User:Wendylblack/tricks

Secret Vault All my cool tips and tricks are here or will be coming here shortly. All the tricks are above board and legal to use in this game. However, I cannot help it, if something I have done in the past no longer works, because the developer decide to disable that feature. I will try to keep this current and update as much as possible. If you know of a legitimate trick you would like to add, please tell me about it on my talk page.
 * Wendy Black 14:42, 11 February 2019 (UTC)

= Key Binding = I never did care much for the key layout of Neverwinter. In fact, the first thing I changed was my casting commands; I swapped my encounters with my dailies. Encounters are 1,2,3 and Dailies are Q and E. Auto run is R, and I swapped Jump and Inspect/Loot. I don't hippty-hop around as much as I loot, it just makes sense to have the spacebar to loot. My potion slots are 4, 5, and 6 with 7 as my mount. I have V as Artifact and Press Window Buttons are 8, 9, and 0. This arrangement suits me but all these are easy to do using the Option Menu.

Advanced Keys
In the chat window you can add some special commands not listed in the Options menu. From the chat window you can type;
 * /bind F1 gensendmessage auction_root 1
 * This brings up the auction house whenever you press F1
 * /bind F12 gotoCharacterSelect
 * Makes F12 a quick swap of your characters jumping to the selection screen.
 * /bind F11 ++netgraph
 * F11 Toggles the display of Network information showing ping rates and packets.
 * /bind F3 ui_load_file Gui01.txt
 * /bind F4 ui_load_file Gui02.txt
 * Assuming you like changing your user interface layout formats quickly (as I do). F3 will load the current format you have saved as Gui01.txt. To save a format all you need do is type; /ui_save_file Gui01.txt

Reset
I have set up a /reset command alias of my own. Basically I don't care to lose all my settings and start over again. Here is what you can do to prevent this issue from becoming a redundant problem;
 * Set up your personal keybinds and GUI the way you desire to see it.
 * Open chat in the game and type the following commands;
 * /bind_save_file keys.txt
 * /ui_save_file gui.txt
 * Create a text file within the Neverwinter Live folder (mine is at; D\Cryptic Studios\Neverwinter\Live\localdata\) called "CommandAliases.txt" If it exists, just add this line to it.
 * alias reset "unbind_all $$ ui_load_file gui.txt $$ bind_load_file keys.txt"
 * save and exit the text file.

Now when your UI gets reset you can type /reset in chat and you are right back to business as usual.

Finding Commands
Recently in Mod 17 they added the Appearance tab to the character sheet but no key to open it. So how do you find the command?
 * 1. In chat type /cmds (search data) such as /cmd appearance results with;
 * [System Notify] Commands available to access level 0:
 * [System Notify] Editappearance Show/hide the appearance tab of the Player Status window
 * 2. /bind (any key) editappearance

