[msykes]

Hi,

I wanted to split this into a separate topic from the "Neverwinter Nights 2 - getting close?" thread, to better consolidate discussion of installing the PC MotB expansion on the Mac.

As you may know, I previously wrote some fairly long, complicated and difficult instructions for installing Mask of the Betrayer (PC) on NWN2 (Mac). I've now attempted to wrap these up into a proper application, macnwn2x. The instructions now look something like this:

1) Run macnwn2x
2) Modify your nwn.ini file
3) Modify your nwncdkey.ini file

Please find a more detailed description, and a download link here: http://www.msykes.com/nwn/macnwn2x/

I want to stress that this is experimental. I would appreciate anybody to test this out and report back to me either via email or this thread. I would especially encourage those who have already installed MotB manually to try this method with a virgin NWN2 install, and compare the results.

I also want to point out that I have not tested this under 10.4 yet, and there is a good chance it will not work. If not, I should be able to get it to work, so please let me know.

Finally, please read the full details on the webpage before proceeding.

msykes

[kahleeb]

msykes, on August 8th 2008, 02:11 PM, said:

Hi,

I wanted to split this into a separate topic from the "Neverwinter Nights 2 - getting close?" thread, to better consolidate discussion of installing the PC MotB expansion on the Mac.

As you may know, I previously wrote some fairly long, complicated and difficult instructions for installing Mask of the Betrayer (PC) on NWN2 (Mac). I've now attempted to wrap these up into a proper application, macnwn2x. The instructions now look something like this:

1) Run macnwn2x
2) Modify your nwn.ini file
3) Modify your nwncdkey.ini file

Please find a more detailed description, and a download link here: http://www.msykes.com/nwn/macnwn2x/

I want to stress that this is experimental. I would appreciate anybody to test this out and report back to me either via email or this thread. I would especially encourage those who have already installed MotB manually to try this method with a virgin NWN2 install, and compare the results.

I also want to point out that I have not tested this under 10.4 yet, and there is a good chance it will not work. If not, I should be able to get it to work, so please let me know.

Finally, please read the full details on the webpage before proceeding.

msykes

Thank you so much for putting this together. I am going to point all Mac NWN 2 users to this gui. There were similar things done for the original NWN and I am glad to see the same can be said about the second title too.

[msykes]

I've just posted a small update (v0.2) - the chargen_skills and levelup_skills xml files were not being copied correctly, so skill points could not be assigned.

If anybody has already downloaded macnwn2x, please download the updated version.

msykes

[msykes]

A brief update - I've added what I hope is a 10.4 compatible version of macnwn2x. Anybody running Tiger please try it out, and let me know how it goes.

msykes

[msykes]

There's a new version - which allows you to select the DVD location. This is helpful for international versions, which evidently do not have the same DVD name as the US version which I had stupidly hardcoded in.

Also, apparently the UK DVD does not have the dialog.tlk file in the "root" folder. Can anybody with the UK version of MotB (or any other non-US versions) check for the dialog.tlk and let me know where it is? I'm not sure if it was completely missing, or merely packaged in an archive file. In the US version it's just sitting in the root folder.

msykes

[msykes]

v0.5 has been released, which splits the process into two parts, and should fix the rest issues that some people were having with copies of NWN2 upgraded to v1.12.

Please continue to share your experiences with me, and do feel free to post here in addition to emailing me.

http://www.msykes.com/nwn/macnwn2x/

msykes

[msykes]

I've just released v0.6, which aims to solve some of the problems for people using non-USA DVDs. Unfortunately I have no way to actually test this, so please do leave feedback here or send me an email.

For non-USA DVDs, after you extract files from the DVD to your hard drive in the "macnwn2x/" directory, there should be a series of language folders. Lets use German as an example

1) Copy German/dialog.TLK to NWN2/Data/dialog.tlk
2) Copy German/dialogF.TLK to NWN2/Data/dialogF.tlk (female strings - does not exist for all languages)
3) Copy German/Data/VO_X1.zip to NWN2/Data/Data/VO_X1.zip (voiceovers, cutscenes will be crazy fast without this file).

http://www.msykes.com/nwn/macnwn2x/

msykes

[Spike24]

Hi!

By the way, it works very well with 10.4, I am using it.

however, is there a way to patch (update) MOTB for recent updates? Parch exists for the PC versions, and my MOTB installation versions does not matches server version, so multiplayer game is not possible.

Regards

[msykes]

Spike24, on September 9th 2008, 01:16 AM, said:

Hi!

By the way, it works very well with 10.4, I am using it.

however, is there a way to patch (update) MOTB for recent updates? Parch exists for the PC versions, and my MOTB installation versions does not matches server version, so multiplayer game is not possible.

Regards

Patching is out of my hands, and is up to Aspyr. If the 1.12 update was any indication, the current 1.13 update will arrive for the Mac, but not for another couple of months. Sadly, Aspyr is so late with the patches they have effectively nerfed the multiplayer aspects by making it impossible to play with fully patched PC folks.

I have no idea if during the brief spell where both Macs and PCs were at 1.12 if this MotB install process allowed multiplayer to work properly or not.

msykes

[Spike24]

Thanks a lot.

BTW, would you know of a application similar than Audolo for MAC. I play NWN2 on line and it is tiresome to update those PW modules by hand!

Best regards

[msykes]

Spike24, on September 10th 2008, 01:25 AM, said:

Thanks a lot.

BTW, would you know of a application similar than Audolo for MAC. I play NWN2 on line and it is tiresome to update those PW modules by hand!

Best regards

I've never heard of one, and doubt anything exists for the Mac. Hopefully I'm wrong, and I would post on the NWN2 boards just to make sure.

msykes

[Hansi]

Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir comes out tomorrow, anyone going to pick it up and test if it will work with the Mac version of NWN2?

