32 réponses à ce sujet

[Pstemarie]

The GOG Edition of NWN does NOT install the game where it is supposed to be installed. For many of the Community created apps to work, including the content packaged with the BioWare Content Creator, the game MUST be installed directly to the main partition of your hard drive. The path to the game files, when installed correctly, will be c://NeverwinterNights/NWN.

 

To change the installation path in the GOG installer, when prompted click the "options" or "customize" button and change the default path GOG inputs into the installation field to c://NeverwinterNights/NWN.

 

Lastly, you MUST run the 1.69 Critical Rebuild. Many of the GOG editions of Diamond are not correctly patched to 1.69. 

 

Updated and more thorough instructions for installing the GOG and Impulse editions can be found in THIS POST.

 

If, after doing all this, please read the tech support forum HERE. Although some of the link and information in the top posts is outdated, posts deeper in the thread might prove helpful. Failing that, a search of the forums using the keywords "GOG" and "Diamond" will yield additional information.

 

Finally, when making an error report about Custom Content, please verify the veracity of your claim before posting a comment in these forums or on the project page. 

 

EDITED to remove my obvious exasperation.

[paopufruito]

Umm, before you get your panties in more of a bunch, first of all GOG usually advertises that their games is fully patched. Second, I looked in their support section and they did not show anything about "a bad patch" at all. And thirdly, that first post you were talking about from Shia Luck in Technical support says this:

 

 

 

3. (Disk install only) Go to the patch page (link currently not working. See updates below for patch links) and download the correct 1.69 critical rebuild and install it. (Both GOG and Impulse versions are correctly patched).

 

So before you even try to get mad at people who had trouble with the GOG install, let's just say everything else is vague and furthermore NOT explained. I know it's quite frustrating myself, as I had no idea the GOG versions were bugged themselves, but because it wasn't really explained until someone told me it was. So I think you need to calm down. As far as I'm aware, the issue with GOG needs to be clarified more, especially if the given information that you told us to check out pretty much inaccurate.

[Shadooow]

Wow Pstemarie lost patience.

Not that I would wonder. It isn't a day someone didn't have an issue with NWN caused by bugged installation from GOG or other sources...

 

1.69 critical rebuild for download here

[Pstemarie]

Umm, before you get your panties in more of a bunch, first of all GOG usually advertises that their games is fully patched. Second, I looked in their support section and they did not show anything about "a bad patch" at all. And thirdly, that first post you were talking about from Shia Luck in Technical support says this:

 

So before you even try to get mad at people who had trouble with the GOG install, let's just say everything else is vague and furthermore NOT explained. I know it's quite frustrating myself, as I had no idea the GOG versions were bugged themselves, but because it wasn't really explained until someone told me it was. So I think you need to calm down. As far as I'm aware, the issue with GOG needs to be clarified more, especially if the given information that you told us to check out pretty much inaccurate.

 

Firstly, the GOG game is NOT correctly patched. It may be "fully patched," but not with the correct version of the 1.69 update. The GOG support section is a JOKE. The only real support forum for NWN installation issues is in the thread I linked above AND the other threads in the associated forum.

 

As far as being "vague and NOT explained" and the information in that thread being "...pretty much inaccurate" - HAVE YOU READ THE THREAD? Granted, some of the links and information may be outdated, but the core of that content IS accurate. Furthermore, any search of these forums using the term "GOG" will yield numerous results that state that the GOG edition is incorrectly patched on MOST downloads and that users should apply the 1.69 Critical Rebuild. Lastly, between the GOG forums and these forums, the GOG forums are so rife with inaccurate information that they should be the last place any person should look for support.

 

Just to clarify - I am NOT "mad" at people for having issues with GOG or Impulse installations. What I am frustrated with is the people that install NWN from GOG or Impulse, add custom content, and then file a bogus bug report via a forum post or project comment claiming that the custom content doesn't work. Then when you investigate said comment, you learn that its because the complainant had NWN installed in the wrong place. This is pure BS and only adds to the workload that volunteers such as myself, TAD, Shadooow, and others put into their works.