Old Zoom
'''Note: This method of mouse scroll to zoom in and out, is now a redundancy. As of 2018, Cryptic finally added this as a feature. I am leaving it here as an example.''' Finally another wonderful command is to assign aliases. Go into the game directory and create a text file called "CommandAliases.txt" at this location; Cryptic Studios/Neverwinter/Live/localdata/ Add this data to the file and save.
 * alias fov30 "gfxsetdefaultfov 30 $$ bind wheelminus fov35"
 * alias fov35 "gfxsetdefaultfov 35 $$ bind wheelplus fov30 $$ bind wheelminus fov40"
 * alias fov40 "gfxsetdefaultfov 40 $$ bind wheelplus fov35 $$ bind wheelminus fov45"
 * alias fov45 "gfxsetdefaultfov 45 $$ bind wheelplus fov40 $$ bind wheelminus fov50"
 * alias fov50 "gfxsetdefaultfov 50 $$ bind wheelplus fov45 $$ bind wheelminus fov55"
 * alias fov55 "gfxsetdefaultfov 55 $$ bind wheelplus fov50 $$ bind wheelminus fov60"
 * alias fov60 "gfxsetdefaultfov 60 $$ bind wheelplus fov55 $$ bind wheelminus fov65"
 * alias fov65 "gfxsetdefaultfov 65 $$ bind wheelplus fov60 $$ bind wheelminus fov70"
 * alias fov70 "gfxsetdefaultfov 70 $$ bind wheelplus fov65 $$ bind wheelminus fov75"
 * alias fov75 "gfxsetdefaultfov 75 $$ bind wheelplus fov70 $$ bind wheelminus fov80"
 * alias fov80 "gfxsetdefaultfov 80 $$ bind wheelplus fov75 $$ bind wheelminus fov85"
 * alias fov85 "gfxsetdefaultfov 85 $$ bind wheelplus fov80 $$ bind wheelminus fov90"
 * alias fov90 "gfxsetdefaultfov 90 $$ bind wheelplus fov85 $$ bind wheelminus fov95"
 * alias fov95 "gfxsetdefaultfov 95 $$ bind wheelplus fov90 $$ bind wheelminus fov100"
 * alias fov100 "gfxsetdefaultfov 100 $$ bind wheelplus fov95"
 * When you start the game in chat type; /fov55
 * This will make the mouse scroll wheel act as a zoom in and out for the game.
 * To cancel any keybinding simply /unbind will clear its settings.

Note: When using this command system the inspect mode of the game will fail to zoom in and out as intended. I later changed the inspect zoom in and out to page up and page down keys in the options menu. This doesn't move the camera back as in other games of this type but changes the FOV (field of view) making a fish eyed lens effect at greater values.

Update
Player izmos asked how to reset or view the zoom using the above alias settings. The default field of view is 55, just type /fov55 or /gfxsetdefaultfov 55 should reset it or you can bind that command to any key you desire.
 * For example; /bind middleclick fov55

This will reset the zoom to default distance when you click the mouse wheel button. To "view" the zoom I tried the following with minor success; I attached a ChannelSend command to my alias listing and saved the file.
 * alias fov30 "gfxsetdefaultfov 30 $$ bind wheelminus fov35 $$ ChannelSend my_info zoom +5"
 * alias fov55 "gfxsetdefaultfov 55 $$ bind wheelplus fov50 $$ bind wheelminus fov60 $$ ChannelSend my_info zoom 0"
 * alias fov100 "gfxsetdefaultfov 100 $$ bind wheelplus fov95 $$ ChannelSend my_info zoom -9"
 * alias fov100 "gfxsetdefaultfov 100 $$ bind wheelplus fov95 $$ ChannelSend my_info zoom -9"
 * alias fov100 "gfxsetdefaultfov 100 $$ bind wheelplus fov95 $$ ChannelSend my_info zoom -9"

Next when I started the game, I created a private channel called my_info. When I scrolled through the list showed up in the chat window just as planned. However it then stopped for some unknown reason? I assume the game thought I was spamming my own chat channel? I later destroyed this channel, it is available as far as I know. Personally I have no need to see or read the zoom level.

Summon Pet Key
Yet another example of using the Alias command with the Bind command is Summon Pet key.
 * As shown above add this line to your "CommandAliases.txt";
 * alias pet "GenSendMessage Pets_Summon_Unsummon_Button Activate"
 * Then use chat to bind it to any key;
 * bind F10 pet

Bind Campaign Store
I find myself visiting the campaign store often to spend those Barovian coins. But the store is buried in layers of GUI... or is it? Here is my keybinding I am using to summon the campaign store with the F4 key.
 * /bind F4 gensendmessage Campaign_Ravenloft_Storebutton activate

= Multiple UI Files = This section shows you how to set up some nice UI and tells you in more detail about graphics settings.

