Neverwinter Nights Content Installer Creator Readme. - What is this new "Neverwinter Nights Content Installer Creator"? Distributing and Installing user created content for Neverwinter Nights hasn't been as painless and easy to do as it could be. The Neverwinter Nights Content Installer Creator (NNCIC) was created to address this issue. The NNCIC allows you to turn all of your user created content into a single compressed and self-installing executable. Once you have built a compressed self-installing file of your custom content, any one that wants to install your custom content, only needs to obtain a copy of the file and then double click on the file. All of your custom content will then be installed automatically on their system. - What file formats does the NNCIC support? The NNCIC current supports the following file formats: Module Files Hak Packs Text Files (Read Me files) Sound Files (BMU's) ERF Files Bink Movie Files (Bik files). Bic Files (Character files). All other file types are unsupported and will not be installed when the self-installing file is executed. - How do I use this new NNCIC? There are 3 main areas to the NNCIC The Resource List, the Self-Installing File Name box and the pull down menus. 1) Resource List: The main area in the middle of the NNCIC is the resource list. This area displays all the current resources that you will using to create a self-installing file. The resource list will update to display your current list of resources as you add and remove files. There are three colums in the resource list. i) Filename - This displays the full path and file name of each resource that you want to add to your self-installing file. ii) Type - This displays the file type for each file in the resource list (Text Documents, Hak Packs, Modules, and Sound Files). iii) Size (Bytes) - This displays the size of the file in bytes. 2) The Self-Installing File Name box: This is where you enter the name of the self-installing file that you want to create. For example: If you want your self installing file to be named mydungeon.exe, then type mydungeon into this box. 3) Pull Down Menus: Following is a list of what each of the options on the pull down menu does. File Menu: New File Selecting this option will clear any changes that you have made to the NWCIC, giving you a clean slate to start a new project with. Build Self-Installing Executable Once you have added your custom files to the resource list and have provided a name for the executable that you want to build. Select this menu item (or press F7) to build a self-installing file. The progress bars at the bottom of the window will indicate the progress of the file build. Once the file has been built, it will appear in you neverwinter nights 'utils' directory. Build Manifest.txt The manifest.txt file is a file containing the list of your resources that need to be installed. When you build a self-installing file the manifest.txt file is created for you automatically. The ability to create your own manifest.txt file is available for those people that want to make their own self-installing files using a different compression utility. Open Resource List You can save your working list of resources at any time. If you have previously saved a resource list, then you can open it using this option. This will load all of the resources from the saved nrl file (Neverwinter Resource List) into the visible resource list window. Save Resource List If you have made changes to your resource list, you can save those changes by selecting this option. The name of the file that the resources will be saved to is listed on the title bar of the window. If you haven't chosen a name for your resource file yet, it will be listed as "Untitled" and you will be prompted for a filename when you try to save. An astrisk will appear on the title bar of the window to indicate that changes have been made since you last saved your resource list. Save Resource List As... Use this option if you want to save your resource list under a different file name. A dialog box will appear prompting you to enter the filename for your resource list. You will also be allowed to browse to a folder where you would like to save the file. Most Recently Used List When ever you load/save a working list of resources, the working list will be added to your list of most recently used files. The full path and filename of the nrl file will appear on the File menu. You can select recently used files from the file menu to quickly reload a resource list that you were working on previously. The Most Recently Used List will store up to a maximum of four files at one time. Exit Closes down the NNCIC. If you haven't saved your resources list sine you last made any changes, you will be prompted to save your resource list before exiting. Resource Menu: Add This will allow you to add more resources to the list. Selecting this menu item will bring up an ADD: dialog that will allow you to browse to and select files that you want to add. Newly added files will appear in the resource list. Remove This will remove any files that are currently highlighted in the resource list. Help: About This displays information about the version of the NWCIC that you are running. - What if I want to add unsupported files to my self-installing executable? Any file that you add to the NWCIC that has its file type listed as "Unsupported" will not be installed on a user's system when they run the self-installing file. - How do I add a readme text file to my self-installing file? In order for any Read Me text files to be installed, the name of the text file must match the name of a module, hak pack, ERF, or Bik file that is in the resource list. If a text file is included that does not have the same file name as one of these files, it will not be installed when the the self-installing file is executed. For example if your resource list contains the following files: mydungeon.mod myhack.hak mydungeon.txt myhack.txt readme.txt mymovie.bik mymovie.txt myerf.erf myerf.txt mycharacter.bic The text files mydungeon.txt, myhack.txt, mymovie.txt and myerf.txt will be installed when the self-installing file is run. mydungeon.txt will be installed to the modules directory along with mydungeon.mod. myhack.hak will be installed to the hak directory along with myhack.txt. mymovie.bik will be installed to the movies directory along with mymovie.txt. myerf.erf will be installed to the erf directory along with myerf.txt. mycharacter.bic will be installed to the localvault directory. The readme.txt file will not be installed, as it's name doesn't match the filename of another file in the resource list. - I've built my self-installing executable. Now how do I install it? Double click on the file. Everything should be installed automatically. Tips & ShortCuts: Most of the menu items have a hot key short cut that you can use. The hot key for a particular operation is listed to the right of the menu item. The resource list can be sorted by Filename, Type, or Size by clicking on the Label at the top of each column. You can select multiple files at once from the ADD: dialog by holding down CTRL, or SHIFT while selecting files. You can drag and drop files directly from Windows Explorer into the NWCIC resource list. You can select multiple files in the resource list at once by holding down CTRL, or SHIFT while clicking with the mouse button. You can right click on files in the resource list to bring up a context menu. This will allow you to add, remove, select all, or open resources quickly. You can double click on some files in the resource list (i.e. Hak Packs, Modules and text files) and the file will open in the appropriate application. This option is also available for these files by right clicking on a file and chosing "Open in..." from the context menu.