NWNX4 Prototype 1.08 beta 2 ready

[Papillon]

This is a continuation from this thread (NWNX4 Prototype 1.08 beta 1 ready).

Neverwinter Nights 1.06 is not far away, in fact, an early version has been available for some time on NWVault. Obsidian fixed the NWNX functions, and I was able to remove the static function locations which have been in 1.08 beta 1. So, here is it, the best, fastest, shiniest version of NWNX ever !

* NWNX4 requires at least NWN 1.06 starting with 1.08 beta 2. NWNX4 1.07 will continue to work fine with new NWN versions, but not the other way round.
* NWNX4 is now hooking the official NWNX functions dynamically (i.e. it is version independent like always)
* SQLite plugin has been updated to SQLite 3.3.17
* NWNX4 no longer load plugins from older releases. This is to prevent errors related to mismatching versions.
* Beta 2 should run on all Windows installations again. The compiler has been reverted to its previous version.
* The demo modules have been updated to work with 1.08
* All calls to NWNX are at least two times faster, compared to 1.07.

The performance improvement due to the new NWNX functions is quite nice, in fact. Here are some figures:

250 calls to SQLEncodeSpecialChars:
1.07: 4623 microseconds = 54077 quotes per second
1.08: 1452 microseconds = 172176 quotes per second

Reading 500 rows from MySQL, one column (typical for functions like GetPersistentString):
1.07: 15376 microseconds = 32518 rows per second
1.08: 7642 microseconds = 65427 rows per second

Note: Only the relative performance increase is important here. The actual figures will vary depending on your hardware. These tests where run on an AMD64 3200+ and MySQL 5.0.27.

Download here: NWNX4 Prototype 1.08 beta 2
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Papillon

[Papillon]

Two noteworthy infos for plugin developers, copied from the beta 1 thread:

1) A note to plugin developers:

The upcoming 1.08 beta2 introduces a simple version check mechanism between NWNX4 and NWNX4 plugins. I would like to avoid all kinds of version problems popping up, so NWNX clearly says so if it detects a version mismatch, e.g.:

[Grinning Fool]

Good news - is SVN also updated? I don't have a lot of time this weekend, but regardless would like to make a push to get several nwnx-related things completed.
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Khalidine, a NWN2 persistent world

Looking for volunteers.

[Papillon]

Yes, the sources are updated now as well.
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Papillon

[Elrahc]

Thanks a lot for the update, great job!!! I don't know what we'd do without NWNX.


~Elrahc

[Grinning Fool]

[Grinning Fool]

Alright, now I'm confused.

I refreshed source to get the latest. Uinstalled SP1. Rebuilt all. Now when I attempt to run, I get the error that was earlier posted:
"The application has failed to start because the application configuration is incorrect". Thoughts?

Edit: that was in debug mode; release mode works fine. When I looked in the event log, I saw this:
Resolve Partial Assembly failed for Microsoft.VC80.DebugCRT. Reference error message: The referenced assembly is not installed on your system

Now it's odd that the debug runtime would not be present, since this is the same computper that has VS installed...
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Khalidine, a NWN2 persistent world

Looking for volunteers.

[Carter_DC]

There is currently no Infos on the plugin pages, wether plugins have been updated to mach the NWNX4 1.08 standards, or not...

So I'm a bit reluctant in upgrading NWNX4 to it's latest build if it means losing the ability to use my favorite plugin (the NWNX_clock.. i love TimeStamps ..).

[GodBeastX]

Upgraded to this, recoded my custom plugin for the system, everything works great, and in alot of ways, better than 1.07. 1.08 for the win! I don't use other people's plugins really, mysql is the only base one I use.

[chris421]

Can 1.08 beta2 be christened into your official download area yet?

Had a guy from the vault email me asking where the heck it was since NWN2 1.06 doesn't work with any of the older betas now.

Also, if you like I'd be happy to build an entry for you on the vault's NWN2 "Other" section. I think it'd drum up a lot of new users. After all, the game has been out 8 months. And even though you've had a working solution since day 1, they've yet to see an official NWNX4 submission.

[Papillon]

The problem: My internet connection has died (and the phone as well), because of some dumb-ass at German Telekom. Yes, I'm annoyed as you can probably see ...

NWNX4 is still beta. The installer is missing and the docs are not what I'd like them to be, that is the main reason why I have not submitted it yet. It might be the case that this will never happen anyway, since I do not think an isolated NWNX download in the Vault helps anyone... people tend to ask questions in the comments section, and those usually get overlooked. NWNX without the forums here is only half of the fun. We'll see.

Since nobody complained about 1.08 beta 2, I'll probably try to upload it this weekend, if they manage the connection back up again.
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Papillon

[Papillon]

About publicity / marketing:

Around the time the first NWNX4 came out, I was discussing with some people that I knew from NWN1 about how the "marketing" of NWNX4 should be. We agreed that one person would be responsible for posting news about new releases, making sure that it is well represented on the major community sites, and so on. Unfortunately, nothing came of it, and I myself do not have enough time and motivation to do the programming, run the site and forums, AND do marketing.

Maybe if someone else would step up, I might focus more on that aspect in the future.
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Papillon

[chris421]

[MaximusIGN]

[Papillon]

This really deverses it's own topic, but let's abuse this one for now

@Chris: What you wrote about the new options for Vault entries sounds rather promising. If you can have an entry and host the actual source or binary and the discussions somewhere else (i.e. here on nwnx.org), I'm all for it. Would this go into a special NWNX section, or would it be better to add it to an "other" section ?

@Maximus: I'd love to get some PR for NWNX, but in all honesty, I do not think I am doing a good job there right now, so I could definitely use some help. I focus on the technical issues, trying to get the best features for NWNX out, but this leaves not enough time to do proper PR at the moment. I know I am lacking here, and I'd definitely accept whatever offer you have here. I think we've done an interview in the past, and it might be a good start to repeat something similar.
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Papillon