I've been obsessively working on converting areas

April 29, 2007 by Adam in NWN2

I've been obsessively working on converting areas. It's slow work, but I've made some pretty good progress. I think I have two main islands I haven't started on, but the others are approaching done. Port Brighton is over halfway finished, with several interiors remaining.

Yesterday I did battle with the Shadow Fortress tileset. It was amazingly difficult, but I felt pretty happy about the end result.

I'm still hiding from e-mail and the inevitable bugs in the first module. With luck I'll have some time over the next few days to catch up on my correspondences. I'm on a business trip and I'll probably have some time in a hotel room where I'm not doing much of anything. I'd also like to get in some writing, which I haven't done for awhile. There's still lots to do.

I worked on more areas yesterday, fleshing ou...

April 27, 2007 by Adam in NWN2

I worked on more areas yesterday, fleshing out Brighton Church. Area creation takes a long time in NWN2. For exteriors, there's terrain painting and all that. For interiors, there's lots of placeable decoration to add. The prototype doesn't help with that at all, so I'm staying busy just making new areas.

Today I focused in on some of the global issues with the 2nd Act. There were scripts to be turned from module to campaign scripts, more module transitions to put into place, and making sure everything compiles. Each module should have their proper module-level scripts. I still need to dig into each script and make sure things are properly converted over to their NWN2 format.

It feels like progress is being made, however slowly.

Yesterday and this morning I focused on rebui...

April 26, 2007 by Adam in NWN2

Yesterday and this morning I focused on rebuilding what was lost, along with linking up the various areas. The High Seas module is really the glue that holds the overall 2nd act of High Seas together. I was seeing if I could go from the high seas docks area to Port Brighton and back again. It took a lot of fiddling, but I think it's generally working.

I also spent some time trying to improve the performance of the Port Brighton area. It turns out the pretty smoke effects are extremely taxing on the CPU. I might have to bring back the Far Plane a bit too, though those sort of optimizations can wait until later.

My goal for today is to start working on the various areas of Port Brighton. There's only a couple interiors that have been fleshed out. Making areas is one of the more fun and relaxing aspects of module building. Debugging and releasing, not so much fun.

Tuesday was insanely busy, so much so that I ...

April 25, 2007 by Adam in NWN2

Tuesday was insanely busy, so much so that I didn't really touch NWN2 or do anything useful.

I spent some time this morning trying to recover from an issue that the NWN2 1.05 patch created for the High Seas module. For whatever reason, all my docks areas stopped opening, along with a nasty toolset error message. I've mostly recovered one area, basically recreating it from scratch. This morning I tried to make sure I could transition from the High Seas world map to the Port Brighton dock area and finally to the Port Brighton module. There's still a few bugs to work out, but I think I fixed the hard things.

I've been ignoring e-mail lately, so my apologies if you haven't been able to reach me. Maybe today I'll take a peek if I can get the rest of my life a bit more manageable.

Today is patch day

April 23, 2007 by Adam in NWN2

Today is patch day. I just finished uploading a new version of the Pirate Cards game. This one makes cards have no weight. Previously a full deck of cards weighed 40 lbs, which is crazy. Of course, people who play with exported characters will still have the massive cards, though they could sell them off if they wanted. Maybe they'll become collector's items.

I also uploaded a new version of the first Dark Waters module. I did a full walkthrough yesterday and didn't run into any snags. I'm still getting odd issues trickling in, so it looks like I'll be fixing things again today. Also, though the files are uploaded to the Vault's FTP site, they're not yet linked into the module page. Hopefully that'll happen soon.

Finally, when testing yesterday, I actually kept going into the second module. I worked up a short list of bugs for me to fix before I called it quits. There's a bunch that still doesn't work, but it's a good sign that the first little bit is sort of playable.

Update: Maximus was zippy and the new patch should be live on the Vault now.

I sunk many hours into the first module, clea...

