NWN Neverwinter Nights (NWN & NWN2) Modules Thread

[KainenMorden]

You would need to copy the following files from the NWN/database folder to the database folder of your new installation:

SwordflightDB.CDX
SwordflightDB.DBF
SwordflightDB.FPT

Basically everything in the database folder with "Swordflight" in the name should be copied over. If by some chance your installation does not create a database folder (some folders are not created until the game needs them - don't recall if the database folder is one such) you can just create a folder with that name yourself.

Naturally any character files exported at the end of the latest module you played should also be copied to the new NWN/local vault folder. That should be all you need to do to be ready to play the next chapter when it comes out. In EE of course the relevant NWN folders are sub-folder in your "Documents" folder (I am sure you know that but perhaps other people looking up this advice would not).

Thanks, man, wanted to be sure!

Ok another problem, I tried to start up chapter 2 and it said the module was corrupted

Did you install all the resources correctly? You need the Ch2 module and its associated hakpak on the same page, plus the CTP Babylon and the Community Tileset Project's CTP Common and CTP Loadscreens hakpaks.

Those are all installed

 

[Zed]

I never bothered with the NWN expansions because how shitty the og campaign was. How good is Hordes of the Underdark; and if it sucks, are there any good Underdark fan modules? I have an urge for Underdark spelunking and drow drama but I don't want to play through BG2 for the 1000th time (... yet).

 

[KainenMorden]

I never bothered with the NWN expansions because how shitty the og campaign was. How good is Hordes of the Underdark; and if it sucks, are there any good Underdark fan modules? I have an urge for Underdark spelunking and drow drama but I don't want to play through BG2 for the 1000th time (... yet).

Both expansions are worth playing for sure. Even though there's certain things I don't like about nwn and I played IE games more, it's still one of my favorite games ever and yeah the OC wasn't great but I still had fun going through it.

 

[rogueknight333]

Ok another problem, I tried to start up chapter 2 and it said the module was corrupted

Well, it works for me, so I am not sure how helpful I can be in figuring out the issue. The obvious first step is to try downloading the module file again, as something may have happened to the one you have at some point in the process of being downloaded and transferred to the correct folder. Perhaps check to see if your anti-virus software or something like that is messing with it somehow?

Making sure you have all the correct haks has already been addressed, but you may still want to double check that you have them all and in the correct folders. Also since the module and various haks tend to be in a variety of compression formats (.zip, .rar, 7z) you may want to make sure they have all been de-compressed properly and there are no issues with whatever utility you are using for this.

Maybe also check if it works on another computer and/or on Diamond rather than EE (assuming it is practical for you to do so) - if only to narrow down the source of the problem?

Not much else occurs to me off the top of my head, unfortunately, if the above does not help.

 

[Gargaune]

rogueknight333, got a couple of builder questions if you don't mind... I noticed the EE is using the new SQL feature for DBs, but is this replacing the prior DB format? I ended up porting my entire Swordflight install to the EE (DBs and saves) and replaying the very last area of Ch.4 to auto-export the PC and refresh any relevant DBs, but I noticed that the new .sqlite file got updated, whereas the older three kept their modified dates.

Second, I've never looked into NWN's DBs before, can Swordflight's DB accommodate multiple distinct playthroughs, as in linked to individual characters, or will the DB always get globally overwritten with the most recent write?

And finally, it hit me since I decided to port my saves over but also to update to your most recent module builds, how would an existing save handle the module being updated under it? I was under the impression that NWN bakes module data into the save file, so are .mod updates ignored or can they generate discrepancies?

Those are all installed

What message are you getting, "Could not load the Module. Module file might be corrupt?" Like RK said, double check that all resources have been unarchived in their correct locations (Swordflight - Chapter Two.mod in /Documents/Neverwinter Nights/modules/ and SwordflightA.hak, ctp_babylon.hak, ctp_common.hak and ctp_loadscreens.hak in /Documents/Neverwinter Nights/hak/), and if there's no problem there, try deleting them and reinstalling from a fresh download. If you're still not making headway, have a skim of this thread, the suggestion here is to maybe clean your /override/ folder. Or on the off chance you're using any Patch Haks, disable those as well.

