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markussun

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  1. I wrote a detailed review about what the media patches do (around 6 months ago). Here is the direct link again: http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?showtopic=37861 Maybe someone should make it sticky. It's true that the patch readme files give no explanation of what the media patches actually do. Gamers who weren't following last year's forum threads here about KotOR2's sound and video issues will be rather clueless and will have a hard time deciding if they should download them or not, given their big size.
  2. As far as I see it, the Movies Update Patch overwrites all original Bink files (movies) with the new 1600x680 hi-res versions. After the patch, the older 640x272 versions of the movies are gone. So, how can the game playback the lo-res movies in their previous native 640x272 resolution, when they don't exist on the harddrive anymore? I think what you're seeing is a scaled-down version of the hi-res movies, done in real-time. The Bink codec, btw, can perfectly downscale videos in real-time to any lower target resolution (simple downscaling with no filtering; the results are good.) It's just a matter of the game using that capability of the codec. Still, with too many Bink games, I've seen a stubborn way of playing back their movies in one hard-coded resolution only, which is annoying. Games that are using the DivX codec on the other hand are able to playback their pre-rendered movies at any resolution and always at smooth framerates. The scaling also looks perfect with no stretching artifacts. Furthermore, DivX movies' file sizes are considerably smaller for the same playtime than Bink movies, thus taking up less harddrive space. Which makes me wonder why not every developer choses to use the royalty-free DivX codec for their playback needs (I think Blizzard were the first to adopt it.) I think every game should use OGG Vorbis and DivX for their media compression needs, since they are free to use and much more advanced codecs, yielding better video and audio results than the outdated MP3 and Bink. Miles Sound System (same company that licences Bink) is still the best and most hassle-free solution (for the end-user) to implement sound-support in games, so I surely like to see developers continue to use MSS... I like to have full 3D hardware audio surround sound support in my games, instead of the basic crappy low-level stereo-only implemenation that games are released with these days that don't have MSS. But why licence Bink, when DivX is superior on all accounts?
  3. Isn't that how we all discover new things that we eventually start to care about? Thanks LadyCrimson!
  4. KotOR2 Media Patch: Mini-Review Hi everyone, Hi Feargus Urquhart, Cheers to the crew at Obsidian, having been one of the most vocal critics in the past of Obsidian and LucasArts and the poor sound quality the final game was delivered in (see my previous thread: "Music is degraded to *MONO* 10kHz @ 48 kbit/s?!"), I feel an obligation to comment on the (finally) released KotOR2 Media Update Patch. It is one thing to shout when someone does something wrong, but then I find it equally important to shout out loud when they do something right. And this is a case of doing it right. What many don't seem to realize is that although the Media Patch is officially said to improve the "Movies and Music" of KotOR2, it also features another drastic improvement to the game's AUDIO: All environmental sounds (ambient sounds) of locations you are visiting in the game have been completely remastered and are now in high-quality STEREO surround sound! It makes a significant impact on the soundscape of the game (the previous ambient sounds were also butchered to muffled MONO), and I will discuss this improvement in my mini-review below. Yes, the patch took way too long. And yes, we know that LucasArts (LEC) was undergoing a major transition of their business by moving their HQ to the new Presidio area in San Francisco this summer. Many speculations were made in regards to the delay of this patch, many questions raised. The only question though that kept bothering me was, "Can I trust this developer (Obsidian) to truly care for their games, or would they outright lie to their fans?" I say "fan" simply because of the RPG legacy that Obsidian brings to the table, under their former 'Black Isle' label. Many gamers know this. But the titles/labels are irrelevant, it's the people that make a company. The devs behind Obsidian have made their mark in gaming history with the previous titles they've been working on, and it's not something one can ignore. They're among the most creative people in this industry. I would have a really hard time to swallow the notion that these legendary devs (yes, they are) would suddenly not care about making great games for gamers anymore, but rather only care to create a commercial "product" to turn a quick profit. I believe that greed kills creativity, and it would surely be the end of their legacy. As a fan, there was one aspect (apart from the skillful writing and freedom of choices) that impressed me the most about the games they made: They were one of the first (and even today, one of very few) game devs who realized the potential of audio in their games. At a time when games were