Neverwinter Nights 2 rocks!

I just finally started getting into this and have three questions.

1) Do you gain more stat points as you level? I want Strength 13 so I can get Power Attack and Cleave and become a Weapon Master but my Strength is only 12.
2) Can you take more than one Prestige class?
3) Is there a guide on how to install custom content? I got some new heads and hair that go into the override folder (because god DAMN are the standard characters oogly) but some of them just kind of came in a big lump with no explanation on how to install them or pre-made directories. I dumped them all directly into the Override directory. Some of them work, some of them half work (the models are good but the textures are wrong), and some don't work at all (one was supposed to remove the black "bodysuit" from the Warlock armor that they added in MotB).

1. Yes you do have opportunities to increase your base stats. I think it's in the manual and is dependent upon your class for if it's even or odd levels
2. I think you're limited to one prestige class
3. I think you just dump new stuff into the override directory and it's available

JC wrote:

1. Yes you do have opportunities to increase your base stats. I think it's in the manual and is dependent upon your class for if it's even or odd levels
2. I think you're limited to one prestige class
3. I think you just dump new stuff into the override directory and it's available

I believe its based off of D&D 3rd edition rules which I think gives you a stat raise every 4 levels, if I remember correctly.

1) You gaint a new statpoint every four levels, regardless of class
2) You can take as many as you qualify for
3) Usually it goes in the override directory in some fashion, but it's...variable. I don't know of any definite guide, sorry.

I played this several times, starting 3 characters through chapter 1, until I finally beat the game with a 1 paladin / 19 Favored Soul. He was an absolute beast. His buffed armor class was over 40, immune to everything, and Could spam harm to kill nasty bad guys if his melee wasn't enough.

I am replaying this now, as I never got into Mask with that character (being a goody two shoes got real boring). I am running an evil yuan-ti pureblood ranger/sorcerer/eldritch knight, who will (hopefully) be able to melee a bit better than my favored soul, with better offensive spells (I just started again, so he is fairly pitiful right now). The 2 level difference really hurts in the beginning.

I tried to get into SoZ, but something just wasn't there for me. I'll try again after I beat MotB.

re: mods

Generally speaking, just dump them into your override. Relational structure doesn't usually mater or folders being renamed.

The better, still supported mods may require you be patched up.

Likewise, some older mods may not work properly with a later version or fully patched game.

Some mods won't work with each other: numbering issues, need to merge overlapping 2DAs, etc.

You generally can't screw around with the file name race tags (example: with heads) without using a tool like mdb cloner.

Cosmetics aside, TonyK's AI mod is essential. It adds tons of behavior toggles for your companions and unstupids the enemies -- especially casters (just don't flip on the the experimental stuff like enemies aggressively wandering/bashing doors or using up inventory items, etc)

Same goes for a good companion multiclass enabling mod (mainly so you can choose their prestige class or classes).

I don't fully recall, but I think there may be a second override in the main game dir. Instead, make sure you are using the one in my documents\appropriatepath\override.

Are you using NWN2 vault as your mod source? Most mods are under a new content hak section and this can be confusing. Strictly override mods and real hak mods are different beasts; that said, there's a tool for unpacking haks for tossing into your override.

HAH! so much for not outing myself in the mod 'n patch more than play thread.

Thanks for the advice. To answer your questions:

In my NWN days, I made a gigantic 500MB hak that was NOTHING but new weapon and armor parts. Took a ton of effort to get all that to play nice together. So I do have some experience making bits work together in the old version and I can't imagine the new version is THAT much different. On the other hand, the editor is, so who knows?

So far I've only installed some new heads and hair, and some new armor since it came with one of the heads/hair packs. I'm not far enough into the game to start tweaking its behavior, and if I can multiclass my companions all that means is more characters for me to screw up till they're totally useless.

I am using the Overrride folder in My Documents.

I am using NWN2 Vault and know the difference between overrides and haks. Again, I used to mod so I have a tool for unpacking haks, assuming the format is the same... which it almost certainly isn't.

Did anyone ever make a turn based hack to make it play more like pen and paper dnd?

I'm so on the fence on this one. The Baldur's Gate series is my favorite gaming experience of all time. I liked Neverwinter Nights, Icewind Dale 1 and 2 were nice diversions, Planescape: Torment was great (RPG cred established already get on with it!)....

