Some SWKOTOR2.INI Tweaks

[Master Dahvernas]

I'm going to post some various SWKOTOR2.ini tweaks here just so you guys can mess around with them and maybe, perhaps one (or all) may give someone better performance and or stability in one way or another.

 

I suggest you make a backup copy of your original swkotor2.ini file just so you have it in case any of these tweaks seriously screw up your game as well as having an original just to keep track of any changes if you try if you do various combinations.

 

NOTE: Some of these commands are form the XBox version of KOTOR2. I don't know if they apply to the PC version, but it is worth a shot as the engine can't be to radically different since XBox games are basically PC games written in XBox Development Language which is very similar to the PC. I will annotate which commands are from the XBox version where appropriate.

 

1) Tweak One: I have the original KOTOR installed and did a side-by-side comparison of the swkotor.ini and swkotor2.in files and these are the entries I found Sith Lords has that the original does not:

 

[Game Options]

UnlockedPlanetSongs=7

TextureVariation=1

BodyVariation=4

AppearanceType=138

PCGender=0

GameCompleted=0

CurSithLord=0

EnableScreenShot=0

Reverse Mouse Buttons=0

Reverse Ingame YAxis=1

Reverse Minigame YAxis=0

 

The most basic tweak is to just DELETE the above entries.

 

Why? I think it may be activating unnecessary things that may be slowing down performance and or causing stability problems.

 

For example, I have tested the game with both TextureVariation=0 and BodyVariation=0 and seen absolutely zero difference (graphical) in the game... But the game seems to run smoother in areas where there are a lot of NPCs than it did with these enabled.

 

You can try various combinations as well. Deleting/adding one parameter and not another to see if there is any improvement in performance (and graphical quality) or if it worsens. Results may vary depending on system specs.

 

2) Tweak Two: Here are various parameters from the XBox, swkotor2.ini:

 

[Video Options] <---------------- Same as [Graphics Options]

EnableFastGrass=1

NumDynamicLights=8

Enable HardwareMouse=1

AntiAliasing Mode=0

Enable VSync=1

ShinyWater=0

NumShadowCastingLights=3

EnableVisualEffectsHigh=1

Enable Truform=0

Enable AnisotropicFiltering=0

CreatureWindSetting=1

EnableGrass=1

 

The most basic tweak would be to just substitue these lines for similar lines that exist in the PC swkotor2.ini. For example, replace Anti Aliasing with AntiAliasing Mode set to whatever you want (2x; 4x; 16x). Test it and see if the game runs any better, the same, or worse.

 

FOR ATI USERS:

 

Enable Truform=0.

 

Since the Odyssey Engine is an older engine, it may have the old Truform parameters that aren't needed with today's high end graphics cards that are left on (by default; in the engine) and may be causing some of the slow downs on ATI cards along with the Vertex Buffer Object error in the code that is publically known.

 

FOR RANDOM CTD (CRASHES TO DESKTOP):

 

[Game Options]

 

UseLocalContent=1

 

Add this to presumably force the game to use what is cached on the HD (versus the play CD). It may have zero effect, but it is being put here for experimentation as are the rest of these parameters. It may actually cure some CTD if the game is trying to incorrectly load things from the CD; Not tested yet.

 

3) Tweak Three: Less is More. This involves just deleting certain parameters and letting the game set them itself. This came about by comparing the XBox swkotor2.ini with the PC swkotor2.ini and noting a lot of the functionality was left out... Which may be a good thing since the XBox is basically a 1999, low-level PC and having "less" options may improve performance and stability on newer hardware, ironically.

 

A) [sound Options]

Disable Sound=0

 

The only thing that is under this should Disable Sound=0. Delete ALL of the entires except your volume (music, movies, dialogue) parameters. Again, maybe the engine is trying too hard to manage too many things and only really needs to manage the bare-bones basics (volume and whether there is sound).

 

====

 

I hope this helps.

 

Remember, results may vary and you may not even see or feel any changes to your game at all depending on combination of parameters and your hardware specs. Performance may get worse. It may get better. I am putting this here as a kind of resource for those who may be having severe problems and perhaps these simple tweaks may solve some of these problems until a patch is released.

[Aryanne]

This should be made a sticky.Along with PC ini settings if anyone has them.

[zeroFantasy]

OR RANDOM CTD (CRASHES TO DESKTOP):

 

[Game Options]

 

UseLocalContent=1

 

just tried it, didn't help

[Master Dahvernas]

OR RANDOM CTD (CRASHES TO DESKTOP):

 

[Game Options]

 

UseLocalContent=1

 

just tried it, didn't help

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

That is good to know in the sense like I said, these may have none or a lot of impact on a peson's game given the engine and the person's hardware.

 

Keep testing...

[Kiwegapa]

[Game Options]

UnlockedPlanetSongs=7

TextureVariation=1

BodyVariation=4

AppearanceType=138

PCGender=0

GameCompleted=0

CurSithLord=0

EnableScreenShot=0

Reverse Mouse Buttons=0

Reverse Ingame YAxis=1

Reverse Minigame YAxis=0

 

The most basic tweak is to just DELETE the above entries.

 

Why? I think it may be activating unnecessary things that may be slowing down performance and or causing stability problems.

 

Actually, UnlockedPlanetSongs controls how many songs are available in the main menu when you start the game. They're supposed to be unlocked as you travel around.

 

PCGender, I believe, is which gender you told other characters that Revan from KOTOR 1 was.

 

GameCompleted is of course whether you've finished the game once or more yet.

 

CurSithLord I believe controls which Sith Lord appears standing next to the main meny when you load the game.

 

EnableScreenShot is self-explanatory, but the odd thing is that the game seems to take screenshots whether it's set to 0 or not.

 

Reverse Mouse Buttons is of use for left handed mouse users.

 

Reversing the Y axis is an option present in KOTOR 1 too that may or may not make mouse use MUCH more natural to you. With it, back is down, forward is up. Without it, the game defaults to an airplane style forward=down, back=up.

 

The other options I didn't list I believe do control the variation of appearance in NPCs, although AppearanceType might be which look you chose for your character.

[Adraeus]

Note that...

 

1 = On

0 = Off

 

Just in case someone was wondering.