severely limited by their 2D graphics and underlying hardware, it was their audio that more than made up for it -- years ahead of its time. The classic Fallout series, for example, had an incredible and crystal-clear STEREO score that perfectly set the *mood* for this post-apocalyptic setting, masterfully composed and implemented. And that was 8 years ago, already! It was always the audio-side in Black Isle games (music, ambients, voice-actors) that instantly captured and immersed me in their worlds, and wouldn't let me go. They mastered it like no other. To me that was always a standout and set their games apart from the competition. I'm stating the obvious when I say that KotOR2 certainly didn't seem to have this strong signature aspect one would expect from this development house -- the audio quality was just awful. So, who's to blame? Well, I think we shouldn't be trying to point any fingers anymore, and instead just close this sorry chapter. The public will never know about all the stories which went on backstage, and in the interest of all companies involved it's probably for the better. But for myself, there's still the burning question: "Does Obsidian truly care for their games?" And that one needs answering, because there aren't that many great developers around in the industry that I'd care about. Well, the 'Media Update Patch' answered my question. In my book, Obsidian has redeemed itself, and I see things clearly now. Why? It's not just the contents of the patch that have convinced me, but also the circumstances surrounding it... Let me put it this way: It speaks volumes to me that LEC's website has no mention whatsoever of the patch on their *product* pages, nor in their support (patch download) section for KotOR2, while Obsidian Entertainment features it prominently on the FRONT page of their website. (A typical customer who would intuitively seek out the LEC support pages of their purchased game, would never even find out about this new Media Patch.) It speaks volumes that a third-party-helper had to get involved (nVidia) to provide bandwith and a home for the patch, while a certain publisher couldn't. And the long delays, and the nature of the patch being "officially unsupported", coupled with the strategic planning of Obsidian to get this patch into the hands of their fans, tell the rest of the story. No folks, this answer is clear: Obsidian TRULY DOES CARE about their games. And this is good news to all of us, because I'm sure we're all eager to see what this storied and celebrated developer can do, once unleashed. For now, I think Obsidian deserves a big round of applause for getting this patch into our hands. This was an uphill battle I'm sure, and if it weren't for Obsidian, we would never have gotten this patch. They took certain risks (which don't need to be mentioned here) to push for it, and the fans ultimately benefit from it. This also demonstrates that they certainly care for their fans and gamers. A big thanks to all at Obsidian! Also, I would like to thank everyone who responded to the call in my original thread and decided to take action to push for this patch by writing to LEC. From what certain parties told me, it kicked up some dust and really made a difference. Last but not least, I'd like to thank the composer Mark Griskey, who, with the vocal support of the fans (no pun ), also did his part to push for this Media Patch. He was very determined that this patch would see the light of day. Mark, you did an incredible job with this score to capture the unique feeling of the Star Wars universe, and you more than deserve that your work is now honored by being presented in the best possible quality, and finally in STEREO! (sigh) I know you're happy that gamers now have the chance to experience your music the way it was meant to be heard all along. And WOW does it sound great now! Ok, on to the mini-review of the contents of the Media Update Patch: 1. MUSIC quality improvements: In one word: Awesome... beautiful! Alright, two words then. I could write pages about it (you know I could, don't you? ), but I'll spare you the cheese and just mention the most important features: The retail version of KotOR2 shipped with an insulting music quality, which was degraded to *MONO* @ 10kHz frequency response and encrippled (encoded) with an utterly low bitrate of 48 kbit/s CBR (= constant bitrate). What remained of the music was a muffled, hollow-sounding mess, similar to what you'd get through a telephone line. The music had no presence. The new music is remastered in proper 44kHz STEREO with a very high average bitrate of around 230 kbps (VBR)! "VBR" means "variable bitrate" and is the best way to encode and preserve musical quality. In fact, I was speechless to see that they had chosen such a high bitrate (192 kbps VBR would have been sufficient to ensure CD-like quality), but they went the extra mile to ensure their music patch was beyond any criticism. Well, they certainly succeeded: This is what a live orchestra can sound like, it has real presence! It's vibrant and bombastic, with full highs and lows. It feels as if the orchestra is playing right in front of you and all around you, sounding open and wide. Crystal-clear with no distortions. Full dynamics. Full stereo surround sound. The original recording is brilliant and now you can hear for the first time what these musical artists worked