Why am I on the fence about picking up NWN2? Should I just load up a replay of The Witcher with the big patch, wait for Dragon Age, I just don't know why I can't get myself up to pick this one up. I even have about $60 in gift cards, and I'm still on the fence.

On a side note, where does NWN2 fit into the Forgotten Realms timeline?
The way I have the Black Isle/Bioware games lined up is:

Icewind Dale
Icewind Dale 2
Baldur's Gate 1 then 2
Neverwinter Nights
Neverwinter Nights 2

Sound right?

Brizahd wrote:

Did anyone ever make a turn based hack to make it play more like pen and paper dnd?

The same guy who made an A.I. improvement mod for the original NWN made one for the sequel as well. It provides options to make both your henchman and enemies smarter, as well as provides you with more options, so I recommend any playing this game to use it anyways. It's really night and day.

More specifically, it includes a "Pause and Switch Control" mode, which used in conjunction with "Puppet Mode" makes the game so that none of your characters perform an action unless you tell them to, and if any of them doesn't have an action prescribed, the game autopauses until you put one in.

kuddles wrote:
Brizahd wrote:

Did anyone ever make a turn based hack to make it play more like pen and paper dnd?

The same guy who made an A.I. improvement mod for the original NWN made one for the sequel as well. It provides options to make both your henchman and enemies smarter, as well as provides you with more options, so I recommend any playing this game to use it anyways. It's really night and day.

More specifically, it includes a "Pause and Switch Control" mode, which used in conjunction with "Puppet Mode" makes the game so that none of your characters perform an action unless you tell them to, and if any of them doesn't have an action prescribed, the game autopauses until you put one in.

That sounds pretty cool but I was really hoping for a mod/hack that made it turn based combat like in the pen and paper. Course maybe I'm misunderstanding "pause and switch control." The a.i. improvements sound awesome so I'll check it out.

The reason I was hoping for a turn based mod/hack was so the dnd group I play with could use nwn2 to simulate our combat in between roleplaying. Kind of suprised they never made the option to use the game as tabletop dm/player tool for combat. With a little tweaking they could have achieved for 3.5 what they're trying to do for 4th edition, with the dnd insider tools.

I just used that mod for the first time, and it really is night and day. The enemy AI is much smarter. They will no longer just sit in a room waiting for you to come in and kill them. They will instead roam the hallways on patrol, and will open doors and chase after you.

I played the first 10 or so hours of NWN2 but the camera maintenance drives me batty. Still, I purchased SoZ and was looking forward to playing it, but for some reason, my PC won't recognize the disk. I can get the disk to work just fine in other boxes, so I suppose the physical media isn't defective.

Still, SoZ sounds like fun, but I don't really know how to get it up and running...

I don't know if I'm going to get back into making armor. I was very disappointed with the armor customization in NWN2, which seems to amount to picking one pre-set set of armor and attaching kneepads. Creating my own models and textures for it is also very much beyond my ability. Shame, too... I made some neat stuff for NWN1, if I do say so myself. Which I just did.

badgerpendous wrote:

Still, SoZ sounds like fun, but I don't really know how to get it up and running...

Can you get the disc contents onto your machine somehow? If so, try installing the expansion from the harddrive instead of the optical drive.

@ Lobster: Sounds like you already know what headaches to expect when the one-more-mod compulsion kicks in.

Possible that you've done this, but I think there's a current-patch version of the sinplugin for the editor. I'd grab that, makes messing around with armor parts and tinting easier if that itch strikes you again.

@ Budo: Slightly different beast, but I'd certainly rate NWN2 as high as NWN, if we are setting that as the purchase threshold. Once patched up, my biggest gripe is still the camera. The auto follow setting is a little jerky in character mode, which drove me crazy till I bound camera control to the thumb button on my mouse and just flicked around the view manually. That said, given its three camera modes, you can tweak each for different situations and then just tab through as needed.

I liked NWN2 base ok, but for me Mask of the Betrayer was the icing (ex-pull-ocean!). I think the oft-made PST to MoTB comparisons are way too broad and overstated, but in several ways MoTB does gives me the same vibe in regards to crazy companion characters, writing style, and the type of story it has (primarily a personal dilemma focus vs giving a damn about saving the world).

