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.

I thought those issues were due to an ATI driver bug. In case you have an ATI card, those bugs can be fixed by upgrading to catalyst driver 4.11 from ATI's website. (Note that the more recent driver versions have new KoTOR bugs.) Or, use the DNA or Omega drivers, as some people on the PC technical discussion forum have suggested.

The problem wasn't that the card was unable to handle the load -- it ran very smooth *when* it ran. But, there were frequent (and apparently random) crashes to the desktop, especially during load screens. It was an issue acknowledged by both Bioware and ATI. Bioware's KoTOR forums were full of fellow victims, and ATI (finally, in Nov. 2004) fixed the issue in driver release 4.11 (the fix was mentioned in the release notes). However, bugs resurfaced in newer driver versions from ATI. Specifically, there's a tremendous lag in large open environments (e.g., Dune sea on Tatooine or outdoor areas on Dantooine). Apparently, there's some problem with the vertex shader code in the drivers. Several people have reported similar problems when using the latest drivers with even higher end ATI cards, such as the X700 and X800. The card suits me well for most other games, including Half-Life 2, so I am not ready to switch to nVidia... yet. I just wish I was aware of ATI's shoddy work on drivers before investing in this card

This might be a little premature, but I am getting a bit apprehensive about the potential graphics problems I will have with KoTOR2 on my PC with a Radeon 9600XT card. I had a horrible time with the first game until ATI came out with the 4.11 catalyst drivers. Unfortunately, the subsequent versions (4.12, 5.1) were broken once again. I read an interview with either someone at Obsidian or LucasArts (can't seem to locate that article now) that the developers had suggested changes to ATI during PC development and QA. I hope those changes had been included by ATI by the time of the 4.11 driver release. If those changes were introduced later, then we might have no driver version working correctly upon the PC release of the game. Since KoTOR2 uses pretty much the same graphics engine as the first game, probably with minor tweaks, the issues that cause problems with the latest drivers will likely still be there... Does any one know anything specific mentioned by any of the developers in this regard?

Have a look at this comment posted by the Gamespy editor who wrote that preview: Thread in General Discussion Forum In particular, at the end he says that he has received a copy of the final version of the game. So, it looks like they'll make the release date. Now, whether the bugs found in the 98% build have all been fixed in another question...