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Neverwinter Nights seriesOnline Services Shutdown(37 posts)(37 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted May 13, 2014
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Darvin: The only issues arising from this will be that people with physical copies will lose the ability to patch, and the three DRM-laden premium modules (Wyvren Knights of Cormyr, Pirates of the Sword Coast, and Infinite Dungeons) will cease to function.
A perfect example of the stupidity and unfairness of DRM.
Posted May 13, 2014
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Hickory: A perfect example of the stupidity and unfairness of DRM.
Indeed, it's a matter of when, not if, they finally disappear. For the NWN premium modules, that time is now.

That said, Mysteries of Westgate (the only NWN2 premium module) is safe thanks to its DRM-free inclusion in the NWN2 GOG release. This is ironic as MoW was actually delayed by almost two years because the DRM scheme wasn't ready yet. Seriously, a tie-in to a 2006 game was ready to be released in 2007, but got delayed to 2009 because some executive got all fussy about DRM. I don't care what you think about DRM, that is just jaw-dropping mismanagement.
Post edited May 13, 2014 by Darvin
Posted May 13, 2014
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AGhost_7: Time to change of engine:

http://www.nwnpodcast.com/nwnp/2014/04/22/nwnp-podcast-episode-192-xoreos-an-open-source-reimplementation-of-the-bioware-aurora-engine/
That's exciting! Thanks for the post.

Hopefully in the next few years it'll get done and then much more added.

NWN 1 was so awesome for getting stuff going fast. World building was quick, scripting/debugging was easy. Ahhhh the good 'ol games.
Posted May 14, 2014
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AGhost_7: Time to change of engine:

http://www.nwnpodcast.com/nwnp/2014/04/22/nwnp-podcast-episode-192-xoreos-an-open-source-reimplementation-of-the-bioware-aurora-engine/
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Tallima: That's exciting! Thanks for the post.

Hopefully in the next few years it'll get done and then much more added.
Well, if the guy isn't able to find someone that's good with OpenGL the project will probably be dropped. I've still got my fingers crossed though. If someone knows a fan of nwn1 that's good with OpenGL, tell him to check out Xoreos lol.
Posted May 14, 2014
For anyone worried about being able to patch a physical copy NWN (1) up the the last patch, you can freely download and use the 1.69 critical rebuild:

http://www.neverwinternights.info/players.htm#critpatch

And, yes, all of the servers that currently run NWN (and NWN2) will remain up and running as long as those individuals that are in charge of them want them up since EA and GameSpy have nothing to do with them.

Another helpful link:
http://www.neverwinternights.info/players.htm#online
Posted May 14, 2014
Here is a list of current NwN 1 & 2 multiplayer persistent world servers and their direct connect IP.
http://www.nwnlist.com/
Posted May 17, 2014
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Ional: Thanks for the links. I will download the files and make a backup, should the links not work anymore after June...
I doubt that will do any good. Those modules require a connection to Bioware's server to start (even though they apparently no longer do an account check) and when I tried them on an offline PC, they just refused to start (hanging at the initial screen for over 10 minutes before I gave up).

Unless EA/Bioware patch them to remove the server check (effectively making them DRM-free) they'll be another unfortunate example of death-by-DRM - and another good reason to avoid anything relying on EA's resources.
Posted May 20, 2014
Actually the old premium modules still work, Astral, you're just not being patient enough. After trying to connect to the authorization server for about a minute or two it will time out and the full version of the module will open.
Posted May 20, 2014
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urknighterrant: Actually the old premium modules still work, Astral, you're just not being patient enough. After trying to connect to the authorization server for about a minute or two it will time out and the full version of the module will open.
This is not my experience. I disabled all network activity and attempted to load Pirates of the Sword Coast. I went away to make myself a coffee and sandwich, which amounted to around 10-12 minutes, and the module did not authenticate. The warning dialog was still there on my return.

