A Historical Event This Day & The Campaign!

Today marks 509 years since 1517, when Martin Luther famously nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. It was his call to debate corrupt church practices and later became recognised as the start of the Reformation. It was the birth of Protestantism. It was from this same movement that we get "The Five Solas", the theological pillars of the Christian faith today. From this, John Calvin later expanded the movement across Europe, but emphasised the Sovereignty of God  and Predestination alongside other differences such as the Eucharist and Church and State. It is from this understanding of The Sovereignty of God and Predestination from which The Scroll gains its roots.

Events Upon Events!

In the past, I have tried to explain how I prefer to write scenarios that are based on a player's actions,  but ultimately allow them to experience the full game at the same time, which always reaches a conclusion. In the light of my own life experiences and studies, I can see how this very same practice runs in our own lives, but clearly on a much grander scale. For even the historical event of Martin Luther from 1517 has, in its very own occurrence, also caused me, according to my personality, to write The Scroll Campaign in the manner that I have.

If we stopped to think about it, we can probably all trace a path of "decisions" made throughout our lives, which "decided" the path we took and would continue to take, subject to options made available to us. The thought we should consider, however, is: how is the path we have trodden to be seen in the light of Predestination? That in turn may help us consider how Predestination can be understood for any future events, justifying its very meaning.

The years I have spent building and coding the World of Althéa have also given me a greater appreciation of how one event in a scenario can have an impact on another, and ultimately, how varying paths can be taken subject to a person's personality, or "soul position" with respect to all the events they have experienced up to that potential path divide point. In my own understanding, Predestination represents the very enactment of the path (or "choice") that a person will follow according to their very nature, which they cannot change. In this sense, it is not a restriction to their free will, but the very outcome and outpouring of who they are. Their next step (or event taken) is the culmination of previous steps taken (or events encountered) according to their natural being.

Thanks to every event that occurred in history, The Scroll Campaign has been able to be made and offered to you to play! One of those vital events that paved the way was when Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany in 1517, 509 years ago to this day! Of course, the ultimate reason is because of the Sovereignty of God in whose history we exist!

The Campaign Moving Forward

I am currently appreciating the gap between finishing the second module and before I start the third and final module, God willing. However, I am also conscious that there are one or two very minor points I need to finish in the campaign, like some monster descriptions, or MP load times. These are not vital in any way, but I will add them when my mind is ready to do so. At the moment, I prefer to concentrate on dealing with any bugs that players may report since the second module's first release. 

To this end, my wife, Bowshatter, and Dustin_Offal continue to offer feedback as they make their way through the campaign's first and second modules. A fair number of bugs have been found and squashed over the last month, and as these testers are now coming close to the end of their current testing, I am hoping there will be very little left to patch moving forward. This latest v2.59 coming today, is the culmination of testing of both modules over both editions of NWN2, and even with some extra MP testing as well.

However, I cannot stress enough how flexibly the campaign runs with respect to player choices, and I am not just fixing one or two paths, but potentially many more, which may only be found subject to a player finding that particular path. I do believe the majority (if not all) have now been tested, but it only takes one conversation node to be slightly out, or a variable slightly off, or even a minor update to mechanics interfering with something else that may require further attention. One thing from taking a break is that all updates since the start of October have all been about adding stability and efficiency alongside any logical flow issues, and so no "new" paths have yet been added that could have affected anything.

Your Feedback Is Important!

Creating a campaign of this scale is not easy at all. We are a very small team and without your feedback, it is impossible for us to discover every issue without someone drawing our attention to it. Rest assured, however, if you do bring something to our attention, we will certainly look at it, and act accordingly. If it is a vital bug or logical flow issue, we will fix it as soon as possible. If it is less critical or cosmetic only, we will add it to a "To Do" list and look at it as we can.

Here are a couple of screen shots from Predestinated Days for you: 

A Mysterious Staff!

A Mysterious Rock!

Episode 112: Your Predestinated Days Lie Ahead!

The Scroll Campaign - Where Your Destiny Awaits!

Predestinated Days

Today, after around a decade of working on the second module, I now bring you the result of that work! The second module, Predestinated Days, is now finally available for download. I imagine many who have followed my blogs over the years may not have seen this day coming, and I admit that the going has been quite tough on occasion. However, the module finally came together well over the last few months, and now a completed new adventure lies before you! 

