The World of Avlis

So, the story is that I just got a new laptop after close to five years with the old one. The old one was a Dell with 2Ghz Celeron processor and a 256MB ATI video card. NWN ran pretty well, and didn't tax either the processor or graphics too much.

The new laptop is a beast: HP with i7 quad-core processor and 1GB ATI video card. I got NWN working by setting it to run in XP SP3 compatibility mode, but once it starts, I'm worried I'm going to fry either the laptop or the video card. Within 30 seconds of starting NWN, the laptop sounds like a jet engine and becomes too hot to touch on the left side, where the fan is spitting out hot air like an amber dragon (coal dragon? whichever one breathes fire...). Within 30 seconds of stopping NWN, it returns to normal.

I need to check the manual to see whether that's the processor or the video card fan on that side, but any thoughts in the meantime? Any settings in the ini files for NWN I might have missed?

I get the occasional fan spin-up on my laptop as well. Did you try running the executable in Administrator Mode rather than XP Compatibility? That's what I do and performance has been okay (infrequent heat issues) with the occasional freeze.

Right click nwmain.exe > Run as Administrator..

Does this happen with other 3D games?

As a bit of a novice in the computer world my first thought would be not to set it on carpet and make sure it can get plenty of air flow.

P-ro wrote:Does this happen with other 3D games?

Erm... You ask that as if to imply I've actually tried another game yet.

Actually, that is a good question. I should try NWN2 or another game to see if the same thing happens.

I'm running 7 and it runs fine, though it was a while ago so I may have forgotten anything tinkering I had to do.

Have you made sure it's set to only use use a single core? That can cause some problems I think if left unset.

Ringwraith wrote:I'm running 7 and it runs fine, though it was a while ago so I may have forgotten anything tinkering I had to do.

Have you made sure it's set to only use use a single core? That can cause some problems I think if left unset.

I've read that is something to do, but I can't find any definitive setting on it. Apparently, it's the Client CPU Affinity line, but I'm not sure what to set it to. I've read in varying places that I should set it to 0, or -1, or even -2. I tried all three, but all seem to have the same result.

It's not you, windows, the laptop, or any of the above afaik.

I've had the exact same results with a very beefy desktop and my current laptop, and I believe NWN is to blame. No matter which core or settings I put NWN to, the core it's using jumps to running up near 100%, causing a crazy amount of heat. Graphics card is usually taxed out too. I just keep a stand fan blowing on my laptop now; I've had the graphics card overheat a few times on NWN during extended sessions.

If you or someone can find a workaround or setting I've missed, my laptop would greatly appreciate it!

llhht wrote:It's not you, windows, the laptop, or any of the above afaik.

I've had the exact same results with a very beefy desktop and my current laptop, and I believe NWN is to blame. No matter which core or settings I put NWN to, the core it's using jumps to running up near 100%, causing a crazy amount of heat. Graphics card is usually taxed out too. I just keep a stand fan blowing on my laptop now; I've had the graphics card overheat a few times on NWN during extended sessions.

If you or someone can find a workaround or setting I've missed, my laptop would greatly appreciate it!

That's the thing, though. This doesn't happen on my old laptop.

Reread over my last post and forgot an important part, Windows Vista/Vista 1.1 (aka 7)!

My moving up to Vista is also what started the problem. Paragraph below still applies!

Yeah, besides the hardware, that's the big difference. Old laptop was XP 32-bit, and the new one is Windows 7 64-bit.

I'll try some other games tonight and see what happens. Maybe I'll try some more settings on the CPU Affinity.

May not help a bit, but you might want to make sure that all of your drivers are up to date and also your BIOS.

Scott

I have similiar issues with my Toshiba Satellite laptop. Running win7, and almost anything game wise will cause the Dragon to come forth.

korak wrote:May not help a bit, but you might want to make sure that all of your drivers are up to date and also your BIOS.

Scott

Not necessarily. My NWN used to crash with the newest drivers on Win7, but ran fine with an older one.

Works fine for me under Win 7 Home Ultimate 64

I have a i7-920 CPU and a GTX 280 1GB vid card. I run it in XP SP3 compatibility mode.
This is what I have for the CPU affinity thing:
Client CPU Affinity=1

IIRC NWN has never played well with ATI gpu's, but yuo might try opening the game and changing the graphics settings to the lowest.

You might also want to download a free program called Real Temp (I have version 3) and run it to see what your CPU and GPU temps are doing... CPU's tun fairly hot...mine idles at 55C (131F) and the air exhausted from it feels very warm on my hand.
If your GPU is running at temps inside its spec then its nothing to really worry about, and the fan spinning up is simply what its supposed to do to keep it cool.

might want to review this thread too:

viewtopic.php?f=24&t=116307

As I seem to be having troubles with Win 7 and NWN too, and was told to try running it in windowed mode, here's my question: How do I run NWN in windowed mode?

I've played on a dual core and now my I3 with 430gt both under Windows 7 ultimate enterprise x64 without single problem. I would always run it as admin and have it set in the shortcuts just seems to run smoother than being in compatible mode but that is me (I also didn't install it but copied it over when I upgraded). I got a desktop and only now and then do I even hear the fan spin up these days. Everything I am using cooling wise is PWN manged. I would be curious about the temps when you hear the fans spin up at the start of game. Real Temp is good. There also Aida 64, Evervest if you can find it somewhere for download (Evervest became Aida 64) and there Sandra. Those three programs look at a lot more than just temperatures.



Window Mode? Something about changing a setting in an ini file. Then when you want to be windowed 'alt-enter' key combo. Google "NWN Windowed Mode" sure it will take you to NWN vault where they listed the changed in the INI file.

I have just tried to reload my NWN Deluxe edition on my Win 7 laptop-
It plays ok before I patch it.
When I try to Update it from the Menu Screen it errors...
So I then downloaded the critical files and patch 1.69 for a 64 bit pc (just the HotU 1.69 patch)
Downloaded all the Avlis haks too..

But now when I click play the menu disappears and NWN closes.
Reloaded everything again, and once more the un patched version works fine.
Once I patch it from Bioware site the game closes down when i press play...although I can click the DM Client, Readme files etc....

Anyone have this happen to them...
Any help advice much appreciated.

Have you tried the Compatibility Mode?
I am running NWN on win7 in the xp compatibility mode and it works fine.

4 things to do before running NWN on Windows 7:

1. Have everything patched and up to date. This now includes Windows 7 Service Pack 1.
2. Set all executables in the NWN folder to run as Administrator. All of them.
3. If it still doesn't work, use Compatibility Mode.
4. Last, disable the Aero desktop theme if your system isn't doing it automatically when you start up NWN. This will significantly reduce the number of crashes while NWN is running, including those upon startup.

Kalvador1 wrote:I have just tried to reload my NWN Deluxe edition on my Win 7 laptop-
It plays ok before I patch it.
When I try to Update it from the Menu Screen it errors...
So I then downloaded the critical files and patch 1.69 for a 64 bit pc (just the HotU 1.69 patch)
Downloaded all the Avlis haks too..

But now when I click play the menu disappears and NWN closes.
Reloaded everything again, and once more the un patched version works fine.
Once I patch it from Bioware site the game closes down when i press play...although I can click the DM Client, Readme files etc....

Anyone have this happen to them...
Any help advice much appreciated.

Try navigating to the NWN folder, find the nwmain icon and make that as the shortcut on the desktop

bastisc wrote:Have you tried the Compatibility Mode?
I am running NWN on win7 in the xp compatibility mode and it works fine.

Ah ha..That works.
Thanks