Well, Neverwinter Nights is going back to the store tomorrow.

Zkribbler · August 18, 2002, 16:42

I was really looking forward to this game.

But I spent almost 24 hours trying to get it to work on my desktop without any luck.

Even after downloading the patch, I couldn't get it to play anymore than just the opening titles before it froze up--which meant I had to repeated crash my computer. I meandered around the various support sites of the makers, following their suggestions as to changing my video configuration and turning off the sound to ascertain whether it was a soundcard compatibility problem. I even uninstalled the game and reinstalled it again. All with no luck.

The last possiblity was to deactivate my CD-burner. Apparently the game has a built-in incompatablity with some CD-burners to aid its copyright protection. But that was a bridge too far.

Dang it, game manufacturers should be going out of their way to make the games compatible not incompatible with their customers' hardware. I paid for that CD-burner, and I'm not about to deactivate it just to play their stupid game.

This morning, I had the bright idea of installing the game on my laptop, which doesn't have a CD-burner.

But the video card on my laptop isn't up to Neverwinter requirements, and the pointer cursor fluttered constantly, more off than on.

So, looks like I'm out of options.

Grumbold · August 18, 2002, 18:25

Sorry to hear that because its good fun if only you can get it to run. The curse of all modern PC games seem to be that there is always a small number of machines they won't run on even if all the hardware seems fully compatible, correctly configured, runs the latest version of DirectX and has all the right drivers.

Mr. President · August 18, 2002, 20:42

Games are way too difficult and complex now.

Bring back the NES!

Urban Ranger · August 18, 2002, 23:05

In their quest to stop pirates, these people are doing more harm by alienating legitimate customers.

I fart in their general direction.

Skanky Burns · August 18, 2002, 23:48

See if you can get the pirate version of the game. No cd-protection = no extra problems running the game.

I have bought the full version of Warcraft, but its still unopened as I don't want to install the real version. I much prefer not having to swap cd's whenever I want to play a different game.

God bless Razor

ravagon · August 19, 2002, 00:24

I have one word for you

Morrowind

Did you try Bioware/Black Isles own tech support, as well as that of your sound/graphics card?
I've never had a problem with any of the BG series though so I wouldn't know how good they are...

Zkribbler · August 19, 2002, 00:42

I did try BioWare, and worked my way through their suggestions on their support FAQs.

I did not try my sound card manufacturer--although I did follow either BioWare or Atari's suggestion to disable my soundcard to see if that was the problem. It wasn't.

My graphics card is far above the minimum requirement, and I even reconfigured things to lessen any strain...e.g. running with minimum pixels. Nada

Dis · August 21, 2002, 03:27

you may need the no cd crack. and bioware is never going to suggest that!!

although I haven't needed the crack.

and I sure hope you aren't using a voodoo card. If you are you might want to return it.

Eli · August 21, 2002, 05:08

I had it in my hands yesterday, together with WarCraft 3, and refused to take it(for free).

Damn exams.

Grumbold · August 21, 2002, 06:47

Now that is what I call willpower!

alofatti · August 21, 2002, 21:47

I have an S3 card which is unsupported. I can´t get to run that damn game and there is NO WAY I´m gonna shell some 100$ for a new card just for this game, no matter how delusingly fantastic it is!

Zkribbler · August 22, 2002, 14:21

First the bad news.

The store wouldn't take the game back. They have a policy of not accepting returns on any games which have already been opened. The best they could do was to exchange the game for another identical game in case my problem was a defective disk.

Now for the good news, I went through the extensive steps in e-mailing the makers and explaining the problems I was having. In a few days, they figured out what my problem is

an outdated driver on my videocard. I just got done downloading the latest driver for my NVidia TNT (from the archive section of NVidia's website

) and the game is up and running.

alofatti · August 25, 2002, 22:22

Could you further specify the characteristics of your card?

Felch · August 25, 2002, 23:10

Quote:

Originally posted by Mr. President
Games are way too difficult and complex now.

Bring back the NES!

Last night I got stoned and played Contra with some friends. Contra is way the hell more difficult than NWN.

Even with the thirty lives cheat we kept having to continue. It was sick. We eventually gave up around stage 7.

NES games were way the hell harder than modern games.

Zkribbler · August 25, 2002, 23:13

Er, okay.

NVidia RIVA TNT2 Model 64/Model 64 Pro

ravagon · August 26, 2002, 01:10

Heh. I think thats exactly the same as mine (I had to update the drivers when I installed Dungeon Siege).
I'll keep this in mind for when I pick NWN up (as soon as I'm through with Morrowind - which, by the rate at which I'm currently progressing, should be sometime 2008.

)