April 22, 2007 by Adam in NWN2

I sunk many hours into the first module, cleaning up even more bugs. I think I found the cause of many of my problems - the handy but vaguely evil DelayCommand function. It turns out that delayed functions don't survive a save and reload. My guess is that some of the problems people were running into was due to that. In particular I sunk a lot of time into the Remembrance: War section, which has always been problematic.

For people who are very brave, you can try out the 1.03 beta patch for the module. You can look at the very lengthy list of fixes. I'm hopeful someone will power through this version to make sure it can get posted to the Vault. I did a bunch of spot testing, but haven't had the time yet to go all the way through.

Once I can get the last of these annoying bugs wrestled to the ground, I want to refocus my attention on the second module. I still have a number of areas to make and want to start testing individual quests and adapt them to NWN2.

Here's a quick screenshot from the Brighton U...

April 21, 2007 by Adam in NWN2

Here's a quick screenshot from the Brighton Underground part of the second module. It's still pretty sparse in terms of placeables, people, and so on, but it's getting there. Yesterday I worked on getting all the scripts to compile, but otherwise haven't had a lot of time to work on the new stuff.

Instead, I've sunk a lot of time cleaning up the old things. I have a version of the Pirate Cards game that has weightless cards. It wasn't as hard as I thought and the difference is pretty huge. While 1 lb playing cards are okay for a mini-game, it's completely unacceptable for the real campaign.

I also sunk a lot of work into the first module, going through the bug reports that Bjarne has been gathering from the Vault boards. Here's my bug fix so far:

* Fixed possible issues with Heather not being removed during Cable Car cutscene.
* Added "just in case" scripts to remove soldiers after Remembrance: War.
* Fixed dialog where Daniel calls Heather "Heather" instead of "Kendra".
* Changed lighting in the gardenhouse area.
* Fixed issues with deities.2da. Made Kendra's deity "No Deity" and Daniel's "God".
* Added "just in case" scripts on 3rd level to ensure Daniel and Kendra aren't with party.
* Better indicated where bubbles are in maintenance level (note that they still can't been seen unless
the camera is underwater).
* Changed Robert's weapon focus to Greatsword.
* Changed control panel valve creation system to hopefully fix the "missing #1" issue.
* Gave Heather and Robert full hit points from the start.
* Added "Help! I'm stuck!" to 1st level after Robert battle in case things go wrong.

I want to do a bit more testing and look at some of the quirkier issues that people are reporting. Hopefully I can turn out a new version this weekend that is relatively bug free.

I did a bunch of things yesterday, yet strang...

April 20, 2007 by Adam in NWN2

I did a bunch of things yesterday, yet strangely nothing had to do with working on the module itself. I caught up with e-mail, posted the updated version of the Pirate Cards game, and got some high-res screenshots to a German gaming magazine. This morning I noted that I have 11 more e-mails to read.

Earlier today I looked over the 1.05 changes. Sadly the store inventory bug isn't fixed, which means High Seas isn't working properly yet (you can't engage in ship-to-ship combat). I'm hoping the 1.06 patch fixes it. It also looks like I need to fix the deities.2da file. I can properly pick deities in the first Dark Waters module now, which is a fairly simple proposition. In the first module, you can either pick "No Deity" or "God". Forgotten Realms is all about this huge pantheon, with many adventures driven by Greek-like machinations of the gods. Dark Waters has a different take on religion, beginning with a vague monothiesm and later letting the player choose from the "new gods".

So as usual, I have tons to do and I'm never sure where to start. My priorities should be to clean up the 2da files, read e-mail, and fix bugs. It would be fun to sneak in and work on the second module a bit more. We'll see how the day goes.

The 1

April 19, 2007 by Adam in NWN2

The 1.05 is looking fairly nice, based on my brief look at it yesterday. Some things within the toolset have shuffled about, but in a good way, and there's other new features I'm liking.

I have ten e-mails in my inbox, listing various bugs that have popped up in the first Dark Waters module. I'll spend some time today trying to resolve those. I also have a new build of the Pirate Card game that I want to upload. The new version deals with the custom GUI in a much better way, which hopefully prevents future problems with patching. I also cleaned up some visual effects issues.

