures to sleep and still having a heartbeat that adds actions. Having creatures perform long actions like ActionMoveTo or ActionFollow while a heartbeat adds more actions. Having a heartbeat that does something like ActionRandomWalk or ActionForceFollowObject, etc. The old action may not be cleared when the heartbeat runs the next time and this may cause the commands to add up in the action queue

How to prevent:

use GetCurrentAction to see if the action queue is still filled and do not add other actions if so use ClearAllActions to remove all actions before adding new ones

Spell Scripts: shadows of undrentide spells start with x0_

Spellscripts are listed that way:

*_s0_* - Spells

*_s1_* - Creature Abilities (bolt, gaze, etc)

*_s2_* - Class / Char Abilities (rage, etc)

*_s3_* - Item related spells (alcohol, belladona, etc)

Al Schilling, Product Manager

Mac Release: There is always more APPROVAL CRAP. Please understand that everything we do that relates to NWN has to be approved by a number of parties. We feel confident enough in the quality of the final candidate CDs that we've scheduled the production of finished goods based on getting the approvals in a timely manner. Would you really prefer that we wait for the final sign-off and then schedule production? That would mean another 2 week delay. I promised those of you in this forum that, the day we announced the ship date, I'd post it here. I did just that. Yes, there's still a chance that it could get screwed up. There's a chance that our manufacturing facility could burn to the ground. There's a chance that the truck delivering the printed materials could crash and burn. I'm just giving you the best information I have. If you think you're tired of APPROVAL CRAP, try sitting on my side of the desk. Now, I'm not looking for any sympathy or anything but I've got to tell you-it sure is frustrating that the day I can post some really good news, you still can't see any bright side.

Dinosaur-the contents of the Mac version of NWN are well documented in these forums. It includes the NWN client as well as the DM client. It does not include the toolset. Users can play against other players on Macs, PC, or Linux. The PC version initially retailed at $60. Given that we can't offer the toolset, the initial price for the Mac version is $49.99.

Rob Bartel, Co Lead Designer

Witch's Wake: WW1 received about half a million downloads, which blew away everyone's expectations, including mine. Internally at BioWare, the project is held in quite high regard as a result, and we recognize that it was very well received by the community. Regardless, expansions and other income-generating projects have to take priority and, as we currently have a shortage of writers, I've been asked to fill in some personnel gaps in a variety of other projects.

Ultimately, that's a key issue that the Live Team faces - while it's clear that the team is adding value to the company, it's very hard to quantify that value in terms of additional units sold or money made or future purchases committed to. Until the Live Team can establish a more concrete revenue model for itself and prove its self-sufficiency, traditional projects with tangible rewards will always take priority. While I've been the most visible casualty of this process, I'm definitely not the only one.

That said, we are looking for ways to address the issue and I've set some things in motion that will hopefully lead to that degree of self-sufficiency somewhere down the road. This will be a good thing for all of you who play BioWare games as it should translate into improved service from a more robust Live Team, with a more consistent stream of new patch content (like the rats, kobolds & gnolls for instance), updates to the toolset, and more playable content along the lines of the WW series, among other things.

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D&D: Temple of Elemental Evil Preview at IGN
Posted Friday, July 18, 2003 - 19:26 CET by Veldrin

IGN has posted a 3 page preview of D&D: Temple of Elemental Evil. Here's what they had to say about the interface:

While this interface is very streamlined for easy understanding, that doesn't mean that options aren't there for hardcore AD&D fans. A little button in the bottom right of the screen will allow players to see all of the rolls as they happen and what exactly is going on behind the combat. And from here, words that are highlighted blue, such as monster names and attacks, are actually hyperlinks that when clicked on, will bring up more detailed information about that word. The detail is certainly there for those that want it, but it won't be forced on anyone that doesn't.

You can read it all here.

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Black Isle Studios Fan Fiction Contest
Posted Friday, July 18, 2003 - 19:18 CET by Veldrin

BIS is hosting an RPG Fan Fiction contest. Here are the rules:

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Greyhawk: The Temple of Elemental Evil Preview at GameSpot
Posted Friday, July 18, 2003 - 3:02 CET by Veldrin

Gamespot has posted a 2 page preview of Troika's up and coming game, Greyhawk: The Temple of Elemental Evil. Here's a clip:

Even though you'll control a group of up to eight members, including a maximum of three hirelings, the mouse-driven interface is particularly easy to learn. All character actions--including various movement options, special combat abilities, thieving skills, and spells--are made available in a radial contextual menu that you can pull up at any time. Only the main categories are represented by icons, and as you move your mouse pointer over options on the circular menu, the detailed options are spelled out with text descriptions, so you don't have to remember the specific icon that represents the chain lightning spell, for instance. Even better, you can hotkey abilities for specific characters to skip a few steps, and the most basic actions, like moving and attack, can be executed with a simple left mouse-click. The interface elegantly color-codes actions so you see exactly what you can do in a turn, makes it easy to set up waypoints to avoid enemies, shows you the exact range of an area-effect spell like a fireball and who will be affected, and lets you pick targets for individual magic missiles and chain lightning bounces.

