Avlis Notebooks - a NWN multi-dynasty

[Critch]

If you go into the Mikon sanctuary in the temple grounds in the city, there's a Mikon Cleric at the west wall who sells some stuff that might help.

She's got a scarab of protection for about 2000.

[Fritz]

Originally posted by Critch
She's got a scarab of protection for about 2000.

FWIW, scarabs make poor condoms.

don't ask why I know that

[Anrhydeddu]

This sounds like a great deal of fun. I can imagine the enjoyment of banding together whereas playing by yourself can be frustrating.

[Fritz]

Originally posted by Anrhydeddu
This sounds like a great deal of fun. I can imagine the enjoyment of banding together whereas playing by yourself can be frustrating.

By clicking the Agree button, you warrant that you will not post any messages that are obscene, vulgar, sexually-orientated, hateful, threatening, or otherwise violative of any laws.

[KWhit]

Online is just as damn frustrating, because NWN KEEPS CRASHING TO THE DESKTOP!

Every time after I log into Avlis, I get a crash between 5-10 minutes. My single player game works fine. I have connected to other internet games and they were fine. I believe I have all the hakpaks installed (AvlisHak, jess_treecity, UniversalHak, and drylands). I turned my video and audio options all the way down. Nothing helps.

What's totally wierd is that sometimes right before it crashes I end up controlling another character on the screen (usually an NPC). My character will just be standing there while I move around as someone else.

Anyone have any ideas?

[Anrhydeddu]

"by" not "with"

[Fritz]

Originally posted by Anrhydeddu
"bi" not "with"

sometimes we share too much

Originally posted by KWhit


What's totally wierd is that sometimes right before it crashes I end up controlling another character on the screen (usually an NPC). My character will just be standing there while I move around as someone else.

Anyone have any ideas?

This must be a known issue, because i have seen something similar to it posted.

If you first installed NWN a while ago I would unistall it and start the process over again.

[KWhit]

Originally posted by Fritz
This must be a known issue, because i have seen something similar to it posted.

If you first installed NWN a while ago I would unistall it and start the process over again.

That was on my list of things to try. I've been searching the Blackdagger forums, but hadn't yet found any threads that helped.

[Fritz]

Originally posted by KWhit
That was on my list of things to try. I've been searching the Blackdagger forums, but hadn't yet found any threads that helped.

dont venture into the rants forum. useless

[Eilim]

Haven't touched NWN for a few months, used to run a PW. Kwhit, thats pretty much been a known bug since the game's release. Last I knew they had tracked it down to being related to lag in some fashion, but could never fix it. It seemed to happen more often on the "well populated" servers, and with people on lower speed connections. Its one of the many reasons I put my NWN projects on indefinate hold.

I'll get in touch with some of my old NWN guru friends who are still in the development scene and see if anyone has ever come up with a solution or atleast a work-around for the problem and post back here.

-Eilim

[KWhit]

Thanks Eilim. Please do post what you find out.

I'm surprised to hear that it has to do with lag. I have a cable modem that is super fast, so I would expect it would happen to me at least LESS frequently than others, but it happens every time I play - usually within 5-10 minutes.

Sometimes I don't hit the possession bug, just a straight crash to desktop. I don't know if these are related or not, but I'm gonna do a clean install now and hope that fixes it.

[Fritz]

Kwhit.

Try pinging the address from the command prompt and see if you have packet loss. Some cable systems are a little shoddy and they suffer from packet loss. The effects is to have good ping times but not so good speed becuase you have to retransmit information.

[KWhit]

No packet loss:



C:\PING AVLIS.BLACKDAGGER.NET

Pinging BLACKDAGGER.NET [67.83.14.145] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 67.83.14.145: bytes=32 time=57ms TTL=109
Reply from 67.83.14.145: bytes=32 time=57ms TTL=109
Reply from 67.83.14.145: bytes=32 time=115ms TTL=109
Reply from 67.83.14.145: bytes=32 time=57ms TTL=109

Ping statistics for 67.83.14.145:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 57ms, Maximum = 115ms, Average = 71ms


What do those times look like to you? I don't have a frame of reference.

