The editor is a major consideration for my desire to purchase this game, and I was wondering if anyone has messed around with the editor for a few hours or days, and can give me some brief pros and cons? I'd like to understand what the editor is currently like, as I've read some people in the Steam forums experiencing bugs and a general feeling that the editor is 'locked down'. I don't mind learning the tool-set, I just want to know if it actually works well.

Thanks in advance!

I tried the editor myself, and AFAIK it's till in beta.
Since I only messed around with it a little (I just finished the turorials on Larian's youtube channel), it is possible that what I say is inaccurate. I would check it now, and be able to tell you better, but my gaming PC has broken down, and this laptop I'm using now can't even run the NWN toolset :(

It's very easy to use and has a huge potential, but I personally want to wait until it's out of beta.
For example in order to write a script, *any* script, you have to use 3rd party tools to extract raw script data from the game files. IMO this is something the editor should provide by itself.
You can't (yet?) import your own assets. (Or I'm just stupid, and haven't found out how^^)
You have NPC templates, with pre-made NPCs, instead of being able to make one yourself. (Or I'm just stupid, and haven't found out how^^)

I strongly recommend you to check out the Larian tutorials on their Youtube channel to see what the editor can do.
Those videos show you how super easy it is to build houses, terrain, regional enviroment effects and other stuff :D

I personally stopped learning NWN Aurora for the sake of this awesome editor, but I'd prefer to wait until it's out of beta.

Edit because I can't spell ._.

Improvements of some sort are likely: http://www.larian.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=514692#Post514692

I think the 'locked down' thing may relate to the fact that you currently need 'developer rights' (i.e. to be Larian) to make easy changes to the main module. I've no idea whether that's set to change.

http://www.larian.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=504576
http://www.larian.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=509029
http://www.larian.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=525839

Editor? What huh?

Yes, in the Steam workshop there is a small map where you play as 4 Crabs trying to flee from the chef's kitchen (and his boiling cooking pot presumably)
I'm looking forward for those custom-made adventures once I stomped the void dragon's behind back to the abyss.

Thanks for your reply, I think I'll wait a bit for the moment. I've been watching Larian's videos and that's what made me want to get this really quick, haha. Oh cool, I love NWN as well, how are you finding that editor to be, :)? Thanks for those links, I'll keep an eye out, :). I would've thought they'd allow the module to be changed because I recall in one video for the editor they stated we'd be able to modify the landscape and such of the official campaign. Maybe they're reneging on that.

Np :)

You mean the NWN editor? I'm not a great expert myself, but by following a simple tutorial I was able to go from "total noob" to "can make a very basic module" in under 2 days. It can be a bit confusing at the beginning, but overall it's very easy to use and learn, with almost limitless customization, especially if you count the almost endless amount of user-made content.
Creating custom classes/descriptions can be tedious (edit several .2da files, merge .tlk files into 1, avoid being confused as hell @_@), but from what I experienced so far this is the only negative thing about it.
Even the scripting is easy, thanks to the pre-written commands :) (and this comes from the mouth of someone, who only ever "wrote" a script in RPG maker 2003 before.....)

I LOVE both NWN editors. If you're a noobie and you want to try your hand at making an RPG they are without peer. Aurora (NWN) is the easiest to use and has a shallower learning curve, but Electron (NWN2) is still very easy to use.

Electron is much more powerful and has better graphics, but it has some drawbacks.

- Making areas is a ton of work, so making maps is MUCH more time consuming (especially outdoor maps because they are no longer tileset based like they were in Aurora).
- Electron does not support ridable horses.
- While there are some new character options (races and prestige classes) in my opinion they don't add much to the game and there are no significant gameplay improvements over Aurora. There is still no Z axis so neither game supports swimming or flying.
- The tools needed to mod (specifically animating) Electron assets are much harder to use and more expensive than the ones used by the old Aurora toolset, so there is a lot less community content for it.
- By the time NWN2 came out a culture of greed had begun to take over among NWN custom content makers. The collapse of the vault has made the whole debate meaningless, but in an attempt to garner "votes" and HoF badges in the vault people got very stingy about letting people actually use the content they released. This means there are no real "Hak Packages" like the CEP, CCP, CTP, or D20 modern available for NWN2 because getting permissions to bundle in content became altogether too much of a pain in the rump.
- It's not very well optimized. While the graphics are much better than anything the old NWN engine supported, they should be even better considering the graphics resources they use. The NWN2 engine is a terrible resource hog.

In the end I still prefer NWN and Aurora, but both toolsets are AWESOME.

I will definitely grab a copy of this game the next time it goes on sale, though. I'd like to see the editor. I'm quite certain it won't be able to hold a candle to my beloved NWN, but I still like to keep my horizons nice and broad.

Hopefully by the time D:OS goes on sale, the editor will be out of beta :D

If they add NPC customization (customization options in Aurora are truly endless^-^), and the ability to import custom content, I will fully switch to D:OS editor from Aurora :)

If you want to see what the editor can do now, without waiting for a sale, Larian has many videos on their Youtube channel :)