Please help me get Neverwinter Nights to work :(

[VACRMH]

Ok, this is going to be long, but I need help :(

My setup and problem...

Game Version: 1.64.8062
Game Language: English
Processor Manufacturer: Intel
Processor Type: Pentium 4
Processor Speed: 2.4 Ghz
Operating System / Service Pack: WindowsXP with SP2
System RAM: 512 megs
Video Card Manufacturer: Nvidia
Video Card Model: Geforce 4 Ti4200
Video Card RAM: 128 megs
Video Card Driver Version: 61.77
Sound Card Manufacturer: Creative Labs
Sound Card Model: SB Audigy
Sound Card Driver Version: 5.12.5.441
Problem Description:

Ok, just bought the NWN Collector's Edition and installed it today. The game runs fine up untill I get to where someone is showing me how to use my inventory. I drag the chainmail armor onto the location to put armor on and right there everything starts stuttering like crazy. So much that I have to exit out of the program.


This is everything i've tried that was suggested on another board, and some other problems...

1. Turned down the accleration in dxdiag
2. Turned the sound off in nwconfig
3. Turned the soundcard off in device manager (This actually let me resume play, except that the game still lagged but not to the point that i'd have to exit like before.)
4.Changed the a3d and a3dapi.dlls to .old
5.Insalled the KX Drivers
6.Tried the Miles 2d Audio sound option (I believe that's what it was)
7.Tried safe mode for the sound in nwconfig

Another thing to note is that I had actually downloaded the game before and it worked fine! (I like to test games before I buy them)

So yeah, I downloaded NWN and installed it. Played fine. Down the road I had to format and I installed the downloaded game again and this time I get to the eye, and it just dissapears. Not only that, but it leaves nwmain.exe in my task manager O.o

So I knew the game was good, so I decided to buy a real copy, the collector's edition. Installed it and... same problem.

I believe I disabled daemon tools and that fixed the problem... except sometimes i'd have problems getting into Internet explorer and sure enough, nwmain would be in the task manager, i'd stop it and IE would work again.

So there it is, my problems The eye dissapearing and having to manually get rid of nwmain I could live with if I could just get the damn game to run, with sound, with my soundcard.

Thanks for any help someone can give me :(

[YoshiM]

Have you tried looking for any patches for NWN?
Have you tried updating DirectX?
Are your video card drivers the latest (non beta)?
How about your sound card-drivers the latest? Do you have the right Audigy drivers (I looked on Soundblaster's site and there isn't just a straight "Audigy" option)?

Since you downloaded it again after the reformat, it seems it's possible that either this particular version was corrupted (more likely) or it might be virus laden (possible, but not overly likely). What I would do is a virus scan (use whatever you have installed along with an online one like from pcpitstop.com) and then totally uninstall NWN. Blow away anything NWN related and then run a registry cleaner to clear out any possible remnants. Then reinstall the game and install any patches from Bioware BEFORE you run the game.

And I don't mean to sound like I'm on a soapbox or sound like a stick-in-the-mud pantywaist, but maybe you should not download games for "trial" purposes. Downloading and using "warez" can sometimes be like getting with a hooker: ya don't know where she's been and ya don't know if you'll be "right" the next day.

[brykasch]

I have to second the recommendation. Make sure everything is up to date, windows, sound card, graphics. I have a pentium 4 with a radeon 9200 and I run it just fine at highest resolutions with no stuttering, but yeah check the drivers.

As far as downloaded games, never had anything with virus, and never had any problems, as long as you scan everything after you get it you should be fine. But you really should buy the game. If its to hight then wait it out.

[calthaer]

The absolute LAST thing I would do would be to update the Audigy sound card drivers. Sound Blaster cards' software is notoriously BUGGY, especially with XP SP2. In fact, XP SP2 could very well be your problem:

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/08/16/news_6104980.html

Note that Neverwinter Nights is not mentioned, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if it did have some problems. SP2 is awful IMO, especially because it "broke" some of the greatest games (Freedom Force, KOTOR, etc.). I tried updating the Audigy drivers from their own crappy web update (no, they do NOT let you download the drivers and install them yourself!) and had no sound anywhere whatsoever. Couldn't uninstall the drivers, couldn't uninstall SP2 without major errors...had to reinstall everything.

So - I would be careful before updating those Audigy drivers - make sure you back everything up first and try to create a System Restore point (although that didn't help me - System Restore didn't restore my system!).

EDIT: and yes, I wouldn't trust the Warezed version of the game, either - so you may want to try "fixing" that part of the game first :)

[brykasch]

Thats funny I have sp2 and freedom force works just fine (use compatibility mode), neverwinter nights works fine for me with it as well, fact every game I have tried has worked save for system shock 2 (needs a patch).