Neverwinter Nights Overhaul Project

Project Description

There are two parts to the project; Overhaul Override content - upgrading the base game art - and the Overhaul New Content, which will be integrated into modules and be usable by builders on their own modules.

Overhaul Project: Override

Aiming to be a clear improvement visually over the base game, especially at 2K and 4K resolutions:

• HD Models:
  • Player models: The Beamdog HD Pack with additional tweaked and fixed models. Tattoo colour 1 is used for the head eye colour.
  • Items: HD weapon models for most of the game weapons
  • Placeables and doors: Dozens of HD placeable and door models
  • Creatures: Several replacement HD creature models, and some fixes for existing models
• Tileset upgrades: Several tilesets fully reworked with new textures and anything not replaced is upscaled with normal mapping
• Upgraded textures:
  • Every texture not replaced has been AI upscaled to 4x size for a much more clear appearance; creatures, placeables, tilesets, GUI files, vfx textures, icons etc.
  • Portraits: improved utilising the highest quality versions available
  • GUI: Upscaled feat and spell icon textures also made transparent for better look and feel in the GUI

This work has been carefully curated and will continually added to as additional work is done by the community.

Overhaul Project: New Content

New content will be provided separately for compatibility reasons; else it might interfere with a module or online server. It is aiming to be a high quality focused pack of well documented content.

The below list is a work in progress and this has not been released yet and will come in stages:

• New player content:
  • Classes: Additional prestige classes utilising new NWN:EE features and addition of the cut NWN1 classes. Add full game support for up to 8 classes.
    • Class features: Additional familiars, animal companions, domains and other things may be made available.
  • Spells: New spells across every class, adding variety and utility
  • Feats: New feats across classes, also implementation of missing NWN1 feats
  • Items: New weapons may be added, new blueprints for weapons certainly will be
• New quality of life systems:
  • Auto buffing
  • Quickcast bars
  • Improved AI, including additional henchmen control options (and player combat AI toggle)
  • Better crafting without fiddling around in conversations
  • Optional cheats
• New art content:
  • Creatures: Revamped creature models where possible or improved textures if not
  • Items: Additional item appearances and additional options to PLT colour single part items like Shields
  • Tilesets: New ones may also be considered
• Improved existing game systems:
  • Classes: Fixes and rebalances to existing classes and addition of the 8 class multiclass limit
    • This will include large changes to Cleric domains
  • Spells: Many fixes and balance changes
  • Feats: Some fixes and updates
  • Crafting: Improved costings, better options, and potentially a new interface
• Bioware module improvements:
  • Bugfixes
  • Optional hiring of all companions as party members for a mega party, and better levelling and control systems (such as allowing inventory access)
  • Add Micha into SoU as a companion party member
  • Tweaks to quests and rewards
  • Overhauled loot system that takes into account expansion changes such as new weapons
  • Stores will get all the item types (such as missing weapons or spell scrolls) and game system items added (such as crafting materials)
  • Fuller MP support for HotU

In comparison to the Community Expansion Pack (CEP) it is going to be a much more focused project with both overhauls and EE HD models/fancy maps as a priority. Like the Community Patch Project (CPP) it will try and include lot of fixes to the game, but also add new content and clear balance changes. There will be some additions and changes to classes and spells but not as many as the Player Resource Consortium (PrC) with a focus on using the NWN:EE systems built into the game for ease of class use.

Helping The Project

Primarily this project is headed by Jasperre on the Vault Discord #overhaul channel; let us know there if you can help in any potential area, from creating new things (art, effects, gameplay systems, sounds, music, voices) to helping test and document. We may create sort some area on the Vault forums to also discuss the project once it has something. We'll also get a bugtracker on Github at some stage for reporting bugs centrally.

Project Aspiration Details

The project aims to do iterative releases slowly building the amount of upgraded and new content over time using high definition, fancy-mapped models and art utilising all NWN:EE features and replacement scripts and gameplay systems and additions utilising NUI and additional script and engine changes. The sheer amount of base Neverwinter Nights content is immense - tens of thousands of different files across all aspects of the game need improvements - so below is the aspirations of what will be done but not all immediately.

