NWN Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition - Beamdog's final enhancement - now with new premium modules

[luj1]

So is this worth a buy for the user made content?

Modules run better on the Diamond Edition, PWs run better on the Enhanced Edition

 

[luj1]

Can you persuade the duergar on the Maker's island to help you against the Valsharess? I have +25 Persuade but their leader doesn't seem to budge, so maybe it's one of those impossible to pass checks.

Been a long time, can't remember

 

[JarlFrank]

If you want to experience the worst D&D RPG ever made, yes, this is worth a buy.

Spoiler

Yes, I hate NWN and all of its aspects, but I'm actually referring to a specific premium module only available for the Enhanced Edition...

Spoiler

Absolute lowest effort slop, complete shit, way below the average quality of user-made content, yet they had the gall to sell this for money.

 

[Eirinjas]

If you want to experience the worst D&D RPG ever made, yes, this is worth a buy.

Spoiler

Yes, I hate NWN and all of its aspects, but I'm actually referring to a specific premium module only available for the Enhanced Edition...

Spoiler

Absolute lowest effort slop, complete shit, way below the average quality of user-made content, yet they had the gall to sell this for money.

So, you liked it?

 

[Don Peste]

 

[luj1]

Thanks for sharing the scans brother. I remember reading about NWN in a Yugoslavian gamer magazine and loving the art.

 

[Gargaune]

New patch going into Beta testing:

New Development Build ready for testing

Hey there everyone!

This release is being developed for personal enjoyment and out of goodwill for our fellow players and creators by unpaid software engineers from the NWN community:

- clippy, Daz, Jasperre, Liareth, niv, shadguy, Soren, Squatting Monk, tinygiant, virusman

To our fellow community:

Thank you all for keeping this shared adventure alive.

Highlights

• New HDR-bloom postprocessing effect accumulates overlapping effects more naturally and makes intense colors bleed into the surrounding pixels.
• Improvements to the gameplay UI, such as toggling object highlight by double-pressing TAB.
• Significant performance improvements across the board, both on servers and clients.
• Many new and improved scripting functions, including support for synchronised audio playback and improvements to the scriptable UI.
• Over a hundred bugfixes, including several notorious 20-year-old bugs, such as area objects sometimes showing up too late.
• Script compiler is now open source and available as a standalone tool at https://github.com/niv/neverwinter.nim.

See https://nwn.beamdog.net/docs/ for
the full list of over 300 changes
.

You are cordially invited to join the NWN community developer Discord, here: https://nwn.beamdog.net/discord/

Kindly report issues you find at https://github.com/Beamdog/nwn-issues by following the instructions provided there.

I had a quick skim of the full changelog, there's some nice stuff in there (including internal V-Sync), but I'm concerned that the EE's new henchmen controls feature might never get promoted to an "official" setting and remain a hidden config instead. I think that would be a mistake.

 

[Gargaune]

Here we go!

[88.8193.36-11] - 2024-02-06​

Credits​

This release was developed for personal enjoyment and out of goodwill for our fellow players and creators by unpaid software engineers from the NWN community:

• clippy, Daz, Jasperre, Liareth, niv, shadguy, Soren, Squatting Monk, tinygiant, virusman

To our fellow community:

Thank you all for keeping this shared adventure alive.

Highlights​

• New HDR-bloom postprocessing effect accumulates overlapping effects more naturally and makes intense colors bleed into the surrounding pixels.
• Improvements to the gameplay UI, such as toggling object highlight by double-pressing TAB.
• Significant performance improvements across the board, both on servers and clients.
• Many new and improved scripting functions, including support for synchronised audio playback and improvements to the scriptable UI.
• Over a hundred bugfixes, including several notorious 20-year-old bugs, such as area objects sometimes showing up too late.
• Script compiler is now open source and available as a standalone tool at https://github.com/niv/neverwinter.nim.

You are cordially invited to join our developer Discord, here: https://nwn.beamdog.net/discord/

Kindly report issues you find at https://github.com/Beamdog/nwn-issues by following the instructions provided there.

[...]

I skimmed the rest of the changes and this is something that might be convenient, I wouldn't have to rely on the nVidia Control Panel for it (though I still will for Antialiasing):

Added game setting for VSync, including support for adaptive VSync.

But this Toolset fix right here, now this is something I want badly, it's been pissing me off to no end on my current build:

Fixed PLT textures not updating correctly when the color is changed.

It's live on GOG now, so it's sure to be on Steam and Beamdog's own client as well. I'll see if I can spare the time to test drive it this weekend.

 

[Zeriel]

As expected, the community devs are way better than the hired ones.