Hidden Chat Box
Aw, why do you want to hide the chat? Personally I find it too much of a distraction sometimes. Champions and Star Trek (both made by Cryptic) allow you to minimize chat. No such animal here in Neverwinter D&D ... or is there? Until I find a better method, this works;
 * 1. Set the chat box up how you normally use it when talking to players. Mine is setup with an extra large font scale 1.5 and focused in the middle of my screen.
 * 2. hidden chat dialog.png chat set up your toggle. I am using F5 and F6 here as an example but you can use any available keys.
 * /bind F5 ui_load_file chat_on.txt
 * /bind F6 ui_load_file chat_off.txt
 * 3. After you are pleased with these settings use /ui_save_file chat_on.txt
 * 4. Now drag the chat box to the lower left corner and reduce it in size until it is just a small square.
 * 5. Type (probably can't see it) /ui_save_file chat_off.txt
 * 6. You will find both files in ...\Cryptic Studios\Neverwinter\Live where you can open them in Notepad or any text editor.
 * 7. In chat_off.txt you will want to change or add these lines;
 * pchStatusMessage "Do Not Disturb"
 * fFontScale 0.1
 * 8. chat_on.txt can be left the way it is or you can add a custom status message;
 * pchStatusMessage "Trolling in PE ;D"
 * 9. Once back in the game, try out the key bind F5 and F6, it should work.

Now your chat is practically invisible because the box is out of sight and the text is too tiny to even notice.
 * Note: If you are not level 70, you may want to remove or change this line in both text files; "uiLevelUpWizardDismissedAt 70". Otherwise you will be plagued by the Level Up Wizard (U Key) every time you switch chat styles.

Hidden Lockbox Notice
Really why do I need a splash about some person I don't know winning a prize from a lockbox? Isn't it enough it comes over in chat, we have to see it during a boss fight? Follow my prior instructions above, you will need to press Escape key to bring up the game menu.
 * 1. From the menu choose "Rearrange HUD" from the options.
 * 2. Drag the annoying notice to the lower left corner (it is the one without a hide option).
 * 3. Press Escape and save your GUI as a named file (see steps 3 or 5 above).
 * 4. Open the saved GUI file in a text editor.
 * 5. Find something like this;
 * eaStoredPositions
 * pchName _Cell_Notificationlockboxcell_0_Jail_Hud
 * eOffsetFrom 5
 * fWidth 400.000000
 * fHeight 30.000000
 * iVersion 54
 * chPriority 20
 * uiTime 619031852
 * }
 * 6. Change/add three lines, no other lines matter, then save;
 * fPercentY 0.00
 * fWidth 0.000000
 * fHeight 0.000000
 * 7. Now when you reload this file the lockbox notice is gone.
 * 7. Now when you reload this file the lockbox notice is gone.

Now the text will appear in the lower left off the bottom of your screen, very unnoticeable due to its cramped living quarters.

= Fast Travel = Ever get into some map real deep and wish you had a Teleport Scroll - Protectors Enclave or Teleport Scroll - Moonstone Mask? Personally I buy up quite a few of the Moonstone Mask scrolls from the Auction House during the Coins of Waukeen. However there is yet another good way to pop about within the current map. To fast travel back to the last campfire, pull up your map with the (M key) and click the Change Instance button and transfer to another instance. After the brief loading screen, you will arrive at the campfire. Please note, that in Protector's Enclave you arrive at the highest landing above Aralynn the Pious.

I know it is no teleport scroll, but it gets you out of harms way and saves you some travel time. You cannot change instance while in combat or have just arrived in the instance within the last two minutes.

= Farming Events = There is nothing wrong with taking advantage of events, as long as you are playing by the rules. Currently as I am writing this, Challenge of the Gods is underway. Events like this drop their items only when you kill monsters that are within 7 levels of you. If your highest level is 30 or less, the following tip will not work in your favor.
 * Go to Neverdeath Graveyard where the dragon Charthraxis has his heroic encounter. This area will drop you to level 30. However you retain your awesome abilities and high rank companions.
 * Bring up the Map and look for the Change Instance button. Find an instance with fewest players and start killing groups.
 * Once the area is devoid of creatures or has too many players, simply change instance again.

