Hi,

I bought NWN Diamond Edition some time ago and now I would like to play it.

I am arm chair gamer with a decent PC (Win 8.1) plugged into an HD plasma TV. Yes, keyboard and mouse all nicely setup :)

I would like to get the best experience possible for a first time playthrough. I have had a look here and on the Bioware forums and I am feeling overwhelmed by the choice of mods available.

What I would like is any suggestions for a basic set of mods that will make the game look nice, any absolutely needed patches and any UI enhancements. Of course, any suggestions for other mods deemed essential, let me know those as well!

I'm a vanilla kind of guy. I like things mostly unmodified (by the way, NWN uses terms differently. You're looking for overrides. Mods is short for "modules" which are entire games that work inside NWN).

I would recommend changing the spell colors. That's the only mod that helps the game a lot to me. There's a mod that changes the color based on the school of magic -- similar to how Baldur's Gate does it.

I know that the maker is Amethyst Dragon, so you can have a search around to find that one. I know there's a link somewhere on the forums here, but I can't find it. If the nwn vault is still operating (I haven't been there in ages), it will be there.

Most people recommend playing the 2nd campaign first, then the 3rd. They are of significantly higher quality. I enjoyed the first, too, but the 2nd was really good. (I've yet to try the 3rd and I've yet to beat any of them -- I was more of a multiplayer player for this title)

Have some fun with it!

I'd recommend installing an ai override, like this one. It'll make life much less frustrating when dealing with your henchmen, and makes the enemies act more intelligently too. There's a lot of optional components, so just pick and choose what you want and post here if you don't understand some of the options after reading the readme.

I'm currently playing the first campaign with the AI mod linked by pi4t, along with the Community Patch 1.71 (which isn't pure vanilla then, but it changes some things like spell colours too).

Nothing more, having played the game full vanilla for some hours at first, I'd say the AI mod is the most interesting, by far (don't forget to read the 'shortcomings' part of the readme though, if you plan on giving important items to your henchmen). I would say the AI mod makes fights a bit harder at first, but they also make more sense, overall it's smooth enough. Maybe avoid checking 'monsters can open doors/locked doors' though, sometimes they can do that in vanilla already, and you may be overwhelmed with skeletons too easily.

And the first campaign is enjoyable enough, although it's start is a bit slow and awkward as far as story goes (chapter 2 is better already). If you haven't played any other Dungeons and Dragons games before, like me, it's a good start!

As mentioned, "mods" means "modules" which means entire other campaigns completely separate from the official ones (and often better than the official ones). There's not as much stuff to enhance the base game itself, it would have to be some override packages. Keep in mind the "Community Patch" is just some guy's name for a project, it's not actually a community embraced thing and most people don't use it. The author changes a few things about balance based on personal whims which can cause issues if you play a module where the author expected the rules to be, y'know, the default. And the actual good fixes it offers are very minor.

I don't use it, most people I know don't use it, but it technically *PROBABLY* won't cause any gameplay issues.

I would recommend playing through it in MP with some friends. The OC is kinda Meh in SP, but the game almost can't help being fun in MP co-op.

I would skip the OC altogether and start with the expansions. My opinion, (and the general consensus, from what I've seen) is that the the expacs are much better storywise. Plus you can take the same character through them, starting with Shadows of Undrentide and continuing on the Hordes of the Underdark.

Despite what the nay sayers say, for the authentic experience, play the original from start to finish, then use mods. (Although definitely patch up! AI mod is good too.) Then you can go for the mods(modules). I'd also skip anything extra, like graphics and stuff, because again, you should get the authentic original experience.

Careful though, you might get sucked in.

Soon as I have some real free time, this is the first thing I'm buying. I miss the good ol' days.

Play the game without any mods, as we played it back in the day! Then, if you like, you can try some mods for your 2nd playthrough. The game already looks good, graphics wise, so you shouldn't need any mod to change them. And don't forget to play the expansions!

Thank you all very much your advice.

I have decided to only install the AI mod and have started the original campaign, mainly as a tutorial, but I am enjoying myself immensely, so i am going to keep going! I have the latest GOG version, so am not sure if I am missing any real essential patch.

I have also set the difficulty to D&D Hardcore and so far, so good. I have played lots of tabletop D&D from its release up until AD&D version 2, when real life happened. I bought some 3.5 rules some years ago with a thought to maybe playing again, but they have sat on a shelf for years and it is great to put them to use.

Multiplayer does sound fantastic and I may dip my toe into those waters when I have played more of the single player.

