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Neverwinter Nights 2 Forum News

Discussion in 'Game/SP News & Comments' started by chevalier, Aug 13, 2004.

  1. chevalier

    chevalier Knight of Everfull Chalice ★ SPS Account Holder Veteran

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    Remove all ads!
    Here are today's Neverwinter Nights 2 forum highlights, collected by NWVault from Obsidian Forums. 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.

    FrankK, Programmer

    Will Macintosh and Linux be supported?
    I've actually answered this in another forum. We are not actively developing an OpenGL (mac/linux) version of NWN2 at the moment. Things may change, and people keeping the issue in the forefront is not a bad thing. We won't be hamstringing the source code, so an OpenGL programmer won't have to deal with creating new data formats, etc. He will have to replicate all the graphical and toolset functionality as well as read our new file formats, however.

    Give us a Party
    This subject has been discussed quite a bit. I think we want to avoid the feeling of playing an RTS when playing NWN2. In a table-top version of DnD, no one person controls the entire party--so while it may be frustrating to have someone do something you might not agree with, that's closer to real DnD than full party control. That said, we plan to make the player feel more like they are playing the table-top version, but that also means being the party leader and not a single cog in a disorganized wheel. I think most (of course, not ALL) people will like the system we have designed. In other words, it is our intention that the Deekins of NWN2 won't be casting spells on dead enemies or blowing fireballs on the weakest enemies right next to you.

    Plot Cliche's you DON'T wanna see in NWNII
    Why cant they just get the item them selves, are they that thick?
    Generally, they are smart. Their items are usually being guarded by nasty things with pointy teeth, or pointy spears, or pointy spears with pointy teeth. The point being, sometimes being a hero is choosing to help those who cannot help themselves =)

    Body Parts - More is better
    Absolutely agree with the heads not being just one part. If they do anything with improving the player/NPC models they should separate the heads into lots of parts. I highly doubt as well that a system of model changes based on attributes would ever make it in. Too much work for not much gain. Fun idea, none the less...
    We've been discussing major revisions to (and/or replacing) the character mesh system and the animation system.

    Brian Lawson - Graphics Programming

    Graphics
    A little question for a developer or anyone else in the know: I know NWN was aopenGL game, so I'm currious about if you are/can change(ing) the whole engine to use DX9 instead. Or when you say that it will be a DX9 game do you mean it will be some kind of hybrid that uses some openGL and some directX?
    A rendering engine typically uses one or the other API's (at least for PCs). In some cases it can "support" both, but that requires coding two separate paths of execution...one for OGL and one for DX. As such, don't be confused into thinking you're getting portions of the scene rendered using OGL and other portions of the scene using DX. For games that support both, you're given the option to choose which API the game uses and it will do ALL of its rendering through calls to the chosen API. Hopefully that helps clarify things a bit.

    More:
    So basicaly what you are saying is that the "use DX9" statement means that you are rewrieting the renderer to use Direct3D instead of OpenGL? PS: What I meant by hybrid was something like useing openGl for the grafics pipeline and directX for sound... just to clarify a unimportant point
    Yes, the new rendering engine will use the Direct3D component of DirectX 9. Although, your second statement is certainly true. It's not uncommon at all for games to use an OGL based rendering engine while using DX for things like input, sound, etc.

    More:
    You know OpenGL supports shaders and all the other eye candy you could ever hope for as well.........
    Please see the following thread regarding Linux/Mac/OpenGL concerns: http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?showtopic=2607

    More:
    Serious, given the DX9 specs, what will be the true minimum graphics hardware recommended (not whats going on the box)?
    At the moment, I think that's still up in the air. I know the minimum spec I'm writing all of my shader code to... As to whether or not I can tell you though, I don't know.

    More:
    W/ the way games have been requiring for specs today, that might be a bare minimum in 2006. That might just make it.
    Let's put it this way. That 5200 Ultra is suspect even by TODAY'S standards. At this very moment, I think most would argue that a legitimate DX9 card would probably be somewhere around the GeForce 5600 / Radeon 9500 Pro. Wouldn't you agree?? I'm not saying that's what we're targeting specifically, but I personally don't see any decent performance being achieved from DX9 on cards any lower than that.

    Will Macintosh and Linux be supported?
    One of the main questions would be "why?", I guess. A simple answer might be along the lines of "because we at Obsidian never did OpenGL, but lotsa DirectX", I know...
    Couldn't be further from the truth. I can program OGL as well as I can program DX...and vice versa. That's not even the point though. The powers that be made the decision and I do what I'm told.

    Erik Novales, Programmer

    So would it be a good idea for me to learn....
    Yeah, knowing how to use the toolset from NWN1 will be beneficial if you're interested in working on content for NWN2.

    Ferret, Developer

    Lootable Corpses Out Of The Box...
    Wouldn't fully lootable stuff get old? Sometimes I get tired in RPGs of just going through the "vendor trash" I find on folks, as is. I do agree that if I see an enemy use a wand of magic missiles, then darn it - I want that wand. But if I'm 7th level and I'm fighting some kobolds, I really don't want to search all of their bodies and see their sad collection of banged armor and such. Some level of abstraction on this front seems like a blessing.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 3, 2018
    chevalier, Aug 13, 2004
    #1
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