Another thing that popped up was the message "Could not load the Module. Could not unpack the module," see here, but that appears to be a config file corruption preventing official content from loading.

I never bothered with the NWN expansions because how shitty the og campaign was. How good is Hordes of the Underdark; and if it sucks, are there any good Underdark fan modules? I have an urge for Underdark spelunking and drow drama but I don't want to play through BG2 for the 1000th time (... yet).

Both SoU and HotU are much better than the OC across the board - plot, level design, interactivity etc. Though, obviously, the one thing they equally suck at is directing your henchmen. For community content, Swordflight's fourth chapter is entirely in the Underdark (not much politicking drama, but all the dungeon crawling you'll ever want), but that's some 70 hours into the campaign and you really should play it from the beginning. I'm also aware of the drow-centric campaign A Hunt Through the Dark which won the Vault's Gold Award in 2004 and was later ported to NWN2, but I haven't played either version yet.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

How do you think the 3 e "fighter/mage" type builds stack up vs pure wizards or sorcerers of equivalent level in nwn in general?

If you go Eldritch Knight from the PRC, you'll do fine. What they lose in reduced spellcasting they gain in convenience. In NWN, spellcasting is still strong, so I don't much care for the dynamic. You play like a slightly under-leveled mage early on. By mid-level you play like a gimped fighter and heavily rely on buffs. By late tier you're back to casting primarily. Attacks are for trash mobs or being thrifty by disabling things and then hacking at them. The feat selection also heavily skews towards melee, which really hurts your spells.

If you're not using a mod that gets you Eldritch Knight, I think arcane gishes in NWN are awful. Much better to be a fighter/rogue and either dip a wizard level or pump UMD and use scrolls. It's far superior to split levels between martial:magic.

 

[Roguey]

I never bothered with the NWN expansions because how shitty the og campaign was. How good is Hordes of the Underdark; and if it sucks, are there any good Underdark fan modules? I have an urge for Underdark spelunking and drow drama but I don't want to play through BG2 for the 1000th time (... yet).

Done. I still think chapter 1 is garbage. Secret doors and teleporters don't impress me, there's too much boring exposition, and the only interesting fights are at the end. Chapter two had somewhat-more interesting writing and still far too much trash, but it also had some genuinely entertaining and demanding battles, especially the cult temple in its near-entirety. Chapter three had comparable writing and combat, but the puzzles and fiddly platforming were just obnoxious. I was pretty surprised how they put that incredibly difficult enemy party fight right on the critical path. It took quite a bit of effort on my part for my low-maintenance-with-versatility-powergamer-dream fighter/rdd/bard to get through it, so I have no idea how the average (bad) player could even get past it. I suppose Bioware figured those types all stopped playing in the first or second chapter, so there was no need to cater to them anymore.

The ending, while superficially entertaining, was rather in the corner-cutting way they scripted it. Aribeth was there and even commented when I bought M's true name to forever put him in my power, but then she goes and sides with him anyway because there wasn't an option to say that name as the first response? And then the ending has the nerve to say that my character forgave her, though in my head canon, not before calling her dumb repeatedly.

Anyway, there was still too much bad in there for it to be good. Kingmaker had less bad, but it didn't have as much good, so they're about even overall. It possibly could have been better if they weren't obligated to deliver a 20 hour campaign, but I guess nothing can be done about that.

 

[rogueknight333]

rogueknight333, got a couple of builder questions if you don't mind... I noticed the EE is using the new SQL feature for DBs, but is this replacing the prior DB format? I ended up porting my entire Swordflight install to the EE (DBs and saves) and replaying the very last area of Ch.4 to auto-export the PC and refresh any relevant DBs, but I noticed that the new .sqlite file got updated, whereas the older three kept their modified dates.

I have not used the EE database features at all, and do not know much about them. It does appear that making a database in EE just makes a single .SQL file, not the three separate files used in databases in the original NWN. Unfortunately, that possibly means databases from the original NWN are not compatible with EE. I suppose I will have to test that when I have time. It should be quite possible to debug that if it is the case, but that requires that players be aware of the issue.

Second, I've never looked into NWN's DBs before, can Swordflight's DB accommodate multiple distinct playthroughs, as in linked to individual characters, or will the DB always get globally overwritten with the most recent write?