so hard to create for the game: Mark Griskey's score is a perfect mood-enhancing supplement to the game, fully capturing that unique Star Wars feeling. It's now a truly cinematic gaming experience, deserving of the Star Wars title. On a side note: Any developer creating a future Star Wars game would be foolish not to consider Mark Griskey's talent for an original game score. I've never seen a composer come so close to the signature musical style of SW. And for crying out loud, please allow a bigger budget for music in the future -- 60 minutes worth of music are simply not enough for a lengthy RPG like KotOR2 (too much repetition.) For comparison: Dungeon Siege II has a score that is 2 hours and 40 minutes long (not including the music for the cinematics; with those it's over 3 hours of Jeremy Soule music!) 2. SOUND quality improvements: In two words: Big surprise! All 72 ambient/environmental sounds in KotOR2 were also remastered to full STEREO surround sound quality! As I mentioned in the beginning of my post, the Media Patch does more than just fixing the music and movies. It also fixes the in-game sound. This was not mentioned in the patch notes. The sound improvements are part of the "Music Patch" file ('K2_Patch_HQ_Music.exe' [148MB]). Of course, most of us didn't notice the flawed environmental/ambient sounds before, simply because we had no comparison to make... we didn't know what we were missing. But all ambient sounds in the game were actually created and mixed by the sound designers in full stereo surround, originally. Unfortunately, they ended up (like the music) in a crippled state in the final retail game: Muffled 10 kHz MONO sound. The whole purpose of ambient sounds is to create a soundscape, a sound environment, in which you can hear sounds coming from various directions and distances. This depth effect of ambient sounds can only be achieved when using at least STEREO, in order to simulate the complex "room" accoustics. If you convert ambient sounds to MONO (as in KotOR2 before this patch) this depth effect is negated and lost -- the whole soundscape collapses and many sounds will actually be inaudible (they get drowned by the other sounds when all are lumped into the one MONO channel.) To make matters worse, the previous ambient sounds were badly compressed and filtered (10 kHz lowpass filter.) What remained was a fraction of what the sound designers originally wanted you to experience while playing KotOR2. With this new Media Patch, all locations that you can visit in the game will have real ambient sounds: The environments will sound vivid and spacious, like real soundscapes do (e.g. standing in a bar, standing on a city street.) The ambient sounds will surround you and you will feel like you're in the middle of it. This makes a drastic improvement to the sound experience of the game... it is much more immersive now. If you don't believe me, listen to these great examples in the game's 'StreamMusic' folder: bed_201tel.wav bed_207tel.wav bed_231tel.wav bed_411dxn.wav Copy these 4 files to a newly created folder (e.g. "amb_MONO") and rename their file extension to ".mp3". You will need to play them back with a proper MP3 player like WinAMP. You will notice they're MONO and sound very tiny. Now, apply the 'K2_Patch_HQ_Music.exe' patch, and afterwards copy the same 4 files (which are in STEREO surround now) to a different folder (e.g. "amb_STEREO") and again rename them to end in ".mp3". Now do an A/B-comparison listening test and hear what you've been missing... the sound environments come alive! Kudos to Obsidian for improving/restoring all the ambient sounds, particularly since nobody requested it. That was a nice gesture, and it makes a tangible difference in the game's audio experience. 3. Six audio files that were "missed" (not updated): I'm almost certain that these 6 files are not used within the game, because they look to me like leftovers from during the game's production that should have been removed before release. Therefore it makes sense that the Media Patch doesn't update these files. However, I'm not sure, and it would help if an Obsidian dev could quickly comment on this for clarification. These are the 6 files: bed_950mal.wav (same content as 'bed_950cor.wav'... unused leftover?) mus_a_801.wav (similar to 'mus_a_800b.wav', but synthesizer-recorded instead of live orchestra) mus_a_kreiadark.wav (same as 'mus_kreiadark.wav'... unused leftover?) mus_a_main.wav (same as 'mus_main.wav'... unused leftover?) (mus_kriea.wav) (this is a clear dupe of 'mus_kreia.wav', probably due to the typo) mus_s_kreiaevil.wav (same as mus_s_darkside.wav'... unused leftover?) 