This second module has all the benefits of being created on the experiences I learned from the first module, and the many years of working with the NWN2 toolset. I have learned when things have worked and when they have not, and I hope this latest chapter in the campaign story will be a fun addition to what some of you may already be familiar with. On the other hand, if you have not yet played the first module, then I welcome you to consider starting from the first module, The First Day, which will serve as a great beginning and a way for you to become familiar with some of the campaign home-brew mechanics.

What's It All About?

Predestinated Days supports the tagline: "A philosophical campaign exploring theological determinism, predestination, and free will within a NWN2 adventure!" For some, this may be enough wording to put them off playing entirely... but for the brave-hearted, and those ready to step into a world unknown to them, Predestinated Days respects the player's sense of adventure and may be exactly right for you.

The campaign tries to explore some of the deep questions of life, and in a way that I hope encourages the player to keep pushing forward to learn more. On the other hand, if you would prefer not to think too hard about that sort of thing, then maybe your role is simply to put the world of Althéa to rights by the strength of the sword! Either way, it is only your presence that is actually required, and then to explore a world that you know little about.

If you decide to start the story from the beginning of Predestinated Days, then as soon as you wake from your last day at the Bloated Buckle Inn, you will be ready to push forward into the regions beyond your home village in search of fame, fortune and adventure! On the other hand, if you have played the first module, and are continuing with your saved game party, then you will have a little more background to work from, which may give you a slight advantage as you take your first steps.

Thinking Is Rewarded!

The Scroll Campaign, which includes the current released modules, may be a challenge for anyone who is not prepared to listen to important NPCs or read some materials found. If you have played tabletop Pen and Paper (PnP) Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), then you may be more familiar with the kind of interaction that this campaign provides. While there is no DM at the head of the table, the campaign has been designed to cover as many elements that a DM would normally provide:

A) Game Handouts: In my own PnP sessions, players could often come across materials found in the world in the form of scrolls, books or puzzles (see next). These are still found within the campaign and are designed to be colourful, informative and to deepen the story. They are not just text dumps about some background that is vague or inconsequential. These additions often include extra clues and/or information the player needs to make progress.

B) Game Puzzles: Puzzles are also very much a staple of PnP D&D, and I wanted to ensure Predestinated Days came with its own fair share of new puzzles for the campaign. New puzzles range from individual items to area wide events. For those that do not like puzzles, some item-related ones can be skipped. However, there is extra XP to be gained for those that solve them.

C) Tactical Combat Options: I recognise that not all players like to handle the combat the same way. Therefore, right from the start, the player can choose how they want their own combats to unravel: either in real time and manual pausing, or with an inbuilt pseudo turn-based system that automatically pauses every round. Added to this is the facility to easily to turn AI on or off for individual PCs or for the party as a whole, straight from the portraits or new "brain" button.

D) Tactical Death Options: Again, not every player likes the way death handles in a game. Some like the auto-recovery of their party if just a single PC survives a combat, while others prefer a "hardcore" system, where you need a means to raise a fellow companion from the death if need be. Both systems are supported, with an additional layer of tactical gameplay added in the way of Life Essences! With these unique magikal essences, a player can change an option individually for each PC to help determine how their own deaths may be affected.

E) A Reactionary World: While there may not be a DM at the head, the NPCs you encounter will not just allow you to do anything you like. They have been designed to react to your behaviour and their options change according to how you reacted with the environment around them. Even something as simple as speaking to one NPC before another can change events.

F) A Time To Rest: In PnP D&D, you could not just rest at any time and in any place. Furthermore, a cleric was often employed in a party to ensure the heroes would not have to keep purchasing food to survive. All these elements of PnP, and more (such as the need for spell books and holy books to learn spells) have been preserved in The Scroll Campaign. However, as long as the player considers their journey ahead, then they need not suffer from attrition or long delays. Waiting for time to pass is often easily accessible to the heroes, after which a normal rest will restore abilities according to their environment.

G) Extensive Crafting: Without a doubt, the player who takes their time to understand and work with the many crafting scrolls available will have an advantage. Even at the start of the game, a PC can purchase two crafting books that give every detail of the "ancient" craft, which PCs with the feats and skills can start working with as soon as they acquire the ingredients they need. Just like PnP, the world economy has been fixed in such a way that encourages crafting or taking care about what you spend your hard earned gold on.

