Rumors of NWVault's death greatly exaggerated. Info from IGN:

[Legacy_OldTimeRadio]

               I contacted a source at IGN Friday and they fixed the problem.  Took 'em a little while to get the situation analyzed and fixed, so you probably saw the Vault go up and down after coming back online Friday.  I've been very busy IRL so I'm sorry I didn't post something about it Saturday.

I posted the following a month ago:

I wrote to someone very high up in IGN, asking what as going to happen with the Vault after IGN's sale and Maximus taking the position at Blizzard. 

Amazingly, I received a response.  '>

Their response was short but they indicated that a decision was made about a year ago to stop actively updating the sites that were built on "code bases" and services they no-longer supported but that they will keep the sites alive as archives and have no plans whatsoever to delete the data anytime soon.  That answer specifically included the Vault sites.

Anyway, after I alerted IGN that there was a problem it didn't take them long to fix it.  I was profusely thanking the guy at IGN for helping me get this issue resolved and he was like "No problem- I'm bummed we didn't hear about it sooner or we would have fixed it sooner."

So to recap: IGN said a month ago they had no plans to pull the plug on the NWVault and when notified of an issue about the Vault being difficult to reach this Friday, fixed it pretty quickly.

Yet even after the Vault came back up fully, some kept insisting that it was still "dead", or worse:

henesua wrote...
Please do not access what remains of the vault. In doing so you are just encouraging that it be shut down more quickly.

Henesua, the people that I'm getting my information from work at IGN.  Who's your source for that assertion? 



Yes, the Vault will eventually go into Archive mode.  Archive mode is not something Rolo (or Maximus, if he were still with IGN) controls, it's something IGN does and it will likely cause a redirection to a specific NWVault Archive site where people will still be able to download the data.  For instance, if Rolo and the other people working to maintain the Vault just decided to stop updating it (something I doubt, BTW), that would be something other than the site going into Archive mode.

IGN is nice enough to continue providing the Neverwinter Vault so people can download things and this latest help from them cements in my mind that they mean it.  The situation might change in the future, but they were definitely on the job Friday.

If a couple of people are abused with the notion that the IGN Vault "needs a little help" going away so the community can "advance", I have a special message for you: You are broken deep inside and you are no friend to this community.

'>

In the mean time, I suggest everyone who hasn't registered at NeverwinterVault.net do so.  It's shaping up to be a primo site and kudos to Rolo and everyone else who worked so hard to get it going! 

I look forward to a long life to both the IGN Vault at NeverwinterVault.net!
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_ShadowM]

               Thanks for the update and going to the source to get the information. '> I glad to hear it still around and glad others are working on a backup. Just a great group around here.'>
               
               

               

                     Modifié par ShadowM, 30 juin 2013 - 06:30 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_MrZork]

               Thank you, OTR. I am glad IGN was so responsive and I think that, to their credit, their response is consistent with what we have seen from them in the past.

I just last night sent a link to some new players for the Vault's CEP page. I got a note back that they are excited to play some of the new modules, though they haven't finished Bioware's yet. Even so long after NWN's release, people are learning the incredible things people have done with the game. :-)

I suspect that most of us who play older games know that occasionally a resource just vanishes without warning and there is the nagging knowledge that nothing lasts forever. Both encourage a natural tendency to enter "panicked speculation" mode at any sign of a glitch. But, it's also important to keep separate in our minds those things that we actually know versus those things we are guessing about based on very scanty evidence that might have many explanations.

Anyway, all good news today and I am glad things back to normal. And, I am glad there are contingency plans for a new normal, if this one ever does go away.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_brgjoe]

               Pretty much what MrZork said.

Glad to hear that it's still going to be around for awhile.  But also pleased there are backup plans in case it does meet it's demise somewhere in the near future.  

Thanks for posting this information!

Joe
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_painofdungeoneternal]

               

henesua wrote...
Please do not access what remains of the vault. In doing so you are just encouraging that it be shut down more quickly.

Actually i think you are misreading that statement.

It was in reference to a hosts file edit prior to the vault coming back - the timing of when henesua wrote it makes the meaning different than what you are interpreting. The vault was down completely when it was written, but we were doing one final scrape while it was down, we wanted that usage to be focused on backing up. Now that the vault is back and the DNS is fixed, then the reason this was said is no longer in place.

If people used this to continue using the vault, then any changes done or uploads would probably not be backed up. Also we did not know what IGN is doing, a DNS subdomain being removed is a strange goof or bug, and while i really hoped it was going to come back, I did not want everyone madly backing up files to create a bigger issues and send the vault over the edge.

Since the vault is still chugging along, it's back to the holding pattern - prepare for the worst, hope for the best.

But by the same token, the decisions at IGN are subject to change since Ziff Davis is now in charge. The "Archive" is akin to the way back machine ( and we are also talking to people at the ArchiveTeam.org who are making sure the vault ends up in the Internet Archive ( we actually have much more in depth backups then they have ) ) who are working on a lot of IGN and Gamespy sites. Frankly, the Internet Archive and ArchiveTeam are going to keep the vault safe ( and all the IGN sites slated for ending ) for far longer than a commercial company can.

It's a lot better for the community if players access the current version of projects still being updated, either on the nexus, on private sites, or elsewhere. It does benefit us if we can still access those files, but if the vault is not the authoritative source anymore for NWN content, it just becomes another of many sites, and should have some way of pointing users to where the correct version of files is.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_henesua]

               

OldTimeRadio wrote...

henesua wrote...
Please do not access what remains of the vault. In doing so you are just encouraging that it be shut down more quickly.

Henesua, the people that I'm getting my information from work at IGN.  Who's your source for that assertion?

OTR, you took that comment out of context. I am not interested in an argument especially not one framed in a different context than the one my statement was responding to. While I appreciate that you are interested in avoiding misinformation spreading throughout the community, I think you need to reconsider the big picture.

Regarding my "source", you can talk to Rolo. He's my source and he has more than one, none of who are people that are conidered about PR for IGN, although all are affiliated with IGN as current or former employees.

Most importantly the big picture is that the vault will be gone sooner or later. And so the sooner the transition to a resource that the community controls takes place, the healthier the community will be.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_MrKWMonk]

               Thanks for the info.

-kaos
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Urk]

               YAY! I love the vault. It's a great way to get an NWN fix when life won't let you actually play.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Vivienne L]

               I love the vault too!  Thank God it's still up!
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_NWN_baba yaga]

               dont you know we´re at war... move it you rats move it... move it move it!

I love the orc who says that!

back to the topic. It´s great to have it back for sure but it´s slow, very slow and i think everyone here wants the vault alive but not as an undead page '>