Neverending Nights

Well, originally I was gonna work on that one shot thingie I wanted to do – just to some editing while we work on NeN Season 2 and some other stuff. We’re looking to hopefully nail a July 15th date for the audio recordings (doing them all at one time if possible). We’re also being kept busy working on some other stuff and plowing through this thing called life. (Work has given me like four 10 hour days… then on Saturday we did a 138 person move which lead to a 12 hour work day of manual labor… I hate manual labor. I mean. I really hate it!) Ahem – anyway – don’t fear! I still wanna do that little one shot video thing in the meantime – but I am going to await for the arrival of…

My new computer.

That’s right – Mr. Reboots is going to be put aside. I will probably still use it for audio stuff and video capture (since the video capture card is in it) – like importing old VHS tapes and home videos and what not. That will free up me using my new computer. It’s slated to arrive – hopefully, by Friday.

In the meantime, be sure to head over to GameSpot to check out the Designer Diary for Neverwinter Nights 2. It includes a video with some gameplay – and there’s a considerable amount of new images from actual game play (well, new to me anyway).

Okay, it’s been entirely too long since we have done any audio stuff since we’re still writing Season 2. And we’re working on a few things. But I have been itching to do something – anything – that has to do with NeN. The site, and forum, has become more of a ghost town than it normally is. So while I was sitting there, I thought of something to do – I just need to get off my duff, fight with a PC that enjoys to reboot itself randomly, and do some filming and editing. The audio will have nothing to do with us – but should be somewhat fun, anyway. If I can get SIMS2 to work as well, it would combine Sims2 + NWN = NeN’ish. This is probably gonna take me some time, as I don’t have SIMS2 installed on my computer (and need to see if my wife can find all the CDs for the game, in the first place). And then I need to research how to stop SIMS2’s AI, so that the people I am filming don’t get up and leave on their own or do something I don’t want them to. And then figure out if there’s a way to remove the green arrow over their head and the dialogue type boxes in SIMS2. So if anyone knows how to do any of this – feel free to post it on the forum and let me know. I am just itching to do something to put on here as a download.

Also, I contacted Linz to ask if she has an ETA for the DVD cover, so we can get those out the door. For those of you who partook of sponsorship, when I hear back I will keep you posted in the sponsor forum.

“Borrowed” this from the NWN2 forums…

Well, it’s been a crazy couple of weeks here in NWN2 development land. Now that we are past the hurricane that was E3, the plan is to get back to some form of regularity as we get closer to launch. As many of you know, NWN2 was VERY well received at E3 and there has been a ton of new information hitting the internet just about every day since the show. But while E3 is now over, the month of activities and news on the game is not.

So, this week we’re going to try and load you up with information to help clear the air and set the record straight on a few things. The first being the DM Client. The DM client will not ship with the game in the box. We looked at a number of different scenarios and the best one that the team decided upon is to release the DM Client in full as a download the same day of the release. So while it will not ship in the box it will come out with the game. That’s the official word as of today.

Moving on to the official system specs – Yes, some comments were made at E3 regarding the system specs for the game. The previous comments were not necessarily incorrect as much as they were incomplete. Now, before we give you the current set of specs and supported cards, please bear in mind this may change somewhat prior to launch. But as of today here are the current system specs and supported video cards:

Recommended:
– 3 GHz Intel Pentium 4 or equivalent processor
– 1GB System Ram
– ATI Radeon X800 series, NVIDIA GeForce 6800 series or higher video card

Minimum System Requirements:
– Windows XP
– 512MB System RAM
– 2 GHz Intel Pentium 4 or equivalent processor
– 128MB Direct3D compatible video card with DirectX 9.0c compatible driver
– CD -ROM or DVD -ROM drive
– 4.6GB free hard disk space
– DirectX 9.0c (included)
– DirectX 8.1 compatible sound card
– Microsoft .NET 2.0 Framework for toolset (included)
– Broadband connection for multiplayer online play
– Keyboard, Mouse

Supported Video Cards:
– ATI Radeon X1900 series
– ATI Radeon X1800 series
– ATI Radeon X1600 series
– ATI Radeon X1300 series
– ATI Radeon X850 series
– ATI Radeon X800 series
– ATI Radeon X700 series
– ATI Radeon X600 series
– ATI Radeon X300 series
– ATI Radeon 9800 series
– ATI Radeon 9600 series
– ATI Radeon 9500 series
– NVIDIA GeForce 7900 series
– NVIDIA GeForce 7800 series
– NVIDIA GeForce 7600 series
– NVIDIA GeForce 7300 series
– NVIDIA GeForce 6800 series
– NVIDIA GeForce 6600 series
– NVIDIA GeForce 6500 series
– NVIDIA GeForce 6200 series
– NVIDIA GeForce 6100 series
– NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900 series
– NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700 series
– NVIDIA GeForce FX 5600 series
– NVIDIA GeForce FX 5500 series