---

And yeah, the praise for TonyK's AI mod is well deserved -- I can't echo this enough.

LobsterMobster wrote:

I don't know if I'm going to get back into making armor. I was very disappointed with the armor customization in NWN2, which seems to amount to picking one pre-set set of armor and attaching kneepads. Creating my own models and textures for it is also very much beyond my ability. Shame, too... I made some neat stuff for NWN1, if I do say so myself. Which I just did.

To be fair, between visible main body, gloves, helmet, belt, and then L & R: shoulders, arms, elbows, bracers, hips, thighs, knees, and shins I don't think the options are that sparse.

Also, just think of those as slots. For example, you can take a mask and trick it into being a belt slot so as to allow simultaneous hat and mask usage.

But yeah, your right, to make stuff from scratch seems more involved now.

Recreational Villain wrote:

visible main body

That's the problem. In NWN 1, the "visible main body" was 10 different parts.

The problem with making stuff from scratch is the level of detail is much higher now. The models need to be higher poly and you need to normal map everything.

Yeah, thanks Lord Xan. I'm sure I can track down a thumb drive or similar. But would the game still work without the CD in the drive? I suppose I could just try it out and see what happens...

Lord_Xan wrote:
badgerpendous wrote:

Still, SoZ sounds like fun, but I don't really know how to get it up and running...

Can you get the disc contents onto your machine somehow? If so, try installing the expansion from the harddrive instead of the optical drive.

badgerpendous wrote:

But would the game still work without the CD in the drive?

Oh, snap! I totally forgot about that :oops:. Still, give it a shot and if it has problems getting through the disc check, look around for a... ummm... thing. You know.

Finally decided to pick up the NWN Gold edition this week. I haven't even installed it yet but was pleased to find an honest to goodness paper manual in the box.

imbiginjapan wrote:

Finally decided to pick up the NWN Gold edition this week. I haven't even installed it yet but was pleased to find an honest to goodness paper manual in the box.

It probably has two! Mine did, if I remember correctly. One for the vanilla and one for the expansion.

garion333 wrote:
imbiginjapan wrote:

Finally decided to pick up the NWN Gold edition this week. I haven't even installed it yet but was pleased to find an honest to goodness paper manual in the box.

It probably has two! Mine did, if I remember correctly. One for the vanilla and one for the expansion.

Actually, it's better than that - they actually rewrote the manual to consolidate the expansion into the original content. Astounding!

imbiginjapan wrote:
garion333 wrote:
imbiginjapan wrote:

Finally decided to pick up the NWN Gold edition this week. I haven't even installed it yet but was pleased to find an honest to goodness paper manual in the box.

It probably has two! Mine did, if I remember correctly. One for the vanilla and one for the expansion.

Actually, it's better than that - they actually rewrote the manual to consolidate the expansion into the original content. Astounding!

Too bad the manual wasn't corrected. There are numerous mistakes in it.

Patch was released yesterday. NWN2 now no longer requires a CD check, just like they eventually did with the original one. For people like me who almost always have this game installed to try out new modules but know that CD cracks tend to mess some of them up, this is a blessing.

kuddles wrote:

Patch was released yesterday. NWN2 now no longer requires a CD check, just like they eventually did with the original one. For people like me who almost always have this game installed to try out new modules but know that CD cracks tend to mess some of them up, this is a blessing.

I might actually get somewhere with it now. I game in the living room and I was getting tired of having to go across the room to swap out the DVD every time I wanted to fire the game up as my PC usually has a movie in the drive.

Wow, seeing that in words makes me feel obscenely lazy, but my justification is that there are plenty of games I can play instantly without dealing with the disc at all.

Gah! A reason to give the game one more try!

When oh when will this release on Steam. They've been talking about it for ages.

I've been getting into the storyline of the original campaign of NWN2, having bought it and Storm of Zehir during the direct2drive sale. Is anybody interested in getting a regular weekly game going? I'm free most Sunday nights after 8:00 pm mountain time -after we put the kiddos to bed. We could do player made campaigns or the original, makes no difference to me. Since getting back into NWN, I get warm and fuzzy feelings about my old weekly game sessions.

Any interest?

I would be totally down for that.