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Neverwinter Nights 2

Platform(s): PC
Genre: RPG/Action
Publisher: Atari
Developer: Obsidian Entertainment

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'Neverwinter Nights 2' - v1.03 Patch in the Works

by Rainier on Nov. 20, 2006 @ 5:20 a.m. PST

Bards sing tales of heroes from ages past, but never have the Forgotten Realms so desperately needed a champion. Years have passed since the war between Luskan and Neverwinter, almost enough time for the wounds of war to heal. But the brief peace the Realms have known may be at an end. Tension growing between the mighty city-states means the Sword Coast again teeters on the edge of open war. Unnoticed, a greater danger stalks the City of Skilled Hands. Unbeknownst to the denizens of the North, deep in the Mere of Dead Men, dark forces from across the Realms have been rallied under the banner of a legendary evil. If left unchallenged, all of the North is doomed to fall under its power.

New Features

General
• Weapon combos in hotbar: Added the ability to set up dual weapon, weapon & shield, or weapon & torch combos in the hotbar. Clicking the hotbar button for a weapon you already have equipped will unequip it.

• Camera Changes: We’ve made a series of camera changes to this version:
o New options for adjusting sensitivity for controlling the camera by keyboard, mouse, and edge of screen.
o Chase Cam adjusted to work more like NWN1.
o In free cam mode, the arrow keys now pan the camera, and holding down CTRL will zoom and yaw the camera.
o Added bindable keyboard key for mouse look / camera control. This mimics functionality of pressing down the middle mouse button for those without a middle mouse button.

• Graphics Optimizations: A number of new graphics optimizations have been added:
o Anti-Aliasing Support: Anti-aliasing is now supported and can be enabled in the Options Menu. Please note: This could significantly affect frame rate, depending on your hardware.
o Shadow Rendering: Shadow rendering speed has been improved.
o Tree Rendering: Speed improvements to the rendering of trees.
o Water Rendering: Speed improvements to how water is rendered by the engine.

• New Options:
o Buy/Sell Confirmation: You can now turn off the buy/sell confirmation dialog.
o Options menu has been reorganized to support many new camera control options.
o You can now change keybindings in game.

• Database Support:
o The database script functions from NWN1 have been re-enabled. They are now significantly faster in many cases.

Multiplayer
• Improved /t style chat.

DM Client
• Added initial support for hotbar buttons and context menus.
• Added in party bar. It will only list the connected players in the game and not who is in your faction.
• You can now hover over menu items in the Chooser instead of having to click on them first.
• “Very Easy” difficulty option has been restored.
• The DM chat channel is once again available via the /dm prefix.

Scripting
• EffectWildshape() – New function for Wildshape effect.
• GetEncumbranceState () - Added script function to get the encumbrance state of a given player
• GetPlayerCreatureExamineTarget() - Added script function to get the current creature examine target for a player
• PackCampaignDatabase() – A new database feature to NWN2, this will pack the campaign database and purge deleted records from a database.
• GetPlayerTargetObject() – New script function to get the current selected target object for a given player.
• UnlinkDoor() – New script command to turn an area transition door into a normal door.
• Database support has been added, including new PackCampaignDatabase() function.

Toolset
• Added a load screen image previewer.
• Added item icon previewer.
• Area names and tags now default to the area’s file name for new areas.
• The spell tab now shows multiple instances of spells, so creatures can have multiple instances of a spell with different metamagic types.
• Right-clicking while placing tiles now rotates the tile.
• The first column and row of the 2DA viewer are now pinned, making it easier to use.
• Changes on item blueprints will now be propagated to items in creature or placeable inventories, or that are equipped on creatures.
• Added new option to the File menu that allows the user to compile only currently open scripts.
• There is a new panel in the script editor that allows the user to insert scripts from the NWN2ToolsetTemplates folder into the current script.
• Script search functionality changed to bring up all results in one result window and the user can double-click to open up that search result.
• Item cost calculations added to the item properties.
• New visual style.
• Doors now have a flag that allows them to render an invisible area transition (aka an invisible "black door.") This is adjustable in the toolset. This is to address concerns with the “black area” behind open doors and how silly it looked on open gates in the middle of Neverwinter, etc.
• When users enter a string ref, they can also check a box to say that the string ref is from the custom file and the string returned will be from that file instead of the main .tlk table.
• Feminine versions of strings are now editable.
• Hex values can now be used as string references within 2DAs. This makes it easier to use custom TLK files with 2DAs.
• The script editor runs faster and uses less memory.

