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Final Gold
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Submitted by Tarot Redhand on 2019-06-28 12:31.
Last modified:
2019-06-30 03:05
So why Final Gold? Simple, I am definitely no longer going down this particular rabbit hole. It took a lot of dull, repetitive work to sort these out and I have no intention of doing this with huge chunks of other people’s code again.
Back in 2002, when NwN had a release date but before NwN was actually released Bioware released a beta version of the toolset as a free download. NwN was released on June 18th 2002 in the US and July 3rd 2002 in the EU/Australia. This helps to explain why by July 24th 2002 there were already over 350 scripts published on the original nwn.bioware.com web site. So many in fact that they were already archived just 2 years later when I could eventually afford to buy NwN. All very interesting you may say, but so what? Well it just so happens that I came across a site hosting a lot of these ancient scripts. Looking through these scripts I came to one conclusion. The layout of the code was an absolute mess. So, I have downloaded each script and (in my eyes anyway) tidied them up.
So, what have I actually done?
I have gone through over 48,000 lines of code/comments/covering notes and rearranged them into a consistent format. I have kept them in the various classifications that the original code was stored in and added an index into this code. I have also omitted a tiny number of scripts that had such glaring errors that they couldn't possibly work as described.
What have I not done?
I have not tested a single one of them.
So, what is in this package?
370 separate scripts, tidied up. A small number of other scripts located via the wayback machine. Of these I have only worked on a single script system but it was over 2000 lines spread over a number of actual scripts. As mentioned earlier there is also a single index text document to enable locating those individual scripts that you may find interesting (and to me some of the scripts in here, as long as they actually work, look very interesting indeed). There is also a Conversation Editor tutorial by Iskander, which I have tidied up and converted into a pdf document.
A few things to note.
a. All of these are (in computing terms) very, very old (How old? This is IMO akin to finding Tutenankamun's tomb.). In effect, they may have worked when written but updates to NwN may have rendered them either non-working or obsolete. Add to that. there may be some overlap with the two previous "gold" collections that I have created.
b. Some of them are designed for single player, while others are for persistent worlds and yet others work with all types of game.
c. If you do decide that some piece of code suits your purpose, it is probably a good idea to first try them in a small test module, just to be safe.
d. Some if not all of the entries here represent the first outing for systems that have since been expanded by the original author and placed on the vault so it is probably a good idea (at least with the larger entries) to check there before using a large system found here.
e. This is not an educational package. Rather, it is a resource that may (or may not) have something that you find useful contained within it.
f. As I am NOT the original author of any of these scripts, I make no guarantee as to their fitness for anything. As far as I am aware, they are all supposed to work, but I can't guarantee it.
Anyway, rather than keep this all for myself I have decided to upload this to the vault in order for it to be available to anyone who wishes to download it.
I hope you find this useful.
TR June 2019
One final thing. Amazingly the beta toolset is still available to download here (thanks to @Mannast for the link). While the installer will run it is doubtful that you will be able to actually install it as it won't install if you already have NwN installed. Oh and don't bother with the prize draw either. That closed back in 2002.
Files:
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
 Final Gold Package (313) | 1011.69 KB |
I'm a perpetual n00b at all things NWN & unlikely to ever find time or develop the skill to dive in.However, as an enthusiastic scavenger & restorer of other old kit of a different sub-genre of tech myself, I give you 10 stars for being such a badass.
Dustin
This may not be intended as a learning resource for beginners, but it definitely is one for novice- or intermediate-level scripters who have a general grasp on reading NWScript and are out to gather ideas and methods for how to do lots of different things in one big go. So if you're fresh out of reading your way through the basics primers, and have already written some experimental scripts of your own, then burying yourself in these, testing them all out, and trying to rubberduck your way through the code, should yield a massive skill boost in very short time.
Noting also: Being a cat rather than a donkey, I put forth the notion that Tarot may in fact be more accurately termed as being a badcat. A mad badcat, for doing this kind of thing in the first place. A glad mad badcat, for being glad to be done with this mad project. Adopting a particularly aggressive and mischievous cat would make him a glad mad badcat bad cat dad.
... I'm going to keep going with this chain in my head for a while.
That would be better using late 1950s, early 1960s beatnik slang -
TR
Friend TR,
Thank you for preserving these little snippets of NwN history! Even if their use is somewhat limited, it's still great to see these old things survive!
And, as always, thank you for sharing with the community!
Thanks guys. But all I did was edit the stuff so I'll regard those votes as belonging to the original authors.
TR
Thanks madcap gladcat!