Modules Vs Campaigns

[Garagorn888]

Hi,

 

I just noticed Campaigns are all being combined into the same category as all other 'Modules'. I'd like to suggest an ammendment to this.

 

Though it would have course be even better if modules were split up into 4 or 5 categories, I instead suggest that you split the 'Modules' category up into two seperate categories:

 

Standalone Modules

Full Campaigns.

 

 

I suggest this as it's not really accurate to call an entire Campaign a 'Module' due to the fact that all Campaigns are made up of multiple 'Modules' and are not actually 'Modules' themselves. It would also allow users to find their preferred module type more easily.

For example, if I wanted to play the game quickly and just needed a short entertaining module to play, I could then easily browse the 'Standalone Modules' category.

If I wanted to play the game for a long term and needed a story-driven or open-world full out campaign, I could then easily browse the 'Full Campaigns' category.

 

Just a suggestion that would both improve the accuracy of the category titles and improve user experience of the site.

Edited March 12, 2012 by Garagorn888

[MokahTGS]

Actually, this is not always the case. The Campaign folder is used by the game for certain functionality, such as the world map, party play, the overland map. Even if you create a simple one module adventure, if you want that functionality, you need to create a campaign.

 

Campaign does not equal a series in NWN2, although it can in cases such as the original SP campaigns where the game was split into chapters. Categorizing modules that use a campaign setup would be misleading for what you are proposing.

[JEMcKellar]

While you're right that campaigns comprise more than one module put together, there's no significant difference in how the game actually plays, just how the file is organized. My two modules, while not campaigns, are each quite large (12+ exterior areas) and offer 20 hours of gameplay each. Other module builders have taken single modules and wrapped them in a campaign structure, to take advantage of certain features that are only available in campaigns.

 

While the developers originally cautioned against modules bigger than 200mb, modern rigs with multiple gigs of ram can easily handle modules of 600-700mb. In fact, keeping all your areas in the same module cuts down on inter-area load times (though the initial load time is longer). I suspect that the real reason for the original campaign/module structure was so that different teams could work on different parts of the OC at the same time, which isn't much of an issue with community-generated modules.

 

If anything, maybe tags for short (1-3 hours) and long (10+ hours) modules should be added. But for player, there's no real difference between campaigns and modules, and so there's no need for separate categories.