We know this is a lot of information to digest so and we’re going to give the community an opportunity to talk directly with the development team sooner rather than later. Our friends at Neverwinter Vault and Neverwinter Connections are co -hosting this months developer chat with the Obsidian team. The chat will be Thursday May, 25th at 6:00 PM PST. IRC info is as follows:

IRC server: chat.neverwinterconnections.com
Channel: #NWVAULT_NWC_CHAT

Enjoy!

-Shane

Some pretty hardcore specs for the Recommended version of NWN2 (for me anyway)… and interesting that they’re not releasing the DM Client WITH the game… but it will be available for download on the release date of the game!? (I am curious if it’s going to be an open download, or if it’s going to require the seriel # key for the download, or how they’re going to handle that…)

Hey Everyone,
New Traditions and Old Problems

Our beloved elves from Aradani Studios, who sell the best elf ears I’ve seen, have their artwork in our booth. Also they will be selling my artwork for the next two weekends at the Tennessee Renaissance Festival, and hopefully we will join forces at another renaissance festival later this year.

Lately I have been working hard on some illustrations for books headed your way. In order to keep better track of illustrations, they now have their own dedicated section on the website under artwork.

The Serenity RPG has been out and Legends of the Twins has also been released. I have contributed a few things to some upcoming editions involving Dragon Lance as well. Prints will be available for them. To keep up to date on the latest releases for Margaret Weis Productions, check out www.margaretweis.com and the new illustration section.

Aside from those projects, I have also been working with White Silver on some upcoming releases with another RPG which you can find out more about at White Silver’s website. Also there is a novel being released by the same company, written in that world, and I am happy to announce that it is my first cover!!! Click on the picture to find out more.

If you have been hanging around here for any length of time, you should know that we have had ongoing issues with our ecommerce section. As always, hope springs eternal on a chance to fix that.

Features
º A New Dungeon Every Time – Each journey begins with the creation of a randomly-generated multi-level dungeon, tailored to your particular class, character-level, or tastes. Explore the winding warrens of Undermountain, the greatest dungeon in the Forgotten Realms.

º Epic Levels – Infinite Dungeons scales to support the entire range of NWN characters, from the Level 1 beginner to the god-like Level 40.
Single Player – Adventure by yourself, gather hirelings, and try to better your high score.

º Cooperative Multiplayer – Adventure as a party, sharing in the treasure, and bringing your skills to bear in every battle.

º Competitive Multiplayer – Battle fellow adventurers in a no-holds-barred race to the heart of the dungeon…or to claim the high score!

º New Creatures – Test your mettle against 7 exciting end bosses, each brought vividly to life by the talented DLA mod team.

º New Music – Your battles will play out accompanied by another excellent score by community composer extraordinaire, David John.

º Collaborative Development – Designed and implemented in a unique partnership between professional BioWare designers and community member Jason ‘Elidrin’ Lowry, creator of the Random Dungeon Generator.

º Hours of Gameplay – This one’s so big, we don’t even know how to categorize it. The primary quest unfolds over 20 hours of gameplay. When you’re done with our dungeons, we give you the power to control your own.

º Starting Level – This adventure will scale to any character level (1-40, 5-30 recommended). You are free to use any of the six pre-generated characters that come pre-installed with Infinite Dungeons in level 5/10/20/30/40 variants:
Wrathful Berserker
Undead Lord
Bewildering Archer
Exalted Sorceress
Divine Warrior
Devastating Rogue

You can also use any character of your own design, and you can bring whatever equipment you want in and take whatever loot you want out.

Requirements
º Neverwinter Nights
º Shadows of Undrentide
º Hordes of the Underdark
º Internet connection while playing
º Microsoft Windows or Linux with NWN 1.67+
º 167 MB download (Windows) / 212 MB download (Linux)
º 345 MB of disk space for install
º View the System Requirements
º This digital product must be downloaded before playing.
º Corporate/campus firewall or proxy users require access to specific ports for online authenticatio

Neverwinter Nights: Infinite Dungeons News
º Infinite Dungeons Premium Module May 24
A brand new Neverwinter Nights premium module releases May 24. Infinite Dungeons provides randomly generated adventures for characters of every level. Play with your friends or compete against your adversaries. If you dare, you can play alone….

What will you find within the Infinite Dungeons of Neverwinter?

Discuss it on our forum, over here.