The Challenge Awaits! 

The above are just some of the core home-brew rules in place or available to choose from. There are other aspects too, such as Fog of War, dynamic weather and improved inventory handling, and which all add to the gaming experience for those players that like a comprehensive game.

This really is a long-term campaign designed for those players who like to spend time exploring a world that gradually reveals its secrets the more they explore. Rest assured, however, if you do find the challenges too hard, special care has also been taken to ensure the difficulty level options do make a difference to the game challenge, as well as any balancing for party size in the first place. That said, it is not a free pass to wander where you like if you have not made some progress of your own.

The Credits

Last but not least, I would like to give a shout out to all the people who have helped me with this NWN2 PnP Campaign conversion project over the years. Hopefully, in a later update, I may even be able to put these names into an end credits video.

THE SCROLL CAMPAIGN CREDITS
============================

Listed in alphabetical order.

ATARI/OBSIDIAN/ASPYR
====================

NEW CREATURES (OR RESKINS)
==========================

Arpharazon
ArtEChoke
cacysunlee
cuiilv
Cyric_the_Dark
Dann Pigdon
Derek_H
Evil Edison
FaerzressSparkles
Frank Perez (aka Elysius)
Hellfire
Kalister68
Kamal
MoW
Rashi
rjshae
Rogue Dao Studios
RWS
Schazzwozzer
4760

NEW TILESETS
=============

Kalister68
MoW
RWS/rjshae
Tupoun

Travus (METATILES FIXES FOR EE)

NEW PLACEABLES
================

Morbane
PJ156

ALPHA/BETA TESTERS
===================

BowShatter
Dustin_Offal
Jennifer Botelle
rjshae
4760

XML IDEAS (Altered)
=================

clubok
Little Baron
The Fred

OTHER SUPPORTERS!
==================

KevL (Scripting)
NWN2 Community!

 

Predestinated Days: Promotional Videos!

I am hoping to put together some promotional videos for my upcoming release of Predestinated Days, the second module of The Scroll Campaign. Here is the first. If I manage to some more, I will add other links to this post:-

PROMOTIONAL VIDEO #1

PROMOTIONAL VIDEO #2 

PROMOTIONAL VIDEO #3 

AI GENERATED POSTERS

EE MP RELOAD FIX

I finally managed to get to the bottom of what is causing the MP reload from desktop crash in the Enhanced Edition of the game. I released this information on the Vault, but felt it worth its own blog post here too. Therefore, until Aspyr release an "official fix", this information will allow you to reload your MP games without having to reload another game first.

[PSA / FIX] Found the definitive fix for the Multiplayer Reload Crash in NWN2:EE

If you have been struggling with the intermittent Multiplayer Reload Crash in Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition (where the game completely locks up or crashes to desktop the moment you try to reload a multiplayer save or co-op session), I finally found the absolute root cause and the fix.

The issue stems from how the engine handles streaming compressed assets dynamically. Under certain hardware configurations, the loading routine simply chokes on the zipped data files, triggering a memory/state allocation crash.

Decompressing these archives into normal folders resolves the problem, though the exact fix is subject to your individual system specifications.

How to Fix It:

1. Close the game and navigate to your main installation directory:
   ...\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\NWN2 Enhanced Edition\enhanced\data\
2. Look at the compressed data files inside this folder and sort them by file size.
3. You need to manually decompress/extract the largest files into normal, uncompressed folders right there inside the directory.

Scaling Based on Your Hardware:

• High-End Desktop / Main Rig: You will likely only need to decompress the single largest file in that folder to stabilize the reload.
• Laptops / Mid-to-Low Specs: Your system will need a bit more help. You will likely need to decompress the top three largest files (or more) into normal folders prior to launching the game.

Once these files are unpacked, the engine no longer struggles to stream the data, and multiplayer saves will reload seamlessly without a hitch.

Hope this helps anyone else trying to enjoy co-op campaigns! Let me know if this works for your specific setup.

Old Alternative Workaround:

1) Start a NEW game from the options. (Can be a SP game.)
2) Drop back to Main Menu before selecting a character.
3) Reload the MP game that was crashing.

Episode 111: On The Horizon!