Finally, I spent some time yesterday working on Brighton Underground. I'm using an exterior tileset, so it's very organic looking. I'll see if I can whip up a screenshot for tomorrow.

Is there ever a time when I'm not insanely bu...

April 18, 2007 by Adam in NWN2

Is there ever a time when I'm not insanely busy? Yesterday I continued working on the Port Brighton areas, getting the Mad Hatter properly outfitted. I'm running into some weird issues with bald manikins, but hopefully that can get sorted out shortly. I love the new hats, especially the tricorn that Schazzwozzer made. Very cool stuff.

The 1.05 patch came out today, which means updating time for me. The big feature is the GUI improvements, which means the Pirate Cards release no longer screws up people's installs. I'm going to release a new version for folks, hopefully soon. I'm also curious as to how well the deities.2da changes work.

I'm behind on e-mail again, but hopefully I can take a peek today and pull together a list of issues people are running into with the new module. With luck, I'll release another patch that'll include the 1.05 fixes as well.

Finally, I'd love to be able to get back to Port Brighton. When the madness of release issues get to me, it's nice to relax and paint down some happy trees for a change.

I'm still a bit grumpy from the release of th...

April 17, 2007 by Adam in NWN2

I'm still a bit grumpy from the release of the first module, but hopefully the new patch fixes some of it. I remember how poorly received Demon was when it first came out, and it took a couple months of frantic cleanup before things worked properly. I'm thinking that the release of the second module will be a bit different, initially posting it as a beta and waiting a month or so before declaring it done. It's less splashy, but is probably safer from an expectations perspective. Shucks, GMail was beta for a couple years.

In any case, I'm pushing forward with the second module. Yesterday I sunk a bunch of time into Port Brighton. It's the biggest area in the module, both in terms of complexity and size. The exterior area is coming together, though it needs more work. The Black Spot interior looks good, and I even made a little parrot for the place.

I'm hearing a lot of complaints about how linear the first module is and that many people don't like the early cutscenes. If it's any consolation, the player pretty much gets dumped into the action almost immediately. It's up to them to fend for themselves.

Well, I'm throwing caution to the wind and up...

April 16, 2007 by Adam in NWN2

Well, I'm throwing caution to the wind and uploading a patch without having played all the way through. I'm really hoping I don't break anything horribly. I was able to test specific places, and they seemed to work just fine. I also started from the beginning and was able to get through the infamous cable car cutscene even when I was using the keyboard to move.

I'm hopeful people will be patient with these early issues. What's most frustrating is that the problems people are seeing were actually fixed during testing, but somehow didn't make it into the build that was released. I develop on various computers and my guess is that key fixes vanished into the ether somewhere along the way.

Here's the full patch notes (note that the 1.01 and 1.02 patches are being released at the same time):
1.01 - 4/15/07

• Two doors in the entrance on level 2 have been made impossible to pick.
• Added SetCutsceneMode to the cutscenes in the village, by the vault doors, level 3, and at the Farewells section.
• Changed how companions were removed, which hopefully means that the soldiers won't stick with the player post-War.
• Fixed Robert's AI
• If reloading after Slither possessed, it'll spawn on the wrong side of the door, but you can possess it, move about, and you'll jump back.

• Fixed mirror puzzle when Daniel interjects with a dialog (hopefully).
• In lab, non-PCs will no longer duplicate (and control switches to player instead of companion).
• Fixed issue with Gem Belt and Ring of Appreciation so you can't put in a second gem.
• Fixed description of Gem of Appreciation.
• Made a couple gems in the lab non-useable when they did nothing.
• Fixed Lucy's gem - can now summon her and in the ranged slot has a different effect (+2 Mighty).
• Bard's gem in armor does something useful (Bonus Feat: Weapon Proficiency - Exotic).

Some of the bug reports are driving me a bit ...

