Neverwinter Nights 2

Edit history:

Garryl: 2013-07-03 08:03:35 am

2013-07-03 08:03:19 am

Smilge, do you have any more news on your run? I'm running through the game casually with a Grey Orc Monk/Cleric (or something similar to that). I just hit level 5 a little into the Docks district. Boy do I move fast!

Another couple of advantages to the Cleric level, in addition to the +20% speed:
- In West Harbor, you can heal the injured militia without going back to the priest for the salve/moss/thingy. It's through conversation, it doesn't take a spell.
- Nightshield provides immunity to Magic Missile, and Protection from Evil provides immunity to mind-affecting effects (Daze), meaning you can run past spellcasters in the first few sections with impunity.
- Magic Weapon on a quarterstaff or a kama gives you a +1 weapon that you can use with Flurry, although I expect you'll find a +1 weapon or reach Monk 4 before DR/magic becomes an issue.

Regarding Body of the Sun and other aura effects, I had something similar happen the other day with Battletide. I paused right when an enemy was at the edge of the aura, and messages about the creature making saving throws spammed up the message log. They kept on coming up even though the game was paused. I think it happens when a creature is right at the edge of the aura, so whatever's calculating it can't decide if it's in or out of range. This was in the latest patch, btw.

Smilge, do you have any more news on your run? I'm running through the game casually with a [url=http://nwn2db.com/build/?150796]Grey Orc Monk/Cleric[/url] (or something similar to that). I just hit level 5 a little into the Docks district. Boy do I move fast!

Another couple of advantages to the Cleric level, in addition to the +20% speed:
- In West Harbor, you can heal the injured militia without going back to the priest for the salve/moss/thingy. It's through conversation, it doesn't take a spell.
- Nightshield provides immunity to Magic Missile, and Protection from Evil provides immunity to mind-affecting effects (Daze), meaning you can run past spellcasters in the first few sections with impunity.
- Magic Weapon on a quarterstaff or a kama gives you a +1 weapon that you can use with Flurry, although I expect you'll find a +1 weapon or reach Monk 4 before DR/magic becomes an issue.

Regarding Body of the Sun and other aura effects, I had something similar happen the other day with Battletide. I paused right when an enemy was at the edge of the aura, and messages about the creature making saving throws spammed up the message log. They kept on coming up even though the game was paused. I think it happens when a creature is right at the edge of the aura, so whatever's calculating it can't decide if it's in or out of range. This was in the latest patch, btw.

Artas1984

Edit history:

Artas1984: 2013-07-04 11:28:46 am

2013-07-04 11:28:02 am

Quote from AquaTiger:

Quote from Forceofwill:

Zaxis

The infinite experience bug is still present in the latest version of the game. This happens in Jerro's Heaven, where Zaxis guards one of the 4 corner portals. On my play-through through NWN 2 i've encountered a shitload of bugs, too many to remember. A speedrun would be fun, if not boring, in parts, where there is conversation.

In the merchant district there is a merchant which sells an item that gives you a permanent haste. The problem is that in NWN 2 the haste effect feels like shit, and does not do any justice. The haste effect in NWN 1 was the real deal.

Garryl

2013-07-04 09:40:03 pm

There's an infinite HP bug if you have multiple items or effects that boost Constitution. It seems that Con-boosting items and effects check if their Con-change would cause you to gain or lose HP before they check if there are any other existing Con-modifying effects in place that they don't stack with. As such, when you put on a Con-boosting item while already under a Con-boosting effect, you get the extra HP you would have gained had the two effects stacked, and the extra HP remains even when you remove the second Con-boosting item. This can boost you well above your normal max HP. Any extra HP above maximum goes away (you just revert to your actual max HP) when you transition areas, when you rest, or when you heal any damage (for example, you can see in the log "Cure Minor Wounds heals CHARACTER for -64 hit points" if you healed while 64 hp above max). It persists through save and reload.

For example, on my level 10 character with 14 Constitution and 120 HP, I have Zachan's Amulet (+1 Con) equipped, bringing me to 15 Con. Then I equip Boots of Hardiness +1 (+1 Con). My hp increases to 130, but my max stays at 120. Because the two items don't stack, my Con stays at 15. When I remove the boots, the extra HP remains. Every time I take off and put on the boots again, I gain another 10 HP semi-permanently. Just for kicks, I got my HP up to ~1050.

