Dedicated server

The Dedicated server is one way to host modules for multiplayer play. The software is available for three platforms, Windows, Linux, and Macintosh.

Windows Dedicated Server - nwserver.exe
This is part of a regular Windows Neverwinter Nights installation. There are basically three files that are of importance. The most important is the software itself, nwserver.exe. Alongside this are the control files nwn.ini which provides the server with it's paths to modules and haks and so forth, and nwnplayer.ini which provides the server with it's control information. The options that may be set in nwnplayer.ini may also be set from the command line, as well as from within the server's control panel GUI.

Linux Dedicated Server
The Dedicated server for Linux is a bit more problematic. It is available for download from {insert link} here. However, once downloaded, some peculiar steps need to be taken to install it and get it working properly. As this wiki entry is involved in how the server works, detailed information regarding how to unzip installation packages and set file and directory permissions will not be covered.

Once you have the primary Dedicated server zip file in an appropriate directory on your Linux machine, extract all the files and directories that it contains. One of these files will be a tar.gz archive which contains the actual Linux Dedicated server executable. Extract this also. Delete the file named nwn.ini. It's inclusion in the original archive is for Windows use only, and it only confuses Linux. Now, you are almost finished. Go back to the bioware website and download the latest update (currently found {insert link} here). Place this archive into the NWN directory you've created on your Linux machine and extract it's contents. If at any time you are asked if you want to overwrite an existing file, answer yes.

At this point, you have the basic installation completed. You need to set permissions on the main NWN directory such that your Linux user can execute files there. You need to set permissions on the modules, hak, and tlk directories such that your Linux user can read files there. The Linux Dedicated server can be executed only from within a terminal window, and the command line to execute the server is:

./nwserver -module "modulename"

If there is a problem, look at the directory named "logs.0" and the file within it called nwserverLog1.txt to find out what information the server software is reporting.

Unfortunately, detailed information and help regarding the Linux Dedicated server is very sparse, as the product is not officially supported by Atari or Bioware.