Bioware Releases Neverwinter Nights Linux Client Beta 335
valedaemon writes "Well, I thought that the world would end before this day dawned, but Bioware has finally made good on its promise of a Linux client for Neverwinter Nights. You still need a Windows installation in order to copy the game data, but the good news is that the downloadable is only 4.4 MB. I could write more, but why? Go play!"
Not all features represented (Score:5, Informative)
Oh, great (Score:3, Funny)
Looks like there's no difference between Linux and Windows users after all.
Woo Hoo! (Score:3, Interesting)
Link (Score:5, Informative)
W00...close call for me. (Score:5, Funny)
I entered the cave.
*use lantern*
The lantern lights a path and you see linuxNWN.tar.gz
*download linuxNWN.tar.gz*
You hath established connection and are downloading linuxNWN.tar.gz at 88KBps
*wistle dixie*
10%
*wistles*
35%
*wistles faster*
52%
*curse thy slashdot*
You have cursed at the slashdot administrators.
*grin*
A firey elementa of CowboyNeal appears before you.
*grovel*
CowboyNeal demands, "Why hath though cursed me through these halls, lest though die from thy vile dead?"
*kiss feet, explain the echoing of words on slashdot as being construed by the kobolds, trolls, and gnomes in the walls of this dungeon, and the stress from the occasional double post*
CowboyNeal forgives, leaving warning: "You hath finish thy download at a mere 10KBps, and henceforth I will shut up further seeds from download of thy file by SLASHDOT AFFECT!"
*praise cowboyneal for sparring thy download*
99.999999%
*shake off tarantulas, swap file with *NULL, run through hall, jump over chasm, run away from ball*
Phew, you are panting. You arrive at a lake; a strange man is sitting on a hydrofoil plane and is fishing...
*play game*
You die of a poison dart
Re:W00...close call for me. (Score:3, Funny)
Just downloaded it. (Score:3, Informative)
Success - Debian Woody / GeForce4MX (Score:5, Informative)
Neverwinter Nights works with:
[X] Debian Woody 3.0
Re:Success - Debian Woody / GeForce4MX (Score:2, Informative)
Why have redundant files when you don't need to?
Yeah but you can create for NwN (Score:5, Informative)
Why? (Score:5, Interesting)
This begs the point, why even bother with a linux version at all? Its nice that Bioware did make the game playable on Linux, but shelling out for a copy of windows to be able to play it seems counter-productive. Second, why didn't Bioware make a linux installer for the game files. I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to have a hard-drive based installer that looks to the CD for the data.
At any rate, Bioware did make good on their promise to support Linux and Linux gamers should be grateful.
Re:Why? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Why? (Score:5, Informative)
NWN linux installers (Score:5, Informative)
Re:NWN linux installers (Score:2)
So how is the patching up to 1.29 done?
Are there any pages anywhere that give detailed instructions on how to install NWN using nothing but Linux and WineX, say?
Re:NWN linux installers (Score:2, Informative)
Wrong answer, but not hard to do. (Score:5, Interesting)
That said, I could probably whip up an extractor for it pretty quickly. Except I don't own a copy of NWN, and have no idea what InstallShield version/settings they are using.
There is absolutely no reason that this can't be done. Hey BioWare, send me a copy (heck, send me a sample
Re:Wrong answer, but not hard to do. (Score:3, Insightful)
Mine and ravage's installers both use i6comp + some temp wine crap to deal with disc1.
Disc2 is another story, someone in the nwn forum reverse engineered bioware's own archive format(.bzf) used on that CD.
Disc3 isn't archived.
If you want to create your own installer, be aware that Bioware can't legally use it anyways.
They are bound by an installshield End user license agreement
Re:Wrong answer, but not hard to do. (Score:2)
Re:Why? (Score:2)
1. This is just the beta. Things will be different in the final release. They've previously announced that a download (a very large download) would be available for people who needed it.
2. You can reasonably expect someone to put together an extractor.
Re:Why? (Score:2)
You still need your cd-key which is an ungodly long unhackable looking thing.
