PW Player Guidelines

What can players do
Many of the issues that Persistent Worlds face are really a combination of factors, both issues with the server, and issues that the client is having as well. Because a single players issues can cause problems for all the other players, it is a good idea for ALL players to try to use the following set of guidelines. This is not all inclusive, as certain situations can require specific solutions, but the following is an overall list Every player can follow to ensure that the incidents of Lag and Crashing are minimized.

The Basics

 * Keep files out of your override folder. These folder should be empty of custom content when you play on a PW. ( the less obrtusive spell buffs is only exception, and other things your PW has provided, [b]just be sure you only use these things for a particular PW if it needs to use these for some reason.[/b] ) These are very important to remove when moving from one persistant world to the next, and you might have to manually remove if your world uses an installer to put files on your computer.
 * Do not put items in your UI Folder that did not come from obsidian or your PW. If you put a file in these places, make sure you remove it when you are done.
 * Keep the your files up to date, Run Worldgate/Audolo to double check on a daily basis or when you start noticing issues – if the files on the server do not match any of the players crashes and lag are much more frequent. Make sure you are updated properly to the latest version of neverwinter nights, and that you have the Mask of the Betrayer Expansion as most PW’s require it to play.
 * Only make changes to your player folder inside “My Documents”, leave the one in your application folder alone.
 * Move with mouse clicks as much as possible, not the WASD keys or other keystrokes – there are known issues with the WASD keys that cause instability.
 * If an area is already crowded with 15+ players, pickup your buddies and move to a different area. The load for the server, and thus the chances for lag, increase exponentially with the number of players in the same area.

Lower your settings
The following is needed in various degrees, but for a low end system or a laptop all of it should be followed. For a higher end system the suggestion is to turn down everything, and turn individual settings up one at a time to your particular taste. http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=nwn2visualeffects.detail&id=12
 * Less obtrusive spell buffs -- add a lot to the game, the mirror image actually feels like mirror image and the fancy buffs for low level spells. This alone has made the game playable for many.
 * Lower your Graphics to minimum, ( with testing you can raise some of these)
 * Turn Shadows OFF
 * Turn Bloom effects OFF
 * Turn Render Grass OFF
 * Turn Water Refraction OFF
 * Turn Water Reflections OFF
 * Reduce Draw Distance from 300 to 200. Note: not recommended on a PvP server which should be left at 300
 * Fullscreen Mode ON
 * Set all of the following to 1024 in your ini files
 * HiRezShadowMapSize=1024
 * LowRezShadowMapSize=1024
 * CharacterAndPointLightShadowMapSize=1024

System Upkeep

 * Restart your computer before you play. If your computer has been running for the whole day, re-boot it before playing NWN2 to refresh the OS. If you are an advanced user you may even want to setup a separate local account that is only used to play NWN2. Tweak it so it doesn't load any other background applications except for the basic OS processes. This gives NWN2 the best possible performance footprint on your computer.
 * Sufficient RAM, 2GB recommended.
 * Defrag your hard drive regularly. Do at least one 'check all files' Anti-virus at least once a week.
 * Make sure your anti-virus software is up to date and is configured to check for malware and rootkits as well. Malware and other nasties will steal precious system resources and/or restrict your internet traffic.
 * Exclude the following folders (incl. subfolders) from virus scans, if the antivirus software supports exclusion: "MyDocs\Neverwinter Nights 2\" and "\data". This should reduce transition crashes significantly.
 * Set the Pagefile of your Windows XP computer (Control Panel > System > Advanced > Performance > Settings > Advanced > Virtual Memory > Change to 4092 for initial and maximum size. For advanced users you may even want to put the pagefile on its own partition.
 * Do not use internet intensive programs such as downloaders, or have websites open with lots of ads at the same time you are playing. These application may increase the latency of your connection between the client and the server.
 * Kill any unnecessary processes that may be running in the background. For example I turn off I-Tunes and a few other things I typically have running when I'm just web-surfing. If you are not sure on what to do, then please don't start fiddling with the Task Manager because if you stop the wrong tasks your computer will stop working and you will have to restart.
 * If you drain your own bandwidth with P2P or streaming video/audio, you won't only hurt yourself, but also cause lag for the server and other players!
 * Caching - Note this is only for systems with 1GB RAM or more: Open up you nwn.ini file in the C:\Documents and Settings\whateveruser\My Documents\Neverwinter Nights 2 folder. Look for SEFCacheSize= and change the value to 50. http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=508238&forum=116

For a step by step upkeep list, i recommend checking out the following site which is fairly comprehensive on the subject.

General info on getting your overall system up to date http://www.tweakguides.com/TGTC.html Specific info from the same author related to NWN http://www.tweakguides.com/NWN2_1.html

If you are having issues with lag or crashing, the following article goes into the less common issues and work arounds.

PW Player Troubleshooting