Gamespy Replacement Mastering Service : NWNCore Mezzanine - NWN1 and NWN2 Supported

[Legacy_Visavant]

               The game automatically adds it.

Testing a patch update which introduces support for registering the NWN1 / NWN2 game executibles as protocol handlers. That is to say, clicking a link will bring up NWN with the +connect parameter to connect to the server linked from the web.

Status on the service : 
I may be able to turn the services up sooner than anticipated, though I'm working pretty diligently to ensure that the updated patcher also reflects new changes and proper support for NWN1 and NWN2's updates. Given the time it takes to push updates to the IGN vault, I'll instead provide an internal autoupdater to the patcher just in case that uses an external mirror.

For those folks in my messages queue, don't worry, as new tiers of tests are completed, I'll be requesting more of you to run the preliminary patcher and we'll see what results are gained before turning this puppy loose for it's first release Sunday evening.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Visavant, 09 décembre 2012 - 06:27 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Melkior_King]

               Thank you.  I guessed that would be the case.

You now have one server (mine) pointing to your site.  It restarts automatically every 24 hours.  You may use the requests it sends to test your site.

I also modified the copy of the game I usually use.

I hope that this is useful to you in testing your site.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Visavant]

               Almost, I need to send you the prelim patcher if you're using Windows.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Visavant, 09 décembre 2012 - 06:53 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Melkior_King]

               What does the prelim patcher do?  Do other files also need to be updated to the new address?  You have my email address if you want to send me the files.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Visavant]

               Updates just nwmain / nwserver for both NWN1 and 2, no other files needed. It modifies the infogrames/bioware DNS entries as well. From your hosts file edit, I'm seeing your server as well.

(Yes testers, I'm aware there's a bug offsetting the XML creation process, it's on my to-do list...). 


               
               

               

                     Modifié par Visavant, 09 décembre 2012 - 07:24 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Melkior_King]

               I've had very little to do with XML.  All I care about is if it works or not. :-)

But if you need help with scripting or even cobbling together a "mickey mouse" program, I can probably help there.

(For the uninitiated, a "Mickey Mouse" program usually is a run-one-time solution to a temporary problem.  Like a comic book story which is usually read then forgotten)

Perhaps I should point out that I'm simply using XVI32 to edit the game files.  It's not as quick and easy as a patcher, but it's quick and easy enough for me. :-)

Edit:  I'll write a quick & simple patcher in Liberty Basic.  It won't be small since LB requires several DLL and SLL support files, but it will be easy to implement and distribute.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Melkior_King, 09 décembre 2012 - 08:09 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Visavant]

               The screen seen has only a visual debugging hook into the XML normalization process at this time. The XMLs generated is what is packaged onto a CDN hosted cache which stands as the basis of populating NWN1 and NWN2 server browser lists from standalone 3rd party, and web apps others can write. Later on I'll write a bit more informative app that shows end to end what the server is doing including the UDP relay. As more servers patch up, the lists will grow automatically. I saw someone authored a standalone matchmaking option based on historic server data, I think I'll throw in support of NWNCore requesting status information from the historic servers and building XMLs from that too.

Once base functionality is established today, I'll re tackle the clientside this week.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Visavant, 09 décembre 2012 - 08:05 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Borrie BoBaka]

               Once everything is in order we'll have to try and distribute this replacement as far and as wide as possible. If anyone knows of any other sites that have constant activity for Neverwinter users outside of the Vault, Nexus, and NWConnections, it'd be helpful to know of them so we can spread the news. If all else fails, I'll do some missionary work for each server that I can to try and directly inform their hosts of this fix.

It's more than just supplying Server hoppers with a convenient method of hopping servers, but the list was the most basic and critical part of advertising servers to players. Without it, we loose a big part of our public visibility. I'm glad we're able to restore it, but it means nothing if we can't spread the word.

Before completion however, we can still make sure we can get as many people as possible aware of this topic. We'll need to unite everyone so we can carry on as if nothing happened.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Melkior_King]

               I'm planning on telling gog.com about this fix as soon as it's working reliably.  They can patch their copy of the files and repackage them into their installer.  Current users can download the updated package and reinstall, or download a patcher which I expect gog.com will be willing to provide.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Borrie BoBaka]

               

Melkior_King wrote...

I'm planning on telling gog.com about this fix as soon as it's working reliably.  They can patch their copy of the files and repackage them into their installer.  Current users can download the updated package and reinstall, or download a patcher which I expect gog.com will be willing to provide.

They likely can't or won't alter the existing exes for purity's sake, but I'll bet they'll be willing to direct customers to the patch as a third party solution to fixing the game. Either way they're still a valuable contact.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Jez_fr]

               THANK YOU for working this people =) *caps intentional*
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Melkior_King]

               

Borrie BoBaka wrote...

Melkior_King wrote...

I'm planning on telling gog.com about this fix as soon as it's working reliably.  They can patch their copy of the files and repackage them into their installer.  Current users can download the updated package and reinstall, or download a patcher which I expect gog.com will be willing to provide.

They likely can't or won't alter the existing exes for purity's sake, but I'll bet they'll be willing to direct customers to the patch as a third party solution to fixing the game. Either way they're still a valuable contact.

Good Old Games may not be allowed to alter the exe files for legal reasons, but as you say, they'll almost certainly distribute or at least link to the patch program.

However I think that there's at least an even chance that the rights they insist on getting along with the rights to distribute the game would allow them to edit the game in this way.  After all, it's part of "making it compatible with current systems", with only a slight stretching of the point. '>
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Visavant]

               Please feel free to make feature requests in this thread for the service turning up tonight. I'll implement them as quickly as possible over the coming days.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Melkior_King]

               All I want is the same functionality as GameSpy had.  Namely, compile a list of active servers and provide that list to game clients so the players can choose a server easily.

If it works as it did with GameSpy, I'll be satisfied.  Anything else is just icing on the cake.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Borrie BoBaka]

               Everything the service provides is what I'd like, but the most important thing I want to eliminate is the "GameSpy Server Error: No challenge value was received from the master server." error.