Foundry Down time Question of the Devs

weehawk101 · November 2016

I am a college professor in the Simulations and Game Department at CPCC in Charlotte NC. My level design II class has been using your foundry for the entire semester each creating a chapter in a large adventure. Now the foundry is down, they have lost 2 weeks of work time and I have searched the forums and patch notes and even went on live chat to try to find a time line. This is the best teaching aid I have found and would love to continue using it. My students have 50+ hours in on each of their levels and our semester ends Dec 19th. Can one of the Devs reach out to me, or post here the time frame it will be down? Or if there is a test server my students can use that will continuously have access to the foundry editor? Thanks

M.Pliaconis
SGD CPCC
www.pliaconis.com

iandarksword · November 2016

@strumslinger
@mimicking#6533
@terramak
@commanderander
@asterdahl
We'll see if any of those folks can get back with you. I'll try Andy the Community Manager (Strumslinger) on Twitter as well.

iandarksword · November 2016

@kreatyve
@ironzerg79
@tripsofthrymr
@zebular
There's the forum Moderation team. We'll see if they can get some connections going as well. I make quests for others to enjoy in my leisure time, these students are doing it for a grade.

mimicking · November 2016

weehawk101 said:
I am a college professor in the Simulations and Game Department at CPCC in Charlotte NC. My level design II class has been using your foundry for the entire semester each creating a chapter in a large adventure. Now the foundry is down, they have lost 2 weeks of work time and I have searched the forums and patch notes and even went on live chat to try to find a time line. This is the best teaching aid I have found and would love to continue using it. My students have 50+ hours in on each of their levels and our semester ends Dec 19th. Can one of the Devs reach out to me, or post here the time frame it will be down? Or if there is a test server my students can use that will continuously have access to the foundry editor? Thanks

M.Pliaconis
SGD CPCC
www.pliaconis.com

Thanks for bringing this to our attention and sorry for the late reply- looking into it now.
Regards
M.K.

mimicking · November 2016

mimicking#6533 said:

weehawk101 said:
I am a college professor in the Simulations and Game Department at CPCC in Charlotte NC. My level design II class has been using your foundry for the entire semester each creating a chapter in a large adventure. Now the foundry is down, they have lost 2 weeks of work time and I have searched the forums and patch notes and even went on live chat to try to find a time line. This is the best teaching aid I have found and would love to continue using it. My students have 50+ hours in on each of their levels and our semester ends Dec 19th. Can one of the Devs reach out to me, or post here the time frame it will be down? Or if there is a test server my students can use that will continuously have access to the foundry editor? Thanks

M.Pliaconis
SGD CPCC
www.pliaconis.com
Thanks for bringing this to our attention and sorry for the late reply- looking into it now.
Regards
M.K.

Weehawk. I've just ran this by production and programming to find out what happened. Every time we launch a new expansion the Foundry system has to be rebooted and every single map has to be republished. Should a map crash it can stop the system. The Republishing happens manually, and it looks like it did not get all the love it needed. Production assures me that they are working on it, and it will be done in the near future- which is as close to any time frame they will commit to.

I've put a fire under them to see what can be done sooner. I wish we would have known you were using Foundry to teach classes, as that would have been a great opportunity to reach out to the students. let me know if you are doing it next semester.
Regards,
M.K.
p.s. when the levels are published, please to I.M. me and I'll take a look at them!

valcontar73 · November 2016

That's awesome @weehawk101 I would really like to play all the foundries you are doing, so please, do a list of them. Thank you very much for your interest in the foundry.

kvet · November 2016

That is pretty awesome - in late 90s, I taught at Washington State University, we developed a web-based MUD engine and each student had to create a dungeon level. Such a fun, and ultimately valuable teaching tool.

The Foundry seems like a pretty good resource too but Cryptic's support of it has been very spotty over the last couple of years. I think if I were going to do that course again, I'd probably create a space in Second Life. It's very flexible, much more so than NW. I did a good bit of work in SL at my last job, which was at a large NGO. I don't care for it as a game or past time, but it's pretty interesting as an educational tool.

torontodave · November 2016

@mimicking#6533 the entire subforum "the foundry" is also missing..

it only displays its own subforums, the quest database and the mechanics area.

I was going to link you to our 'Drowned Shore Redux' contest if you felt like playing some Foundry quests.. Of course, my awesome Spelljammer ones are still waiting for you to play them. ;D

weehawk101 · November 2016

Thanks all, I would love to continue using this, the students love it. It had everything we need (accept for the terrain deformation and painting tool, but they learn that in level design I) The assets, ability to create quest chains, etc etc... and we have a community for them to receive feedback. They were super stoked to release them but sadly time is running out for their semester and I have a class that is falling apart, lol. It is turning into a lesson of reality

Thanks again I can't wait to share the feedback with the students and if it goes live in time for them to finish I will post links~ ~M

weehawk101 · November 2016

If you need an honorary member of your Dev team to manually go through and publish, I and my class will be happy to help.
~M

iandarksword · November 2016

@mimicking#6533 Thanks for the quick reply Thomas! Perhaps yourself and @weehawk101 could work on having some sort of video conference or Q&A for the class in the down time, if schedules mesh. I'm sure the students would benefit from hearing lessons learned through your experience in your field. When the project is complete, please list the quests, there are several folks very interested in them.

valcontar73 · November 2016

And this is only one feature that the foundry can achieve, I hope you take note @mimicking#6533, if for any chance this ends well, maybe in Europe we can do the same. To teach about the foundry for a video-game grade. It's in your hands.

And again, an off-line acces to the foundry would be appreciated.

shesmurfin · November 2016

Im almost 100 hours for my level, Im soo ready to finish this, and would love to share to get some constructive critiques!!!
PLEASE AND THANK YOU!!!