See the whole thing here.

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Neverwinter Nights Mac Version Shipping July 30
Posted Thursday, July 17, 2003 - 21:41 CET by Veldrin

Al Schilling, Product Manager at MacSoft has posted at the Bioware forums that the Mac version of Neverwinter Nights will be shipping July 30, and should be on shelves in early August. Unfortunately, the Mac version will not have the toolset.

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Neverwinter Nights Forum News
Posted Thursday, July 17, 2003 - 19:03 CET by Veldrin

Here are today's Neverwinter Nights forum highlights. 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.

Georg Zoeller, Designer

Database: The information is persistent, it will stay between reboots

Performance: Not a good idea to use frequent database calls in a pw. I would always store anything in standard local variables and dump these to the database only at predefined events (i.e. server shutdown, hourly save, etc). For PWs, I think NWNX2 is a the more perfomant solution (through it has no StoreCampaignObject). The scope of the database engine is more aimed at carrying over information between modules, small scope "persistant" modules. Maybe putting the database directory on a ramdrive would work too ....

You should store any value on the characters as standard local int and only when the party is transferring to a new module store the campaign values. Database write operations are sloow, so I would not recommend *extensive* use of it during the module, unless your server is high end.

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Last Week's Poll's Results
Posted Thursday, July 17, 2003 - 18:35 CET by Sorcerer

What we asked:

Q: Have you ever played any fan-made romances for Baldur's Gate 2?
(311 votes total)

No (151) 49%
Yes (88) 28%
Not yet, but I intend to in the future (72) 23%

The majority of peope who voted in the poll (49%) haven't played any fan-made BG2 romances, and are not likely to play any in the future either.

28%, however, have played at least one fan-made romance, which is a pretty nice achievement for the mod-making community, I'd say.

23% of poll participants have not played any fan-made romances yet, but intend to do so in the future.

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Neverwinter Wednesday
Posted Thursday, July 17, 2003 - 12:08 CET by Sorcerer

Another week's around and here are the latest NWN Wednesday goodies:

Multiplayer Survey - Free Giveaways!
We want to know what you think about the games you play! And for taking a few minutes to complete this survey, your email address will be entered to win either one of five free copies of Shadows of Undrentide, or copies of the four exclusive game posters that were available only at the Electronic Expo in L.A.! Discuss.

Female Frost Giant
The hands-down squirrel-screechingly, craziest cousin of the giant family, Frost Giants are wildly unpredictable and fantastically dangerous. Somewhat weaker than their fiery cousins they still have the ability to squash cow-sized objects into special sauce if provoked. Rest assured that provoking them into a rage is about as hard as not finding an anvil that floats. Discuss.

Female Fire Giant
I would expect that if you forgot an anniversary with this woman you would be in for far more than a few days of simmering silence followed by years of guilt. The Female Fire Giant would set your favorite building on fire and eat your car. Fire Giants are far more civil than their frosty cousins and yet are far more calculated and malicious in a behavior very similar to second graders. Discuss.

Shadows of Undrentide Feats
The remaining Shadows of Undrentide feats have now been posted, filling out the list of 31 with feats such as Great Cleave, Arcane Defense, and Divine Might. There is also a printer friendly version of the page. Discuss.

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Atari Financial Results for Fiscal 2003
Posted Wednesday, July 16, 2003 - 20:18 CET by Veldrin

Atari, formerly known as Infogrames, has issued a press release about their financial results from the fiscal period 2003. Here's a clip:

July 15, 2003

New York, New York, July 15, 2003 – Atari, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATAR), one of the world’s largest publishers of interactive entertainment software, today announced operating results for its fiscal year and quarter ended March 31, 2003. As the result of a change in its fiscal year end, announced on March 28, 2003, results herein reflect the nine-month period (fiscal year 2003), as well as the quarter ended March 31, 2003. All results reference the comparable year-earlier periods.