[HipMaestro]

Let me attempt to help clear this up.  I may get lucky, who knows?

 

First off, Shia posted a comprehensive installation topic right around the time Win7 had been released and been perpetuating into the community here in NWN land.  Though it had a great deal in common with Vista, there were still some additional layers of security that needed to be attended to, specific to the Win7 OS.

 

But...

 

Look at the date of Shia's original post and then the subsequent replies and additions.  GoG was just beginning to offer Diamond copies and at that snapshot in time reports from GoG Diamond version users were not expressing problems when patched via the GoG v1.69.  Again... this is over 4 years ago, folks.  Shia's sabbatical began so the instructions have been pretty much set in concrete until her return, if ever.

 

However, since that time there have been an increasing number of performance issues with users of the patched GoG Diamond version.  Much of this is due to drivers not supporting the version of OpenGL needed to run NWN smoothly, some basic graphic tweaks like disabling Shiny Water et al., and dealing with multicore systems, more prevalent today than in 2010 by far.  It was a bit later that the BSN community began recommending that the GoG Diamond be patched with the Critical Rebuild and in many cases (not all, obviously... technology change is a continuum, much to the chagrin of the owners of legacy games which were never designed to operate on contemporary platforms) it improved performance.

 

Now Paul is noticing that even users who are getting good performance are allowing the Diamond version to be installed in the Windows directory like most software does by default rather than hung off the main drive partition. Well, actually, Paul... this is nothing new.  First time NWN game owners have been doing this for years, way before GoG was even a fly speck of an idea.  I can see how it could frustrate designers who base its correct functioning on the basics like proper installation.  But PLEASE... calm down.  You'll rupture your truss and we need healthy, physically-able, sane designers as we venture into the second decade of NWN advancements.

 

I will assume that this same topic has been posted on the GoG forum (haven't checked myself).  If so, I would suggest filtering out the exasperation aspects (including the sophomoric topic title) and sticking solely to the case in hand... how to correctly install NWN Diamond.  If not yet posted to GoG forums, that is a more appropriate residence than here. 

 

My intent is not to fan the flames of discontent but rather, try to form some perspective while targeting the best area to broadcast relevant information like this.

 

Carry on...

[paopufruito]

Firstly, the GOG game is NOT correctly patched. It may be "fully patched," but not with the correct version of the 1.69 update. The GOG support section is a JOKE. The only real support forum for NWN installation issues is in the thread I linked above AND the other threads in the associated forum.

 

As far as being "vague and NOT explained" and the information in that thread being "...pretty much inaccurate" - HAVE YOU READ THE THREAD? Granted, some of the links and information may be outdated, but the core of that content IS accurate. Furthermore, any search of these forums using the term "GOG" will yield numerous results that state that the GOG edition is incorrectly patched on MOST downloads and that users should apply the 1.69 Critical Rebuild. Lastly, between the GOG forums and these forums, the GOG forums are so rife with inaccurate information that they should be the last place any person should look for support.

 

Just to clarify - I am NOT "mad" at people for having issues with GOG or Impulse installations. What I am frustrated with is the people that install NWN from GOG or Impulse, add custom content, and then file a bogus bug report via a forum post or project comment claiming that the custom content doesn't work. Then when you investigate said comment, you learn that its because the complainant had NWN installed in the wrong place. This is pure BS and only adds to the workload that volunteers such as myself, TAD, Shadooow, and others put into their works.

 

I did not mean the whole thread to be inaccurate - rather the snippet I quoted. It's a good source of information otherwise. I still standby my point that it is not easy for GOG users to know if they are properly updated or not, by what you and I said - because GOG information is generally inaccurate, and certain problems don't lead to it.

 

Suffice to say, I did not have much problems playing the game without updating. I only encountered problems when I was building. The average player is just a player, and not a builder. Hence I had no idea what was wrong about what I was doing. I did countless searches, even through the NWN omnibus. If shadooow never pointed it out to me, I would have never in a million years been able to solve the problem.