NWN Databases can easily handle multiple distinct playthroughs. Each character gets a separate entry in the database with variables, etc. set specifically for each. Though I expect data would get overridden if someone were to play through with two distinct characters who had both been given exactly the same name.

If you are curious about it, you can actually open the .dbf files with notepad or wordpad or a similar text editor to check what data is recorded there. Theoretically you could edit the data in them the same way, though I do not recommend that unless you are confident you know what you are doing.

And finally, it hit me since I decided to port my saves over but also to update to your most recent module builds, how would an existing save handle the module being updated under it? I was under the impression that NWN bakes module data into the save file, so are .mod updates ignored or can they generate discrepancies?

NWN does bake the module data into the save file. To the best of my knowledge, updating the base module file should have no effect whatever on save files. This is often unfortunate actually since it can make dealing with bugs much more difficult, i.e., even if the module is updated, bugs can persist in earlier saves. It also tends to make save files inconveniently large if one is making a lot of them.

 

[Gargaune]

Thanks again for all the info, rogueknight333! Concerning DB compatibility, I don't remember when exactly Beamdog added SQL support, but I'm pretty sure it was well after the EE's launch and it would be just too absurd an oversight to drop the old DBs in service, they'd have broken ongoing playthroughs on their own product and the ability to port your saves over was an advertised selling point. What I suspect could be happening, going by the Modified Dates on the files, is that the EE reads the old format files if an .sqlite DB isn't already present and generates one to exclusively use going forward. So porting a campaign from the DE to the EE should be fine whereas the reverse wouldn't, but then that's never been supported to begin with. Either way, just something I noticed moving stuff over.

 

[KainenMorden]

rogueknight333, got a couple of builder questions if you don't mind... I noticed the EE is using the new SQL feature for DBs, but is this replacing the prior DB format? I ended up porting my entire Swordflight install to the EE (DBs and saves) and replaying the very last area of Ch.4 to auto-export the PC and refresh any relevant DBs, but I noticed that the new .sqlite file got updated, whereas the older three kept their modified dates.

Second, I've never looked into NWN's DBs before, can Swordflight's DB accommodate multiple distinct playthroughs, as in linked to individual characters, or will the DB always get globally overwritten with the most recent write?

And finally, it hit me since I decided to port my saves over but also to update to your most recent module builds, how would an existing save handle the module being updated under it? I was under the impression that NWN bakes module data into the save file, so are .mod updates ignored or can they generate discrepancies?

Those are all installed

What message are you getting, "Could not load the Module. Module file might be corrupt?" Like RK said, double check that all resources have been unarchived in their correct locations (Swordflight - Chapter Two.mod in /Documents/Neverwinter Nights/modules/ and SwordflightA.hak, ctp_babylon.hak, ctp_common.hak and ctp_loadscreens.hak in /Documents/Neverwinter Nights/hak/), and if there's no problem there, try deleting them and reinstalling from a fresh download. If you're still not making headway, have a skim of this thread, the suggestion here is to maybe clean your /override/ folder. Or on the off chance you're using any Patch Haks, disable those as well.

Another thing that popped up was the message "Could not load the Module. Could not unpack the module," see here, but that appears to be a config file corruption preventing official content from loading.

I never bothered with the NWN expansions because how shitty the og campaign was. How good is Hordes of the Underdark; and if it sucks, are there any good Underdark fan modules? I have an urge for Underdark spelunking and drow drama but I don't want to play through BG2 for the 1000th time (... yet).

Both SoU and HotU are much better than the OC across the board - plot, level design, interactivity etc. Though, obviously, the one thing they equally suck at is directing your henchmen. For community content, Swordflight's fourth chapter is entirely in the Underdark (not much politicking drama, but all the dungeon crawling you'll ever want), but that's some 70 hours into the campaign and you really should play it from the beginning. I'm also aware of the drow-centric campaign A Hunt Through the Dark which won the Vault's Gold Award in 2004 and was later ported to NWN2, but I haven't played either version yet.

"Could not load the Module. Module file might be corrupt?

Maybe I'm not using 7-Zip correctly with the hak files? Would you mind explaining to me how you decompress/install them?

 

[Riddler]

Just unzip them to their respective folders?

