The World of Avlis

OKay.. so i've been playing so much avlis lately that my wife decided to go out and by another copy of NWN so she could "see" me.

So we have two computers, and right now I have my copy on both so i can play my character when so goes to sleep and etc. I'm not thrilled about loosing my abiltiy to play on her computer for multiple reasons.

Is there a way to run her computer with both cd keys? Thay way either of can play on her computer. Installing a second hard drive with it's own copy of windows is not an option either.. I need away to do with with in one windows copy. I'm running winxp too.. anyway to take advantage of the multi user stuff to seperate the cd keys? or does the nwn install place the cd key into a global section of the registry?

Yes but it's a little fiddley.

The CD key is stored in a file nwncdkey.ini in the NWN folder.

What you'd need to do is to have 2 of these and rename to the one you wanted each time you wanted to switch keys.

...actually you could create a batch file that would do this for you.

in notepad do something like this,
rename c:\nwn\nwncdkey.ini c:\nwn\nwncdkey.wife
rename c:\nwn\nwncdkey.mine c:\nwn\nwncdkey.ini

Then save as keyswap.bat. Double clicking the file should swap the keys. You'll need another to swap back though.

Create a folder and call it Wifes NWN. When NWN asks if you want the default location you should be able to point to a different folder, point to the Wifes NWN. This will give you two copies on the same computer in different locations which will not interfere with each other. When you make the shortcuts just rename them to fit the location of the installation they are targeted to, or just rename your wifes shortcuts to Wife NWN or if you use a .bat file to connect rename those so you both know which one is which.

Damn, some guys have it so rough, a wife who plays as well...I've got the two comps, but a wife that has no interest in games.

J

Remember to use seperate Gamespy accounts too. If you use the same Gamespy theres no point using seperate CD Keys

I thought gamespy accoutns were linked to the cd keys.. so her new keys could not access my gamespy account.. even if she knew the password??

Come to think of it.. does she need a seperate cd key to play simutaneous?

As far as the wife being interested?? we'll see how long that lasts.. She just wants to spend the time with me.. not play the game. She actually used to come to the PnP setions when we were still dating. The Dm started a new campaing then, a drow campaing, and of course we were all males and she was female character.. you all now what that means in a drow society.

I should have the room to do two installs.. the might turn out to the be simplest way for her.

Will the batch file thing work for the second key if the game wasn't installed with it?

rshampsire.. could you give me more info on the batch file? i've never made one, or need one before, but this way sounds nice.. especillay since she bought the dimond edition which is on dvd and her computer doens't have a dvd drive. WHich mean i'dhave to swap drives temporarly from my compute or try to install over the networks. Either way.. the batch is quicker and easier..

Is there a way I could get the batch file to swap and run the program? Like after it renames the ini files, can it then launch the nwnmain.exe too? would simplfy things for her.. I could just put a short cut on her desktop that ponts the batch file.. she'd click it.. it's rename the file and then launch the game after. Oh.. and what happends say if she was playing last and then ran the batch file a second time? would she get an error or switch the files again?

okay i tried to make a batch file like you said, but it's not doig anything. I click it and a black square flashes across the screen (a dos window i'm assuming, but it goes by super fast) but the file names are unchanged. Not sure what is wrong

oh.. will the batch file recognize files names longer than 8 characters? When the game was originally installed, it went to the default location of C:/neverwinternights/nwn/...

maybe the dos command can't recognize the first folder name? dunno

okay.. i just ran the batch file from within a dos window.. said that the syntax of the command was incorrect.. i typed it just as you placed it in your posts.. the names being correct4ed for folderlocations and such, but..

okay i've figured out how to make it work.. had to cut out the file path names and have the batchfile in the same directory as the files.. now it switches..

now for the problem.. if you click it a second time.. it will rename the files, but the second file won't exist.. since it was renamed in the previos run.. now you gots two of the same file names..

Though about maybe doing it as a copy operation instead of a rename? then there would be 3 copys.. the originial .ini the .mike and the .beth (our respective names ) but to copy the .mike over the .ini would prolly run into a prompt issue?

Yep... I have a work around for it, use Three Key files.

nwncdkey.ini
nwncdkey.X (the file holding your wifes key)
nwncdkey.Y (the file holding your key)

alter the batch file to this,
del d:\neverwinternights\nwn\nwncdkey.ini
copy d:\neverwinternights\nwn\nwncdkey.X d:\neverwinternights\nwn\nwncdkey.ini
d:\neverwinternights\nwn\nwn.exe

So when the file is run, it deletes the existing key then writes the new key and launches the NWN splash screen. Make sure you use copy in the second line not move else you'll end up deleting the key completely the second time you run it.

Obviously you'll need a similar batch file to alter to your key. Use the same as above but sub nwncdkey.Y for nwncdkey.X

okay.. thanks.. got the copy file operation to work the way i want it too.. but now the master server is down andi can't test out anything

Master sever is up andmade aher a new account with gamespy..
Found that i need to make the batch file include the nwnplayer.ini also.. so now when the batch is run it switch copies of that too, and her gamespy id is brought up for loggin instead of mine.. and we don't have change the info manually. thanks for the help!

Now i just have to get her application approved so i can try to log on both computers at the same time and see if it all REALLY worked.