Re: Houston, we have a problem.

by **Eric of Atrophy** Sat Nov 21, 2020 7:29 pm

Elhanan wrote:Thain is a RPG haven, but pls be warned that if one crosses the "elite" players there, they can make playing there fairly miserable.

As per Ramana Jala, Thain is under new ownership and a much better place to be. In my own personal experience, I have come across many of the players, and all were very nice to me. Even when Ramana was not with me, I had very positive interactions with players whose paths I had crossed.

by **Eric of Atrophy** Sat Nov 21, 2020 8:05 pm

And of course, don't forget that every server has its hiccups ... remember Solarina? The only player ever banned from Aenea.

by **Ramana Jala** Mon Nov 23, 2020 8:52 am

Elhanan wrote:Thain is a RPG haven, but pls be warned that if one crosses the "elite" players there, they can make playing there fairly miserable.

Hey Elhanan, good to see you! I understand where that comment is coming from, as that was one of my complaints that got me searching and landed me in Aenea years ago. I've been playing in Thain again for about a year now, and I've discovered that since the management changed in the past couple of years, everybody has been much happier. The new management is super, head DM Cuchuwyn especially, most of the witches have retired (one who really got me riled as a DM may be technically still around but rarely seen and never DMs anymore), and even one witch player was banned... and another unjustly banned player allowed back! The old staff that is still around is mostly off building stuff, and they seem to be much more relaxed and patient and reasonable than before, perhaps because they don't have the entire workload on their shoulders anymore. No real 'politics' to speak of, nowadays. Cuchuwyn is very available, and the Discord makes it so that discussions with him and other DMs are easy. So much nicer place to be! And lots of nice new features since EE made custom expansion possible! Try it again, you'll probably like it!

cheers

by **Elhanan** Tue Nov 24, 2020 9:30 am

@Ramana Jala - That is very good to hear! I figured that things getting dicey there is why you and others were appearing in Aenea. I did have fun learning the on-line way to RP over there, so am glad to see things are thriving there.

However, after playing in Aenea for so long, I am uncertain if I can play w/o our perks here (eg; Teleportation). But if I tire from my single player life, I may give it another go. Thanks again for the update!

by **Eric of Atrophy** Wed Nov 25, 2020 1:04 am

We would welcome you, Ancient One! Always great to see a familiar face in-game!

by **Ramana Jala** Thu Nov 26, 2020 9:22 am

Elhanan wrote:@Ramana Jala - That is very good to hear! I figured that things getting dicey there is why you and others were appearing in Aenea. I did have fun learning the on-line way to RP over there, so am glad to see things are thriving there.

However, after playing in Aenea for so long, I am uncertain if I can play w/o our perks here (eg; Teleportation). But if I tire from my single player life, I may give it another go. Thanks again for the update!

@Elhanan

There are actually a few of Aenea's special perks appearing in Thain, now that EE is allowing easy customization. Not quite a list of 50 assignable teleport slots, but an ability to teleport with special items or at special places. Player-set portals, and teleport stones for both the usual and Shadow planes. And player-placeables and summons release and reskin commmands, to let players do a bit of IG scenario player-DMing. Customized classes, and more. I just remade my old Ramana into a new powerful ShadowDancer Shadow-Jumper, and the shadow-jump is rather like a short-range teleport for line-of-sight places, very cool for inaccessible spots to shoot from and for rushing enemies. And a SD can step into certain shadows that are like long-range portals. And there are Fey portals to various places... actually, there's a lot of portalling going on!

I really would recommend you try it again, it's a lot more custom and perky than it used to be!

cheers

P.S.
@ Eric
@ Elhanan

Yesterday I learned more about some customizations for Fighters, that are rather like the semi-classes here, where you go get training and choose a path.

by **Drgnwlkr** Thu Dec 03, 2020 8:56 pm

I agree that it is sad to have Aenea go away. I have many great times of fun with many of you, friends, running around! I would find a way to help add funds to the cause if we could get The Amethyst Dragon

interested in reviving such a wonderful game world!

by **Ramana Jala** Thu Dec 03, 2020 10:02 pm

I still have my original NWN1 installation and will keep in on my drive (until one of these days I get a new OS or computer), just in case Aenea comes back online.

by **Eric of Atrophy** Fri Dec 04, 2020 1:23 am

Holy crap, Drgnwlkr! How the dickens have you been, friend?

