The RDR was one of the larger server rings after the release of NwN. We had 4 servers, the largest which was The Dalelands server. I am the former Project Lead, and server owner of the Dalelands. My board name back then is as it is today Vector of Myth Drannor. Several of us have looked back fondly on that time and have wanted to bring the Dalelands back as a persistent world. Unfortunately the mod was lost in a hard drive crash years ago.... or so we thought. Today, I was contacted by one of my old partners who mentioned that he had the final compy of the mod, the SQL DB back end, and the custom content.
I hope to get that data in the next few days. A dedicated server is already built and in place and awaiting the mod. This will take some time to get the mod to a state where it will run, and then we will need to look at how to get the client into the proper state to connect to the mod. Once that is done, the server will come back online. At our peak we had about 1,200 members from 10 different countries, were able to support up to 40 players at a time, and had a blast. With custom scripting, the sue of the database back end we were able to make a very smooth, persistent world that respawned properly, and would dismount unused zones which kept the mod running smooth for weeks on end without reboot.
IF.... we can get the thing up in such a state again, we will be opening it up for play. I don't know exactly how we will do it, but I am thinking it will be by a simple invite process when we find out if there is an interest, and how many might be interested. For now, unless you were an original member, please hold off on asking for access as we are not even sure we can get the thing running. There was a lot of customization in the mod including fully unlocked camera, skies, ceilings, and textures and skins. This will be some tedious work, but we are excited about it.
Just a little background on the server - the RDR (if you look at many of the custom content out there) was instrumental in crating and sharing much of the custom scripting, and texture paks that many of the servers used. Hopefully if folks have updated our original work they will be willing to share that back to us.
The Dalelands server is set in the Forgotten Realms setting with the town of Shadowdale as its hub. When we took the server down we had nearly 800 maps. About 75 of these were outdoor areas, most 32x32, and well over 600 were building interiors and dungeons. Content went from 1 to lvl 25 and although there is an underlying story setting, much of the content is quest specific. Log in and out position was statically saved via the DB, as was HP and other important info. There is a 'Life Stones' res system in place, fully lootable corpse system (rather than bag lot) and many other cool features. The content can be player solo, however the entire mod was designed around party play.
More to come, and for those interested I'll keep progress updated here as we try to get this thing off of the ground.
Tim AKA Vector of Myth Drannor
