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NWN2 Feed Back and Patch Discussion Thread

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Originally posted by: shortylickens
Originally posted by: Kiwi
There are some early, very contradictory reports from some of the D2D downloaders. In the six weeks leading up to the release, Obsidian kept tightening their system requirements every couple of weeks. They started out with basically the same (very optimistic) video card support list that Oblivion had (and which was unrealistic in the extreme).

Since then, they upped the ante on CPU's to P4/ 2.4 GHz equivalent for the minimum, and dropped every video card slower than the Radeon 9500 Pro. Which made sense, *IF* the game engine pushes the hardware as hard as Oblivion's engine does. But now someone claims it runs very well on a puny little 6200? Really wierd stuff here. Either Obsidian seriously exaggerated how difficult the code was to run, or that game- player with the 6200 is lying her head off.
:frown:
Click to expand...
I'll take a guess that the user was lying their buttocks off.
I have heard hundreds of times from people that they got such-and-such game to run on their cheap-ass video card when I know darn well its not possible. I think they are either cheap or poor and want folks to believe they are having a good time with the latest and greatest games when their hardware sucks.
Heard claims of folks running Doom3 smoothly on a GeForce 3 when my Radeon 9700Pro was not giving me sufficient frame rates.
That could be the other problem. Some folks out there honestly cant see the difference between 10 frames per second and 60 frames per second.
Not only can I tell the difference but I prefer to be closer to one than the other when I am actually trying to play the game. Especially with a first person shooter.
Click to expand...

It probably is playable on a 6200 with most everything on lowest settings. As was Doom III with a GF3 but thing is no one on these forums(or many anyway) wanna play at lowest settings so we need beefy systems. Ppl making comments on latest games running on slow hardware probably doesn't realize they can upgrade it and turn the graphics up and it look 10x better. They probably think all video cards are the same.
 
I bought 4 copys of NWN, and my friends each bought 2 copys. So a total of about 14 copys of NWN were sold because I recomended it.However, I made a promise not to buy any game that will not run on linux or mac. So I can't buy this one. It looks good though.
 
Dang I think I will give Linux a try because if its good enough to not want to buy a game over it must be good. I'll pass on the Mac though. Not my cup of tea.
 
dang I still haven't finished Oblivion... and now I gotta play NWN2 coz I loved the first one. Life is too short for games...
 
Originally posted by: apoppin
What about Win2K

any issues?

the box only says 'xp' 😛

quick before i tear it open

😀
Click to expand...

Should work under Win2k, at least, I would think it would.

There's also a 87MB patch up for download now too, so actually run the updater program. At least the patch wasn't released the day before the game shipped to the stores, like BF2142, but day 2 of being on store shelves is pretty dang quick for a patch and not a good sign. I have high hopes though.

I had to visit 3 Best Buys, Walmart, Circuit City, and finally found it at a Gamestop in a strip mall. 🙂 Funny part was, at each of the BBs, there was someone calling the store asking about NWN2 as I was working with a sales rep to find the title. 😛
 
Originally posted by: Bateluer
Originally posted by: apoppin
What about Win2K

any issues?

the box only says 'xp' 😛

quick before i tear it open

😀
Click to expand...

Should work under Win2k, at least, I would think it would.

There's also a 87MB patch up for download now too, so actually run the updater program. At least the patch wasn't released the day before the game shipped to the stores, like BF2142, but day 2 of being on store shelves is pretty dang quick for a patch and not a good sign. I have high hopes though.

I had to visit 3 Best Buys, Walmart, Circuit City, and finally found it at a Gamestop in a strip mall. 🙂 Funny part was, at each of the BBs, there was someone calling the store asking about NWN2 as I was working with a sales rep to find the title. 😛
Click to expand...

well, i am NOT tearing open the box to find out it wont work. 😛

i will NOT buy XP 😛
[nor 'use', if you like all bases covered 😉]

i will migrate to Vista . . . probably around SP1 or so.

and i am not waiting till then

anyway, i registered on the Bioware forums just for this answer . . . it's a ZOO over there . . . IF i get an answer i will post back

edit: Beast Buy was clueless . . . it was 'supposed' to be in stock and did i want the strategy guide?

.... ah . . . no thank-you

i got it at Target for $50 . . . CC next door didn't have it

EDIT: Evidently . . . according to a poster at the Bioware forums . . .he has it running on Win2Kpro without issues
:thumbsup:
 
Originally posted by: apoppin

EDIT: Evidently . . . according to a poster at the Bioware forums . . .he has it running on Win2Kpro without issues
:thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Thats good.

I just played through the first part, spent about 20 min finetuning the UI to meet my standards. Faster camera rotation and such, doubtless I will spend more time finetuning this over the next couple of days. Too bad I've got homework for class due this weekend.

For starters, the improved visuals are very good, the spell effects are truly beautiful. The character creation is similar to NWN1, but with more feats, skills, etc. The cinematic dialogue is also much more involved than NWN1, brings you into the game more.

