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Neverwinter Nights Hints
Game Version Notes
1 of 7: To see what game version you're playing, check the game launcher screen that first comes up when you insert the game CD or choose to run the game from the menus or desktop (you know, the one where you click the "Play" box to continue).
2 of 7: When I first wrote this file, I was playing the original release of NWN, which called itself version 1.10. Installing Shadows of Undrentide (SoU) upgraded the version number to 1.30, and Hordes of the Underdark (HoU) took it up to 1.59. (And the latest patch as of this writing takes it to 1.62.) I've never played NWN Gold or any NWN version on another platform, but I assume the version numbers for those will be equivalent.
3 of 7: One major version issue is that if you play through the NWN main campaign with a version after 1.10, you'll find that you get much fewer experience points (XP), especially if you have a henchman with you. In the original 1.10 release, having a henchman got you way *more* XP, and it was easy to finish the game with a level 20 character who had 230,000 or more XP. In the "XP adjusted" game versions, you'll be lucky to hit level 18 even if you play the entire game without a henchman. (Also note that the cool animal domination glitches that rangers and druids could take advantage of in v1.10 are gone in later versions.)
4 of 7: Another important difference is that having either expansion installed (or having NWN Gold) means that a new skill called Appraise has been added to the game. This skill greatly complicates your dealings with merchants, and can ruin things like the double-your-money-with-Alhelor gimmick in Chapter 2. For the full details on how the Appraise skill can impact your buying and selling practices, see the "Merchant Tips" hint section in the UHS hint file for either SoU or HoU.
5 of 7: That's pretty much it for the bad version differences. There is one little misc. quest in Chapter 2 ("A Troll Head Trophy") that you may not be able to get with versions after 1.10, but there's a workaround for it. The rest is mostly good news, such as being able to access all of the new skills, feats, spells, and prestige classes available in whatever expansions you have installed.
6 of 7: For example, it's hard to build up a powerful Weapon Master character (a new HoU prestige class) if you don't install HoU until you're ready to play it. If you have all the expansions already installed when you create a new character to play the main campaign with, you'll be able to get the requisite skills and feats as early as possible, and can gain a few levels as a Weapon Master before you even finish the main campaign. By the time you get to HoU, you'll have several levels in that class already, and can really go far with it!
7 of 7: A really odd v1.62 glitch is that epic characters (those who are level 21 or higher due to having played in the Hordes of the Underdark expansion) get a *huge* amount of XP for weaker creatures, and the higher your epic level is, the more XP you get! Example: A level 20 fighter gets 4 XP for killing a weak goblin, a level 21 fighter gets 175 XP for the same kill, a level 22 fighter gets 200 XP for it, etc. I think they messed up something bad! I note this here in case you want to get lots more XP for your character after taking him through HoU -- just replay the original main campaign!
