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Siege of Shadowdale Enhanced Edition
Submitted by:
Submitted by Luke Scull on 2022-12-16 10:40.
Last modified:
2023-07-17 16:15
Starting Level: 1
Number of Players: 1
Hours of Gameplay: 6-8
"Like a tide of darkness they came, butchering the folk of the Dale with wanton glee. Many are the foes I have battled in my long life but were it not for the actions of one brave adventurer I fear even I would have been undone that fateful day..."
Elminster of Shadowdale, 1372 DR.
20 years after the original release, author and game designer Luke Scull is delighted to present a remake of the classic Hall of Fame module Siege of Shadowdale for Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition! This new version features rewritten and expanded dialogue, new quests, new areas to explore, and the addition of several henchmen, as well as a new world map and completely overhauled graphics.
A huge thank you to all the folk whose generous contributions helped make this module possible! Please visit https://www.patreon.com/lukescull to keep up to date with development of The Blades of Netheril: an epic, seven-part campaign that serves as a mega-sequel to all the game's official content including the original campaign and expansions.
If you would prefer to make a one-off donation rather than subscribe, you can do so here:
Current version: 1.3
Fixed in 1.3:
- End movie credits now work.
- PC can no longer purchase duplicate inn key from Jhaele.
- PC now faces the correct direction when entering the Sinkhole.
- Elminster's Tower map location now added when going there for the first time during Mysterious Portal quest.
- Mysterious portal evil sound now removed when portal disappears.
- Added speakstrings to Scotti and Malauntyr to better guide the player.
- Rethaun's fire elemental summon can no longer be broken.
- Made a few dialogue tweaks.
- Fixed a few typos.
Files:
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
 siege_of_shadowdale_enhanced_edition_1.3.rar (274) | 349.51 MB |
Christmas came early!
Nice - thanks!!!!
Well met.
Thank you Luke. You are a grand master at all things Neverwinter.
—
Phyte: My heart has been locked for longer than I can remember.
Sharwyn: Done, and done.
—
Awesome, looking forward to play this! :) I didn't play the original (only Tyrants of the Moonsea), so it'll be a new experience overall for me. :P
So excited for this to finally drop! Just got it installed and started. Assuming not intentional, but on the ground at the starting point are some boots of speed. :D
The Boots of Speed were indeed placed there for testing purposes and should have been removed. I've uploaded a small update to fix the issue - if anyone is playing 1.0, for the sake of game balance, I recommend you quietly dump them somewhere and forget they ever existed. :D
20 years and I never learn. ;) Thanks for letting me know!
I apreciated your modules and made another full run (SoS; CToT and TotM) not long ago; I will definitely give this one a try as soon as I come back to NWN. That said, what I really can't wait to play is The Blades of Netheril! meanwhile many thanks for hours of entertainment.
Thanks Luke your product are best!!! I will play it very soon.
So apparently download figures are currently messed up, but I'm pleased to say the module has had 200 downloads in the first 24 hours. Thanks everyone! :D
Loved the module. Very excited to see the next in the series. Played through with a Fighter/WM for my first run through. Going to go Cleric next I think. Ran into a weird issue with the final boss fight but I think it was because of a faction issue like mentioned in DM.
I think in the original the waitress quest was acknowledgded by both the healer and the tavern keeper right after you learned her fate. the latter was supposed to open the second floor's door so you could face the mysterious guest, but this time none of that happened, so you seem to be expected to pay to get the key. It's a bit counter-intuitive, since half the reward is getting a room for free.
Really excited to see this updated for Enhanced Edition!
Will you be uploading this to the Steam Workshop? I would love to see it more seamlessly integrated into the community curated content in game for maximum ease of access.
Further, do you have plans to give Crimson Tides of Tethyr a similar treatment before completing your upcoming and highly anticipated Blade of Netheril? It would be awesome to be able to play your original three modules in sequence, Enhanced Edition Style.
I will upload the module to Steam Workshop and get it added to the Curated Content in the main game once I'm sure all the bugs have been ironed out. It might take a few weeks.
Crimson Tides of Tethyr Enhanced Edition should be released next month, possibly February, with Doom of Icewind Dale to follow.
That announcement is a brilliant Christmas present!
AT LAST!!! IT HAS ARRIVED!. Can't wait to play this.
Thank you for providing the One-off Donation option as well.
