Neverwinter Nights Patch 1.67 review

Neverwinter Nights (NWN) is a computer game set in a huge medieval fantasy world of Dungeons and Dragons

License: Freeware File size: 0K Developer: BioWare Corp.

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Neverwinter Nights (NWN) is a computer game set in a huge medieval fantasy world of Dungeons and Dragons. Neverwinter Nights puts you at the center of an epic tale of faith, war, and betrayal.

As a player, you are able to choose what skills and abilities you will develop as you voyage though the complex and dangerous fantasy world of Forgotten Realms. Be a deadly and dangerous Rogue moving through the shadows using stealth and secrecy, be a scholarly Wizard and wield powerful magic against your enemies, be a hulking Barbarian whose lust for battle is matched only by his terrible rage, be an armor-clad Paladin who protects the innocent and vanquishes his foes, be a crusading Cleric who heals the sick and defends the helpless… be all this and more.

Neverwinter Nights allows you to create your own worlds. This revolutionary game will come with all the tools needed to construct your own unique lands of adventure. The Neverwinter Nights Aurora Toolset allows even novice users to construct everything from a quiet, misty forest or a dripping cavern of foul evil, to a king's court. All the monsters, items, set pieces and settings are there for world builders to use. But do not stop there; construct traps, encounters, custom monsters and magic items to make your adventure unique.

But the Neverwinter experience is not just for one person- adventure with all your friends. Neverwinter Nights can be played online with up to 64 friends, all sharing in the adventure. You can organize and run your own adventures through the role of the Dungeon Master and control all the monsters, creatures and characters your friends meet as they journey on their quest. A powerful piece of software that is included with Neverwinter Nights, the DM Client, allows nearly unlimited control for running your own adventures for your friends.

Neverwinter Nights…endless adventure!

What's New in This Release:
Official Campaign: Chapter 2E - Made Voleron's OnDeath script a bit more robust.
HotU: Chapter 2 - Fixed an issue that could sometimes occur during the battle in the Environs near the end of Chapter 2. You should no longer get stuck and be unable to move if the Battle Herald does not approach you and initiate a conversation with you (this fix will retroactively fix saved games exhibiting this issue, but only if you load a saved game from before you entered the Environs).
Added a new command line parameter for automatically loading a module in single player. This will cause the module to be loaded and takes the player to the premade character select screen.
+LoadNewModule "module name that needs quotes if it contains spaces"
Added a new command line parameter for automatically testing a module in single player. This will cause the module to be loaded and then starts the module using the first character listed on the premade character select screen.
+TestNewModule "module name that needs quotes if it contains spaces"
Added 3 portraits and 3 music themes from the BioWare Premium Modules Kingmaker, ShadowGuard, and Witch's Wake 1 to game resources.
Fixed an issue that was causing the game to slow down and become unplayable at the start of SoU Chapter 2.
Fixed an issue with creatures some times occupying the same space. This should happen a lot less frequently now.
Extended the glowing monk eye effect to work on all the default playable races.
Neutral monks now get ultra cool purple glowing eyes.
Fixed placement of glowing monk eyes on Human/Half-Elf females (much thanks to the DLA team for their help with this).
Fixed placement of helmets on Human/Half-Elf females (much thanks to the DLA team for their help with this).
Added server support for the ability to refuse player login attempts if the master server could not be reached. In the nwnplayer.ini files under the heading [Server Options] set the follwowing option to '1' "Master Server Authentication Required For Player Login=1"
Added the ability to turn on/off the Heartbeat logging in the log file (default is now off). In the nwnplayer.ini file under [Game Options] set "Heartbeat Logging=1" in order to turn the Heartbeat logging back on.
Added a new nwnplayer.ini setting to have the server do some spell validation for spells cast by players. Under [Server Options] set "Validate Spells=1". Note: If you are using an edited spells.2da that is only being used server side, you may want to disable this option if your players are finding that they can't cast certain spells anymore (the log file should indicated if this is happening).
Added new option to the nwnplayer.ini file under [Server Options] "Account validation required during Master Server down times=1" If this option is turned on, the server will track the public CD-Keys of each player logging onto the server. If the Master Server ever goes down for any reason (e.g. for scheduled maintenance) then the server will validate itself that the player name of any new player trying to connect is in fact using the same public cd-key that they last logged in with.
Fixed an issue with the Greater Sanctuary icon some times incorrectly showing up as the regular Sanctuary icon.
Fixed an issue with Damage Immunities not working correctly once they were stacked way too high above 100%.
Fixed an issue with the Enable Texture Animations advanced video setting not being restored correctly when restarting the game (if it was turned off).
Fixed Damage Immunities against weapons with more than one damage type (e.g. Halberds with slashing/piercing damage) to work correctly.
Immunity to "Mind Affecting Spells" will no longer make you immune to the Monk's Stunning Fist attack.
Wounding effects are now removed from creatures once you leave the area that the wounded creature is in.
Added skyboxes back into the outdoor areas of the original Official Campaign.
Fixed an issue that could rarely cause your character to become illegal if you leveled up during an episode of game lag.
The "Single Player Enforce Legal Characters" setting in the nwnplayer.ini file has been disabled. ELC is now always turned off in single player games.
Fixed an issue that was causing creatures to always face east when sitting on a stool placeable (plc_x05.pwk).
Fixed another issue where under specific circumstances items would not show up in your inventory panel.
Immunity to mind spells no longer makes you immune to the Assasin's Death Attack.
Sneak/Death attacks now properly respect the Pale Master's Deathless Mastery feat.
Fixed a minor animation issue that could occur if you performed a Whirlwind attack while you had some 2 handed weapons equipped.
Fixed some issues with Tile "time of day" animations. This was causing flickering and other issues at the end of a DayToNight/NightToDay transition.
Fixed an issue with the Force Field door sounds using the default wooden door sounds (placeableobjsnds.2da, genericdoors.2DA).
Fixed an issue related to copying a creature from a hak pak through scripting and then saving and loading the hak pak saved game from inside gameplay (was causing some different weird issues).
Added support for WeaponType 5 (Bludgeoning and Piercing) in the BaseItems.2da.
Updated Morningstars to use the new Bludgeoning and Piercing WeaponType (BaseItems.2da).
The following weapons have had their WeaponType changed to 3 (Slashing) in the BaseItems.2da in order to bring them inline with 3rd edition D&D rules (and their NWN in game descriptions): Longsword, Bastard sword, Greatsword, Katana, and Double Axe.
Added missing armor proficiency to Gnolls.
Made some fixes to prevent game/character hacking. Sorry, but we will never publicly discuss specific changes to the game with regards to hacking the game.

