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NWN Linux Client Not So Delayed after All?
Sir Joltalot writes "It seems as if the NWN linux client might not be as delayed after all. From the client page: "We have just been informed by Rad Game Tools that they have Linux versions of both Bink and Miles. ... This solves the two outstanding issues with the Linux Client, and I bet we will have even more good news for you in the coming week in terms of future Betas or Demos of the Linux Client."" You'll excuse me if I opt against holding my breath ;)
With all this excitement about the linux client, I haven't heard anything about an OS X one - anyone know if one in the works?
sic transit gloria mundi
Nice!
:)
a Pity it wont be befor the 24th.
Just yesterday I was thinking of getting the windows version, now I dontknow what to do, but I think Ill wait.
I dont have enough money to by both.
errera hunamum ets
http://nwn.bioware.com/about/macversion.html
Hmm. If they have linux versions, why not make them available on their website? The video tools are freely available for Windows, so having the linux version floating around surely would only help further adoption of their tech.
I can understand why they wouldnt release source - but would sticking the client and encoders up hurt them?
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
The only reason I have XP dual booting on my home machine is for NWN. I don't use windows for ANYTHING else.
Can't wait for the client, I can reclaim a gig of space on my hard drive.
I have access to and just recently finished the Neverwinter Nights game start to finish, about 99.9% of it playing on the NetBSD machine as server. There were only a very few problems I encountered:
0. I had to create the directories "currentgame.0" and "temp.0" before I could get gameplay out of the server running on NetBSD using Linux emulation with the Suse7 emu package.
1. The most difficult to deal with were module transitions--from chapter to chapter. These had to be saved before the transition, the saves had to be moved to the windows machine, the transition completed on a windows local server, then saved again, moved back, and restarted.
I'm certain there's something simple that I could be doing--have the script check regularly (every second?) for some kind of disk structure, or perhaps fixing something else, but I was too anxious to get to the next chapter to sit there and do a ktrace of what was happening. I have a pile of saved games I can monkey with though (about 100 of them) so I'll get to it eventually.
I did not try to move it to a Windows server to see if this would make a difference. I suspect it would've worked perfectly.
So, I'd recommend saving yourself a headache and just use the Windows version. I play games for entertainment, coolness, sex appeal, geek factor, etc., but I don't wish to spend an hour tweaking stuff just right so I can play on GNU/Linux.
P.S. If you must play on Linux/BSD, please know that saving the game in the middle of an area to area transition (not module to module--that just plain didn't work) caused a freeze and core-dump in the server.
INVALID FORM KEY : 1N50V137RU551A
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that the REAL story here is the availability of Bink and Miles. These two tools are widely used in the gaming industry, and should make porting of MANY games and other multimedia apps (not just NWN) a real possibility. In fact, a quick look at Rad Game Tools page shows 2,700 games that use the Miles API. Bink is pretty cool too...used in quite a few games as well.
-JT
it would be nice to see the game finally running under linux..
i already played 2 chapters under windows and the game is great
stop supporting microsoft with pirating their software!!!!!
...you must be so proud.
It will be free for download for anyone who already has the game. (So you'll need to have an account on their site). Why do you think it's under the "Downloads" section? :)
Using your trusty local Hex Editor open up nwmain.exe. Change the two bytes at offset C66A from their old values (E8 D1) to the new values (EB 3F).
Enjoy.
Did they even bother to ask? I wonder how many other games or software projects have been delayed because the developers didn't bother to ask anyone if there were already wheels out there while they tried to invent their own.
SteweyGriffin is a troll. Here is his request to be added to trollback.
Disciples II is also using the Bink engine to play animations. So that would make the recently announced port much much easier.
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
I mean duh
First they use tools they know only exist on mac/win while also knowing they promissed to make a linux port.
Then they announce to the world that they are months behind because linux tools dont exist, when they actually do for anyone who asks.
I completed the game, and I can say that it's a blast! Plus, making your own modules is great. Patience for the linux client will be WELL worth it. Trust me.
I heard they're just ironing out the last bugs in getting a generic PS/2 mouse working. Next up, PS/2 keyboards!!! Woohoo! I won't have to use an AT keyboard out of the scrap heap anymore.
Everyone seems to be cheering the fact that NWN will hopefully have a way to play movies and sound come monday because of a linux version of RAD tools..
HELLO, People... Lets think about this one moment...
They announced MONTHS ago that they where going to Launch with a NWN Linux Client..