This bug only works with a Con-boosting item that adds an odd numbered bonus (+1, +3, +5, etc.) so that it can add more HP when you equip it than when you remove it. You'll only get your character level in extra HP each time you unequip and equip. I think the earliest you can do this is Fort Locke, using the Bear's Endurance spell, Galen's Boosts of Hardiness +1, and a character with an Odd-numbered Con score (so it stays odd-numbered after the +4). Coincidentally, you get Elanee at Fort Locke, she can cast Bear's Endurance, and she has an odd-numbered Con score (if you don't have one yourself).

On a related (but kinda useless) note, if you do it the other way around by equipping and unequipping a +1 item while you have an even-numbered Con score (after including your other Con-booster), you lose HP each time instead of gaining it. For example, having a 10 Con and Bear's Endurance, then swapping in and out Boots of Hardiness +1. On a related, but slightly useful note, even without taking it to abusive levels, you can use multiple Con-boosting spells (such as Bear's Endurance multiple times) to gain bonus HP for each casting.

This bug is present in the Steam version of the game (Patch 1.023).

The easiest way I've found to rapidly swap in and out an equipped item is just to put it in a quick slot and hit that slot repeatedly. If you use the keyboard, the game reacts for each key press. If you assign the item to multiple quickslots, you can press the keys for multiple quickslots at once to do it faster. It takes two presses (equip + remove) for each iteration, which adds 1x your level to your HP.

There's an infinite HP bug if you have multiple items or effects that boost Constitution. It seems that Con-boosting items and effects check if their Con-change would cause you to gain or lose HP before they check if there are any other existing Con-modifying effects in place that they don't stack with. As such, when you put on a Con-boosting item while already under a Con-boosting effect, you get the extra HP you would have gained had the two effects stacked, and the extra HP remains even when you remove the second Con-boosting item. This can boost you well above your normal max HP. Any extra HP above maximum goes away (you just revert to your actual max HP) when you transition areas, when you rest, or when you heal any damage (for example, you can see in the log "Cure Minor Wounds heals CHARACTER for -64 hit points" if you healed while 64 hp above max). It persists through save and reload.

For example, on my level 10 character with 14 Constitution and 120 HP, I have Zachan's Amulet (+1 Con) equipped, bringing me to 15 Con. Then I equip Boots of Hardiness +1 (+1 Con). My hp increases to 130, but my max stays at 120. Because the two items don't stack, my Con stays at 15. When I remove the boots, the extra HP remains. Every time I take off and put on the boots again, I gain another 10 HP semi-permanently. Just for kicks, I got my HP up to ~1050.

This bug only works with a Con-boosting item that adds an odd numbered bonus (+1, +3, +5, etc.) so that it can add more HP when you equip it than when you remove it. You'll only get your character level in extra HP each time you unequip and equip. I think the earliest you can do this is Fort Locke, using the Bear's Endurance spell, Galen's Boosts of Hardiness +1, and a character with an Odd-numbered Con score (so it stays odd-numbered after the +4). Coincidentally, you get Elanee at Fort Locke, she can cast Bear's Endurance, and she has an odd-numbered Con score (if you don't have one yourself).

On a related (but kinda useless) note, if you do it the other way around by equipping and unequipping a +1 item while you have an even-numbered Con score (after including your other Con-booster), you lose HP each time instead of gaining it. For example, having a 10 Con and Bear's Endurance, then swapping in and out Boots of Hardiness +1. On a related, but slightly useful note, even without taking it to abusive levels, you can use multiple Con-boosting spells (such as Bear's Endurance multiple times) to gain bonus HP for each casting.

This bug is present in the Steam version of the game (Patch 1.023).

The easiest way I've found to rapidly swap in and out an equipped item is just to put it in a quick slot and hit that slot repeatedly. If you use the keyboard, the game reacts for each key press. If you assign the item to multiple quickslots, you can press the keys for multiple quickslots at once to do it faster. It takes two presses (equip + remove) for each iteration, which adds 1x your level to your HP.

