AlaricQelDroma Posted March 15, 2005 Share Posted March 15, 2005 Ok everyone, I have been doing PC's and games for over 20 years now, and naturally I have learned a few ways to MAKE games work that don't run right normally. So... First, make sure you have a damn good PC to run this game with, if you cannot run KOTOR2 in high-res with 4x AA and 4xAF, don't even bother trying, because chances are you'll hit a high-poly area like Dxun or Dant and end up getting a slideshow, or you'll hit 3 certain areas of Peragus and likewise get a slideshow. First: Get a clean install of WinXP Pro (This step is mandatory if you have not done it already. Trust me, I have a DVD-RW and I backup every week and I can format and restore in 30 minutes, no joke). Second: If you run ATI like I do, you'll need to do some clever driver re-working of your own to get KOTOR2 running perfectly. 1. Download the Catalyst 4.3 Driver from ATI's archive. 2. Extract the download to C:\ATI\4.3 or something like that. 3. Go to where atioglxx.dl_ is, right-click and copy. 4. Download Cat 5.3 and extract to \5.3 or whatever. 5. Go to where the new 5.3's atioglxx.dl_ is, and right-click the folder window and hit paste. This will now put the 4.3 OpenGL file into your 5.3 installation, I will make the reasons clear for this in a moment... 6. Go to where you extracted your 5.3's and hit the setup file and install. Third: Now, download a program called ReForce and a program called RadLinker (2080 is the latest with RL I believe), and install them, and make sure ReForce is set right. Fourth: Make sure RL is set to seperate tabs functionality, and set both up how you like, I prefer 4x AA and 4x AF and VSync on, and then I hit Options and I set certain things to on and/or maximum (I run 9800 Pro 256 modded to XT with a Zalman Z80 Dual heatpipe ). Fifth: Hopefully you have KOTOR 1 installed...You need to copy+paste all of the swkotor.ini from KOTOR 1 into the KOTOR 2 INI file, then edit a few things. Add in the Disable Vertex Buffer option for good measure. There is a reason behind this copy from KOTOR1, mainly in that certain settings from KOTOR1 apply in KOTOR 2, but KOTOR 2's configuration utility does not properly set these settings or doesn't create entries for them at all. Sixth: Now that you've done this, you will have the following: 1. A fully modified 5.3 driver with silky-smooth framerates (Hopefully, it works just perfectly for me, of course I have a sleek install with no lard anywhere in sight), with the 4.3 OpenGL, I have tested the whole Glow thing, and 4.3 is the ONLY OGL that allowed glow to work for me, and 4.11 caused horrid corruptions with hardlocks for me... 2. If you have your settings calibrated JUST RIGHT, you should have 50+FPS in *MOST* areas of Perag (There are three areas that are ALWAYS going to be a slideshow until the patch, mainly the second droid battle you enter into, when T3 enters the area to pick up the Deadly Sonic Mines, and of course when T3 exits the hangar into the fuel depot), and Dant and everything else should be perfectly smooth. Now, I know that people are going to come back and say "It did not work you ******!! You suck ass!", well, go away child, I have no time to play little pissfights with you! There is so much hatred for problems with K2 that I've heard of a few lifeless nerds trying to stage a riot in front of Obsidian's HQ in about 3 weeks if there is no patch release (yawn...), so... However, I have what is now considered to be an "ancient" PC by most people just because Intel doesn't support the motherboard these days: Intel D850EMV2 Intel P4 3.2 PC-1066 RDRAM, 2GB Heavily Modded ATi Radeon 9800 Pro to XT, and overclocked on top of it with zero artifacties SB Audigy 2ZS Plat 10K SATA-133 Seagate, 200GBx2 HP DVD-RW ETC... Oh, and I have been in the X-Wing community for many years, I was there when Lt. Hag cracked the OPT code initially, so yes, I have been around and addicted to SW gaming for much of my 23-year lifespan Ahem...Oh, and I fixed the pixelated movie problems!! I have a widescreen Dell LCD panel that I just got, and it has an option for 1:1 mode in any res/rate, so when I have movies played back, guess what! They are in smaller viewing windows, BUT THEY ARE CRYSTAL-CLEAR!! There are no jaggies that I can see, and all the pixelated nonsense that was there before I set this thing to 1:1 is now GONE. I know, this won't work for a lot of people, but if you have the option on your monitor to do 1:1, do so, because it will eliminate the horrid-quality movie files Hm, and before anyone asks: I have extensively tested 4.11, and I never got it to work with KOTOR 1 or 2, and I tried Omega 4.11 too, no dice either. The only option I have left is to use 5.3 with a 4.3 OGL installation, that way I get full AA+AF with Temporal AA and all that (If you drop 4.3's OGL file into the game's folder, you have to try to set AA and AF through the game, and you cannot tweak how those options are actually processed since that file is not directly attached to the driver's installation itself BTW: I have fully tested this installation with Republic Commando, I am still getting way over 75FPS even with dozens of guns going everywhere..I have also tested with BFront, XWA, and JA, they all work silky-smooth and now I have GLOWS and Frame Buffers that don't look all fake and are buggy as hell I just thought I should offer this option to everyone, because I found it impossible to get things working the way I wanted to when I just dropped the 4.3 OGL into the game directory, the AA and AF didn't work just like I wanted them to, so I