If you want to mod NWN:EE then there are several things to be aware of.

Terminology

Quickly to break down some key words. NWN of course means Neverwinter Nights and EE is Enhanced Edition.

Main file types:

  • module - .mod files that are playable levels of the game, sometimes multiple of which make up an entire campaign
  • hakpack - .hak files similar to a zip that contain a set of custom models, game information or whatever else
  • tlk - a file that contains text strings that is usually necessary for custom content involving races, classes and spells

Other terminology:

  • Documents folder - the game creates a "Neverwinter Nights" folder. If you break your game somehow, renaming this will allow the game to create it again.
  • userpatch - The easiest way to install custom content that layers over all modules you play. Generally safest if used for art modifications only.
  • Portraits - You can create your own character portraits (tutorial to follow...), just needing some loose files in /portraits directory

Game Crashing

Firstly make sure your game is up to date with the latest patch. The game is 99.9% backwards compatible with earlier pre-EE content and patches contain vital fixes.

If you are stuck with crashes after installing custom content, you can also rename your Neverwinter Nights document folder to reset the folder uses and perhaps move back a few at a time to recover. Settings are stored in the settings.tml and renaming the file can reset your Game Options.

There are also known issues with Antivirus and OneDrive when starting the game and it crashing. There are two main ways to solve this:

  • Whitelist the game executable in the Antivirus (or disable it), and Disable OneDrive entirely on the Documents folder. The latter is sometimes hard to do.
  • Run the game executable with the -userdirectory game parameter that creates the folder somewhere outside of OneDrive's reach, eg: -userdirectory "X:\path\to\Neverwinter Nights"

Required Hakpacks/TLK files versus Game Wide Override Modifications

Modding in Neverwinter Nights isn't as clear-cut as it might be for Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Baldurs Gate or similar RPGs where there is a single game world or campaign you modify.

Instead there is usually the base campaigns (that Bioware made) and also a whole load of custom modules made by people with the games toolset.

You might find that there are projects (some mentioned on this FAQ further down) that are what you'd think of as more typical modifications like Skyrim has that apply game wide overrides (PRC, CPP, HD pack) but also may break a lot of things if they conflict with a modules custom content.

Merging modifications is also not for the faint of heart and you should consider joining the Discord to understand the difficulties of resource conflicts and 2da merging.

Acquiring Custom Content

Singleplayer modules may require custom content to run. The vault will usually have the hakpacks required next to the module download. For example:

  • Dark Rangers Treasure (a Bioware sample module) requires nothing other than the mod file to run
  • Shadewood requires a hakpack and a TLK file both linked to in the downloads section, and no other custom content is required
  • Prophet requires CEP 1.68 (listed under "Required project") which links to another page to get the specific versions required

The game will inform you on loading if there is a missing file that is required.

Additional game wide override modifications would include projects like the PRC or Beamdog HD Pack projects which will usually run as userpatch files or after being added to a modules hakpack list, and if they conflict with the module files should be disabled.

Downloading Content

There are a few main ways to obtain custom content:

  • NWSync - This is content loadable through the game directly. Most multiplayer servers use this method of content distribution. There are some additional repositories for this such as https://nwsync.click/. When downloaded you are set to go no other downloads needed!
  • Neverwinter Vault - This has most of the games custom content. It either comprises of a module and any attached custom content, or separate custom content files that can potentially apply game-wide (although see notes below!)
  • Moddb and Nexus - Has some other NWN projects
  • Steam Workshop - this is not recommended to use since it can be difficult to figure out what content installed through Steam conflicts with other modifications. If you close steam before running the game it will stop loading this content to help figure this out.

Installing Content

The installation of content is relatively easy, you usually put the files in these locations:

  • modules - Documents\Neverwinter Nights\mod folder
  • hakpacks - Documents\Neverwinter Nights\hak folder
  • tlk files - Documents\Neverwinter Nights\tlk
  • portrait files - Documents\Neverwinter Nights\portraits folder
  • Other files: These can basically go in Documents\Neverwinter Nights\\override since this essentially functions the same as the other folders (music/ambient/movies) in NWN:EE

For override content, this is usually game wide;

  • override loose files - these would generally end up in Documents\Neverwinter Nights\override however it is not recommended to have loose files if possible. Use hakpacks / userpatch instead.
  • userpatch files - create the folder Documents\Neverwinter Nights\patch and place the hakpack files there, and create Documents\Neverwinter Nights\userpatch.ini to load them in the order you want

Note for loose files and userpatch content there is always a risk of conflicts, especially when joining Multiplayer servers, and therefore if you encounter crashes or bugs it is on you to disable your custom content. A good example of this is some of the Beamdog HD Pack content will conflict with CEP content, due to how model inheritance works, therefore you may not be able to run the HD pack on top of such modules.

Major Custom Content Projects

These are a few of the major released custom content projects and what they do.

Community Expansion Project (CEP1, CEP2, CEP3)

The CEP projects (there are now 3 of them, CEP1, CEP2 and CEP3) are not true expansions (such as how Hordes of the Underdark was an expansion of the game made by Bioware). Instead they contain builder content such as new creature appearances or placeable objects or items.

Players should not load these into their override or userpatch setups, but instead only download them when the module they have requires it.

Player Resource Consortium (PRC)

The Player Resource Consortium project provides a lot of new classes, races and spells/abilities. Most of the time this is applied as a layered set of custom content across many modules, although some modules are built using it.

There is going to be a higher chance of some conflicts with modules, so patches for specific modules may exist.

There are two variants of this project now;

Community Patch Project (CPP)

The Community Patch Project has some modifications to spells, feats and classes that are intended to patch issues.

However the project does step into adding content (eg some new classes) and has several 2da files changed, and therefore you may encounter bugs if liberally applied to everything.

Beamdog HD Pack

The Beamdog HD Pack contains a huge set of new models for the base player races. This acts like an art-only override. It is recommended to use the fixed community version. The Beamdog released version has several bugs and the installer no longer correctly functions.

There are known issues with some CEP content, so you may have to disable this when playing certain modules.

The Neverwinter Nights Overhaul Project aims to combine the HD pack with other updated visual overrides.

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