For the nine-months ended March 31, 2003, net revenue, including publishing and distribution revenue, climbed 40% to $404.6 million as compared with net revenue of $289.4 million in the comparable 2002 period. Publishing revenue of $329.8 million marked a 56% increase over publishing revenue of $211.9 million in the year-earlier period, while distribution revenue declined modestly to $74.8 million from $77.5 million in the comparable 2002 period. The Company reported net income for the fiscal year of $18.1 million, a significant improvement over a net loss of $10.2 million reported in the comparable year-earlier period. EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) rose to $33.3 million, or $0.48 per share, from a loss of $4.1 million, or a loss of $0.06 per share, in the comparable 2002 period.

You can see the whole article here.

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Neverwinter Nights Forum News
Posted Wednesday, July 16, 2003 - 18:20 CET by Veldrin

Here are today's Neverwinter Nights forum highlights. 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.

Georg Zoeller, Designer

2DA's: spells.2da targettype column

Self 0x01
Creature 0x02
Ground 0x04
Item 0x08
Door 0x10
Placeable 0x20
Trigger 0x40

fields are bitmasks, so if you want a spell to be targeted on ground (0x4), items(0x8) and placeables (0x20) you get result = 0x2C. There is a column called TargetSelf in feat.2da which, when set to 1, seems to ignore the spells target type.

Just a Warning:

Do *NOT* get used to targeting items with spells that are outside your inventory. In the future you can only target items that reside in your inventory if TargetType is set to include 0x8. It is a necessary change to prevent abuse.

Darcy Pajak, Assistant Producer

French SoU: The French and English versions are not compatible. SoU will update any language installed. This will blow away the original data. Without going into too much technical mumbojumbo, it will do very bad things to your game. I'm afaid that you will need to wait until Atari releases it.

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SP Happenings #6
Posted Tuesday, July 15, 2003 - 20:39 CET by Sorcerer

Another uneventful summer week. The site redesign is coming along, albeit with a little more complications than I expected. Depending on my evaluation of how long it will take to go through it all, I might do another site update before it happens. The SP merchandise store is also nearing completion, so soon polishing and product testing will come into play. It will be worth the wait.

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Neverwinter Nights Forum News
Posted Tuesday, July 15, 2003 - 18:11 CET by Veldrin

Here are today's Neverwinter Nights forum highlights. 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.

Georg Zoeller, Designer

AI & Stealth: FYI: using a third party AI package in your override may cause monsters not to loose you correctly while in stealth. Also stealthing while the monster is already starting its action for the round against you will most likely result in staying visible for them.

David Gaider, Designer

Missing Female Voiceset: No, we cut it. It was bad (as in stinky-poo).

AI: Yes, we do see the complaints about the henchmen AI... and obviously we're going to need to put some time aside to work on it for HotU. Certain things, like asking your henchman not to cast spells and getting them to activate detect and stealth modes are already in the works. Further tweaks are forthcoming. The only problem with tweaking the AI, really, is the potential for introducing bugs that it can introduce... and in our specific case we have to watch what AI changes do in the original OC, as well. Hence every AI tweak comes with a heavy QA cost. But I agree that some work is really needed.

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Shadows of Undrentide Review at ELiTeD
Posted Tuesday, July 15, 2003 - 18:01 CET by Veldrin

ELiTeD has posted a review of Shadows of Undrentide, and didn't give the game a final score. However, the review was approving. Here's a clip:

All in all, this expansion just oozes effort. One can see that Bioware and Floodgate sat down and really thought about and discussed what could take the already great game, and make it even better. From the huge overhauls, to the long list of new features in character development, to the small, almost unnoticed detail changes, Bioware has proven they have a firm understanding of their audience’s needs and wants. Shadows of Undrentide has refreshed the life of a game which has already spent a year in the market, and that is no easy task. It is easily worth the $30 off the shelf price, and the required 1.2 GB of hard drive space.

Check it out here.

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Shadows of Undrentide Review at RPG Fan
Posted Tuesday, July 15, 2003 - 17:46 CET by Veldrin

RPG Fan has posted a very positive Shadows of Undrentide review, giving the game a final score of 96%. Here's a clip:

Perhaps the most exciting of new additions comes in the form of prestige classes. Characters who develop themselves in certain ways to meet the prerequisites of these new classes will be treated with an additional multiclass option. Unlike multiclassing with the base classes, the prestige classes do not cause an experience penalty. While it takes a while to grow your character to the stage where he or she could take a level of prestige -- often not until about level eight -- these new classes are both a fun and interesting addition that should allow players the ability to further customize their characters.

Read it all here.