Now, I also think the minimum system requirements are BS. I've got an X2 4200 (AM2) with 2GB of DDR2-800 RAM, and a X1900XT. When I turned everything to max in the video and advanced video options, my framerate dropped to below 10fps. Than I remembered I had turned on 4x AA in the CCC, I turned that off and the FPS rose slightly. I had to drop the text size from 4k to 2k, which helped a lot. I'm also running it at 1680x1050x32. Seems like they could have optimized the code a bit better, but I'm not going to complain about it too much.

I need to retire for the night, but I'll check it out more on friday night. Need to spend thursday working on the homework so I can play with a clear conscience this weekend. 🙂
 
I brought home the game today.

How do you get AA working? I can't find an in-game option and I've tried forcing it through the driver's control panel to no avail.

Then again, I'm not sure if I should use it. This game cripples my rig.
 
Go over to the Bioware forums and you'll quickly find out that there is NO AA. There's a huge uproar about this over there, almost 20 pages in 2 separate threads, hundreds of posts, thousands of views and not one reply from the devs. AA has been completely disabled... can't turn it on through the control panel, .ini, or in game. They likely dropped it because of performance issues. There is also no HDR implementation.

This engine is fvcking terrible... it's twice as demanding as Oblivion and looks half as good.
 
no aa

and it says "Win2K/XP" on the DVD 😛

you'd think they might put it on the box and maybe in ther FAQ [what FAQ?]
:roll:

... and Win2K'supported' in the readme
:thumbsup:

NOW . . . i got 170 some pages to read....fortunately i played Kotor series and understand D&D dice based RPGs....

no clue what 'kind' of character
:confused . .. . i'd like a warrior with some magical skills . . .
... any suggestions?
[armour messes up spells worse than oblivion, evidently]

and it is a beast graphically . . . i started with the 'suggested' and kept cranking up the visuals until my x850xt sounded like a jet plane at takeoff ... got VPU recovery [and the game still didn't crash - even w/o the patch - d/l'ing now]

had to back off on the shadows and drop some details
:Q

looking forward to my next agp card - x1950p . . . this month!
[it will probably barely manage it]
 
I kind of figured they'd leave it out. This game is heavy as hell for my X1900XT with the core at 690. I've turned down some settings to get by though.

It looks...okay...without the AA, but I'd really like some implemented in there. It's not as bad as GRAW's no AA option, or at least not as distracting. Immense game though, and I love the spell casting A LOT.
 
Guess What?

My Patch got aborted

evidently there is a SECOND patch!!! - realeased a minute ago
1.4 MB . . . d/l'ing now

edit:

maybe not 😱

i am not sure what happened. the patch aborted ... i restarted and got something else . . . then it's supposedly updated to ver 1.01 and then it started D/l'ing again
😕

 
The small 1.4MB patch was for the updater itself, not the game, it seems.

Edit: Here are the patch notes for the 1.01 patch.

New Stuff
? DM Client ? A beta version of the Dungeon Master Client is now available. You can access it from the NWN2 Launcher, or by running nwn2.exe with the ?dmc switch. This allows you to start a multiplayer game in which you can have a great deal of control over creating, managing, and commanding creatures, placeables, and more. Over the next three monthly patches we will be continuing to add features, fix bugs, and improve the interface.
? New Druid Spells ? Druids have been granted 9 new spells, one for each level. In addition, the feat Natural Spell has been added. Druids that take the Natural Spell feat may cast spells while Polymorphed or Wild Shaped.


* Level 1 - Foundation of Stone: This spell grants a target immunity to knockdown, but reduces their movement speed.
* Level 2 - Body of the Sun: The caster?s body emanates fire, burning nearby creatures.
* Level 3 ? Jagged Tooth: This spell grants a targeted animal the Keen property on one of its natural weapons.
* Level 4 ? Moonbolt: This spell creates a bolt of energy that deals strength damage to living creatures and knocks down undead, giving them penalties on attack rolls and saving throws.
* Level 5 ? Rejuvenation Cocoon: The target of this spell becomes encased in a regenerative cocoon, where they are cured from poison and disease and regenerate health.
* Level 6 ? Tortoise Shell: The caster gains a natural armor bonus of +6, plus an additional 1 per every three caster levels to a maximum of +9.
* Level 7 ? Swamp Lung: This spell causes victims to fall prone for 1-6 rounds, during which time they can catch disease.
* Level 8 ? Storm Avatar: This spell infuses the caster with the energy of a storm, making them immune to missiles, hasting them, and adding damage to their attacks
* Level 9 ? Nature?s Avatar: This spell grants a targeted animal a series of very powerful buffs.


? Water Reflection/Refraction ? Water is now more visually exciting! Users have the option to toggle Water Reflection and Refraction on in the Options Menu under the Advanced Graphics tab. Note: These settings can cause slowdowns on older hardware.
? Client Packs ? Module makers can now create Client Packs in the toolset, which can be placed in clients My Documents\pwc\ folder to allow users to connect to Multiplayer Games for which they do not have the module. These .pwc files contain only the data absolutely necessary to run the module on the client side are useful if, for instance, you are running a persistent world and do not wish to allow clients to open your module with all of its areas, creatures, and scripts visible.

