General offer to the community: Hosting for sites/wiki's/forums etc.

[Legacy_Bannor Bloodfist]

               Folks, Winterhawk and I have made this offer in the past to the community, but seldom has anyone paid any attention at all, which is their loss.

The HarvestMoonConsortium offers free space to anyone wishing to create/manage/use forums, wiki's etc for NWN.  We will accept anyone working on NWN or NWN2 and offer private and public forums to those folks.

Will our site as main site, last forever?  Likely not, but we have been around a lot longer than a huge number of nwn sites out there.  We also are fairly dedicated to NWN and Custom Content in particular.  We are NOT looking for folks just to grab useless body counts/traffic on the main site, our purpose in the offer is to provide a place to centtralize nwn related cc discussions/tools/tutorials and wiki's.  

Remember, we all have to work together to keep the information available to new folks that are joining the crowds here, and the minimal options that EA has given us here are less useful than having more control over webpage use. Projects
etc, that are available here are nearly usless as they are limited so much by scope, linkage, etc. 

We have made this offer to various folks over the past 5 years, folks that were creating tutorials etc... several of those folks stated that they wanted to keep control so that the tutorials would remain available regardless etc... Those folks and their sites are gone now, HarvestMoon despite it's low traffic counts, is still here, those tutorials would not have been lost had they been at least duplicated here.  The wayback machine can only backup what is considered public, so folks that want complete control and private access on their own individual website, lose when they lose the sites etc, UNLESS that data is backed up elsewhere.

Sooooo... the offer is made again.  If you have a tutorial specifically, or anything CC related that is also NWN, NWN2, or Skyrim related, we welcome you to read/post/host etc on our site.  Again, this is NOT to drive traffic, this is made to help us conserve tips, tricks, tools, etc. that is CC related, and/or just game related for the above games.  We can host files, most specifically image files needed for tutorials, but we would prefer tha actual files other than images, be hosting on the vault... they have more space and more bandwidth than any single site can offer.

Our only requirements are that folks remain adult (no, not smut related) and do not use foul language and/or break the law with posting anything.  That anyone managubg their own forums be true management and prevent abuses etc.

Hmmm...me an my long-winded way of saying, if you want forum space, or tutorial space, please consider us as an option. 
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Just a ghost]

               I have nothing to offer, being more of a consumer myself, but I can imagine that to get the snowball rolling you may need to collect some stuff yourself first (asking permissions first etc etc). Mass attracts more mass, if you get my drift.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Bannor Bloodfist]

               There is quite a bit of "mass" in the custom content forms already.  We also have server admins and users from 3 different pw's.  So, the mass should already be there.

But again, My post is not about ME/US attracting traffic, it is about offering a more "centralized" location for cc folks to put tutorials, and for folks to find answers.  

If anyone is willing to add some of their "lost in the weeds" types of tutorials to our site.  We can re-arrange the forums names if folks find my older naming convention to be misleading or not up to snuff etc, we can host the forums (as I said, been doing it for more than 5 years anyway) we can allow folks to have both public and private forums for "teams" to work within, etc.    As far as copy/pasting from other sites, well, I am not going to go hunting this stuff down.  I have done it in the past, re-built damaged forums and missing pics etc from/for the various tutorials that we currently host as it is.  

Right now, the community has to search for the "Tutorials" thread here since we can't get a moderator to pay attention to us.  I have sent messages to two different (one former, one current) Bioware mods to attempt to get the community chosen folks added as admins... anyway, point being, you can't FIND the stuff without intensive searching on a set of forums that truly is not designed for that.  You can't create a poll that allows more than a single vote, you can't do this, that or the other thing at this location.  The "vault" is a great source for finding files, but it's forums are even worse to handle than what we have here.

Periodically I make the offer again here, but it appears that everyone has their own ideas and does not wish to truly work together to keep this valuable data available and easily found.  That is all that my/our offer is about... a place where a single link from a forum message can point you to a larger location with various tips, tricks, tutorials etc that may help newbies find the answer or help the folks that have been around longer improve their skills or find new and interesting ideas for expanding custom content for NWN.

To be honest, I know I am wasting my time anyway, but the offer stands.    You can easily follow the links in my sig to find many tutorials already in existance.  Don't be thrown off by the fact that titles may reflect tileset related tips, as 99% of those tips can be applied to non-tileset related cc work as well.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_OldTimeRadio]

               For anyone who's curious, the CTP forums at Harvestmoon have a lot of help for beginners (tileset or regular) in an area called The Learning Curve.  The only other place I can think of which has as much useful CC information for beginners (outside of the CC guide/Wiki) is the resources area of the old Community Creature Project page, which compliments the more tile oriented material of the CTP forums with creature/animation material.  At least some of those tutorials at the CCP are also mirroed on Amethyst Dragon's Neverwinternights.info site.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par OldTimeRadio, 26 septembre 2012 - 10:09 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Rolo Kipp]

               <piping...>

@BB: I don't think you're wasting your time. That is, I think this is a very good idea. At least in my own case it isn't that I have my own "better" idea, but that I really don't have much to contribute. I am terrible at creating the very tutorials I so love :-P

I floated the idea of the nwn-cc website for this purpose (though its primary purpose is to host a resource database and an alternate collection of the CCC files), but never put any sweat into doing more than a placeholder for it. Basically, tutorials scattered (and buried) here, the Learning Curve, the CCP tutorials and some stuff from the archived DLA forum (and OTR's neat stuff) comprise a quite large (but worthwhile) project, should someone with, um, more energy... <less lazy?>
...and time want to pull it all together. And the Learning Curve is as good a place as any <and better than most>.