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Neverwinter Nights Forum News
Posted Monday, July 14, 2003 - 17:30 CET by Veldrin

Here are today's Neverwinter Nights forum highlights. 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.

Georg Zoeller, Designer

Palette Colours: There are some ***unsupported*** colors in some of the color palettes in the toolset: you can get them this way:

left click on any color and hold the mouse button down. Then pull the mouse cursor *below* the last line of the color palette (the area around the ok button). Again, these colors are unsupported and you should think twice about using them as some look bad, strange and some even will impact framerate

David Gaider, Designer

Combined Tilesets: The problem with the combined tilesets is that they can cause quite a bit of lag on low-end machines (or is it loading times? I forget which.) For people who play above the minimum requirements and don't mind requiring their players to do so, using combined tilesets is a no-brainer. We have to accomodate our minimum specs, however, and that's why the official tilesets have a maximum number of tiles.

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Greyhawk: The Temple of Elemental Evil Journal #4 at RPG Vault
Posted Saturday, July 12, 2003 - 21:25 CET by Veldrin

RPG Vault has posted their fourth Temple of Elemental Evil Journal, this time with programmer Sean Craig. He talks about working at Troika Games and what it's like being a geek. Here's a clip:

Which (finally!) brings us to Temple of Elemental Evil. I am a turn-based geek. I love games like Final Fantasy Tactics, X-Com, Fallout (of course), and Heroes of Might and Magic. I love plotting out the best actions for my units to take, I love tweaking my characters so that they work more effectively together, I love long and gruelling combats that I have to replay two or three times to beat. In the words of Hannibal from the A-Team (and I'm dating myself here but I'm self-effacing, so I don't care), I love it when a plan comes together. I need total control over my characters' actions. (This is called 'obsessive' by therapist types). It bothers me when my wizard starts casting a fireball and misses his target because the target moved between the time he started casting and the time he actually throws the fireball. Or worse, he ends up hitting my barbarian because he ran into battle.

Read the whole article here.

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Shadows of Undrentide Review at Khabal Gaming
Posted Saturday, July 12, 2003 - 18:09 CET by Veldrin

Yet another Shadows of Undrentide review has been posted, this time by Khabal Gaming. They gave the game a score of 8/10. Here's a clip:

For the D&D fans and RPG gamers, this is one game you won’t want to miss. Sure, it might not fully represent the pen and paper D&D gaming experience, but it comes close. Then there’s the online play, which will provide for even more hours of gaming. These days, it’s hard to find an RPG that can shine the way Shadows of Undrentide does. With an interesting storyline and enough new features to last, this will be another memorable walk down the lands of Faerûn.

Check it out here.

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Shadows of Undrentide Review at UGO.com
Posted Saturday, July 12, 2003 - 17:48 CET by Veldrin

UnderGroundOnline has posted another positive review for Shadows of Undrentide, giving it a final score of B-. Here's what they had to say:

In spite of the fact that this expansion or, more appropriately, module, has added some extra content, it really does not change the play of the game appreciably. It is more like buying the latest Star Wars or Star Trek novel in which the setting, characters and plot lines don't change all that much. There are many player-created modules that give the same level of entertainment for a lot less out of the pocketbook. The greatest gift it offers to Neverwinter Nights fans are the new tilesets, creatures and other enhancements that will further expand the Aurora module creation engine. This will give the module community just that much more to work with, and there will most likely be a surge in new and better modules to add to the thousands that already exist. Playing modules made with Shadows will require the expansion, so from this standpoint, players who just can't get enough of the D&D world must include this expansion on their must-buy list. For those just looking for an additional adventure or two beyond the original, try a few of the excellent player-generated modules before investing in Shadows. You won't be disappointed.

Read the whole thing here.

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Neverwinter Nights Forum News
Posted Friday, July 11, 2003 - 18:08 CET by Veldrin

Here are today's Neverwinter Nights forum highlights. 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.

David Gaider, Designer

Alignments: Okay, you asked for it. Keep in mind that we recognize that alignments leave a LOT of room for interpretation. This is ours, at least as far as SoU went:

(Feel free to suggest additions, changes... I don't for a minute think this list is all-encompassing. It was just a document to help QA get in line with our thinking for the purposes of SoU. We had, for instance, considered the idea that allowing an innocent to come to harm through inaction on the part of the PC to be a Not-Good act... though it wasn't necessary for what SoU encompassed.)

