hey, when i try to run Never winter nights 1 Diamond edition i end up getting nowhere, nothing happens, not even an error message. i've tried all the usual fixes including compatability, renaming the file, and running as administrator, the game simply stops before it even starts and i have confirmed this by looking on task manager and that it simply stops running at a static memory state (not even being processed) any insight would be apreciated
i am running windows 7

Try disabling sound in your nwn.ini & see if that is the problem.
It was for someone just the other day.


Or you could try installing the old DirectX runtimes, if you haven't already.
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=8109

nope, disabling sound did not work and i have the old directx installed
any other ini changes that might help?

still nothing, i'll test something out on my laptop to see if it's my computer

Hello, i can't launch it either. Tried solution and it's not working :( i bought all the NVN/BG etc.. to play multiplayer with my wife (since i own the original CD of all of those games) but the gog version doesn't launch :(

Are you trying to run from Galaxy? I heard NWN doesn't work with Galaxy at all.

Try uninstalling and then re-downloading the files from the GOG website under your account's gamelist. Stay out of Galaxy. And then reinstall.

nah no galaxy here simply won't run on my desktop

Same here, dead as a doornail since galaxy, but I hadn't played much since then, all was previously tested and working, so no clue what's going on, a few aren't working now, this is one of those...

My dears, i have found the Holy f* grail:
1. rename your nwmain.exe file from the installed directory to smth else -like nwmain2.exe //because video cards drivers force themselves on NWN. Now you just want to add that to your desktop launcher of NWN. If you don't know how, just send a shortcut to desktop from the new renamed file; delete the old shortcut.
2. once you're in game, change resolution to your maximum available. Take note that it will still appear small on your 1900x1200 screen, but after you create a character, you'll see full f** screen.

Now, because i didn't knew these steps, i have already instaled DX10sdk thingie -you'll find the link if you go to support from your game library. What i'm trying to say is that i don't know what it did -this sdk.
PS: don't enable: "environment shadows render" smth because you won't see any characters! Leave it off.
Otherwise, i've set everything to maximum.

PPS: i can't see any videos! If i choose a movie intro for Underdark, for example, i don't have any image; just sound & the hand that makes changes in the menu, over a black screen. Pretty boomer.
LLE: i've solved this one!! just thick DISABLE desktop composition & visual themes on the shortcut itself. This will do the trick. Also mark the Run as admin option. that's it.

I know this isn't GOG fault, but these are the sorta things that drive people apart from old games. These hackles should've been iron out till now.

vive la resistance!

For anyone running a Windows OS other than XP and attempting to run NWN, (e.g. windows vista or later) you must

un-INSTALL prior NWN installations.

INSTALL NWN as ADMINISTRATOR.

And, of course, always RUN NWN as ADMINISTRATOR (in XP SP3 mode is generally preferable).

You should download the update patch (an EXE file from bioware - links are found on the web at neverwinternights.info

Just so you know, later versions of DirectX deprecated some features of the DirectX 9.0c (on which NWN depends quite heavily). Since you CAN have more than one DirectX installed, I strongly recommend you avoid potential pitfalls by downloading/installing the DirectX 9.0c SDK (Software Developers Kit) - this version has all the whistles and bells NWN likes so you should see smooth sailing with this installed - get it from microsoft.com (I cannot post links so please use the microsoft.com search feature for the following search string

download DirectX 9.0c SDK

I noticed this on the wikipedia page for DirectX and suspect it may impact some installations:

Prior to DirectX 10, DirectX runtime was designed to be backward compatible with older drivers, meaning that newer versions of the APIs were designed to interoperate with older drivers written against a previous version's DDI. The application programmer had to query the available hardware capabilities using a complex system of "cap bits" each tied to a particular hardware feature. Direct3D 7 and earlier would work on any version of the DDI, Direct3D 8 requires a minimum DDI level of 6 and Direct3D 9 requires a minimum DDI level of 7.[55] However, the Direct3D 10 runtime in Windows Vista cannot run on older hardware drivers due to the significantly updated DDI, which requires a unified feature set and abandons the use of "cap bits".

Let me know if this helps, and if not, i'll monitor this thread to assist.

Best wishes from playnwn.com

Be well. Game on.
GM_ODA

Wow, this worked......

I couldn't run NWN normally but changing the name of the nwmain.exe solved the issue. If anyone has any issues I would STRONGLY recommend trying this solution first.

Thanks for the info!

I had this exact same issue on my Toshiba laptop.
My desktop was fine as I had built and installed everything myself, but in the case of my laptop it turned out to be driver errors.

I ended up wiping nwn off the laptop, re-installing it, installed the 1.69 critical rebuild them wiped my display and sound drivers and updated them via Toshibas website to the most current ones.

Set nwn exe to compatibility mode win xp sp3, run as administrator, and disable desktop decomposition.
I also run the game windowed as it's proved to be much smoother and less buggy then fullscreen.