[DaveyJJ]

[DaveyJJ hijacks thread, grumbles something about Aurora and lack of editors, then scampers back under his little rock again.]

[msykes]

Hansi, on November 20th 2008, 08:57 AM, said:

Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir comes out tomorrow, anyone going to pick it up and test if it will work with the Mac version of NWN2?

I intend on trying at some point, but I'm not optimistic. Mask of the Betrayer came out around patch level 1.10 or so (I don't remember the specifics), and when we finally got the Mac version of NWN2, it was at patch 1.11 (since updated to 1.12).

We are now stuck at 1.12, while the PC version went to 1.13, and now 1.20 with Storm of Zehir (and I believe a patch already to 1.21). So basically, the Mac version is now behind in terms of patches.

I kind of *assume* there are some changes to the executable necessary for Storm of Zehir to work. Then again, maybe I completely overestimate how important the executable is, compared to the data files.

Anyways, I will report on it, hopefully sometime next week (I'm traveling Friday-Sunday with no computer).

msykes

[msykes]

Okay, unable to contain my pessimism I gave it a shot tonight, following the same protocol as for the MotB install - basically just unpack everything and copy it over.

I was able to start a Storm of Zehir campaign, make a character and start playing, but things got stuck very quickly. One of the first steps is to create a party, and I was unable to do so. There is a new party generation screen which pops up, but none of the buttons for creating additional characters or adding characters to the party were responsive.

Alas.

My suspicion, as I alluded to in my earlier post, is that the executable needs to be patched to at least v1.20 to allow compatibility with Storm of Zehir. I am leery of spending too much time on the problem until then, and honestly I'm not sure what I could do anyways (anybody got any ideas?).

Seems like I may have to head back to Boot Camp, or perhaps try VMWare - rumor has it that NWN2 runs just fine under VMWare Fusion v2.

I have emailed Aspyr about future patches to NWN2, but have only received canned and evasive replies. My gut feeling is that no further patches are coming, though I sure hope to be wrong! Anybody out there able to get a straight answer from Aspyr?

msykes

[smurfk1]

msykes, on November 21st 2008, 12:20 AM, said:

Okay, unable to contain my pessimism I gave it a shot tonight, following the same protocol as for the MotB install - basically just unpack everything and copy it over.

I was able to start a Storm of Zehir campaign, make a character and start playing, but things got stuck very quickly. One of the first steps is to create a party, and I was unable to do so. There is a new party generation screen which pops up, but none of the buttons for creating additional characters or adding characters to the party were responsive.

Alas.

My suspicion, as I alluded to in my earlier post, is that the executable needs to be patched to at least v1.20 to allow compatibility with Storm of Zehir. I am leery of spending too much time on the problem until then, and honestly I'm not sure what I could do anyways (anybody got any ideas?).

Seems like I may have to head back to Boot Camp, or perhaps try VMWare - rumor has it that NWN2 runs just fine under VMWare Fusion v2.

I have emailed Aspyr about future patches to NWN2, but have only received canned and evasive replies. My gut feeling is that no further patches are coming, though I sure hope to be wrong! Anybody out there able to get a straight answer from Aspyr?

msykes

btw... I just received this email from Aspyr...

"Hello, Michael. Thanks for contacting us.

At this time, there are no further patches for NWN2 for the Mac planned. Right now, the newest version is 1.12. This may change in the future; however, for updates, check Aspyr.com. You may also subscribe to our newsletter there.

Aspyr Technical Support"

Basically, it doesn't look like SoZ will ever work with the native Mac version.

[msykes]

smurfk1, on December 1st 2008, 09:07 AM, said:

btw... I just received this email from Aspyr...

"Hello, Michael. Thanks for contacting us.

At this time, there are no further patches for NWN2 for the Mac planned. Right now, the newest version is 1.12. This may change in the future; however, for updates, check Aspyr.com. You may also subscribe to our newsletter there.

Aspyr Technical Support"

Basically, it doesn't look like SoZ will ever work with the native Mac version.

It's really too bad. I have absolutely no idea how much effort it would require to get those patches over to the Mac, but it sure would be nice to enable Storm of Zehir on the Mac. Oh well, good thing I had enough free disk space to put BootCamp back on.

msykes

[smurfk1]

Question for you msykes...

So I just bought a used PC copy of NWN2. I had some difficulty installing it using VMWare Fusion, so I restarted in BootCamp and still can't get the thing to install. After a little googling, I found that the DRM software on the DVD has caused a lot of grief for PC users. I've read a bunch of suggestions, but none have worked so far.

How did you install your PC version of NWN2? I'm on a Mac Pro with a Sony DVD and don't know what else to do. Any ideas?

Thanks!

[Hansi]

smurfk1, on December 24th 2008, 07:55 AM, said:

Question for you msykes...

So I just bought a used PC copy of NWN2. I had some difficulty installing it using VMWare Fusion, so I restarted in BootCamp and still can't get the thing to install. After a little googling, I found that the DRM software on the DVD has caused a lot of grief for PC users. I've read a bunch of suggestions, but none have worked so far.

How did you install your PC version of NWN2? I'm on a Mac Pro with a Sony DVD and don't know what else to do. Any ideas?

Thanks!

I have both the Mac version and PC version (actually bought the PC version from a IMG member IIRC) and never had any issues installing. What sort of error messages are you getting when installing it in Windows (no-Fusion)?

[smurfk1]

The DVD loads fine and makes it about half way through the install before it fails. I've read all over the place that people have had tons of install issues with NWN2, but the cause of the problems mentioned vary from hardware issues to damaged DVDs to permission issues.

The DVD itself is used, but looks fine, so I may try to copy the disk and see if installing from new media helps.

Anyway... thanks for your feedback!