How to Stop Crashing when Launching or Playing NWN on a Windows 7 or Newer PC
1. Navigate to C:\NeverwinterNights\NWN and open nwnplayer.ini. Find the line "Client CPU Affinity" and set the value to -2.
Why: What this does is tell NWN to allow the OS to handle which CPU the game should run on rather than forcing it on one that could be busy or a virtual core. This allows the game to shift to a less busy core and make it act in a more compliant way for the OS.
2. Within the same folder, right-click on nwnmain.exe, choose Properties, and then select the Compatibility tab. At the bottom of this window, click the "Change settings for all users" button. At the bottom of this new window, check the "Run this program as an administrator" setting and apply. Do this again for nwn.exe.
Why: Since the NWN folder does not reside in less restrictive Games folder, or was installed by a proper Windows 7 installer in the correct Program Files location based on 32 bit emulation and security compliance, the game will need the additional rights to access proper memory locations and read/write to the ini files within the root folder. While you could run this game without Admin privileges, it will likely crash when attempting to update any content in this folder. You could also manually move the install to the Games folder, but many hooks within the game and in the custom files are hard coded for it's current path and may not operate anywhere else.
3. Go back into the properties for both nwnmain.exe and nwn.exe, select the Security tab, hit the Edit button, and allow "Full control" to the "Authenticated Users" and "Users" groups.
Why: NWNmain, the game itself, will require these rights to write to the NWN folder and any folders within it. If you directly launch the game via a shortcut (such as to directly connect to the server immediately), the session will already carry your current access rights and this step isn't needed. However, if you launch the game via the nwloader.exe (the splash screen), these rights help ensure proper data access.
4. If you still crash, don't use a direct shortcut. Launch the game via the nwn.exe.
Why: This only applies if after doing all of the above steps you STILL crash when LOADING the game. I haven't fully narrowed why this happens, but it appears to have something to do with the game choosing a graphics renderer and I suspect this effects embedded graphics cards (like laptops) more than desktops. By launching via the launcher, it correctly loads the renderer. My laptop can only work via this method, my desktop does not require it.