UPDATE: The problem has been resolved. The issue was caused by PRC's Leadership feat. Once I figured out it wasn't specific to a given area, I realized that it must have been related to a change I made at the last level up. Lo and behold, the cohort feature added in PRC was causing the issue. I rolled back to an older save, took a different feat, and now I'm able to proceed without issue.
I've recently reinstalled NWN (plus PRC) out of nostalgia and ran into a specific bug. Entering the second floor of the arcanists tower (in Shadows of Undrentide chapter 2) causes the game to freeze after a few seconds. It doesn't actually crash, it just stops. I can still move the mouse but can't click on anything. I've had no real problems up to this point. I experienced only minor lag even when I had the graphics set to high settings. But for some reason, this specific area causes a freeze and I can't figure out why. It's completely game breaking as I can't advance the story.
Here are my specs:
Game Version: NWN, SoU, HotU
Game Language: English
Retail or Digital: Retail CDs (but copied to a disc image (mounted iso) becuase my computer has no CD drive)
Processor Manufacturer: AMD
Processor Type: A10-5757M (Quad-Core)
Processor Speed: 2500.0 MHz
Operating System / Service Pack: Windows 8.1 (running in XP SP2 compatability mode)
System RAM: 6 gigs DDR
Video Card Manufacturer: AMD
Video Card Model: Radeon HD 8550G + HD870M Dual Graphics
Video Card RAM: 512MB
Video Card Driver Version: 14.12 AMD Catalyst Omega Software
Sound Card Manufacturer: AMD
Sound Card Model: AMD High Definition Audio Device (built in soundcard)
Sound Card Driver Version: Advanced Micro Devices 8.0.0.8811
CD/ROM Type: None
Here's a list of the things I've tried so far:
- Patched to 1.69
- Tried compatibility mode for XP SP2 and SP3
- Run the program as administrator
- Disabled sound
- Reduced graphics to minimum settings, disabling all special effects
- Set the game to the lowest possible resolution
- Forced the program to use 1 core by editing the ini
- Forced 16 bit texture pack
- Forced 16 bit color in compatibility mode.
- Running the program in windowed mode
- Enabled/Disabled Vertical Refresh (VSync)
- Disabled Dual Graphics
None of these things seem to work. The ony error that shows up in the log is a series of "No Walk Mesh For Placeable:" entries, but as far as I understand these are pretty common. Given that the game seems to work in every other area I've visited, this is really confusing. If I had to guess, some combination of the numerous spell effects firing in the area plus the wierd textures applied to the "shadow" objects might be causing issues. I've basically given up at this point. I've checked everywhere and can't find anybody else with the exact same problem. I'm guessing this just an issue with an old game on a new computer, but if anybody has any other suggestions I'm all ears. I've thought about buying a new copy of the game digitally (since my ad-hoc method of ripping 10 year old cds to an iso may have caused corruption issues), but I have no garuntee I won't get the same problem so I'd rather not spend the money.