 

Have you ever wondered why so many players have problems about GOG not being fully updated? This is my point! If these issues come up so often, then it needs to be clarified. I'm sure that most of the players have actually tried to solve this problem but they did not know they had a problem with a wrong version in the first place. How would anyone know the GOG forums are such a bad place to search for advice? If they are getting redirected here, and there are apparently so many bogus reports and bugs because of the lack of information, there's a reason why. I saw that you posted on the thread in question about the way it should be installed - that's my point, and it's a start If it was like that in the beginning, I'm sure that there will be less troubles like this. A thread like this should be cleaned up and pinned, imo.

 

And I am sorry if I have aggravated you further. I felt so myself - since I was personally having an issue like this myself and I spent hours searching for a solution before even posting it, when it was just a simple patch issue. I don't think it was mine or the other user's fault that it was pretty difficult to narrow down the fact that the version is bugged. 

[Pstemarie]

Now Paul is noticing that even users who are getting good performance are allowing the Diamond version to be installed in the Windows directory like most software does by default rather than hung off the main drive partition. Well, actually, Paul... this is nothing new.  First time NWN game owners have been doing this for years, way before GoG was even a fly speck of an idea.  I can see how it could frustrate designers who base its correct functioning on the basics like proper installation.  But PLEASE... calm down.  You'll rupture your truss and we need healthy, physically-able, sane designers as we venture into the second decade of NWN advancements.

 

 

You lost me with the first part of that paragraph. In my experience, every time someone has issues with the game not working right, they usually  are: a ) a GOG version and b ) have the game installed in "/program files (x86)" and not the root drive.

[HipMaestro]

You lost me with the first part of that paragraph. In my experience, every time someone has issues with the game not working right, they usually  are: a ) a GOG version and b ) have the game installed in "/program files (x86)" and not the root drive.

 

Even if NWN is installed in X86 it will play fine on some of the older configs.  It's when you try to patch it, that the registry will fail the update.  Much of CC relies on a proper installation where the registry points to the proper location of haks & overrides, hence your issue erupts with the new game owners trying to deal with the demands of some CC.

 

Since BSN has a dedicated tech support forum and GoG does not, simple installation requirements are not documented there on any Tech Support sticky.  It's probably about time to remedy that shortcoming since GoG is introducing most of the newest players to the joys of NWN gaming.

 

I suggest you publish your advice where it will do the most good... on the GoG forum.  Whether you purchased a copy of Diamond or not through GoG, the admins may still sticky an alert topic when it affects their own clientele's satisfaction.

 

And, btw, the v1.69 Critical Rebuild DOES improve performance for GoG's Diamond version on many systems where only the GoG Diamond patch was applied.  Search the Tech Support topics and you will find that to be true.

[Pstemarie]

Even if NWN is installed in X86 it will play fine on some of the older configs.  It's when you try to patch it, that the registry will fail the update.  Much of CC relies on a proper installation where the registry points to the proper location of haks & overrides, hence your issue erupts with the new game owners trying to deal with the demands of some CC.

 

That was my point about proper installation.

 

 

Since BSN has a dedicated tech support forum and GoG does not, simple installation requirements are not documented there on any Tech Support sticky.  It's probably about time to remedy that shortcoming since GoG is introducing most of the newest players to the joys of NWN gaming.

 

I suggest you publish your advice where it will do the most good... on the GoG forum.  Whether you purchased a copy of Diamond or not through GoG, the admins may still sticky an alert topic when it affects their own clientele's satisfaction.

 

Sorry not wasting my time registering for a forum I'll never use again. Besides, other people have posted this same information on the GOG forums and it always seems to vanish each time GOG purges their boards.

 

 

And, btw, the v1.69 Critical Rebuild DOES improve performance for GoG's Diamond version on many systems where only the GoG Diamond patch was applied.  Search the Tech Support topics and you will find that to be true.

 

That's exactly why the instructions I provided give a link for the patch and directions to patch it. 

[MagicalMaster]

Pstemarie, Shadooow, anyone else interested in this topic -- what do you make of this post (and/or the thread in general)?

[Shadooow]

Pstemarie, Shadooow, anyone else interested in this topic -- what do you make of this post (and/or the thread in general)?