I reached the climax atop that place and dealt with the main baddie, but then he cast a spell and disappeared. I walked down and found his new, immortal form in a lower slope. Had to use lilith to remove the plot flag and finally killed it to get the original module journal entry about the other guy showing up, which didn't happen. I'm guessing baddie had to spawn as a different creature at the same spot we were duking it out instead of moving to a remote location in his final form, and that other guy had to spawn there as well, mirroring the sequence of events in the original module, but it didn't fire for me after trying 4 times. I'm being as vague as possible to try and avoid any spoilers.
Was the baddie in his different form hostile when he spawned? If so, did you download malauntyr002.erf and place it in your Development directory?
I've played through twice now and it's been hostile every time. However, I've been able to get around it by popping an invis potion and it seems to trigger the conversation without issue.
I think I've dealt with the problem in 1.0c - I assigned him a new and unique faction, so there's hopefully nothing that will trigger him going hostile.
Sorry for the delay. He was hostile and attacked on sight. I didn't download the ERF because it wasn't available yet when I started playing!
Excellent module Luke, really enjoyed it. I had played the original a couple of times over the years and wow what a difference. Did play the "a" version and had the issues with the final boss as described above. I did also use the invis potion which then triggered the conversation. I appreciate all the hard work. Looking forward to CToT!
I have just uploaded my first episode to Youtube of this Fantastic Module in 4K / 60fps. More to come https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSYogdY7Zoo
Heya,
Playing through this and having a lot of fun so far. Atmosphere is great in particular.
Did encounter some minor bugs though:
- The Ogre in Cormanthor doesn't play his first dialog. Always starts with "Huh, what now?" even when speaking for the first time. (I checked in the toolset, seems there are no conditions on either of those dialog branches.)
- When cooperating with the orcs in castle Krag, the dialog with the chief repeats after the fight in the courtyard. Persuading him again keeps giving XP.
- You can turn in the reward for the rat quest multiple times (maybe only after the Drow attack? Didn't notice it before.)
- Some cloaks in the curiosity shop were not coloured properly
Also a couple points of general feedback:
- Jhaele's missing waitress - it felt really weird that I could not report finding the corpse. You have to just run past here and go confront the murderer before you can say anything. Feels especially weird for lawful characters. I think the quest could be improved by adding a line to the innkeeper. (Where she still asks you to confront the guy because he's right upstairs there aren't any guards around.)
- It's a bit confusing that we have Jhael the Inkeeper and Jaelre the evil Drow. Maybe that's just me...
- It's extremely easy to miss the bouncer quest. (only found it because I tried to debug the ogre dialog.) You have to pick the troublemaker line, which again is something a lawful character would not do. Would be nice to have an alternate dialog path.
Thanks for the bug report! Jhaele/Jaelre are official characters so not much to be done there, but I should be able to address the rest in the next update.
Glad to hear it! I finished the module now and have a few more things:
- Fighting the young troll worked fine, (At least when I came back later at a higher level) but the two-headed troll "died" and became untargetable. Unclear how you were supposed to kill it. (Apparently using fire beforehand worked?) Also gave more XP when it came back to life and I killed it a second time.
- Elminster spends his grand showdown casting... timestop. And timestop again. And then some more timestop. NWN AI at its finest, but it does give some credence to those who claim he's a senile old fool. Might be wiser to give him just 1 timestop spell. Maybe also let him cast a few more flashy/cool random spells than boring missile storms. I personally like Great Thunderclap for its visual effect.
You might also want to make Malaugrym a bit tougher. Because what adventurer worth their salt actually runs when the DM NPC comes in to save the day. And mine managed to rapier prod the critter to death in between some of those time stops. (I know, I wasn't supposed to do that... but I doubt I'm the only one who'll try.) Him being so weak somewhat distracted from the intended effect of the finale. (I did really llike how the creature became bigger as the battle started, though.)
Finally, I managed to miss the whole shadow gate quest. First my character was too low level, then after returning from Cormanthor it was crisis -> crisis -> endgame. I suspect that I may not be the only one this will happen to, given the likely XP levels at various stages of the module. Not sure how to fix that, but it's a shame as it foreshadows (pun intended) the main plot. Maybe make the twisted tower thing only kick off after this quest is done? Or don't remove the NPC when the attack happens?