Just to be clear, you're not supposed to somehow "unzip" the .hak files themselves.

 

[Gargaune]

"Could not load the Module. Module file might be corrupt?

Maybe I'm not using 7-Zip correctly with the hak files? Would you mind explaining to me how you decompress/install them?

Like Riddler said, just unpack the .zip and .7z archives anywhere (e.g. right click -> 7-Zip -> Extract to...) and copy the contained .hak files into the folder, the exact files and locations in my earlier post. If you're not seeing the file extensions (e.g. ctp_babylon.hak), go into File/Windows Explorer -> View -> Options -> View -> make sure Hide Extensions For Known File Types is unticked. Just to be extra certain, make sure that your /hak/ folder only has .hak files inside, remove the archives if you copied them there in their packed form.

If you're still not getting anywhere, check that Steam thread I linked earlier and try cleaning your /override/ folder in Documents/Neverwinter Nights. If you had previously installed mods in there, you can just move everything to a temporary folder somewhere else and see if Swordflight will load. If it does, then you can zero in on what might've caused an issue.

 

[rogueknight333]

To cover the obvious just in case: if you do not have a utility able to work with 7zip files, you will need to download and install one: https://www.7-zip.org/

With such a utility you can open 7z files and uncompress their contents by simply clicking and dragging or copying and pasting into a normal folder. If by some chance you just placed the uncompressed 7z files in the hak folder they would not be able to work in game.

 

[KainenMorden]

To cover the obvious just in case: if you do not have a utility able to work with 7zip files, you will need to download and install one: https://www.7-zip.org/

With such a utility you can open 7z files and uncompress their contents by simply clicking and dragging or copying and pasting into a normal folder. If by some chance you just placed the uncompressed 7z files in the hak folder they would not be able to work in game.

Yes I did use 7-zip from the first time I tried to install chapter 2 but have never used it before.

Basically, I download the files, they're in .zip format, I just created another folder to unzip the files to. I set for the files to open with 7-zip, if I right click the files, there is no option to extract with 7-zip. If I click the files, an error comes up, unsupported command.

I open 7-zip and select the files and click Extract to send them to my nwn hak folder. When I extract, a box pops up and under each hak file it says "cannot open file with archive"

 

[Gargaune]

Yes I did use 7-zip from the first time I tried to install chapter 2 but have never used it before.

Basically, I download the files, they're in .zip format, I just created another folder to unzip the files to. I set for the files to open with 7-zip, if I right click the files, there is no option to extract with 7-zip. If I click the files, an error comes up, unsupported command.

I open 7-zip and select the files and click Extract to send them to my nwn hak folder. When I extract, a box pops up and under each hak file it says "cannot open file with archive"

Apparently, this might happen if you're launching 7-Zip manually via 7zG.exe instead of 7zFM.exe. Go into where you've installed 7-Zip and specifically launch via 7zFM.exe and try extracting the archives again.

Alternatively, maybe your archives are corrupt, in which you case you can try downloading them again. Note that RK's archives are in .zip format, the CTP ones should end in .7z.

For future reference, you may wanna reinstall 7-Zip anyway and tick the option to integrate with the context menu, should be somewhere in the setup wizard, which will let you handle archives via Right Click -> 7-Zip going forward.

 

[KainenMorden]

Yes I did use 7-zip from the first time I tried to install chapter 2 but have never used it before.

Basically, I download the files, they're in .zip format, I just created another folder to unzip the files to. I set for the files to open with 7-zip, if I right click the files, there is no option to extract with 7-zip. If I click the files, an error comes up, unsupported command.

I open 7-zip and select the files and click Extract to send them to my nwn hak folder. When I extract, a box pops up and under each hak file it says "cannot open file with archive"

Apparently, this might happen if you're launching 7-Zip manually via 7zG.exe instead of 7zFM.exe. Go into where you've installed 7-Zip and specifically launch via 7zFM.exe and try extracting the archives again.

Alternatively, maybe your archives are corrupt, in which you case you can try downloading them again. Note that RK's archives are in .zip format, the CTP ones should end in .7z.

For future reference, you may wanna reinstall 7-Zip anyway and tick the option to integrate with the context menu, should be somewhere in the setup wizard, which will let you handle archives via Right Click -> 7-Zip going forward.