4. MOVIE quality improvements: In one word: Solid. The original movies/cinematics had a resolution of 640 x 272 (30 fps) The remastered cinematics have a resolution of 1600 x 680 (30 fps) As some have already mentioned, the new cinematics aren't necessarily sharper, since they weren't completely re-rendered. In order to do that, Obsidian would have needed access to the original 3D assets and probably pay the company that was previously commissioned to dig out these files, and invest the time and money to re-render them all from scratch in a higher resolution. That would have been perfect, of course. Right now, the almost tripled resolution (and the resulting huge file size) is a bit wasted, since no additional detail is captured. However, it's not totally wasted, since the additional pixels are used to interpolate and filter the image, making it look much better than it was before. It's more film-like now. The previous quality of the movies was a pain to the eye, with all its big scanlines and pixelization due to the low TV resolution and heavy compression. So, Obsidian decided to go for the next-best solution: They couldn't go back and re-render them from scratch, but they still seemed to have the higher-quality (uncompressed) 640x272 master copies in their archives. From that better source they could upscale and interpolate the images and use a much better compression setting, which results in higher-quality cinematics. Sure, it's a compromise, but I understand Obsidian's decision, because the other solution would have been prohibitive. So, I think it's far better to have this solution, than nothing at all and being stuck with the old, pixely, grid-like movies. Frankly, I'm quite surprised that Obsidian actually went ahead and did this for the fans, simply because of the enormous >1 GB size that this movie update would need. I don't think any other developer would have done this, really. Improvements: Better *perceived* resolution: More "film-like" (smoother), with less pixelization (due to new upscaling/interpolation/filtering) and of course no more annoying scanlines. Much better encoding: Previous encoding artifacts are gone (no more "wobbling" square-blocks with camera movement or blocking/pixelization artifacts with fast animations; also, "ringing" compression artifacts [pixel noise around hard edges] are practically gone.) Better contrast: Improved contrast and black-level, with the scene being less "washed-out" (again, more film-like; previously it was more video-like.) Downside: I tested this with Bink Tools: The new movies need about 3x more CPU cycles (~30% now on my Athlon 1.6 Ghz test machine) for video decoding and blitting, due to their larger size. But this should not be a problem, even on a minimum spec machine. There's enough horsepower to playback those movies, and the CPU doesn't need to do anything else during playback. The way Bink works (the format in which KotOR2's movies are encoded in), I'm sure that a good gfx card helps too, since Bink uses some hardware functions of the gfx card to accelerate the playback. Ergo: While the cinematics' previous 640 x 272 resolution with heavy compression artifacts might have looked "OK" on a blurry TV screen for XBox gamers, for PC users who play at much higher resolutions (practically in HDTV if you allow the TV-comparison), the annoying scanlines (like looking through a "grid") and the unstable "wobbling" image with heavy blocking/pixelization were very noticeable and distracting. The new re-mastered cinematics look much better, especially on larger monitors. True, the resolution of the source material is the same (unfortunately they couldn't completely re-render all cinematics in a higher resolution), so you won't get a sharper image... the detail remains the same. However, what you *will* get is a much clearer film-like image, with no more annoying "video artifacts" and a better contrast. Moreover, the perceived resolution is much higher, because of the well-done interpolation and upsampling to the new native 1600 x 680 resolution of the movies. I think it looks great and it's a solid improvement. Summary: It's up to you to decide if the Movies patch is worth the download of one Gigabyte. At first, I was unsure of its worth, but after I did more tests and A/B comparisons it became clear to me that the improved film-like quality of the cinematics really adds to the experience. After all, Star Wars is a cinematic experience, and that should be preserved even in a "video" game. If you're a PC gamer who appreciates quality in presentation (and if you're the kind of gamer who can't live without FSAA ) then this Movies patch is a no-brainer for you. However, if you're challenged with bandwith and traffic limits (a 1 GB+ download is not a trifle), and pondering what is more important -- the Movies or the Music patch -- then I'd recommend without hesitating that you download the much smaller Music patch, because in the end it really adds significantly more to the game experience: You will get much clearer sound in *full stereo surround* this time, and the great news is that not only the music gets that much-needed treatment, but all environmental/ambient sounds, too! The whole world in KotOR2 will come alive and sound vivid and expansive, with you feeling right in the middle of it. The Music Patch will give you a greater immersion, and ultimately improves the game the most. No more muffling, no more lousy mono, no more tiny-sounding game experience. For gamers like me, who play as much with their ears as they play with their eyes, it's a dream come true. For the rest, who have the habit of turning off music or sound altogether in their games... don't bother. It would be casting pearls before swine... And to Obsidian: Please find your way back to your roots. You used to be a pioneer in gaming audio, fully realizing its potential before. Maybe it was just the circumstance of this partnership. But I'd love to see you guys return to your former legacy. I think the lessons were learned. Thanks again for the Media Patch! This was really done for the fans... I finally realize that.
