Enchanced Edition - Discussion

[frightnight]

if we go ahead and buy the game we can play on the new server...but will there be a pwipe?

[Xanos950]

if we go ahead and buy the game we can play on the new server...but will there be a pwipe?

believe it was mentioned that all characters will be ported over with no issues when the servers merge

[Dr_Hazard89]

Maybe a F.A.Q post would be helpful to stick up somewhere, it's easy to lose information in all this excitement and discussion here.

[frightnight]

but in essence the ee server will become the "new" server correct?

...

and the current server dropped at such time when is convenient for everyone?

[Xanos950]

Yep.

I'm somewhat curious though... How is it going to work with the merge. Like if you buy either the steam or beamdog version, how is it going to know that it's your account for purpose of accessing the vault - wouldn't the cd-keys be different?

[frightnight]

whenever a DM confirms something..i'll be making the switch..and..

enjoying a lil' piece............(of the good life)

:kermitsippingwinegif:

[Seekeepeek]

is there anyway to watch that livestream? did anyone record it?

[Irongron]

Regarding paying for a game we already play.

One thing that was on my mind when I first became aware of this, was exactly this. Not because players are entitled to new content, just that as a player myself I knew I'd want some new content to play EE on. To that end I immediately started working round the clock to put a new server together. So really, I have provided new content there, and I hope our players will enjoy the server.

And if an automated HAK downloader happens any time soon, there is another vast new region already in development.

[Miaou]

is there anyway to watch that livestream? did anyone record it?

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/203213828 Ignore the title. Full VoD with the chat during the stream.

[Seekeepeek]

Thanks

[Miaou]

A few questions on how the migration will work.

How will character transfers work? NWN: EE, to my understanding, gets a new CDkey. How will we play characters we currently play when we have to switch as our vaults are tied to our NWN: Original CDKey?

Will things like quarters, shops, and RPR be easily transferred?

Will those people with awards still be able to use them?

[Irongron]

A few questions on how the migration will work.

How will character transfers work? NWN: EE, to my understanding, gets a new CDkey. How will we play characters we currently play when we have to switch as our vaults are tied to our NWN: Original CDKey?

Will things like quarters, shops, and RPR be easily transferred?

Will those people with awards still be able to use them?

We will try to make this as seamless as possible, so that characters, quarter ownership and every else persists. Some of these questions will be for Beamdog to answer of course, but we will be using the same database, meaning that not only quarters, but stuff like resouce and creature placement will persist between versions.

As for rewards, I hadn't even considered that yet, so don't know.

[Miaou]

Cool, thanks for answering!

[greatfanfare]

Good afternoon!


Visa card next to the keyboard... is the download working already?

Because at Beamdog's web the button still reads "PRE-ORDER NOW", does that mean is it not ready to download and play?


Waiting to put on my robe and wizard hat.

[Xanos950]

Maybe i'm reading too much into it, but its a valid concern of mine. Irongron, do we know how the characters will be brought over?

I mean, it's all good and stuff if they are still there in the database, but unless cd-keys are linked or something (i assume we'll have two separate pairs of keys due to both versions) i don't know how we'll be able to actually use our characters and accounts.

[Twily]

https://www.beamdog.com/nwn_faq

Here's Beamdog's FAQ page- it has a lot of the answers to questions I've seen asked.

Scroll all the way to the bottom for the Persistant World FAQ if you're wondering how it handles character vaults.

[Liareth]

Maybe i'm reading too much into it, but its a valid concern of mine. Irongron, do we know how the characters will be brought over?

I mean, it's all good and stuff if they are still there in the database, but unless cd-keys are linked or something (i assume we'll have two separate pairs of keys due to both versions) i don't know how we'll be able to actually use our characters and accounts.

I explained this earlier in the thread - it's not surprising that it got missed though, it's very busy in here.

Yep, it's part of the game release. You give the game both pairs of CD keys, and if a vault is present when you connect for the old-style key, it will transfer it to the new-style automatically.

[Arithel 98]

How long will the original server be up? Unfortunately I'm very strapped on cash, especially right now and likely won't have spare cash for the new game for some time.

[Nemain]

Same here, except apparently I'd also need to shelve the $$ for a new PC. Will be looking for ways to play EE on my old Snuggybear P-IV, but.... Don't think it's even compatible.

Is it confirmed, at least, that FL will stay compatible for old timer PCs? Maybe enough people will play in the server...

[Undulat]

I'm not particularly hyped about this. I feel it's maybe an unnecessary risk of changing what we have for the worse, a case of don't fix what isn't broken. I'm not convinced the EE will be that much of an upgrade to make it worth it. But clearly people who know more about it seems to disagree, so I can only rely on their impressions.

I played BG:EE and BG2:EE, and didn't really notice much new over the original games except for the resolution mods they'd added plus a few new companions and companion quests. They claimed they had fixed MP bugs but the MP was as buggy as it always was. The SJW political correct tokenism of Siege of Dragonspear also didn't warm me to their approach (not that this has any bearing here).

