Neverwinter Nights 2 Graphics Mods Guide

Part of the NWN2 Mods Guide by Lilura1 of the cRPG Blog.

NWN2 Graphics Mods Guide

In NWN vs NWN2, I came to the conclusion that NWN1 has better animations than NWN2, but that NWN2 is graphically superior as it pertains to terrain sculpting, model sculpting, texture mapping, light-rays, shadows and AoE visual effects.

Basically, the graphics engine of NWN2 is clearly far more advanced than the NWN1 graphics engine, but some NWN2 aesthetics are plain ugly and others are absolutely beautiful. Perhaps more than any other module campaign, Bedine NWN2 showcases the aesthetic potential of Neverwinter Nights 2.

NWN2 Graphics Mods that Remove Overdone VFX

 

Like me, you might have been left aghast by the ludicrously overdone buffing effects in NWN2 (ie, "ball" & "skin"). If that's the case then I suggest you download and throw into your override folder the following tiny mods:

• Less Obtrusive Spell Buffs
• Remove Annoying Effects
• Remove Annoying Effects Extension
• Disease VFX Removal

Voilà! Now you can actually see your character - hell, players with older PCs might even receive a welcome FPS boost. These tweaks fail to address the higher level spells, though; perhaps someone would like to bother their ass? (Not me, of course. I've already done the hard yards by putting all the links in one paragraph to save others the hassle of searching for themselves, and honestly, that's the extent of my charity.)

NWN2 Texture mods

Before installing the NWN2 mods listed below, you should realize that they don't necessarily cooperate as regards aesthetic cohesion because they are made by different modders. If you want aesthetic cohesion you need to play a NWN2 module that has been built from the ground up by someone with an artistic vision.

To be clear, you're not going to turn NWN2 into a visual masterpiece by dumping 20 mods into your override folder. Artistic vision is infinitely more powerful than a hotch-potch increase in fidelity. That said, increasing fidelity and sprucing things up should make NWN2 look better, but there are no guarantees.

• Xaltar's NWN2 Facelift Pack: If your human female looks old and wrinkled in chargen, just change to male and then back to female to fix it. (also: Yuan-ti)
• Kamal's Saguaro Override
• Neverwinter Cobble texture (Hi Rez & Bump-mapped)
• Real Oak and Mahogany Textures (Hi Rez & Bump-Mapped)
• Real Paving Stones, Kerbs/ Curbs & Bricks
• Trees Textures Overhaul
• Floorboards (Hi Rez & Bump-mapped)
• All Bracers, Pauldrons, Greaves now Shiny, Retextured & re-bumpmapped
• All NWN2 Cloaks Retextured (Hi-Res & Bumpmapped)
• All NWN2 Grass Desaturated with Added Detail
• All NWN2 Terrain Re-bumped-mapped
• Sharpened Textures
• Complete NWN2 Textures
• Adonnay's Elven Weaponry (this is good but you may have issues with crafted weapons in MotB)
• NWN2 Cloaks & Deity Symbols
• New Skyboxes for NWN2

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Neverwinter Nights 2	Neverwinter Nights 2 Installation	FRW Character Creator
Mask of the Betrayer Walkthrough	NWN2 Console Commands	NWN2 Fixes
Storm of Zehir Walkthrough	NWN2 Modding Overview	NWN2 OC Mods
NWN1 vs NWN2	NWN2 User Interface Mods	Mask of the Betrayer Mods
NWN2 Best Modules	NWN2 Graphics Mods	Storm of Zehir Mods