Originally released in 2002 and then later as Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition from Beamdog, many years on it's still getting major upgrades including a new Toon shader and loading speed improvements.
"Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition adds all-new enhanced features to the content of Neverwinter Nights Diamond Edition. Slink through the shadows as a deadly half-elven rogue, wield fearsome magics as a powerful gnomish sorcerer, vanquish your foes as an armor-clad dwarven paladin... whatever hero you create, incredible adventures await. Discover magic, wonder, and danger at every turn on your own or with friends in these classic Dungeons & Dragons adventures."
Build 8193.35 was released on May 24th and here's what's new:
- Spells and spell-like abilities now display a targeting indicator displaying their range and, if appropriate, their AOE shape and size.
- Added support for up to 8 multiclasses, configurable per-module.
- Improved area load times by up to 100x!
- Added an in-game News UI that shows upcoming patches and community news.
- NUI windows will no longer break input to the game (WASD, drag&drop).
- Added a new "Toon" postprocessing shader.
- Hundreds of new functions and goodies for module builders.
- Hundreds of bugfixes and optimizations.
For the new Toon shader, here's an example of the differences. First shot is normal, second on the Toon shader:
There was also the official HD model and texture pack upgrade released for it back in 2021. Nice to see it seeing such long-term support to keep the classic alive.
You can buy it on Humble Store, GOG and Steam. It has Native Linux support and is rated Steam Deck Playable.
Quoting: DrMcCoyYes, the Linux client was released in 2003. They originally said it's going to be ready for release in 2002, but that got pushed back. I remember waiting for it
And then the Linux client came and it didn't play any of the videos, because they were Bink files and RADGameTools had no Linux Bink library at that time. The community came up with an LD_PRELOAD hack that hooks into the game and starts mplayer. Of course, you had to re-encode that videos beforehand, using Wine and the RADGameTools toolset. Fun times.
I don't think I even knew about the videos!! (Probably explains a lot). I haven't played it since 2004/5 maybe.
In have to admit, I could never finish NWN or any of the other games. In fact the only aurora/infinity styled rpg I ever finished was Planescape Torment.
I have have and played them all. I would just get... Bored. Which is sad cause these games seem like they would be right up my alley (huge worlds, epic story, complex characters, etc). I just never felt connected to the world.
Last edited by denyasis on 27 May 2023 at 6:35 pm UTC
Quoting: DrMcCoyYes, the Linux client was released in 2003. They originally said it's going to be ready for release in 2002, but that got pushed back. I remember waiting for it
And then the Linux client came and it didn't play any of the videos, because they were Bink files and RADGameTools had no Linux Bink library at that time. The community came up with an LD_PRELOAD hack that hooks into the game and starts mplayer. Of course, you had to re-encode that videos beforehand, using Wine and the RADGameTools toolset. Fun times.
Nice to read you again.
I remember you were involved in a free implementation of the Aurora Engine.
Runs great through Steam. I'd also suggest checking out all the addons available though the Steam Workshop for upgrading the graphics for various assets, adding more character portraits, etc.
It's impressive how many extra free modules Beamdog has made automatically available in the client too.
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