Follow these instructions BEFORE you open the box. Once you open software, it's yours and you can't take it back.

In my 4 years of experience with Atari, the most important and overlooked text on a game box is the Minimum System Requirements. It's frightening just how many people have no idea what their hardware is or what any of the requirements actually mean. Time for some education in just exactly what all this techno-babble means.

NWN 2 Minimum System Requirements:

Minimum System Requirements:
- Windows XP
- 512MB System RAM
- 2 GHz Intel Pentium 4 or equivalent processor
- 128MB Direct3D compatible video card with DirectX 9.0c compatible driver
- CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive
- 4.6GB free hard disk space
- DirectX 9.0c (included)
- DirectX 8.1 compatible sound card
- Microsoft .NET 2.0 Framework for toolset (included)
- Broadband connection for multiplayer online play
- Keyboard, Mouse

The 3 requirements in yellow are the most important and most commonly not met. The first thing you will need to do is determine just what type of hardware you have in your system. To find this out you need to do the following:

Click on the Start button.
Click on Run.
In the Open: field type in DXDIAG and click Ok.

This is going to launch the DirectX Diagnostic tool which will give you all the information you need to determine if your system can run NWN 2. The first thing you are likely to see is a box asking if you would like to allow Windows to check your drivers for WHQL certification. Click yes or no, it doesn't matter.

Next you are going to see a window with a large amount of information. You are only going to need a small amount of this so don't panic.

On the System Tab you need to check Operating System, Processor, and Memory.

Operating System is the version of Windows on your computer. If it doesn't say Windows XP then it may or may not work.

Processor is a little tricky, there are many different types and it can be a touch confusing. The most common will be either Pentium, Celeron, or Athlon.

Pentium and Celeron are fairly straight forward. Pentiums will have a number, which for NWN 2 must be a Pentium 4 then they will have a speed which will be listed in MHz or GHz. NWN 2 requires your processor be at least 2000MHz or 2.0GHz. What your DXDIAG says cannot be lower than that. There are several other types of Pentium processors but for the most part, if the speed is 2000MHz/2.0GHz or better then you'll be fine.

AMD processors are a bit different. This is where the "Equivelant" in the minimum requirements comes in. Athlon/Sempron processors will have a number after them like 2000+ etc. This is NOT their MHZ/GHz speed. The best policy on this is to look at the MHZ/GHz speed listed in DXDIAG. If it's at 1700MHz/1.7GHz or better then you're fine. AMD processors are more confusing to understand but worst case, you can call a computer store and tell them the processor requirement and then tell them what you have and they should be able to tell you yes or no.

Memory is the easiest requirement to verify. It's just a number. If the number in your DXDIAG is the same or higher than what's on the box, then you're good to go.

Video Card is usually the number 1 issue with game requirements. NWN 2 is fairly simple because there is a support card list. A good rule of thumb for this game would be to look at the following list of cards. If your card is not on the list then you will probably have issues with the game, if it will run at all. You find your video card information on the "Display Tab" in DXDIAG. Keep in mind that your card's "Device Name" needs to be on the list and it must have 128MB of video memory, which is shown on the "Approx. Total Memory" line in the Display Tab.

Supported Video Cards:
- ATI Radeon X1900 series
- ATI Radeon X1800 series
- ATI Radeon X1600 series
- ATI Radeon X1300 series
- ATI Radeon X850 series
- ATI Radeon X800 series
- ATI Radeon X700 series
- ATI Radeon X600 series
- ATI Radeon X300 series
- ATI Radeon 9800 series
- ATI Radeon 9600 series
- ATI Radeon 9500 series
- NVIDIA GeForce 7900 series
- NVIDIA GeForce 7800 series
- NVIDIA GeForce 7600 series
- NVIDIA GeForce 7300 series
- NVIDIA GeForce 6800 series
- NVIDIA GeForce 6600 series
- NVIDIA GeForce 6500 series
- NVIDIA GeForce 6200 series
- NVIDIA GeForce 6100 series
- NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900 series
- NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700 series
- NVIDIA GeForce FX 5600 series
- NVIDIA GeForce FX 5500 series