[Fritz]

67.83.90.43 is the ip.

[KWhit]

Are you sure? When I connect using Gamespy I use avlis.blackdagger.net:5121 (which it appears above translates to 67.83.14.145).

When I try to connect to 67.83.90.43 I get a time out error. Incidently, I get timeouts when I ping that IP as well.

So 2 questions for you:

When you connect to Gamespy what do you type in for Server IP?

If I want ot test my connection via the command line, which IP should I ping?

[Thomkal]

KWhit,

I would try posting in the Techincal Self-Help Forum from the official Bioware forums. You can reach it through the Avlis homepage. In trying to fix my own problems with NWN, I've seen several people post with similar problems to yours, but no one seems to have much in the way of answers at this point.

[Eilim]

Emailed some friends and waiting on a response. Quick question, Kwhit, does the swapping happen someone randomly or have you noticed it happening more after "zoning" through a portal?

Like I said, its been a while I but I seem to remember one group of people deducing they were having the problem soon after transer while on a busy server. Which leads me to another question, whats the average server population when you play?

This is one of those things that has been going on since release that no one ever could seem to pinpoint the exact cause. The game devs attributed it lag due to the fact they could never reproduce it on their test bed (an in-house LAN setup). Not many people bought into the lag as main cause but thought it was just one of the many ways it could be caused. Early on in the release the problem was caused by so many different things (Including certain DM tools.) that seemed to be "fixed" while it still happened in other circumstances.

Curious if you have any memory monitoring tools on the machine your running NWN on, as one early guestimate on the cause was believed to be memory leaks in NWN. If I remember correctly some people also thought the leaks were made more apparent, and related issues caused by certain "sloppy" hack packs. Might want to check the specific world's forums to see if others are having the issue, but I'd tread lightly as NWN fans (btw, even with its issues, I am a, or rather ex-fanboy of NWN.) can be rather brutal in the "If you have problems you need a better computer" way.

Anyways, enough threadjacking, when I hear backing I'll hit ya with some PMs.


-Eilim

[Daimyo]

Avlis averages about 20-25 (out of 64 max) players on the Mikona and Wilderness servers I'd guess. Probably more during peek times.

[KWhit]

Eilim - No it doesn't happen right after a portal. Usually I'm just walking around a single area.
When I am playing, there are usually 15-20 people on the server.
I don't have any memory monitoring apps on my machine (that I know of anyway) and I'll post my issues on their forums and see what they tell me. Maybe they won't be too hard on me.

Here are my system specs, FYI:
P4 - 1.5ghz
256 Ram
GForce 3 Video card


Thom - I'll give that a try too. Thanks.

[Daimyo]

Damn.. apparently nt only did I lose 4500 XP, but I always lost my journey to T'Nashi, my Elven katana and my shield that cures minor wounds... to top it off I started on the wrong server and so could do nothing for last hour!

In the meantime I made a lawful evel, half-orc fighter named "Turgh" and role played him a while. XP comes very, very slowly, but I spent a lot more time talking to people and developing some story for that character.

[Bee]

I just sent in my application. Any advice under the new rules for a new player?

[HornedFrog Purple]

Hey Fritz, sorry about what happened. My ISP had trouble all day, it took me an hour to get back on. I found the cave you were talking about, I was able to do ok in the first level but didnt venture far into the 2nd by myself. Maybe we can go there tonight?

Quiksand, while running around the wilderness, I found a place called the Order of the Way. It had some pretty cool monk-only things. I will try and retrace my steps and find it again and show Fritz if I dont see you.

[Fritz]

TUBBY!

we waited for a little while and then ventured in. I felt fairly sure going into the cave, mostly because I had cleared the top solo a little earlier.

Gregor and I were a little reluctant to go much deeper into the hole without our big green damage absorber.

The wilderness would be a good place to play tonight.

[Daimyo]

Order of the way is northwest of Mikona, south of the warzone. I went there once, but I didn't see their shops, so I'd be interested in seeing that too.