Let this be a lesson... (Score:5, Interesting)
I also hope Bioware has learned to keep their mouth shut if they don't know when something will be done. They lied to the community more than once about the state of the Linux client and that made many very mad...so...wise up!
Re:Let this be a lesson... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Let this be a lesson... (Score:2)
Just the usual lies (Score:3, Insightful)
Marketing and PR folks lie!!?? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Let this be a lesson... (Score:5, Informative)
Bioware said specifically up until less than a month before the launch that the Win, Mac and Linux clients would be in the same box, when development of the Mac and Linux-side clients had ceased months before in order to rush the Win version out the door.
That's not inexperience. That's a flat-out lie. Here we are, almost a year later, and there's still no Mac client, although it's reportedly in beta. Without the DM toolset. And I'm assuming that it's going to be priced as a "premium" game ($60ish).
I have to say, I've got multiple PCs capable of running NWN under either Win or Linux, and I haven't bought the game out of general principle. When there's a forthcoming Mac version, I hold out in order to support the porters. It's that simple. I put my money where my mouth is.
My mouth is saying that NWN without the toolset isn't worth the "premium" pricepoint, a year late. And I doubt that I'm alone.
FWIW, that $60ish is probably going into Shadowbane instead of NWN now, as it really is going to ship hybrid at launch -- I can play with both my Mac-owning friends, *and* those unfortunate enough to be on a Wintel box.
Re:Let this be a lesson... (Score:3, Informative)
I couldn't agree more. I was really hoping to play Neverwinter Nights with the rest of my gaming group, and also to create my own modules for them to play. It is now months later and I have yet to see even a beta of the MacOS client. Not only that, but they have also said that there will be NO toolset for MacOS. It's bad enough that they short Mac users, but they totally lied to us just about ri
Re:Let this be a lesson... (Score:2)
First of all, good work Bioware on finally get something into our hands. . . . This is why we need API's like OpenGL, OpenAL, SDL and the likes. It makes things a lot easier to release on a multiple platforms.
And yet there is no Mac client, which is a platform that not only has the wonderful open technologies you mention, but also has a larger and more captive desktop game market than Linux does. Seems to me that their Linux support is more of a cover-your-ass move than any intelligent development d
Re:Let this be a lesson... (Score:2)
Really, OSX could have killed Linux. Remember A/UX? I almost bought a Quadro in '93 just to run A/UX. However, that year Linux popped out and I had my cheapie (compared to a Quadro) 386-40 cranking with DesqView and my BBS. When Debian popped up on the university via ftp I was on it like flies on shit. Unfortunately, my ultra-expensive EGA card (which I scrounged) didn't run X at all
w00tn3ss (Score:2, Funny)
Isn't this one of the signs of the Apocalypse?
Is a copy of Windows *really* necessary? (Score:4, Interesting)
Do you actually need to have windows installed, or can you just copy the files from some other installation, or maybe from the game CD? I no longer use unlicensed software, and I refuse to pay for Windows. That does limit my options somewhat.
Re:Is a copy of Windows *really* necessary? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Is a copy of Windows *really* necessary? (Score:5, Insightful)
Turned 30, didn't ya?
Re:Is a copy of Windows *really* necessary? (Score:2)
Re:Is a copy of Windows *really* necessary? (Score:2)
Windows not necessary, but helpful. (Score:5, Insightful)
You need the data files for Neverwinter Nights. Windows itself is not needed, but getting those files without Windows might be tricky. The easiest source is to copy the files from an existing installation of the Windows version. You can try to get them off the game CD, but they're in proprietary InstallShield cab files. There are tools that claim to be able to extract from those files, but I don't know how well they'll work in this case. Wine might be willing to run the installer.
Re:Almost No... (Score:2)
Re:Almost No... (Score:2)
Re:Almost No... (Score:2)
I know what I will be doing this weekend... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I know what I will be doing this weekend... (Score:5, Insightful)
And if you don't have 35-40 dollars, and can't get it, then you shouldn't get to play the game. I can't afford a dodge viper..but I'm not about to go down to the dealership at 3am and liberate one.
Re:I know what I will be doing this weekend... (Score:2)
"Piracy" isn't illegal theft of a physical object, it's illegal copying of intellectual property. Still a crime, but I'm sick of seeing people like Valenti equate the two.
