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Release Candidate 1
June 29, 2009 by Adam in NWN2
I'm back from vacation and unless I hear anything horrible about the last build, I think I'm good to go. I haven't gone through all my e-mails, but the plan is to do that today. In the meantime, here's a list of the different versions I put together over the weekend:
Full Install (563 MB)
Lite Install (227 MB)
Manual install package (600 MB)
The full install is exactly the same as the last build. The Lite Install has the sound, music, and load screens removed. The manual install package is for Macs and anyone else who wants to copy files to the right place themselves. The latter option isn't very well supported, as I don't have a Mac, but I think it generally works.
I'll try to get things released on the Vault relatively soon. I have a preview video floating around somewhere.
As for Dragon Age, I did a bit of writing and art tests over this last week. I'm still fiddling around with the creative side, so we'll see what happens.
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One Last Build Before I Go
June 19, 2009 by Adam in NWN2
I'm off on a short vacation for the next week, but here's the latest build:
Dark Waters (full)
And as before, here are the bug notes
I think this build may be relatively good for release. I think all of the very serious bugs are taken care of (minus the weird High Seas ones). People are generally able to finish the module. I'll probably let people fiddle with this release for the next week. If I don't hear anything critical, I'll start the release process.
On an unrelated note, I'm eager to finish up Dark Waters so I can get started on my Dragon Age module. If I get inspired, I might try some more writing and planning during my long car ride.
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My Trusty Crate Posse
June 18, 2009 by Adam in NWN2
 I did some more testing this morning, validating that most of my fixes actually worked. My biggest fear at this point is that I'll make a small fix and end up breaking something badly.
I was using debug mode like a maniac, bouncing between modules and acts. I ended up at the beginning of the game with a large group of crates in my party. It wasn't really a bug, as normally it would never happen, but it was an amusing little side effect of my testing.
I'm going to work on packaging and getting out a new build before I head off for vacation for a week.
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Brains
June 17, 2009 by Adam in NWN2
 Good progress yesterday and this morning. I think I have all the bugs either fixed or listed as requiring some more testing.
I spent a fair amount of time with the Sanity Defense mini-game. Something must have changed in one of the patches, as when a creature is killed, their ondamaged event doesn't fire any more. While you could still beat the mini-game with this issue, it did make it more challenging. I think I have most of the issues worked out, but want to do some more testing.
Hopefully over the next couple days I can put together a good build that I can declare a "release candidate" or something similarly lofty. I'm off with limited Internet access next week, so I'll probably wait until afterwards before I think about releasing anything.
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Another Day, Another Bug Fix
June 16, 2009 by Adam in NWN2
 I can tell I'm suffering from QA fatigue, a rarely discussed medical condition that mod developers sometimes suffer. I think I'm in the second or third month of bug fixing and occasionally my enthusiasm wanes.
Still, I've decided to dig into the latest round of issues that were reported over the weekend. Some were weird, such as a treasure digging script that used to work, but stopped working for some reason. I added a delay to the script and it started working. Maybe something changed in the latest NWN2 patch?
There are a few other quirky things like that. My hope is that I can get a new Friday build together. When I go on my vacation next week, I can haul along my computer and work on any issues that pop up. Maybe when I return, I can finally make it live?
Hope springs eternal.
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Another Friday Build
June 12, 2009 by Adam in NWN2
Here's the latest build:
Dark Waters (full)
There really aren't any significant differences in this one and Wednesday's build, except the epilogue has some fixes.
I did get some new bugs reported today, so I need to review them to see what I've already fixed and what I should look into. The list keeps getting smaller.
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Tweaking the Epilogue
June 11, 2009 by Adam in NWN2
 I fiddled some more last night and I think I got the epilogue working properly. There were cases when certain lines in the dialog would be skipped due to quirky links between the lines. I think it's all ironed out now.
I haven't heard of any more issues, so I'll probably make a new build for tomorrow morning and see how it goes. Who knows? Maybe after this weekend, it'll be good enough to release.
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From the Bowels of the Earth, a New Build
June 10, 2009 by Adam in NWN2
 I'm rushing out a new build that should hopefully fix the more serious problems. The worst was a door that didn't unlock properly in some circumstances. I think that's working now, but I haven't had a chance to test it thoroughly.
