just wondering how the performance of the GOG versions of these games are?
I remember trying to play NWN2 years ago and it had really crappy performance even though my system should be more than capable of running it (I can run most modern games at high).
I'd like to give the games another shot (lost my old copy of NWN2) but only if the GOG versions work better (which usually is the case, gotta love GoG!)

NWN1 runs fine on configs with AMD/ATI cards, except that some effects like shiny water and environmental reflections rely on old OpenGL extensions that aren't supported anymore by recent drivers.

NWN2 is still very demanding, and I think that it's Obsidian and not GoG (who don't have access to the source code) who can do something about it. The latest patch dates back from August 2009, so performance hasn't changed since that time.

thats unfortunate, both my systems are using intel/nvidia setups.... hmmm maybe i won't buy them afterall, kind of dissapointing

Actually NWN1 works better with nVidia cards iirc, the effects are still supported by their drivers.

NWN2 has always been a hog. The patches it received certainly improved matters, but there's always the risk you'll get performance issues. It's my understanding that for a modern system it's usually more of a compatibility issue, so a little trial and error with the graphics settings can often fix the problem. NWN1 does not have the problems of its sequel, and it's unlikely you'll run into problems with it.

Personally I've never had serious trouble with the NWN series. The first few stability patches for NWN2 solved all of my problems and the game's run well for me ever since on every system I've ever installed it on (still a resource hog, though).

My system:
Laptop with 2.4Ghz Core2Duo, 8GB RAM, and Nvidia Geforce 320M 256MB

NWN 1 runs great with most of the settings turned up. The GOG version includes all of the patches and I haven't had any problems so far. This should run well on any modern machine.

NWN 2 runs pretty good as well. I haven't experienced any slowdown on medium settings. There's a guide that might help if you want to squeeze more performance out of it over at tweakguides.

www.tweakguides.com/NWN2_1.html

I can't post links yet apparently so you'll probably have to copy/paste that. :/

The biggest plus of the GOG versions is that there's no DRM, so it just runs without having to mess with anything, and the inclusion of the latest patches and expansions. Having these included is just icing on the cake and is more than worth the purchase price.

The Problem with NWN2 is,that it was created at the end of the single core aera. It makes heavy usage of the CPU but can't take an advantage from modern multi core systems where each core on its own is weaker than strong single core processors. A modern Graphics card should have no problem with the game. Also it heavily depends on the area and mod you play. There are mods out there which will bring down every PC even with medium settings and other mods which run flawlessly at high settings on an old PC.

The recomended CPU for NWN2 was only a Pentium 4 @ 3 GHz (stock 1M Super-Pi times 40 seconds +)

What makes a single core of a modern Quadcore @ 3 GHz weaker, most would do a 1M Super-Pi in less than 12 seconds on a single core?

If you shift your focus from Desktop PCs to Laptops, you will see, that most quad or dual cores have around 2 to 2.5 GHz. They may be further limited by TDP restrictions.

Additionally I am quite surprised by your numbers. Sure there are architecture changes which increase the computing power per processor cycle. But they are minor ones. for example the new Haswell processors will archive a <10% performance increase compared to Ivy Bridge. Also remember that software has to support the new commands which are introduced to take full benefit of the new features of modern processors. As NWN2 didn't receive an update for years it certainly doesn't. SuperPi in contrast is highly optimized.

Can you provide sources for your numbers?

Nothing, and actually modern 3GHz is faster, even in NWN2.

But that only means a 3GHZ dual/quad/hexacore is meeting, or exeeding the recommended settings, not surpassing them wildly as might be expected from a 5yr old game.

Most current systems hover between 2-3 GHz, few go much higher.
But at least NWN2 is no longer GPU limited, in most cases anyway.

Anyway, I first ran NWN2 on Amd64 2800+ (single core 2,4GHz) with Nvidia7600GS GPU and it ran but was pretty sluggish,
my current Phenom2 3 GHz with AMD HD7770 GPU runs it much smoother, but not at anything like smooth consistent 60 fps.
More like 20-100 fps depending on the situation.

NWN1 though, doesn't run at all faster, I can run it at my max resolution and force full antialiasing without any performance degradation, but the game still stutters and freezes whenever it feels like it.

Search for NeverwWnter nights tweakguides

Sadly, there seems to be no way to fix the multi-core issue, other than changing a setting which forces your system to only use a single core. (Really wishing I still had my old P4 3.4)

I haven't fully read this yet, but, maybe this could help some people improve game performance.

Good luck.


*Just noticed someone already posted a link to the site above.