Neverwinter Nights Forum News

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(Originally posted 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

Poisons: Poisons are defined in poisons.2da. Since poison is its own system in NWN, it does not use the spell save DC for the save. Unfortunate, but this won't change.

Henchmen: You could try out the new multiple henchmen scripting commands, afaik there is no hardcoded limit to the number of henchmen you can have for community module builders. Our campaign will have a max of 2 henchmen at a time however.

David Gaider, Designer

Item Properties: Or you can use the new Arcane Spell Failure item property in HotU to make some chain armor with a lower ASF percentage.

It's still better than trying to put an Automatic Still Metamagic feat on the armor. I never said it would be authentic-brand trademarked elven chain, sheesh. Sorry to jolt the purist in you, Torias.

Custom Content: Well, I know there's stuff that the Live Team has on the drawing board to make using hak paks easier... but will that, in the end, actually alleviate the problem? Is it really that people don't know how to use hak paks? Or are they just hesitant to use something they consider "non-official"? Or are they just plain lazy?

Myself, I'm not sure what to think. Sure there are a few things I'd like to see as a player that just aren't found anywhere in the realm of official or custom content... but for the most part, I can find in custom content most of the things I'd like to include. It strikes me as a bit odd that there are players out there who don't have the first clue about what custom content is or how to use it. Is it just that they don't know about Neverwinter Vault? Do we (Bioware) need more obvious links there? Is it just that people don't bother to look or dig around? Maybe we need to do up an "official" How-To guide that directs folks how to use Hak Paks? It might be, I guess, that unofficial instructions aren't somewhere obvious... perhaps if Bioware did up a really simple "this is how you do it" guide things would improve? Or is there only so much we can do? Are there some folks that simply require hand-holding and nothing short of a function that grabs the hak-paks and installs them in the right directory automatically without the player even needing to think about it the only way to bring custom content to the unwashed masses?

Quote: I usually dont toy with Unofficial stuff myself i accept the game as it is. It's never gonna be perfect to everyone so why waste time trying to attain perfection when you could be losing the whole experience of a great game.

That's very reasonable of you, for sure. There are many other people, however, who take a much more personal view of D&D and act like they've been mortally wounded because there isn't a maul to be found amongst the weapons or the fire giant's skin isn't black enough. If they can go to custom content and get themselves a maul and a charcoal-skinned fire giant, wouldn't that make them happier? I mean, sure, it seems sometimes like some of these folks are more concerned about how other people are playing the game, but let's just pretend for a second that being able to adjust their game according to their priorities would actually satisfy them. Wouldn't that be ideal? I can see how someone who is actively involved in making that custom content would be frustrated when they see someone whining about how they want that maul or charcoal fire giant when they know it is easily within their grasp and yet ignored. We at Bioware put that functionality in the game to be used... my question is, short of reworking how custom content works entirely is there no way to raise awareness and useability of custom content amongst the player base?

You know, I have something to say about the custom content out there, too, come to think of it. When I was sorting through the hak paks on the Vault recently (looking for specific things but also keeping my eye open for good ideas to include), and after spending a couple of hours poring through it all I wished for nothing more than some kind of review system... not necessarily to point out quality, per se, but to ensure workability. You know what I mean... a "gold star" that says "Yes! This hak pak actually works as advertised and has instructions for use and is the most current version." And even just knowing if there are any issues up front would be golden... it seems like there is quite a bit of stuff up that is buggy or incomplete or "beta", yet not all of it is obvious. The hak paks that are professionally-done and deserving of confidence by the public sort of seem to get buried in the avalanche, leaving an impression that most CC is half-done. The Vault has a system for putting the best modules in a "Hall of Fame"... why not the most professional, up-to-date hak paks? I don't think we can do a list like this ourselves, unfortunately. At any rate... that's my input as a player/builder.