Slinging this thread up here for some continued information on the upcoming Enhanced Edition.

(I will try and edit this post to include all relevant information that is in the thread).

This is a compilation of information taken from various sources, including the official Beamdog site, news articles and the Twitch stream.

Feel free to add your own if I forgot something.

Beamdog Official Site[www.beamdog.com]
Beamdog Twitch[www.twitch.tv]
Beamdog NWN EE FAQ[www.beamdog.com]
Release Patch Notes PDF[www.beamdog.com]

News Articles
Kotaku
engadget
Den of Geek![www.denofgeek.com]
MMORPG[www.mmorpg.com]

Forum For Trello Board[forums.beamdog.com]
Roadmap Trello board[trello.com]
Input Trello board[trello.com]

Some more information on NWN EE, taken from https://www.mmorpg.com/news/neverwinter-nights-enhanced-edition-announced-by-beamdog-1000046460

- Improved Display: Your portrait, combat bar, inventory, and other UI elements adjust in size based on your chosen resolution including 1080p and 4k.

- Advanced Graphics Options: Pixel shaders and post-processing effects make for crisper, cleaner visuals. Enable contrast, vibrance, and depth of field options as preferred.

- Community Endorsed: Original developers have teamed with key members of the Neverwinter Nights community to curate important fan-requested improvements to support players, storytellers, and modders.

- Backwards Compatibility: Works with save games, modules, and mods from the original Neverwinter Nights. A galaxy of community created content awaits.

NWN:EE will be available in a Digital Deluxe bundle that includes three premium module DLC (Pirates of the Sword Coast, Infinite Dungeons and Wyvern Crown of Cormyr), two game soundtracks and a brand new portrait pack.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Catc3uAtRhc

This is a compilation of some of the important information that was mentioned in the stream that aired yesterday regarding the new Neverwinter Nights Enhanced Edition.

I should add that this is all from memory - I may have missed some stuff out.

- Availability
It will release on Steam and GOG. You can purchase direct from Beamdog to get potential "headstart access" right away.

- Mod/Savegame Compatibility
All existing mods will be able to simply be loaded and played without any kind of editing/fixing/compiling. All saves will function the same. However, any modules created using the EE's new features will not be playable with the "classic" NWN (makes sense really).

- Releasing As "Headstart" access
It will be releasing as a kind of open beta (they called it "headtsart access"), where the community can get involved to suggest improvements and features, just like most Early Access/Beta games.

- Multiplayer Fixes
The server browser will be fixed, much like what has been done with the client extender. The developers even mentioned working with some of the team that made this, so I would imagine a lot of the benefits of it will translate over to the main game.

- Enhancing Dedicated Server Client
Ongoing improvements to the dedicated server client - they are open to ideas here. Suggestions include better player inspection, inventory management etc.

- Additional Content (later down the line)
After the main bulk of the refurbishing is completed they showed a willingness to add additional content to the game. Not much more was said as it is clearly not a focus at present.

- Compatibility and Bug Fixes
An obvious one. Water and crashing fixes were mentioned, but this will be on-going.

- Combat Mode Toggle
The combat mode constantly turning itself off will apparently be fixed.

- Enhanced Shaders
I don't pretend to really know what all this talk was about, but apparently they are doing some significant improvements to this.

Originally posted by DrMcCoy:

They completely rewrote the renderer, moving from an old OpenGL 1.2 fixed-function pipeline to a more modern OpenGL 3.x shader pipeline. That's actually quite a lot of work. But this means that it'll run better on current systems, and that you'll get the ability to attach your own shaders to objects (via the texture's TXI file). And they also can do screen-wide effect, like depth-of-field.

- Enhanced Scripting
The toolset will get some love, which among other things could include some additional scripting features to enhance what can be done with the toolset.

- "Directors Cut"
The original campaign was mentioned and the developers admitted it was never really all that. The question was asked about "fixing it". The developers are adamant that they don't want to mess with existing content in this way, however, the possibility exists of a "directors cut" version of the OC that will cut a lot of the "filler content" and make it more streamlined for a better experience. Any editing of existing campaigns or expansions would be done in that manner (if at all - they were not sure on the matter).

- UI Improvements
Other than the stuff already mentioned and posted about here before, the UI would get a good seeing to as well to hopefully make it a little more customisable and usable.

- 64-bit Server Support
I am not too sure what was said on the game itself, but they did mention that the server client would be seeing improvements in this area to allow more content for player worlds etc.

- Multicore Performance Enhancements
Like the above, it was servers that were mainly mentioned here, but they did show an interest to do al they can to improve the base game multicore support as well.