Unknown · November 2016

This content has been removed.

strumslinger · November 2016

torontodave said:
@mimicking#6533 the entire subforum "the foundry" is also missing..

it only displays its own subforums, the quest database and the mechanics area.

I was going to link you to our 'Drowned Shore Redux' contest if you felt like playing some Foundry quests.. Of course, my awesome Spelljammer ones are still waiting for you to play them. ;D

There we go! Sorry about that.

torontodave · November 2016

Here's the thread I was going to link you to Thom @mimicking#6533 It started in June 2015 and concluded in June 2016. ;D

arcgames.com/en/forums/neverwinter#/discussion/563411/epic-contest-drowned-shore-foundry-style/p1

I'd still prefer you play my Spelljammer ones though, more work went into them than my entry. ;D

valcontar73 · November 2016

Foundry is up again.

But it seems to be very unstable... Things are not working as intended...

You can publish your quest but in the live server you can't play any foundry.

Portal bug still persists.

You end in PE every time you try to change the map.

Sometimes dialogs work, sometimes don't work...

Well, I think you can do some stuff, but definitely you can't test if it works.

shesmurfin · November 2016

there is no assest showing in the foundry at all...

weehawk101 · November 2016

Yep its up no assets showing.
~M

finmakin · November 2016

weehawk101 said:
Yep its up no assets showing.
~M

I have noticed that too and contacted a GM about this.
Initially he said to me that I should look for answers regarding this (like I was a newcomer) to find out how the editor works..
The editor is showing (like you said) no assets at all, no maps, no icons for creating items... nothing.

I firmly have the impression that the Dev's have clearly their priorities elsewhere (the well known dollar grinding) instead of fixing this.

With this being said, here a pointer towards the Dev's
If you're priorities lies elsewhere and clearly have abandon the editor then take firm actions by removing the editor from Neverwinter... PERIOD
Or at least start working to fix the editor so a lot of folks (myself included) can make their own things..

valcontar73 · November 2016

@mimicking#6533 @strumslinger Thank you for activating "the Foundry".

Now, can you add the foundry assets please?

Because with 0 assets showing, it's a bit difficult to do something.

Really, I don't think it's so diffcult, right? You can do it, right?

sandukutupu · November 2016

finmakin said:

If you're priorities lies elsewhere and clearly have abandon the editor then take firm actions by removing the editor from Neverwinter... PERIOD
Or at least start working to fix the editor so a lot of folks (myself included) can make their own things..

We want the Foundry. The Foundry is what brought my attention to the game (besides being old school D&D fanatic) and should they lose it completely or put another year on hold, then there is nothing remotely attractive about this game than any other. At that point, you might as well be playing Rift or Jade Dynasty. I wouldn't recommend gutting this game. Too much was already removed by former developers that are no longer employed by Cryptic Studios.

weehawk101 · November 2016

Still no assets.

weehawk101 · December 2016

Sadly we have tonight and next week for my students to finish their semester long project. They have 100's of hours in planning and building, the foundry has been up now for several weeks with no assets. They have tried to create using the assets that were used and the asset pallet they create at the start of the design, but nothing will save. @mimicking#6533 if you have any suggestion or a timeline when this will be fixed please let me know. My class starts at 6pm Eastern I would love to have some news for them. I would love to use this next semester and other classes in our curriculum would like to use it as well to teach different aspects of development. But with this semester ending with a bunch of upset student and 100's of hours of unfinished work, I may not even have a job next semester (just kidding but I hate disappointing students)... Again any suggestions are welcome.

beckylunatic · December 2016

@nitocris83

valcontar73 · December 2016

Graphical info:

http://imgur.com/a/dCw8D

The foundry is totally useless without assets.

iandarksword · December 2016

Doesn't the republish process need to finish before the editor, and then the assets, become "live?"

valcontar73 · December 2016

iandarksword said:
Doesn't the republish process need to finish before the editor, and then the assets, become "live?"

No, other times I was able to play with the foundry, at the same time you republish the foundries that for x reasons didn't republish automatically.

kvet · December 2016

As I said above - I love the idea, and 2 years ago or so, the foundry was actually supported so I can see basing a class on it. Now... you can't depend on Cryptic in any way other than to make hamfisted, path of least resistance, decisions without any actual regard to the players or the long term effects. The foundry is not a revenue stream so it's not supported. Thing is, it's not a revenue stream because Cryptic won't bother making it one. The community has offered up hundreds of ideas, but they've all been ignored.

Another option you might consider is one of the Elder Scrolls games (not ESO, I mean one of the single player ones). It comes with a VERY powerful editor capable of remodding the entire game if you want. Morrowind, Oblivion, or Skyrim. You can use existing assets, get community-made assets, or if your students are saavy, model your own assets.

Downside is no online play and not free, though you may be able to get steep discounts if you contact the publisher directly and explain your idea. Upside is your class won't flop because the company can't keep its platform online for more than a month at a time...

valcontar73 · December 2016

That's why I spend money on Bethesda, they're true professionals at the videogame industry.

PWE in the other hand...

weehawk101 · August 2017

I would love to use the Foundry for my Level Design II class again. Our semester started 8-16-17, is there any workflow or updates coming down the pipe in the next few months that would bring the Foundry down? We have tried to use this in several of our classes, as stated before it is an excellent teaching tool but we ran into quite a few hiccups with assets not being there or the entire Foundry being removed for weeks at a time. Our semester ends December 12th. Any indication of future stability would be a great guide to whether I can use it. Or, if you have a test server that has access available all of the time we could have permission to use that would be fantastic.

@kreatyve
@ironzerg79
@tripsofthrymr
@zebular
@mimicking

Foundry Down time Question of the Devs

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