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NWN Gargaune's Greater Guide to Enjoying Neverwinter Nights 2

Joined
May 25, 2021
Messages
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The western road to Erromon.
This may seem like a dumb question but what the fuck does the Tchos HD UI readme mean here?

"The mod is provided in a compressed folder. You can move this folder into your override folder, or if you prefer to keep your override folder empty, it should also work if you move the folder into your UI\custom\ folder."

Does he mean you can just stick the downloaded .7z in the override without unzipping it and the mod will work? Coming from someone who mods KotOR, this would be very bizarre. Usually mods need unzipping.
 
Joined
Jan 14, 2018
Messages
50,754
Codex Year of the Donut
This may seem like a dumb question but what the fuck does the Tchos HD UI readme mean here?

"The mod is provided in a compressed folder. You can move this folder into your override folder, or if you prefer to keep your override folder empty, it should also work if you move the folder into your UI\custom\ folder."

Does he mean you can just stick the downloaded .7z in the override without unzipping it and the mod will work? Coming from someone who mods KotOR, this would be very bizarre. Usually mods need unzipping.
unpack it
all the aurora engine derivatives generally work the same modding-wise

damn shame that engine got abandoned, we've gone backwards in terms of engines that actively work to support mods
 
Joined
May 25, 2021
Messages
1,347
Location
The western road to Erromon.
Anybody know if your chosen deity matters at all or affects stats in some way? I was thinking about rolling a Bard that worshiped Hoar, for the whole poetic-justice angle but I know there are several strictly more fitting gods for Bards.
 

Gargaune

Magister
Joined
Mar 12, 2020
Messages
3,136
Anybody know if your chosen deity matters at all or affects stats in some way? I was thinking about rolling a Bard that worshiped Hoar, for the whole poetic-justice angle but I know there are several strictly more fitting gods for Bards.
Mechanically, they affect Clerics on alignment options, spontaneous conversion and favoured weapon feats. RP-wise, I don't remember the OC ever mentioning it, and in MotB there's a couple of options that might get a nod with a line of dialogue, but no major impact.
 

Cryomancer

Arcane
Glory to Ukraine
Joined
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Messages
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Frostfell
Imagine if someday, NWN1/2 engine will be released under LGPL open source license... That would be the best incline of the century.
 

Gargaune

Magister
Joined
Mar 12, 2020
Messages
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Imagine if someday, NWN1/2 engine will be released under LGPL open source license... That would be the best incline of the century.
It would sure be something, you could finally see those interface fixes or maybe even something like a TB mode, but I think imagining it as we'll get. License ownership on D&D games is typically a massive clusterfuck, so releasing code takes more than just a little bit of goodwill.
 

Cryomancer

Arcane
Glory to Ukraine
Joined
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Messages
14,476
Location
Frostfell
Yeah can't wait to delete magic

I believe that you can put antimagical field everywhere. Not necessarily deleting magic but making magic worthless.

Imagine if someday, NWN1/2 engine will be released under LGPL open source license... That would be the best incline of the century.
It would sure be something, you could finally see those interface fixes or maybe even something like a TB mode, but I think imagining it as we'll get. License ownership on D&D games is typically a massive clusterfuck, so releasing code takes more than just a little bit of goodwill.

Yep. Sadly woketards would't allow a amazing thing like that...
 
Joined
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Messages
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The western road to Erromon.
Well, I'm taking it slow but I just finished Act 1 of the OC last night and I'm actually surprised that there is even less to note than in NWN 1. I'm not having a bad time per-se... it's just all so average. Can't say I wasn't warned I guess. For what it's worth, I strangely enjoyed the tutorial area the most, the whole vibe of it reminded me of Archet/Combe in Lord of the Rings Online. Beautiful area, as many of the areas are, much improved visuals from the first game. The whole game kinda feels like an MMO though, the quests are generic, paint by numbers, and half the time I had no idea why my character was humoring the City Watch when I could have easily just snuck inside the noble district, quarantine be damned. I snuck into plenty of more dangerous places. Just found out that apparently my character is Harry Potter, the boy who lived through an attack by an evil wizard, complete with a scar and dead mother that I'm sure came up once before but for the life of me, I can't remember. The dialogue options are much improved though, lots of opportunities to bluff, taunt and persuade, even lore and stats come into play now and then. Many responses are sufficiently sardonic if you don't feel like playing straight good or evil.