This method also works for Coins of Waukeen, Masquerade of Liars, Tymora's Gift, Wonders of Gond, and any other level matching events. If you put in some effort, the rewards can be amazing. = Companion Tips = Currently there are a lot of inexpensive Greater Companion Experience Treatise in the auction house. These give your companion 50,000 Experience Points per book. I am told players buying VIP are dumping these into the auction house. If you are new or have acquired a new companion, you might want to invest AD into a few epic books. A rank one common companion will become rank 18 using only one book. These prices are always subject to change, but while it lasts, they are a better buy than others.

As of Module 16 all the information in the following paragraph will change: But don't stop there, get that companion some real power. Rank 7 Runestones can also be a real benefit to you. If you are a range fighter, you may wish to buy a defender companion, and melee fighters, might consider the controller. After saving up some Astral Diamonds, you can then grab some better equipment from AH. Even a rank 1 companion can use a level 70 or higher item and many rare items at level 115 can be purchased at very low prices.
 * NOTE: As of September 2016, Loyal items are now at a premium in the AH. Due to the announcement from Thomas Foss, they will not return, but be replaced with lesser but similar items.
 * Doing a search in the auction house on the term "loyal" you will find the more costly equipment for your companions. For example; Icon of the Loyal Avenger is an epic companion only item. More than one of these items does not have the term "loyal" in the name but is of the same type, for example; Girdle of the Striker, Icon of the Green Lady, or Mercenary Companion's Ring. For a full list you can look at the category Companion Only. Most of these items were rewards in tier 6 (epic) adventures of the defunct dice game Sword Coast Adventures.

If you are just starting, I suggest saving up the 2 gold and buying a companion as soon as possible. Once the companion is ranked up, you will be yelling at it for stealing your kills.

Lesser Known FREE Companions
A "free" companion is one that is not purchased with zen, however some companions are simply yours for the asking.
 * can still be obtained through the Arc Launcher. This one has been available for years. You can get the illusionist companion from the Rewards Claim Agent in Protector's Enclave.
 * Open the Arc launcher, click the gear icon on the upper right or sign in on the Arc webpage.
 * Enter this promo code in the product key: fbyjHBUe
 * All your characters can claim the companion. Also you get the following for your account:
 * Wayfarer's XP Booster
 * 5x Rank 4 Enchantments
 * 3x Refining Stones
 * 5x Injury Kit (based on your level)
 * 5x Healing Potion (based on your level)

Other promo codes can be obtained in magazines and web pages. Check here for more codes.

Event Companions
Event Companions are gained by collecting items during an event.
 * Angel of Protection is purchased from the Vault of Piety for 360 ardent coins.
 * Dwarven Battlerager for collecting 3 Tales of Adventure in the task Aid Bruenor Battlehammer.
 * Frost Mimic is found by collecting 18 Star of Fortune during the Winter Festival.
 * Green Slime is obtained with 45 Crystal Dice in Respen's Marvelous Game.
 * Minstrel is collected from Sybella Artis in Protector's Enclave.
 * Neverember Guard Archer during the Siege of Neverwinter is hired with 5 Writ of Commendation.
 * Pig can be a powerful controller found at the Summer Festival for collecting 4,200 Fireblossom Petals.
 * Repentant Dragon Cultist is obtained with the Repentant Cultist Cage Key from Well of Dragons.
 * Traveling Entertainer is found in Protector's Jubilee for 10 Protector's Figurines.

=Adding New Commands= As shown above, in the section on advanced keybinding, you can add an alias using editing a simple text file. Here are some examples;
 * alias thanks "party Thanks Danke Gracias Grazie Obrigado Arigatou Salamat"

Adding the line above to the file allows you to say thanks to your party in 7 different languages with /thanks in chat.
 * alias trapl "party Everyone keep to the left wall there are traps ahead."
 * alias trapr "party Everyone keep to the right wall there are traps ahead."
 * alias aboss "party Attack the boss, ignore his minions!"
 * alias iboss "party Attack the minions, ignore the boss!"