Then they turn around and say its going to be delayed..
Now in the last week they main delay is not having a clue of what to do about sound and movie?
Is it just me or does anyone else thing that this whole thing started out as nothing but a large STUNT to get more sales and it has turned around and bit them in the REAR..
MONTHS down the road and they are just now telling us that they can't play sound or movies.
And here we are 2 weeks before X-mas.. Even if they where 100% complete with everything else they would still have to integrate, and test these 2 very important show stopping features.
HOW CAN YOU ANNOUNCE A LINUX CLIENT AT LAUNCH AND NOT EVEN HAVE A REMOTE IDEA OF HOW YOU PLAN ON SUPPORTING YOUR MOVIES AND SOUND...
This false advertising beats out fast food, They fleece you every time you order a burger from there picture based menus, pictures that make your mouth water, and get something that looks like it was sat on.
Personal Website
you forgot tuxracer!
mstyne: real name, no gimmicks
Jeez, we finally get word that the client is almost done, and there's not one decent post in the whole stinking story.
;).
:)
Personally, I think that the story of bioware should help a lot, both for linux gamers and developers. It should remind the developers that you should never, ever, EVER make a cross-platform game with non-cross-platform parts. Bioware got so incredibly lucky with this, I have no idea what they would do if they didn't have Bink and Miles available... I would have doubts about a winter date. As for the gamers, I think that this is a great opportunity to get a native game that isn't an FPS, supported by the developers (with an expansion on the way, too). I know that it's very easy to sigh and condemn bioware and all this silliness, but hey, at least they're doing it. And we should be happy and support them by buying it to ensure their future support of linux (now that they have gotten their act together
Also, hello to all the guys from the Great Linux Client Thread!
..to actually buy the Linux version once it hits shelves (or more then likely, the stock of your favorate online retailer). Without support for their efforts, Bioware won't throw money towards future ports.
My understanding is that we will be able to download the Linux binaries for free if you bought the windows version. I don't know about the Mac Version.
This post was generated by a Cadre of Uber Monkeys for Monkey-Man2000 (603495).
They announced another big delay of an already tremendously late product because of the unavailability of some components without even bothering to check with the maker of those components. And yet some people seem to believe Bioware are "working hard" in this port. Awesome.
With this level of interest on Bioware's side, I can only imagine how buggy NWN for Linux will be when it is "finished".
Dr white time?
Imagine that at project start, the future availability of Bink and Miles for Linux was "promised" to Bioware. After the collapse of Loki and other developments, Rad Game Tools declines to release said products.
While working feverishly to roll their own solution, Bioware publicly states that this is the reason they are being held back.
Sam Lantiga suddenly shows up out of the blue on the NWN forums to reveal that he had previously ported Miles and submitted the code back to RGT.
The Rabid Linux Zealots flood RGT's mail server...
RGT admits that they do have a working Bink and Miles for Linux.
grassy knoll... area 51...
All kings is mostly rapscallions. -Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
With all the whining I have heard about the delays in the Linux client im suprised BW even bothered continuing work on it. Where is the value to BW in finishing it. The delays have turned into bitches and gripes that only fuels bad press - like that which is found in the headline on this site ("i wont hold my breath") BW, in its slow way, is actually doing the linux community a favor by developing for the platform at all - and hopefully when there done, people will buy it - thus showing the gaming community that Id isn't the only company that can make a headliner game for Linux and be successful. So stop yer bitchin. You don't have to love or even support the delays or even the effort of BW to make the game. Be cynical all you want but shut up about it. If your gonna bitch - bitch if no game comes ever does come out. And then when you do bitch, make sure you bitch at all the people who could only whine during the development and showed the world what an ingrateful lot the Linux community can be at timews.
Lookie here, Linux always gets a mention :).
g s/ 20021212_hoc.shtml
http://nwn.stratics.com/content/community/hoclo
Portable applications are well designed applications.
One guess as to why this port has been so difficult for them.
I'm seriously curious here... why is Bioware releasing a Linux client? Please understand, I run Linux and I'm desperate to get a Linux client myself, I just don't understand Bioware's business reasons for this.
Bioware isn't likely to make back the money they've sunk into porting to Linux, not in sales they'd otherwise not have received. Yes, they'll certainly gain some good will from the Linux community but still...
Certainly, matters are different with the stand-alone linux server. Porting that didn't take much effort and this adds value to the product quite obviously.
