I can't play on servers because it keeps saying, "haven't downloaded blank.tlk" special chat whatever...I dunno. I don't know what to do. I'm so...stumped.

Ps. Blank.tlk is just an example...it could be anything .tlk

So, you are trying to join a server that has it's own or uses CEP .tlk file. To join a server you need all their haks and tlk files.

If you had put the name of the server this would be easier but, in general, you need to find a list of their haks and tlk and download them. If you don't have a tlk folder, create one. (And just check you haven't put the cep tlk in the hak folder ;) ).

Most servers have a webpage and forum which should be listed under the server information, and will link you to their haks and tlk.

Good Luck :)

In the case of CEP, we use the latest version on Higher Ground, which should be backwards compatible with any servers running previous versions of CEP. Given the difficulties you mentioned in the previous thread, I figured I would point you in the direction of the ARF2 installation tool we use that will download and install CEP for you. I've written an installation guide that walks you through the usage of ARF2, which you can find <span class="podkreslenie">here</span>.

Simply get ARF2, and you'll find the default update options are just to install CEP if you are missing it. All of the other content is optional and unnecessary if you don't intend on playing on Higher Ground, so you can simply delete ARF2 when you're done with it, if that is the case (or keep it around to make sure your CEP stays up to date).

One warning: The CEP files that ARF2 downloads contains the cep_custom hak specifically for Higher Ground. If other servers have different cep_custom files, you will still be able to at least join the servers (you won't get that error message you've been getting, unless they use additional custom content that you'll have to search on the web to find, download, and install), but you may find yourself occasionally crashing when the server asks you to load content that doesn't exist.

If you want to get CEP it is probably less complicated to just go to the official place for getting CEP files which is:
http://nwvault.ign.com/?dir=cep/downloads

The latest version is 2.3 and that should be enough for most servers.

In worst case you would need to install also version 2.0 or 2.1 before installing 2.3 but that is in worst worst case...just try with 2.3 first.


The thing is...I'm not really sure it is CEP you are lacking. "Blank.tlk" doesn't strike me as a typical CEP file. It might be just ANY other HAK or TLK file which that server is using that you are trying to connect to.

Try to find the homepage or forum of the server you tried to connect to ..... OR...just go on another server lol :-P

================

If you need more help with installing CEP or anything else just ask :-)

it's there files I need to download, and I find that it's just too much trouble for online play. Why would I ever want to download thousands of files each time I was to play online? That's a little rediculous. And I have to stop what I'm doing, go to there site (after writing it down on paper because nwn doesn't go into a window, at least I haven't figured it out yet), and click download? Risking the chance of viruses, and or not the right files? Or the right files but it turns out it's not the only files i need from them? Bah...

I've tried numerous servers and they all have this shit. I'm fed up with nwn. It took me days to get the CD-key, it took me days to get the CD-key to work, and now this...I'll just play single player and hopefully I'll forget I wasted money on this game... I knew I should of gone with Baldur's gate, or Aracanum, hell even Gothic would of been better.

All I'm saying is I got this game solely for the online play (hearing amazing things about it) and now? Not worth my time, effort, money.

I'm sure there are plenty of servers out there that do not use any custom content, in order to cater to players that do not wish to download anything, but you were unfortunately misled if no one mentioned that the amazing things about Neverwinter Nights online were largely attributable to the vast amount of custom content for the game, which by virtue of being custom necessitates that you must download it first.

I am not sure how many servers, like ours, try to simplify the process by having a single installer program (either custom written like our ARF2 or using the WorldGate program) rather than an arrangement of files you must download and put into place yourself, but getting onto those servers is about as simple as installing the game itself. However, it still takes time and effort to play online, which brings me back to my original comment that if you were told NWN was a great game to play online unmodified out of the box, someone left something important out.

Sorry you were not be able to enjoy the game as is, though I seriously doubt many of us would either.

Really?

An awesome game that requires a few downloads that you've heard huge amounts of positive things about and that still doesn't make you want to do a little "heavy lifting" like downloading and uncompressing some files?

Even though this will give you the opportunity for literally hundreds and hundreds of hours of MP gaming fun and enjoyment?

Too bad. Seriously.

If I remember right, a lot of downloads for servers are hosted on NWVault. Those files are carefully checked to make sure there are no viruses. And those who do host their downloads elsewhere are usually good about them being clean. Trust me, as small as the NWN community is these days... anybody posting virus-ridden downloads would be exposed very quickly.

Most if not all PW are going to have some kind of file download. These downloads consist of a lot of extras you will not get on the single player. New Tilesets, new item designs, new DM tools, player tools, colors, all kinds of extras.

Avlis has a number of downloads but you can download and be up and running in the span of about 10-15 minutes. No different than WoW or any other online game. And like TaliaKirana said as small as the NWN community is worlds with virus laden files would definitely get around the word of mouth circuit extremely quick.