Aside from that, I guess the companions are an improvement, though I really don't care for the influence system. Feels like it's stalling out character quests because half the time they won't talk to me. Didn't like it much in KotOR II either.
At the same time, it feels like there are too many companions being thrown at me left and right. Qara (the spoiled brat sorceress) in particular was just foisted on my party and I haven't used her a single time. We met a random Gnome Bard on the road and asked him to join up because... Reasons? He's at least more likable. Then a Paladin that again didn't seem necessary to advance the plot in any meaningful way, but again likable at least. An evil ranger, which had some funny dialogue and had to track something for us, so he fits to a degree. Then all at once, we get spit roasted by a wizard shopkeep and a qt blonde farm girl. All this on top of the OG three. Khelgar, Neeshka and Elanee. That's 9 in total, no 10, because I just remembered there's a deactivated Golem I forgot all about. How the fuck am I supposed to make time for all these? Feels like I'm already half way through the game since the next two chapters apparently aren't as long.

The voiceover work ranges from poor (especially the villains) to merely serviceable. I think the farm girl companion is the same actress who voiced Triss in Witcher 1 and it's slightly distracting. She even looks like Abigail, or maybe it's more accurate to say Abigail looks like her. What's truly unforgivable is that so much of the soundtrack is recycled from NWN 1. If it were one or two tracks to reflect on past events fine, but hearing beautiful pieces like the Lith My'athar theme play in random mountain passes is so out of place. Game must have had a minuscule budget. Hopefully, this doesn't continue in the expansions.

Lastly, the interface is mostly an improvement from the first game, at least the panels can be moved, but it's still shit compared to the likes of Guild Wars. Really, it only needed two more features to be great. A togglable lock and the ability to resize panels. Also it would be nice if the game didn't bug out and forget half your preferences upon entry/exit. Having to disable that useless mini map and switch camera modes every time you load is tiresome. The game seems to love deselecting your entire party just to fuck with you upon reload/ zoning. The camera (with Gargaune's settings) is not as bad as people make out though. The game controls far better than Neverwinter Nights 1 because at least you have direct control of individual companions. Thank God for that, though it must be said, the pathing is quite shitty. Sometimes, even when there's plenty of room, companions will just pile up on each other instead of circumnavigating to engage enemies. The game is also pretty easy so far and I'm playing with the Core rules. Occasionally, a party member drops, but most of the time you don't even need to bother with prebuffing or spells. The only bug I've encountered so far is an annoying audio glitch where I suddenly stop hearing all footsteps and combat noise for some reason. Usually a restart fixes it.

Apologies if there's a better thread to post thoughts on NWN 2, but there it is. I'll post another update perhaps when the next chapter is finished if anything improves or degrades drastically, or else when I finish the game.
 
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Gargaune

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Joined
Mar 12, 2020
Messages
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Just found out that apparently my character is Harry Potter, the boy who lived through an attack by an evil wizard, complete with a scar and dead mother that I'm sure came up once before but for the life of me, I can't remember.
Man, you just ruined the OC even more for me, if that was possible. Anyway, with Act 1 out of the way, you can look forward to The Trial and Crossroads Keep as minor highlights, but it won't be until MotB that you get to the good stuff.

Lastly, the interface is mostly an improvement from the first game, at least the panels can be moved, but it's still shit compared to the likes of Guild Wars. Really, it only needed two more features to be great.
Yeah, this is why I said that the game could really use an EE, some minor improvements would go a long way. The bug where saves default to either the Strategy or Character camera, but not the Exploration one, the minimap on/off state not getting saved, the .ini has camera turn speed values but they don't get applied in-game, companion characters' positions don't get saved, the Strategy camera's height gets messed up on elevation, auto-displaying Quickcast on applicable characters, a UI lock, etc.

These are all small fixes that a programmer could knock out in a handful of days the lot of 'em. And if you wanted to go the extra mile, adding Party Formations wouldn't be some titanic struggle either. Ooh, and TB mode...

Apologies if there's a better thread to post thoughts on NWN 2, but there it is.
If there is, I'll kill it.
 