  5. Hans, "pointless feature" to be able to have freelook while playing? I love it! Wow, this shows how different we all are and how we prefer to play our games. This is one of the most welcome little control features that K2 introduced, something I was hoping they would implement! The one thing that bothered me while playing the original K1 was that the camera angle was locked -- you couldn't look up and down while moving around in the game world. This is a typical console convention and has no place in PC games, where it's typical to give control over the camera to the gamer, since the mouse is such a superior control device for that. There were scenes in K1 (Taris e.g.) where things were happening in the sky, and you wouldn't see it. Or interesting environments that you couldn't fully look at. The only way to do that was to go into 1st person mode (for which you had to stop moving and hit an extra button), which was awkward and non-intuitive. I was really happy that they finally allowed proper control over the camera in K2. But I understand your desire to play K2 one-handed, since that was an obvious alternative control system that the designers intended to support. However, as metadigital pointed out, games are typically played two-handed (even on consoles you need both hands to hold the controller). That's simply because today's games offer so much interactivity with the 3D environment and enough sophisticated gameplay that it's not practical anymore to control them with just one hand. The only gaming genre I can remember that was simplistic enough for one-handed control were the classic point-&-click adventure games, and they were in 2D. For today's 3D games, the keyboard+mouse combination is just so much more efficient. But I do feel your pain with the fact that the game carries over the stupid camera auto-center feature whenever you move with the 2 mouse-buttons. That is a console convention that I see with too many console ports for the PC, and I absolutely hate it. It has no place in a PC game! To developers: We PC gamers (as opposed to console gamers) are always in control of the camera simply through the mouse, which is our main input device. It is second nature to us to look around freely. We don't need any "smart cams" and any auto-centering features that tell us where we should look. Don't take away camera control from the gamer in a PC game! That's a no-no. I've played too many ports where I had to constantly wrestle with the camera, always fighting it, because it took away control from me. So, I can understand your problem, Hans. But I must insist, that I really like the freelook of the camera in K2. It's just unfortunate that you only get it when playing with the keyboard+mouse by using WASD keys for the movement -- then the camera won't auto-center. If you use the mouse-buttons for movement, then the game takes away control and auto-centers the camera. Luckily, I play with keyboard+mouse, so this isn't an issue for me, and I enjoy the freedom to look around. But I can imagine how much the auto-center must annoy you when playing just with the mouse. To make a long story short: Obsidian should have really included an option to disable auto-centering for the camera -- as should ALL console-to-PC ports of 3D games, for that matter!
