Accelerator

I am back on this forum after many years, mainly because I had a few comments on DS3 as well as Obsidian's efforts as of late. 1) I think the Asian sales figures also need to be brought up, because where I'm living, both DS3 and DX:HR are selling like hot cakes. You won't find a copy that stays on the shelves more than two weeks. 2) I think, given the budget and staff involved, Obsidian/Square probably have not made a loss on DS3. 3) Regarding DLC, the leaks probably put a good spanner into the works, prompting Obsidian to start afresh on the Treasures of the sun DLC. I think we may at best see one more DLC for this game, because Fallout: NV seems to do better DLC wise and also because Obsidian is not that big a company. 4) Sales numbers for DS3 are disappointing, but not the worst IMO. I think Obsidian can survive. Whether Square will continue the franchise is another story. I don't know why Obsidian games don't sell that well, I'm one of the few people who have purchased every single game they developed (Yes, including Alpha Protocol) - I see the logo on the box, and it's time to buy. Living in a developing country with rampant piracy, that's a huge thing for me. Generally speaking, I never buy DLCs for games either simply because I don't see the value - but I have for Obsidian's games. Fallout: NV DLC and Treasures of the sun for DS3. Obsidian is a quality developer, one that has always given me value for my money, and one whose games I've always enjoyed (Yes, AP was good despite it's flaws). But all this means Obsidian owes me, right?

I had this blackout bug happen in KOTOR 1, not 2. I have absolutely no idea what I did, I pressed random keys and tried loading the menu and just moved around again and again and suddenly all was well again...

kalimeeri, it still wouldn't hurt to go ahead and scan the system for traces of malware. After all, no AntiVirus detects everything, so its better to be safe. If the virus scans came up safe, then the problems are likely not caused by malware.

First thing: For some strange reason, most OpenGL games requiring hardware T&L run on GPUs without it. Why this is I just do not know. How well they run is another question though. As for having shared memory, this isn't really a problem because I've seen KOTOR 1 and 2 being played just fine on my cousin's computer with an nForce motherboard which has an onboard GeForce2 MX which has some 32MB of shared memory. The problem is in the features, the Radeon Xpress 200M will not perform well in KOTOR because KOTOR 1 and 2 are vertex sensitive. The KOTOR engine has very complex vertex shaders and also some cool fragment programs. The KOTOR engine depends on three things: 1) Fragment program/register combiner/Pixel Shader support (i.e. GeForce2 MX or better, Radeon 8500 or better. If this had been a D3D game, it would have been Radeon 7500, but hey ) 2) Vertex shader support (Some Vertex shaders are too large to entirely fit in hardware on graphics cards like Radeon 8500/9000 or GeForce2 series. In such cases vertex shader features are to be emulated on the CPU causing CPU strain) 3) Hardware T&L for geometry related operations KOTOR engine has two separate render paths for NVIDIA and ATI graphics cards. The ATI path apparently looks prettier overall while the NVIDIA path runs faster due to various hardware-specific tweaks made available via OpenGL being used in the engine. When your graphics card does not support register combiners (i.e. Radeon 7500 and below, Riva TNT2 and below), then it will suffer badly because it will run the slowest render path available. Therefore, KOTOR performance depends on: 1) whether the graphics card supports per-pixel shading (i.e. GeForce2/Radeon 8500 or better) 2) Vertex Shader support 3) Hardware T&L 4) CPU speed For example, a GeForce2 MX card running on a 2.2GHz CPU will be running most vertex shaders in software emulation (i.e. performing vertex shader operations on CPU) because GeForce2 series does not support vertex shaders. But a GeForce2 will still perform well because the CPU speed is quite high, and the GeForce2 supports per-pixel shading as well as Hardware T&L. The same applies to GeForce4 MX, which will be slightly better because of limited hardware vertex shader support under OpenGL, and the Radeon 8500/9000 series, which can perform some, but not all of the vertex shader programs in hardware. Read here for more detailed info, it pertains to the Mac version but the engine would probably largely remain the same: http://www.insidemacgames.com/news/story.php?ArticleID=9934 The problem with integrated chipsets is that KOTOR will detect hardware pixel and vertex shader support, but since Vertex shaders and T&L are done in software over the CPU anyway (though KOTOR thinks the chipset has hardware support for these functions), there is no performance improvement. So, if someone wants to play KOTOR on these PCs, their CPU will be under heavy strain due to which the CPU will need to be of a VERY FAST speed if the person intends to play it smoothly. The vertex shaders and hardware T&L support are the primary reason why KOTOR runs slow on most integrated GPUs. Shared memory has little to do with anything, because if the graphics card already has the features needed to run a game with FULL HARDWARE ACCELERATION, and after sharing, enough memory is left to fulfil the requirements of the game, the game (KOTOR) should run perfectly.