Indeed, it is tremendously sad that Aenea is gone. From the conversations I have had with him (and there weren't that many), he seems like he stepped away from NwN. He does an awful lot in real life with the DnD cons in his area, and his kids are getting older, too. Maybe someday he will come back. Hope springs eternal.

in the meantime, some of us have looked to modding other mods to give us that Aenea experience. Attaching Aenea haks to Arbor Falls, for example, so you can use your old PCs in the setting. I am also building a personal module with a lot of Aenea flavor, that I may dropbox to y'all when it is (mostly) finished.

Also, I personally have picked up (at the advice of Ramana) on playing on the Island of Thain PW. It has a very Aenea feel, especially with the playerbase. I haven't had much interaction with people, but those interactions were genuine. I'd highly recommend it to ya.

I've nattered on enough to y'all. Good to see ya in these parts again, Drgnwlkr, stop by anytime! Stay safe and have great Hollidays!

by **daveyeisley** Fri Mar 19, 2021 3:35 pm

Elhanan wrote:Thain is a RPG haven, but pls be warned that if one crosses the "elite" players there, they can make playing there fairly miserable.

by **Ramana Jala** Sat Mar 20, 2021 9:16 am

Hey Dave, good to see you're still around!

But about that comment, I've said above that Thain is much improved in the past few years! There's several Aenea alumni there now.

Stop by and see us!

by **odbo255** Sat Mar 27, 2021 3:41 pm

Sorry! I just discovered my notifications were disabled!

by **odbo255** Sat Mar 27, 2021 3:46 pm

Eric of Atrophy wrote:
I can check and see if I have all the haks. I have a poopton of stuff, but I think my Aenea haks are intact. if not, are they available from aenea's main page/download page? have to check that out. [Edit - I just checked that out, and they downloaded just fine! If you find any that aren't working properly, let us know! (Check here for those downloads! {They're the final ones that I know of.})]

Do you do EE? I am building practically every night, and there's a server that I pop onto periodically (Whispers from the Abyss) - gives me the best Aenea vibes I've been able to find so far.

Also, I (and a couple others here) have farted around with wedding aenea's haks to other pw mods, most noticeably Arbor Falls and the Pretty Good Character Creator utility mod. So there's that.

Be good, take care, and stop by every once in a while! We'll be happy to see you!

All the best, friend Beowulf!

Eric

Thanks Eric, greatly appreciated. Nice to be welcomed. My notifications weren't going anywhere... Thought my post wasn't replied to! I have EE but haven't been able to bring myself to play it - is there a good persistent world community? Which world(s) is worth playing on? Is it Whispers from the Abyss or Thain?

Look forward to talking to you more, and hope you are remaining well.

by **odbo255** Sat Mar 27, 2021 3:57 pm

Ramana Jala wrote:Looks like he's gone in different directions and is not wanting to continue Aenea. I suppose that even if he sold Aenea, he'd still really be on call as a consultant for all his unique programming, and he likely wants to just retire from all that work.

Regarding this, if interest remains... I would happily approach The Amethyst Dragon

and make a non-trivial offer on the last working backup if it is still in his possession. I have a lawyer on retainer that could write up a contract to ensure a transfer of sale where each of our rights are protected, including a zero liability, as-is, and no support clause. Hosting is not an issue for me, that's a readily available resource. I'm a software engineer that loves tech in my spare time, so maintenance isn't an issue. Probably won't do much dev, but keeping the wheels spinning won't be an issue.

One thing I would do is add a lot of narrative game design, something I always wanted for the world.