  6. Well, that is great news then! Just a bit confusing, since none of this was stated either in the patch readme, nor at the top of this thread (where it should have been, since this is the official patch announcement after all, and also "sticky"). I didn't bother reading any user posts about the patch, so that "previous" statement was a bit misplaced, and I totally missed it. Sorry for criticising something that has been (or will be, rather) amended. I wouldn't want to add negativity to where it's undeserved! In fact, I couldn't be any happier about this. Thank you Obsidian/LA for listening and caring! On a personal note: This project to restore the original music myself (or raise awareness enough to have it restored by LA) was quite time-consuming. I'm glad I can finally put it to rest. I'm glad that finally everyone will be able to experience KotOR II the way Mark Griskey has always intended it to be enjoyed -- and worked so hard for. It's fulfilling to see that none of this was in vain. Thank you. -markussun
  7. Wow, this is simply underwhelming. More than 2 months have passed, and neither Obsidian nor LucasArts have found the time to fix the broken, poor in-game music. Even the music composer himself lobbied both companies to fix his butchered work in an official patch, and had high hopes for it. It's no surprise that he was less than enthusiastic about how his music was bugged in the final game. And the patch does nothing to rectify this? Way to go!
  8. Ok, so should I go ahead and remaster the whole KotOR II score for the game to STEREO? Is there enough demand for it? This was just a sampler to get some feedback.
  9. Ok, so should I go ahead and remaster the whole KotOR II score for the game to STEREO? Is there enough demand for it? This was just a sampler to get some feedback.
  10. I agree. Irrational Games is a terrific game developer! System Shock 2, Freedom Force, Tribes: Vengeance, SWAT 4... all wildly different genres, and yet all polished and with awesome gameplay. Plus, their games all feature great stories and characterizations, very much like Bioware's paradigm. Developers like Irrational Games need to be supported. Go buy Freedom Force vs. The Third Reich, it's a lot of fun. They even self-funded and self-published it, so that no publisher could meddle with their designs and force them to rush it (they broke ties with EA over it). That tells you a lot about their passion for PC games!
  11. - Cool Edit Pro - Sound Forge - LAME 3.90.3 encoder - Sennheiser HD 580 precision audio monitor - Audigy 2 ZS - my ears
  12. It's explained in the readme.txt file accompanying the stereo sampler download.
  13. I'm sorry, the STEREO music sampler file was temporarily unavailable due to some server problems. This has been fixed in the meantime. The file is available for download again. Go back to the top of this thread for the link.
  14. I'm sorry, the STEREO music sampler file was temporarily unavailable due to some server problems. This has been fixed in the meantime. The file is available for download again. Go back to the top of this thread for the link.
  15. Thanks for the comments so far. That's really flattering if you could even hear a difference on a laptop... :D
  16. Thank you for the comments so far. Dahvernas, yes you're right. Keep in mind that this is a simulation of a stereo recording environment, or in other terms, it is fake stereo. It is impossible to exactly restore the original instrument placements of a live orchestra, since that spatial information is of course lost in the MONO tracks. The whole music collapses into the "middle" of a stereo field, due to LucasArts' treatment of the music. So, my goal was to get the music "out" of that middle position and spread it accross a stereo field again, to make it sound fuller, wider, with more presence. I've tried to do as much separation of the frequencies as possible, without overdoing it (matching the original true stereo recording sample from the composer). If you put the music in a sound editor you can see the stereo separation -- left and right channel are different, otherwise it would not be real stereo. Alas, I cannot do magical things like, say, put the harp at -120 degrees azimuth, the trumpets at -20 degrees, and the cellos at +100 degrees azimuth, or some such. I'd love to do such magical things, but it's just not possible. The frequencies are Fast Fourier transformed and separated from each other as good as it gets in this restoration. The frequency spectrum has also been improved and restored, matching Griskey's originals in frequency response. I could have overdone the separation easily (and have done so in various tests) to "show off" the stereo effect. But I decided against it and went for the subtle (and correct) approach by simulating the stereo field of Griskey's original recording. This is as close as you'll ever get to the experience of true stereo music within the game, unless LA releases the proper original stereo recording in a patch (which I still hope for). The benefit of this restoration project is that the music won't come out of the narrow front-center direction anymore (i.e. from the dead center of your monitor) but now fully surrounds you, coming from all directions (modern soundcards extrapolate stereo information and extend the stereo field through all speakers). Also, the music sounds clearer than the originals. What this all amounts to, and which I had hoped to achieve, is to make the gameplay experience more epic and intense, through a better musical reproduction and atmosphere. The original muffled mono reproduction just didn't create that epic Star Wars feeling for me, as I know it from the movies.