-------------------

Alignment Shifts – Shadows of Undrentide:

The difference between Evil and Not-Good:
It’s important to keep in mind that alignment shifts should only occur when the character acts outside of what would be appropriate for his alignment. In some cases, this is a clear cut case of one alignment or another. Performing a very evil act should result in an Evil hit… both Good-aligned and Neutral-aligned character would slide a bit towards Evil.
There are going to be some acts, however, which might be reasonable for both an Evil-aligned character and a Neutral-aligned character to perform… and only a Good-aligned character really wouldn’t do it. This is a “Not-Good” act… and only a Good-aligned character would receive an Evil hit for performing it. An example: let’s say the character solved a quest in a morally questionable manner… he collects some money owed to the quest-giver by brutally beating someone until they gave it up. Should someone Evil be allowed to do that? Certainly. Should someone Neutral be allowed to do that? He didn’t kill anyone, and the money was owed… it really doesn’t seem very evil, per se, so yes, a Neutral person should receive no hit. Should someone Good be allowed to do that? Probably not… and therefore this qualifies as a Not-Good act. It should be kept in mind that if there is ever any doubt as to what the Neutral spectrum of either axis (Law-Chaos, Good-Evil) allows, Neutral should be given the benefit of the doubt. Neutrality allows for shades of grey going into both axes and simply avoids the extremes of either… so someone Neutral-aligned should only be slipping, say, towards Evil by performing extreme Evil acts… and not minor Evil acts. It should also be noted that most alignment hits should by tiny (1-point) or small (3-point) unless it is an extreme action... and if it is extreme, it should never qualify as a not-anything.

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When alignment shifts should be used/not used:

Lawful:

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Greyhawk: The Temple of Elemental Evil Forum Highlights
Posted Friday, July 11, 2003 - 14:40 CET by Gopher

Here are today's Greyhawk: The Temple of Elemental Evil forum highlights. 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.

Huy Nguyen, Interface and Magic

On Baldur's Gate and Real Time/Turn Based games:

speaking entirely out of personal preference, combat is the only thing that prevented me from playing any of the Infinity Engine games. i remember picking up Baldur's Gate I, and then putting it in the closet shortly thereafter. it was probably because i was so used to Gold Box AD&D games.

in retrospect, i'm saddened that my dislike for IE combat stopped me from playing what are probably great games (Torment, in particular, so i hear), but i prefer turn-based combat for D&D games.

don't get me wrong, i like both; RT works great for action oriented games, and i loved RT with pause for Battletech: Crescent Hawk's Revenge, but for D&D i like TB, because that's what most feels like PnP to me (as opposed to any question of whether it's modelling "real-life"). i prefer TB to model D&D PnP

and in general, i prefer TB for cRPG and strategy games. i loved total annihilation and starcraft etc, but i loved Master of Magic, Master of Orion, Warlords, Heroes of Might & Magic, etc, way more... probably some nostalgia factor there, heh.

i remember feeling a little bit bad about that, because i focus-tested a few games for Interplay while i was in college, and i remember telling Doug Avery (i think) that i didn't enjoy the Baldur's Gate games (he brought it up). whoops! hehe, he didn't take offense though

to each his/her own! to state the obvious, enjoy the games where the chosen combat system works for you. TB, TB/phased, RT/pause, RT, all systems have their own methods of attempting to make the game enjoyable. as people have mentioned, pros and cons to all.

i think any game that purports to be "realistic" digs its own hole. i thought counter-strike was a great game back in beta 5-6. they just had to keep tinkering and tinkering with it... ok, some bitterness there :P

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Neverwinter Nights Forum News
Posted Thursday, July 10, 2003 - 19:50 CET by Veldrin

Here are today's Neverwinter Nights forum highlights. 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.

Georg Zoeller, Designer

Patch 1.31 2DAs: I believe that 1.31 2da's are compatible to 1.30 ... even through there may be a few bug fixes in some of them. The user 2da's should be safe.

Dialog.tlk: Keep in mind that text added to dialog.tlk needs to get translated ... Sounds like a small issue for 2 or 3 strings, but certainly could run out of hand really fast

Included Cheater NPC: Usage:

- Console: DebugMode 1
- Console: runscript cheat
- The cheater will appear
- Type 'help' in the chat window to see all the options

Basically if you type a number into the chat i.e. 5, you get leveled up 5 levels in your default class without going through the gui's. Very helpful for testing things

Compile Errors: Experiencing unexplained compile errors in NWscript code but the code is obviously ok?

****

Any hakpak with NWSCRIPT.NSS in it will break your module and cause major problems with any future patch from bioware that adds scriptings functions (1.31 is going to add scripting functions)

Any nwscript.nss in your override directory will cause major problems as well

****

There is no reason to have this file in any hakpak!