 

[Gargaune]

Okay, let's start sharing first impressions:

- The new HDR Bloom shader makes lights brighter... I think? I don't have an HDR screen so I don't know how this stuff works, but it didn't take me long to run into a bug - this is the decorative side door in the Shield Trading Company in TotM:

No big deal, can't say I ever thought to myself "You know what NWN really needs? Some HDR Bloom!" With all its extended and custom content, the game would be a nightmare to test with a professional QA crew, and the community patching team have made it very clear they have no QA. My point here is just be aware that the feature might not be ready for prime time.

- There's a new feature that allows you to double-tap Tab to toggle object Highlighting (instead of just holding) which, though it doesn't do anything for me, I know some people like. There does seem to be a minor visual glitch with this change to highlighting functionality in that I noticed a couple of instances where quickly passing the cursor over an NPC would leave their name displayed. Goes away on a subsequent Tab or mouse-over.

- The internal V-Sync option is most welcome and seems to be working fine, one less setting to track in the nVidia Control Panel.

- A very interesting development for me, personally, is that for a long time forcing Antialiasing externally looked great except for a graphical glitch that gave objects overlapping water in the viewport a thin white outline if the Shiny Water shader was enabled, but whatever rendering changes were done under the hood in this patch have removed this problem.

- The toolset PLT bug when changing colours is resolved! Thank you!


Now, this really is just first impressions, I spun the game up, tested a couple of things and that's it. Obviously, I'd need to spend some time actually playing before I call it, but at first glance, it seems like a good patch.

 

[KainenMorden]

Ok, so did they manage to stop having Cha abilities/spells gain/lose uses upon reload? Stop having enemies that just stand around and not attack for no reason/because they are blinded? Stop enemies from going flat footed for atleast a round virtually every time they use a spell/ability?

Did they ever do anything about consumables randomly disappearing on reload?

 

[ds]

Maybe I'm just being unlucky but the game seems a lot more unstable after the last update. Already locked up three times in the loading screen today and once randomly while selling items and I have only been playing for a couple of hours.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

That type of shit kills games for me. Eventually, I just uninstall.

 

[Gargaune]

Maybe I'm just being unlucky but the game seems a lot more unstable after the last update. Already locked up three times in the loading screen today and once randomly while selling items and I have only been playing for a couple of hours.

Same module you were playing on the prior build? I haven't had a chance to test it in proper play yet, been doing other stuff. I did, however, experience occasional CTDs with Darkness over Daggerford on the prior build, but that was the module itself, I remember it doing stuff like that since forever, and the couple more hours I spent with Swordflight Ch. 5 after that were stable. I'll come back to it soon enough and see for myself, but for now I'm deep into a Disciples 2 replay.

 

[ds]

Maybe I'm just being unlucky but the game seems a lot more unstable after the last update. Already locked up three times in the loading screen today and once randomly while selling items and I have only been playing for a couple of hours.

Same module you were playing on the prior build?

Yes, started a Crimson Tides of Tethyr (the version from the in-game downloader) playthrough near the start of the month the start of the month and finally got around to finishing it. I was still in the starting city so it isn't a matter of different areas/tile-sets either. I'm done with it now and there were a lot more lockups and a couple of CTDs, mostly while loading areas or opening the inventory. Don't remember there being any issues with the previous build.

I haven't had a chance to test it in proper play yet, been doing other stuff. I did, however, experience occasional CTDs with Darkness over Daggerford on the prior build, but that was the module itself, I remember it doing stuff like that since forever, and the couple more hours I spent with Swordflight Ch. 5 after that were stable. I'll come back to it soon enough and see for myself, but for now I'm deep into a Disciples 2 replay.

I didn't have any major issues with DoD in november but Siege of Shadowdale did consistently CTD for me in certain areas with the previous build until I removed a tileset override I had installed. So yeah the Tethyr issues could be specific to the module or some override but the exact same setup worked fine with the previous build.

 

[Zeriel]

Honestly the "Enhanced" Edition has always been unstable compared to Diamond. It's a pretty shit version overall that has just been forced into relevance by commercialism/steam. I never had any issues with the old Diamond edition on any computer, and I played it on several, and modules in general and some video card after-effects (like forcing AA) are way more effective on it.

The shitty thing is we're left with a lot of people producing content exclusively for the EE that could have been made for Diamond in one form or another. I get that there are some technical, theoretical improvements in some areas for producing new 3D content, but the advantages are really tiny, and I imagine would have been easy to replicate on Diamond if the same people had put in the same effort.

 

[Gargaune]

ds, that does sound a bit worrying. If you move on to another module and keep encountering the same issues, it might be worth trying a full reinstall - I did have an issue with a delta patch that seemed to corrupt my shaders when they added spell AoE indicators. Not the same thing, I know, but might be worth a try. I'll see if I can find an opportunity to spend some more time with Swordflight towards the end of the week.

