All persistant worlds for nwn2 share the same problem: at least one file - the *.pwc - has to be transfered to the players' pc before anyone can login and join a multiplayer module. Most pw teams will want to add custom content as well, like clothing and placeables, custom soundsets, ingame music or even movies.
All files have to be stored in the right place and must be updated at all players' pc's whenever the builders change them.
And some of these files are considerably large, especially all erf-types (*.mod, *.pwc, *.hak, *.erf), downloads for an average pw can easily sum up to more than one gb total! This makes it painfull - if not impossible - to update files regularly, and thus stops builders from changing their worlds dynamically, e.g. in reaction to some ingame events.
WorldGate was designed to help pw builders create and maintain a download-system for all files related to their pw, and to help players download and update these files as easily and as fast as possible - typically with one click.
Features
can update resources within erf-files (this includes *.erf, *.mod, *.pwc and *.hak), thus transferring only changed parts - especially worthy for updating pwc!
players client is setup by simply entering your pw's homepage url
uses famous 7-zip compression to minimize download time and traffic.
designed to work with any web- or ftp-server.
designed to store multiple pw's.
UPDATE
now you can chose between ftp and http, so worldgate should be usable in almost any hosting situation. it now is fully nwn1 compatible, even on filelist level.
all files have been updated to patch v1.04 hotfix (870).
UPDATE
i added some video-"tutorials" to explain how worldgate is setup and used. the videos are in windows-media-format wmv, if you can't view them you may need to update your media player.
UPDATE 1.3
i added some nice counters, just have a look at the new picture uploaded as well...
UPDATE 1.4
i added the much asked for "add folder" function. now you can tell worldgate to synchronize folders, it will automatically detect any files you added or removed from this folder whenever you press "check files".
players _can_ safely upgrade to client 1.4, it works flawless with pw-definitions created by older versions of wg-admin. players _need_ to upgrade if admins use wg-admin 1.4 because the fileformat for pw-definitions has changed (wg-client will tell them to do so).
UPDATE 1.5
someone requested to make the filename-extensions editable (because their web-server would not deliver .dat-files). this version has the requested feature, but it's not fully tested by now.
UPDATE 1.7 (beta)
subdirectories, some bugs fixed, and massive improvements in memory management.
UPDATE 1.8
override-management added (see documentation), some fixes
this will show you how easy it is to use worldgate to download all files needed to join a pw. the video is stored in wmv-format (screen-codec), if you can't view it you may need to update your media-player.
this will show you how easy it is to setup worldgate for your pw. the video is stored in wmv-format (screen-codec), if you can't view it you may need to update your media-player.
this will show that both admins and players can keep their files up to date with only a few mouseclicks... the video is stored in wmv-format (screen-codec), if you can't view it you may need to update your media-player.
Posted by Daijin at 2011-10-20 15:39:22 Voted 10.00 on 10/20/11
THIS IS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!! Thank you very much for sharing!!!!! _________________________ Dream Well, Faith, Loyalty, Truth, Honor, Friendship always.....
Daijin Dreamweaver, Leader of the Dream Warriors for 32 years, going strong.
Posted by arolar at 2009-09-05 10:07:23 Voted 10.00 on 09/05/09
A quick guestion about the "duplicate resourcenames" dialog. In an earlier post a user mentioned that he had duplicate filenames with different suffixes. What directories does worldgate look in when it is breaking down the PWC?
Posted by bsb5652 at 2009-08-06 19:51:49 Voted 10.00 on 07/22/09
I do have a work around though, thanks to your comment. I will just add the modules directory, since the autodownloader only stages client files for FTPing to the server, and it will just handle the individual trx's instead of the beefy PWC. Works perfect. _________________________ Brian S. Bloom
Realms of Trinity for NWN2 PW Creator Link
Neverwinter Nights Podcast Executive Producer Link
Posted by bsb5652 at 2009-08-06 18:49:43 Voted 10.00 on 07/22/09
I am using folder mode, but for player distribution, I created a PWC and your admin tool scanned it to see if there were any map changes and ONLY uploaded those changes to my ftp server. It worked perfect until the release of 1.23 patch. I still would have loved it if they integrated your architecture in creating the downloader, it is most certainly more efficient than the ADL. _________________________ Brian S. Bloom
Realms of Trinity for NWN2 PW Creator Link
Neverwinter Nights Podcast Executive Producer Link
the ADL was one feature we always asked obsidian for, from the very beginning of nwn2 pws, even before the game was initially released. although it's not exactly what everyone wants/needs/expected, i am delighted to see it finally is available.
with ADL i recommend to use folder mode instead of one solid pwc file. this way you can update single maps with ADL, otherwise your players must auto-download the whole pwc again.
Posted by bsb5652 at 2009-07-22 21:09:22 Voted 10.00 on 07/22/09
Worldgate is an amazing tool, and does more than the autodownloader. The simple fact that it just updates the parts of the PWC, HAK, etc, is top notch. With the autodownloader it's an all or nothing if one little piece changes in the HAK.
