After the code for a classic D&D RPG was lost, its lead designer has a message for obsessive fans: "Check this out - I have never had the Icewind Dale 2 source code"

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"It was literally never on my computer"

Icewind Dale 2
(Image credit: Black Isle Studios)

After the source code for one classic D&D RPG was confirmed to be lost, fans went about creating their own improved remaster with Icewind Dale 2: Enhanced Edition. In the wake of that release, lead designer Josh Sawyer has confirmed that he's not to blame for the missing code.

"I thought it was very funny, there was some fucking obsessive dude on Twitter who was like 'fucking imbecile Josh Sawyer lost the Icewind Dale 2 source code, because he's a stupid fucking piece of shit,'" Sawyer said in a recent stream clip, which he shared to Twitter. "Check this out: I have never had the Icewind Dale 2 source code, because I'm not a programmer. It was literally never on my computer, and I don't know why that guy would think that I was entrusted with the eternal safeguarding of the Icewind Dale 2 source code."

While he's credited as lead designer on Icewind Dale 2, Sawyer says there wasn't a formal project lead on the game, and notes elsewhere in the clip that it's pretty unusual - though not completely unheard of - for individual developers to keep back-ups of source code on their own computers.

Icewind Dale 2 is part of a line of D&D RPGs built on BioWare's Infinity Engine. Starting in 2012. developer Beamdog created improved ports of every Infinity Engine game under the Enhanced Edition line, save one: Icewind Dale 2. Beamdog CEO Trent Oster confirmed in a 2017 Kotaku interview that this was because the source code for the game was lost.

This story now has a happy ending, however, since fans recently released their own Icewind Dale 2: Enhanced Edition, playable on modern PCs with loads of quality-of-life tweaks and general gameplay improvements.

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Dustin Bailey
Dustin Bailey
Staff Writer

Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He's been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a long haul in American Truck Simulator.

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