Hmm....I never really encountered any particularly strange things in K2, but I do remember I was battling Nihilus on the ravager and he did some force power and suddenly I was thrown several yards backwards....I mean, REALLY several yards backwards. :D

Grevious' technical getup allows for better freedom of movement but is less robust than Vader's costume.....so, depends on what you like. For the first few days, Grevious is probably better, but Vader is better in the long run.

I believe that theoretically these files can be edited into KOTOR 2 for the Xbox (since Xbox uses a modified Windows 2000 anyway), but this would require creating a duplicate CD which is illegal.

looks like you have a problem-o... Please follow these steps: Download all these on-demand scanners and run them on your computer and see if they find anything. If they do, report the name of the file and the virus name here. Dr.Web CureIT! MicroWorld MWAV Free scanner ArcaBit ArcaMicroScan And an advice, if you are using the free edition of AVG, I recommend you to upgrade to the paid versions. They offer much better protection and are worth the money.

I want Warcraft as a single player RPG or RTS again

Well, there's a beta downloadable mod out there right now for those of you who can't wait for TSLRP to release. Its not the full thing but it adds a few segments to the Nihilus dialogue, and also a few unnecessary things, but the most significant thing is that it modified the ending at Malachor V to solve the confrontation between G0-T0 and Remote. There is also another mod which reconstructs the HK droid factory (And hence the HK-47 unresolved quest about the vocabulizer can be finished) and adds it into the storyline. However, this mod also adds a new party member called HK-49 with his own dialogue which replaces G0-T0. Sad, because I want the game in its original form with G0-T0.... Anyway, you can find the mods here: 1) Nihilus extra/Visas sacrifice/Remote-G0T0 ending mod: http://knightsoftheoldrepublic.filefront.c...ancements;77410 2) HK Droid Factory Reconstructed: http://knightsoftheoldrepublic.filefront.c...nstructed;75971 Enjoy

I *believe* most KOTOR problems in Vista are due to sound, and the fact that Vista has a pretty bad implementation of sound which I think does not allow EAX support or any other Audio API except DirectSound. Also, I believe there is no more hardware-accelerated sound support in Vista. If KOTOR has a software audio option, or the ability to use the Miles Software Sound System, using such options should fix many problems with the game. I've not played KOTOR in quite a while so I can't check right now.

Killing Anakin at childhood would mean that the entire PT and OT would not be the same. If Anakin was not there, Ep.1. Trade federation's tactics wouldn't have come to an end. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan would probably still defeat Maul (IF Quinlan Vos managed to help them get out of Tatooine), but it would be of little avail as the droid army as well as the Trade Federation space ships would probably win. At the same time, If they were not deactivated, probably the droid army could have reached there in time to save Darth Maul. But even if Maul was dead, Naboo would have lost, and the Separatist movement as well as Sidious would be that much stronger. Dooku would try harder to turn Obi-Wan to the DS, and by the time of Ep.2, the republic would be in turmoil and the Empire already announced. The OT would be composed of a few old Jedi trying to get a hold on Sidious and a new apprentice he has found, presumably Obi-Wan or someone else. There would be no Luke at all, and probably the NJO would be put in Jeopardy. But going to the question, I wouldn't kill Anakin as a young boy because he's good natured, sweet and well-behaved boy. Everyone deserves a chance.

