Is it safe?

Neverwinter Nights 1
1

Apologies if this topic has been discussed/answered before, but I had a bit of a trawl and couldn’t find a definitive answer, so:
I have a very heavily customized version of NWN (Deluxe version) running on my SSID C: drive, and wondered if it would be safe to install a different copy of the game (another Deluxe version) to my secondary E: drive? This install would be non-customized, so that I can play modules made by other folks.
Does anyone know if the two installs would conflict with each other (registry/shared files etc.)?
Many thanks,
Mr T

2

I presume you are talking about a non-EE version of NWN.

NWN does have some registry entries, but this can be addressed by setting the Saves= key in nwn.ini to use a different save folder. You should have separate shortcuts for each version pointing the appropriate directories.

If you use NIT, you can specify different profiles that use individual NWN folders containing your nwn.exe file.

3
Is it safe?

szell

NWN Diamond (and before) indeed uses some registry entries but they aren’t critical (game config also stays in local ini files). It starts and finds its saves with no issues when launched directly via nwmain.exe. This means many parallel installations should not interfere with each other.

Launching the engine with nwn.exe may trigger the configuration dialogue. The toolset will also complain about the registry but will work as usual.

I wouldn’t recommend changing the Saves ini entry (it’s a relpath by default already) unless you want to share the saves between the game installations which is a bad idea anyway.

EDIT BELOW THIS LINE

To clarify, when using multiple installations I’d recommend to backup + delete or rename the NWN registry entry to prevent any interference.

This will probably work only in NWN 1.69 and earlier.

4

I had multiple 1.69 installations on different drives for ages with no problems.

Also, 1.69 happily coexists with EE retail, EE development and EE Steam on my current machine. All the EE instances share the same Documents, but 1.69 has its own independent user files.

Not sure about multiple EE installations, though.

2 Likes
5

Gentlemen, thank you for your sage advice.
I have now tried to install another version of the game, but I keep being asked if I want to uninstall the game!
I’m guessing that the DVD installer only wants to look at my main C: drive, and I have no idea how to make the setup.exe file look to my secondary E: drive.
I have considered just installing to a very old laptop of mine, then dumping the whole directory to a flash drive and loading it into my main laptop that way, but am very doubtful of the outcome!!!
Any further light you experts could shed on the matter would be very much appreciated!
Many thanks,
Mr T

6
  1. Copy your entire NWN folder to a backup folder on your E drive.
  2. Perform the installation from your DVD and let it uninstall the current version.
  3. Apply the hot fixes.
  4. Copy the installed version to the desired folder on your E drive.
  5. Copy your backup NWN folder back to its original location.
  6. Create a new shortcut for your E drive version.

Hope this helps.

1 Like
7

Hi Surazal,
Thank you so much for your assistance, I really do appreciate it!
At the risk of straining your patience, I have one further question to ask…
I have completed steps 1-3, and all is good so far.
However, do you literally mean “Copy” in steps 4 & 5 (which would end up with TWO versions on both my C: and E: drives, or do you mean “Move” (which would result in only the original going back to the C: drive, and only the new version going to the E: drive?)
Sorry to be so anal about this, but I want to make sure I get it right!!
Again, many thanks for your help.
Mr T

8

You could use Move for step 5, (I like backups, so I would copy and then rename the original one on my E drive).

You could use Move for step 4, but step 5 will overwrite any duplicate files (assuming that’s you respond Replace to the message).

On my system, I removed NWN 1.69, then performed a fresh install of NWN, SoU & HoTU, applied the fixes and started the game to create the INI files. I then copy this NWN installation to a Backup folder so that I always have a fresh copy NWN available to reset things if I need to. Personally, I use NIT’s Profile feature to manage Mods for different installations and to control starting NWN using the appropriate installation.

Hope this helps.

9

Hi Surazal,
I followed your advice (apart from the NIT thingy) and now have both installs working perfectly!
Thank you so much for your time and guidance.
Mr T

1 Like
10

Pleased to have been of help.