Hey all, I'm getting back into this game recently but I'm having trouble playing with a friend. We want to play the story in a coop campaign, but we are having trouble connecting. We downloaded from GOG.com and both got the unique CD keys, but are still having trouble. Does Direct Connect only work over LAN? I've tried using the IP address but it doesn't seem to work as my friend still can't connect. For instance, on my computer my address might be something like "11.2.3.4 but some forums say I need to add my port number to the back like "11.2.3.4:####. My friend tried both and wasn't able to locate my game through direct connect. I'm not well-versed in servers and how to run them so I could use some instructions on how to use the direct connect over the internet (unless it only works on LAN), then I could use some advice on how to set that up.

You may find more help in the Neverwinter Nights forum:

https://www.gog.com/forum/neverwinter_nights_series#1465490751

To add what tamablenebula said, see if searching "direct connect" in that forum helps: https://www.gog.com/forum/neverwinter_nights_series?search=direct%20connect

See this page for some information.

In short, both you and your friend need to "open" (enable port forwarding) ports in range from 5120 to 5300 on your router. See this for detailed instructions. If your device is not on the list, I assure you the procedure is essentially the same for whatever you own. If it seems complicated, take a deep breath and remember the game you want to play dwarfs this task in both complexity and the number of actual dwarves involved :)

I always use this website:
https://portforward.com/neverwinter-nights/
To configure my port forwarding.

Only the host should have to forward ports, if imagine. Be sure you have nwn and nwserver in your exceptions lists in your firewall.

I no longer direct connect game to game anymore. I found it more convenient and reliable to use nwserver, which should be in your installation folder.

You l configure and oad your game using nwserver on your PC, and then boot up nwn.

You can direct connect to these IPs to test yourself out as a non-host. http://www.nwnlist.com/#

When you do port forwarding in your router, be sure you reserve your local IP for where your host is.

So, you would reserve the host IP to, say, 192.168.1.200.
Then forward UDP ports 5120-5300,6500,6667,27900,28900 to 192.168.1.200.

Then test. Reboot if needed.

If it still doesn't work and you're using windows 10, turn off fast startup and reboot again. https://www.windowscentral.com/how-disable-windows-10-fast-startup

If that doesn't work, post in the NWN forums, and PM me a link to your post and we'll have to start digging.