Gargaune

Magister
Joined
Mar 12, 2020
Messages
3,136
How to install tchos stuff along with BGR so they dont conflict since you need override folder empty?
The "empty Override" thing is just general direction since it's impractical for the BGR team to start listing everything that does and does not work. There's no conflict between BGR and Tchos UI, you can install both without issue.
 

Iskramor

Dumbfuck!
Dumbfuck
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910
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Bosnia and Herzegovina
How to install tchos stuff along with BGR so they dont conflict since you need override folder empty?
The "empty Override" thing is just general direction since it's impractical for the BGR team to start listing everything that does and does not work. There's no conflict between BGR and Tchos UI, you can install both without issue.
Pewh tnxman got me woried.I know that face mods and prc pack do conflict.
 

Gargaune

Magister
Joined
Mar 12, 2020
Messages
3,136
Pewh tnxman got me woried.I know that face mods and prc pack do conflict.
No worries. As for Xaltar's heads and the PRC pack, they conflict because they're prepackaged with BGR, albeit with different indexes for the former and an older public version for the latter (some modder drama, I believe). But with Tchos, there's nothing in BGR that messes with the UI panels.
 
Joined
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Messages
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Location
The western road to Erromon.
So, I finished Chapter II on the 21st, exactly a month after starting the game and I have to say, I enjoyed the second chapter much more than the first. The trial segment was pretty cool with many different avenues of defense to get yourself acquitted depending on what you found for evidence. Really enjoyed the amount of reactivity to my class that came out in this chapter. I'm playing a bard, so having the option to give rousing performances to influence persuasion checks is nice attention to detail, as well as a few quests tailored to the class in the Blacklake District. It actually feels like my character has become an important man in Neverwinter after all the service he's rendered to the city even to the point of being rewarded with his own fiefdom. I found myself spending hours in Crossroad Keep, making repairs and improvements. The extensive time I've spent in Crusader Kings II continues to serve me well in my efforts to Make Neverwinter Great Again.

That aside, thankfully the character quests started to pick up again. Made some progress with the OG three, and even some of the new additions. It's pretty clear the game expects you to not see it all in one run, but since I doubt I'll ever play this again, I've been min-maxing the influence system as best I can. Still, I feel like my original perception was wrong in one regard relating to the companions. Certain of them that I liked, I no longer really care much about. More than ever, I feel at least a third of these do not have any reason to exist. Casavir, Bishop, Qara, Grobnar (though I do find his traits amusing), The Construct. Most of these characters really could have been consolidated into your other companions. The "quirky tinkerer bard" could have been given to Khelgar's character to replace the monk storyline which went nowhere really, or at least the road it traveled could have been taken by any class choice. Making him an aloof, clumsy bard could have complimented the lesson of needing a higher purpose just as well as the drunken brawler dwarf stereotype. That would eliminate the "need" for Grobnar. Casavir seems to be there purely as a romance interest for good female pcs, Bishop for evil ones. Both are too bland and have no real quests tied to them. Both could have been condensed to one Fallen Paladin with a redemption arc for good female player characters, or a further descent into depravity for evil players. Qara I still see no point in existing. Her personality is awful and the only purpose she serves is to be an object of derision for the much more interesting caster companion Sand. The Construct I have never used and will never use. It's just a droid sans any personality whatsoever.

Lackluster party additions notwithstanding, I liked the addition of Shandra who was like my squire throughout the whole of the act, lots of jealousy from Elanee's character at the way my PC was favoring her, and I was pretty dismayed at the conclusion of Act II which I won't spoil. I had a feeling it would turn out that way but I was hoping it wouldn't. Quite tragic, not quite up to par with KotOR, KotOR II or the Witcher but close enough. More than I was expecting from the OC at any rate. The new Cleric companion I'm not sold one way or the other with yet. Haven't had her long enough, but at least the voice actress is decent. We'll see how Act III treats her.

Game is still piss easy, aside from the end fight of the act which randomly required the True Sight spell, despite no other fight in the game needing it so far. Took me a try to figure out why the hell I couldn't order my party to attack. Thought the game bugged out on me.

Gonna be taking a break from the game for a few months as things are about to get busy for me during the autumn. Will update probably in December/January once I finish the game.
 