I skimmed through the Ep3 novel and from what I interpret, its like this - The moment Anakin is given the name of Darth Vader, his transition is probably still not totally complete. Heck, even Dark Lord: Rise of Darth Vader shows the transition as not being 100% complete until the end of the book. When he carried out Operation: Knightfall, he was carrying out orders from Palpatine because: 1) He needed Palpatine's power to save Padme, it was the only way 2) He needed the Jedi holocrons which he would access to see if there was any way of saving her 3) He was already highly miffed at the Jedi due to his not being accepted as Jedi Master and the feelings of being put down by the Council 4) His love for Padme>His appreciation of the Jedi 5) His pertinent frustration with the clone wars and how it had separated him from Padme 6) Frustration with the growing corruption in the Senate, Palpatine's version of the story made him not like politics at all When Palpatine has Anakin in his grip, he has probably fully accepted that the Jedi are betrayers and need to be killed as the first step. He believes that Palpatine will bring an end to the clone wars and with his help, will eliminate all corruption. The end of the clone wars will allow him to live freely forever with Padme and his children. And hence he would have "peace". So, with these motives, he went into the Temple and started the slaughter of Jedi. All this while, Palpatine intended for his rage to grow and his emotions to consume him so that he would forever remain loyal to the Dark Side and the Empire. So, while killing Jedi, Anakin feeds his rage. Since he has a perceived account to settle with the Jedi, i.e. payback for deliberately degrading and humiliating him multiple times and at the same time not accepting his power, he is all the more enraged at them. Combined with Palpatine's accusations at the Jedi, this feeds his rage for every Jedi he kills. When he encounters the children, he is enraged and firmly in the belief that these children are already corrupted by the Jedi code since it has been imbibed into them from a very early age. Hence, leaving them alone will always prove detrimenal. This is probably why he decided that purging them was the better option, as there was no chance of "redemption" of these Jedi children. Therefore he commits this act, in the sense that children spoilt to the core cannot be redeemed reasonably. Anyway, once he is done with this, Palpatine tells him to go to the Mustafar system. At this point he has fed his rage, and he still believes what he is doing is right. But the rage has not fully consumed him yet. So he visits Padme and tells her something.

I remember reading somewhere a few months after Ep3's release that George was "planning" a movie set many hundred years before Episode 1 which would feature a younger Yoda in some way. That article was giving the impression that Yoda will be the only character known to use from the other SW films. Maybe this is one of the films? :D

BTW, as for the topic at hand, Revan would PWN this "Vader's apprentice". Even in the Prequel novels I read that older Jedi had powers that only the strongest of the present age can have a whiff of. In SW: Ep3, Yoda says to Anakin that premonitions and visions of the force were powers that every Jedi used to have in the long gone past, but now it is limited to only the strongest of them. So, even without considering Revan's accomplishments, Revan has a good chance of pwning this guy. Considering Revan's track record, he'll stomp all over this new Darth....

Yes, I agree with DAWUSS..we need an RPG game called "Star Wars: Tatooine Adventures" where we can do moisture farming, odd jobs, sell stuff, do lots of sidequests, race, gamble etc. If you ever encounter a thief or smuggler, there's always a trusty blaster. No lightsaber business.

offhand, i'm not sure as i did not purchase it through newegg, i.e. i don't have the order history handy. i'll check. i agree, however, it is screwy. i turned on a total of 4 units, though i do not recall which. taks <{POST_SNAPBACK}> After searching a bit on the net, I found some info here: http://www.techpowerup.com/?2051 Apparently there are/were some MSI 6800GT cards which shipped only with 12 pixel pipelines and 5 vertex processors. MSI had offered to replace such cards. Gigabyte also suffered a similar problem but it was fixed by a BIOS update. Perhaps you have received one of those cards? ??? One more thing, what do the forceware drivers recognize your card as? Is your card recognised as GeForce 6800GT or is it recognised as plain GeForce 6800 or "GeForce 6800 series GPU"?