DM Client

DMs can now still login to a server when the server is full, so that they are not prevented from performing any required administration tasks. If you go above the 64 player maximum, server performance may be adversely affected until some players leave the server (your mileage may vary).
The game no longer displays encumbered feedback messages for DMs, since they actually can't ever be encumbered.

Neverwinter Nights Aurora Toolset

Added two new item scripting commands GetPickpocketableFlag() and SetPickpocketableFlag().
Added a "Test Module" option to the toolset's Build menu that allows you to quick launch the game (for testing module changes). Selecting this option will give you the choice of saving your module changes. The game will then automatically launch, load the module, select the first available premade character in the list and enter gameplay with that character. The Hot Key for this new functionality is F9.
Fixed an error that was causing some of the Group "Home Lower/Upper" tiles in the city interior tileset to appear as duplicates of some of the other "Home" tiles (tinpalstd.itp). This change makes some new "Home" tile types available for placing in the toolset.
Fixed an issue with answering no to any warnings that appear during module opening causing any subsequently opened module to potentially become corrupt.
Fixed comments for the scripting commands EffectSavingThrowIncrease and EffectSavingThrowDecrease (nwscript.nss).
The GetIsImmune() scripting command now reports the proper result when the creature specified has the Pale Master's Deathless Mastery feat.
Fixed a stack underflow error when the scripting command GetStandardFactionReputation() was called with an invalid creature object as an argument.
Fixed an issue with the scripting command GetStandardFactionReputation() returning -1 when called on the defender faction with a PC creature object specified.
Fixed an issue with the scripting command SetFogColor() when used to set the sun fog color in an always dark area (or the moon fog color in an always bright area).
Added some missing IP_CONST_FEAT_* constants to nwscript.nss
Fixed a Copy area/script/dialog issue that was making it look like the toolset was loosing data and could sometimes lead to a crash.
Fixed an issue with the script compiler that could cause a Stack Underflow error when a switch statement was placed inside a Do/While loop. There is also a new command line compiler in the Neverwinter Nights utils directory that includes this fix (clcompile.exe).
Fixed an issue with the scripting command GetCasterLevel() when used from within a feat script for a feat that was granted at first level (e.g. Cleric Protection Domain Powers).
Added two new creature related scripting commands GetFootstepType() and SetFootstepType().
Fixed an issue related to using the scripting command CopyObject() on a player's associate.

Script Debugger

Fixed a compiler issue that was causing the script debugger (DebugServer.exe that is in your NWN utils directory) to not work properly when stepping into/out of case statements (see the scripting command SpawnScriptDebugger() for more information regarding the script debugger).