The day of release for Predestinated Days draws ever nearer and the final tests are underway and any last bugs and typos are being fixed as they are found. Interestingly, I first started reporting about this module back in May 2019, but the module itself had already had some time spent on it, with its original conception going back much further than this date suggests. Read on for more info...

A Campaign In The Making

Indeed, the earliest PDF note file I have illustrating the areas being built for the campaign is called "Area Information 12-10-10", which shows the areas for all three modules I had planned for the campaign were being constructed as far back as October 2010. For the second module specifically, it listed 20 areas, three of which were never used, but many more have been added since. The point being, I believe I can easily say that this second module has easily had more than a decade of work in its making.

This same document records some of the area designers at the time, who I remain thankful for all their help in bringing this second module to life: HOSA (two areas used), Hoegbo (four areas used), and Eguintir (two areas used). Some of Hoegbo's work (three areas) have currently not been used in the second module, but I do hope to use what I have in a later update, or maybe even the third module. Other areas for the second module, I have managed to rework from some I have found online, or have built afresh myself. Out of interest, the same document mentions Hoegbo for a couple of areas in module 3, and works of SGK73 currently making the lion's share of those areas for the third module. So, once again, if I am blessed with the time, I will be starting the third and final module of the campaign with many of the area designs already in place.

Predestinated Days

Without doubt, this second module is of a much larger scope than the first module I made in NWN2. Furthermore, with the advent of NWN2:EE, I hope it will be a welcomed addition to those custom modules offered to potential newer fans to play who may have only just acquired NWN2 in its latest edition for the first time. Note, however, the first module of the campaign, The First Day, has also recently been updated to be compatible with the Enhanced Edition, and so if you like to play the full campaign (currently available), then you will be able to do so regardless of the NWN2 edition you choose to play in.

To date, there are only two issues I have found with the Enhanced Edition that I have been unable to fully "fix" to my own satisfaction: 

1)  The Multiplayer (MP) Reload Crash (EE ONLY): This crash occurs when a MP game is saved and the player then tries to reload the saved game from a desktop start. I have had reports that this does not occur with every computer setup, but I have had the issue on three computers I have tested it on, and it only appears to affect custom campaigns in MP. Therefore, if you only intend to play in Single-player (SP) mode, then this will not affect you anyway.

UPDATE: I found a more permanent fix for this problem. See this post for more information. 

ALTERNATIVE OLDER WORKAROUND: I had also a workaround if you do play a MP game and encounter the issue. If you load a SP game (it can be any) and then drop back to the Multiplayer menu (without exiting to desktop), you can then load the MP game that previously crashed when loading. Unless Aspyr fix this issue, I have been unable to avoid this crashing loading a MP saved game the normal way to date.

2) The TBCombat Scripted Pause, Unpaused (EE ONLY): This is only a cosmetic nuisance rather than any kind of game-breaker. However, if you like to use the Turn-Based Combat system I have included within my campaign, which automatically pauses the game for a combat encounter, then the Enhanced Edition has an issue where the game would unpause if you hover over any creature in the game. I found a way to ensure this unwanted unpausing was immediately paused again, however, all the while the pause and unpause error occurs, you get that message spammed to the chat window. You can reduce the amount of spamming by trying to avoid hovering over creatures while the game is paused, but it can still be annoying when you do. Unless Aspyr fix this issue, I have been unable to avoid this spamming to date. (NOTE: This only affects a scripted pause and NOT a manual space bar pause.)

These two Enhanced Editions aside, I am pleased to say that with the help of those like Travus, I have been able to fix all tile set issues that also manifested in the Enhanced Edition. As long as you play with the latest files I have available to date, then the Enhanced Edition should now display meta tiles (those with the problems) correctly.

The Final Testing

As you may be aware from my previous blog reports, I am now going through the final testing stages for the new module. I have alpha testers concentrating on the third and currently least tested stage of the module, while a couple of beta testers are playing the module from the start. There were one or two important discoveries in the third stage by the alpha testers, but I was able to update the patch files quickly to ensure the beta testers did not encounter the same issues by the time they got there. Furthermore, both beta testers ended up starting from the latest Beta 7 and Beta 8 versions of the second module, which means they have 100% of the content, with the only difference being some visually blocking of some rooms that openly show before they should do, and a walkmesh fix.

