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Note: The files the server loads can be stripped of some clientside only files (eg textures) by dummying them to be 0 size, and some server packages do this for the base game files, but the effort involved stripping or dummying these files usually isn't warranted for your hakpack files since it makes management of them much harder.
Network
A dedicated IP address with the right firewall ports open, and a reasonable amount of bandwidth is recommended. While the game was made for the late modem 56 kbit/s and early DSL speeds on the client end, the server still has to serve all those clients, additionally more bandwidth can allow the use of better settings for client updates.
Make sure to monitor bandwidth and latency of clients, some hosting companies are better than others in regards to UDP packets. Minimising the use of the master server relay is a good idea.
Specifications Summary
These are not hard rules and only recommendations.
- OS: Linux
- CPU: Fast CPU speed, with 2 or more cores
- RAM: 4GB minimum to 16GB maximum (heavily OS and module / hakpack size dependant, make sure to test!)
- Disk: Fast SSD with enough space for uploading new versions of files (eg 30GB OS + nwserver base + 10GB hakpacks means you need around 60GB minimum for having 2 copies of the hakpacks at once).
- Network: Dedicated IP address with sufficient bandwidth and appropriate UDP firewall ports open
NWServer Updates
Once you make your module start you will eventually want to update it; either the module or the TLK and hakpack files or both. Never change any files when nwserver is running and potentially accessing them. Changing an in use hakpack will cause the resource manager in NWN to start to throw errors as it cannot find the files it has indexed. Loose files may be easier to add or replace but may require advanced NWNX usage to make use of.
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