  17. Hi everyone, in the past 7 weeks I've been working together with others on something that I initially thought not possible: To restore K2's music from its crappy MONO muffled quality to the way it should be -- in high-fidelity STEREO. It's been quite the adventure to research ways to make this happen. I would like you to give me feedback on the small sampler and tell me if I have succeeded: CLICK HERE to download the small STEREO sampler No, this is not an April Fool's joke! Sorry for the odd timing... Unless LucasArts releases the original high-fidelity true STEREO music in a game-patch, this is really the closest you can get to it, given that I only had the muffled MONO sources to work with. So, grab a good pair of headphones (and make sure your soundcard speaker settings are set to 'Headphones'), and do an A/B listening test. You can, of course, also play it back through your 4.1/5.1 speakers, but depending on your soundcard and driver software the music might be processed in unexpected ways by doing that. For a proper listening test, switch to 2.1 speaker config, or better switch to headphones for a pure STEREO playback. Everything else is explained in the readme.txt file. Note to Creative Audigy owners: If you have a Creative Audigy soundcard, make sure you DO NOT have "CMSS 2" enabled (this ensures that you hear the music in pure form without any EAX room reverb effects added). "CMSS 1" and "CMSS OFF" are both ok for the purpose of this demonstration. It goes without saying that you should also ensure that no EAX effects are active in your EAX console. Of course, this is just a restoration, and having the real stereo hi-fi music restored by LucasArts would be much more desirable. If you want LucasArts to patch the game and include the proper original STEREO music, it's still not too late to email them in a polite manner and ask them to do so. CLICK HERE to request the proper 44kHz *STEREO* music for KotOR2. I'd like to give credit to John Griffin for being a great aid to this project so far. -markussun
  18. Hi everyone, in the past 7 weeks I've been working together with others on something that I initially thought not possible: To restore K2's music from its crappy MONO muffled quality to the way it should be -- in high-fidelity STEREO. It's been quite the adventure to research ways to make this happen. I would like you to give me feedback on the small sampler and tell me if I have succeeded: CLICK HERE to download the small STEREO sampler No, this is not an April Fool's joke! Sorry for the odd timing... Unless LucasArts releases the original high-fidelity true STEREO music in a game-patch, this is really the closest you can get to it, given that I only had the muffled MONO sources to work with. So, grab a good pair of headphones (and make sure your soundcard speaker settings are set to 'Headphones'), and do an A/B listening test. You can, of course, also play it back through your 4.1/5.1 speakers, but depending on your soundcard and driver software the music might be processed in unexpected ways by doing that. For a proper listening test, switch to 2.1 speaker config, or better switch to headphones for a pure STEREO playback. Everything else is explained in the readme.txt file. Note to Creative Audigy owners: If you have a Creative Audigy soundcard, make sure you DO NOT have "CMSS 2" enabled (this ensures that you hear the music in pure form without any EAX room reverb effects added). "CMSS 1" and "CMSS OFF" are both ok for the purpose of this demonstration. It goes without saying that you should also ensure that no EAX effects are active in your EAX console. Of course, this is just a restoration, and having the real stereo hi-fi music restored by LucasArts would be much more desirable. If you want LucasArts to patch the game and include the proper original STEREO music, it's still not too late to email them in a polite manner and ask them to do so. CLICK HERE to request the proper 44kHz *STEREO* music for KotOR2. I'd like to give credit to John Griffin for being a great aid to this project so far. -markussun
  19. Really? Then I strongly hope that those at Obsidian who care about finishing and polishing their maiden effort (which ended up stillborn) will have the guts to put in the effort to persuade LA to greenlight a solid and comprehensive patch. Will they have the clout to convince the ever-so-elusive and oh-so-busy producer Mike Gallo at LucasArts (who is responsible for this mess) to give them the go-ahead? Mr. Gallo's priorities right now lie with the oh-so-important consoley Ep.III game. Sure, it will make them a lot of money... but in the end, when the dust settles, this cash-in project will be utterly forgotten (like all their previous movie-tie-ins). But it will be the KOTOR Series for which LA will be remembered, because this series has substance and is really meaningful to many gamers and Star Wars fans alike. Running such a triple-A series into the ground by abandoning their games, ignoring their customers and failing to amend the issues, will cost them much more in the end. I hope I will see the day when LA changes their crash course in the industry...
