NWN Neverwinter Nights (NWN & NWN2) Modules Thread

[Grunker]

People always make the same mistake when it comes to NWN and that's to "start with the OC because I'm a completionist and it can't be that bad, right?". It can be that bad, actually, and it turns people off. That's why I always recommend starting with SoU, there is very little value in the OC and you are doing a disservice to the game and to yourself by inflicting it upon yourself. Literally any module you pick after a fresh install of the game would be better than the OC.

Like I said, I realize the above. I'm not going to drop it due to the OC - if I get bored enough, I'll just switch to SoU.

 

[whocares]

The problem with NWN is its shit engine built around the idea of tedium, terrible UI for anything other than playing a pure fighter, encounter design of dropping 10 identical dudes in every room, and the endlessly fun dance of bloated lockpicking, trap disarming, table bashing animations. In short - gameplay is unbearably shit.

Content-wise, OC is infinitely better than SoU. OC has the demon brothers quest, the ancient aliens archeologist dungeon, the minotaur gauntlet, the snoweglobohomo, and a bunch of other cool setpiece locations/quests, plus let's not forget Aribeth's boobs. SoU on the other hand has 0 redeeming qualities.

 

[Lacrymas]

I would also be hesitant to use classes introduced with the PrC because who knows how balanced they actually are. NWN has its own balance and quirks that have been found after 2 decades of buildcraft, so adding more on top is going to disrupt that. BioWare chose the prestige classes surprisingly carefully with the exception of the Purple Knight (that nobody uses) and Harper Scout (that almost nobody uses), so it's not a case of "devs know better". They actually did in this case. You just have to get used to the fact spellcasting prestige classes don't give you spell levels (but do give you spell slots) and you are good to go.

 

[Lacrymas]

Content-wise, OC is infinitely better than SoU. OC has the demon brothers quest, the ancient aliens archeologist dungeon, the minotaur gauntlet, the snoweglobohomo, and a bunch of other cool setpiece locations/quests, plus let's not forget Aribeth's boobs. SoU on the other hand has 0 redeeming qualities.

For every cool thing the OC does, it does 20 lame things, so it's not worth it. As for SoU, it's not the best module and goes downhill in chapter 2, but it's a) shorter and b) better paced. And it leads to HotU, which is the best of the official campaigns.

 

[Grunker]

I would also be hesitant to use classes introduced with the PrC because who knows how balanced they actually are. NWN has its own balance and quirks that have been found after 2 decades of buildcraft, so adding more on top is going to disrupt that. BioWare chose the prestige classes surprisingly carefully with the exception of the Purple Knight (that nobody uses) and Harper Scout (that almost nobody uses), so it's not a case of "devs know better". They actually did in this case. You just have to get used to the fact spellcasting prestige classes don't give you spell levels (but do give you spell slots) and you are good to go.

I’m playing it fairly low-key, going for Swashbuckler/Fighter/Wizard/Bladesinger with a fairly unimpressive statline, which should be a good deal weaker than playing something like straight Druid or Cleric. Bladesinger doesn’t even have his free spellcasting in PRC.

 

[Grunker]

Any way to move the dialogue window? I've googled a bit and it seems tricky, but it's really annoying to read in the top left of my big-ass screen.

 

[Lacrymas]

Any way to move the dialogue window? I've googled a bit and it seems tricky, but it's really annoying to read in the top left of my big-ass screen.

You can if you can bear the dialogue window being too wide for the text it is showing. It wasn't satisfying for me, so I reverted it back to normal.

 

[Gargaune]

Any way to move the dialogue window? I've googled a bit and it seems tricky, but it's really annoying to read in the top left of my big-ass screen.

You can if you can bear the dialogue window being too wide for the text it is showing. It wasn't satisfying for me, so I reverted it back to normal.

I was just about to link that. Funnily enough, I ended up doing the same, tried tinkering with the .mdl to resize it to my preferences but I gave up in the end.

 

[Grunker]

Hmph!

Thanks guys.