If you want to add constants to your scripts, please use the const keyword instead:


Example (adding a new polymorph type constant):

Instead of adding
int POLYMORPH_TYPE_MYMONSTER = XX; (XX = Line In polymorph.2da) to nwscript, use the following solutions:

a) just use the magic number (XX) in your scripting code
or
b) add something like
const int POLYMORPH_TYPE_MYMONSTER = XX; to the head of your script or a central include file

****

Again DO NOT PUT NWSCRIPT.NSS into Hakpaks

Hakpaks known to add to have a nwscript.nss file in them:

- many of the ridable horse, useable boats hakpaks
- the arcane space tileset scripts
- some of the popular PCParts hakpaks

(feel free to add more to the list)


****

Weird compile problems with x0_i0_files?

You most likely have modified nw_i0_* (i.e. nw_i0_generic) files in your module, hakpak or override which is not compatible with NWN 1.30

Rob Bartel, Co Lead Designer

His Job: Yes, I'm currently assigned to HotU to help them get off the ground. A decision should be made shortly as to whether I'll see HotU through to completion or migrate back to the Live Team while HotU is still in its early stages. If the former, my allocation will be reassessed once HotU is completed: I'll either move back onto the Live Team at that point or be assigned on a more permanent basis to one of our still-unannounced projects. In other words, I could be back on the Live Team in a week's time, later in the year, or never at all. Nothing's been fully decided at this point.

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Shadows of Undrentide Review at RPGnet
Posted Thursday, July 10, 2003 - 19:32 CET by Veldrin

RPGnet has posted a review of Shadows of Undrentide, and gave it a 4 in Style and a 4 in Substance. Here's a clip:

I give SoU high marks for style because I felt the developers really found unique ways to make the story much more than a hack-n-slash adventure. They also used scripting to create several memorable and unique effects, gimmicks and eye candy. In terms of substance, I think the length of the new campaign is more than adequate.

Read the whole thing here.

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Last Week's Poll's Results
Posted Thursday, July 10, 2003 - 12:20 CET by Sorcerer

What we asked:

Q: What is the monitor size of your gaming machine?
(419 votes total)

17'' (165) 39%
19'' (135) 32%
15'' or smaller (50) 12%
21'' (37) 9%
20'' (11) 3%
18'' (10) 2%
24'' (8) 2%
Other (define in poll comments) (3) 1%

The majority of poll participants (39%) use 17" monitors with their gaming computers.

19" monitors are also very popular, with 32% of those who voted using them.

12% of those who voted still torture their eyes on 15" or smaller monitors.

Coming as a bit of a surprise, 9% of poll participants have 21" monitors they (also) use to play games with.

The remaining 8% of votes are divided between 20" monitors (3%), 18" and 24" (2% each) and Other (1%). One person who voted Other mentioned a dual display of 19" and 21" monitors.

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Neverwinter Wednesday
Posted Thursday, July 10, 2003 - 10:31 CET by Sorcerer

Another week's around and here are the latest NWN Wednesday goodies:

Asabi Profile
Famous for being in the thrall of more powerful creatures, the proud Asabi race make very fine lackeys and lickspittles, and are one of over a dozen new creatures in Shadows of Undrentide. Discuss.


Shadows of Undrentide Spells
In the upcoming weeks we will be listing all 30+ Feats and 50+ Spells available in Shadows of Undrentide for online reference. This week we have added to the spells section with incantations such as Isaac’s Lesser Missile Storm, Tasha’s Hideous Laughter, and Earthquake! Discuss.

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Neverwinter Nights Forum News
Posted Wednesday, July 9, 2003 - 18:03 CET by Veldrin

Here are today's Neverwinter Nights forum highlights. 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.

Don Moar, Tools Programmer

Patch 1.31: 1. We're learning from past mistakes. The VLHP (very large hak pack) problem is a prime example. The test cases have been modified to include checks against extremely large hak packs.

2. We already offer everyone in the community an opportunity to help us test each update during a beta phase and have been doing so for many months now. This has actually been quite successful and as a BioWare employee and fellow NWN player, I'd like to extend my own thanks to those of you who choose to donate your time to help the rest of us get a better update.

3. 'Proper' QA? Are you aware of any cost-effective (for a small private company) ways to ensure that there are NO bugs in a piece of software as complex as NWN (that doesn't have lives depending on it)? The only mechanisms I'm aware of include keeping change logs, following test plans and using automated regression testing. However, even these things won't catch _everything_. If you have any other suggestions or can recommend any literature on the subject, I'd be happy to consider it.