(And I use the quotes because real pirates have swords and parrots.
Re:I know what I will be doing this weekend... (Score:2)
Though I agree that Bioware really does deserve the purchase, and that pirating this particular piece of software is pretty awful.
Re:I know what I will be doing this weekend... (Score:2)
Re:I know what I will be doing this weekend... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:I know what I will be doing this weekend... (Score:2)
data 3x7r4[70rz (Score:4, Informative)
Re:data 3x7r4[70rz (Score:3, Informative)
Try manual patching, will get updater to 1.14, then I had to do a manual patch rebuild as it was having issues, then it worked and updated.
StarTux
Please port Baldur instead... (Score:2, Insightful)
Gone were the tactical combats with different party members complementing each other, which I had so loved in Baldur's Gate and other titles.
NWN is nothing more than a 3d diablo hack'n'slash clickfest as it stands now. The storyline isn't bad but the game as a whole is nothing I'll ever play again or buy sequels to.
Why oh why did they give up the winning formula from the earlier titles!?
Re:Please port Baldur instead... (Score:5, Informative)
Although with these types of games save/load tends to help a lot in single player. Did like the Green Griffon challenge quite a bit though
Where this is likely to shine the most is with Multiplayer, the above poster obviously has not found a good DM to be with. NWN actually allows too for hack'n slash, but depending on DM and module it does allow for the closest RPG experience there is.
Baldurs Gate; Great Single player games, no doubting that
StarTux
Re:Please port Baldur instead... (Score:2)
Re:NWN isn't better in MP for some of us... (Score:4, Insightful)
If you base what NWN is by playing just the OC then your missing the point of NWN. Try fireing up the toolset and seeing what it can do. Or failing that, download some of the modules that have been made with it.
While you can play the OC multiplayer, that is not what it is designed for. A well made MP module is far superior to the OC, and when you add a live DM (or several), then you reall begin to understand what NWN can be about. Of course if you have allready made up your mind then don't bother. But suffice to say that many in the RPG community find that NWN allows much more than the orignal poster gives it credit for.
Is it just me? (Score:3, Insightful)
Not to troll, and kudos to the dev for doing this, but I mean this still relies on someone having paid the MS tax to play the game.
Re:Is it just me? (Score:2)
What I remarked on was that there is thus no way to play NWN without having a pc, running windows, with NWN installed. It would just be cooler to have an environment with only linux pc's, the NWN disks and an internet connection (to d/l the linux client) an
Re:Is it just me? (Score:2)
Therefore, you cannot play NWN on linux without a copy of windows...therefore MS tax. So it is an extra, true, but not like you state.
Re:Is it just me? (Score:2)
-need an already installed NWN to get the files to copy to your linux pc/partition
-therefore, you need windows, otherwise you can't get those files; they can't be gotten directly from the install cd's (due to them being packed there).
-therefore, MS tax.
So to play on NWN on linux, you need a pc, linux, the NWN cd's, the linux client and windows. You have to pay for three of the four abovementioned articles.
Re:Is it just me? (Score:2)
My original post only said that it would be cooler if you could play NWN on linux without having to use windows. I think that's a valid point, and far from a troll.
The fact that I said you still need windows (thus having to pay the MS tax [that was not trash talk, just an easier and faster way of saying that etc etc etc]) was more +1 Informative, as it wasn't explicit in the blurb on
WooHoo!! (Score:2, Funny)
Installing the Linux Client (Score:5, Informative)
step 2. Update the windoze version to 1.29. 18meg download - and it's ssssllllloooowwwww.
step 3. Copy a pile of files over to your linux box. It would have been nice for them to include a script to do this for me.
e.g. 'getnwn
I'll write my own. Hmm, maybe I can just install the Linux client into the mounted windows directory and save me the trouble.
step 4. Install SDL if you don't already have it.
step 5. Install the NWN Linux client.
step 6. Profit!
Started this message when the update to 1.29 was at 8%. Finished this message at 58%. Damn slow.