Bug Fixes

General
• Animal Companions, Familiars, and Summoned Creatures are now unsummoned when a roster member is being despawned. This will address problems where companions can become familiars on transitions.
• Some minor adjustments to the pathing system to prevent characters from being put into illegal areas.
• Split out Armored Caster feat into class specific feats for Bards and Warlocks to properly apply spell failure percentages. This will allow users who add new classes to give them specific armored casting ability easily.
• Some minor fixes to drop shadow rendering.
• The debug DirectX check has been removed – some users had problems running the game, even without the DirectX SDK being installed.
• The game would crash when a module with more than 16,000 objects was loaded.
• Fixed a memory leak related to grass that would occur in certain areas.

Multiplayer
• Fixed issue when a player was resurrected by another player, the “respawn” button would stay up on their screen, and could be used to restore life and remove effects.

DM Client
• Added larger “+” buttons for the Chooser and Creator to make them easier to click on.
• Fixed some issues with keymapping.
• Player list is used instead of the party list when displaying party members on the minimap and areamap.
• DM’s can now area transition while possessing something and the entire faction doesn’t come with them.
• Fixed issue with trying to possess a creature in a different area than the one the DM is currently standing in.
• Fixed mouse action target for Dungeon Masters, so they don't start conversations with everyone. Also fixed highlight, so they can't always highlight themselves.
• DM can now move around while game is paused.
• Moved feats granted to a DM character from being hard-coded to a new flag in the feat.2da, "DMFeat". If it's marked as 0, the DM doesn't get it; as 1, he does.
• NWN database bug: Variables names are now properly truncated to 32 characters in all cases.

Effects/Spells
• If weapon trails are disabled in the options menu, hit and parry visuals are disabled as well.
• Character validation was not taking Spellcasting Prodigy into account for a number of spells wizards learn at first level.
• You no longer get max spells after unequipping an ability boost item, then an extra spell slot item. Also, changed extra spell slot items so that they only grant extra spell slots if you are capable of casting spells of that level.
• Neutralize Poison should not remove Disease and Ability Decrease effects.
• Lowered Frenzy damage to 6 per round.
• You can no longer recover traps with DC 20 or higher if you do not have the Trapfinding feat. If you try to disarm or recover a DC 20+ trap without Trapfinding, you will receive feedback that success is never possible; it is still possible to suffer a critical failure and have the trap go off on you. You can still flag, examine, and set a trap of any DC without Trapfinding; you can also always disarm or recover a trap you set yourself.
• EffectShareDamage() was not actually applying damage to the caster.
• Some fixes to global scripts on how spells affect NPCs, etc., in Hardcore mode.
• Finger of Death affects players in multiplayer mode now.
• Heal spells no longer call a touch attack when cast on undead.
• The Mass Inflict Line of spells now properly call a will save instead of a Fort save.
• The Mass Inflict Line of spells have now been updated to have the same behavior as Mass Inflict Light Wounds in regards to target discrimination and undead.
• Mass Inflict Light Wounds no longer harms hostile undead. Neither will it heal them. The healing effect is only applied to friendly undead.
• Casting Mage Armor on a character who already has Improved Mage Armor applied will no longer remove the stronger spell.
• Improved Mage Armor now correctly provides +6 AC rather than +8.
• The duration on Tymora’s Smile has been corrected.
• The spells Foundation of Stone, Body of Sun, Jagged Tooth, Tortoise Shell, Swamp Lung, Storm Avatar, and Nature's Avatar now properly apply their metamagic abilities.
• Tymora's Smile is now self-cast only.
• Crafting wands, potions, and scrolls was not working for many spells. All spells should now craft properly.
• Soothing Light will now auto-cast when selected.
• Guarding the Lord will now only target other creatures.
• Warlock Darkness now has the same targeting UI as arcane Darkness.
• Mass Heal now has a range of "close."
• The Mass Cure line of spells now uniformly have a range of "close."
• Old behavior for Bigby's 3 was causing some creatures to become paralyzed rather than immobilized in order to simulate grappling. This allowed them a chance to break out on a will save. The paralysis effect has been replaced with an immobilization effect.
• Prismatic Spray was always petrifying, rather than applying a random effect. This is fixed.
• Web and Greater Shadow Conjuration/Web now have the same targeting UI.
• Greater Fireburst will no longer damage the caster on hardcore difficulty.
• Fireburst will no longer harm the caster.
• Iron Horn now properly uses a cone shape instead of a sphere.
• Foundation of stone was calculating its duration in seconds rather than rounds. This has been fixed.
• Magic Fang and Greater Magic Fang now can be applied to any animal, beast, or vermin. This includes wildshaped druids.
• Missile Storm will no longer target friendlies on hardcore mode.
• Bombardment now knocks down targets on a failed save.
• Blade Barrier now plays a species specific blood spray when it damages a target.
• Destruction now checks the target for death immunity.

Items
• Changed Holy Avenger bonus damage from 1d6 to 2d6 vs. evil.

