Question regarding "upgrading" mid-game/movement of characters

[Legacy_tobtor]

               It has been years since I have played NN. But just recently me and my wife began to play the official campaign.
Since I had both a version with the expansions and one without (do to the purchasing history - when time was for buying the expansions it was cheaper to buy the whole game so I had a version of the starting campaign to spare), doing a multiplayer of the first campaign was a good way to see if she liked the game.

Since she liked the game we would like to upgrade the version without the expansions so it also have the new stuff (skills feats ect). Now it was rather cheap to buy the game. But the game came as one dvd with all the three campaigns together.

So my question is: is it possiple to upgrade the game in a way that allows us to contiue playing the characters we have?
It seems we might have to delete the version we are currently running to install the one with expansions on. Is it possiple to just move the saved games and character files or would they fail to work on the new instalation (due to conflict with keys or such)? And would those charecters have the possibilities of the extensions (prestige classes and such) if we continue in Hordes of the Underdark)?

Or do we need to start over with new characters?
I would like to avoid that, since playing time is limited.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_MrZork]

               I don't know if adding the expansion packs (Shadows of Undrentide and Hordes of the Underdark) will cause problems with an already-begun original campaign (the Wailing Death campaign). I actually doubt it, since that would be a common complaint that Bioware would probably have tried to avoid when the expansions were released.

Meanwhile, SoU is designed for a starting (level 1) character. Using a character who has completed the OC and is level 16-18 in SoU will really lower the challenge. The story in HotU assumes that you are playing a PC that has finished SoU, although it will be playable at the designed challenge level with any PC of roughly the right level (level 15, as I recall).
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_tobtor]

               Thank you for answering. I remeembered it as you went on to HoTU from either the SoU or the wailing death - but thanks.

Anyway, part of my question was that since the version of the expansions i have is on the same DVD as a different version of the opening campaign then the one i have installed now, I think I would have to uninstall the version I am currently running (since the installer is set up to install both the wailing death and both expansions at once).

So its not just a question about updating its a question about moving savedgames to a new installemnt (with a different CD -key) than the one I am running.

So can I safely move my save-files without trouble (move them to a different temporary folder, delete the current installment and then place them in the save-folder of the reinstalled NWN)? Or is there any other files I need to transfer?
               
               

               

                     Modifié par tobtor, 23 novembre 2012 - 08:10 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_MrZork]

               You can keep the saves folder from your current install and then put it back once you re-install. You may also want to keep the BIC files from your localvault folder as that is where your character is saved when you create it, when you use the "save character" feature from the menu, and when a module saves a character (typically at the end of the module, as in the OC). That's not strictly necessary since you can recreate the starting characters and also load saved games and save the character as it was in that saved game using the menu.

If you have just been playing the vanilla OC, there is nothing else to do. If you have installed haks to your hak folder or other custom things in your override folder, you can keep those in the same way, by keeping the current folders somewhere when you uninstall and then copying the contents of those folders into the corresponding folders of the new install.

If you have played other modules besides the OC and are re-installing and want certain items from SoU to (like the spellstaff and the power stone) to keep their settings, you need to copy the database folder as well. I don't think that the OC put anything in the DB, so there is nothing to do there if that's the only campaign you have played. Many custom modules use the DB as well, so you may need those files to load saved games from those modules and have everything work properly.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_tobtor]

               Thank you. Now I have had the time to try.

The update went well. I reinstalled the 1.69 (for the expansions). And the single player games works fine. But the savegames from the multiplayer (for the LAN game) starts my character back at the beginning of the chapter, with XP, items and so on, but without journal updates and so on. I can open the same save games as single player and it keeps my journal and so on.

Any suggestions or should I just live with it?
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_MrZork]

               In the SP mode, when a saved game is opened the game uses whatever data is saved with the first PC in the game as the current PC and there is no option to bring in another character, even if it's the "same" character with different XP, items, variables set, etc.

In MP mode, the game has all the PCs that were saved when the saved game was made and you are given the option to use a saved PC if you choose one with the same name. The saved PC should have it's journal entries as they were when the game was saved and be in the same position and so on. But, if you open an MP saved game and try to use a character with a different name or the same name but don't choose the one that's in the saved game, it is treated as a new PC starting the campaign. That new PC starts at the starting point, has a fresh journal, etc. And, should you continue from the start with that new PC, it will find many areas already done by the earlier PC.

There are some ways to get around that, but they are pretty technical and somewhat glitch-prone unless you are very careful.

I may not be correctly reading the situation you are in. If you were playing the OC in MP mode and then you re-installed with both expansions then opened that saved game, then I don't know of any trouble in playing from a saved game made before you installed the expansions. When you open the saved game in MP mode, it will ask you to chose a character from the list of characters in your local vault. (Those are the one's you have created from scratch, any that you have exported using the Save Character otpion from the main in-game menu, and possibly the sample Bioware characters if you have the "show pregenerated characters" option checked.) Chose the one you were playing with before. Then the game will note that there is already a PC with that name in the saved game and which do you want to use. Just make sure that you chose the version from the saved game. Same deal for your wife and anyone else who was playing when you made the save, assuming they are also still playing. They can chose a PC with the same name from their local vault and then chose to use the version from the saved game when that option comes up.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_tobtor]

               Well it is just me and my wife going through the OC to get a hang on the game. We played a couple of sessionse where loading wasn't a problem, and it worked the way you described. We got to choose the one stored in the saved game.

But after the update when I choose my character from the first selection menu, I never get to chose the one from the saved game - I am moved dirctly to the start of the campaign. As I said it works in the single player campaign and (I supose) in any new saved mulitplay games.
It is as the multiplayer does not reconize the savegame and selected character as the same. This is why i tried the same saved games from the single player menu where it wors normally. So the question is if there is any way I can make it re-reconise my chrarcter or if I/we have to do large parts of chapter 2 again?

The next time we have time to play is next weekend so I have some time to figure out what to do
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_MrZork]

               Did you sign on to multiplayer with the same usernames? I don't recall exactly, but the game may list the PCs under the player names and check that those match, too.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_tobtor]

               Ahh thank you. That was the problem. I didnt think I had two usernames, but now it works. Thank you for your help, I apreciate it.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_MrZork]

               Glad it's working for you now. Have fun! :-)