I exited, enabled network activity and repeated. The module authenticated almost immediately.
Posted May 21, 2014
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urknighterrant: Actually the old premium modules still work, Astral, you're just not being patient enough. After trying to connect to the authorization server for about a minute or two it will time out and the full version of the module will open.
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Hickory: This is not my experience. I disabled all network activity and attempted to load Pirates of the Sword Coast. I went away to make myself a coffee and sandwich, which amounted to around 10-12 minutes, and the module did not authenticate. The warning dialog was still there on my return.

I exited, enabled network activity and repeated. The module authenticated almost immediately.
Yes. You must be connected to the internet. But the full version of the module will authenticate regardless of whether or not you actually bought the premium mod. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say the full version of the game will open when the module fails to connect to the authentication server.
Post edited May 21, 2014 by urknighterrant
Posted May 21, 2014
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Hickory: This is not my experience. I disabled all network activity and attempted to load Pirates of the Sword Coast. I went away to make myself a coffee and sandwich, which amounted to around 10-12 minutes, and the module did not authenticate. The warning dialog was still there on my return.

I exited, enabled network activity and repeated. The module authenticated almost immediately.
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urknighterrant: Yes. You must be connected to the internet. But the full version of the module will authenticate regardless of whether or not you actually bought the premium mod. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say the full version of the game will open when the module fails to connect to the authentication server.
Well that's damned confusing! It will authenticate if it can't connect to the server, but it won't authenticate if it can't connect to the server? How does that work? :/
Posted May 21, 2014
My understanding of the situation is that you must be authenticated by the server, but the server is configured to just approve everyone. When it gets pulled down, the premium modules will cease to function.
Posted May 22, 2014
I'm not sure what's going on but EA/Bioware has made it pretty clear in it's public statements that the authentication server is already down and has been permanently taken off line. It seems unlikely that they would make special allowances that would benefit old Atari customers. It seems more likely that old pre-EA Bioware would design their DRM to continue to run after the authentication server went down, but it would need to verify that it was online or all you'd need to do to beat it is go offliine. There are plenty of ways it could do this... perhaps by shaking hands with a local mail server or some other more permanent bit of infrastructure if it can't reach the authentication server.
Posted May 22, 2014
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urknighterrant: I'm not sure what's going on but EA/Bioware has made it pretty clear in it's public statements that the authentication server is already down and has been permanently taken off line. It seems unlikely that they would make special allowances that would benefit old Atari customers. It seems more likely that old pre-EA Bioware would design their DRM to continue to run after the authentication server went down, but it would need to verify that it was online or all you'd need to do to beat it is go offliine. There are plenty of ways it could do this... perhaps by shaking hands with a local mail server or some other more permanent bit of infrastructure if it can't reach the authentication server.
That kind of illogical reasoning is hogwash. DRM is DRM, and authentication is authentication. It's far more likely that what everybody else has been saying will happen, will happen: the modules will simply cease to function. That's what online DRM does.
Posted May 22, 2014
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urknighterrant: I'm not sure what's going on but EA/Bioware has made it pretty clear in it's public statements that the authentication server is already down and has been permanently taken off line. It seems unlikely that they would make special allowances that would benefit old Atari customers. It seems more likely that old pre-EA Bioware would design their DRM to continue to run after the authentication server went down, but it would need to verify that it was online or all you'd need to do to beat it is go offliine. There are plenty of ways it could do this... perhaps by shaking hands with a local mail server or some other more permanent bit of infrastructure if it can't reach the authentication server.
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Hickory: That kind of illogical reasoning is hogwash. DRM is DRM, and authentication is authentication. It's far more likely that what everybody else has been saying will happen, will happen: the modules will simply cease to function. That's what online DRM does.
I don't think you appreciate what a great company Bioware was before they got gobbled up by EA. They didn't want to use DRM at all on the premium mods, but the publisher forced their hand. I could totally see them designing their DRM to allow the game to survive the authentication server.
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This is my favourite topic
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Neverwinter Nights seriesOnline Services Shutdown(37 posts)(37 posts)
(37 posts)