Garryl

2013-07-05 04:37:59 pm

Just a note about the Sunken Flagon fight. It seems you don't have to kill all the Githyanki, just the ones in the common room. The 3 or so in the hallway attacking you and Duncan don't count and disappear when the rest die and the conversation starts.

Artas1984

2013-07-05 05:40:49 pm

Quote from Garryl:

There's an infinite HP bug if you have multiple items or effects that boost Constitution. It seems that Con-boosting items and effects check if their Con-change would cause you to gain or lose HP before they check if there are any other existing Con-modifying effects in place that they don't stack with. As such, when you put on a Con-boosting item while already under a Con-boosting effect, you get the extra HP you would have gained had the two effects stacked, and the extra HP remains even when you remove the second Con-boosting item. This can boost you well above your normal max HP. Any extra HP above maximum goes away (you just revert to your actual max HP) when you transition areas, when you rest, or when you heal any damage (for example, you can see in the log "Cure Minor Wounds heals CHARACTER for -64 hit points" if you healed while 64 hp above max). It persists through save and reload.

For example, on my level 10 character with 14 Constitution and 120 HP, I have Zachan's Amulet (+1 Con) equipped, bringing me to 15 Con. Then I equip Boots of Hardiness +1 (+1 Con). My hp increases to 130, but my max stays at 120. Because the two items don't stack, my Con stays at 15. When I remove the boots, the extra HP remains. Every time I take off and put on the boots again, I gain another 10 HP semi-permanently. Just for kicks, I got my HP up to ~1050.

This bug is present in the Steam version of the game (Patch 1.023).

I take it that the steam version 1.023 reflects the latest 1.23 patch? Did not even think that there is a steam version of the game. I've benn using my legit DVD of NWN 2 when i bought Sapphire HD3870 in 2008 - the DVD was inside the video card box. I remember the game lagged like hell on HD3870, even made some complain type threads in the bioware forums about it.

Anyway i think this particular HP bug is too severe to be accepted. It is cheating.

[quote="Garryl"]There's an infinite HP bug if you have multiple items or effects that boost Constitution. It seems that Con-boosting items and effects check if their Con-change would cause you to gain or lose HP before they check if there are any other existing Con-modifying effects in place that they don't stack with. As such, when you put on a Con-boosting item while already under a Con-boosting effect, you get the extra HP you would have gained had the two effects stacked, and the extra HP remains even when you remove the second Con-boosting item. This can boost you well above your normal max HP. Any extra HP above maximum goes away (you just revert to your actual max HP) when you transition areas, when you rest, or when you heal any damage (for example, you can see in the log "Cure Minor Wounds heals CHARACTER for -64 hit points" if you healed while 64 hp above max). It persists through save and reload.

For example, on my level 10 character with 14 Constitution and 120 HP, I have Zachan's Amulet (+1 Con) equipped, bringing me to 15 Con. Then I equip Boots of Hardiness +1 (+1 Con). My hp increases to 130, but my max stays at 120. Because the two items don't stack, my Con stays at 15. When I remove the boots, the extra HP remains. Every time I take off and put on the boots again, I gain another 10 HP semi-permanently. Just for kicks, I got my HP up to ~1050.

This bug is present in the Steam version of the game (Patch 1.023).

[/quote]

I take it that the steam version 1.023 reflects the latest 1.23 patch? Did not even think that there is a steam version of the game. I've benn using my legit DVD of NWN 2 when i bought Sapphire HD3870 in 2008 - the DVD was inside the video card box. I remember the game lagged like hell on HD3870, even made some complain type threads in the bioware forums about it.

Anyway i think this particular HP bug is too severe to be accepted. It is cheating.

Onin

2013-07-05 05:50:13 pm

If you think any bug is "too severe", I can only say, welcome to speedrunning D&D RPGs. It's the standard around here.

Garryl

2013-07-05 11:52:45 pm

What displays in-game on the main menu as Patch 1.023 is what patch 1.23 displays as in-game. The Steam Version has been out since December 2010, although it's not as complete as the original or GOG's version (no toolset for making your own modules, no Mysteries of Westgate).

