Neverwinter Nights CEP

Neverwinter Nights CEP

New players to Neverwinter Nights 1 seem to get confused by this so I'm going to try and make this clear: CEP is a collection of hak paks consisting of tons of custom content; stuff like monster models, scripted systems, arms & armor etc.

However, CEP is useful only if the NWN module you are going to play explicitly employs its content (i.e, the builder of the module has infused their module with CEP at the toolset level).

Downloading and installing 900mb of CEP will do absolutely nothing for your game unless you are playing a CEP-based adventure module or campaign, so don't bother with it otherwise [1].

To be crystal clear, you need CEP to play the Aielund Saga because Savant built it with CEP but installing it for Swordflight is a complete waste of time because Rogueknight didn't build it with CEP.

CEP 2.x series is NOT backwards compatible with CEP 1.x series, but the latest versions of both series' are backwards compatible with their earlier versions. For example, if an adventure module was built with an earlier version of 1.x, the latest version of 1.x will be backwards compatible, but not 2.x. 

Update: There has been a recent report by Andarian that 2.6.2 is not wholly compatible with 2.4.

[1] Nothing is stopping you manually infusing CEP into a module and then using the console to add CEP items to your character, but you'd have to be pretty keen to go through the process, and you might also imbalance the campaign you're playing, or even bug it out.

CEP's fame and download count stem from its employment in many modules and campaigns. However, I think CEP is overrated by many builders. Example: a builder makes a 20 hour adventure module and adds CEP to it. Way to go. You just forced the player to download a 900mb file and jump through hoops when you only employed 0.1% of CEP.

Such a waste.

Community Patch Project Neverwinter Nights

Along with Project Q and CEP, Shadooow's Community Patch Project is one of the most valuable contributions to the NWN platform. It's an unofficial patch for NWN that fixes loads of bugs and oversights, adds even more modding potential, and unlocks two Prestige Classes that were hidden in the engine (Shou Disciple & Eye of Gruumsh). Shadooow has worked on CPP for six years and chalked up around 6,000 fixes over that time.

You won't need Issig - Hands for Phenos, Complete GUI Alterations Package or Immunity Icons if you install CPP because CPP includes them (or their equivalent). Colorized icons can also be completely removed from CPP with this override.

But how does CPP affect game-play? See its NWNv172.txt.

As for compatibility with Tony K's Henchman Inventory & Battle AI Mod:

Tony K will overwrite CPP AI. CPP AI is just upgraded vanilla AI. So while CPP fixes many many bugs in vanilla AI since Tony K is completely different AI so those fixes brings nothing to Tony K users. Tony K has some extra features that CPP doesn't and vice versa. I suggest to try both and decide what you prefer. From what I heard, Tony K is preferred choice for playing singleplayer from many players, while CPP AI is better for PWs. - Shadooow (author of CPP).

That means you can use both and get the unlocked PrCs and bugfixes offered by CPP but not CPP AI because TK's overwrites it (it's an override whereas CPP is a core resource). There are no conflicts and the AIs of CPP/TK's do not blend together or stack.

I have not done a comparison of the two AIs. Put that down to the fact that I'm happy just playing Swordflight over and over, which employs its own custom AI and challenging combat encounter design. And the fact that I played with TK's a decade ago and CPP only recently so I haven't the memory for a comparison.

That said, CPP can make some combat scenarios more difficult due to its AI fixes. For example, in contrast to gimped BioWare AI, enemies will actively attempt to use the spells and abilities granted to them, and they will attempt to counter what you do.

And enemies have been reported to spam Knockdown and quaff potions in order to stubbornly stay alive past their expiry date (just like the player). On the other hand, there have been reports that TK's can bug out the the official campaigns in some cases, so, if that's the case, I would be more inclined to roll with just CPP. Naturally, the choice is yours.

Update: Ok, I've done a run of HotU with CPP + TK's and I didn't encounter any bugs. So I'm not saying they can't happen but I don't have any evidence to back up the complaints of others.

Lastly, it seems some people don't know how to uninstall CPP: simply re-run 1.69 CR.

Pretty Good Character Creator Neverwinter Nights

Pretty Good Character Creator / Customizer (PGC3) powered by IGIPE: This famous mini-module lets you customize many aspects of your character in preparation for an adventure module, including appearance, alignment, experience, equipment and gold. It includes a test arena, playground and sparring dummy that allows you to test out your builds, too. There is also provision to transfer items between characters. To do that, simply place the items you wish to transfer into the storage chest, and pull the nearby lever to save them in the chest. You can then bring in your new character and loot the chest of the items [demo].

Neverwinter Nights Player Resource Consortium

As if the base array of choices offered by NWN was not enough to keep one busy for years, the Player Resource Consortium adds tons more on top of that; see here to get an idea. That's quite a lot of additional options, isn't it? Pretty overwhelming, in fact.

Assuming you downloaded the installer version of PRC, the extraction of files and their installation to your selected modules and campaigns is entirely automated, though be warned that the process can take considerable time, PRC may not be compatible with the module in question, and players with slow PCs may find that it impacts game performance.

The Halls of Advanced Training Deluxe - HotU+SoU Edition: This one is great, too. It lacks some features of PGC3 but it offers a superior battle arena.

cRPG Blog	Neverwinter Nights Modding Introduction
Neverwinter Nights 1	Neverwinter Nights Project Q
Neverwinter Nights Installation	Neverwinter Nights CEP
Neverwinter Nights Best Builds	Neverwinter Nights NW Shader
Neverwinter Nights Spells	Neverwinter Nights User Interface Mods
Neverwinter Nights Mods	Neverwinter Nights Overrides
Neverwinter Nights Modules	Neverwinter Nights Tileset Overrides