But hmph!

 

[Estarixq]

It's worth getting the EE regardless of whether the new modules run on the Diamond Edition. It's like 2 Euro when on sale, so you aren't investing much and it's probably Beamdog's most successful remaster.. As for the new modules working on the DE, I'm going to take a guess and say no. However, most of the modules you listed, apart from Doom of Icewind Dale, have DE versions because they were originally not for the EE. You should already have Wyvern Crown of Cormyr, Infinite Dungeons, Pirates of the Sword Coast and Kingmaker installed.

Of the ones you listed, TotM and DoIWD are EE-exclusive, whereas WCoC is a DE module (and actually broken on the EE) and DoD has its original DE release and an improved EE one.

But like Lacrymas said, if you plan on playing NWN in 2025, you should make the move to the EE, it's cheap on the regular and adds a lot of value, not least of which you actually have some basic party controls. Plus, you get some other EE-revised community modules like Siege of Shadowdale, Crimson Tides of Tethyr, Almraiven and Shadewood, and most new developments (aside from Swordflight) are being done on the EE.

Thanks for the info guys! I've decided to buy the Enhanced Edition next time its on sale. In the meantime, I would like to ask if it's possible to play the game without all the new graphics settings?

The QoL and other useful features the EE adds are definitely appreciated, but the post-processing effects are something that I'm not a big fan of since I like the way the original game looks.

If I buy the Enhanced Edition, will I be able to turn off the new graphics options, while keeping the rest of the EE features in, or will this always be active?

 

[Lacrymas]

Thanks for the info guys! I've decided to buy the Enhanced Edition next time its on sale. In the meantime, I would like to ask if it's possible to play the game without all the new graphics settings?

The QoL and other useful features the EE adds are definitely appreciated, but the post-processing effects are something that I'm not a big fan of since I like the way the original game looks.

If I buy the Enhanced Edition, will I be able to turn off the new graphics options, while keeping the rest of the EE features in, or will this always be active?

You can turn them off or tweak them however you wish. The graphics settings are quite complex, actually, and I personally don't know what half of them even do, so you'll be spoiled for choice.

 

[ds]

You can size the dialog window to whatever size you want by editing pnl_dialog.mdl, this is what mine looks like (based on this one):

There are some issues I have encountered with my :

• The dialog window expands a tiny bit vertically if there is too much text before showing a scroll bar. This is however surprisingly rare with most modules.
• If this happens sometimes half a line ends up cut off.
• If another window (e.g. journal) was open before some cutscenes that use a dialog window then no dialog window might show. Had this happen in the already buggy jousting tournaments in Wyvern Crown of Cormyr. Workaround is to simply close the journal before.

Since these haven't been as much of an issue in practice I haven't bothered to look at fixing them but I suspect it's just because I messed up stuff in the .mdl file while trying to get the position right and not something inherently broken with this approach.

 

[luj1]

This may be a dumb question, but do all these new modules that were released (i.e. Doom of Icewind Dale, Wyvern Crown of Cormyr, Darkness Over Daggerford, Tyrants of the Moonsea, etc.) work on the Diamond Edition, or are they EE exclusive?

Of the ones you listed, TotM and DoIWD are EE-exclusive, whereas WCoC is a DE module (and actually broken on the EE) and DoD has its original DE release and an improved EE one.

But like Lacrymas said, if you plan on playing NWN in 2025, you should make the move to the EE...

Let me just add, I think Swordflight is one module which works better on DE (at least for me)

 

[Crispy]

PSA for anyone still thinking about going with the Enhanced Edition: don't forget there's a free texture pack available for download for it. Easy to install, makes the game look quite a bit better. Performance impact is negligible afaict.

 

[Lacrymas]

Except those models are gross and border on sacrilege.

 

[Lacrymas]

I've been playing some Crimson Tides of Tethyr and there are a few nagging things that speak to a lack of eye for details, just like in Siege of Shadowdale. I'll whip up a list just like I did for SoS when I finish it. Otherwise, it's still enjoyable, I just got out of the starting town.

