The game won't launch.

[Maple]

Hello everyone,

I hope you're all having a great day. I wanted to post here because I've been facing an issue with a game, and despite my efforts, I haven't been able to fix it on my own.

The problem is that when I try to launch the game, it shows up in the task manager, and Steam indicates that the game is running, but the actual game window doesn't appear. Instead, I just see my desktop, and I couldn't find any game files in the "Documents" folder.

I've researched and tried various solutions that I found on Steam, GOG, and the developer forum, but nothing seems to work. Here's what I've tried so far:
a) Installing the game in different directories and drives
b) Renaming the .exe file from Nwmain to NwNmain
c) Testing different beta builds available
d) Installing OpenAL
e) Ensuring that the directory has "ENG" in the path name
f) Verifying the game files and reinstalling the game multiple times
g) Launching the game directly via .exe without Steam on
h) Disabling all modes
i) Trying compatibility modes for Windows Vista/7/8
j) Graphics Drivers are updated

Interestingly, I was able to play this game for 90 hours back in 2018, but now it simply won't launch. I want to acknowledge and appreciate Beamdog for supporting such an amazing game, and I understand the challenges they face in ensuring compatibility with various PC configurations.

If any of you have encountered a similar problem and managed to solve it, I would greatly appreciate any help or advice you can provide.

Thank you all for your time and support.

Hard/Software i run:
Intel i7 12700K
Asus Prime Z790 - P
DDR5 32 GB
EVGA 3080 TI
Win 10 Pro 22H2 version (OS biuld 19045.3208)
64 bit system

[Mothvibe]

Hi Maple

My day has been okay, I hope yours has too. :)

I'm no techie, but I had some more troubleshooting for you.

-------------------------------------------

I couldn't help but notice that you did't mention 'Updated the graphics drivers' in the list of things you tried.

That should always be at the top of any troubleshooting list, because the chances are that you're going to be asked to do it eventually anyway.

If that doesn't work, try disabling (or re-enabling!) the associated GPU software. For example, I'm running an AMD GPU, so the associated software for me is Adrenalin.

----------------------------------------

The rest of the post won't help you play the game, but it might help you nail down the issue.

Best of luck with it in any case.

------------------------------------

I'd consider booting the toolset ( Neverwinter Nights > bin > Win32 > nwtoolset.exe ). Don't worry, you don't need to know what you're doing, I'll talk you through it.

If that won't even load, then it's probably a file-related issue, and possibly means your hard drive is dying. :(

However I don't think this is the case, because reinstalling would have fixed it if so.

If the toolest will load, try to load a module (top left, where Open File normally is on other programs).

Doesn't matter which one because you're not going to change it (remember NOT to 'save work on exit' if you get asked!). Once it's loaded, open up some directories/folders on the left panel. Keep doing this until there's something you can click on. Item, NPC, Light - whatever.

This will force the toolset to open the graphics engine.

If your issue is graphics-based, this SHOULD crash the editor. This will confirm that it's a graphic issue.

But if it DOES work?

That will be very strange and illogical, and it will blow my mind. IF it does, it might be worth trying nwmain.exe again! I don't think it will work though.

[Maple]

Hi Vuulfen_SR38,

Firstly thank you for trying to help - it is much appreciated.

I did update the drivers, i will amend my original post. I tried switching the Nvidia control panel on and off without any change in the outcome. Additionally, installing the game on another SSD didn't resolve the issue either.

None of the .exe (server, main & toolset) were loaded. I saw the exact same situation when .exe files are in the task manger but either the game nor app is actually working.

Based on my observations, it's possible that there might be a hardware incompatibility that the developers should look into. I also came across a post on Reddit with a similar issue, where someone had to disable several cores on a Ryzen CPU to get the game to work properly. While this solution might be effective, it's understandable that diving deep into CPU settings can be a bit daunting, and it shouldn't be necessary for players to do so.

I hope that other users with similar PC setups may have found a solution to this problem and can share their experiences to help resolve the issue.

Thank you again for your efforts and for sharing your insights. Let's hope someone else with a similar PC configuration can provide some guidance.

