Top mods - Neverwinter Nights

http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/2006/06/28/top_mods_-_Neverwinter_Nights/1.html

 

I loved NWN, but at that time I didn't have online acess at home.
I uninstalled it and moved on. It's time to install it again.
Thanks for the pointer

Bring more content like this to bit-tech

 

Sorry but I absolutely hated NWN. I played BG 1 & 2 and loved every nanosecond of it, but IMHO NWN lost every single drop of the charm and atmosphere that made BG great.

The graphics may have been quite good (at the time), but the gameplay was utterly awful and the plot and story elements were dull and painfully one-dimensional.

I really really really hated it... sorry!

 

I love it, used to play a mod server called crown of accension or something like that. was brilliant !

Hordes of the underdark was clearly the best solo play for me though. If you didn't like NWN just for the story then try that.

 

I still play NWN. I picked up a copy in a bargain basket a few months ago figuring its worth a try (£3.99) and absolutely loved it. I love the fact that it has lasted more than 99.9% of games and you could probably spend your entire life playing user-made content after you play through the main campaign. I mean, how many games are still being patched and supported after 4 years? Definitely recommend it!

-ed out

 

I was just thinking about reinstalling this game today. One of my favorite things about NWN is the sheer amount of gameplay. With the core game and both expansions installed, you're looking at weeks of gameplay, if you choose to complete all the optional sidequests.

That alone makes it worth the money in my opinion. Well, that and the fact that it was just a blast to play. I don't know anyone around here who plays D&D, so I had to get my fill on the computer. NWN filled the void neatly.

-monkey

 

I used to play this game for hours and I never finished it, the game is Huge! Lots of stuff to do unlike games comming out today (HLE1) It's a great game and I might reinstall it soon.
-aaron

 

Ah yeah, me and a friend spent literally weeks beating NWN + Expansions. While it did lose much of the charm from BG, it was hella fun, perhaps moreso than BG/II/IWD

 

Some info on NWN and it's community
Neverwinter primer:

Neverwinter Nights (NWN) had two expansion packs, first Shadow of Undrentide (SoU), then Hordes of the Underdark (HotU).
NWN Gold edition bundles NWN and SoU.
NWN Platinum edition bundles NWN, SoU and HotU and is either CD or DVD.
NWN Diamond edition bundles NWN, SoU, HotU, and 3 of the 4 current premium mods: Kingmaker, ShadowGaurd, Witch's Wake remake and is only DVD.
NWN Kingmaker "expansion" bundles Kingmaker, ShadowGaurd, and Witch's Wake remake on CD.
the newest premium mods Pirates of the Sword Coast and Infinite Dungeons are only available by download.

To play a premium mod purchased through the BioWare Store requires an on-line verification just like attempting a multiplayer game.

OC stands for Original (or Official) Campaign and refers to the campaign that came with the original release of NWN, the story involving the much discussed Aribeth. It is generally considered a mediocre campaign.

The popular character of Deekin is introduced halfway into the SoU campaign and can be your henchman. He also appears in HotU and again, can be your henchman.

SoU and HotU are not sequels of the OC, although they do make reference to some of the events in the OC. SoU and HotU are very loosely tied together. There is a gap between a character's ending level of XP in SoU and the required starting level for HotU. HotU will instantly add the appropriate levels to your character or the XP gap can be "filled" by any mod(s). There are a few "bridge" modules specifically for this gap.

A mod refers to a module, not a modification like other PC games. A module is the file that contains the area, dialog and script information for an adventure, and they are created using the Aurora toolset included with NWN.

A hak is a file that contains custom content information like tilesets and models. In multiplayer the mod is only required on the server, but haks are required on the server and clients. Make sure you download any required haks before attempting to connect to an online or LAN server.

CEP stands for Community Expansion Pack and is actually a very large hak. It includes a lot of content from many different haks into one hak file. It is endorsed by Bioware, but it is not maintained by Bioware. It is a must download since many mods now require it. download here

Most mods and hak files as well as other files like custom portraits and scripts are located at IGN's Neverwinter Vault.

PW stands for Persistent World. Sometimes also called Gameworlds, these popular on-line mods offer some of the features of old Multi-User Dungeons or Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games.

The Player Resource Consortium (PRC) pack is an additional package in the vein of CEP that adds a substantial amount of content for players including 75+ new player classes and prestige classes (PrC), 50+ sub-races, new spells, feats, etc. It is often used in PW settings but can be manually applied to compatible SP modules.

Neverwinter Connections is a useful on-line mathcmaking service where you can find listings of PWs and Dungeon Master (DM) controlled games.

other info links:
Kip's Guide to Neverwinter Nights
Deth's guide to multiplayer
Nathrock’s Unofficial Premium Content FAQ
Easy fix to NWN Diamond edition and failing disk check
NWNWiki project

NWN2 is being developed by Obsidian (KotOR2, some former Black Isle devs) and is being co-produced by Atari and Bioware. It is planned for a later 2006 release. NWN1 mods will not be compatible.

 

The Top Rated list at IGN's NWVault contains some of the better community made mods available. There is a wide variety of content from roleplay to hack n' slash to unique experiences. Some mods exhibit very professional workmanship while others are rougher but offer inventive storytelling not generally available in mainstream RPGs. Although don't take the ranking order completely literally. The system is a bit flawed and cannot accurately rank order so many modules. You will continue to find excellent mods many pages deep. Often newer more seasoned worked is hidden below some older and highly popular work. It's more about your personal preference.