His post is hard to follow, so I didnt read it full only fragments. Anyway he is utterly wrong about the critical rebuild and textures.

 

First. How high resolution textures works. In core data files there are only low resolution textures. Anything better is in texturepacks folder packed in ERF files and game loads from this folder based on player video settings.

 

Second. Critical rebuild does not remove any files from NWN.

 

Third. Yes, the issue with white textures exists and affect 1.69 content. The reason for this is that DLA who made this content made only high resolution textures and put them into core game files. These textures uses *dds format which is what some legacy graphic cards can't handle and there is/was a fix for that on vault which brought all these textures converted to *tga format with intent to put into override.

 

Now, the problem with Diamond Edition from GOG is that the 1.69 content is bugged. So without it you might crash everytime you enter into area created in 1.69 tileset or when you encounter an NPC with appearance from 1.69. Or you see things whity but this time it will be because texture doesnt exists at all.

 

If you got a graphic card from medieval it doesn't matter whether you installl 1.69 critical rebuild or not. You will see things from 1.69 appear white. To fix this you need the alternative textures (can't find them on new vault though...)

 

Recommend peoples not to instal critical 1.69 is.... stupid. Sorry but I can't be polite about this.

[kalbaern]

*rubs his temples ... and fails to relieve the throbbing*

 

Sometimes, despite any and all evidence to the contrary, folks will refuse to believe. I just made my own post over on GOG and I'm sure it'll get picked apart in short order. *shrugs indifferently* All -we- can do is put the information about the critical rebuild and the need to do it -out there- for folks to find. It drives me crazy at times that I've had to badger folks constantly to do it, while they claimed it would just be a waste of time and they'd do everything else but the critical rebuild first.

[Pstemarie]

I've seen that thread, MM, which, along with recent posts on these forums, led me to the following conclusion...

 

Aside from a link to Shia's post in the Tech Self-Help, I'm not going to bother posting anymore about doing the critical rebuild or getting the game to work on Windows 7 or 8. No amount of arm twisting is going to make people follow directions that aren't posted from what they deem to be an official source. Eventually, some of the players that fail to install the critical rebuild after installing the GOG version will attempt to build something and then they'll find that things don't work as they expected. They'll search Google for answers, leading them here, and, after arguing for several days, they'll install the 1.69 Critical Rebuild and be able to move on with a FULLY working copy.

 

What I fail to comprehend is this aversion to installing the critical rebuild. It takes 5 minutes to download over a modern connection and about 5 minutes to install - small potatoes in the modern world.

[Verilazic]

Just going to throw my two cents in here... I've seen a lot of forum arguments over the years, MagicalMaster, and you're wasting your time if you continue with this one. If you feel the need to help out people in that forum, get in, make your point, and get out quick. Otherwise, you'll just give yourself a headache. That thread, for example, looks close to invoking Godwin's Law.

 

Also, I'm 99% sure Hickory is trolling you. He started the whole argument by denouncing you for even suggesting that GoG could have made a mistake, and then pulled a quote painfully obviously out of context. If anyone else plans on posting there, I suggest not taking him seriously.

[Pstemarie]

Godwin's Law - never heard of it, but very true nonetheless.

[MagicalMaster]

No amount of arm twisting is going to make people follow directions that aren't posted from what they deem to be an official source.

 

What I fail to comprehend is this aversion to installing the critical rebuild. It takes 5 minutes to download over a modern connection and about 5 minutes to install - small potatoes in the modern world.

 

Yeah, I've notice the first sentence as well.  Which, in many games, is somewhat reasonable -- except that it's the NWN community that has kept this game going for so many years.  We're the ones who created security systems for the PWs, server listings for PWs, new CC, new modules, etc...not Bioware or GoG.  So if you want to join a game defined by its community...listen to the community.

 

I don't get the latter either.  I'd understand if the critical rebuild took hours or something but like you say it takes only a few minutes.  It's not a huge ordeal.