Indeed, the latest files released today are the same as they are testing with, which means anything they find and report as a problem will require fixing for v1.49. However, the likelihood is that this version will not be required until 1st October, when Predestinated Days is due for release. At that time, all fixes will then be prefixed with a "2" marking it as supporting up to the release of the second module. Therefore, the next release is likely to be v2.49, or I may jump to 2.50 to mark the new patch number signifying the start of supporting the second module. At this time, I will likely also remove earlier patch notes from the download page as a new start for this current stage of the campaign as a whole.

Importantly, and especially for players using the Enhanced Edition, I also updated the Althéa_Other download today, which contains the haks for the campaign. It is this latest download that contains the updated tile fixes for the Enhanced Edition, and so it is important to ensure you have this newer version if you intend to play in the Enhanced Edition.

The Moment Before

It is a strange time for me now, as we draw close to the release date. Prior this time, much of my life has been about building this second module, and supporting the first, of course. However, now that the date of release draws ever closer, I recognise the time in my life as changing from that of "before I released the module" to what I hope in a month's time will be that of "after the release" of this huge undertaking. A real era change for me and my wife. My hope is that the module brings as much joy and happiness as it has us in its making. Yes, there's been frustration and stress too, but I am happy with the final result, and it ends at a place where I can begin to consider the final module, that will bring us to The Last Day.

Until then, all is relatively quiet for me at the moment, and while I have apprehension about certain aspects, I now leave it to see what will come of it... and for now, just a couple of screenshots I took along the way this last month showing some of the last stage of this upcoming module, Predestinated Days... may they help instil an interest for a new adventure for you to pass some time with...

Hoodoo: A Man of Mystery!

The Hero, Kennith, Attends A Meeting!

Episode 110: A Release Date Has Been Set!

Today, I can report that I have set a release date for Predestinated Days, the second module for my campaign, The Scroll. If all goes to plan, the Lord willing, I will upload it to the Vault for public download on 1st October 2026. To find out more about the last few weeks and the schedule I am trying to work to, read on...

A Frantic Month

The last month turned out to be a lot more frantic than I had thought it would be. I had outlined what I needed to do and was slowly working through it and was on schedule. I had contacted my beta-testers, Thierry (4760) and Sebastion (raymondsebas) and gave them a heads up on when I had hoped to be ready by. Then, around the middle of the month, my wife hit a few bugs that spiralled into bigger issues as the days went by, including some item duplications, strange encounters (in EE), along with combat and transition crashing. Once again, I had to park the final sections I was working on to ensure these bugs were sorted for the latest campaign release this August.

Indeed, if you check the list of updates and fixes for the last month, it is the largest since I updated the campaign to be compatible with NWN2:EE back in June. This latest release also fixes some strange behaviour of some fighter types (in EE only) who had suddenly acquired the ability to summon creatures! It is fixed with the latest files and if you start the module afresh. However, if you don't mind a slightly harder challenge (*), the game still functions, and the additional foes are only affected in three combat situations. Then apart from some XML text tidying, all other fixes applied to both editions of the game. (*) Although, sometimes, these have also been witnessed to be asleep too, and so may be easier.

The Combat Crash!

I am not sure how many people will have been affected by the main issue I have spent the last few days trying to resolve for this v1.47 release, but I believe I have made some progress towards reducing it. It is a random crash during combat that has become more noticeable as my wife has been having more intense combat situations. From trying to be more attentive to the action prior a crash, it appeared to be related to some summoning or dismissal (at death) of creatures. It was hard to tell for sure, as a crash to desktop does not give you much warning to look.

One thought (which may still be the case) was regarding a common sound file that would play just before the crash. This was the sfx_conj_Abjeration.wav, which fires quite a bit during combat, and so I took a closer look at it. It turned out that the file was actually an mp3 file, and so I converted it back to another wav format, and this did appear to help. However, it was what happened next that may be an indication of where the problem may also lay...

Not only did my wife's latest party of adventurers have more summons during combat, but they remained around after combat, due to the extra duration and strength these had at the higher levels. (This may be why the first module did not experience the issue as much previously.) It turned out that a party full of summons also contributed towards some transition crashes of a similar nature to the combat crash mentioned above.