I went back to Le'Or T'Nashi and checked around with an eye for things a monk could use defensively. Two things that might be of interest... gauntlets that give +1 AC (deflection) and boots that give +1 AC (dodge) and -5 move silently. Also they have a pair of Kamas, Kama of the Moon and Kama of the Stars that both give bonus to attack and AC vs shapechangers. I believe monks can use their unarmed attack bonus and number of attacks with kamas.

[Daimyo]

Also there was an amulet that granted immunity to evocation spells! You have to be lvl 14 to wear it though and I didn't even ask about the price...

[Daimyo]

Hmm strange things afoot tonight. On my way back from Mikona just one map north of the city as I clicked to enter the block adjacient to eh city I suddenly ended up somewhere called "Tolgorath's Lair" in the midst of some huge battle?!?! Magic was flying around and the enemies looked like huge giants... so I did the only thing reasonable, and quickly hit the exit button since it must have been some server glitch... I went back the same server and spawned in the same place so I exited again and went to Wilderness this time. Have to wait an hour to play again, but at least I won't die in a place where I'll never be able to recover my body... Don't know what happened there, but it wasn't pretty

Westshore Crypt is a great place to solo through once and would have been really nice for a party of lower level types...

[QuikSand]

Can you give some general directions how to get to Westshore crypt?

[Daimyo]

Head north a couple screens in the wilderness and then west maybe two screens. It is the largest of the small wilderness towns I think. It has a sister town due East called something like Bachtown.

I found two new places I would add to the list of places that I think would be interesting to revisit as a party. The first is a Minotaur's Lair in which I was slaughtered quickly by two "overpowering" minotaurs. The second is a cave that had many blood stains (that supposedly a ranger could identify according to the examine) that I could not explore at all due to trolls near the entrance, but that I think I need to explore for some other quest.

Did you guys ever get back to the mines? I have only ever explored there that one time I played with Quik and Fritz and wondering if I would have a chance at all now by myself as a Druid(4)/Fighter(1)...

[HornedFrog Purple]

We found the crypt today. From Mikora just keep going north until you see a split going west. There is a rock on the right, right where the split is. Then keep going west a couple of times and you should run into the villages.

We found the bloodstains too and followed them but there were 4 hillgiants that decided to pound me into dust right after the cave. Hopefully tomorrow me fritz and gregor can gocheck out the cave.

The quest is that trolls are kidnapping children and old people from the village, there is a lady around there that tells you about it. There is supposed to be a rare big cat in there too. I think we will need some help in there. I can kill a hill giant but not 4 of them heh.

Oh I finally met Daimyo also just as I was about to logoff.

I have been all over the mines mostly by myself exploring. The only thing I wont mess with in there is the spider queen room which is pretty deep. I mine a lot in there so I know my way around.. ask Fritz.

[Daimyo]

Yeah, the big cat is the thing I'm after. I'm helping my fellow druid save the animals.

When do you guys usually adventure together? I'm probably a couple levels behind you guys, but I'd like to tag along some time if possible.

[Critch]

I'm having real problems all of a sudden. Yesterday I got hit by the possession bug mentioned elsewhere, now whenever I try to look at my inventory I crash to desktop. Bugger.

[QuikSand]

I might get a chance to be on for a whiel this evening.

Last night, I got out to "The Way" compound in the wilderness, and found out what they are all about. I have just tipped level 7, but am still not all that powerful by myself, and am not a great damage absorber as a tank in a party. Regardless, I can move quickly and can certainly do some scouting and combat in a party, if we can get together. I'd be game for any of the various appropriate challenges we've been discussing.

[Thomkal]

Daimyo,

The people who helped me get my stuff back after I ill-advisedly went inside the crypt just outside Mikona alone, we're talking afterwards about wanting to take on this Tolgorath person (or thing). Must be a DM run event. Not sure how you ended up there.

I'm still a struggling 2nd level cleric who's tired of the Fed'Ex missions in Mikona, but likely has no better options with many of you higher level now. (that is when I can get into the game)

[Fritz]

that West Shore Crypt mission was worth 300 exp to me. That is a heck of a windfall for Avlis. This is where i logged out, so I will be in the region when I get back online.