@OTR: Don't downplay your blog too much, old timer :-) (click link for my personal favorite... though that changes with the wind =)

Edit: and the eponymous neverinternights.info is, of course, another great place to put reference material ;-)

<...down>
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Rolo Kipp, 26 septembre 2012 - 10:35 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Bannor Bloodfist]

               Ahhhh... we finally got the http://social.biowar.../7554077]custom content tutorials thread[/url] stickied. 1+ years in the waiting, but at least it is now going to be much easier to find.

Edit:  /me makes note to self using a baseball bat against the forehead.... whenever you mention a thread or website, insert the link!
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Bannor Bloodfist, 27 septembre 2012 - 03:05 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_ehye_khandee]

               I think you have a good idea there BB - but be patient, these forums don't see the traffic that the old forums did and it may take a fair number of eyeballs crossing this message before you get anyone with material to suit your request for tutorials. I've bookmarked your URL for my own reference (I'll be around as a reader for sure) but I don't really have anything to add in the form of tutorials atm.

Be well. Game on!
GM_ODA

http://playnwn.com
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Tarot Redhand]

               Bannor, I assume you've seen my weak attempt at a tutorial. AFAIK it is going to included with an update for the january ccc. So I'm afraid that I don't have anything to give you. One little thought is that you might want to create a single webpage on your site with this offer and details about how to go about pursuing it as I followed the link in your sig when you made the current offer and couldn't find any details there.

TR
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Bannor Bloodfist]

               

Tarot Redhand wrote...

Bannor, I assume you've seen my weak attempt at a tutorial. AFAIK it is going to included with an update for the january ccc. So I'm afraid that I don't have anything to give you. One little thought is that you might want to create a single webpage on your site with this offer and details about how to go about pursuing it as I followed the link in your sig when you made the current offer and couldn't find any details there.

TR

Good idea about a thread for this on our forums... I will have to spend some time creating that tomorrow, can't tonight, just don't have enough online time left for the night.

As far as your tutorial being included in the January ccc, if Rolo and you don't mind, duplicating that tutorial on our site is sort of what I am looking for.  If folks have stuff that they believe others can use, then that is great.  
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Tarot Redhand]

               While I am amongst my sternest critics (and no one commented when invited), if you want it - use it editing as needs be.

TR
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Rolo Kipp]

               <putting his hands together...>

*Please!*
I love redundancy and preserving knowledge and being able to *find* the bloody things when I need a refresher :-)

<...in an attempt to look pious>
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Bannor Bloodfist]

               

Tarot Redhand wrote...

Bannor, I assume you've seen my weak attempt at a tutorial. AFAIK it is going to included with an update for the january ccc. So I'm afraid that I don't have anything to give you. One little thought is that you might want to create a single webpage on your site with this offer and details about how to go about pursuing it as I followed the link in your sig when you made the current offer and couldn't find any details there.

TR

Tarot, I am looking for that tutorial, but I can't seem to find it... can you point me in the right direction?

I have added a post regarding tutorials on our site, not much maybe, but might give some folks some ideas on how to go about creating tutorials in general.  And if you take a look at the various tutorials I have already created on our site, you might find some clues on how to get a tutorial to be a bit more useful, colorful, or attention grabbing.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Tarot Redhand]

               Bannor, due to the number of new threads, the thread containing it is now on page 2. Here is a link to take you to the page containing that tutorial. Like I said in my earlier post, feel free to edit it as you see fit. For example earlier in the thread I posted links to the resources that I used and didn't duplicate those in the body of the tutorial. You may find it useful to roll them into it for posting on your site.

[edit addition]

Oh and you might want to consider putting a copy of the actual download on your site so that there is some sort of context for the tutorial. With the state of the vault, I'm not precious about where people can get hold of it.

TR
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Tarot Redhand, 30 septembre 2012 - 12:12 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Bannor Bloodfist]

               

Tarot Redhand wrote...

Bannor, due to the number of new threads, the thread containing it is now on page 2. Here is a link to take you to the page containing that tutorial. Like I said in my earlier post, feel free to edit it as you see fit. For example earlier in the thread I posted links to the resources that I used and didn't duplicate those in the body of the tutorial. You may find it useful to roll them into it for posting on your site.

[edit addition]

Oh and you might want to consider putting a copy of the actual download on your site so that there is some sort of context for the tutorial. With the state of the vault, I'm not precious about where people can get hold of it.

TR

Ok, mostly directly copied/pasted, re-edited links as copy/paste doesn't capture them the way that Bioware handles links.  I adjusted the order a bit to get all the links at the top of the whole thing.

I do have one question though, you have a line in there stating:  "The really bright among you will have noticed that I have used 31/2 (XnView is limited in this respect) image-editing programs and are asking yourselves why? " and I am not sure exactly what you mean by the 31/2 bit?  Do you mean 3 or 4 different image editors, or is there something I am missing or was that just a typo?
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Bannor Bloodfist, 30 septembre 2012 - 12:40 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Tarot Redhand]

               Clarification - I meant three and a half.

TR