- Separation of Game Data

Originally posted by DrMcCoy:

Another improvement we're getting is separation of game data and user data. The original game put savegames, exported characters, etc. into a subdirectory of the game installation directory. Nowadays, you of course don't do that anymore, even on Windows (and even back then, it was a horrible thing to do on Linux).

- Linux and Mac Support

Originally posted by DrMcCoy:

GOG never rereleased the Linux client, so you had to hunt for it yourself, manually extracting the GOG archives and fiddling it all together (or use one of the community-written scripts). macOS support was even worse, because the original game was still for PowerPC Macs and so wouldn't run at all on any Macs past MacOS X 10.6.

...that's pretty much all I can remember for now. Thanks to DrMcCoy for some additional information!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ux2gDtYC9s0

- Steam workshop support will be added.

- A Trello board or other form of roadmap is in the works for all future plans.

- UI is set to get an overhaul to make it better (an on-going project).

- Depth of Field range is changeable (currently by a console command).

- View distance will be more customisable.

- Anyone with suggestions for improvements should head to the official Beamdog forums to make their voice known.

- The Twitch stream will be weekly at the same time every week. I will be adding the event to our Steam group weekly so you can view it in your timezone there and get notified when it airs.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5VdvjkrKv0

Note: this information was taken from here[blog.beamdog.com].

- The ultimate plan is to do weekly patches for Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition Head Start.

- The new patch is already live, featuring a maximum texture memory increase, an option to hide helmets & equipment, the improvement of water shaders, as well as bug fixes

- The patch 2.5 open beta will run over the holidays, with the final release arriving in 2018 across all stores and platforms

- Instructions on how to join the beta will be released next week

- If you purchase NWN:EE and then decide to get the Digital Deluxe, it’s possible to upgrade - just send a message to our support (support@beamdog.com)

- The Spanish version of NWN will be updated for Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition (no promises for this to happen at the game’s release though, but eventually it will happen) ADDITION: The team is also doing the same for French, German, Italian, and Polish.

- Down the road, we will be adding new resources and content to Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition, possibly in the form of new modules

- Resizing characters (scaling) is something to look forward to in the weeks to come

- UI in Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition is something we’d like to work on, but no exact timelines can be given

- A spell bar like in NWN 2 – this comes down to the work on the UI in NWN:EE

- Tweaking balance in Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition: only if something is very unbalanced, then it’s a bug and should be fixed

- Quickloot bar in Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition: it’s something we’ll checking out how to do and we’d like to hear the community’s feedback on it

- Extending classes in Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition: we wish to enable to extend classes to some degree, but this is a long-term thing

- We plan to join some existing PW servers during future livestreams, so you’ll be able to play with Phillip Daigle as he constantly dies!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LNH-x9n8rM

- Sound is going to get OpenAL, which will allow us to play MP3's.

- Video is going to get WebM.

- Trello-board is coming next week, to show a roadmap of features.

- Some server crash bugs fixed, left over from 1.69.

- "MakePano" script added to make a 360 panographic screenshot added.

- Object scaling coming soon.

The information below was taken from here[blog.beamdog.com].

- The new build for Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition Head Start is mostly about technical debt, issues with the codebase that needed to be removed and cleaned up

- The biggest thing here is video and audio: we’re moving the audio to OpenAl, and video to WebM, - to play better on more platforms (players will eventually be able to play MP3s instead of BMUs, but not yet)

- Environmental Effects (EAX) are currently non-functional and will be brought back at a later date

- We also fixed a number of bugs and server/multiplayer crashes left over from 1.69, smoothed out the middle-mouse drag-rotation, made the Weapon Focus Description UI scaling properly

- We have implemented a new feature - a console command “Makepano” which generates a set of images that can be stitched into a panoramic. Check out the patch notes of the next build to find out how to use this new feature!

- A Trello board for Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition is coming next week.
As we progress, we will be opening the Trello system to the community so that people will be able to see, subscribe to individual cards and thus vote for features they want to be implemented.

- Discussion around features will continue to take place on the Beamdog forums and links will be provided on the Trello cards for ease of navigating between the two.

- Down the road, we’re planning to change the race selection at the character creation from the static options to a dynamic list.

- We absolutely want to create achievements for Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition on Steam, - not immediately, though, - they will progress slowly with our overall progress on NWN:EE.

- We plan to allow modders to add more ranged weapons into the game (like throwing spears, harpoons, guns, custom ammunition and the like).

- New modules and campaigns for NWN:EE - it’s something we’re interested in eventually and something we’ll talk about with Wizards of the Coast

- The message from the loading screens in original Baldur’s Gate II stating that players were able to import their characters to Neverwinter Nights refer to a feature that couldn’t be executed, and there are no plans for implementing this feature into Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition

- The original campaign of Neverwinter Nights was what it was. We don’t want to spend time and efforts on revising it, there are better ways and new stories to spend our energy on.