Saves you a lot of keystrokes in tight situations. If you have made up alias shortcuts of your own you want to share, please add them to my Talk Page.

=Dread Ring: Demonic Encounters= Farming the Demonic Heroic Encounters can be an awful experience, if you allow it. Too many players fail to cooperate in making the encounter gold or better overload. This method is working rather well for me:
 * Pick an instance and stay in it. For this example, I will say I arrived in #3.
 * Get your daily 3 from the dwarf.
 * If DC or DS (Demonic Closure or Demonic Slaughter) is available, announce it; DC up #3.
 * If someone asks for invite, do it. They add to the chance of getting gold and overload.
 * If DE (Demonic Escape) is up go there to that area and activate it and shut it down.
 * Don't kill anything, your arrival knocks the timer down from 12+ minutes to 4 mins.
 * Stand and watch them escape (roughly 30 seconds).
 * Head back and announce the next encounter. Repeat from step 3.

As a final note, if you are alone and Demon Slaughter starts, don't attempt to start it solo. It can wait. Announce it as Fresh Slaughter and wait for players to arrive. Personally I will wait to start, until it hits silver, or the timer is under 3 minutes. Demonic Encounters are not speed clears.

=My Method to Collecting Astral Diamonds=

VIP
Time and time again, I read someone new in chat ask how to get massive amounts of Astral Diamonds. Then another player tells them to buy VIP. I tried VIP 3 times and I don't like it. Which means, it is not for me. To make AD from the VIP Program you have to do the following;
 * Save up 750,000 AD and convert it to 1,000 zen or buy 1,000 zen for $10 US dollars. If you convert AD to Zen, the wait time to collect your zen is roughly 1 day per the 500 thousand in the backlog, (e.g. 14 million backlog = 4 weeks).
 * Next the VIP gives you a chest key every 24 hours, miss a day and you miss a key. This binds you to log into the game for the 30 days, even if you don't plan to play. VIP also allows for 15% bonus AD on quests that produce Rough AD.
 * Open 30 lock boxes. Contents of some lock boxes are very poor. Currently the Soulmonger is dropping Adventure Packs that sell in the auction house for only 4,000 AD on average. Do the math 4,000 x 30 is 120,000 AD not worth it. No, you won't get the same item over and over, but the Adventure Packs drop the most roughly 25 to 30% chance. Everything you sell must average 17K per lock box or you will not see a profit.
 * Post items from the lock box to sell on the auction house. This will work to some degree, but I find the wait to convert is long and dull. Not to mention your wait on a return on your investment. This is due to the fact, everyone selling the same objects drive the prices down more and more. It is simple market saturation. (see Playing the Market below)

Your Characters
I have 8 characters all level 80, 2 slots can be purchased for less than half the price of VIP. Not a big secret, but this is my preferred method.


 * 1. Start buying character slots. I am most comfortable with 8 and that is all I need.
 * 2. Once you get any character up to level 80 (takes me under 100 hours of game play) they can do weekly repeatable quests to earn AD every Monday;
 * The Arcane Reservoir - 4,500 Rough AD (Starts at level 64)
 * The Red Wizards - 4,500 Rough AD
 * Protecting the Portal - 4,500 Rough AD (Starts after the completion of Assist the Zhentarim)
 * Reclaiming the Hoard - 4,500 Rough AD *see note below
 * Ballad of Baphomet - 4,500 Rough AD (with completion of the Maze Engine campaign)
 * Biggrin's Tomb - 4,500 Rough AD
 * 3. Random Dungeon and Skirmishes also contribute to Rough AD but I rarely do these.