To cut a long story short, it turned out that there were some duplicated VFX (visual effects) being played when an associate creature was being dismissed for one reason or another. For example, a summons would be dismissed, playing an effect, and at the point of being removed, play the effect again, which I believe contributed towards the crash. Basically, a double run of some code was being applied just before a complex area exit script, which was probably too much for the game to handle, causing it to crash. Thankfully, I have now altered/improved this area of the code, and put in place some checks to prevent such double VFX from playing moving forwards. 

In testing to date, two previous saved games that had crashed at a transition no longer do so, and there have been far fewer combat crashes to date... even when multiple summons by both party and foe were being made. (My wife often ends up with up to 12 in her party portrait list when all are out! And her foe has had 9+ enemies against her, making a total of over 20 creatures in combat at once onscreen!) That said, we have still witnessed one or two combats that caused a crash, but there was a lot more going on than usual, and maybe it was just one of those things. Two repeated plays of these same combats ran fine! However, if a common pattern for a crash is discovered, then I can look at it again at a later date.

Release Timeline!

If all goes smoothly over the next few weeks, then, Lord willing, the 1st October 2026 looks to be a realistic date for release! I am very excited to have reached this point, but I am also aware that the final third stage of this second module has not had any proper testing or feedback yet, and neither have I done any final balancing to it.

There is one last conversation I have to finish off, and I would like to look over and check the balance of loot and encounters before I am fully content, although I believe the latter points are mostly about right now. Actual alpha and beta testing feedback should help me here too.

ALPHA TESTING: As soon as I have the final conversation written, I intend to post the files to my alpha testers (one being my wife, and Dustin Offal the other) to start testing as soon as they can. I hope they may have the time to do as much testing of the third stage as possible before the 10th August. Note, however, that the alpha testers will be starting from a saved game at the end of the second stage, and so will not have to replay the first two stages, which accounts for 30-40 hours of this second module. My wife will be testing using the NWN2:EE and Dustin will be testing in the Original.

BETA TESTING: The beta testers have been contacted with a view of receiving the files from Monday 10th August, and are already replaying the first module to get ready for the second. Whether they choose to play to the end and jump into the second module from the end of module one, or stop and jump in at the beginning of the second module, I leave up to them. Both options should be ready to go. The beta testers have told me that they will be testing using the ORIGINAL game.

That's all I have to say about the campaign today, as I want to concentrate on the final steps for the testers so that they have the fewest problems. For now, I am not even going to show a screenshot from the new module, but a familiar one from the first only. Maybe I will have something new next month?

A Quiet Evening In New Edgeton!

Episode 109: The End Is In Sight!

First and foremost, while I have now posted my "The End Is In Sight" blog post, I do not want to give a wrong impression and need to put this into perspective. What this basically means is that the plans for the final areas that needed finishing has now been finalised and I now need to implement this. However, it is still possible for these outlines to change slightly and additional design to be added, but, importantly, no longer to any great degree. I have now "filled in the blanks" and have a coherent run of events from start to finish, allowing me to make this "end in sight" post. Read on for what else this means and other news...

The Final Areas Ecology

While basic exploring of areas, finding loot and combating evil hordes can be fun by itself, I personally prefer to play my games in an environment where its areas have an established ecology and a logical explanation for their existence. This includes areas that have a reason for me wanting to explore them, be it to locate a certain treasure or item of interest perhaps, or maybe defeat a known adversary or villain of the region, or even progress the story in some way. For the same reason, the more details I can include about areas and the environment they represent, the more satisfied I am with their final build. This aspect of design is important to me, and I hope that for each new area the player finds themselves in within Predestinated Days, that they also have an added enjoyment from this style of design and how it relates to them and the quests they may have to follow while within each region they explore. This is about a depth of design, which translates to how the player perceives their environment and how memorable the experience may be for the player.

Aiming for this style of design for each of my module's areas, however, is what costs me the greatest amount of time to implement. I spend much of my time going over notes, and processing thoughts and ideas, trying to ensure an area has a believable reason to exist in the first place, as well being an interesting place for interactions when carrying out any tasks there, or while just exploring in general. While considering each area, I look at various approaches, different puzzle types I may need, as well as the various quest lines and NPCs involved, and always with a view to create a new experience that I hope the player will enjoy and encourage them to explore the area more. As I say, however, this takes me a lot of time, and I would argue it to be the lion's share of the time I take in any module I have built to date! The story, for me, is as much about the local one for each area as it is the main quest. Therefore, every area has to be both coherent and interesting before I am satisfied with it.