Server-specific

Added server support for the ability to refuse player login attempts if the master server could not be reached. In the nwnplayer.ini files under the heading [Server Options] set the follwowing option to '1' "Master Server Authentication Required For Player Login=1"
Added the ability to turn on/off the Heartbeat logging in the log file (default is now off). In the nwnplayer.ini file under [Game Options] set "Heartbeat Logging=1" in order to turn the Heartbeat logging back on.
Added a new nwnplayer.ini setting to have the server do some spell validation for spells cast by players. Under [Server Options] set "Validate Spells=1". Note: If you are using an edited spells.2da that is only being used server side, you may want to disable this option if your players are finding that they can't cast certain spells anymore (the log file should indicated if this is happening).
Added new option to the nwnplayer.ini file under [Server Options] "Account validation required during Master Server down times=1" If this option is turned on, the server will track the public CD-Keys of each player logging onto the server. If the Master Server ever goes down for any reason (e.g. for scheduled maintenance) then the server will validate itself that the player name of any new player trying to connect is in fact using the same public cd-key that they last logged in with.

Scripting-specific

Made Invisibility Purge work correctly with Invisibility that is granted through special abilities such as the Assasin's Invisibility (NW_S0_InvPurgeA.NSS).
Fixed an issue with Wail of the Banshee sometimes requiring the first target to make two saving throws instead of one (nw_s0_wailbansh.nss).
Implosion now properly ignores immunity to death magic (nw_s0_implosion.nss).
Fixed the maximized damage healed for cure spells (nw_i0_spells.nss)
Cure spells now do DAMAGE_TYPE_POSITIVE to undead rather than DAMAGE_TYPE_NEGATIVE (nw_i0_spells.nss).
Phantasmal Killer now properly respects Fear immunity and properly ignores Death Magic immunity (nw_s0_phankill.nss).
Weird now properly ignores Death Magic immunity (nw_s0_weird.nss).
Mind fog now properly respects immunity to mind affecting spells (nw_s0_mindfoga.nss).
The item properties "Immunity: Specific Spell [Gaze Petrification/Touch Petrification/Breath Petrification]" now work properly against monster petrification effects (x0_i0_spells.nss).
Fixed an issue with Choking Powder heart beat script not repecting poison immunity ( x0_s3_chokehb.nss ).
Fixed an issue with the way the damage calculation was being done for the Cone of Frost monster ability (nw_s1_conecold.nss).
Made the Shifter's Manticore's spike script work correctly in the case when it is inappropriately given to an NPC Manticore monster by mistake (x2_s1_gwspikes.nss).
Fix to Negative Energy Ray, to properly calculate the damage for a successul saving throw (nw_s0_negray.nss).
Fixed the extended duration for Divine Favor (x0_s0_divfav.nss).
Made a change to the Wyrmling Breath, Dragon Breath and Petrifying Gaze attacks used by some of the Shifter shapes. Previously if you targeted yourself with one of these attacks the cone attack would damage creatures East from your location, it will now be directed forwards from your character instead. (x2_s2_edragbrth.nss, x2_s1_wyrmbreath.nss, x2_s1_petrgaze.nss).
Made the same above fix for the RDD dragon breath ability (x2_s2_discbreath).
Updated the duration of "Camouflage/Mass Camouflage" to bring these spells more inline with 3rd edition rules (x0_i0_spells.nss, x0_s0_masscamo.nss). Also updated the in game spell descriptions to reflect the change.

Custom Content

Added a new column to the feat.2da "ReqAction" (all default NWN feats have this value set to 1 and if the column is missing from the feats.2da, such as in a hak pak, it will also default to 1). Turning this off means that the adjusted feat will no longer require an action from the object (it fires immediately, takes no action, and ignores your action queue entirely). In order to use this new functionality you need to do the following:
Set the "ReqAction" value for the feat to 0 in the feat.2da
Have a spellID associated with the feat in the feat.2da.
Have a "ImpactScript" specified in the spells.2da for the spellID that you specified in the feat.2da
The ImpactScript will then fire immediately when the feat is used.
Walk meshes now work when placed at heights above -30 (previous lower limit was -10).
Added an option to change/increase the selector height (when placing tiles) in the tileset "set" file. In order to use this you must add a new setting called "SelectorHeight" to the set file and specify the desired float value for this setting. The selector height will continue to default to the transition height if it has not been specified.
Added more tile path nodes types m, n, o, and p. For custom tile set support.

TYPE m TYPE n
--------- ---------
[ | | | ] [ | | | ]
[-+ | +-] [-+ + +-]
[ + ] [ ]
[-+ | +-] [-+ + +-]
[ | | | ] [ | | | ]
--------- ---------

TYPE o TYPE p
--------- ---------
[ | | | ] [ | | ]
[-+ | | ] [-+ | ]
[ + +-] [-+ +-]
[-+ | | ] [-+ | ]
[ | | | ] [ | | ]
--------- ---------

2DA Files Changed in this Update

ambientmusic.2da
cls_skill_blkgrd.2da
feat.2da
iprp_feats.2da
portraits.2da
swearfilter.2da