4. If we didn't release it when we thought it was ready, when _should_ we release it?

5. I don't really know what to say about that one. The 1.31 update is currently going through QA. Technically, an unreleased update is always in QA but at this point, I think the code for the 1.31 update has been locked down and so is going through a 'final' QA pass. This adds time to the overall schedule and, in general, results in a better product no matter what faults actually make it through. Trying to reduce the number and severity of the faults that make it through are constant challenges, however and require support not just from QA, but from the rest of the design and development teams. Fortunately, we've got an entire company full of people who want nothing more than to do exactly that.

6. We've already done this on numerous occassions.

7. The number of beta's is usually dictated by the number and complexity of the changes in the update. Sometimes only 1 is required other times 4.

Also, I don't think anyone from BioWare has ever said that if you're helping us with a Beta that we don't want you to report your bugs. The point is, upgrading to a Beta is a risk and that by doing so, it is understood that you are going in with your head up and eyes open. This means that if your module is corrupted by the toolset or some function in the player or dm client is broken and you lose your favourite character or last saved game that we can't help you. It is expected that you won't risk such valuable data without having adequate back-ups. From a practical point of view, I think bugs are a fact of life in PC gaming - there's just too much variation in things that are beyond our control (cd-rom drive and video card manufacturers, hardware drivers, operating systems, compilers, etc.) to ever get a bug-free release. Of course, that doesn't count the bugs that _are_ within our control (e.g.: VLHP bug). That's when the more managerial / academic part of me struggles with improving the basic processes my teams use when writing their software in the first place.

David Gaider, Designer

Epic Levels: We're not ready to talk about HotU's features, and probably won't be for a couple of months yet. As far as Epic Levels go, everyone on this message board has the chance to give input on it... the final decision on it, however, must necessarily remain with us.

Quote: So if feedback is still being accepted, this is a good sign that no final stage is at hand. Great!

Let's just say that, while the course can still be changed, it is certainly already charted.

Quote: As long as you are there, if Bio had it's way, what would everyone there like to do next for SoU? And I mean if money, WotC, time, etc were not an issue. What would you like to include to NWN?

I don't really care for rhetorical questions very much. WotC, Hasbro, time and money are always going to very much be issues for NWN's development. If these things weren't an issue, then we would want the same things that any other fan would... cloaks and robes, lots of cool monsters and new tilesets, direct neural interface for the DM, raises for everyone, candy canes for all the poor children, blah blah blah.

Quote: I have played user made mods, as I stated before, but they are irrelevant to the judgement of NWN.

It's fine that you think that, Visceral, but the existence of the mod community for NWN isn't an incidental thing like in some other games where a toolset is released as an afterthought or the community grows outside of support by the developers. With NWN, the mod community was part of the core concept and is part and parcel of the end product. You can buy, for instance, a very nice sound system these days that has all sorts of features. The fact that you choose to simply use the CD-player and nothing else is your choice... but it does not make those other systems irrelevent and the fact that other people not only use these systems but comment that you aren't getting the full use out of your purchase really shouldn't surprise you.

Patch 1.31: Patch 1.31 will come... not quickly enough for some, probably too quickly for others (especially if some bugs make it through). I suspect the wait won't be very long at this point, but I'd like to address more the idea that the community can make better QA testers that our own and Atari's.

Some community members, perhaps... but properly reporting a bug means including detailed information on what is happening (as opposed to "it's broken") and the chain of events/actions that led up to that problem (even if it is as seemingly unnecessary as "I picked this class" or "I have this hak pak being used"). The more (useful) info that is included, the better, because solving a problem necessitates being able to re-create it. Unfortunately, about 75% (and I may be being generous, here) of the bugs we receive at the nwbugs address simply do not include that information or anything close. It's not even that we expect bug reporters to be technical experts... sometimes the level of communications skills are so low we cannot understand from the e-mail exactly what the nature of the complaint is. And there are a lot of these e-mails to sift through... hence the auto-response.

Now I'm not saying that the community help we do get isn't helpful... far from it. It's vital, in fact, especially considering that NWN is one of those games that requires lots of different eyes on its many systems. But the difference in the kind of report you get from a professional QA person and a community member is huge... as one would expect it to be. Don't blame QA that there's not enough of them to go around (that will always be the case). Sometimes it seems like opening up the QA process to the public is the only solution... but the trade-off for extra eyes is also a lot of extra work (as in e-mails to be sifted through) not to mention the fact that you *still* won't catch everything. After four rounds of public Beta for 1.30, for instance, not a single community member tested out the DM Client... so it's definitely not the answer to all our problems. Just thought I'd point that out. You may now resume impatient panting.