- Back in time of original Neverwinter Nights, we didn’t link consciously the stories of the Hero of Neverwinter and the main protagonist of the Hordes of the Underdark adventure, they didn’t have to reference each other. But any player, if they want, can imagine that it’s the story of the same character.

- Neverwinter Nights is not Baldur’s Gate. Baldur’s Gate is a novel about a single character with companions who join her. Neverwinter Nights is a journey for you and your friends. The concept from the very start was, and still is, that you play Neverwinter Nights in multiplayer with your friends. Neverwinter Nights is core multiplayer, bottom to top, you build your content and share it with other players.

- The last thing we want to do is to make Neverwinter Nights into Baldur’s Gate. Instead, we want to make Neverwinter Nights awesome, and let the community decide what they wish to see in it

- Neverwinter Nights and Neverwinter Nights 2 are pretty different beasts, we don’t have access to the codebase of NWN 2, and if we theoretically do in NWN:EE anything similar to what is possible in NWN 2 we will have to do it from scratch.

- The open beta of the 2.5 patch for Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition, Baldur’s Gate II: Enhanced Edition and Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition is available on Google Play, Steam, and Beamdog. Find out how to opt-in here.

- Test the games and let us know what you think on the Beamdog forums.
The final release of the the 2.5 patch will happen across all stores and platforms.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_i7YSzQiRI

Quick Links
Forum For Trello Board[forums.beamdog.com]
Roadmap Trello board[trello.com]
Input Trello board[trello.com]

Note: this information was taken from here[blog.beamdog.com]. It has been edited to only include relevent information on NWN EE.

- We now have a live Trello board for Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition which we call the Roadmap board[trello.com]. The Roadmap board is a public read-only board where interested parties can inform themselves on what is going on in the NWN:EE land, development wise. You can find larger features and updates that we are considering, are in development, or are nearing completion.

- There’s also another live Trello board - the Input board[trello.com]. This board is something that will be filled with cards based on community feedback. Neverwinter Nights fans can vote to prioritise features and fixes. Once the development team is ready to investigate a feature request or are working to implement it, they will pick cards from the Input board and move them to the Roadmap board.

- To nominate a feature for the Input board, please, visit the Beamdog forums and share your ideas there. Key members of the community will then create a corresponding card on the Input board so fan can vote or subscribe to the feature.

- If you’re interested in helping us make Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition better, go vote in the Input board and share the feedback on the Trello board discussion forum. There also will be separate threads for every card from the “Needs More Discussion List”, so that you could provide more details and feedback about how this or that feature should look like.

- We aim to be conservative in what we are putting on our Roadmap board, but there are no guarantees of features getting implemented. We sometimes even might stop working on a feature, move it to the Icebox or remove it from the Roadmap altogether.

- We have four guiding principles with regards to Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition:
Do not break backwards compatibility;
Do not change - unhardcode and open up for modding/extension, and add new functionality;
Step forward slowly and try to keep it stable;
New content is king.

- We have no plans for the boxed version of Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition as of yet. Right now we’re focused on making NWN:EE the best it can possibly be.

- Currently Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition doesn’t support EAX. We’re rolling out OpenAL first. We’ll keep looking into bringing EAX to NWN:EE.

- We updated Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition with the latest version of the C++ builder, and we will be very careful with the builder so that we don’t break stuff.

- We are open to expand the current Neverwinter Nights scripting, and updating it is not off the table. Go to the forum and create your requests, we need to know the details of what you would like to see.

- We’ve had a lot of discussions about a potential clash between old Neverwinter Nights assets and new assets we could create. A potential clash is why we are not revising the existing assets. But when we look at the new content we could do, we want it to become something to show the future we anticipate for Neverwinter Nights.

- The story of the official campaign of Neverwinter Nights has been told. What we would prefer to do is create new story content.

Taken from here.

https://www.beamdog.com/nwn_faq#23

Will there be achievements, trading cards, and other Steam features?

We plan to make trading cards available shortly after launching on Steam. Achievements and other features are things we're working towards.

As for the workshop support, according to yesterday's stream, the developers will look at this feature request down the road.

Originally posted by DefiantShade:

- Will I retain ownership of the premium modules I purchased from BioWare?
- If you already have the premium modules (Wyvern Crown of Cormyr, Pirates of the Sword Coast, or Infinite Dungeons), they will function properly in Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition.
https://www.beamdog.com/nwn_faq#16

It looks like both CEP and Project Q already work with NWN:EE - https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/928848/#Comment_928848

http://store.steampowered.com/app/704450/Neverwinter_Nights_Enhanced_Edition/