This also meant I never found the last herb for the herb quest. I might suggest placing the herbs in some closer areas, since not getting access to a shop is a bit of a shame. (And the module already is extremely generous with gold while not having much for sale, I ended at level 9 with 100K gold... admittedly I was playing a character with a decent appraise skill.) Especially the one in the area with the dragon is very out of the way.
Thanks for the feedback! I'll investigate the two-headed troll. Elminster does indeed overdo the Timestops - I'll remove one so it's slightly less tedious to watch him spamming it over and over. I'll also lower the required level for the portal quest from 5 to 3, though you can visit Elminster's Tower and find the herb without accepting the quest.
> though you can visit Elminster's Tower and find the herb without accepting the quest.
Huh, so you can. You know, I never thought to try because the woman standing on the bridge told me I wasn't high level enough. I think I just assumed the bridge would be blocked too? Annoying, becuase I did check every other area at least twice to try and find those herbs.
I'm not very far into the module but I also found the missing waitress quest to be >not quite right". Once I found the victim and returned to the inn there was no option to report her demsie. I assumed that the Innkeeper would react by giving me the key to the murderer's room but she did not. I used a familair to get in the door and slay the criminal but it was a quest that just didn't feel all the way fleshed out.
The ogre in the forrest never seemed to do anything of consequence but maybe I just haven't triggered the actions properly yet.
The module is listed as single player only. I have a small group that [lays on a LAN on Saturdays in the winter. Is there any chance of being able to play this in MP? Maybe using the dm client?
Thanks, Tim. I'll update the waitress quest in the next update. I haven't tested the module in MP so I can't say for sure if it would work, but I suspect you would be OK.
It's cool to see new(ish) modules, and Siege of Shadowdale definitely hits a lot of high marks. Production values are second to none, with great use of music, very nicely designed areas, lots of custom content, varied areas to explore, and a lot of atmosphere in general.
Gameplay is pretty good, but after the first few levels it becomes rather easy. Especially the Drow invasion near the end doesn't feel all that credible as it's mostly the same groups of 3 Drow goons that die in 1 hit spawning again and again. That said, a carelessly exploring adventurer can find some much tougher opponents in out of the way corners.
Story-wise... well, the writing itself is good. The story is... constrained by the source material, shall we say? A lot of mustache-twirling villains and a plot with all the depth of a saturday morning cartoon. I probably shouldn't complain about this since it's the kind of story the module sets out to adapt, and it succeeds quite well at it. But let's just say it's not for me.
Still, it's a fun and fast paced module to play through if you're in the mood for some hack and slash or want to explore some very nice looking areas. And if you like Forgotten Realms stories you'll probably get more of a kick out of it than I did.
Thanks for the feedback, Iguana! The story is certainly an old-school, high fantasy romp of the sort characterised by many of Ed Greenwood's early novels. Crimson Tides of Tethyr is a more nuanced story, and The Blades of Netheril will be written with the level of depth and care as my novels, so I hope you check back for Doom of Icewind Dale.
I've played Crimson Tides in the past (many years ago) and thought it excellent for how it evoked the feeling of being in a fantasy military campaign. It was my favourite of your modules for that reason, and I will certainly check out your future work. Best of luck with that.
I missed the shadow portal quest fot \he same reasons. Not enough experience and then no opportunity..
I'm going to try to run through it all again, looking harder for everything.
A nice touch would be the opportunity to save the realistic statures with a stone to flesh ointment or spell. I wasn't able to find a way
I'll adjust the shadow portal quest. Nice idea with regards to the stone statues - I'll add this in the next update. Thanks!
I figure the Temple could provide a rod of stone to flesh.
I tend to play good aligned characters so any opportunity to play in character is welcome. It'd be easy experience points and a shift towards good alignment. For the sneaky types they may be able to going in and rescue the pertified victims and add them to the fight against the basilisk creature.
I've enjoyed playing through this updated module.
Enjoyed playing through some of the new areas. and the Castle Krag area and quest are sufficiently tied into the lore of Shadowdale where it seems like a logical extension of the main story. rather than fastened on. The Druid's Grove quest does seem separate from the main story, but I guess not everything has to be inextricably related in a module.
In terms of bugs, I also happened upon the repeating rat quest experience award, and the repeating experience award for persuading the chief orc to let the characters help take back the castle.
