How to optimize NWN on a modern system (nwnplayer.ini tweak)

Now NWN is an older game now. It was designed for single core CPUs, when we now have up to 8 CPU cores on your typical modern chip. This can lead to a few problems with the game.

However, there is an answer to this.

Go to your NWN install folder (Generally C:\Neverwinter Nights\NWN\ by default) and choose the nwnplayer.ini, right click it and select edit or open in notepad.

Up the top you may see this:

[Game Options]
Client CPU Affinity=0

Or another number next to the = sign.

On an i7 chip I have found it best to change this option to -2. This disables the cores, and makes it run on a single core. This can be necessary to get the game to run correctly, especially with HAKs/modern tilesets. So... your nwnplayer.ini file should look like this on an i7:

[Game Options]
Client CPU Affinity=-2

Save the ini file if you modify it, and enjoy the game!

Another graphical setting to try turning off or down if you are experiencing crashing or lag is grass, select this option and creature grass to the left slider.

Also turn off environmental shadow mapping. I hope this helps!

A GUIDE TO OPTIMIZING NEVERWINTER NIGHTS ON NEWER COMPUTER TYPES BY GAINREDUCTION
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Neverwinter Nights was released in 2002, and was only optimized for single core CPUs such as Pentium IV and the like. Nowadays Windows based PC desktops and laptops are more common to have more than a single core CPU.

We can get around this by telling the game to use a single core on a multi-core CPU. It's easiest to do this through the nwnplayer.ini file, which is an initialization file used by the game to detect player settings.
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To do this we will navigate to your Neverwinter Nights install directory.
By default, it is usually a folder that looks like this:

C:\NeverwinterNights\NWN\

On my own computer it looks like this: E:\Neverwinter Nights\NWN\

You should see a file within this folder called nwnplayer.ini, so right click on it and open with notepad, which should be on the default list of programs in Windows.

Please Note:

C: represents your first hard drive in your computer, whether it be a solid state drive (SSD) or a traditional SATA drive.
If you are installing for the first time, I would recommend installing it on a SATA drive, as it does start to add up to gigabytes of space after CEP and other server HAK files are installed.

If you don't know where your NWN is installed, you can search for the location through a Windows Search.

I'm on Windows 7, so I hit the start menu and type NWN into the 'search programs and files' type box.

You can even type nwnplayer.ini in this search to bring it up.

Now, open the nwnplayer.ini and search using ctrl-f for [Game Options]

If there is no part that says [Game Options], add it by inserting the following lines:

[Game Options]
Client CPU Affinity=-1

-1 works best on i5 cpu's generally.

If you're on an i7 as I am, I would try the line below:

[Game Options]
Client CPU Affinity=-2

Under the File menu in Notepad, select “Save,” Then close the window. A lot of choppy 'visual' lag in the game will be gone, so game on folks!


ADVANCED GRAPHICS TWEAK OPTIONS
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Are you experiencing crashing in game?

Try these advanced graphics options from the in game menu for graphics!


Shiny Water to Off (a known problem on a lot of NWN servers)
Grass to Off (Should absolutely be off in a setting with a high polygon graphics counts, e.g. mountains)
Creature Shadow Detail to 0 or off (I turn this off even on my NVIDIA 760GTX - A lot of the more modern tilesets have issues with this and WILL make you crash, so it's better to have it off!)
Try reducing the shadows detail overall if you run into any other problems.
Anti-aliasing may make the game look better, but can often crash you.


This guide is © all rights reserved in 2015 for the Thessir Server Project.

“Game on folks!” - gainreduction