Neverwinter Nights 2 Tweak Guide

[Page 4] Patches & Mods



Official Patch


Neverwinter Nights 2 has had several patches released, the latest official version of which is Version 1.23. The latest patch contains a range of fixes, and importantly, removes the disc check component of SecuROM, meaning the game DVD does not need to remain in the drive to play. The primary (and recommended) way to update to the latest official version of the game at any time is to run its automatic updater. You can do this by clicking the Update link on the game's launcher menu, or by running the file nwupdate.exe found in your \Program Files\Atari\Neverwinter Nights 2 directory. Again it is strongly recommended that you regularly check for and update to the latest official version of the game. If you're having problems running the auto updater, check page 3 for details on how to manually download and patch to the latest version.



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No-CD Patch


Neverwinter Nights 2 requires a CD Key and also uses the SecuROM copy protection system, which requires that the CD/DVD be kept in the drive while playing the game. For legal reasons I can't provide any details of a No-CD or No-DVD, or other methods of bypassing copy protection. I can however say that SecuROM can cause issues, particularly startup problems - see Page 3 for details. Hopefully Atari will listen to the various requests from legitimate purchasers of this game to at least remove the CD/DVD check component of the copy protection in a future patch, as it is annoying and only punishes paying customers.


Important: As of the 1.23 Patch, users no longer need to keep the DVD in the drive to play - the disc check component of SecuROM has been removed from the game.



Modules


The original Neverwinter Nights became extremely popular because it allowed the community to create a range of custom modifications, or more appropriately for the D&D world - Modules. Just like modules in the old pen-and-paper D&D, you can create entire new worlds and storylines to go with them. This gave the game a very powerful capability which is continued with the use of the Neverwinter Nights 2 Electron Toolset that comes with the game. The instructions for using the Toolset are in your \Program Files\Atari\Neverwinter Nights 2\Documentation directory. There are some problems with the Toolset at the moment, however you can discuss them with other modders here.


If you're not interested in making a mod for NWN2, you can read about and download free community-made modules here, here, or here among the many places which are distributing modules.



Modifications


The user interface (UI) in Neverwinter Nights 2 is scripted in XML, and found under the \Program Files\Atari\Neverwinter Nights 2\UI\default folder. As such it is highly customizeable, and considering a range of people are not happy with the default interface, this is a good thing. You can download several customized UIs for NWN2, including this Improved UI, this UI Messagebox Fix, this and this Slim Health Bars Fix. There are plenty more such mods listed here.


Aside from modding the user interface, some fans have gone further in attempting to fix up other things they see as problems in the game, such as the poor artificial intelligence (AI) of henchmen. You can download one such mod here. I'll try to keep this section updated for other substantial mods as they are released.



The next section of the guide covers the In-Game Settings for Neverwinter Nights 2.