The crypt is not that hard. I think I could do it solo (with my beasties).

Quik - where have you been putting your feats?

[QuikSand]

My feats are all in combat stuff... I have weapon focus in unarmed combat, power strike, cleave, and something like "elusiveness." I think I have done fairly well to max out my combat abilities...

I just gripe because while I am fairly proficient in close combat, that's basicaly my only game. My missile skills are lousy, and my HP aren't so high as to be able to take a really serious beating (I'm at 63 HP, at 7th level). It's not that I am pathetic, but I just feel that until monks get to pretty high level, they lag other classes somewhat in overall power. Can't use armor, doesn't pay to use weapons, and so I end up pretty close to a naked character. It's not miserable... I can whirl up some extra attacks, and move quickly, and that sort of thing... I'm not a total loss at all.

Just my impression. The ability to summon a companion creature - especially one that sticks around for a long time and might have 2-3X the HP your character does - just seems like a monstrous advantage in this game. And I have a bit of envy as a result. While I'm working to make my monk useful (and he is) at the same time, in many situations he's not a lot more effective that a summoned dire wolf.

But, I am enjoying playing him in character. I have taken to giving "offerings" (flowers, seeds, apples, etc) to people I meet, and they can't seem to figure out what the hell I'm trying to pull on them.

[Fritz]

Originally posted by QuikSand
My feats are all in combat stuff... I have weapon focus in unarmed combat, power strike, cleave, and something like "elusiveness." I think I have done fairly well to max out my combat abilities...

I just gripe because while I am fairly proficient in close combat, that's basicaly my only game. My missile skills are lousy, and my HP aren't so high as to be able to take a really serious beating (I'm at 63 HP, at 7th level). It's not that I am pathetic, but I just feel that until monks get to pretty high level, they lag other classes somewhat in overall power. Can't use armor, doesn't pay to use weapons, and so I end up pretty close to a naked character. It's not miserable... I can whirl up some extra attacks, and move quickly, and that sort of thing... I'm not a total loss at all.

Just my impression. The ability to summon a companion creature - especially one that sticks around for a long time and might have 2-3X the HP your character does - just seems like a monstrous advantage in this game. And I have a bit of envy as a result. While I'm working to make my monk useful (and he is) at the same time, in many situations he's not a lot more effective that a summoned dire wolf.

But, I am enjoying playing him in character. I have taken to giving "offerings" (flowers, seeds, apples, etc) to people I meet, and they can't seem to figure out what the hell I'm trying to pull on them.

You do get to apply your wisdom bonus to your AC. Your Saving Throws are very strong. You are are on the splash screen when the Wilderness section loads up. Stun punch is kinda neat.

[Daimyo]

And if a monk falls in combat you already have your full combat arsenal waiting for you at the respawn point instead of needing to shell out 1000 gold to be effective again. (been there done that...)

However I think in general Avlis is extremely skewed toward spell casters with the lack of magic weapons.

For my character personally, taking a level of fighter worked wonders to the point I feel guilty about it and probably won't ever do it again... I have 47 HP at 5th level, an AC of 24 (assuming I have barkskin which I always do now), a strength of ~18 (assuming I have Bull's strength) as well as two pretty decent companions with ~35 HP each and solid attacks. As a 4th level druid I couldn't even kill an Ogre by myself, as a 4th level druid/1st level fighter I can take on three at once without much risk of dying. I imagine stone skin is only going to make it worse... I've heard a lot of people say cleric/fighters are broken on Avlis and at least from experience I can definately see how it is possible. (although I still imagine wizards rule all at high levels)

[Daimyo]

DOLA, the good thing about avlis is that it really doesn't matter if your character is strong or weak since its all about role-playing, and there are places for any level of character to fit in and have loads of fun.