No ripped assets will be included in this project; although several selections of models (primarily the Beamdog HD Models) are licenced only for Neverwinter Nights usage. Compatibility with other projects (CEP, CPP, PrC) will be unlikely due to clashing 2da files, art assets and scripts, although the simple art override should be reasonably compatible with most custom content.

Final release file sizes will be limited to 15MB to stay within nwsync limits, making use of DDS to keep file sizes down, but source files will be kept as high a quality as possible for any potential increase of it or for singleplayer only changes.

Documentation will be provided on this wiki, with pages on assets being worked on and pictures of before/after of art and models, and a manual for players (and builders) once any gameplay changes are implemented. This may be eventually a separate "Space" to keep it away from the usual NWN modding information.

Art Overhauls

Beamdog has provided a sensible basis for overhauling the rest of the art in the game to a more modern standard, especially adding fancy maps to textures. There are several flavours of changes which will be used:

1. New models and texture replacements - Most time consuming but best results. New models to replace or add to existing content in the same fidelity as the Beamdog HD models, sticking reasonably close to 3E source or Bioware art.
2. New texture replacements with fancy maps- The textures on many tilesets and models could be replaced with a similar look and feel, and additional fancy maps.
3. Original texture upscales and auto generated fancy maps - Using AI upscaling of otherwise small textures, and adding fancy maps generated from tooling, this will provide some still noticeable updates to model look and quality.

The above would cover creatures, placeables, doors, tilesets, skyboxes and VFX including weather.

In addition there is going to be included upscaled portraits, loadsceens, GUI textures and Icons so that using the in-game scaling options allows for no loss of quality of these flat elements. Portraits will also be, if necessary, updated when models are. Additional or replacement load screens may be also done.

Gameplay and Systems Overhauls

For builders and players these additions may be included:

• Fixed bugs for many systems/2da files/scripts across all aspects of the game
• Script systems such as AI integrated into the overhaul
• Classes - additional and updated classes - primarily adding ones making use of EE features, potentially gamified to NWN standards rather than entirely sourcebook accurate. Reimplementation of the two cut classes (Eye of Gruumsh and Shou Disciple) would be a priority, as would adding proper spellbooks to the Assassin, Harper and Blackguard.
• Spells - new spells and changes/rebalancing - making use of EE features like additional subdial slots on spells, EffectRunScript and EffectIcon, OnPlayerTarget and knowing how powerful some spells are (looking at you Issacs Missile Storm) and weak others are (who seriously ever casts Poison or Bestow Curse?), a pass at reasonable balance adjustments, new spells and feats will be done. There may be attempts to provide functional caster levels for Pale Master (and any other prestige class that adds divine or arcane caster levels).
• Feats - new feats and some rebalancing - A few hardcoded cut feats will be re-added with appropriate changes, and new feats will be created to give martial classes some potential additional options than just choosing the basic ones. Some rebalancing or fixes should be done to some scripted abilities, and feat-spells used for Assassin, Harper and Blackguard will be removed.
• Additional item properties and weapon VFX
• Additional and updated blueprints for items, creatures, placeables, primarily for builders
• Crafting menu improvements
• Systems for auto buffing and additional spellcasting quickbars
• Animal Companions and Familiars rework - Possibly adding some, but primarily bug fixing and balancing hopefully making some more interesting choices due to the way abilities and stats were decided by Bioware.
• Additional meta systems such as traps, poisons, diseases, domains

Other Overhauls

The project will be hopefully able to look at:

• Music, sounds, and voicesets - Hopefully adding some additional content here in the same style of the base game
• Shader-based improvements - to toruches, lighting and other things now unlocked in NWN:EE
• Additional base weapons - now NWN:EE has added the ability to have weapon feats and finesse and other properties for them
• Toolset naming of objects and categorisation - Potentially add additional categories for the pallets, and rename object appearances so there are not dozens of things named identically. The new content should be marked reasonably well as well. New categories for scripts and sounds to find new content would also help.
• Revamps of the original campaign modules, hopefully featuring:
  • Multiple henchmen and rebalanced combat encounters (possibly with difficulty options)
  • Quality of life fixes, such as having stores updated with newer spell items and magical properties and new skills be supported in the older campaigns
  • Multiplayer fixes so playable in multiplayer without issues
  • Cutscene additions where appropriate to the Wailing Death campaign
  • Fixed improved movie files