If you don't want to rely on Bear's Endurance, you can snag an amulet of +2 Con from the Shadow Priest in the castle ruins, get Zachan's Amulet (+1 Con) as a quest reward from rescuing the children just outside the castle ruins, or buy an amulet of +2 Con in Neverwinter. If you rely on the spell, you have to recast it after each rest (or area transition) in order to get your HP up, which takes ~3 seconds. You also need someone to cast it on you, and there might be some situations where you don't necessarily want any of the spellcasters in your party.

By the way, do you know what the requirements for stepping through the Lizardling Lair entrance in the mere at the beginning is? You don't need to be out of combat, or even have cleared the immediate area of enemies, but it seems that you need to kill all (or maybe just some?) of the 4 Lizardlings right outside the door.

What displays in-game on the main menu as Patch 1.023 is what patch 1.23 displays as in-game. The Steam Version has been out since December 2010, although it's not as complete as the original or GOG's version (no toolset for making your own modules, no Mysteries of Westgate).

If you don't want to rely on Bear's Endurance, you can snag an amulet of +2 Con from the Shadow Priest in the castle ruins, get Zachan's Amulet (+1 Con) as a quest reward from rescuing the children just outside the castle ruins, or buy an amulet of +2 Con in Neverwinter. If you rely on the spell, you have to recast it after each rest (or area transition) in order to get your HP up, which takes ~3 seconds. You also need someone to cast it on you, and there might be some situations where you don't necessarily want any of the spellcasters in your party.

By the way, do you know what the requirements for stepping through the Lizardling Lair entrance in the mere at the beginning is? You don't need to be out of combat, or even have cleared the immediate area of enemies, but it seems that you need to kill all (or maybe just some?) of the 4 Lizardlings right outside the door.

Garryl

2013-07-11 07:52:03 am

I started a Knowledge Base page to hopefully get this information recorded and sorted.

gammadragon

2013-07-25 05:27:35 am

Might be magic...

Hope you're still working on this run - really looking forward to an initial video.

I was planning to try and find a few useful glitches in the game, but as usually happens, real life has gotten in the way. I'll try to come back to it when I can.

BigHeadBerg

Edit history:

BigHeadBerg: 2015-08-05 04:47:12 pm

2015-08-05 04:25:02 pm

I'm going to do a little thread necromancy here, I hope that's all right. I've started work on this run, only about halfway through Chapter 1 so far, but I discovered a very interesting glitch. While playing through the city watch quests, somewhere between the beginning of the final battle at the wagon in the Back Alley and the start of the warehouse raid, all of my characters (including Elanee's companion) except for my main character became invincible! The combat log shows them as getting hit, but damage is reduced to 0, by both spells and weapons. Unfortunately, this went away at the cutscene where you grab the documents. I tried it again, and the trigger was apparently somewhere between Back Alley and leaving the Watch HQ, and I have so far been unable to replicate it. This is on the GOG version (patch 1.23 with all expansions).

I'm going to keep chugging away at it, but it would be great to get some more people involved and to have a finished run for this great game.

EDIT: Here's the saves from immediately before and after the glitch triggered. When I first did it, I rested, buffed and did the infinite HP glitch on my main before the wagon battle. In the second save, I still have to talk to Brelaina before going to the warehouse, but the glitch is always present in that save.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fj5sb3f7muvt583/000037%20-%20Watch%20Wagon.rar?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fk1zptzamw8ns2a/000038%20-%20Back%20Alley%20Return.rar?dl=0

I'm going to do a little thread necromancy here, I hope that's all right. I've started work on this run, only about halfway through Chapter 1 so far, but I discovered a very interesting glitch. While playing through the city watch quests, somewhere between the beginning of the final battle at the wagon in the Back Alley and the start of the warehouse raid, all of my characters (including Elanee's companion) except for my main character became invincible! The combat log shows them as getting hit, but damage is reduced to 0, by both spells and weapons. Unfortunately, this went away at the cutscene where you grab the documents. I tried it again, and the trigger was apparently somewhere between Back Alley and leaving the Watch HQ, and I have so far been unable to replicate it. This is on the GOG version (patch 1.23 with all expansions).

I'm going to keep chugging away at it, but it would be great to get some more people involved and to have a finished run for this great game.