April 15, 2007 by Adam in NWN2

Some of the bug reports are driving me a bit bonkers. I thought they were fixed, but evidently they snuck back it. I'm also running into problems where people were using the keyboard to go through a cutscene or clicking somewhere, which ended up breaking things.

I'm also trying hard not to let the bug complaints get to me. Yes, they're there and it's annoying. I'm working on it.

I think I'll go have breakfast with my family now.

The game is out and bug reports are already s...

April 14, 2007 by Adam in NWN2

The game is out and bug reports are already starting to come in. I'm trying very hard not to go crazy, though I admittedly have a touch of a headache today. Soon I'll make myself an espresso and all my worries will vanish in a puff of caffeine. I'll start getting a patch ready, probably after the 1.05 NWN2 patch is released, do another round of testing, and get it out the door.

Yesterday I worked on the second module quite a bit. You can now go from the Highseas module to the Port Brighton module. From there, I could go into the Black Spot and theoretically play a round of the Pirate Card game. Everything is still extremely rough and I can see it'll take several weeks just to flesh out all the areas for the game.

Still, it's fun to work on the outdoor areas. Sailing about continues to be cool. Hopefully the issues with store inventories with be fixed with the 1.05 patch and I can test out the ship combat sections. Slowly getting there . . .

Well, today's the day, I think

April 13, 2007 by Adam in NWN2

Well, today's the day, I think. Friday the 13th. Not only that, but the NWN2 expansion news hit the Vault. I expect the NWN2 patch to hit any moment too, which hopefully won't break things. As you'd expect, I'm trying hard not to be nervous and hiding from my e-mail Inbox a bit.

I decided to put away my little text adventure for awhile and sunk some time into the second module. The first cutscene nearly works. It needs polish and fixing, but it's better than it was where Heather would simply loop through her dialog endlessly and everyone was standing in thin air.

The plan for today is to get Port Brighton fleshed out more, as well as starting to put together the island transitions. The second module has far fewer cutscenes and is much less linear, which means testing should be a less difficult process. We'll see how it goes.

Update: It seems that trying a release on Friday the 13th has indeed returned to haunt me. I neglected to check e-mail early enough today, so I didn't find out until 3pm or so that Maximus needed me to fill out some submission forms in order to get the module posted. At this point, I've done my thing, but it may be too late for today. Sigh.

Final Update: Maximus pulled through, got everything posted, and my baby is finally ready to go. I'm tired and going to bed.

The final promo day continues over on the Vault

April 12, 2007 by Adam in NWN2

I'm in the process of uploading the module fi...

April 11, 2007 by Adam in NWN2

I'm in the process of uploading the module files to the Vault. It looks like the promotional madness has begun and Maximus has kicked off several days of screenshots, movies, interviews, and more. Thursday appears to be the big day for release.

My brain is still a bit numb from all the last minute activity. I've been soothing it with my fun and wacky little text adventure. I'd forgotten how much fun it is to write text parsers. You can now move from room to room, pick up and drop items, examine things, and check your inventory. Of course, now I need a bit of a story and meaningful things to do.

I should also turn my attention to the second module. I already made some progress duing the QA period. Several islands have had their areas mapped out and turned into modules. They need lots of testing and I've got plenty of scripts to update due to the multi-module campaign approach I'm taking. The fun never stops.

I'm done

April 10, 2007 by Adam in NWN2

I'm done.

I gathered up the last of the bug notes, mostly typos and odd little quirks. I finished making a final build, which testers can go through again if they'd like. In a couple days I'll upload it to the Vault for the masses to play. I just shipped off some more screen shots to Maximus and he's planning two or three days of previews.

I think I'll go with the flow for the next few days, taking it easy before the inevitable patches post-release. Hopefully the issues will be fairly minor.

And now, of course, the second module awaits.

I've started the ball rolling on the release

April 09, 2007 by Adam in NWN2

I've started the ball rolling on the release. It looks like it'll happen by the end of the week, though there's endless last minute things to take care of. I'm still fairly frazzled trying to keep up with it all, but I'm confident that I'll be able to make the magic release date.