 

Also, I'm 99% sure Hickory is trolling you. He started the whole argument by denouncing you for even suggesting that GoG could have made a mistake, and then pulled a quote painfully obviously out of context. If anyone else plans on posting there, I suggest not taking him seriously.

 

I'm not sure whether it's scarier to believe he's trolling or to believe he's honestly serious.

 

But yes, I'm just ignoring him and not responding to his drivel at this point.  In a past thread he was furious for me pushing someone to ask for help on THESE forums when they wanted scripting help -- like he's a GoG fanatic or something.

[MagicalMaster]

We bring you the latest from Hickory's insanity:

 

You are accusing GOG of releasing games, 'claiming' that they are patched, and you, in your idiocy, are saying they are not patched... that GOG is telling lies. I want an answer from you: where is your proof that GOG has released any game that they say is patched, when it in fact is NOT patched? Proof, please, not disgruntled forum user posts. In other words, show me the words from GOG, and show me the file/s that are not as advertised. Until you do that, or you offer GOG an apology, you are nothing but a damned liar, and people in this and any other forum should see you as such.

 

[Verilazic]

I'm not sure whether it's scarier to believe he's trolling or to believe he's honestly serious.

 

But yes, I'm just ignoring him and not responding to his drivel at this point.  In a past thread he was furious for me pushing someone to ask for help on THESE forums when they wanted scripting help -- like he's a GoG fanatic or something.

 

Yes, he's basically at the point where the distinction becomes meaningless.

[leo_x]

Out of curiosity I tried checking the difference between a GOG install (directory c:\test1) and a GOG install + critical rebuild install (directory c:\test2).  This was the result:

Files test1//Launch Neverwinter Nights Diamond Edition.lnk and test2//Launch Neverwinter Nights Diamond Edition.lnk differ
Only in test2/: Override_Bak
diff -bur test1//nwn.ini test2//nwn.ini
--- test1//nwn.ini 2012-11-21 11:30:40 -0800
+++ test2//nwn.ini 2015-01-29 11:26:25 -0800
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@
 [Config]
 FirstRun=0
 Connection=0
+NWLoaderDisplayTime=3
 [Video Options]
 VideoQualitySetting=3
 Enable HardwareMouse=1
Files test1//unins000.dat and test2//unins000.dat differ

The only meaningful difference between the two was this line:

 

NWLoaderDisplayTime=3

 

which was in the critical rebuild nwn.ini but not in GOG.  Pretty cray cray if that's what caused people's issues (aside from the install directory) (but I seen stranger things in NWN).  Both diff and KDiff3 showed everything else to be binary identical, but it is proof that GOG and a critical rebuild are different.

[Pstemarie]

Leo_X, I still have the original NWN Diamond download that I got from GOG within a few days of when they started selling NWN. When you install that version, the XP3.bif file is considerably smaller  than the version from the 1.69 Critical Rebuild - 348,240 KB (GOG version) as opposed to 627,919 KB (Critical Rebuild version). I can't tell you exactly what files are missing (my guess would be textures) but there are definitely files missing. I have a newer GOG download (less than 6 months old) for my son and his XP3.bif weighs in at the correct size. However, when I installed the game on his Win 8 system it had issues - lag, crashes, etc. I installed the Critical Rebuild and those issues ended. My daughters have they exact same laptops as my son - same model #, spec.s, etc.. I installed NWN on their systems, using my GOLD disks, HotU disk, and the Critical Rebuild to patch to 1.69, overwrote the cdkeys with the GOG keys I purchased for them, and they had NO issues. Thus, I can only conclude - like you - that there is still something wrong (or different) with the GOG install, or at least in one or more files within the XP3.bif file. 

[MagicalMaster]

Sometimes, despite any and all evidence to the contrary, folks will refuse to believe.

 

Are you able to clarify exactly what you meant in regards to Urk's claim about high-res textures being removed and thus anyone installing the critical rebuild is "losing" out on better models?