So, the good news is, I believe I have reached the point where every area in the module has now been given this design goal treatment and now passes my own personal satisfaction requirement. For myself, this module has now (in my head at least) been completed! Only in the last week, I finally understood what I needed for the last few areas I have been working on to make them 'complete'. Hence, I can now report that the final release of this module is definitely in sight for me. Indeed, the latest idea that came to me actually manages to tie together a number of loose ends that I had previously put to one side as I worked on other areas. Now, I can focus on bringing together the final areas along with others with which they relate. When such ideas come to me like this, is when I gain the most satisfaction as a builder, knowing progress has been made. Next, however, comes the practical part, and I must now implement this new idea (and accompanying events) to complete the module. This should be relatively straightforward, but I have had enough experience now to say to readers to 'hang on in there' just a little while longer to allow me the time to reach the end of this final stage. (See screenshots below for latest areas work.)

I have already been in touch with a few people about moving on to beta-testing and have had two confirm they are in a position to help. Therefore, as soon as I can, they will be contacted and updated with the files, and after I have addressed any fixes required from their feedback, I will be announcing a release date.

NWN2 Enhanced Update 

For those of you following the campaign, you may have spotted that v1.45 was released early on 17th June due to a "bug" discovered that the EE introduced related to how DestroyObject works and the tag-based unacquire event. Others may argue this is not a "bug", but as it does not add anything new, but only serves to break certain aspects of the unacquire event, I count it as not required and inefficient, and so do consider it a bug. I wrote a fix for my own campaign to prevent its undesired results (duplicating destroyed plot items), which was the main reason for the v1.45 release. There were also a couple of minor XML fixes for the EE, including the ability to unpause a cutscene, but further testing has since shown other issues remain. 

In particular, a cutscene between two NPCs with sound files associated with each node can have problems in EE that otherwise remain working in the Original: the first sound file node played can distort (sound slowed down), and lip syncing no longer works on the second NPC in the cutscene. While I cannot with absolute certainty say these are a general problem (rather than only affecting my campaign), I have nevertheless, reported the issue to Aspyr to be looked at. The broken conversation can be seen in the first cutscene between Morcoss and General Korakus when the PC leaves the Shoreline area to head towards New Edgeton.

On another note, and because my wife has now finished testing the whole campaign in a true MP environment in the Original game (see next), we decided to buy another copy of EE for her to be able to start testing the campaign using this version of the game. This means there may be further updates for the campaign to accommodate the differences between the Original and EE, and any additional "problems" that the EE may bring up. We have already spotted a couple of XML alterations that were required to work within the EE again (E.g. The large journal and cypher display) , but they are minor and I am NOT going to update the campaign files today, as I would prefer more testing before doing another release. If, however, I find another EE difference as severe as the duplication of plot items bug (or another in general), I will provide an update sooner.

Latest MP Testing (Original Only)

Latest testing of the campaign in a MP environment in the Original is now completed. This was a "true" MP test, as the test was carried out on two computers connected via a LAN to ensure proper independent PC objects was observed. No further problems were found with the first module, The First Day (already released), including no more "gold" issues found or reported, and henchmen continued to work as expected between transitions. i.e. The latest release on 17th June (v1.45) should be stable and without issue for MP play on the Original game. My only personal disappointment, is that the area load times still remain higher than I would have liked on some areas in a MP game. However, as one of the tester's computers was a laptop, this may help explain some of the extra time involved when loading them.

Moving forward, as I now own a second copy of NWN2:EE, I am hoping to do some full MP testing of the campaign in EE at a later date and after the current SP tests have been completed in EE. As soon as I have further feedback on EE testing in either SP or MP, I will update you.

Campaign Latest

The latest release (v1.45), recently uploaded on the 17th June, remains the current release for the campaign. There are a few minor alterations made to the code that will be in v1.46, but I am putting that through further testing and looking out for any other bigger problems that may need to be covered before releasing it. If nothing comes up, I will look at releasing v1.46 in August. At the moment, v1.46 addresses a few minor XML glitches within EE, and improves efficiency of a load script for both game editions. If, however, I discover anything serious, or someone else reports a problem, I will treat it as a priority and release a fix as soon as possible.

A Light Shines Ahead!

A Disturbing View!

Preparing The Way!