 

[Poseidon00]

PSA for anyone still thinking about going with the Enhanced Edition: don't forget there's a free texture pack available for download for it. Easy to install, makes the game look quite a bit better. Performance impact is negligible afaict.

Mostly compatible with the enhanced animations too.

There are texture overhauls for just about every model in the game at this point. No sense rolling vanilla.

 

[luj1]

PSA for anyone still thinking about going with the Enhanced Edition: don't forget there's a free texture pack available for download for it. Easy to install, makes the game look quite a bit better. Performance impact is negligible afaict.

bunch of things wrong with that package

 

[Crispy]

bunch of things wrong with that package

It sure would be nice if you'd elaborate.

 

[Grunker]

PSA for anyone still thinking about going with the Enhanced Edition: don't forget there's a free texture pack available for download for it. Easy to install, makes the game look quite a bit better. Performance impact is negligible afaict.

Shouldn’t use that. Should use the community version: https://neverwintervault.org/projec...l-hakpak/beamdogs-hd-art-pack-community-fixes

You can size the dialog window to whatever size you want by editing pnl_dialog.mdl, this is what mine looks like (based on this one):

There are some issues I have encountered with my :

• The dialog window expands a tiny bit vertically if there is too much text before showing a scroll bar. This is however surprisingly rare with most modules.
• If this happens sometimes half a line ends up cut off.
• If another window (e.g. journal) was open before some cutscenes that use a dialog window then no dialog window might show. Had this happen in the already buggy jousting tournaments in Wyvern Crown of Cormyr. Workaround is to simply close the journal before.

Since these haven't been as much of an issue in practice I haven't bothered to look at fixing them but I suspect it's just because I messed up stuff in the .mdl file while trying to get the position right and not something inherently broken with this approach.

That looks fucking amazing and would save me so much annoyance, how do I mod mine to be like yours? Do I just drop the file you linked in my override?

EDIT: Yeah OK I toyed around with it some and this seems waaaaay fiddly. I have no idea where to begin tweaking

EDIT2: Dang, your own version almost works perfectly, it's just a bit too high. What value do I edit to bring it just a bit lower?

EDIT: DAMN SKIPPIDY, I HECKIN' DONE DIDDIT:

Thank you bro, that's gonna save my neck (literally)!

 

[ERYFKRAD]

PSA for anyone still thinking about going with the Enhanced Edition: don't forget there's a free texture pack available for download for it. Easy to install, makes the game look quite a bit better. Performance impact is negligible afaict.

bunch of things wrong with that package

As an alternative you dudes can use Gunnar's Body Rebuild pack instead. Same aesthetic sense and little higher polygon count and way smaller on the disk space.

 

[cretin]

Noticed that crimson tides of tethyr or w/e manages to have terrain elevations like small mounds and sloped paths... Wondering why Bioware couldn't pull this off in official campaigns even later ones like SoU which has incredibly ugly and sharp terrain slopes.

Anyway, does anyone know of modules that really show off nwn as something more than just hack n slash? Something that gives actual game utility to the various non combat skills or makes rangers not just worse fighters

 

[Lacrymas]

...A Dance with Rogues. But it requires the PC to have roguish abilities.

 

[Grunker]

Well, shit. Insightful Strike doesn't seem to work on my Swashbuckler

EDIT: Lol, Chainshirt is medium armor. That explains it. I have to unlearn 3.5

 

[Gargaune]

Noticed that crimson tides of tethyr or w/e manages to have terrain elevations like small mounds and sloped paths... Wondering why Bioware couldn't pull this off in official campaigns even later ones like SoU which has incredibly ugly and sharp terrain slopes.

They did. BioWare first added sloped terrain in HotU with the Underdark and Frozen Wastes tilesets.

Anyway, does anyone know of modules that really show off nwn as something more than just hack n slash?

Maybe try Almraiven, I played a bit of it and it's half RPG and half wizard simulator adventure game. It has a sequel in Shadewood.