While I never really had an issue finding the bouncer's quest (even in the times when I played the original module), I *do* note that Larn is hostle when you visit the Inn during the Drow invasion and immediately attacked us upon entry. Moreover, after killing the poor Ogre, everone else in the Inn didn't seem to take notice of his demise. If this isn't a bug and happens by design, then there should be a line of dialouge from the Ogre to explain why he's hostile, and perhaps at least a line of dialogue from the bouncer expressing his dismay (maybe you can give back the gift you received from him for some XP).
Of course, it that's a bug, then that's something that might be able to be addressed in an update.
Either way, I really enjoyed this update, and it makes the character's level progression feel sufficiently earned by the time it's finished.
Thanks for the feedback! The Larn turning hostile bug is confirmation that *something* in the main story is turning the "Loner" faction hostile - I'll investigate.
Thanks for the reply.
As a note, Elminster doesn't show up during the final battle with Mauluntyr; is there some condition or minimum wait time which triggers his appearance? In the original game he showed up pretty much immediately after the main villain swited to Shadow Dragon form. As it currently stands, I spent several minutes trying to hit him to no avail, without E making an appearance.
I never played the original, but in this one the villain doesn't turn into a dragon. You have to beat his human form (and optionally the shadow clones) and he'll teleport away when he gets hurt enough. Then he confronts you again in his weird-monster-form, and Elminster shows up during the conversation.
No wait time involved.
Hmm...
Elminster doesn't show up at all, and the only coversation is Malaugrym saying something to the extent of "This has been amusing, but here's my final form" and then attacking.
I wonder if the same bug that causes Larn to go hostile might result in the Malaugrym going hostile and attacking at the end. I downloaded the ERF file and that enabled me to progress past the first meeting with the main villain in the Underdark, and the initial combat with Maulyntyr goes smoothly, but once that's completed the script seems to go awry.
Update: After drinking a potion of Invisibility (like the poster above did) I was able to trigger the end coversation with Malauntyr and complete the module. While I like the fact that the Malaugrym showed its true form, I do think the idea of having it switch to Dragon form like it did previously might add to the sense of danger that Iguana noted was lacking in their playthrough.
I still really enjoyed this updated module, though. Will play through again for sure.
Re the shadow portal quest: You've always has the opprtunity to go back to town to restock; and in fact one quest at the Twsited Tower requires you to go back to town to complete it. Depending on when you complete the quest, you can stop by and check in with the priestess to complete that particular quest on the way back to the tower. That's what I did, anyway.
You CAN. But if you do not know what is coming because of meta-knowledge of a previous playthrough, will you?
From an in-character and gameplay perspective both it's more likely you go to rescue the kid first. And when you do that, the chance to do the shadow quest is lost
On my initial playthrough on the original module, I went back to check on Jaime, yeah. And, that was at a point when experience was already awarded, IIRC. On my first playthrough of the updated module, I didn't have the knowledge of the level needed to fulfill the portal quest, and went back into town anyway after checking in on Millie and her boy.
It shoiuld be noted that I was playing a Druid, so from an in character perspetive going back to check made perfect sense.
Great module, Luke. I've just started and really love the look you got with the Q content added to it.
I am gettign weird errors trying to down load this. 1st I was prompted to download a product from Microsoft. Now I am getting
malauntyr002.erf (225) is not supported. Any hints or ideas?
The .erf should ideally be in an archive e.g. 7zip.
As it stands, depending on your browser and OS, you might need to right-click to download.
It shouldn't be necessary to open the .erf, but you might want to associate that file type with gffeditor so that the OS isn't confused about its purpose.
MODERATOR
You shouldn't need that ERF in the latest version. See the bold comment at the bottom for what to do with it if you DO need it.
Download the other file instead, the .rar file. Unzip that one to the proper locations as usual. (.mod in module folder, .hak in hak folder, etc.)
Hey Luke! :)
I liked your mod, unfortunately I encountered the bug where you need to use the malauntyr002.erf.
What happens to me is that Malauntyr utters the one-liner "That is enough, I tire of these games." and he simply fades out of view. Nothing else happens afterwards.
I've placed the .erf in the development directory as per your instructions, but this changes nothing unfortunately. I played using v.1.0c, I think.
I have a couple of other questions:
1.) Where can you find Belladona? I've looked everywhere, but didn't manage to find it. :P
2.) Where do I need to go to check on "Milly's Boy", after completing the quest?
That's all for now, here's hoping there's something I can do, other than replaying the whole game. :P
/ Birger
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