So the questions are:
1. Is there still an interest
2. Is there an offer that can be agreed to

by **odbo255** Sat Mar 27, 2021 5:12 pm

Going back through some of the posts over the years. Came across this:

Houston, we have a problem. - Page 2 Advent10

and this

Houston, we have a problem. - Page 2 20121110

by **Eric of Atrophy** Sun Mar 28, 2021 12:51 am

odbo255,

thank you so much for those screencaps! they're especially cool for me because I (Dead Jane) am ingame with my oldest son Abe (Ivellios Galanodel) and my oldest daughter Tabitha (Raenye), something that happened so rarely! Saving and treasuring!

by **Eric of Atrophy** Sun Mar 28, 2021 12:55 am

Question - do you know what the timestamp for that image was? I'm curious to see how old each was ...

by **odbo255** Sun Mar 28, 2021 1:13 am

Eric of Atrophy wrote:Question - do you know what the timestamp for that image was? I'm curious to see how old each was ...

I'll do one better. Here is a link to the thread. It actually contains yet a third screenie!

https://aenea.aforumfree.com/t4301p50-is-anyone-interested-in-a-setting-up-a-regular-dd-night#37114

by **odbo255** Sun Mar 28, 2021 1:15 am

Going to continue posting here because it's really the only spot in the forum that is still alive at the moment.

I also found Fren's Glamour Gallery

https://aenea.aforumfree.com/t4955-fren-s-glamour-gallery#36901

by **odbo255** Sun Mar 28, 2021 1:17 am

And promo videos that I made

by **Ramana Jala** Sun Mar 28, 2021 8:19 am

odbo255 wrote:
Ramana Jala wrote:Looks like he's gone in different directions and is not wanting to continue Aenea. I suppose that even if he sold Aenea, he'd still really be on call as a consultant for all his unique programming, and he likely wants to just retire from all that work.

Regarding this, if interest remains... I would happily approach and make a non-trivial offer on the last working backup if it is still in his possession. I have a lawyer on retainer that could write up a contract to ensure a transfer of sale where each of our rights are protected, including a zero liability, as-is, and no support clause. Hosting is not an issue for me, that's a readily available resource. I'm a software engineer that loves tech in my spare time, so maintenance isn't an issue. Probably won't do much dev, but keeping the wheels spinning won't be an issue.

One thing I would do is add a lot of narrative game design, something I always wanted for the world.

So the questions are:
1. Is there still an interest
2. Is there an offer that can be agreed to

I'd certainly be interested in reviving Aenea. Although I'm on a very tight budget as to contributing money.

by **odbo255** Tue Mar 30, 2021 12:07 pm

Ramana Jala wrote:
I'd certainly be interested in reviving Aenea. Although I'm on a very tight budget as to contributing money.

Hi Ramana, great talking with you again. I should have been more clear. I wouldn't expect or need financial contributions.

It's just a matter of if there is enough interest. Would people login every so often, or not.

by **Eric of Atrophy** Tue Mar 30, 2021 11:02 pm

I would absolutely log in! probably make some time for a weekly, if not nightly, presence!

The Amethyst Dragon

has been pretty radio silent about NwN in general, so I wonder if there was an event of some kind that turned him from the community ... after all, he was one of the consultants dialoging with Beamdog before the EE came out.

I don't know if he had a backup or not. knowing him, i'd say he did, but he never confirmed. and he seemed agreeable to allowing other folks to have a copy of the mod, but I never pressed him for it, and things went by the wayside.

i could always open communications with him about it again ...

by **odbo255** Wed Mar 31, 2021 11:44 am

Eric of Atrophy wrote:I would absolutely log in! probably make some time for a weekly, if not nightly, presence!

has been pretty radio silent about NwN in general, so I wonder if there was an event of some kind that turned him from the community ... after all, he was one of the consultants dialoging with Beamdog before the EE came out.

I don't know if he had a backup or not. knowing him, i'd say he did, but he never confirmed. and he seemed agreeable to allowing other folks to have a copy of the mod, but I never pressed him for it, and things went by the wayside.

i could always open communications with him about it again ...