Benchmarks? (Score:4, Interesting)
Some people just can't do things right... (Score:4, Insightful)
What a bunch of idiots... These retards take almost a full year after the release to come up with the Linux client (that they told everyone would be ready for shipping with the cds), and then this. Why should anyone put money in such a half-assed effort like this? Guess what, in the end few Linux users will buy this crap, and those morons will go: "told ya, shouldn't have invested time in the Linux market, Linux is not there yet."
*sigh* bastards....
Re:Some people just can't do things right... (Score:2, Interesting)
Arrrgh. They actually shipped the Linux beta and people are still complaining about stuff they did in the past?
You know. I just saw this thing run. Right from my WindowMaker desktop. No problems. Jesus.
It is alive. All is forgiven. Not that I was angry in past, but all is forgiven anyway.
Hey, the point i
B10\/\/4r3 are 1337 h4x0rz (Score:5, Funny)
You will have to purchase a copy of the game to get a valid Neverwinter Nights CD-Key. Of course, with this purchase you also get a lovely Neverwinter Nights mapkin, a spiral-bound game manual, and three plastic-coated aluminum-reinforced W1nd0z3 brand coasters.
Heh. Think they know who thier audience is, or what?
Soko
Laugh it up, fuzzball (Score:3, Insightful)
Now that's the way to get more developers to release products for linux. Make fun of those that do.
Well, there goes the weekend (Score:2)
Any my wife will be away for the weekend, so there's nothing to worry about there.
Oops, forgot I have to watch the kids. Oh well, they're 6 and 2 - that's old enough to fend for yourself, right?
Works fine with .27 client and Mandrake 9.1rc2 (Score:2, Informative)
Great! (Score:2)
MemeticAI Toolkit (Score:5, Interesting)
MemeitcAI Toolkit Website [summermeat.net]
It's a rewrite of Bioware's AI architecture, to allow modular behaviors that can be reprioritized, transferred, preempted (and automatically resumed), as well as a host of other features. There is a Bioware board dedicated to the project with about 150 memebers, available here:
MemeticAI Guild Site [bioware.com]
There is also a PDF explaining in detail what can be done with the core scheduler and what is in-progress. This can be found here:
MemeticToolkit PDF [summermeat.net]
Windows requires means this is a dud (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Windows requires means this is a dud (Score:2)
The Reason (Score:5, Interesting)
My guess is that they were waiting for some tools from Borland [borland.com] on the linux side.
Bioware's engine was written with Borland C++ Builder [borland.com] on Windows and they needed to use Kylix 3 [borland.com] which allows them to compile C/C++ code as well as Delphi. [borland.com]
Disclaimer: I worked on the first couple of versions of Kylix when I used to work at Borland. That said, I just want to say it really is a great development environment and you should check it out if you haven't yet. They have an Enterprise Trial and an Open Edition which can be downloaded here. [borland.com]
--
Karma: Positive --- Seems I haven't screwed up yet!
OMG Finally (Score:3, Funny)
But seriously, wow, I've been waiting almost a year for this (okay, maybe more like 9 months or so). I'm pretty happy that it's here now, since this expands the number of games I can play in Linux without having to reboot back into Windows. w00t! Although, honestly, is there even a reason I should play it in Linux rather than Windows (other than me being too lazy to reboot)? Since it's a beta it's rather crippled, and at this rate, I'm not sure it'll EVER run "as well" as the Windows version. I'm not too convinced with my Linux Q3A and RtCW (Punkbuster and performance are not up to par in Linux compared to Windows). We shall see.
Not really late.. (Score:4, Insightful)
But the fact is, the game wasn't done when it came out. You can hardly blame them for not having a linux client ready when nothing else was, either. It was very obviously pushed out the door incomplete.
For instance, the HUGE faction bug was just fixed, last week. I bought the game the day it came out, and have barely played it due to this bug. Now that it's fixed (along with a host of other problems, and new content, like rats, that should have been in there from the beginning) the game is where it should have been when it was released.
I'm not blaming the developers, of course, as that's the state of the industry. Games are pushed out before they're ready all the time. This is just another instance of that, and it's admirable that they're still working hard on a Linux client that they will probably see very few sales as a result of (most people who are going to play it on Linux probably already own it).
