Incentives for Downloading Content?

[Baaleos]

               Im curious as to what people think about this topic.


Basically, one of the limitations of nwn, is that to get great content into a PW server, you kinda need to rely on haks.


However, if you were to use the override directory - the content could 'rest' there, outside of a hak, and thus not become a compulsory requirement for entering a server.

I currently use this method for

Music, Sounds and Overrides

And use an application I developed in C# to allow the players to download the content to their computers, and install it for them. (it can even be set up to run in the background, and incrementally download any files that change, or new content etc)

What I found, was that most players couldnt be bothered downloading the content, which kinda annoyed me.
I play the game with the music content added, which is great, I get to hear the atmosphere the way I designed it to be heared etc

So... as of today, I added in a new feature to the RRD (Rhun Resource Downloader)
When the player updates, once per update, they are granted a reward token for spending in-game.
Granting access to Prestige items, features, abilities etc



Im curious as to what peoples thoughts on this are.






               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Calvinthesneak]

               Nice app btw.  I tend to write my .NET in VB, but really they both do the same thing.  

As for content...
There seems to be two camps.  One who want NWN to look well beyond how the default was that like all the pretty toys and bells and whistles, if its default, well it's not worth playing.  Then you get the other half that don't think they should have to download anything, they just want to log in and play.

I don't see reward tokens really increasing those that use the content, unless you make it mandatory (as in haks).  I'm sure some people will be tempted by tokens, always a few people that will chase the carrot.  And maybe it is a better approach than the stick (you have to download this).
               
               

               
            

[Baaleos]

               Yeah, the way I figure it,
its still optional, but they get rewarded for having the content up to date.

Im still trying to find a list of content types that are considered optional.
eg- Music for instance, and sound effects, are optional. a player not having them, wont hear it, but it wont crash them, or prevent them from getting into the server.
At the minute, my app can handle
Portraits, 2da, bmu and mp3/wav  (downloads as mp3, but converts to wav to make it function ingame)

If it were ever the case that I could get more optional content into it, besides these, then I would encourage people on my server to use it more.
As it stands, I am building more and more areas, using the music it provides.
It just pains me that some players are happy to battle through those areas in pure silence.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Shadooow]

               Personally I dont bother with peoples who dont join my server because of custom hak packs. Its not worth it in my opinion. Using override in order to workaround the hak need is also very lame if you ask me:
1) player still have to download it, maybe not immediately but when he will want to level up in some class you have changed then he will. This will make it only more complicated for players that wont leave in first week.
2) files in override will affect every player's single player modules and might affect also other PWs where this can lead into corrupted character or unable to level up at least.
3) there is no way to delete those files from override, I mean I have in my override NWNCQ, AD's icons, some other icons and few my files. Then I download files that goes into override for your server, then I find out it messes my override/I dont like your server/etc. but then I will have hard time to clean my override from your files as I dont know what files I extracted there (plus some of them might get overriden)

Unless you are making a pvp arena, this is absolutely contraproductive effort.
               
               

               
            

[Baaleos]

               

Unless you are making a pvp arena, this is absolutely contraproductive effort.

Can you elaborate on this?

If I create a process, that does in fact allow people to get the content for my server on an optional basis, and does not kick them out of my server if they dont have it, how is it contraproductive.

If you are referring to 'This might affect another random PW which is absolutely nothing to do with my own PW'

I can live with that.
The only files that may or may not impact single player or other PW play for the player, would be the 2da's.

If the player wanted to revert - they just need to delete the 2da - if I remember correctly, the override directory just overrides the default settings, so its not going to leave them in a situation where they wont hear any music anywhere in the world.

Reverting back to factory defaults is as easy as deleting the 2da file that was downloaded.

As for the BMU files, they can delete them whenever they like - they wont impact single player or multiplayer since they are named completely different from anything else.

So far - the only 2da I use in this process is AmbientMusic.2da  or whatever its called.

If this being downloaded, impacted your game play on another server
this would mean

That server did exactly the same thing that I did.... downloaded the 2da to ur override - double standard?

This would be the case, because their music numbers, would clash with mine, but since my numbers come after the default bioware numbers, this is the only possible scenario where an issue could arrise, a PW with hak's being used, would override anything in the override.


I cant see anything that I am currently doing, that would conflict with other PW's or Single Player enjoyment.

If other PW's use Haks, it wont conflict
If other PW's dont use Haks but use default bioware 2da's and content - it wont conflict since my content comes after biowares content.

If the other PW's do what I do, and ask players to install a 2da file in their override - yes, this may conflict. But how many PW's do that....

I can see where your coming from, in relation to Client Side gui alterations and such.
This downloader does give me the ability to basically customize icons, and client side files that could affect single player and other PW experiences - but for what I am using for right now, it does not pose the same risk that you suggest in your post.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Shadooow]

               I was speaking general. You took it too personally.
               
               

               
            

[Baaleos]

               I took no offense - honestly,
I was just trying to find out if there was something specific that was considered the contraproductive element?

Ambientmusic.2da is probably one of the safer things for me to modify and distribute to clients.

I do take your point on board that to distribute anything else like levelup information 2das can lead to cross server conflicts.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Dagesh]

               I like the 'patch' approach.

If one does not exist, create a nwnpatch.ini file in the Neverwinter directory.  Inside it should look something like this:

[Patch]
PatchFile000=name_of_first_hak
PatchFile001=name_of_second_hak

Then, also in the Neverwinter directory, create a folder named "patch".

Compile the override files into a hak file.

Insert the compiled hak into the patch folder (and make sure that the name of the hak file is in the nwnpatch.ini file).

The path for patch files can also be changed to look for patch files in the hak folder by tweaking the nwn.ini file.