While I stayed away from the full campaign yesterday, I played around with using NWN2 as a text adventure game. Mostly it's just a proof of concept, but it was awful nostalgic to say "go east" and watch my player move east to the next room. I have a tentative plan to turn this into a side adventure for the campaign, though I suspect it'll be somewhat optional.

For now, I'm still busy getting the module out the door. Busy, busy.

There are unviewed e-mails in my inbox and pr...

April 08, 2007 by Adam in NWN2

There are unviewed e-mails in my inbox and probably a few last minute things I could do, but it's Easter and I'm doing family things today. I feel pretty good about the state of the module after tracking down that weird AI issue. The remaining things are fairly minor in comparison.

The only other thing I'm a little nervous about is the fact that the 1.05 NWN2 patch is coming out at almost the exact same time as I'm releasing the module. There's some deities.2da issues that I might need to fiddle with after the patch comes out. We'll see.

I did a little experimentation with using NWN2 as a text adventure game. I could only envision doing it for a completely optional side adventure, but for us old gamers it might be a fun nostalgic moment. I wrote a text adventure game on my Commodore 64 back in the day and it would be fun to give it another try. We'll see.

Another day, another release candidate

April 07, 2007 by Adam in NWN2

Another day, another release candidate. This one is pretty darn good, minus a particularly annoying AI bug that happens towards the end of the game. It's not critical, but does annoy. Strangely, if I jump to the end of the module using my magic QA tools, everything's great.

The good news is that a great number of bugs have been fixed, a couple that were fairly serious. An optional puzzle couldn't be completed and a side quest area couldn't be returned from. All manner of little things have been fixed too, from question mark icons to misnamed placeables, and more. Everyone's help has been very welcome.

This morning I woke up at 4 am to do a full walkthrough and make sure I didn't break anything with my latest round of fixes. At this point, I've uploaded a new version, updated the URL that the testers have used, and plan on sending out e-mails to everyone in a minute. With luck, there's a few folks who haven't started testing yet and are willing to take a look at the latest version.

I also have an interview to write and screenshots to pass along. Ideally I'd like to take a crack at fixing the annoying AI bug. We'll see how much time I have before the kids wake up and family responsibilities take over once again.

Update: I'm doing a little happy dance. I figured out why Robert's AI stopped working later in the module. It turns out it was all my fault, as suspected. I was carefully overriding his default movement behavior during a particular scene, but forgot to turn it off after it was needed. Silly me. I think I'll try to throw together a quick fix and upload it now.

I had a few somewhat serious issues reported ...

April 06, 2007 by Adam in NWN2

I had a few somewhat serious issues reported yesterday, so I did some quick fixing and created a new build. For you testers out there, check your e-mail for the latest download instructions. Hopefully none of my fixes created more bugs, which is always a worry at this stage in the game. I did some spot testing, but didn't have the time for a full walkthrough.

I still have a few more reports to read, but it's nice to see a bunch of people checking for last minute bugs. Hopefully it's going well. The folks at Obsidian wanted a peek too, and I was happy to oblige. It looks like next week will be the week of Vault interviews, movies, and screenshots too. It looks like I'm getting increasingly committed to "about a week" for releasing this thing.

It also looks like Obsidian is hosting a module building contest. I'm tempted to join, as the Bioware writing contest was very motivational. I'd be making something I could later reuse for Dark Waters, of course. The time frame is pretty tight, though, and time these days is at a premium. We'll see how it goes.

Every time before I release a module, there's...

April 05, 2007 by Adam in NWN2

Every time before I release a module, there's a strange anxiety that washes over me. It's a fairly personal act, showing off something that I've worked on for so long. I know there's parts that could have been done better, and things that look weird or don't work quite right. Still, I'm fairly happy with the module as a whole. It sets the stage for the campaign, has a lot of variety in gameplay, and has a nice blend of humor and drama. I'm still quite fond of the following modules and seafaring adventures, but it's good to ground the player in the world before setting them loose with a fast ship and a brace of pistols.