Thanks, I went to those help pages and used the default programs editor after reinstalling 7-zip to no avail unfortunately.

Maybe my anti virus software has something to do with it? idk I might have to make a post elsewhere to get help because I won't give up. This just seems like a strange issue and I guess the problem is my pc somehow. I'll keep at it.

 

[codex account]

Can I use this thread for Swordflight bug report
can't enter cultist lair again gives message You should have Hrangarak with you when going this way.
thing is he died to beetle fire and I tactically retreated a screen
I will just reload a save but this one seemed worth reporting
on that note I got 2 small ones
in chapter 1 questgiver for the sewer rescue you can repeat infinitely dialog that says reward is insufficient for complete evil flipping
another in chapter 1 the orc that you can ask about aranea has repeating dialogue with lore for 10xp or less with xp penalty can just hold numpad 1 for infinite xp
nothing important but might as well maybe

rogueknight333​

will see this

 

[rogueknight333]

Can I use this thread for Swordflight bug report...

I will read bug reports here. Thanks for calling problems to my attention.

I do not think the issue with Hrangarak is actually a bug, unless there is some additional complication you did not bring up. You should have been able to just go back to wherever he died and raise him (unless leaving the area messed that up somehow?), and you are not supposed to be able to complete certain quests without quest-critical NPCs being alive. Though there is a potential bug there if you have fought the final battle of that quest and then dismiss the henchmen to go back to the surface before completing the dialogue with them finishing off that quest (focusing on Ch. 5 now but will hopefully get around to fixing that soon).

 

[codex account]

Can I use this thread for Swordflight bug report...

You should have been able to just go back to wherever he died and raise him (unless leaving the area messed that up somehow?)

Well let me clarify a bit
what happened was I entered the area with him the area with the check for him he died on first fight I'm bad at this game apparently
next I retreat a screen the orc town area his body in next area before actual lair with the gel cubes and check stays rendering the quest unable to progress
I reloaded I'm lot further now and completed that quest talked to both npc's sold cult book to orc mechant etc.
but here's another interesting thing with that check that after the quest is completed it's still there
it ask for hrangarak still rendering that area innacesible and hrangarak cannot be companion anymore
not a problem for me didn't leave anything valuable there
but if some player missed the cult book and later maybe checked the walkthrough could be annoying it sells for 20000+
so I think the check should be removed on quest conclusion so a bug?

 

[rogueknight333]

...what happened was I entered the area with him...he died on first fight I'm bad at this game apparently

I am good at making people think that apparently.

next I retreat a screen the orc town area his body in next area before actual lair with the gel cubes and check stays rendering the quest unable to progress...but here's another interesting thing with that check that after the quest is completed it's still there

Yes, that is kind of buggy, especially the area not being accessible after the quest is over. I will look into it when I address the other rare bug with this quest mentioned in my previous post (probably not until I get Ch. 5 released).

 

[codex account]

Yes, that is kind of buggy, especially the area not being accessible after the quest is over

Makes me think
If I remember right I think Hrangarak could be attacked when first met I didn't take it
wondering if there would be alternative solution where you kill him go to crypt kill other orc companion then kill entire orc town
but checking your walktrough doesn't seem like it
so if you kill hrangarak when first meeting him quest ends there and check is still there so cannot explore cult lair?
I'm guessing here don't have save there anymore to check

anyway I was suprised at the check cus it is kind of a hard check and probably not neccesary
could have just put a soft check at cult lair on the first lever if you come without Hrangarak simply tell player this level is unnoperable without someone who knows how to open it
so player goes back unpetrifies Hrangarak proceeds as normal gets those small comment from him along the way for their backtracking

speaking of backtracking it's merciless in chapter 2 should have put quick travel on every transition like dark calimport
I guess this would involve bunch of work but from I've seen so far it already checks problematic things like companions
cos if I tried to go to dark calimport or sewer with those 2 orc companions can't also comes with explanation why not
just would need to disalllow areas where your trapped

well this Is my first playthrough of chapter 2 I'm probably underestimating the complexity and size and work required
but for example in chapter 1 when you kill fire monk quicktravel could of come on next transition screen instead it waits 2 screens the attacked caravan and the one with two scouts and fire beetles which are at this point cleaned
then it pops up on transition to caves to enable quick travel to ruins
in chapter 2 sewers have some quick travel between themselves but not everything else
anyways played chapter 1 many times am probably 10+ at this point
I give it 10/10 it's great
You have quality writing
with kotor 2 deus ex vtmb there are now 4 games with great writing and one is a mod !!!
fifth one hopefully this decade
still have to complete chapter 2