Scripting
• AttemptToDisarmTrap() - Returns FALSE if character cannot path to trap instead of assuming they don't have the skill points to do so.
• GetArmorRank - Returns whether an equipped item is ARMOR_RANK_NONE, _LIGHT, _MEDIUM, or _HEAVY
• GetSpellLevel() wasn’t taking cleric domains into account. This has been fixed.
• GetWeaponType() – Lets Keen Edge spell also affect piercing weapons.
• TalentSpellFilter() – This has been standardized in regards to Keen Edge and Weapon of Impact.
• Added script command gr_character_xml run from console that will export character data in XML format to the log.
• Fixed X2_inc_switches constant that was causing the override spellscript and the tagbased script prefix to overwrite each other.
• NPC casters can no longer affect themselves with AOE spells in Hardcore+ difficulty
• NPCs of non-opposed factions can no longer affect each other with AOE spells in Hardcore+ difficulty
• Added additional effects and fixed parameter listing for ga_effect.
Crafting
• 'Medalion of Thought' recipe now gives that item instead of the 'Talisman of Pure Evil'
• The 'Armor of Arrow Deflection' recipe now gives the correct effect and not 'Spell Specialization: Abjuration' on the Armor enchanted
• 'Invulnerable Armor' recipe now give Damage Reduction Effect
• 'Posion Weapon' recipe now give poison effect
• The 'Armor of Spell Resistance' recipes now gives spell resistance effect.
• Crafted wands, and scrolls now give the correct class restrictions based on class spell lists.
• Wands and potions now take into account the class and level of the caster for determining if the max spell level is surpasses instead of using the innate level of a spell.
• removed item cast at item restriction for spell storing devices (wands, potions, scrolls)
• Reduced cost of 0 level spells for wands, potions, and scrolls by half
• Added warlock darkness crafting recipes for Gold Filigree Charm and Infernal Focus
• Number of charges for newly crafted wand now defaults to 50.

Interface
• Fixed a bug where screen edge turning was frame rate dependent, making the camera behave differently based on graphics settings or area.
• Fixed a few minor bugs with mouse selection.
• Save game name will now show up properly when overwriting savegames.
• Fixed issue where gaining bonus feats from items were not causing a refresh of the character sheet.
• The character ‘ΓΈ’ has been added to our fonts.
• Context Menu Delay slider and Weapon trail Option are now properly saved and read in correctly.
• You can no longer resize on of the multiplayer chat windows offscreen.
• You can now click past feat selection if you have no feats to select. You lose that feat pick permanently. This was added so characters with low stats in core abilities could process through level up.

Toolset
• Turning off fog along with the “use area far plane” option now works correctly, and will render the area up to the far plane specified in the Graphics section of the Options screen.
• Oriented billboards in visual effects will now render correctly in the toolset.
• Weapon scaling now looks correct in the toolset.
• Fixed a bug with the script and conversation search windows stealing focus.
• Fixed a bug with changes to spells not getting saved if the active tab was changed before changes were applied.
• Level 9 spells are now saved correctly for creatures.
• Font preferences are now saved correctly.
• Fixed a bug where docking windows would snap closed if a drop-down box was used while they were shown.
• Reduction in memory pre-allocation by half. This should address some customer reported issues with the toolset crashing on load.
• Some improvements to script editor speed and reductions in memory usage.
• Fixed a bug where placed instances of stores weren't copying the "infinite" flag for items.
• Fixed memory leak when erasing grass.
• Fixed issue for non-English versions where some required toolset preferences were not being loaded.
• Module variables are now displayed under the “Scripts” category.
• Fixed bug where turning off light spheres would turn off sound spheres.
• Focus wouldn’t change properly when clicking on the propertygrid or the blueprint view. Fixed.
• Fixed crash when trying to modify prefabs in the universal blueprint changer.
• Fix for an exception that could be thrown if a journal was modified from code (like a plugin.)
• Fixed inability to modify camera orientation, Orientation has been re-enabled.
• Some fixes to toolset memory management to improve stability.
• Floating windows that are offscreen will be moved back onscreen on startup.
• Newly-created blueprints will have their template property set to the same name as the blueprint.
• Fixed a bug where creating new item blueprints, assigning them to a creature or placeable, and then immediately placing the creature or placeable would result in the item having incorrect properties.
• Fixed a bug in the script editor where certain NWN-specific data types would confuse the parameter info display.
• Using the “Find All” button in the script search window now displays all results in a popup window. Users can select the matching script/line they want to view.
• An estimated value for the cost of an item (before appraise rolls etc) has been added to the properties of items.
• Updated look and feel of the tab controls.
• Fixed a bug with the “Save” button in the world map editor. It will no longer corrupt map images.


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