Here's a list specifically designed to help players find modules to continue the career of one character: Berliad's Upper Level Module List

Specific top recommendations for anyone:

Stefan Gagne's ee1 - elegia eternum ee2 - excrucio eternum - a psychologically thrilling, roleplay heavy adventure series, and the HeX coda 01 - a unique and highly acclaimed Scifi/Fantasy adventure.

Marc Price's trilogy of Midwinter Festival, Midsummer Knights' Dream, and Midnight Calling which will take a starting character to about 15th level.

Baldecaran's compelling Cave of Songs and intricate Honor Among Thieves, my personal favorite.

Tortured Hearts - an epic for hard core cRPG gamers.

Tales of Arterra - The Lost and Tales of Arterra - The Awakening - finely crafted storytelling.

The Lord of Terror - The Diablo Campaign, Eye of the Beholder - the best of the remakes.

Runes of Blood- featuring 100+ areas and hundreds of NPC, this is an excellent and epic module.

The Rose Of Eternity - Chapter 1 - The Coming - a console style RPG featuring some unique replayablility.

AL1: Siege of Shadowdale, AL2: Crimson Tides of Tethyr - while the first part is a bit dated it leads to an excellent sequel.

The Aielund Saga Act I Act II Act III Act IV - an exciting series

Legacy: Dark Moon Rising - A console style RPG with some of the best visuals by a NWN module.

Black Thorn - A unique mystery roleplay with randomly selected multiple endings. The clock is ticking in realtime and you must solve the puzzle in three hours.

Cormyrean Nights - an open adventure featuring a detailed living city.

Adam Miller's Shadowlords series: 1 - The Message, 2 - Hill's Edge, 3 - Skull Gorge, 4 - Stonemeet, 5 - Enter the Shadow
followed by Dreamcatcher series: 1 - Skyfall, 2 - Ocean Dreams, 3 - Pit of Stars, 4 - Evermeet
and finally Demon
Get them all in one bundled pack

RTS - Harvest of Souls and Good vs Evil 2 - two excellent unique modules incorporating elements of RTS combat games and allowing teamplay.

 

I bought NWN as soon as it came out, both of the expansions on pre-order, and well, I met the love of my life while playing NWN, and I still play occasionally

Truely one of the best games, ever... NWN2 has a lot to live up to.

 

I remember NWN, it was really great for a long time, I spent hours and hours devoted to playing and leveling my characters.

Though of course, now I've switched to Warcrack for that instead.

<nostalgia>I was never really that fond of the expansion pack plots - I played through the original game, but never managed to finish either of the others. I think it was because at that point I'd found a great online Persistant World server called "The Three Towns" (aka 3T) that I was spending most of my time on.

Having checked it's webpage (going through three "This site has moved" messages from the first google result), apparently it's still going strong. I'd say it was one of the gem's the article describes - whenever I tried looking at other servers, my general reaction was that they were no-where near as good. Probably due to the fact that 3T realised that people are *******s and will powergame, and set the difficulty level based on that, and disabled much of the most abusable stuff. </nostalgia>

<geek>Speaking of abuseable stuff, I wonder if they'll manage fix the game bugs in NWN2 that they never dealt with in NWN, like the monk attack stuff. Then again, NWN2 will probably use D&D 3.5 rules, neatly sidestepping that issue.</geek>

 

Well thank you bit-tech. After reading your Oblivion mods review last time I found myself instead installing Morrowind and the quite brilliant mods and retextures available for that.

Now after reading your NWN mods , I am now splitting my time in two rpgs.

Whats the next in the series? Freelancer? Because I'm just not sure I have the lifetime left needed to complete all these games

Keep the series going, its great ressurecting the older games. Morrowind has been amazing to come back to after a few years. With all the graphic replacers/retextures, the better bodies, heads and clothing, enhanced music and sound effects. Nevermind the additional NPC's, Expanded Balmora and Children of Morrowind mods.

 

Never played Neverwinter Night, is sort of passed me by, but this articles and the range of mods avalible had impressed me some what and I might see if I can bag a discount copy from the local GAME store.
The CEP mod pack looks great and interesting, but the Far Away server mod is one hell of a mod, its huge... But I doubt they would let me in, the registation process seems to be long winded and I doubt I would play the game for a very long length of time and not enough to merit trying to signup for the mod..
But there is always the sequel NWN2, have to get that when it comes out...

 

I didn't really like NWN... it was just too much of a departure from BG1&2, which were fantastic. I picked up SoU and HotU about a year ago (something like that) and really enjoyed those, though. May have to go have a look at the mods again...

...I remember early on in NWN modding scene there was the start of a FFI total conversion... wonder how that got on?

Cool article.

 

Some good new release suggestions:

AL3: Tyrants of the Moonsea - Sequel to Siege of Shadowdale and Module of the Year - 2005 candidate Crimson Tides of Tethyr. Originally developed as a BioWare Premium Module and featuring never-seen-before custom content. lvl 12-15

The Art of Death - Back in Black - Play a political assassin in story driven action. lvl 15 w/ at least 10 of rogue

Almraiven - A richly detailed FR adventure intended for evil spellcasters lvl 1

Sands of Fate 3 - Pyramid of the Ancients - Finale to the series of Shadows over Heliopolis and Gem Tower.

 

Well, I'm assuming from what you say that you got it illegally. If that's the case, chances are you can't use it since it osunds like it needs some sort of online valedation. Discussing and encouraging the breaking of laws is generally against the rules on Bit-tech though, and you won't find anyone to help you break the law.