So, earlier this year NWN 1 was working perfectly fine on my system. (this was the disc version, not the GOG one). Last week I booted it up and it started acting odd. I took this as an incentive to just grab the GOG version, figuring that if for some reason the game was throwing a fit with drivers or something, the GOG package might have corrected it.

No such luck. The game still chokes through the intro cutscenes, and then keeps freezing up every couple of minutes for a few seconds before resuming (this is both in game and at the menu).

Any idea what the deal is? Any solutions? I've disabled V-sync, disabled shader caching as per some recommendations... my graphics options in the game are otherwise fairly high-ish (because I can run just about every other game decently, modern ones included, and since I never had this issue before...).

Did you update your graphics drivers between now and then? Might need to rollback version by version.

Can also apply the Critical Rebuild in case something got corrupted along the way.

You might want to check your background tasks. A clockwork issue like that doesn't sound like the game or drivers. You should also monitor your hardware for overheating and proper fan function.

I was having similar problem and then re downloaded the game via GOG Galaxy and it now works perfectly.