Linux NWN Client (Score:2, Interesting)
Its working great here! (my system stats: p4 2.0G 512Mb gentoo linux kernel 2.4.20-gentoo-r1, GeForce 4600TI, SB Live)
I tested campaign, multi-player coop, ramped up the video options.. The only thing I DIDNT test was custom content..
Its all working great! NWN in Linux!!
Woo Hoo!!
There is but a single bug I have found and that is with the mouse control.
Im going to send in a bug report - its probally not a big deal to fix..
Fantastic job BioWare!! You have seriously pushed forward into new ter
NWN Linux client + FreeBSD (Score:2)
Re:NWN Linux client + FreeBSD (Score:2)
Installing the data *without* Windows! (Score:2, Informative)
After installing the data, you're then going to need some form of Wine (the latest Wine worked for me). You then add the following to the end of ~/.wine/system.reg:
[Software//Bioware//NWN//Neverwinter] 1048122278
"Location"="X://nwn"
With drive X (or what
Tried it, General Impressions (Score:4, Interesting)
I applaud Bioware for their effort. They have given an ok first showing. They could have and really should have done a lot better, but the incompetance I've seen there isn't any worse than I've seen anywhere else. I think both the bosses and the programmers at Bioware need to be forced to read and pass a comprehension test on The Mythical Man Month, since it appears that they made every classic mistake the book warns about, of course so does virtually every other company that has someone write software for any reason, so I can't condemn them too much.
We want to play nice with anyone that tries to bring games to Linux. After all, it's a risk for them. Their marketers are telling them that Linux just doesn't have that much market share, so there's little reason to support it. If other companies are watching this, and believe me they are, whether or not they decide to support Linux will be determined by what happens to those that have gone before. If the expierence is negative, they will be less likely to support Linux in the long run.
[1] It is handy to be able to export a display etc, but doesn't that add a whole lot ov overhead? It seems to me that it would give much better performance to have a local only X server, for the average desktop machine. Of course include the regular one, but why waste those system resoruces.
Answering some of the dumber flames. (Score:4, Informative)
Second, you don't actually need windows installed, all you need is access to the game resources.
From the instructions here [bioware.com]
2. Copy the following files from a Windows installation of Neverwinter Nights (updated to 1.29) into a directory called, for example, 'nwn':
ambient/*
[snip long list of directories]
dialog.tlk
dialogF.tlk (French, German, Italian, and Spanish)
If you are using ftp to transfer the files, be sure to transfer them in binary mode.
Note the last statment in step 2. You don't need NWN installed on the windows partition of the machine you're using. It only needs to be installed on a machine you can get to. For that matter, I would bet that that machine doesn't even need to be anywhere near up to the task of running NWN. Install it, update it, and use ftp. Bioware is actually suggesting that you get them from another machine.
Other options would include:
Grabbing the files from someone who has them and a burner. You might have to get creative and use several cd's as well as creative use of zip, and then be careful to put things where they're supposed to be, but there is no reason it wouldn't work.
Even an old machine with win95osr1 should be able to handle the install, and update scripts. The game doesn't actually have to work on that machine, it only has to install and update.
Third, this is still a beta. From the old Linux update page [bioware.com] (Before the beta client was released):
Neverwinter Nights Linux Client Installation:
There are 2 things you will need for the Neverwinter Nights Linux Client, aside from the Linux Client executable:
- the game resources
- a CD-Key
You will need to get the Neverwinter Nights game resouces from one of two locations. You can either get them from an existing Windows installation of the English 1.27 build of Neverwinter Nights, or from a Neverwinter Nights Linux Game Resource download that will be available from several mirror sites. Either way, instructions will be provided with the downloads. Why must it be this way, you ask? It is because there is no feasable way to get the game resources from the InstallShield cabinet files on the Windows version CDs.
Read that carefully. There apparently will be resource files for download, they just don't appear to be ready yet. It does make me wonder though, if the Stand alone server can work for getting the resources. I tend to doubt it.