 

[rogueknight333]

...If I remember right I think Hrangarak could be attacked when first met I didn't take it
wondering if there would be alternative solution where you kill him go to crypt kill other orc companion then kill entire orc town
but checking your walktrough doesn't seem like it
so if you kill hrangarak when first meeting him quest ends there and check is still there so cannot explore cult lair? ...

If you kill Hrangarak it is supposed to close off the possibility of doing that particular quest. In principle I suppose I could have included an alternative route to do a version of the quest without him, but it would have been very complicated (e.g., would need to significantly rewrite almost all the relevant dialogue).

I did not want to go too far in providing quick transport options everywhere since, aside from also being a bit of extra work, if players could too easily return to a safe location it would somewhat undermine the resting restrictions. In some cases also I was setting up opportunities for ambushes or special encounters to occur on the way back from somewhere.

Good to know you like my writing. Most games do not really set a very high bar, as far as the writing goes, so I guess that gives me a chance to be competitive there.

 

[codex account]

...If I remember right I think Hrangarak could be attacked when first met I didn't take it
wondering if there would be alternative solution where you kill him go to crypt kill other orc companion then kill entire orc town
but checking your walktrough doesn't seem like it
so if you kill hrangarak when first meeting him quest ends there and check is still there so cannot explore cult lair? ...

If you kill Hrangarak it is supposed to close off the possibility of doing that particular quest. In principle I suppose I could have included an alternative route to do a version of the quest without him, but it would have been very complicated (e.g., would need to significantly rewrite almost all the relevant dialogue).

I did not want to go too far in providing quick transport options everywhere since, aside from also being a bit of extra work, if players could too easily return to a safe location it would somewhat undermine the resting restrictions. In some cases also I was setting up opportunities for ambushes or special encounters to occur on the way back from somewhere.

Good to know you like my writing. Most games do not really set a very high bar, as far as the writing goes, so I guess that gives me a chance to be competitive there.

the traveling kinda has a fix right inside basegame just take a lot of monk levels and a permahaste item later but is build restrictive
so just a haste for everyone not a monk

 

[KainenMorden]

...If I remember right I think Hrangarak could be attacked when first met I didn't take it
wondering if there would be alternative solution where you kill him go to crypt kill other orc companion then kill entire orc town
but checking your walktrough doesn't seem like it
so if you kill hrangarak when first meeting him quest ends there and check is still there so cannot explore cult lair? ...

If you kill Hrangarak it is supposed to close off the possibility of doing that particular quest. In principle I suppose I could have included an alternative route to do a version of the quest without him, but it would have been very complicated (e.g., would need to significantly rewrite almost all the relevant dialogue).

I did not want to go too far in providing quick transport options everywhere since, aside from also being a bit of extra work, if players could too easily return to a safe location it would somewhat undermine the resting restrictions. In some cases also I was setting up opportunities for ambushes or special encounters to occur on the way back from somewhere.

Good to know you like my writing. Most games do not really set a very high bar, as far as the writing goes, so I guess that gives me a chance to be competitive there.

Eventually I did a clean install of windows and now everything is working correctly. I tried everything else and it made no sense that I got the module might be corrupted error. There's no way it was corrupted, checksum always checked out, it must have been some strange problem my PC was having that affected NWN somehow.

Anyways, I'm just excited to start Chapter 2.

 

[Gargaune]

Eventually I did a clean install of windows and now everything is working correctly. I tried everything else and it made no sense that I got the module might be corrupted error. There's no way it was corrupted, checksum always checked out, it must have been some strange problem my PC was having that affected NWN somehow.

Anyways, I'm just excited to start Chapter 2.

Hot damn, man, that's some dedication! After all the trouble you went through, you might be the first person ever to qualify Swordflight as "too easy."