The realm is open for callers. The address to dial is nwnrevival.com:5000, or call +1 385-596-1775 (USA), +44 20 3355 4984 (UK) or +34 961 68 44 34 (Spain) with a modem over a phone line.

Just want to get going? The Download page has the files and four simple steps.

The easy way: the NWN Revival launcher

For Windows, macOS and Linux: one download with everything set up for you - the DOSBox emulator, our connection programs and the right settings. You add your own copy of the 2.22 game once (its folder, or a .zip of it), then press Play. The Adventurers' Hall opens and calls the realm.

• The picture fits your screen, sharp and in the game's original 4:3 shape, full screen or in a window.
• Your own keyboard layout works (UK, French, German, Spanish...).
• A Help button inside the launcher covers everything: first run, your account, the keys, and what to do if something goes wrong.

The first time you open it

We are a free, non-commercial project and cannot pay for the code-signing certificates that make these warnings go away, so your computer will ask you once whether to trust the launcher:

• Windows: if it says "Windows protected your PC", click More info, then Run anyway. The launcher then adds itself to your Desktop and Start menu; use those from now on.
• macOS: open the .dmg and drag NWN Revival to Applications. When you first open it, macOS says it cannot check it: close the message, open System Settings > Privacy & Security, scroll down and click Open Anyway (on macOS 12: System Preferences > Security & Privacy). Only once.
• Linux: unpack the file and run NWNRevival (double-click it, or ./NWNRevival in a terminal). It adds itself to your applications menu.

To check that a download is ours, compare it with the SHA-256 checksums. The launchers are new: if anything does not work on your computer, please tell us. The game runs in DOSBox Staging, free software under the GNU GPL; its source code is here: dosbox-staging-0.83.0-source.tar.gz.

The best way to play

Real retro hardware: an old PC running MS-DOS, dialling in with a WiFi modem. That is how this game was meant to be played, and it is where our realm is different from the others.

We have worked hard to build the new features, such as The Adventurers' Hall, its boards, guilds and news, so that they feel like part of the original game and never break the immersion. The screens, the pace and the text all fit a real DOS machine, and that is the experience we design for.

Emulators work and are a fine way to try the realm, but the real thing is better.

What you will need

• Your own copy of the Neverwinter Nights 2.22 online client for DOS. We cannot supply it.
• Our small connection and setup programs, NWN.COM and NWNSETUP.COM, in the download below (the launcher already has them).
• A way to connect, any of these:
  • a WiFi modem (a WiModem232-style device that dials an address) on retro MS-DOS hardware,
  • the NWN Revival launcher, or your own DOSBox or DOSBox-X, with its emulated modem, on Windows, macOS or Linux. DOSBox-X or DOSBox Staging work best: the modem in the original DOSBox 0.74 sometimes loses a byte, which can garble a message or freeze a battle,
  • a real modem on retro MS-DOS hardware, calling our dial-up number over a phone line (see Play over a modem),
  • or no modem: a network card in a DOS PC that already runs mTCP, with our NWNTCP.COM (see Download).

Download

NWNREV.ZIP (about 12 KB): NWN.COM (the connection), NWNSETUP.COM (settings), HALL.DAX (the Hall's pictures, with the animated fire, smoke and crystal), NWNTCP.COM (for a network card with mTCP) and a ready DOSBox configuration, with a README that walks through the setup. These are our own programs; the game itself is not included.

Copy them next to GAME.EXE. The programs are packed (PKLITE), so a few virus scanners may grumble about old packed .COM files; they are safe, and you can ask us.

Connecting

1. Run NWNSETUP and set Connection to WiFi Modem / DOSBox-X (Over Internet). Press F1 on any line for a full explanation. Calling with a real modem over a phone line? Choose Modem Dialup for a number that answers straight into the realm, or Manual for a gateway with its own menu.
2. In Number or IP:port type nwnrevival.com:5000. Your WiFi modem or DOSBox looks the name up itself, so your DOS machine needs no network setup.
3. Choose the port speed your modem is set to, then enter the name and password you want for your account (a password of 8 to 16 characters, no spaces).
4. Start NWN. It dials, and the realm greets you with the Adventurers' Hall.

Play over a modem, like back in the day

Hear the handshake again. Our dial-up numbers answer straight into the realm, so a real modem on retro hardware can call in just as players did in the 1990s.

In NWNSETUP, set Connection to Modem Dialup and put the number in Number or IP:port, with any prefix your phone line needs. Call the one nearer to you: the cost depends on your phone line, and callers from another country pay international rates.

USA: +1 385-596-1775 (Utah)

• Answers at up to 14,400 bps (V.32bis). Set the port speed to 9600.

The US dial-up node is kindly run by Cloudschatze, who lets us share it with you.

UK: +44 20 3355 4984 (London)

• Answers at 2,400 bps (V.22bis, with V.42 error correction). Set the port speed to 2400.
• It waits a few seconds before the modem answers (the line first listens for a fax), so let it ring.
• From inside the UK dial 020 3355 4984; from elsewhere in Europe usually 00 44 20 3355 4984.

Spain: +34 961 68 44 34 (Valencia)

• Answers at 2,400 bps (V.22bis, with V.42 error correction). Set the port speed to 2400.
• It waits a few seconds before the modem answers (the line first listens for a fax), so let it ring.
• From inside Spain dial 961 68 44 34; from elsewhere in Europe usually 00 34 961 68 44 34.

Anyone can make an account: no invitation code is needed. To keep out bots, the realm limits how many new accounts can be made each hour. If sign-up is refused, try again later or write to us.

Once you're in, see the Help page for a reference card to the Hall and the game, and a link to the original manual.

The connection to the realm is not encrypted, as on a 1990s modem line, so follow standard password practice: choose a long, hard-to-guess password, and do not reuse one you use anywhere else. Use the latest NWN.COM, which signs you in without sending your password across the line.

Questions about getting set up? Write to us.