NWVault is finally down

I'm a bit late in reporting this, but as of June 26th, it looks like IGN's Neverwinter Vault is finally down for good.  The link now redirects to a wiki page.  Despite the claims there, there's little reason to think that the Vault will return.  And if it does, it will probably be in the same condition it was just before it went down: completely unworkable.

We've had false alarms before.  And fortunately, the guys at the new vault, Neverwinter Vault, have been working to restore access to all of the files that we had previously.  If you go there now, you'll see new files being uploaded around the clock.  They don't contain all of the header information that we had on the old vault.  But at least if you search for a module that you want, you're likely to find it there, along with downloads of all of the other relevant files you need (HAK's, etc).

The main challenge with the new vault is that there is currently not a good system to sort through the thousands of module files.  The file rating system is currently a 1-10 number system, but it sounds like Rolo Kipp (the Hero of vault preservation) is planning to institute something more akin to Nexus's "Endorse" button.  I think that's the right choice.  Despite the fact that I worked hard to revise and improve the 1-10 rating system on the vault back in the day, I think a simple endorse button is likely to be the best way to evaluate files in a community like this.

Why I am noticing this?

Well, after about a year and a half of on-and-off play (pushing 130 hours), I have finally finished Fallout 3.  A review is coming soon!

So, with only about a month and a half left before I am traveling abroad, I decided to give NWN a whirl again.  Steam is not working anymore on my old gaming PC, which means I only can install and play the original NWN2 (without expansions).  This cuts down on which modules I can play.  So, instead, I've decided to go play NWN mods again.  I loaded up Almraiven last night, which I played before but have only the vaguest memories of.  After that, I'll be playing through the Aielund Saga, Saleron's Gambit, and The Prophet soon.  All of those are series that I only played about half-way through, and I'm looking forward to getting back into each of them.  Things might pick up a little bit as I work through each module in turn.

At the end of August I am traveling to France for a little over three months.  My plan, to satisfy my gaming itch, is to play Baldur's Gate II Enhanced Edition.  I have my character from BGEE all ready to go!  And it should run just fine on my work laptop while overseas.