Thanks again all and I hope you are all suitably jealous that I am experiencing it for the first time :D

Edit..I did do the spell colour one as I thought that sounded cool

You sound very much like me. I picked up D&D back in 1977 and played a lot right up through the AD&D rules. Then, as you say, real life happened. I grabbed the 3.5 books when they were released, thinking I'd maybe be able to get my kids into it, but that didn't really work out very well. However, I love reading the rule books just as reading material, so it was all good. I also grabbed the 4.0 books and have enjoyed reading those as well. But I've not played much of either rule set on the table top.

If you can find a buddy or two to play on a server with (or even just go through some multiplayer modules), it's a blast. I can't accept any thanks, as I didn't help you out with any suggestions, but I think you made a great choice in what to use for your run. Enjoy! It's a great game.

Those are the 2 overrides I used for my last playing (I can't say playthrough, b/c I've still never beaten them). But I did the monsters can open doors. And I must say that I wouldn't use that check mark again. The game has a lot of neat encounters that just get muddied up b/c of monsters roaming around the level.

Have some fun!

Two overrides I find really helpful are

1] Better Hands. This override makes the hands in the game look like, well, hands. Which is good, since the default game has them looking like squares. Can't find a link to this one, though.

2] A Crafting override that makes the purely aesthetic crafting free. The second expansion added the ability to modify and dye your armour, but it costs thousands of goldpieces to change a piece of magic armour, and you also have to invest lots of your valuable skillpoints in craft weapon/armour. This seems a bit much for something that gives exactly 0 ingame benefits. And since I have a lot more fun with the game if I have a cool-looking character, enter the override.

It also lets you add accessories such as backpacks or quivers to your character, as well as stuff like tails or wings. And it has a lot of utility functions, like letting you copy the appearance of armour. Oh, and you can edit the names and descriptions of items if that strikes your fancy. So that generic +3 dagger you bought can become the Potato Peeler of Pandemonium or whatever. Again, it doesn't make your character any more powerful, but it makes the game a lot more fun.

Here's a link: http://www.nexusmods.com/neverwinter/mods/799

I also like the ACP, which is the Alternate Combat Animation pack. This lets you change your character's combat animations to look a lot cooler, depending on what kinds of weapons he uses. Be aware, though, that it doesn't work with the coats and surcoats added in the 1.69 patch. No crashes or anything, but the new items clip a lot.

Another link: http://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn1/hakpak/original-hakpak/alternate-combat-animations-pack-acp-v40

NWN1 is a version of AD&D 3.0 though some servers have modified the rules with haks and overrides to more closely resemble 3.5.

NWN1's D&D Hardcore is actually just normal difficulty, believe it or not. And their "Normal" setting is actually Easy. If you want the game to more closely mimic what you will be experiencing in MP, set it to "Very Difficult" and play that way throughout. You can always toggle the difficulty, if you are getting frustrated with the challenge, but the OC was designed for first-time players as a learning campaign with an overload of powerful items and gold so it should be easy enough even at the highest difficulty. The campaign was never rebalanced for the new prestige classes, spells and feat changes which is one reason why it can be a cakewalk combat-wise. There are only two limited-rest sections in the entire campaign, a limitation which can really change your strategy. It's still a great set of modules to get your bearings on before you continue on to more interesting challenges and stories. You can figure on reaching no higher than level 18 by end game, soloed throughout and without any allies, summons or familiars/companions to reduce the combat experience tally.

Actually, if you want something resembling the multiplayer, I recommend disabling the pause button instead. No pause in MP.

(Unless you're the dungeon master. Which can result in some very fun mishaps when you're DMing and forget to unbind it from the spacebar... fun in the sense that all the players will laugh at you. I'm not bitter.)

The difficulty of multiplayer games varies wildly depending on what module/persistent world you're playing and how sadistic the dungeon master is. (if any) It's true that the OCs are easier than most, but boosting the game difficulty up doesn't really make the game more fun. All it does is boost monster damage output and the like. Well designed custom-modules increase difficulty by making enemies with more varied abilities and defences, and not just more hitpoints and damage.

Honestly, I find that difficulty in NWN (single or multiplayer) depends far more on the kind of character you're playing than the kind of difficulty setting you're using. A low level rogue is going to struggle in areas full of undead that a cleric would breeze through. A plain fighter is always going to be outclassed by a fighter/bard/red dragon disciple. I'd say it's 75% character builds, 25% tactics where difficulty is concerned.