Hello, all.
A few days ago, I purchased KotoR 2 from a local Best Buy. The catch is that while I can play the game, I need to disable the sound first. The game will launch in force-software or full sound mode, but it never comes up, and sits in the background. I then have to manually close it from the task manager. When I run the compatibility testing, everything passes the recommended and minimum specifications.
I have searched high and low for any possible solution and still, no luck. It would seem that this is a Vista-related problem, as many of the pages I've visited concerning this issue are all Vista-related. I happen to be on Windows XP. Just my luck.
Here are my basic specs:
Windows XP service pack 2.
NVidia GeForce FX 5500 (256 MB).
768 MB RAM.
SoundMAX Digital Audio.
2.00 GHz Pentium IV Processor.
CD-RW Drive and DVD-ROM Drive.
Here's what I've done to try and fix this issue, to no avail:
Manually update to version 1.02b, as the updater could not connect to LucasArts' FTP server.
Fresh Mss32.dll.
Update sound drivers. The ones I have new are from a very recent (within the last 72 hours) install.
Re-install.
Compatibility modes from Windows 95 and up.
Opening exceptions for swkotor2.exe in Symantec Anti-Virus, Norton System Doctor, and Windows Firewall.
Shut off the aforementioned programs, including Windows Defender.
Changed the Hardware acceleration from emulated all the way to full, trying every possible combination of sound modes in KotoR with acceleration levels.
Launching swkotor2.exe directly.
By disabling the sound card entirely, I can run the game without disabling sound. But of course, in doing so, I have no sound anyway. As a side note, everything in DxDiag checks out and runs perfectly, with no flaws in the test whatsoever, and no problems in any category. If it helps at all, my sound card does not support hardware buffering.
Any and all help would be greatly appreciated. KotoR 2 is a great game, but I'd really like to have audio to go with it.
Thank you all very much!