EDIT: Here's the saves from immediately before and after the glitch triggered. When I first did it, I rested, buffed and did the infinite HP glitch on my main before the wagon battle. In the second save, I still have to talk to Brelaina before going to the warehouse, but the glitch is always present in that save.
[url]https://www.dropbox.com/s/fj5sb3f7muvt583/000037%20-%20Watch%20Wagon.rar?dl=0[/url]
[url]https://www.dropbox.com/s/fk1zptzamw8ns2a/000038%20-%20Back%20Alley%20Return.rar?dl=0[/url]

ais523

2015-08-07 03:07:08 pm

Not an expert on NWN 2, but I think this is the same between 1 and 2: the NWN engine has an invincibilty flag (called the "plot flag") that's turned on and off via scripting all the time (for cutscenes and the like), mostly to prevent you breaking the logic of a script by killing someone at an inconvenient moment, and nothing in the scripting language forces you to turn the flag back off when you're done with it. Probably there's just a mistake in a script somewhere.

The glitch would go away the next time the game tried to set the flag legitimately on your characters, so it's unlikely that you'd be able to maintain it indefinitely.

BigHeadBerg

2015-08-07 05:30:52 pm

I understand that it would go away when entering a cutscene, but it would be great to be able to trigger it consistently enough to use to make many required battles much easier. For example, you could use it to waltz your casters straight into groups to do AoE attacks that are a radius from your character.

ADT_Clone

2017-02-14 01:00:43 am

I've gone ahead and done a full initial route of this run:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lC-xsNfwDXtRlxKD3ixYXlSF2u-qPfI7tE2MAKIrUJE/edit?usp=sharing

I'm going through it a second time in a segmented way in order to confirm the strats, work out/record how to level the characters and to get an initial idea of timing. I reckon the run will take 5-10 hours to complete. Once the route becomes more solid and the character progression is worked out, I'll move the route into a more publicly accessible form(maybe on the SDA Knowledge Base).

Here is a summary of the route if anyone is interested:

Quote:

The high level idea behind this route was to make the main character a monk. The monk is faster than other characters and its speed increases as time progresses. To counter the lack of combat skills, we utilise the “infinite hp” glitch that can be accessed early in the run.

As for other party members, we focus on members with magic abilities. Throughout the run we use a combination of Amie(wizard), Qara(sorcerer), Sand(wizard), Elanee(druid) and Zhjaeve(cleric). The monk is used as a tank, luring enemies in manditory fights into a small area, then the magic users use AOE spells to deal large amounts of damage quickly.

Throughout the run we avoid all non-mandatory fights(of which most are) using trigger skips and the save/load glitch(which allows clipping through many doors in the game).

As a general idea of the route, it involves a lot of running through enemies you would usually fight, using the infinite hp glitch, some ai manipulation, clipping through doors, skipping triggers and occasionally participating in a mandatory fight. There doesn’t seem to be any grinding.

The worst thing at the moment is a couple of the mandatory fights are a little painful, but I’ve only done a single run so far so these should be improved and will hopefully become quite easy as the game becomes optimised. I feel that this is a game where someone who spends time mastering the movement/ui will be able to gain a lot of time across the run(overcoming the dodgy pathfinding system and setting up/clicking the various menu items, spells and special abilities that you need to activate).

I've gone ahead and done a full initial route of this run:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lC-xsNfwDXtRlxKD3ixYXlSF2u-qPfI7tE2MAKIrUJE/edit?usp=sharing

I'm going through it a second time in a segmented way in order to confirm the strats, work out/record how to level the characters and to get an initial idea of timing. I reckon the run will take 5-10 hours to complete. Once the route becomes more solid and the character progression is worked out, I'll move the route into a more publicly accessible form(maybe on the SDA Knowledge Base).

Here is a summary of the route if anyone is interested:

[quote]The high level idea behind this route was to make the main character a monk. The monk is faster than other characters and its speed increases as time progresses. To counter the lack of combat skills, we utilise the “infinite hp” glitch that can be accessed early in the run.

As for other party members, we focus on members with magic abilities. Throughout the run we use a combination of Amie(wizard), Qara(sorcerer), Sand(wizard), Elanee(druid) and Zhjaeve(cleric). The monk is used as a tank, luring enemies in manditory fights into a small area, then the magic users use AOE spells to deal large amounts of damage quickly.

