NWN2 - v1.22 Released

I can't see an official announcement but my Autopatcher says v1.22 has been released. In the meantime, read the beta patch notes if you are interested.
More information.

Let's hope for a quick release of Mysteries of Westgate and Rogue Dao's planescape mod!

Yep - my auto-patcher found it ! Bring on MoW!!!

Just one last QA walkthrough

http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums…9115&forum=122

in the past a readme was included with the patch. nothing showing in any of your directories?

I have a german one in my directory

Originally Posted by Avantenor
Just one last QA walkthrough

http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums…9115&forum=122

That is what I've heard as well … getting close enough to taste it …

Originally Posted by easthaven
Let's hope for a quick release of Mysteries of Westgate and Rogue Dao's planescape mod!

Does the Planescape mod need this version of the game?

Is there a single, self-contained version of the patch? I might finally give NWN2 a try (foolish desperation for D&D) and would have to patch up from 1.0, but I don't fancy downloading a dozen sequential patches to get there -- and there is no network connection for the computer in question, so running the auto-updater is not an option.

No there isn't. That's what I'm always mourning. But Rob made clear that such a patch would need between 6 and 8 GB.

The easiest way would be to buy both addons, then you need only patch 1.21 and 1.22 for Storm of Zehir (_pcx2_).

You can manually upgrade through the autoupdater. Copy the update zip file unpacked and without renaming into the main dir, start the autopatcher and hold CTRL while clicking on Start.

Do you need the expansions for this patch?

You can get all patches also without addons, but there are three patch variations. What patch you need depends on your NWN2 installation.

If patchfile name includes:
pc = NWN2 only
pcx1 = NWN2 + only MotB
pcx2 = NWN2 +SoZ (+MotB, optional)

All Addons contain the patches up to release of the addon. That means MotB contains all, including 1.10.1115 and Storm of Zehir contains all patches up to 1.13.1409 (including).

Be aware that installing an addon over a newer version of NWN2 resets the game to game version of the addon (MotB = 1.10.1115, SoZ = 1.20.1541). Even more frustrating, that installation method very, very, very often leads to bugs and plotstoppers. So, if you plan to buy an addon, don't patch the game. Or if you buy the addon later, reinstall NWN2 before installing the addon. Believe me, it's better that way.

That's messed up. I haven't installed SoZ yet because of the problems it supposedly caused in MotB (which I'm trying to play), but I have kept my game patched. So basically, once I am done, I need to remove NWN2, then go and reinstall everything (three installs at this point, what fun) and then patch it again?

Wow. Fail on the part of OEI.

Jepp. NWN2 is definitely not meant for choleric persons.

Originally Posted by doctor_kaz
Does the Planescape mod need this version of the game?

Not sure if it technically needs it, but they said they wouldn't release purgatorio before the patch was released.

Well, I'm sure I'll probably do another rebuild of my system before playing SoZ anyway, so I guess it's not big deal as I'd be reinstalling anyway.

Yup, NWN2 definitely smells of a codebase that's near the end of its useful lifetime -- the enormous loading times, the very dodgy patching, the very long times it takes to release even comparatively small patches, the repeated delays… that's unfortunate, since the best thing about NWN1 was that it's such a robust platform for developing mods and new content. OEI is clearly much better at imagining games than doing the nuts-and-bolts work of developing them; BioWare is more the other way around.

I'm hoping that it doesn't have to be like that always, though -- that it's possible to combine great engineering and great imagination in a game. Until then, though, I for one am willing to put up with some dodginess to get creative and interesting content; I certainly wish VtM:B was as rock-solid technically as Mass Effect -- but I've replayed VtM:B a half-dozen times, while it's highly unlikely I'll ever replay ME.

I think the engine itself will definetely stop after NWN2 support is dropped. But I must say, again, that I really don't feel that NWN1 was a game that worked particularly well either. I *still* have quite massive slowdowns for example when a lot of stuff is going in NWN1, and that is on a computer that by far exceeds system requirements/recommendations. There are still plenty of bugs to be found, even after the 1.69 patch. In fact, some of the tileset stuff introduced in that patch causes horrendous stutters (I'm serious here, really bad) for me in the mods I've tried that make use of them.

That's not to say that OEI should be forgiven for everything. I think they improved much upon the engine, but they also introduced problems of their own into it. But yeah, I'm always sort of flabbergasted at the comparisons many people make, because for me, NWN1 always had "messy" feel that I think NWN2 has also.

As far as the game goes though, I think there is still some life left in it. I'm not sure whether we'll see a third expansion, but it's been confirmed that Ossian has been working on something NWN2 related (aside from MoW). There are some promising modding projects still in the works as well (obviously Purgatorio, Misery Stone, Shattered Dreams, one of the Ossian members private project which I can't recall the name of plus some other stuff).

If there ever is a NWN3 I think it'd be good to see OEI have another crack at it, with another engine. I think they've been great with the community (which is important in the NWN games).

I wouldn't give a project like NWN3 to a studio like Obsidian -- they're good enough to put out a game that clears the bar technically, but only barely, and only under certain conditions. A highly moddable, community-based game -- which is the essence of NWN -- needs to have rock-solid engineering underneath.

NWN1 wasn't perfect, but it was a huge leap forward from anything that came before. With a bit of stroking it works perfectly on my box; no slowdowns or stutters whatsoever, with everything cranked out to the max. (Have you tried the different audio modes, by the way? Some of them caused stutters like you wouldn't believe on my box.)

It's too bad that Bioware was bought by EA. Would have been nice to see them take a crack at a party based NWN3. (Granted I know they had decided to do their own thing on IP).