The following is something a friend of mine posted on an old server I used to play on. I figured some of you may find it useful.
As it sounds like the nwn master server isn't coming back anytime soon, if at all - I found a way of eliminating that annoying period of time when waiting for that 'Could not connect to master server,...' message to appear when logging into multiplayer before being able to proceed.
Should work for Windows XP to Windows 7:
Firstly, if you are really unsure of what you are doing, take a copy/backup of the file (mentioned below).
Go to the directory:
C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc
Using notepad edit the file called hosts by adding this line right at the bottom of the file:
0.0.0.0 nwmaster.bioware.com
Go File -> Save, then close notepad.
What this does is effectively blocks access to the master server from your computer, so when you connect to mutliplayer now the 'Could not connect to master server,...' message should come up instantly instead of waiting for it to timeout.
Note - If the nwn master server ever comes back up you will need to remove this line.
-EDIT- A few extra tips. To clarify, I put the line it tells you to paste at the end of the list, but before the final two lines that start with "#". Also, to edit this file you may have to right-click the file "hosts" and go to Properties, from there you uncheck "Read only" at the bottom and go over to the "Security" tab and go to "Edit" and check "Modify" give yourself permission to modify the file. I suggest you check the one by both Admin and your login, to make it easy for you. Just post any further questions you have.
