A Blender plugin for NWN2

Okay, I confess I am an ex-MMO NWN1 fan, and am rediscovering NWN2 - just checked out the toolset for building NWN2 worlds and stumbled across this:

http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NWN2Tools.Detail&id=61

Just had to share, NWN2 is already an accomplished 3d MMO thingy which allows you to import your stuff.

This is not to detract from Blitz3d, if anything I think various 3d skills complement each other.

How could the use of a 3d modelling program detract from Blitz3d?

This is General Discussion btw, how could you be 'detracting' from Blitz3d anymore than any of the other threads here?

fair 'enuf.

NWN2 is not at all MMO.

Even with tweaks and workarounds, the largest, and most popular server in the world only has 96 players maximum limit, even so, more than 60 players at any one time on a server is a rare thing.

Also, NWN2 is limited in its handling of meshes as the engine limits the number of animation states that a mesh

@Malice:

MMO means massive muliplayer online so a game must have at least hundreds of playes to qualify in this category.

20 - 30 players is a sufficent amount of folk to create an interesting online gaming atmosphere. Anymore than that is just being greedy - but I suppose thats why you pay your monthly subscription fees to the 'true' MMOs. I suppose NWN falls into the PMO category then - Petit Multiplayer Online gaming experience.

Maybe I'm old school & easily impressed, but NWN2 graphics still impresses me despite its 'limited mesh handling capability'.... Here is one example:

www.mahalo.com/Neverwinter_Nights_2:_Mask_of_the_Betrayer

I definitely don't like the feel of that game..

@Plash, Just out of curiosity what is your type of game ?

I think "The Witcher: Enhanced Edition" really got it right for these types of games. It really is great and I personally can't wait for it to come out on the Xbox360. Lots of opportunities for down loadable content. Could be great.

Ultima, Diablo (& #2), AOE series, shoot 'em up's that require skill (hl2dm, cod 5 on hardcore), Titan Quest..

Basically anything in realtime and not turn based.

@Hambone, yeah someone recommended the withcher to me a while back, my humble 1.8GHz Athlon with 1.5GBytes of RAM does not meet the minimum spec. Oh yes, I relish the release of it on the XBox 360.

@Plash, I'm an ex AOE fan, I confess I have the latest release, think its AOE III, but again AOE III is a bit of a resource hugger. AOE I for multiplayer fun over the network with the kids is good, almost educational fun.

..Stronghold (not the second one though), Rise of Nations, World of Goo..

Not too big a fan of AOE III, but I pretty much grew up on AOE I.
I like strategy games, but I really hate it when they move from 2d to 3d (like Stronghold 2 - absolutely rubbish, and Ultima Online: Kingdom Reborn - but EA messed it up way before they took it 3d).

@Plash:

Hmm, you grew up on AOE I, on gamespy you (used) to be able to online gameplay that chestnut. You up for an online challenge sometime... heh heh - you won't see too many offers of that ilk for AOE I.

So, have you any of the TOTAL WAR series, the ROME version developed crash itis on me once I got as far as northern Europe - probably the area that got tested the least...

But, back on thread, I know you are not a big NWN fan, however the jump from NWNI to II involved some pretty radical camera control which alienates some, however I still think it is an impressive evolution of the multiplayer online genre on a budget - i.e. no subscription charges and the ability to build your own online worlds. That aspect of it is certainly very appealing to my children - I'm quite impressed they can master the toolset when some forums state they are not 'user friendly'.

I think that DUNE, the battle for ARAKIS was a standard setter baqck in the day, then again that was on the AMIGA and came on about 7 diskettes.

Stronghold, if I'm right in thinking was a castle bashing game, was something that appealed but never quite had the pleasure of playing - I'll have to add that to my list of gaming to dos.

NWN2 had the worst camera control scheme EVER (The Witcher was about as bad). Great graphics though!

Well it was made with the NeverWinter Nights 2 engine, so that would make sense.

Worst camera control ever, well it certainly involved the ability to pick whatever angle you want to see the action from - which for some is too much choice....

@Stayne - yeah the graphics are pretty impressive - even more so on a 24" monitor (;-)

Contrary to NWN i didn't like NWN2 at all. Bad performing engine, awful steering/camera and most important the story again was more for a children like audience, just boring, needless game.

Not many NWN fans then? Oh well (;-) I'm off to create a PW with my son.

That's exactly why I said it's not at all MMO. The exponential increase on proocessor power with player numbers makes the engine pretty much impossible to handle anywhere over 120 players with current mainstream technology. Also, most MMO's revolve around some limited forms of persistency. NWN2 is much more varied in scope, ranging from arena servers to Persistent Worlds and occasional temporatry servers for small groups of friends.
The game is mainly marketed at single player and this latter example of small, LAN/internet based groups and the engine is specifically catered around this.

Though I must also disagree. 60 or so players isnt being greedy, but I would say successful. There's a degree of 'competition' regarding the servers available, and many suffer from lack of players and eventually "die" due to unpopularity.

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With regards to Camera control, I also disagree. There's MUCH more control over the camera response and functionality than in many other games.

@Malice, whilst the game is aimed at the single player experience, I personally preferred the online experience within NWN1, or I used to - I fear I'm actually getting older and losing my interest in games..... and instead getting more gratification from coding stuff. Oh well.

Anyhow, my son is also hankering after the ability to play online - however most of the servers require the expansion packs (x2!).

I agree with you about the camera control being ground breaking, the asterix key quickly lets you pick different viewing modes alongside the normal camera panning functionality you can experience in similar games.

Ahm who needs a lot of options for steering a camera? What you actually want is simply a working camera.

Just installed the SoZ expansion, on the pre-release shpiel associated with SoZ it states they were going to use a real live orchestra as a source for the music. You can tell by the quality of the music as soon as Never Winter Nights 2 loads, it is this kind of attention to detail that in the long run, may see NWN2 becoming as popular an online community as the original NWN.

But then again isn't it strange how much effort they invest into such topics but didn't care about bread and butter core features like steering, camera control and story telling?

From a players point of view best would have been if they would have licenced the Dungeon Siege Engine. This way a working camera, proper steering, good performing and still with eye candy gfx and an almost completely streaming engine could have left them the ressources for caring about the story and content. The Dungeon Siege Editors are also easier to use, at least when you use them only occasionally. In the end who cares if a Fireball comes from the D&D rules or from your own magic/combat system a long as it's well balanced and works.

It will be interesting to see how many of their faults done in NWN2 will be corrected in Dragon Wars. I suspect they have learnt something from issues with D&D.

It also will be interesting to see who big the roleplaying potion will be in Diablo 3. Technically and from it's accessibility i expect it to be much more advanced and like with Dungeon Siege it would be nice having all just in one game, a good written engine plus a good roleplaying game. Sadly you often only get one or the other.

The camera in NWN2 just takes a little getting used to, the graphics are very eye candy esque and the selection of camera options lets you quickly pann to different camera angles. Okay, some might be behind buildings at times, but it is only one key press from cycling to the next camera. Ain't all that bad - and I've just levelled up for the first time within a NWN2 online PW..... yes I'm a fan, and I reckon in time NWN2 will develop the kind of following NWN1 had.

I'm not aware of the Dungeon Siege Engine.....



Aah, now I see - yes the loads are not instantaneous between worlds in NWN2, helps stop the RSI though.