Bug Fixes
General
? Input in Single Player games should now be much more responsive. Previously, input commands could lag for up to several frames before taking effect in-game. This is no longer the case.
? Broadcast Commands are now more reliable and last longer before companions will revert to their default behavior.
? The ?Loot All? button would sometimes loot all of the items from a container but would not close the window or remove the icons. This will no longer occur.
? The player can no longer become stuck in a cinematic style cutscene by switching characters immediately as the cutscene begins.
Multiplayer
? The game will no longer crash if you switch back to your character after ordering one of your companions to barter with another player.
? The Chat box, both in-game and in the Gamespy Lobby, will no longer overrun when players type long messages.

Effects/Spells
? Fixed several instances where the type of damage was not specified in a spell?s description.
? The descriptions for Bless, Divine Shield and Shield Other have been updated.
? Isaac?s Greater Missile Storm and Isaac?s Lesser Missile Storm will no longer target allies on difficulty modes lower than D&D Hardcore. Additionally, they will select their targets more fairly now.
? Magic Fang now grants the proper bonus to animal companions.

Interface
? Long quest names will no longer be cut off in the Journal.
? Longer target names now fit underneath the targeting window.
? The Scimitar +2 will no longer have a Rapier icon.
? Items could occasionally become lost when moving them in the inventory with the game paused. This will no longer occur.

Toolset
? Users can now add .mod files as well as modules in directories to campaigns.
? The toolset could previously enter a state where it would crash when saving a module to a directory. This can no longer happen.
? The default NWN2 load screen is now available in the toolset.

Original Campaign Fixes - Warning: Spoilers below.

Global:
? Fixed several minor spelling and grammar issues.
? Fixed several instances where dialogue text did not match the Voice Over for a line.
? Fixed some instances of traps not working throughout the game.

Act 1:
? Fixed an instance where players could reach Skymirror without Elanee.
? Slaan now drops items when killed.
? Fixed Zeearie?s mouth not animating after the player defeated her.
? Fixed an inconsistency in Jochris? cutscene.
? Fixed an issue which could cause two Waterdeep Emissaries to spawn.
? Wolf will now look the same in his cutscene in the Merchant Quarter as he does in the rest of the game.
? Fixed an infinite XP exploit when returning to West Harbor and speaking with Retta Starling.
? Thugs no longer appear in the same spot when re-entering the Neverwinter Docks district.

Act 2:
? Reduced an influence check for Grobnar during the Trial.
? Fixed the cutscene with Koraboros triggering early at Shandra?s Farm.
? Fixed the Sun Soul Art quest not being added to the journal.
? The player now receives the proper number of quest items after defeating the Shadow Reaver in Act 2.
? Turning in Arval?s journal will no longer give an invalid reward.
? Fixed an instance where Nevalle referred to Female PCs as Male.
? Fixed an infinite quest reward loop in Zaxis? dialogue
? Players will no longer get stuck on the dialogue between Zhjaeve and Aldanon in Multiplayer.
? Soothing Light now performs the proper effect.
? Healing Lord Tavorick after he goes down but before he speaks to you will no longer break progression.

Act 3:
? The game could sometimes become stuck when leaving Fire Giant camp through the Area Transition ? this will no longer occur.
? The quartermaster?s armory will no longer appear as red tunics.
? Siege Towers have been given the proper sound set.
? Retta?s dialogue will no longer drop if you speak to her before Danan.
? Prior Hlam is now available in Neverwinter City during Act 3.
? Players can no longer bypass the black portals in the Gauntlet.
 
my patch installation failed at least 4 or 5 times last night 😛

damn dialup

[i can now get wireless broadband for "only" $60 a month and some expensive HW . . . waiting for competition, now]
:Q
 
The movement is pretty terrible. I spent a few hours with it last night and could not find a particular camera mode that satisfied me.

Performance is quite poor as well 🙁
 
Originally posted by: Zbox
The movement is pretty terrible. I spent a few hours with it last night and could not find a particular camera mode that satisfied me.

Performance is quite poor as well 🙁
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Everybody has their opinion I guess, but I haven't had any problems with movement.

As for the performance issue...are you at or above the recommended specs? I don't meet the recommended specs (I hit the minimum range) and I haven't had any performance problems.
 
My machine is pretty far above the recommended specs actually 🙁 Things are just rather sluggish. I've had to practically disable/reduce every feature to make it feel somewhat playable to me.
 
Originally posted by: Zbox
My machine is pretty far above the recommended specs actually 🙁 Things are just rather sluggish. I've had to practically disable/reduce every feature to make it feel somewhat playable to me.
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You're not alone. Even people with SLI rigs have had to set everything fairly low to get decent performance. I guess it all depends on what the individual considers acceptable. Some people may consider 20fps in this game to be smooth, while others may need at least 35-40 to be comfortable.

Without AA, though, I'd think that anything 1280x1024 and below would look horrid. It's clear that the engine is very poorly coded - I doubt that any amount of patching is going to make it run well.


 
it runs smooth as pie for me. if i had to guess, which i am, i'd say at the 'least' i'm getting 40fps no problem and i'm only using an x800pro ... i'll see how well it works on my 9800pro tonight
 
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