So what's my theory? Bioware is using NWN to get some cross-platform experience for a future project. They know they aren't going to make their money back on the development of a linux client for NWN but that doesn't matter to them. The experience they get from this port is the value they are looking for and they plan to leverage this experience on future projects. Those are the ones Bioware expects to see a payback.
Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia.
"We have just been informed by Rad Game Tools that they have Linux versions of both Bink and Miles.
You mean... They didn't ask?!
Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes. --E. W. Dijkstra
The RAD tools are available on the Mac also. This they have known for some time. If all they need is opengl, miles sound system and bink video support then why isn't the Mac client finished? Doubtless, many people will now whip themselves into an even greater frenzy waiting for the Linux client to ship. Don't let it happen to you!
Will I be able to develop levels and DM using Linux? From what I hear this is all the fun in the game.
When I preordered it was supposed to be shiped in box. They will get more money from me the instant they refund my purchase in full.
I live in a giant bucket.
You know what the sadest part of this whole thing is? It took the Linux NWN Community to let Bioware know that Linux versions of these libraries were available. I do not know who is in charge of analysis and design for NWN, but they have seriously screwed up. First, Bio announces that they are having sound issues and movie issues because they used libraries that are available only on Win/Mac. Leads me to wonder how they ever thought there would be a concurrent release for all three platforms. Second, they didn't work with RAD to find out if Linux ports of these libraries were in the works or how hard it would be to do this. Basically, there were bad design decisions made at the front-end of this project. Other standards should have been considered, such OpenAL and MPEG4. Anyway, my .02.
I tired of the bull. I want my game that I paid for! Id even be cool if they put out unstable builds, whatever. As a linux user I'm used to it.
-makoffee
the only drawback was that map rotation was manual
I guess it would not that hard to write a sniffer to look for special control phrases in the chat logs [like i do for everquest - I can call up maps & item searches, recipies, any url, send email etc.etc.]
but NWN server never/rarely crashed on me - it did kind of bork the response of the public web server sometimes by CPU hogging but hey, that's life
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
there are options for other people who haven't bought the game yet. well, one option at least. you can order it from TuxGames - they'll count it as a Linux sale. And you'll get a CD with the client on it. I wish I could go back in time and do this. I'm glad I ordered UT2K3 from them at least.
This is a *Linux* program and you're advising against using it because it doesn't work properly...on your *BSD* box! Did you ever consider the far-more-likely possibility that it's a *BSD* issue -- improperly emulating the Linux environment -- instead of a NWN issue?
If you wanted things working out of box (you "don't wish to spend an hour tweaking stuff") and you purchased a *Linux* program, for God's sake, *use Linux*.
May we never see th
I'd just like to say that the amount of benefit that Sam Latinga has brought the Linux community is incredible. He did SDL, and released it freely. He did a few support libraries, and released them freely. He worked with Loki to port commercial games, and even now that he's working at the ever-so-nasty-and-Linux-hating Blizzard, he's still churning out good stuff.
A hearty thanks from us all!
May we never see th
all the times i've said to myself.. woo I can't wait to get home, boot up my linux machine to play some tuxracer!
Right now, Blizzard's support of Linux gamers is better than Bioware's. None of them have a working game for Linux, but at least Blizzard has not deceived Linux gamers like Bioware has. Incidentally, the sound system used by NWN has been ported to Linux by Sam Lantinga -- currently a Blizzard employee.
Sure.. keep laughing funny man... when apocolypse comes who be laughing then?
"Expansion Packs"
Blizzard's support of Linux gamers is better than Bioware's
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! That's a keeper.
None of them have a working game for Linux
I suppose you're too uninformed to be aware of the Linux dedicated server that Bioware has had out for NWN.
We'll be generous and assume that you were just talking about the client. One has put plenty of effort and risk into writing Linux based code and is about to release a supported Linux client. The other has repeatedly stated flat out that they will not support Linux, that there is no money in the Linux market, and has attacked an open-source server project (bnetd). You must be using some rather original reasoning to reach your conclusion s.
Incidentally, the sound system used by NWN has been ported to Linux by Sam Lantinga -- currently a Blizzard employee
Again, it seems that you don't know what you're talking about, but I'll make it simple. SL is a great guy, and has been doing Linux gaming work for ages, well before he worked for Blizzard or anyone. He was actually *paid* by Loki. Blizzard, on the other hand, hasn't put a single cent into supporting Linux, and is not supporting SL in his work. About the only thing you can say in their favor is that they aren't threatening to fire him or something for doing what coding he wants to do in his free time, which is a pretty pathetic endorsement.