I've had some great response for my call for beta testers, with over a dozen people volunteering to do a final idiot check for me. Release is always a tentative thing, with post-release patches just a way of life. With the upcoming 1.05 NWN2 patch, I know I'm going to have to make changes to the deity system. Still, I don't know when the final patch will be out, so I'm pressing forward come Hell or high water.

At this point, I'm switching from development/debugging into promo-mode. If this final round of testing goes well, the plan is to release it next week, preceded by screenshots, videos, and an interview. I suppose I've become an old-timer of sorts, as the drill is quite familiar to me. My goal for post-release is to maintain a Zen-like calm in the face of the inevitable bugs. They'll be fixed, but I don't have to be a giant grump until they are.

Yesterday was crazy busy, as it gets sometimes

April 04, 2007 by Adam in NWN2

Yesterday was crazy busy, as it gets sometimes. I did manage to put together multiple packages of the different versions of a release candidate. I have the full NWN2 version at 123 MB, a smaller NWN2 version at 35 MB (no sound, music, or load screens), a huge 200+ MB NWN1 prototype, and a smaller 16 MB NWN1 prototype (no sound or music). All that means that I am indeed ready for folks to do a quick beta test before release. Hopefully the various sizes and versions will let just about everyone give it a try. The NWN1 prototype will certainly have bugs, but it would be nice to know that people can actually install and play it.

In order to download and play the beta, send me an e-mail and I'll get you the files. I'll probably keep it open until Friday afternoon, then let people play all weekend. Assuming all goes well, my hope is to release early next week. If not, well, we might do another round of testing.

To top it off, I woke up at 4:30 am this morning and worked on a promo video for the module to include with an upcoming Vault interview. As I worked on it, I found myself feeling a great pride. It wasn't for myself, but rather for all the people who had worked on the game over the years. I ended up highlighting the voice acting, a number of Razvan's models, Evil Mulder's music, and Sunjammer's puzzles and SAGE system. As of late I've been highlighting the QA efforts of PJJ and Bjarne, but it really has been a team effort for these last few years. It feels wonderful seeing things finally come to fruition.

On a closing note, our old project manager Lizabeth and her husband Ove are expecting a second child. She stepped down when she became pregnant with her first. It's funny to think that during the development process of the first module, a couple babies were conceived. Congratulations to them both.

Update: The promo madness has begun. Here's a new interview.

It's getting close

April 02, 2007 by Adam in NWN2

It's getting close. I read and fixed a number of bugs that PJJ reported this morning. Most were fairly minor, such as icons that were missing or the wrong type, some unlinked dialog, and so on. At this point I have one more bug report to track down, a journal entry that's coming up incorrectly. Ideally I'd like to do another full walkthrough, but with my family back, that's harder to do.

I've sent off an e-mail to Maximus at the Vault in preparation for the big release. The full NWN2 module looks to be 123 MB in size, the "Lite" version is 35 MB in size, and I'm guessing the old NWN prototype is going to be 200+ MB with all the uncompressed WAV files. I haven't done much with the latter one, so I'm not certain how playable it is. There's a lot of things missing and different, but people who don't have NWN2 should be able to play something.

I'm also leaning towards doing a semi-open beta right before release. This would be a final test to see if there's any show-stopping bugs that would stop me from posting it. While I'm not shooting for perfection, I'd like to minimize really annoying bugs that keep people from having fun.

Still, before people get too excited, I need to do some more organization on my part. As the saying goes, watch this space. Hopefully in the next day or two I'll have some more details.

Another day, another full walkthrough

April 01, 2007 by Adam in NWN2

Another day, another full walkthrough. While I didn't run into any show stoppers, I found more things I wanted to fix. Fortunately the list keeps getting smaller each time. Yesterday I fixed a couple especially tricky bugs, ones that had existed even in the prototype of years ago.

This morning I added yet more voice recording and cleaned up a few more issues. I need to generate some lipsynch files for the new dialog.

My kids are back, crawling about beside me as I type. I'll try to throw together a new testing package today if I can.