Dark Waters (full)
As always, here are the bug notes.
I think I'm getting pretty close to done, but there are still a few issues I want to iron out before release. In some cases, not all the epilogue options show up and I want to figure out why. If I was really brave, I'd try to tackle some of the issues with the High Seas system, but that particular one may just end up being an albatross around my neck.
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Good Progress Yesterday
June 09, 2009 by Adam in NWN2
 I made some good progress yesterday, hopefully getting in fixes for the more serious set of bugs.
As more people play through that game, they've been pointing out not just bugs, but missing things. There was a rather large dialog branch that had voiceover, but never could display. In another case, it wasn't possible to say something important in order to break/fulfill a vow, so I quickly wrote the dialog to make that possible.
I'm feeling increasingly good about the state of things, adding more "just in case" scripts to handle odd possibilities. The one thing that never quite worked right remains the High Seas combat and trading. Occasionally it will behave strangely for no particular reason. Still, most everything else is fun and well behaved. More and more people are successfully finishing the game, which gives me hope.
I'm going to see if I can polish things up and get a new build out tomorrow.
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Not Quite Done Yet
June 08, 2009 by Adam in NWN2
Well, the brave men and women who plowed through the module over the weekend found a few more bugs. As such, I'm back at the grindstone to see if I can fix them and whip out a new build.
The QA phase of a project never seems to end.
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A Boy and His Pig
June 05, 2009 by Adam in NWN2
 I did a bunch of testing last night, using a new character in order to test out an issue with animal companions running around on the open ocean. I think this one is sorted out, though I think I would have liked watching a giant pig roam the seas.
As for the big news, I have another build ready to go:
Dark Waters (full - 580 MB).
Here are the bug notes.
I'm waffling as to whether or not this is the final version. You should be able to play all the way through and have a fairly fun and clean experience. There are still some known bugs and the High Seas system still has strange, erratic problems. Most of the issues that remain are either minor or difficult to reproduce/fix.
I spent some time this morning trying to work around a weird issue where if your entire party dies at once, Death arrives, but a "you've been defeated" GUI panel has already popped up. You can use the number keys to navigate Death's dialog, but the GUI panel stays around. What's really weird is that I don't call the death GUI, so it seems like it's built in to the latest patch.
In any case, I think I'm going to let people tinker with it over the weekend. If no new huge errors are found, it may just be time to post it to the Vault and call it good.
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More Fixed, One Broken
June 04, 2009 by Adam in NWN2
 Yet more progress, working away at some of the smaller issues. I ended up double-checking some of my work on the Isle of Flesh. Even though I've played through it dozens of times, it still creeps me out.
I think I managed to break the High Seas module, or at least it wasn't opening in the toolset for me. I may have to backtrack to the previous version and try to figure out what went wrong. Still, if I can fix that and test some of my other fixes, hopefully I can put together a new build for tomorrow.
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Nearly Ready for a New Build
June 03, 2009 by Adam in NWN2
 More good progress yesterday and today. I think I have the most serious bugs squished and I'm getting down to the "nice to fix" ones.
One of the ones I was happy to fix was the "card fanatic" in the Black Spot. Every time you talked to him, the game crashed. The problem was with the sound files, which I finally figured out and fixed. Now you can hear my son being a whiny little kid, which he fortunately doesn't do that often in real life.
I also have to give a lot of kudos to PJJ, whose spelling is far better than mine despite English being a second language. The number of typos people have been reporting is remarkably low.
Hopefully I can do a little more testing and polishing, then get another build out the door.
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Back to the Grindstone
June 02, 2009 by Adam in NWN2
 I admittedly took a couple days away from my computer to do some house projects, but now I'm back. Hopefully this is the week to clean up the remaining annoying issues and get things ready for a real release.
I'm going to hunker down, read through all the e-mails, make a list of bugs, and try to fix them all. It's one of the stranger phases of mod making, one where I'm not really making anything, just trying to fix those odd issues I missed when making it in the first place. Hopefully it will be over soon.
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Why We Fight
About Me
I've won multiple awards for my Neverwinter Nights modules, which I've been working on since the year 2000.
In the real world, I'm a web developer for a healthcare organization. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.
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