Quote: And apparently, neither did a single member of the Quality Assurance teams. Nice DM Client Test Plan. (sorry, low blow, but I just couldn't resist)

You can go to the DM forum where we had a very lengthy discussion on this. Consider it a low blow if you like, but the fact that the DM Client is at the very bottom of the testing priorities for QA is an unfortunate reality... the player client and the toolset are always going to get higher priority as they are far more widely used, not to mention that testing the DM Client takes multiple QA members for a single task. We could really use the help of those who use this feature, and the fact that after 4 rounds of public beta of the last patch that not a single one of them did is disheartening. So are the bugs, I know, but this is how it is.

Dumb Dialogue: Well, here's the thing. It's not so much that the dumb dialogue options were too much work. When we started SoU we actually were including them in without even thinking about it... after the NWN OC, after all, it was something of a habit to write every PC response twice. Upon talking about it, though, the problem we had with dumb dialogue was really that it wasn't good for anything. Most of the responses were a bit "hyuck yuck"... and it seemed to us that most people would at least like to take their own character seriously, even if he had a 6-8 Int. We eventually decided that it was better to reward higher Int rather than to punish lower Int. We would restrict PC responses that were very witty from those with low Int and also provide occasional "smart options" in plots to those with high Int. It also turned out, while we were writing, that losing the dumb dialogue was incredibly refreshing. After doing them for so long I just plain didn't realize that writing dumb dialogue is very tedious. The chance of me wanting to hang that particular stone around my neck anymore is, ummmmm, gee... let me think... zilch.

Quote: I just wish I got more than that stupid picture when I looked at the HOTU page. Some kind of information, anything so we can start speculating, having discussions.

Exactly. Right now the only thing really that can be written about HotU are those wish lists that border on the ridiculous. If we were to give out even a little information at this point, that would just fuel the speculation which, while fun for message board regulars to write about, can be quite damaging to the project. When we're ready:

1) We'll provide a place to discuss HotU.
2) We'll give out lots of information and an FAQ, so that nobody can read it.

The original announcement of HotU was just to say that a second expansion did exist. Another announcement for the above will take place... but I don't think we're ready to overshadow SoU just yet, so it's going to have to wait.

Quote: void SetName()

Just to point out: you will never see this in NWN. I didn't believe it myself, but one of the programmers went through a long diatribe that involved something about resource allocation as to why a creature's name can't be altered. I understood almost none of it, but it seemed very dire. I have to take his word for it: he got very stressed at the thought. It would be easier almost to come up with a new "nickname" field or something... but even having that override the displayed name on-screen or in dialogue could be a potential mess. The end result is that if we want to have changeable names for a future project, we'll have to express that desire a lot earlier than the stage NWN currently is in.

Quote: Ok heres the skinny! A game company TRIES and TRIES to create an IMMERSIVE ENVIORNMENT, i.e. playing EQ for 40+ hours a week(some did). If the camera hak created an immersive effect for thousands and thousands of people.(it DOES!) Then why/how could a game company ever see to take it away?

When did we take it away? Brandon's hack involves changing the .exe file, which means everytime a patch comes out that changes our .exe it's going to overwrite his hack and he must put out a new version. The camera is already unlocked via console command in NWN, and a new version of Brandon's hack is also available.

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Greyhawk: The Temple of Elemental Evil Forum Highlights
Posted Wednesday, July 9, 2003 - 0:59 CET by Gopher

Here are recent Greyhawk: The Temple of Elemental Evil forum highlights. 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.

Steve Moret, Lead Programmer

Quote: One thing I liked about Baldur's Gate 2 and Icewind Dale 2 was that I could see so much ifromation about skills, feats, classes, abilities etc. within the game. Will ToEE do likewise?

We have an ingame hypertext-like system that we use for help. Not only can you lookup help on specfic feats/skills, but when looking thru the roll history you can select specific actions (hits, misses, damage, skill rolls, etc) and get a breakdown of all of the modifiers for that action. You can then select those modifiers and get detailed information on what they are and when they apply.

Most of the information is a condensed version of the 3.5 rulebooks tailored to our subset of the rules. I would imagine someone could read thru our helpsystem and be able play D&D 3.5.

Quote: I don`t think I like it. The yellow is a bit too..uhm..acidic, and the red a bit too..uhm.."I`ve been lost at sea for three wee