Hey everyone,

It looks like somebody is having a little bit of fun with the SHS server--a whole bunch of requests are being sent to the download manager very rapidly, all attempting to download various files, do other things like simultaneously rating a whole bunch of entries, and so forth. Naturally, when someone attempts to download the same >100 MB file anwhere from 1 to 100 times every second, this places a little bit of strain on the server. When I block the individual IP addresses that’s doing this, a new IP starts attempting the same. (Yes, JC, you may add a dime to the “‘(D)DOS’ jar.")

Luckily, the downloads don’t stack up too much in terms of bandwidth since most of the file transfers actually don’t get through, but the MySQL reading/writing takes a beating.

I temporarily shut down the DM for all guests, which did bring us back to normal. A couple of the most frequent IP addresses have been blocked, as well. I’ve also set an individual download limit (which unfortunately due to the software is a bit buggy). Access is back up for everyone, though, and hopefully we’ll be alright for now.

- Seb.

The Luxley Family introduces two joinable NPCs, Sebastian and Andrei Luxley, to your game. Sebastian is a Chaotic Neutral playwright with a rather idiosyncratic sense of humour who appears to take great delight in showing his cousin Andrei the world outside their family home. Andrei is a polite, Lawful Neutral young monk with a strong sense of self who has led a rather sheltered life until now. Throughout your journey with them, you will discover that their family is not all that meets the eye. You may have to make some tough decisions - and the path you choose will have repercussions.

v1.1 fixes a number of bugs in the original release, and it is recommended you install the new version as soon as you can.

Related Links:

• Download
• Readme
• Forum
• Website

This mod adds Drizzt, Wulfgar, Regis, Catti-Brie, Bruenor, Entreri and Jarlaxle into the game as playable NPCs. The main idea is that you rescue Drizzt’s friends and witness the final confrontation of Drizzt Do’Urden and Artemis Entreri. If you are evil, you can betray Drizzt and help Entreri. The mod also contains an arena where you can go and fight for rewards. Mages and fighters can participate. There are also over 10 new large quests (total quest amount 30+) and other special features.

This release features a new German translation, and so is not a necessary download if you’re an English or Russian speaker.

Related Links:

• Download
• Website
• Forum

We all have visions of what kind of an NPC we’d need or want in our party, or just would like to see made. Now it’s your turn to show us in the visual arts what you would like to see made. Here’s the catch: don’t try to cheat by going “oh but this already existing character X is all I want!” Nope, this time we don’t want to see illustrations of something that has already been made.

This time we want you to be on the edge of your seats and on the outer limits of your imagination - what if there were no limits and everything was possibe? What would be your dream-come-true NPC in Baldur’s Gate like? Either by looks, dialogue, character, background… whatever. Illustrate this character to us - go nuts, have fun!  Maybe we’ll get some ideas for NPC mods at the same go!

Check out the entries and put up your own in the Challenge Topic!

Welcome all ye excitable folks to the first February edition of the Infinity Engine Modding digest. This fortnight I have news ranging from delectable, to the ferocious, and to the stoically technical.

Avatar-true Paperdolls for Pleasure
Erephine has let us in on some of her magnificent work to be featured in the third version of the One Pixel Productions (1PP) project, a graphical replacement modification. In this pre-release, human, halfling, half-orc, and elven inventory paperdolls are correlated to their avatars in Baldur’s Gate II. Check out the lusty images and grab her work here.

Exploratio Infinitum with XY Coordinata and Augurium
Not Latin at all, but bigmoshi has updated the Delphi-coded Infinity Explorer to version 0.84 with a fix for the display of XY coordinates during appraisal of area resources. Get it here. Also check out his assiduous work on the upcoming Infinity Explorer re-write (dubbed Infinity Xplorer 2008) using the C# programming language here.

Zulu-cum-Lion Warrior Metamorphosis
vilkacis decided to chip in substantially on an original mod idea posted by Scipio and has contrived a Zulu kit, which has now become a Lion Warrior kit, for the ranger class. Now, where have those long spears gone? Check out the original mod idea here and vilkacis’ work here.