I think Arelith is running great right now. Better than in a long, long time (started playing here around 2005, before that Anphillia and Three Kingdoms). I see new players all the time and run it with no problems on my Windows 10 machine. This will add an influx of new players who may or may not stay but we may also lose a lot of those players who have NWN because they got it cheap or because they can run it on their old PCs, or people who just can't be bothered to buy the new version, because they think it's not worth the money or because they are grognards (most of us are, considering NWN 2 was released in 2006).

Mod servers in any game are delicate affairs, especially in old niché games, and people attracted to such are often conservative players, when you change the balance it can have unforeseen consequences.

Otherwise, as I can see it has already been decided on, I can only hope for the best.

[Xanos950]

Their FAQ said it'll run through their own master servers. i just hope that GOG version and EE stream cd-keys will be compatible for the initial merge of the two.

[One Two Three Five]

I've been thinking about this a lot, and as someone who picked up NWN back in the early 2000s, there's maybe a comparison that the super-veterans running old toasters have that new folks don't, not to put anyone on blast:

It didn't used to be like this. By 'like this' I mean the game in the state that it's in. Compatibility mode to get a game that runs some of the time and crashes often. Workarounds so you don't wait 45 seconds for the master server error to pop. A game that has to use an external tool to find servers, and of those, only a handful are actually populated. No support staff, no active development of the game itself (outside of the CX and sinfar folks, I guess). A game that breaks whenever drivers are updated for the new Call of Duty.

Back in the day, before Bioware- what, lost the rights to work on WOTC stuff?- this game was bustling. People had their pick of populated servers. Community stuff got made in droves: what you see in the vault is the result of most of a decade of an active, vibrant community working together. Whereas right now, realistically, people are buying NWN (if they are at all) for the three-four populated servers, most of them RP, it's a pale shadow from being able to dip into the server browser for a selection of hack and slash, pvp, rp, or what the heck ever wild thing people decided to run. There was a Harry Potter server that used to have pretty consistent numbers! Multiple star wars servers running a d20 modern ruleset with lasers and everything! Hundreds of people across hundreds of servers, all plugging along in their own unique way. It was amazing. NWN and its toolset and coding engine specifically were such a marvel that it was used in college classrooms.

To have played through the golden age the admin team keeps referencing, mostly in regards to this EE being a second one, NWN as it stands feels like it's dying. Gamespy going down was a bad time. Servers and players disappeared from the community, maybe forever. Bioware dropped its NWN forum and the community kind of just splintered. As amazing as Arelith is, NWN in 2017, taken as a whole beast is a shadow. A shadow that's getting harder and harder to justify fiddling with computer settings with instead of just playing the new hotness. (You know people RP in MMOs? You know they're mostly pretty okay at it?) The NWN we have now is a fly in amber. The team here does an amazing job preserving it. Sprucing it up. Taking it to heights no one else has dreamed of. But remember the hak conversation? Remember how even the wizards we have are butting up against the limits of the engine? NWN as it stands is only going to last as long as new computer architecture can sustain it, and it's already on its last legs for some of us.

If the claims of a second golden age coming from Irongron et al are in any way accurate? And we've trusted these people with a solid chunk of our limited time on this Earth, so we've given them this much trust... New servers, new players, new ways of playing the game. An actual community again, not just a handful of servers occasionally trading players and grabbing a few new ones when Diamond Edition goes on sale. Sure, it'll be great for Arelith. Stable server stuff, better netcode, better security, less crashes. Sure. But man, and I know there's some heavy, heavy nostalgia, but I'd trade a damn lot to see NWN buzzing as a multi-server community again. Not to mention the fact that an updated game means driver updates and OS iterations wont sink the game into unplayability.

Man that got rambly. Time to get a new forum account.

[Karris the Anarchist]

I agree entirely, 1-5. I also bought nwn on release, and man, it was a whole new world opening up. So many people, so much work done. This has the potential to re-ignite those days. Sure, the graphics are dated but these guys are some of the original devs, they don’t just have access to the source code, they wrote it. Keep in mind Witcher 1, for example - built on NWN’s engine. So there is hope for vast improvement.

And with the new master server, combined with unlocked hard coding, extended script capability...shit, maybe I’ll even begin toolsetting again!

I shelved out for the deluxe yesterday, just one those promises alone, to show support for Beamdog the only way I can, in the hope that perhaps they can make sure this game is going to follow me for the next 15 years, like it has the last 15.

[frightnight]

lots of luciferian references in the livestream beginning

>.>

cough

[rat0a]

The problem with this new NWN-EE is that there is nothing new for the regular player

Most of the fixes are under the hood or geared to server admins, reason why is a hard pill to swallow for some players.

Now if the do update the polygon count, assets and GFX drastically the game isn't going to be REGU NWN either.

With that been said for me $20 is a okay price for:
64bit support
multiple core support
Server browser
automatic updates without looking for those haks elsewhere
Whatever they showed on the presentation yesterday <----looked almost the same to me maybe a bit more vibrant color
compatibility with new OS (WINX, MAC, LINUX)

And the most important thing to me is:
New RPING Servers:
In my case I grew bored of Arelith but the options out there are slim, the only servers with decent population are Amia, Cormyr, Ravenloft and then you need to DL those Haks

Perhaps with this new version some new or old people decide to do more servers for us to try and now there will be no barrier because you don't need to look for HAKS because as soon as you log in the client will start the DL process.