I made a lawful evil, half-orc fighter when my main character was unavailable (planning to bring up evenly as a fighter/cleric pseudo-paladin of Valok so I imagine he'll always be weaker than those near his level). Despite being a fighter who can't actually kill anything yet, it was loads of fun to role play him!

[QuikSand]

I don't mean to suggest that I'm not enjoying the character - I definitely am. You're certainly right, Fritz - there are good things about the monk which subtly offset the glaring things I'm bemoaning. I'm not suggesting at all that my character is "broken."

I'm just offering my thought that all things equal, you'll feel better protected in a party with, say, Hornace, than you will with me, I think.

[Fritz]

Daim brings up a good point:

Quik- load up on barkskin, bulls-strenth, cat's grace, and owls wisdom potions. they should enhance you quite well for battle.

As I mentioned above, if you travel with me (or another spellcaster) I can throw protective spells on you.

[Fritz]

Originally posted by QuikSand
I'm just offering my thought that all things equal, you'll feel better protected in a party with, say, Hornace, than you will with me, I think.

I like to team with Hornus, and i think we are a good fit. Hornus and the summoned wolf provide a good frontline, esp after I enhance them. I can hover back and cast, missle (I spend feats here), or use heal packs.

---

The various classes of characters gain critical strength at different points. IMHO, Barbarians start out the best equipted for adventuring but lose ground to other classes as they go up in level.

[QuikSand]

Actually, I do get pretty mean when I get all potioned up... speed, bull's strength, and cat's grace and I'm a not-so-lean, mean, fighting machine.

[Daimyo]

We really need a massive (well 5 or 6 person) fofc party expedition. I bet with Hornace, Fritz, Quiksand, Pollio, and Daimyo (and the various beasts we can summon) all at levels ~5-7 we could explore a lot of mid-level areas like the Tolgrath quest near Mikona.

[Critch]

If I ever get my game working again, I'd be in as well. Currently a handful of points short of level 6, but with my crashing getting worse and worse, I may be done with the game.

[HornedFrog Purple]

Critch maybe try redownloading and reinstalling the avlis downloads and overwrite them... just a thought.

Quiksand dont give up on the monk, in a couple of levels you will kick some serious butt, much more than I will be able to.

I have 86 HP at level 7 and an AC of 20. I am also wearing a +1 constitution set of boots which gives me a little more hitpoints. I carry barkskin potions and healing kits everywhere I go. The only "downside" I see to Hornace is he can only wear medium armor. I can use a feat to use heavy armor but I like the armor he wears, it looks kinda cool.

One thing I havent figured out is how to make a new skill I learned which is taunt a hotkey. My rage is already there automatically, but I cant figure out how to add taunt. It is supposed to reduce the target's AC some if successful.

Most of the time, I am a big green damage sponge unless I luck out and wack someone with a critical hit.

I found out that the smithing is being redone so the books are obsolete for now, so I am just sticking to the basic 2 things I can make which are shirikens and a dagger until the crafting stuff gets fixed up.

[KWhit]

Originally posted by Critch
If I ever get my game working again, I'd be in as well. Currently a handful of points short of level 6, but with my crashing getting worse and worse, I may be done with the game.

I hear ya, Critch. I decided to bow out on my attempts as well. I can only play for 5-10 minutes before crash to desktop. And it sounds so dang fun too. But I've already wasted too many hours trying to get the game to work.

[Daimyo]

Wow... critch earns the award for fastest leveling

[QuikSand]

Originally posted by HornedFrog Purple
I have 86 HP at level 7 and an AC of 20.

Yes, I have 63 HP and AC of 15 at the same level. I kno there are differences, but maybe it's just your broad, green shoulders that are giving me these inferiority issues.

At least next level (8th) I will get STR of 18, which sould help a bit with close combat.

[Fritz]

HFP - right click on the hot key. this should bring up the spin menu. then go to special abilities, probably on the left side. then go to barbarian abilities. then go to taunt.

[WSUCougar]

Hey Guys

Sorry to intrude, but I'm trying to get in to the Avlis server and can't get my password to work. My app was accepted, but the password gets me nowhere. Any ideas what I'm doing wrong?