For what it's worth, I encountered occasional CTDs with DoD EE when loading into an area on transition, but I've never had the game lock up.



Zeriel, I can't agree, NWN EE started out being the least "enhanced" of the bunch, but by this point, it's probably packing the most added value of all of 'em and I strongly recommend it. The new henchmen controls alone would make the EE worth it, but you've also got some nice visual improvements (and I'm not talking about the HD Art Pack), helpful QOL stuff like spell indicators and UI scaling, and TotM is probably the best official content for NWN (while admittedly stuff like Android support and the integrated content browser is less relevant to the likes of us).

But that's just on the player side, improvements for builders are even more significant, that's why you're seeing most of the new content go EE. You've got stuff like NUI enabling custom interface widgets (e.g. Quickcast), passing script parameters from conversation, .json data support, dynamic model scaling, improved scripting features like effects tagging and altogether new functions etc. (just off the top of my head). The under-the-hood benefits aren't tiny.

If anything, I'd say that was one of Beamdog's biggest mistakes with the EE's release - they frontloaded a lot of builder value, but the player-side improvements came along slower over time and it left a lot of people on the fence. Since modders usually want a healthy audience before they commit too much time to a project, that approach probably didn't help the EE make the splash it deserved, and you only get one (second) release.

 

[Gargaune]

Well, this is odd... Looks like whatever changes were made to the rendering in the recent build mean that my ancient Fraps install now captures screenshots without the HUD. Not exactly world-ending, there's always MSI Afterburner and NWN already had a serviceable integrated feature, but still a bit strange.


P.S. ds, just remembered, if you're still having stability problems after everything, try setting NWN's profile in nVidia Control Panel to disable Thread Optimisation, I've had it like that since forever.

 

[ds]

ds, that does sound a bit worrying. If you move on to another module and keep encountering the same issues, it might be worth trying a full reinstall - I did have an issue with a delta patch that seemed to corrupt my shaders when they added spell AoE indicators. Not the same thing, I know, but might be worth a try. I'll see if I can find an opportunity to spend some more time with Swordflight towards the end of the week.

For what it's worth, I encountered occasional CTDs with DoD EE when loading into an area on transition, but I've never had the game lock up.

P.S. ds, just remembered, if you're still having stability problems after everything, try setting NWN's profile in nVidia Control Panel to disable Thread Optimisation, I've had it like that since forever.

Don't have an nVidia card but thanks anyway.

I haven't played any more NwN yet to check it out but there was a hotfix on the 26th that sounds promising:

Fixed a crash that happens after several loadscreens on some Linux systems.

 

[Gargaune]

They've also fixed the missing HUD in screencaps.

But I dunno if I'm just imagining it or the micro (and not so micro) stutters have gotten a wee bit worse. I've been having an FPS/stutter issue ever since the new renderer, basically:
- uncapped FPS -> unusable when run from Toolset (cataclysmic stuttering, audio broken) and pointless high GPU use when running normally;
- V-Sync 60 (in-game or GPU) -> noticeable stutters in intensive areas;
- FPS limiter (any value) (in-game or GPU) -> very choppy camera rotation;

I'm open to suggestions if anyone knows more.

Also, I'm pretty sure the reason why my shiny water bug went away is because forcing AA stopped working. Though I suppose jaggies would give it a nice, authentic 2002 appearance. :/

 

[Infinitron]

Tyrants of the Moonsea Codex review by Gargaune: https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads...inter-nights-–-tyrants-of-the-moonsea.149813/

 

[Naraya]

Saving started to get suspiciously long...

 

[Infinitron]

Darkness Over Daggerford review by Gargaune: https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads...ter-nights-–-darkness-over-daggerford.150051/

 

[Chippy]

They've also fixed the missing HUD in screencaps.

But I dunno if I'm just imagining it or the micro (and not so micro) stutters have gotten a wee bit worse. I've been having an FPS/stutter issue ever since the new renderer, basically:
- uncapped FPS -> unusable when run from Toolset (cataclysmic stuttering, audio broken) and pointless high GPU use when running normally;
- V-Sync 60 (in-game or GPU) -> noticeable stutters in intensive areas;
- FPS limiter (any value) (in-game or GPU) -> very choppy camera rotation;

I'm open to suggestions if anyone knows more.

Also, I'm pretty sure the reason why my shiny water bug went away is because forcing AA stopped working. Though I suppose jaggies would give it a nice, authentic 2002 appearance. :/

So I take it from reading the last page that with the current patches, NWN still falls into the category of Beamdog Enhanced?.

Read: Monkeys still throwing their shit at the wall.