RPGWatch Feature - The Aielund Saga Review

I went to play this following your review last year, but you indicated the best source to figure out what was needed in terms of downloads was to follow lilura's blog instructions. When I went to that blog s/he listed about 14 required downloads and was extremely confusing with regards to what was all that was needed to play the game with as few bugs as possible and instead it seemed like lilura's list of 'preferences' if you know what I mean.

Did you do all umpteen downloads or did you just do one or two? Can you link the ones you used that weren't in any way cosmetic or balance or anything of that kind, but just ones that are "to play the game"?

lackblogger said:

I went to play this following your review last year, but you indicated the best source to figure out what was needed in terms of downloads was to follow lilura's blog instructions. When I went to that blog s/he listed about 14 required downloads and was extremely confusing with regards to what was all that was needed to play the game with as few bugs as possible and instead it seemed like lilura's list of 'preferences' if you know what I mean.

Did you do all umpteen downloads or did you just do one or two? Can you link the ones you used that weren't in any way cosmetic or balance or anything of that kind, but just ones that are "to play the game"?

Click to expand...

Well, the thing is the NWNVault is now updated with newer version, so I have to figure out which files are required and goes where by myself (or wait for Lilura to update the guide).

As for the older version (which I reviewed), I followed Lilura's instruction here and worked fine:
https://lilura1.blogspot.com.au/p/how-to-download-install-aielund-saga.html

From my memory, all files listed below are required, maybe except for the music one.

You need all core module files, ofcourse - I downloaded them from archive link in Lilura's blog:

The Aielund Saga Act I - Nature Abhors A Vacuum
Download this archive (the_aielund_saga_act_i_nature_abhors_a_vacuum.rar)

The Aielund Saga Act II - Defender of the Crown
Download this archive (the_aielund_saga_act_ii_defender_of_the_crown.rar)

The Aielund Saga Act III - Return of the Ironlord
Download this archive (the_aielund_saga_act_iii_return_of_the_ironlord.rar)

The Aielund Saga Act IV - The Fall of Aielund (Part One)
Download this archive (the_aielund_saga_act_iv_the_fall_of_aielund_pt1.rar)

The Aielund Saga Act IV - The Fall of Aielund (Part Two)
Download this archive (the_aielund_saga_act_iv_the_fall_of_aielund_pt2.rar)

The Aielund Saga Act IV - The Fall of Aielund (Part Three)
Download this archive (the_aielund_saga_act_iv_the_fall_of_aielund_pt3.rar)

• Now, copy The Aielund Saga Act I - Nature Abhors a Vacuum.mod to your NWN modules folder - normally located in C:\Program Files (x86)\NeverwinterNights\NWN - and do the same for the other Acts.

You also need following:
CEP 2.61 (Community Expansion Pack)
Download this archive (cep_2_60_full_0.7z)

Aielund Hakpack (v3.0)
Download this archive (aielund_and_ems_haks.7z)

Abyss Tileset
Download this archive (abyss.rar)

Elven City Tileset
Download this archive (elvencityv1.26.rar)

Ship Interior Tileset
Download this archive (shipinteriordds.rar)

112 Placeable paintings
Download this archive (paintingpack_0.zip)

Aielund Music Selection
Download this archive (aielundmusic.zip)

I think I grabbed all of them from archive link.

Then followed below instructions:
• Open the cep_2_60_full_0 folder and navigate to the haks folder. Copy all 36 haks to your NWN haks folder. Now, navigate to the tlk folder and copy the five tlk files to your NWN tlk folder. If you don't have one, create it. CEP is now installed!

• Next, open the aielund_and_ems_haks folder and copy aielund_finale.hak, aielund_hakpak.hak and ems.hak to your NWN haks folder. Note that arQon's EMS is optional and a lil' controversial. On the one hand, anti-EMS ppl complain of its lack of documented changes; on the other, the author and maintainer recommend it. I installed EMS for my recounting, and loved it. Still, the choice is yours to make.

• Next, open the abyss, elvencity, shipinterior and paintingpack folders and copy abyss.hak, ElvenCity.hak, Ship-Interior.hak and PaintingPack.hak to your NWN hak folder.

• And lastly, open the aielundmusic folder and copy the 12 bmu files to your NWN music folder.

EDIT: It may sound like a lot of work…. BUT IS IS TOTALLY WORTH THE TROUBLE!

Thanks for the double check. I'll think about all this again when I complete my currently active game.

You do need all those files, but most of them are small and quickly downloaded. The only thing is you have to manually add them to the correct folder. I think its worth it. I'm in the middle of the last act now (Act 4. pt. 2) and I'm guessing the game will take me between 60-65 hours to complete. Act 1 is less than 10 hours, but acts 2-3 are around 20 hours each, and act 4 around 15 hours. The game builds on itself. Things get introduced in act 1, and you see the results later. While the writing is "ok," characters and companions are developed well, so by the end of act 4 you have a good feel for them. The story is also well thought out, certainly much better than the original NWN campaign. I guess what I'm trying to say is that the work to install the thing was at least for me worth the effort.

This sounds like something I'd enjoy but given the effort required, I'm likely to stick with what I know. If this ever gets streamlined, then I might give it a shot in the future.

Carnifex said:

This sounds like something I'd enjoy but given the effort required, I'm likely to stick with what I know. If this ever gets streamlined, then I might give it a shot in the future.

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That's sad to hear module installation just look more intimidating in writing - in fact, it really doesn't take that long to install (couple of minutes, I'd say) and the only big file is CEP pak.

Sorry for necroing the thread, but I just wanted to say thanks to @purpleblob; for the recommendation. I'm just getting to the end of part one of the saga and I'm having a blast with it. It's a fun campaign and its really scratching my NWN itch. I wouldn't have picked it up if I hadn't read this review, so thanks.

Glad you are enjoying it @Pongo; !! Oh, I love it when I hear fellow Watchers are enjoying this gem too. This game gets better and better as you progress