If you want to install ForceWare 91.45 on anything other than a GeForce 7950GX2, then you will need a modified nv4_disp.inf file. In this case, I recommend you to download these drivers from the below link: http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=1468 In this link, the file is pre-modded to include support for common GeForce cards.

I have a GeForce 6800 GT (upgraded from FX 5900 recently) and from my 3DMark scores it is pretty evident that I am having the complete 16-pipeline edition. I think the other poster may be talking about the 6800 GS rather than GT. It is a good thing to see this transparency AA on GF6 cards. I hope it is made a standard feature and not exposed to one driver only.

I do feel the KOTOR 2 DS transitions were way overdone. Though the DS is taxing on the body, it should not manifest itself so quickly in the way K2 shows it. If we notice Vader from Ep3, we can see that he looks almost the same as his normal self, save the Sith eyes and a really angry look. that should be an adequate example of a transition to the DS... As for Bastila, she probably cheated the dark side of the force with the beauty that so many of her fans love, in order to maintain her good looks

Then how come Anakin has normal eyes for the entire duel with Obi-Wan? Also, why is it that every person in the Star Wars movies or games with these yellow eyes is a Sith Lord? No Dark Jedi in KOTOR 1/2 has this yellow eyes. Perhaps the Sith eyes only happen when a person lets the rage control his actions and moves? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Because the Makeup Directors didnt want to disturb the dispute between Ewan McGreggor and Hayden Christiansen, yes that how George Lucas got the idea of the end dual between the two, Hayden stole Ewans lunch on the set, and Ewan got angry picking up the lightsaber prop trying to whack him over the head. Well, have you personally seen in either Kotor1 or Kotor2 a jedi, and then that exact same jedi later turned to the darkside? Besides your own character have you seen an NPC jedi going from lightside to darkside and their eyes changing? I have - Atton, Bao-Dur, Kreia and the other jedi npcs their eyes dont necissarily go red or yellow, but they do change from their original state. And that rage theory may have some truth or relevance to it <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Now that I think of it, the example which you have presented of NPCs changing eye colour when turning DS, it again shows the SW lore that all people with yellow eyes are Sith Lords, since Bao-Dur, Atton, Mira etc. will only become "Dark Jedi"...

The Prequel Trilogy was not *that* bad. Ep1 and Ep3 were pretty good, only Ep2 was a bit rough around the corners. But IMO none of the PT was "bad". As for the subject, Lucas has done a great job with the 2004 release of the OT. Perhaps slight editing may be needed, but overall, the 2004 version is pretty good as it is.

Well, I don't know how useful my opinion is since I live in a developing nation on the east side of the world. Please note that I talk of the PC versions of the KOTOR games. But anyway, I did notice that KOTOR/KOTOR 2 stocks are very low in the marketplace. I remember going to a store once and there I saw two KOTOR 2 boxes and two KOTOR 1 boxes. Strangely enough, the two KOTOR boxes were packaged very differently, one was the UK version distributed by Activision and the other was the US version manufactured by EA. I got KOTOR 1, and the next time I came to the store, all KOTORs were sold out and there was nothing. I had to begin a crusade of the city to find a copy of KOTOR 2 with no luck. Finally, I looked up the address of a shop which recieved its supplies directly from the regional EA games distributor, and contacted them. Over the phone, I was told that there was little stock of KOTOR 1 and absolutely no stock of KOTOR 2. The guy told me to get back to them in 3 days, during which the store had made a custom order and procured a copy of KOTOR 2 (US version). So when I went there to buy it, the guy at the counter said that I'd better get it now or else it will be very difficult to get any KOTOR games for the PC in the future. Therefore, I took the K2 box and went away, happy that I could get it somehow.

Young Bastila is.....intoxicating for you, huh? :D

Oops. I'm sorry, I confused DS Exile with DS Revan, so I made that mistake. Yes, you can get the Bastila Korriban Hologram if you set Revan to DS in K2. I have edited my previous post to fix all inconsistencies.