With my 8 characters on Monday I can do 4 of the quest to earn 18,000 AD each + 50% for invoking, comes to 27K AD per character. That is a weekly 216K AD just on Monday. As of module 15 (November 6th) the salvage was removed, now AD can be made in the campaign with the campaign currency. For example; 100 dragon coins are now worth 1,000 AD or 100 Barovian coins and 2 omens are also worth 1,000 AD. Overall it is not difficult for my characters to produce 500K per week without issue. With the Mod 14 (June 26th, 2018) level cap at 100K per account, I have the potential to make 700 thousand AD a week in RAD (rough astral diamonds). Just because the RAD is capped at 100K per account, you don't need to stop making it for the next day or even next month for that matter.

 NOTE:  Reclaiming the Hoard requires you to kill 25 Thayans, 25 Dragon Cultist, also collect 15 Dragon Hoard Coffers, and return them to the wagon. At the time of writing (May, 11th 2019) the coffers are selling in the Auction house at an all time high of 1,100 AD each. The better idea would be to sell the coffers as profit. If the coffers drop to under 400 each or 40,000 per stack of 100, then it would be worth doing the quest again.

Playing the Stock Market
If you have the AD to invest, buying the right items and storing them over time will be a great benefit. This method cuts out the buying VIP and converting AD to Zen. This also bypasses the 100K rough AD cap on the account as the Auction House deals in Refined AD. I wait to see the contents of the newest lock box. The first week or two, the whales (players spending lots of cash) will open the box and toss what they don't want into the auction for very low prices. I buy these items and store them in my personal guild banks. Depending on the item, it could go up in value beyond measure. There is a certain amount of risk, but I just keep notes on what I bought and for how much. The Skeletal Dog for example was only available from Valindra's Invasion but a rare version was in Exhumed Companion Pack. The dog sold in the AH for less than 400 AD at one point. Other companions in that same pack included; Will-O'-Wisp, Laughing Skull, and Ghost. Back when I first wrote this, I purchased rare Phase Spiders very cheap, and sold them during M15 for 30K each. Some items will never return to the AH. It is impossible to predict trends, some items will return in future lockboxes and others will not. I keep these items in 4 guilds I made specifically just to be used as banks. The first bank pane of 48 slots costs 150K AD and double in price for additional panes. Each of my banks have 96 slots times 4 for a total storage space of 384 slots at a total cost 1.8 Million AD.

=Chat Variables= So far I have found only two chat variables. Please contact me in game or here on my talk page if you know of other variables.
 * $Target - Using this in chat will replace $Target with whatever you are looking or have in focus.
 * $PlayerName or $Player - Using this in chat will replace $Player with your current name.

Examples;
 * /party Hello my name is $Player.
 * Kind of silly, since they can see your name at the beginning but if you are Max Jones it would return, Max Jones: Hello my name is Max Jones. in the party chat.
 * /zone He looks at $Target and laughs out loud.
 * Again if you are Max Jones, looking at a Neverwinter Guard, it would return, Max Jones: He looks at Neverwinter Guard and laughs out loud.

These are the only chat variables I have found as of today, I was looking for map instance. This would be very handy for calling Dragon Timers when you don't have time to look up the instance. =Benefit of Invoking= My friends have told me invoking is mostly a waste of time. I invoke for wards. In the morning I invoke all 8 characters, the first 15 minutes pass quickly and I invoke again. I drop back to the menu, have breakfast and invoke once more. Now all my characters are at a 45 minute cool down and each one has; +1,500 Bonus AD, Ardent Coin, Celestial Coin, and a refinement bag. I might play or go watch a movie NetFlix, but an hour later I jump on to invoke again. I repeat the last step and invoke for the 90 minute cool down. After 4 hours all my characters are invoked and each has 2 Celestial Coins for the day. Once this number reaches 11, I can exchange them for Coffer of Celestial Artifacts.

I open 8 of the coffers every 5½ days. This averages to 43 per month or 518 a year. I get a lot wards from these chests. Back in November 2018, I got 3 Coalescent Wards from these chests, but I average 1 to 2 per month. The wards are bound to account, but they still are valuable assets to have on hand.