Downgrade... or not?

[Radamantus]

Hi. I've played some hours of Kotor 2 and it seems to me that the graphics are worst than Kotor 1. I rebember playing kotor 1 @ 1024/768 high detail and i was stunned by the graphics, the reflections, the shaders, etc. But kotor 2 sometimes seems like unreal tournament 1 textures, lol. Isn't this suppose to be a tweaked engine?

This is my desktop system:

 

Pentium 4 2.0 ghz

Geforce 4 Ti 4400 (ForceWare drivers 67.66 beta) those were the only drivers that made the videos work.

512 Rimm

 

Does it happen with you guys or can it be something with my system?

I mean, it's not horrible, but it's not as great as KOTOR.

 

Thanks in advance.

[Yarpen]

I wouldn't say it's worse, it's quite the same but not really on par with todays games (and it's damn slow).

[stoo]

Hi. I've played some hours of Kotor 2 and it seems to me that  the graphics are worst than Kotor 1. I rebember playing kotor 1 @ 1024/768 high detail and i was stunned by the graphics, the reflections, the shaders, etc. But  kotor 2 sometimes  seems like unreal tournament 1 textures, lol. Isn't this suppose to be a tweaked engine?

This is my desktop system:

 

Pentium 4 2.0 ghz

Geforce 4 Ti 4400 (ForceWare drivers 67.66 beta) those were the only drivers that made the videos work.

512 Rimm

 

Does it happen with you guys or can it be something with my system?

I mean, it's not horrible, but it's not as great as KOTOR. 

 

Thanks in advance.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I somehow agree. Textures especially looked much better in k1 then they do in k2. The overall smoothness of the graphics was better, too. the only thing which has improved with k2, is some AA and AF now being featured.

[Aegis]

Erm, unless I'm mistaken, the engine used in KotOR2 is more or less exactly the same as the first game.

[Grandpa]

I noticed the same thing. I think that it has more to do with the way OE tweeked the engine to accomodate the addition background processing that goes on in TSL vice KOTOR. The resulting additional workload has caused the graphics to take a hit. In order for me to get the same visual quality from the game, I have to tweek the gfx settings up beyond what I needed to have set for KOTOR. In general, they appear more Xbox-ish. I would definitely recommend that this be the last KOTOR game to use this engine.

[stoo]

Erm, unless I'm mistaken, the engine used in KotOR2 is more or less exactly the same as the first game.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

You're not mistaken. Same game engine. And that only puzzles me the more. How can the same game engine look/run worse after one year of work and tweaking?

[Grandpa]

Erm, unless I'm mistaken, the engine used in KotOR2 is more or less exactly the same as the first game.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

You're not mistaken. Same game engine. And that only puzzles me the more. How can the same game engine look/run worse after one year of work and tweaking?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Does no one read my posts? Crist, ....

 

Yes, they tweeked the engine, but not for graphical improvements.

[stoo]

Erm, unless I'm mistaken, the engine used in KotOR2 is more or less exactly the same as the first game.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

You're not mistaken. Same game engine. And that only puzzles me the more. How can the same game engine look/run worse after one year of work and tweaking?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Does no one read my posts? Crist, ....

 

Yes, they tweeked the engine, but not for graphical improvements.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Easy, man. What you say can explain why sys reqs are higher even if the engine is the same. But it still can't explain why, say, texture are less detailed than those in k1.

[Grandpa]

Actually, it does. Nevermind.

[stoo]

Actually, it does.  Nevermind.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I must be really dumb, because I'm not understanding.

 

to me, this makes sense:

 

[k1 engine]

-> non graphical tweaks

= higher sys requirement

 

but this doesn't:

 

[k1 engine]

-> non graphical tweaks

= texture quality loss

 

Why? Did they use low quality textures on purpose? What are the reasons behind such a choice?

 

(I'm talking about textures as an example, but that's not the only element looking worse in k2 than it did in k1)

[Trom]

Feargus (11/10/04):

 

GameSpy: Will you have more variety in the building appearance and NPC heads?

 

Feargus Urquhart: We've really tried to put in all that we can into each of the areas and we are paying for some of that right now. However, were using every trick in the book that we've learned through the years to keep all of those cool things in the levels and not have the Xbox start smoking. I would say that we've increased the number of heads in most of the areas by at least half and hopefully doubled it in others. I think you'll also notice that the areas in KotOR II are a fair amount larger as well.

 

GameSpy Review (2/8/05)

The same kind of "half-baked" feel applies to the graphics. One of the few issues I had with the original game was the lack of graphic variety in both the environment and the character models. If anything, this problem is even worse in KotOR II. First, now that a year has slipped by, the graphics, which were really only "good" back in 2003, are showing their age. That being said, there's a lot that a talented team of artists can do with design that can overcome behind-the-times technology (see World of Warcraft for a great example of this). None of that is evident in KotOR II. Every interior location seems to be the same collection of sterile, boring, corridors and rooms without any apparent indication that these are places people actually live. There's a distinct lack of signage, artwork, or any of the ancillary details that could bring the world to life.

 

----------

 

I'm convinced that they had to reduce resources so it would run on XBox.

[Monty Burns]

The game feels a lot worse than Kotor 1.

I would actually attribute this to TSL being smaller game, and set in cookie-cutter universe. First game had all-the-same looking ships and corridors, but at the same time there were gems like Manaan. Big planets, big levels, big areas. There was something to break the monotony. TSL......I think Telos and Nar Shaadaa got done first, and then they ran out of time. That would certainly explain the rest of the planets that take 3 hours at most to do.

 

Malachor V looked great from space....even at that ****ty movie quality. HOwever, once I got down there, I felt like I was playing HalfLife or AvP......utterly pathetic quality.

[Jad'en]

Erm, unless I'm mistaken, the engine used in KotOR2 is more or less exactly the same as the first game.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

You're not mistaken. Same game engine. And that only puzzles me the more. How can the same game engine look/run worse after one year of work and tweaking?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Does no one read my posts? Crist, ....

 

Yes, they tweeked the engine, but not for graphical improvements.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

/comfort Grandpa

 

For all the new'ish people to the forum

 

Back in development then it was explained that due to the features they put in such as flowing cloaks and weather effects... AA improvements and such, the game engine was losing memory towards the end.

 

If you go back to KotOR1 i think you will find hardly anything has changed as well but if there is a difference. I blame it on the game engine not being able to cope with any more improvements and therefore they took some shadowing effects out, you would be suprised how much that makes a difference.

 

Another thing could be mind over matter... if you have played a game like Doom 3 or Half-Life 2 since you last played K1 it may seem like the graphics are worse... this is not the case