This all said, it would be better to have some sort of installer. As others have posted that such things are possible, and some have claimed to have done it, I suspect that some of the legal issues may have surrounded this specifically, and the necessity to create a click through EULA that can't be bypassed, which would be nearly impossible to do given the nature of the tools available to Linux. Such things give IP Lawyers a terrific case of the vapors, and yes I know that such things are legally ambiguious at best. Don't tell me, tell the lawyer.
Re:Blowing some Karma... (Score:2, Insightful)
Crazy thought..I know....
Re:Blowing some Karma... (Score:5, Interesting)
It's exactly these ports that will create a new market. Obviously a gaming company wouldn't be interested in having a 50/50 split between Linux and Windows, because then they have to develop two ports. But Bioware has been nice to give us a native port, which later on may result in it being a necessity rather than a kind gesture.
Oh, and by the way, I don't wine about "Dirty evil EA how dare they not give us a native client!" I know why they don't. Instead it's much closer to "Could you please make a Linux client? We would really, really, love that".
Re:Blowing some Karma... (Score:2)
And I want a game that'll play in ten years time. Loads of my old favourites now pretty much refuse to work happily with win2k or above(which soon will be the oldest supported release, and you'll need a current version of DX to play the latest games, which won't install on your older windows machine).
I use Linux (StarOffice, Mozilla and Evolution on Mandrake, Red Hat or Debian, whichever is my favourite flavour at
Re:Blowing some Karma... (Score:2)
Re:Blowing some Karma... (Score:2)
I am not at all hurt by people requesting a Linux version or Bioware offering one. I was merely offering my opinion that such a vocal, but small subgroup of geeks should not have so much sway in an industry by stint of their complaints alone.
Craenor
Re:Blowing some Karma... (Score:2)
ROFL!
Craenor
Re:Blowing some Karma... (Score:2)
Umm...maybe you are new to the internet. ROFL stands for Rolling on the Floor Laughing.
I'll be happy to answer any other internet questions you may have as well.
Re:Maybe we will finally see (Score:5, Interesting)
Oh yeah, Doom III will be coming out Windows/Linux cross-platform. Two words: Carmack rules.
Re:Maybe we will finally see (Score:2)
Re:Maybe we will finally see (Score:2, Informative)
I think I have different standards than you. To me, "a major hack" is putting adb -k in the boot script. :-)
Re:Maybe we will finally see (Score:3, Interesting)
1. NWN is a good game
2. First time, I am allowing for mistakes like this on their first outing.
If they get enough interest perhaps they shall try again with another game and this time they had better bloody well get it right from the start. As someone else pointed out they messed up at the start with regards to cross platform issues.
As for the Toolset, they relied on Borland saying that Borland C++ was going to be out for Linux, but Borland decided to add it onto Kylix
Re:Yes, but... (Score:2)
Ahem... Kathleen Fent is CmdrTaco's wife.
Re:Where's the source? (Score:2, Insightful)
You mean it's really to push some lame geek ethics theory?
Oh. Well, it's also morally incorrect to write with your left hand. So writing is pointless if it's done with the left hand. Totally pointless. All those left handed authors are just devil spawn who don't see the light.
Just wanted to let you know.
Re:Where's the source? (Score:2)
Is money all you care about???
Re:Where's the source? (Score:5, Insightful)
Nope. Sorry. While there's a coolness factor in playing with the source, it won't make the game better for the majority of players.
Re:Where's the source? (Score:3, Insightful)
Try running installing Immortals of Kohan and running the updater with glibc 2.3 installed. Segfault!
To be fair, this is really a Linux issue, not a NWN issue, but it still means that you may not be able to play the game in a few years.
Re:Where's the source? (Score:3, Interesting)
That same set of assumptions isn't true for the Linux world. Grab binary program foo that "works on Red Hat" and try and run it on another distro, and see what happens. Or wait until the current library version is no longer around, and a new one i
They're going to sell licenses.... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:slack + nwn = goodness? (Score:2)
Re:wine/winex? (Score:3, Interesting)
Fortunately there are at least two installers that will do the trick, and someone on the NWN Linux Client forum posted a method of using one of those installers and an edit of system.reg in ~/.wine/config combined with the latest update patch run through wine to get the install up to the lastest version.