Hi Bulgrin, [img]graemlins/happywave.gif[/img]
Nice to see someone else here from my own dear province.
I would check to make
absolutely sure that your characters are nowhere to be found in the export folder. Upon finishing the game, those characters should be automatically exported - if they weren't, it's indicative that something more might be wrong with your game.
One thing - the characters won't be saved under their character names, or even under the names of their classes. Try to import any and all character files, especially ones that you don't recognize. I seem to recall that the automatic export saves the characters in files entitled something like "Character 1", etc., corresponding to the order in which they were created. Make sure you scroll down the entire list, if you haven't already.
A question for clarification... do you have any options at all when you try to import for an expansion-only game, or is there just a big blank spot when you try to import character files?
And to buttress Marty's advice, I can confirm that HoW is indeed accessed via the locked door in Kuldahar. You can enter HoW at any time during the main game, with two restrictions: first, you have to meet the minimum average party level (iirc, it is lvl 9). Second, you cannot get back to Kuldahar after ascending the staircase that is triggered by the 6 _____s.