Not sure if anyone else is having this issue or not, but after updating to 1.23, any PWC file I make from any module causes the Worldgate Admin to not load the PWC stating format issues error. I am using the latest version of the Admin tool as well, and had no issues with it prior to applying the 1.23 patch. _________________________ Brian S. Bloom
Realms of Trinity for NWN2 PW Creator Link
Neverwinter Nights Podcast Executive Producer Link
Posted by Venture at 2009-07-19 06:20:23 Voted 10.00
Just popping in to say that WorldGate is a great tool, even with the official Autodownloader released. Grinning Fool did an excellent job with the Autodownloader, and hopefully most PWs will start using it. Once feature that WorldGate has, though, which the Autodownloader wasn't designed for, is the ability to download when the game server is offline. That makes WorldGate essential for D&D style games (DM and a few regular players), as those games usually don't have the game server up 24/7. _________________________ NWN Campaigns - the NWN/NWN2 Campaign Database Naeldor Weekly Campaign
Posted by Argzharr at 2009-04-08 08:29:36 Voted 10.00 on 04/01/09
Thanks for the tips tani.
I will contact you if we decide to take a look on those sources.
it should be possible to do that, but i didn't implement such check because you generally can't rely on all clocks being in sync, and there simply are no timestamps on files inside modules/haks etc.
if you're working in folder mode i'd rather use some advanced folder synchronisation tools for the dev team, like "allway sync" or even subversion if you really need to do concurrent changes.
Posted by Argzharr at 2009-04-01 12:11:18 Voted 10.00 on 04/01/09
Hello tani,
I first want to say that your WorldGate has been a great tool for our PW. It really helps us, the Dev. team and our players. So thank you for making this tool.
There is one little annoying problem we have encountered though.
We use WG so that all of us in Dev. Team have the whole module on our computers that we then modify as we see fit. Then we transfer the changes we make to the host using WD Admin tool - and others in the team can upload them to themselfs using the Client.
Problem appears when I'm in the middle of making changes to an area and then another of us transfers his own changes to the host. Before I can transfer my changes to the host I need to upload my friends changes, because otherwise I would overwrite his changes. And I cannot just upload them using the Client because my changes to my area would then be overwriten. So I have to export my area first, then upload my friends changes and then import my area back to the module. This gets a bit annoying after a while as I'm sure you can imagine. :)
So - we were thinking could it be possible to change the WorldGate so that it would overwrite files of the same name only if they are older than those you are uploading?
tani,
i'm having an issue with getting WG to run on my computer
I download the client and install it with no problems. then when i click the shortcut to run the program i get a popup say that the was a problem with the program and it has to close. it just leaves me with being able to send or not send an error report.
i have windows XP, is there a way to fix it?
the message is quite clear: your ftp-server denies creation of that particular file with the login credentials you supplied. let worldgate compress and save the files to a local folder and then try to upload them manually, using filezilla or whatever ftp-client you usually use.
that particular 550-error usually means that you don't have enough rights (try chmodding the folder) or your ftp-server doesn't allow .dat filenames (you can change the filename-extensions to .jpg if you must). some ftp-servers even don't like files larger than a certain size (if so, there's nothing i could do about it)! _________________________ TerraCoppa, WaterMill, NWN2Packer & Packistani, WorldGate, RRN-Docs, RePlug... PW Weltentor (german)
@crashume:
it's not a worldgate issue, it's your vista. there are only some folders where vista will let you put user-created files, as far as i know. you'll have to sort things out in vista, probably by modifying user access control settings (or turning damn uac off).
Hi, already finished setting up this worldgate admin, my problem is when i try to transfer to host, it will compress the files but it wont transfer.
I always get this error messages.
transfer aborted:F5428BLABLABLABLABLABLABLABLABLABLA.dat:Access is denied. (code=550)
is something like not allowing to transfer on my ftp-root, what else i have missed out?
Thanks
Posted by crashume at 2009-03-07 14:40:46 Voted 10.00 on 03/07/09
'Nuff said
Posted by crashume at 2009-03-07 14:39:03 Voted 10.00 on 03/07/09
using vista64 bit, when I attempt to test and exit having correctly received the data from the PWs WG server receive an error message that the PW details cannot be saved in the wordgate subfolder of the worldgate install folder. Note that hte folder is set to readonly, fix that, but vista just restores the readonly attribute, and, of course WG continues to spack. The readonly thing mightnt be the problem, I am in as an administrator. Hellup?
Posted by DM Nessuno at 2009-02-26 23:16:43 Voted 10.00 on 02/26/09
Outstanding work!
But I have one question...does it work with Windows Vista 64bit?
Posted by Arvirago at 2009-02-04 00:54:33 Voted 9.50 on 02/04/09
Can't believe I didn't vote here. A must.
Let's hope Obsidian's tool still let us use the override folder, until it really is unnecessary. _________________________ Reino de Aldor
Posted by Beldrana at 2009-02-03 12:17:35 Voted 10.00 on 02/03/09
Thanks so much for this, fantastic tool. Really takes all the hasle out of updating and downling files for PWs, big time saver. Cheers :) _________________________ The Kingdom of Silversun PW
actually, as i know who's programming obsidians tool, i'm rather confident that it will be a real helper once it's out. being integrated into the game itself will ease a lot of trouble worldgate could not adress.
Posted by Zamora at 2008-12-23 19:52:31 Voted 10.00 on 12/23/08
I just hope the obsidians "real" autodownload tool uses 7-zip, like yours does. With limited space on my FTP server, it's a real life saver. Worldgate is an awesome tool, obsidian will have a hard time matching it. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Posted by puket at 2008-12-23 03:30:11 Voted 10.00 on 12/23/08
I love good and solid software and I love clever and beautiful woman.Merry Christmas dear Tani.
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
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