Last edited:

gurugeorge

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Aug 3, 2019
Messages
7,437
Location
London, UK
Strap Yourselves In
So, I finished Chapter II on the 21st, exactly a month after starting the game and I have to say, I enjoyed the second chapter much more than the first. The trial segment was pretty cool with many different avenues of defense to get yourself acquitted depending on what you found for evidence. Really enjoyed the amount of reactivity to my class that came out in this chapter. I'm playing a bard, so having the option to give rousing performances to influence persuasion checks is nice attention to detail, as well as a few quests tailored to the class in the Blacklake District. It actually feels like my character has become an important man in Neverwinter after all the service he's rendered to the city even to the point of being rewarded with his own fiefdom. I found myself spending hours in Crossroad Keep, making repairs and improvements. The extensive time I've spent in Crusader Kings II continues to serve me well in my efforts to Make Neverwinter Great Again.

That aside, thankfully the character quests started to pick up again. Made some progress with the OG three, and even some of the new additions. It's pretty clear the game expects you to not see it all in one run, but since I doubt I'll ever play this again, I've been min-maxing the influence system as best I can. Still, I feel like my original perception was wrong in one regard relating to the companions. Certain of them that I liked, I no longer really care much about. More than ever, I feel at least a third of these do not have any reason to exist. Casavir, Bishop, Qara, Grobnar (though I do find his traits amusing), The Construct. Most of these characters really could have been consolidated into your other companions. The "quirky tinkerer bard" could have been given to Khelgar's character to replace the monk storyline which went nowhere really, or at least the road it traveled could have been taken by any class choice. Making him an aloof, clumsy bard could have complimented the lesson of needing a higher purpose just as well as the drunken brawler dwarf stereotype. That would eliminate the "need" for Grobnar. Casavir seems to be there purely as a romance interest for good female pcs, Bishop for evil ones. Both are too bland and have no real quests tied to them. Both could have been condensed to one Fallen Paladin with a redemption arc for good female player characters, or a further descent into depravity for evil players. Qara I still see no point in existing. Her personality is awful and the only purpose she serves is to be an object of derision for the much more interesting caster companion Sand. The Construct I have never used and will never use. It's just a droid sans any personality whatsoever.

Lackluster party additions notwithstanding, I liked the addition of Shandra who was like my squire throughout the whole of the act, lots of jealousy from Elanee's character at the way my PC was favoring her, and I was pretty dismayed at the conclusion of Act II which I won't spoil. I had a feeling it would turn out that way but I was hoping it wouldn't. Quite tragic, not quite up to par with KotOR, KotOR II or the Witcher but close enough. More than I was expecting from the OC at any rate. The new Cleric companion I'm not sold one way or the other with yet. Haven't had her long enough, but at least the voice actress is decent. We'll see how Act III treats her.

Game is still piss easy, aside from the end fight of the act which randomly required the True Sight spell, despite no other fight in the game needing it so far. Took me a try to figure out why the hell I couldn't order my party to attack. Thought the game bugged out on me.

Gonna be taking a break from the game for a few months as things are about to get busy for me during the autumn. Will update probably in December/January once I finish the game.

I'm fairly convinced that a lot of people who repeat the mantra, "The NWN2 OC is crap" just haven't played through it, and probably gave up fairly early - which is understandable, as the OC does start off very dry and a bit twee; but it picks up to become quite decent from around the trial onwards.
 

Fargus

Arcane
Joined
Apr 2, 2012
Messages
2,350
Location
Moscow
Unlike in NWN1 OC in NWN2 is actually decent. OC in NWN1 is only good in CH1 the rest of the game nosedives into the trash.
 

Volourn

Pretty Princess
Pretty Princess Glory to Ukraine
Joined
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Messages
24,924
Both OCs are average. If you think one is better than the other you are retart. If you couldn't find anything good at all in later nwn1 oc chapters, you didn't play the game.
 
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Lambach

Arcane
Joined
Feb 11, 2016
Messages
12,730
Location
Belgrade, Removekebabland
theoretically mages should pose a bigger challenge due to the higher lvl the get.

The best way to make enemy Spellcasters more dangerous is to apply a bunch of defensive Buffs on them before you even start a fight with them (just like you'd pre-buff your own Party).

Otherwise, you can have them be level 30 and able to spam a 50-DC Wail of the Banshee once per Round, it still won't matter - they'll be too dead or too CC'd 3 seconds into the fight to actually use any of their Spells.
 

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