Starting the module from unpacked dir

[uezi]

Is it possible to somehow start the module with NWNX from an unpacked directory?

[Papillon]

How does that work without NWNX ? I never tried, really.
_________________
Papillon

[Urlord]

Save a modules as a Directory. Then start it like normal in NWServer. The only difference is that .mod files are listed in at the top of the module list drop down and module as directories are listed at the bottom of the list. The two groups are seperated by a ---------.

I always save as a directory, because it makes it easier to distribute the .trx files through a program called NW_Audolo instead of having to distribute a potentially huge .pwc file every time you change or add a single area. Plus the module opens in the toolset lightning fast verses the toolset having to unpack the .mod file.

I foresee almost all PW of any significant size using the individual .trx file method over the .pwc method. Therefore, it would be wonderful if NWNx4 would auto start mods saved as directories.
_________________
Jim (aka, Urlord)
Visit the Persistent World of Nymri

[Grinning Fool]

I've tried a ton of different options to get this to work, but none did -- I"m starting to wonder if the nwn server itself supports this.
_________________
Khalidine, a NWN2 persistent world

Looking for volunteers.

[Papillon]

That's exactly the point. If NWN has a command line option, I can support it. If it's only manually selectable in the server dialog window... ugh... well, doable, but certainly nothing that would be a fun thing to do.

So, what are the options ?

edit: Btw, the command line options from nwnx.ini are passed 1:1 to nwserver.exe.
_________________
Papillon

[Grinning Fool]

Hm, maybe I can open up nwserver.exe in a hex editor; unless they obfuscated the string, I should be able to figure out which options it accepts.
_________________
Khalidine, a NWN2 persistent world

Looking for volunteers.

[Papillon]

They didn't, that's for sure.
_________________
Papillon

[xaltos]

I have just done some searching inside of the nwn2server.exe to locate the command options.

I found only the options from this page:
http://nwn.bioware.com/builders/winserver3.html

You can find them easy, because all are stored with the '-' in front of the string and they are located all at the same place.

There is an Option "-moduledir" , but this is only supported from the NWN2.exe. ( It is used when you start the game from the toolset )

I know you can use the "-load" option to start the standalone server with a module in a folder.
( Start NWN2.exe, save module once manually start nwnserver with -load xxx )
But this not the perfect way to handle the problem and I haven't checked the behave of the module start events.

[Grinning Fool]

Here's what I found in the executable itself -- it does look very consistent with that link you just posted for NWN1.

-dififculty
-oneparty
-ilr
-elc
-adminpassword
-dmpassword
-playerpassword
-autosaveinterval
-gametype
-servername
-pauseandplay
-cpu
-reloadwhenempty
-maxlevel
-minlevel
-port
-pvp
-load
-module
-publicserver
-servervault
-maxclients

So for the moment, at least, it looks like the server does not support automatically loading from a directory
_________________
Khalidine, a NWN2 persistent world

Looking for volunteers.

[Papillon]

This isn't an NWNX task, but you could set up something like AutoIt to listen for the server window and then let it select the module an load it.
_________________
Papillon

[Grinning Fool]

Last ditch efforts to make this work:

- renamed the directory from Module\ to Module.mod\. No luck.
- Created a dummy module called starter. In OnLoad, performed a delaycommand to StartNewModule, with the module name being the directory-saved mod. The StartNewModule ran, but it apparently couldn't load the directory-saved mod either.
- Combined the prior two... no luck.

Final attempt: submitted bug report.
_________________
Khalidine, a NWN2 persistent world

Looking for volunteers.

[uezi]

I've been fiddeling a bit with that and yes, it seems that the nwn2server lacks the -moduledir option... crap. Mmmh, in any case it is not a nwnx issue, it is an issue of the nwn2server, I wonder why I posted here... probably it was frustration.

Just a few hints if you want to 'manually' start from an unpacked module:
- Put the unpacked directory to the <install dir>/modules and *not* into the 'My Documents/Neverwinter Nights 2/modules/'
- If you want to use it externally and not put it into the 'modules' directory, you can use the 'Winbolic Link' http://www.pearlmagik.com/winbolic/ tool

[xaltos]

The easiest way to go around this is maybe a tool that converts the folder into a regular .mod file.

So you can work with all the single small files on the server ( upload / download / .. ) and just need to use the tool once before a new version goes live.

I am sure there is already a tool for this somewhere.
The .mod file is a standard Bioware Erf file , right ?

Anybody has something like this somewhere ?

[uezi]