  20. Yep, the music butchering is certainly not Microsoft's fault. Although it seems to be typical that games on the Xbox have their sound/music assets encoded in WMA instead of MP3 (which seems to be a MS tactic), the quality of the encoding (mono, stereo, bitrate etc.) is surely up to the developers. A good argument to support this is the fact that the music in the Xbox version is less mangled than in the PC version. It's still MONO, mind you, and as such unacceptable. However, the compression in WMA at such low bitrates is much less damaging to the music quality than with MP3. I verified that by analyzing the music in both versions. So the irony is, that on the PC -- with its much superior processing power and larger memory -- we get the worst possible encoding and music playback possible in both versions of KotOR2. It's sickening. I just hope they will rectify this unbelievable audio blunder in the forthcoming 1st patch. I really do.
  21. With the puzzling difference, that Mark Griskey's music in the cutscenes is in proper STEREO, whereas all his other game music is in MONO. This confused approach to quality in KotOR2 is all over the place... I have come to accept that the cutscenes are in 640x480 low-res (800x600 would be more appropriate for the PC, though, as in other PC games). What I cannot accept is that every time a cutscene is played, the idiotic player code minimizes the game and switches back to the Windows desktop for a second, before opening up the 640x480 video screen and waiting an extra 2 secs for my monitor to "sync". It's the most jarring cutscene playback i've ever experienced in 10 years of gaming, because seeing my windows icons every time and then waiting for several seconds pulls me out of the illusion/immersion. Other games these days even manage to blend (!) cutscenes with realtime 3D graphics (Homeworld2, LOTR:ROTK, etc.) without a hitch, and we have to put up with such stoneage playback code in KotOR2 which has to minimize and launch a separate player app to do so? It sucks. Granted, KotOR1 had the exact same issue, but I really expected this to be fixed for the sequel, since it was such an obvious flaw. Oh well...
  22. Wisely spoken, Hades. It goes without saying that if people contact a company, they better show an appropriate level of conduct and civilized manner in their writing, otherwise they be ignored. But it's probably best to stress this point again, for all those who think that being rude in an email gets them anywhere. There is always a polite way as a customer to express your anger and frustration with a product. So to all who use the feedback link: Write in a civilized manner!
  23. Yes, Rhaedan, it bothers me too. Although, lowering the 'Sound Effects Volume' also lowers the footsteps sounds as expected on my system. I just tried it again both with and without EAX and also in SOFTWARE emulation mode. So, if the footsteps still play at full volume if you lower this volume setting, then something is odd. Nonetheless, it's a shame one cannot adjust the footsteps volume separately, since currently they are very loud, and become annoying after a while. I wish developers would learn that footstep sounds should always be subtle, since by their nature they're the most frequently played back sound in a game. I had this same issue in Doom3 and I just modded it for myself. I was thinking about doing the same thing for KotOR2.
  24. I've updated some text and the feedback link on the main page of this thread, since LucasArts has changed their site and my link was rendered broken. The previous way of sending feedback was not working. So, I encourage everyone again to use the new link at the top of this thread and give feedback to LA on this bothersome issue, using the provided means. This includes everyone who has already done that previously, with the old link. It simply sucks to play KotOR2 with such terrible low-quality music in MONO. :'(
  25. I've updated some text and the feedback link on the main page of this thread, since LucasArts has changed their site and my link was rendered broken. The previous way of sending feedback was not working. So, I encourage everyone again to use the new link at the top of this thread and give feedback to LA on this bothersome issue, using the provided means. This includes everyone who has already done that previously, with the old link. It simply sucks to play KotOR2 with such terrible low-quality music in MONO. :'(
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