Great to hear! Yes, if you have contact info for him please reach out to him. I'll also send you my email via DM.

by **odbo255** Wed Mar 31, 2021 1:10 pm

The era is officially at an end. Aenea is dead, long live Aenea!

https://aenea.aforumfree.com/t6160-an-apology-an-update-and-the-fate-of-aenea

by **Skywatcher** Tue Apr 12, 2022 12:59 pm

Well, GOG put a big sale on NWN EE so I went ahead and bought it. It is OK, and I have been trying it out, but it does not have all the community content I was expecting, and as far as I can tell, Aenea was much better. But it makes sense to me that The Amethyst Dragon

would not spend the time to upgrade Aenea to EE when what he had done over the years was arguably much better. I still miss Aenea, but am currently trying out the Isle of Thain. Still wishing for Aenea though.

by **Ramana Jala** Thu Apr 21, 2022 8:53 am

After more than a decade of playing at Thain, I finally deserted it, after myself and all my playing buds decided that we would never have a chance to matter, with the elites owning the server. And they recently instituted some horrendous death/curse/permadeath procedures.

A bunch of us went to a server named Adalee, created by a former Thainite who decided she wanted to make a server that we wanted Thain to be (but never would be granted the power to do so). And it's been very successful, player-built and player-evolvable. I got some of The Amethyst Dragon

's augments into it even, like the elementals and floaty mage. XP from RP, and other interesting features. Check it out.

https://www.adalee.net/

by **Skywatcher** Wed May 11, 2022 12:15 pm

Hi Ramana,

Tried out Adalee, finally made it to 2nd level after dying twice. Are there any quests active in the game? It is a bit hard to level from killing kobolds at 25 each at level 1, and 21 each at level 2, and the only loot I have seen is around 9gp for killing kobold slingers. Losing 50xp and 50gp on death means that at 2nd level, I have bought a rapier and an shield, and have 30 gp total. I cannot even buy a heal kit to keep from dying or heal up between fights. Aenea was not easy to get started in, but it was possible, and I am not seeing that with Adalee. One of the players offered some help, but I declined, I wanted to get a feel for the server first. What I have seen so far is not a lot of fun. I did finally find a quest with the messenger...and got ambushed by 5 goblins on the first zone I attempted to quietly slip through. Are there newbie quests?

by **Ramana Jala** Wed May 11, 2022 4:00 pm

Hey Skywatcher,

In Adalee, there are newbie quests. But the best way to level is through RP! In Adalee you get XP for RP! I leveled up my two characters a lot with just RPing until I was level 5 or so. Then you can go to the kobolds and the goblins to get loot and gold.

My characters are Ramana and Ranara. Look me up on the Adalee Discord, too! What is your character's name?

Regards,
RJ

by **Skywatcher** Wed Jul 12, 2023 11:15 am

Well, I have been back to playing single player modules on NWN EE, having some fun with being able to just log in and mess around for a few minutes when time was available. Decided to try the NWN Unlimited with my Aenea characters just for laughs, and have been unable to recover any of them from my old drives and computers. So I guess I will just go into the toolset and try to recreate them from memory. I cannot believe I never saved any of them to local vault in the past year of Aenea, but there it is. NWN EE has slowly grown on me, I still consider Aenea to be much better, but you go with what you have. I hope everyone is doing well, and continue to have fond memories of learning my way around Aenea and the many wonderful people I met there.

by **Eric of Atrophy** Wed Jul 12, 2023 9:20 pm

skywatcher, did you try the toon shaders yet? i don't know if cel shading is up your alley, but the visual effect makes even the OC look spiffy! highly recommended!
yeah, i love the ee! 'tis the best!

by **Drgnwlkr** Wed Dec 06, 2023 9:23 pm

I am just returning and too find myself quite saddened by all of this. I hope The Amethyst Dragon

is doing well and good to see some players still around.

by **Eric of Atrophy** Fri Dec 08, 2023 10:49 am

huzza, friend Drgnwlkr, and good to see you again! I hope that you are doing well!

and if you're back (meaning NwN), i will always ask - if you're using the EE, have you tried the toon shaders? I highly, highly recommend them as a glorious overhaul to the visuals of the game! The OC never looked better!

it was a sad day when Ad announced the end of the server. i know that i have coped by tinkering around with the toolset, and slowly building a module that incorporates many features of our beloved aenea! and some other folks are (were) doing the same thing. so aenea lives on, after a fashion.

good to see you again, and don't be a stranger!

eric

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