Pulverizer

Try the catalyst 4.11 drivers from ATI. I had similar issues with a 9600XT while playing KoTOR1 recently and 4.11 drivers provided the most stable performance. Another poster had freezing/framerate issues with KoTOR2 and my recommendation seemed to work for him. Have a look at this thread (though the poster's card is different, the problem, and the solution, seem to apply to most ATI cards): Link

Are these crashes mostly during load screens or during normal gameplay?

Well, I am glad to know that 4.11 works out Now, I am definitely gonna hold off on upgrading to Cat 5.2. Apparently, the problem (at least this specific one) is ATI's fault and not Bioware/Obsidian's (I mention Bioware too, since K1 and K2 both suffer from the same problem) -- there is a bug in the vertex shader code in the ATI drivers with versions > 4.11. The crash-to-desktop problems with driver versions prior to 4.11 were also resolved by ATI, not by any of the patches from Bioware. This doesn't mean that Obsidian/LA aren't to blame for other problems with lack of polish, e.g., poor textures and environments in some areas.

Well, the framerate would absolutely plummet upon entering the grasslands. The characters would freeze in animation. They would either remain frozen, or suddenly reappear at a large distance from the spot where they froze. These problems started with 4.12 release (Dec. 2004) -- which might explain why you didn't have them in 2003. The driver versions in 2003 had their own set of problems: namely crashes to desktop, especially during load screens. As I said earlier, the only version I didn't have problems with was 4.11. Bioware's KoTOR forum has several reports of these problems, and the general consensus there also seems to be that 4.11 works the best among the available versions.

If Dantooine in K2 is similar to K1 (large open grassy areas), then you should definitely try 4.11 drivers. I had serious framerate issues with cat 5.1 drivers on Dantooine in K1. The issues remain with the 5.2 drivers released today. Also, in case you try them, let us know if 4.11 drivers work out -- I will be receiving my copy of K2 tomorrow, and would like to have a driver version installed that would minimize the likelihood of problems before starting the game.

Damn! Why does everyone with problems have an ATI card? Don't bother, I know *sigh* My rig also has one of them. Anyway, try the latest drivers released today (cat 5.2). If that doesn't work out, try cat 4.11 (latest release that doesn't have a problem with KoTOR1).

The new drivers still have the same problems with K1 that all drivers since 4.12 have had (lag in open areas). Don't have K2 yet, but that would suggest that not much has changed in the new driver with regard to the KoTOR engine

BTW, the issues in KoTOR1 that had resurfaced with ATI drivers 4.12 are still present in today's release: lag in Dantooine and Tatooine dune sea... so there might be problems with KoTOR2 as well. In case the problem's not resolved with the latest driver release, try the 4.11 driver release -- that works very well with the first game. I am still waiting for my copy of KoTOR2 PC to be delivered, so can't verify anything first hand.

Here's the IGN review of the KoTOR2 PC version. Pretty detailed 4-page review. They give an overall score of 8.7.

It's already on a week-long backlog at BestBuy.com. Amazon.com says 1-3 weeks backlog.

Well, it is almost the same. The only changes are in the second paragraph on the last page where they have replaced discussion of framerates plummeting on the XBox with random crashes to the desktop on the PC. The accompanying video review also has the exact same narration as the video review for the XBox version, only with screen captures from the PC version.

Hmm... you are right, the ATI driver release that works best with KoTOR (catalyst 4.11, supports antialiasing as well as soft shadows, no crashes in 2 play-throughs) was released in mid or late November. This gives me hope that the same drivers would see me through KoTOR2

It is still broken in catalyst 5.1; catalyst 4.11 is the most recent release that works well with KoTOR. Hopefully, it would work with KoTOR2 as well.

Colin Farrell is Irish, not Australian.

For some reason, clicking on that link takes me to the main forum page instead of the page for a particular thread.