 

Specifically:

 

"When the critical rebuild was first created Bioware made a conscious decision to keep the file size small by not including the high resolution textures (they're fricken' huge compared to the basic skins). Because it replaces all the games critical files the end result is that the critical rebuild strips the high resolution skins out of the game completely. This means that after a critical rebuild the game is forced to display the basic skins regardless of your rigs native graphic card. This just happened to fix the "white skins" problem when it began appearing with newer graphics cards. White skins became silver when even newer cards began handling lighting differently.

Keep this in mind next time you say running the critical rebuild "doesn't hurt anything" because some players might consider stripping the high rez creature skins out of the game to be "hurting something". This is why I recommend only running the critical rebuild if you need to."

 

All you said in response was

 

"Small nitpick - NWN uses TGA textures and DDS textures.

When Bioware made their last update (1.69) they did not include TGA textures for most of the new appearances. They did this because it more than halved the file sizes for updating and many folks had computers better able to digest DDS textures than when the game had been originally released. Some folks with older computers/graphics cards did have issues with the lack of TGA support, but Community Members made several TGA conversions as an override for those needing them."

 

This potentially leaves the impression that in fact people have lost these "hi-res" textures, though I'm guessing your point was that the DDS textures were as good or better and the TGA textures were only for old graphics cards/computer.

 

Shadooow said in this thread that

 

"First. How high resolution textures works. In core data files there are only low resolution textures. Anything better is in texturepacks folder packed in ERF files and game loads from this folder based on player video settings.

 

Second. Critical rebuild does not remove any files from NWN."

 

And you didn't disagree with him, so I'm assuming he was correct on both points?

 

But in the other thread I can see how it might be read otherwise and it would be nice if you could be explicitly clear on this issue...as now Hickory is claiming

 

"Now go back and read the thread again, taking careful note where it is explained that Bioware excluded hi-res textures from the critical rebuild, forcing the game to display basic skins. It is the other way around. There is NOTHING missing from the Diamond Edition."

 

I'm not suggesting you get into a series of posts with him or something, but leaving even a sentence or two saying how he's wrong (assuming he is) would help OTHERS reading the thread, which is my concern.

[kalbaern]

@MagicalMaster,

 

I'm afraid anymore posts there right now will just further confuse folks. The two main culprits there will just continue to troll in response and that will just muddle the waters even further.

 

Myself, I try and pop IG as a DM whenever I spot a new login and just ask folks how things are going and find out if they have any issues and help them directly. If they respond in the positive to having lag issues, texture glitches or unexplained crashes (even if only on other PWs previously), I recommend the critical rebuild and tell them to let me know if that resolves things or not. In some cases, they cease to have issues and thats it. Sometimes they still have a few issues and I'll continue to help them and its usually related to CPU Affinity/having multiple cores or their graphics card/settings. I also ALWAYS ask what -other- PWs they've played on. There's a handful that either require or strongly recommend using -their- overrides and that is also often an issue and varies from PW to PW as to what it may affect IG for them. Generally, most of these overrides I have covered by adding them as part of my own haks or duplicating core resources in my haks to block their overrides as haks take precidence over overrides.

 

[MagicalMaster]

I do actually think Urk is not trying to troll and rather just confused/mistaken.  Hickory is definitely a troll.

[BFF]

OK so I have been playing the GOG version with minor issues for a couple of weeks.  Today I decided to try and fix an issue I have with cloaks which led me to the critical update and eventually this thread.  I moved the GOG file to a new file using the structure indicated (c://NeverwinterNights/NWN) with all the files in the NWN folder.  When I run the updater it says the game is not installed and shuts down.  Do I need to re-download the whole game or is there some more easily corrected error I can fix?

[Pstemarie]

OK so I have been playing the GOG version with minor issues for a couple of weeks.  Today I decided to try and fix an issue I have with cloaks which led me to the critical update and eventually this thread.  I moved the GOG file to a new file using the structure indicated (c://NeverwinterNights/NWN) with all the files in the NWN folder.  When I run the updater it says the game is not installed and shuts down.  Do I need to re-download the whole game or is there some more easily corrected error I can fix?

 

Your registry is pointing to the wrong file location now. You can either hack the registry and fix the references or reinstall the game and use the installer to put the files in the right place.