Blizzard is about as solidly anti-Linux as an entertainment dev house can get, and Bioware is one of the few companies that's taken some risk to support Linux users. Your comment is both uninformed and out of line.
May we never see th
Your gaming tastes must be pretty original if you consider a server is a game.
Seven months ago Bioware was about to release a supported Linux client. And three months ago. And a month ago. When and if they release, maybe you'll have something to praise them for. Until then, it's vaporware.
Yes, I value honesty, this original new concept.
And I know about Sam Lantinga, I bet I was in Linux gaming well before you. I don't know if Blizzard helped him with the Miles port. If they did, it looks good on Blizzard. If they did not, it looks bad on Bioware, who couldn't do in many months what Sam has done in his free time.
You call Blizzard anti-Linux for clearly stating their opinion about Linux gaming, and Bioware pro-Linux for making some promises about a Linux client and then breaking many of them. Maybe it's you who are uninformed.
I am very surprised noone has pointed out yet that this post came 1 day after this story hit Slashdot. Bioware normally does an update of the client status once a week every Friday, sometimes even missing that. Then Slashdot posts a story that the client is extra delayed, and the NEXT DAY Bioware posts that linux versions of the two main tools they said they needed are now magically available. This is some major ass-covering here. I don't expect to see the linux client any sooner, but maybe Bioware will get its act together about making more substantive updates. Squeaky wheel gets the grease...
The Bioware *devs* have not yet lied about anything, or gotten any release date wrong. They haven't exactly been forthcoming about information, but when they *do* say something it's happened, every time.
Redundant? WTF? Time for me to kill some bitch ass moderators.
mstyne: real name, no gimmicks
how is living at home going for you?
Yeah, this week I was busy fucking your mother. She is ugly, and rather stupid, but I told her that was okay because all Islamic woman are stupid. Well, I saw your mothers chopped up clitoris, your foul family members carved it from her when she was 13. Anyways, I said to her, fuck Islam, man, its bullshit. Organized religions are cults, and this is the fuckin' worst. So I got her to suck me off, lick my nuts and my ass too. And I gave it to her in the pussy and the ass. She liked it, but she would have came harder if she still had a clit. After that we considered giving a few dollars to the JNF in honor of freedom, snacked on some bacon and talk of Mohammed being a nigger and a fraud, and how Islam is a fake shit religion. She knew I was right. I gave her a slice of cock your fucking boy loving fucking father could never give.
Hey, Islamic death killer... When you dad fucked you in your ass, did he tell you it was Allah's anger?
you should rig an ambulance to blow up or throw sick people from a hospital. that would be your normal pushing technique.
death killer islam is satan you are pagans caliphate means death islam is death. kill all muslims.
you make love to pigs, you fuck them, your rim job the dirty pig ass, you make love to the piglets, the mother pig you fuck her hairy folds, you get laid by the big pig dick you fucking mulsim killer
Yeah, this week I was busy fucking your mother. She is ugly, and rather stupid, but I told her that was okay because all Islamic woman are stupid. Well, I saw your mothers chopped up clitoris, your foul family members carved it from her when she was 13. Anyways, I said to her, fuck Islam, man, its bullshit. Organized religions are cults, and this is the fuckin' worst. So I got her to suck me off, lick my nuts and my ass too. And I gave it to her in the pussy and the ass. She liked it, but she would have came harder if she still had a clit. After that we considered giving a few dollars to the JNF in honor of freedom, snacked on some bacon and talk of Mohammed being a nigger and a fraud, and how Islam is a fake shit religion. She knew I was right. I gave her a slice of cock your fucking boy loving fucking father could never give.
Hey, Islamic death killer* When you dad fucked you in your ass, did he tell you it was Allah's anger?
you should rig an ambulance to blow up or throw sick people from a hospital. that would be your normal pushing technique.
death killer islam is satan you are pagans caliphate means death islam is death. kill all muslims.
you make love to pigs, you fuck them, your rim job the dirty pig ass, you make love to the piglets, the mother pig you fuck her hairy folds, you get laid by the big pig dick you fucking mulsim killer
"But I don't want to go on the cart..."
"Oh, don't be such a baby!"
"But I'm feeling much better..."
"No you're not... in a moment you'll be stone dead!"
-- Monty Python, "The Holy Grail"
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