[Ninja]

If you're not seeing a Neverwinter Nights folder in your "My Documents" then I'd guess that's the main problem. You might need to check if you have any OneDrive folders on your computer that might be affecting the installation destination for NWN. Sometimes OneDrive will have its own My Documents (and My Pictures, Music, etc...) and NWN installs its files there instead of the main My Documents folder where it needs to be. If you don't have any OneDrive folders then you may need to check any anti-virus programs you have since that's been known to affect installing files into My Documents too.

[Maple]

Hello Ninja,

Thank you for coming to the thread and and taking the time to respond.

I must say, I find it quite perplexing that OneDrive defaults to making My Documents and Desktop folders available ONLY through itself. It's rather nonsensical! What's even more interesting is that when I removed the OneDrive app, I couldn't access those folders anymore; they simply vanished from my drive. As a result, I lost 9.4 GB of profile settings for games that rely on this directory.

After doing some research, I discovered that merely uninstalling the app wasn't enough. I had to "Unlink" my PC from OneDrive, which led me to reinstall the app because that was the only option available.

Once I completed the unlinking process, I decided to restore my files from the OneDrive Cloud. However, I was greeted with frustratingly slow download speeds ranging from 70-200 KB/s, and the estimated time of arrival (ETA) was a staggering 22 hours!

Nevertheless, I opted to wait patiently for the files to finish downloading before removing the link completely. I wanted to ensure that I didn't lose any valuable data permanently, as the files from the cloud could have been lost forever otherwise.

Rest assured, I will provide an update here once I have regained full control over My Documents folder and successfully retrieved all my files.

[Maple]

Problem Solved. The main issue was as per Ninja advice - not being able to see the game files in the Documents folder.

Even after everything i tried the game would not use Documents folder to create files it needs. All i have done is i read through the Readme file as the last resort...

Quote starts.
"Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition is installable through the Beamdog Client and Steam
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
The game uses an install directory (read-only), and a user directory
for your content and save-games that is independent of the install directory.

This user folder can be found in:
[My Documents]\Neverwinter Nights (Windows)
~/Documents/Neverwinter Nights (macOS)
~/.local/share/Neverwinter Nights (Linux)

* Launching executables with the command-line option -userDirectory alternative_directory will use alternative_directory instead of the one specified."
Quote ends.

I added like it says "-userDirectory C:\Users\%Username%\Documents " directly to Steam launch file (Right click on the game -> properties there is a window below for
experienced users" where you are supposed to paste this command). The game instantly launched and created all files it needed under this directory.

P.S. I hope that this will be useful and thank you for your help Lads. Cheers

[MUST 𝔣𝔯𝔞𝔤]

hello maple i seem to have this problem for me and i cant quit understand the problem

[Maple]

Hey Must Fraq,

Not sure if you've sorted out the issue yet, and I might not have fully grasped your question. But give this a shot:

Try troubleshooting the problem using the steps I mentioned earlier in this thread. It's a quick summary of what I found and attempted while trying to fix my own problem.

In my case, the problem was with OneDrive. I had just installed Win 10 with OneDrive, but there weren't any pop-ups during the OS installation that allowed me to choose a default location for my "Documents" folder. So, my path looked like this: "C:\Users\Maple\OneDrive\Documents."

Games like NWN and some older ones (I recently read a post about FF 14's "Run time error" with a similar issue) need access to the "Documents" folder to store "ini" files and who knows what else. But with OneDrive, for some reason, they can't access the folder.

Even after deleting OneDrive, the OS wouldn't let me change the default path, showing an error like "Can't move the folder because there is a folder in the same location..." even in administrator login.

So, if your problem is the same as mine, you've got two options:

1. In Steam, you can set the launch file to tell the game where it can create the "ini" file. I explained this in my earlier post.
2. If you want to restore the Documents folder to its default location, here's a link to a simple guide on how to do it using the Registry Editor:

https://www.thewindowsclub.com/cannot-restore-documents-folder-default-location-c-drive

[Shiven]

I ran into this awhile back. I work in IT and could not figure it out, and it's my job to figure software issues out. The only resolution I had was to install the game to a different drive. And it has worked since.

I believe it's something with the registry for the path that is messed up but again, I looked for weeks and could never find it.