Throughout the run we avoid all non-mandatory fights(of which most are) using trigger skips and the save/load glitch(which allows clipping through many doors in the game).

As a general idea of the route, it involves a lot of running through enemies you would usually fight, using the infinite hp glitch, some ai manipulation, clipping through doors, skipping triggers and occasionally participating in a mandatory fight. There doesn’t seem to be any grinding.

The worst thing at the moment is a couple of the mandatory fights are a little painful, but I’ve only done a single run so far so these should be improved and will hopefully become quite easy as the game becomes optimised. I feel that this is a game where someone who spends time mastering the movement/ui will be able to gain a lot of time across the run(overcoming the dodgy pathfinding system and setting up/clicking the various menu items, spells and special abilities that you need to activate).[/quote]

ADT_Clone

2017-03-04 01:42:34 am

I have completed a pretty solid route. The run is below:

I completed the game in 6:18:29.

There is plenty of opportunity for optimisation in the route, I think a sub 6 hour would be easy, I got a lot of bad luck in this run(at least three "this never happened before" times). It made me realise how glitchy this game was. Near the end, when I had to fight the King of Shadows at Crossroad Keep, he just didn't appear due to a disappearing glitch related to the amount of models on the screen or something. Had to replay the entire fight beforehand.

The route itself should be pretty good, I have worked out character progression and dialogue options to ensure the correct alignment at the end of the game. Also did some minor xp routing along the way in order to make some of the early fights consistent. There are decent strats for all the fights(shadow reavers, gem mines etc), with a lot of AI manipulation(ember being a main example).

This would be a good run for someone to pick up further, it has a lot of variety and isn't too painful. Lots of good glitches. The route is in the Google document in the previous post, I'll publish it on the SDA Knowledge Base for preservation. If you have any questions or need any help, just contact me on Discord: ADT_Clone#0949.

I'll be working casually on an any% save corruption run(yes, there is save corruption in this shockingly programmed game). I've found ways to corrupt the save and access "developer areas" in modules, which seem to provide things such as immortality, ability to set global variables and teleportation to different areas(eg. can automatically complete all rituals). The trick to this category will be to find all of these "developer areas" and find the best way to use them in order to get from start to finish.

I have completed a pretty solid route. The run is below:

[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Og03ORKT7BM[/url]

I completed the game in 6:18:29.

There is plenty of opportunity for optimisation in the route, I think a sub 6 hour would be easy, I got a lot of bad luck in this run(at least three "this never happened before" times). It made me realise how glitchy this game was. Near the end, when I had to fight the King of Shadows at Crossroad Keep, he just didn't appear due to a disappearing glitch related to the amount of models on the screen or something. Had to replay the entire fight beforehand.

The route itself should be pretty good, I have worked out character progression and dialogue options to ensure the correct alignment at the end of the game. Also did some minor xp routing along the way in order to make some of the early fights consistent. There are decent strats for all the fights(shadow reavers, gem mines etc), with a lot of AI manipulation(ember being a main example).

This would be a good run for someone to pick up further, it has a lot of variety and isn't too painful. Lots of good glitches. The route is in the Google document in the previous post, I'll publish it on the SDA Knowledge Base for preservation. If you have any questions or need any help, just contact me on Discord: ADT_Clone#0949.

I'll be working casually on an any% save corruption run(yes, there is save corruption in this shockingly programmed game). I've found ways to corrupt the save and access "developer areas" in modules, which seem to provide things such as immortality, ability to set global variables and teleportation to different areas(eg. can automatically complete all rituals). The trick to this category will be to find all of these "developer areas" and find the best way to use them in order to get from start to finish.

Mejcel

2017-03-05 01:38:04 pm

Nice! I'll try to watch this next week and maybe attempt a few runs myself.

ADT_Clone

2017-03-06 11:25:34 pm

Great to hear. Smiley

I highly recommend the route document alongside the video as it should go into greater detail on what exactly is happening, and also has the character progression listed out. Just give me a yell if there is anything that needs explaining, there are a couple of AI manips that are a bit iffy that I didn't go into great detail about(Ember probably being the most notable, also probably Ammon Jerro's Haven), hopefully there are simpler ways to do those.