The NWN2 Tome of Building (ToB) is an on-line help compilation of existing NWN2 documentation. It contains the Obsidian documentation for the Pre-Release Toolset as well as tutorials and tips developed by the Community. I converted their documents into on-line help. Please read the 'Welcome' topic in the Tome for information about how the documents in the Tome differ from the originals. I did not write any of the toolset-related content and I provided full credit to the original authors. Where possible, I also included links to the original document files so you can easily vote for them and leave comments for the authors.
While the Tome of Building is an on-line help file, I did not have time to add hyperlinks to every cross referenece. This first edition of the ToB does contain some hyperlinks within the text, but mostly it is a convenient compilation of existing documentation. It is also easily navigable, thanks to the hyperlinked table of contents and powerful search feature.
The Tome is divided into two main sections, Obsidian Documentation and Community Documentation. There is also a Welcome section that introduces you to the Tome and explains how the Tome differs from the individual documents and how to navigate through the help file.
Recently, several new tutorials have appeared on the Vault. I decided to release this version of the Tome so people would have what it contains now, if they wanted it, and I will update the Tome with the new tutorials for the "Second Edition".
There are two versions of the Tome and are provided in separate downloads:
* Microsoft HTML Help file
------------------------
This is a single help file, similar to what you would find with a
typical Windows application. It is in the current standard format for
Windows help files, which is compiled HTML. To view this file, you
must have Windows, or at least Internet Explorer.
* WebHelp
-------
This is platform-independent, uncompiled HTML help. Essentially, it
is a website and you view it in your browser. You should be able to
view WebHelp in any browser. For best results, use a browser that
supports JavaScript. For WebHelp to work, you must keep the directory
structure of the files when you extract them from the archive (zip or
rar) file. See Section II of this readme file, "Installing the Tome of
Building," below.
Please see the ReadMe file for more information. I have included the ReadMe as a separate file as well as bundled it with the ToB.
Contains information on installing and running the Tome of Building, as well as the release notes. This file is also bundled with the Tome downloads but I include it here, seperately, for anyone who wants to read it before downloading.
This is a single help file, similar to what you would find with a typical Windows application. It is in the current standard format for Windows help files, which is compiled HTML. To view this file, you must have Windows, or at least Internet Explorer.
This is platform-independent, uncompiled HTML help. Essentially, it is a website and you view it in your browser. You should be able to view WebHelp in *any* browser. For best results, use a browser that supports JavaScript. For WebHelp to work, you must keep the directory structure of the files when you extract them from the archive (rar) file. See Section II of the ReadMe file, "Installing the Tome of Building," for details.
Posted by BenWH at 2006-12-30 00:21:10 Voted 7.00 on 12/30/06
Excellent presentation and layout. Needs to be filled out once RL has let you get back to it, as there's a lot of information around that can go into it. Definitely falls into the 'deserves a look' category, but has the chance to become the gold standard with more content. _________________________ Works of B G P Hughes: Link
Thanks for the kind words E.C. I am currently working on an update but RL raised its ugly head at the end of November. I will not curse my progress further by saying more than "I hope to have an update very soon." ;-)
I didn't post the Tome under Tutorials because the original purpose for it was as a "substitute" help file, or reference manual. I believe I *can* recategorize when I update, so I'll think about that.
As for the bug you mention, I presume you're talking about the WebHelp version? If so, it's a known problem that I found with Firefox. The work-around I found that works for me is to refresh the browser and then reselect the 'Table of Contents' button from the web page's toolbar. I'm trying to find a less kludgy solution but, hopefully, that'll work for now.
Cheers,
-Stebby
Posted by E.C.Patterson at 2006-12-20 10:38:05 Voted 9.50 on 12/20/06
Very very nicely done. Very professional presentation. Great way to compile existing tutorials while clearly acknowledging the source.
Too bad this wasn't under Tutorials. I would have found it sooner! (Can you recategorize or ask Maximus to do it?)
Please keep updating it regularly. This could become the NWN2 building equivalent of the Lexicon.
Bug?: When I resize the menu area, a duplicate of the header (Content-Index-Search etc.) appears underneath the original one. From that point on, menu links no longer appear to work. _________________________ E.C.Patterson Gaming Parents Studios
Bugger! I was hoping to have the update done in time for Thanksgiving (or, "Thursday," as you call it outside the U.S.). Doesn't look like that will happen now (still a chance though). Otherwise, I hope to have something by Friday.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in the U.S. Happy Thursday to everyone else. ;-D
Cheers,
-Stebby
Posted by Morgoth Marr at 2006-11-16 21:38:19 Voted 9.50 on 11/16/06
Thanks for the great work supporting the community. One of the things that I truly love about the NWN franchise.
Thanks for the positive feedback. I was hoping to have an update before NWN2 was released but Real Life(tm) intervened. On the other hand, now that NWN2 is out, I've had a chance to look over the official release documentation for the toolset. It looks like Obsidian has added some info and updated a few things, but the documentation is still a little awkward to use, in my opinion.
I am working on an update to the ToB that will incorporate the new info from Obsidian and add some more of the fantastic documentation coming from the community. I'm hoping to have the new "edition" out by early next week.
Cheers,
-Stebby
Posted by Elvendur Selun� at 2006-11-06 13:02:58 Voted 10.00 on 11/06/06
Hee Stebby, thank you for upload, the information is very useful. Thanks alot Elvendur _________________________ Caer Callidyrr, a german roleplaying Server, located in the forgotten Realms. Link
Posted by mpickton at 2006-11-04 10:13:52 Voted 9.50 on 11/04/06
Truly excellently compiled. Very easy to use. Top bean. Keep up the good work. And credit should also be given to the tutorial authors, so here's to them.
Posted by Fu_Miga at 2006-10-22 10:18:17 Voted 9.00 on 10/22/06
Very useful set of tutorials. _________________________ ========================
The SAGA Project
======================== Link
Friendship based RP club
========================
Thanks Venture. I'm glad you find it useful. That makes it worth the time and effort. And, if you can, please visit the Vault pages for the original docs--those authors put in even more work!
People have posted quite a few new tutorials since I started on the ToB. I'm hoping to have at least one update done before NWN2 is released.
Cheers,
-Stebby
Posted by Venture at 2006-10-19 17:39:58 Voted 10.00 on 10/19/06
Excellent. Thanks for uploading this. It is obvious you put quite a bit of time into formatting this. The ease of navigation is great. I've already created a shortcut to this on my desktop. _________________________ NWN Campaigns - the NWN/NWN2 Campaign Database Naeldor Weekly Campaign
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10 - A Masterpiece, Genuinely Groundbreaking 9 - Outstanding, a Must Have 8 - Excellent, Recommended to Anyone 7 - Very Good, Deserves a Look 6 - Good, Qualified Recommendation 5 - Fair, Solid yet Unremarkable 4 - Some Merit, Requires Improvements 3 - Poor Execution, Potential Unrealized 2 - Very Little Appeal 1 - Not Recommended to Anyone
Site
at 2006-12-20 20:48:35
