Neverwinter Nights Update 169
nyquil superstar writes "Just thought everyone might like to know, there are a whole bunch of updates at Bioware's NWN Linux Client Page. Includes goodies like the timing of future releases and betas, how to install the Linux client and future(!) expansions, and updates on the movies and sound issues. The quick version: sound is in and they will release a Linux client before they integrate a movie player. Oh, and you'll need to download the game's resource data or use a Windows install, the CD is only good for the reg. key and Windows install. Good news though, because it sounds like it's getting close."
Re:Gamers.. (Score:3, Insightful)
Seems to me it is the games that are needed to make Linux a gaming OS.
-jfedor
So what? (Score:3, Insightful)
I have been playing the NWN client on windows 2000 since last summer. It is stable (as much as nwn can be for it being nwn) and runs great for hours at a time. The win32 server also has stayed up for 12 hours at a time before needing a reboot (this is good for a nwn server).
This might be a big step for linux gameing but it is still not that big of a deal. Anyone who is serious about NWN should just stick to the windows version like the rest of the serious gamers in the world.
*hides from the flaming cows that are about to be shot at him*
Bolt-On Programming (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm not a programmer, but this seems like such an easy task. They have the engine, the art, and the interfaces. The engine should be good to go. The movies should be re-encoded into another format that plays natively in Windows and Linux. The interface should use wrappers.
Hell, even the wankers using WineX have been running NWN for a while.
This should be a lesson for future projects. Don't try and bolt on functionality that was never intended. Either do it right (cross platform) from the start, or not at all.
Re:Bolt-On Programming (Score:1, Insightful)
I'm not a programmer
Say no more...
Re:Gamers.. (Score:4, Insightful)
How about the fact that NVidia's drivers for Linux are at least on a par with the Windows ones? They're slightly faster in some benchmarks, slghtly slower in others - over all, pretty much the same.
Besides, superior drivers or not, what we have with Linux is a Catch-22 situation. No-one will use it because their favourite games and apps aren't being released for it. On the other hand, no-one will write such things for it because no-one is using it.(Yes, I'm ignoring questions about perceived ease of installation and use, etc)
If by "Windows is better for games" you mean "there are more games available for Windows", then yes, that's true. If you mean that Windows has a broader range of supported hardware as far as games is concerned, then yes, that's true. If you mean that Linux is fundamentally too slow, or it's too hard to install games under Linux, then all I can say is that you've never played UT, Q3, etc on a machine with an NVidia card and drivers installed. Easy to install, and just as fast (qualitatively) as the Windows versions.
Fundamentally, the reason that (commercial) games aren't released for Linux is three-fold: lack of userbase, lack of good hardware support, fragmentation of distributions. These reasons are all very much inter-related.
Wait a sec. (Score:4, Insightful)
Well the reg key is on the book, so if that's the only reason to buy it then Bioware is about to flop on this. This just sounds to a regular person like you have to d/l about two disks worth of stuff-if you only use linux, or just do a mass amount of file moving from one partition to the other. Plus some extra little tweaks. This sounds very messy and poorly thought out. At least UT2k3 was simple, as was quake3, RtCW, and I am sure Doom III will be easy too. So what in the heck was the set back? Poor management that just thought at the last moment that it would be "kewl" to make it for the top three OS's out there? I bought the game and run it on Windows, if I have to go through a bunch of install crap to get it running under Linux, then I'
ll just keep it on windows. Don't give me that crap that I'm not supporting Linux game noise. I do support it but if I have to copy this, tweak that, and download this; then I would rather keep playing the version I have on Windows that is already updated, besides I can use the tools set-unlike Linux where you have to tweak wine or winex a few twists to get it running.
Extracting data (Score:3, Insightful)
I also think that if they're going to distribute a version that doesn't yet have Bink working (movie player), they ought to call it a beta, not a release version.
Re:So what? (Score:3, Insightful)
Anybody who was making a serious comment would wait until the release before making a comment about stability.
I personally am seriously looking forward to this release.
Too little, too late (Score:4, Insightful)
For multiplayer games like this, I like to play along with my gaming friends. They all bought NWN when it came out, played the hell out of it, and now they don't play it so often. So if I buy it now, I'm playing alone.
Even though the game looks promising, I'll give it a miss.
It's a milestone alright... (Score:2, Insightful)
What would be a good milestone, and something that I have yet to see is a really good game being released to Linux first (or only for Linux). Don't get me wrong, there are some good games for Linux, but nothing that has Windows gamers contemplating installing RedHat just so they can play those games. That's what I'd like to see, but it'll have to be an independent developer that does this because none of the major vendors are going to take the chance on it.
That independent developer... (Score:2, Insightful)
Game support under Linux is unfortunately sub-par. From the feel of games like Quake III to the lateness of games arriving, like NWN. It isn't always the developers fault. There just aren't all that many great and very powerful game development API kits available on Linux that are as robust as the ones available on Windows.
Part of that is the lackluster Linux gaming community. If the Linux Gaming Community took it upon itself to buy the Linux versions of games released by Loki, instead of whining about the games Loki released, or simply whining about how no publishers are releasing Linux games. Well, Loki would probably still be in business (Even with the bad book-keeping I had read something about...) and perhaps a few more companies would be out there supporting Linux games and producing Linux games.
If some company announced that they were releasing a game for Linux, even if it isn't something I generally like to play, I would buy it. Simply because I wish to see Linux move into the home entertainment realm, instead of conceding that segment of computing to Microsoft.
Re:Finally (Score:2, Insightful)
They dangled the proverbial carrot in front of Linux users face to generate more sales. I had a friend who was completely new to Linux install Linux on his machine with the hopes of playing NWN on it. Sadly, the other day I had to instruct him how to get lilo out of his MBR. I know that is not Biowares fault, however, I did not appreciate the false advertising.
Also, I don't see how releasing Linux binaries a year later helps "Linux gaming".
Re:Finally (Score:3, Insightful)
This must be a project management failure of immense proportions... how can anyone so totally miss a goal? Even a 10 minute discussion at project start to rule out unportable APIs, formats and approaches could have avoided such a mess. christ, even the game files were put onto the cd in a non-portable format, you have to download the data off the net or copy from a windows install?? geez.