just up and created me own installation Oh, and I have not had that install bug where it asks you to switch CD volumes either...Has something to do with certain copy protection schemes not being in effect (IMHO, I used to have Daemon Tools, Nero ImageDrive, and AnyDVD running on my last install and I got the error, so you might want to consider getting a fresh install ). Now, I agree, a patch needs to be done, but I don't really care about bugfixes, because the ONLY tech. bugs I have are the slideshows in certain small areas of the game, all of which are totally confied and I have already reported in about them and why the game crawls in those areas (I have been modding XWA for all these years, of course I know how to dig into KOTOR like a knife through butter ), and they will probably get fixed. IMHO, the only real problems I have now are the cut game materials (some of which I have gotten to work just fine with enough digging ), the mis-spellings, and the gameplay-related bugginess...Heh...There are more than enough gameplay bugs...Thanks to Beancounter and a few others, I now have a decent AI and through my own efforts I have managed to quell quite a few of the major gameplay bugs that K2 always had. This game, in my view, needs two things...No, wait, three!: 1. Music needs to be re-encoded. I could do this, but it would not be very legal if I did, now would it? 2. All of the mis-spellings need to be corrected. I have not seen a single SW game since XWA that had this many grammatical problems, snap it up Obs/Lucasfarts 3. There are a huge number of glaring gameplay errors and gameplay exploits/flaws that need fixing. I have already personally modded much of this to make things work right again, but I don't know if I can/should publicly release this mod yet... If those three are done, I will consider my $50 well-spent, but not until Ahem, technichal issues can be repaired if you have enough knowledge and experience fixing these sorts of issues with previous games of ages gone by When you cannot convince ATI or Obs/LF to fix things, what is left that can be done? Outsmart the game itself by fixing it on your own I think I can fix everything on that list except for the music...I could personally do it, but of course I can't do it publicly, so it hardly matters to you folks. Sorry for the long post, I have a rather notorious habit for doing that Anyway, three cardinal rules with tech issues people: 1. Make sure you have the $$$$$ to buy the right tools to get the job done. 2. Make sure you know what you're doing with a PC *BEFORE* you obtain one. 3. Make sure that you know how to dig your claws very deeply into the game you are trying to repair, because if you know the ins and outs of everything, you can make the Rancor sing and dance and even bake the cake Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedipodo Posted March 15, 2005 Share Posted March 15, 2005 I wonder why they haven't attached this six points to the manual. "Ok everyone, I have been doing PC's and games for over 20 years now" *Impressive* And, as we can see, you took no harm from it. One of the most impressive advices is "First, make sure you have a damn good PC to run this game with" I think. You hit the nail on the head... I'm missing one single issue which still remained unanswered: What about the bugs being coded into the compiled binaries? "Jedi poodoo!" - some displeased Dug S.L.J. said he has already filmed his death scene and was visibly happy that he Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
11238_1556103629 Posted March 16, 2005 Share Posted March 16, 2005 I think I can fix everything on that list except for the music...I could personally do it, but of course I can't do it publicly, so it hardly matters to you folks. Could you shut up then if you can't help? Thank you and good bye! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judge Hades Posted March 16, 2005 Share Posted March 16, 2005 Jeez people, he is giving you guys with ATI cards a fairly percise list to follow to get the game working for you and you guys cop an attitude?!? WTF peeps. I just want to say thank you for posting this for I am sure it will most definitely help some people out there til the tech patch comes out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlaricQelDroma Posted March 16, 2005 Author Share Posted March 16, 2005 [quote name=' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judge Hades Posted March 16, 2005 Share Posted March 16, 2005 As a NVidia user I can say I began having problems but I was using a custom unofficial drivers. I did a full removal and deletion of the old driver and placed the most recent official driver and had no problems since. I am using a Geforce 5700 LE. I don't like the style in which ATI writes their drivers and is one of the reasons why I switched to Nvidia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlaricQelDroma Posted March 16, 2005 Author Share Posted March 16, 2005 As a NVidia user I can say I began having problems but I was using a custom unofficial drivers. I did a full removal and deletion of the old driver and placed the most recent official driver and had no problems since. I am using a Geforce 5700 LE. I don't like the style in which ATI writes their drivers and is one of the reasons why I switched to Nvidia. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Ya know, I've heard that the drivers released yesterday fix the text corruption with XWA....But I won't be doing another vidcard until 512MB is out and tested...I know better than to buy another $400 card with the same amount of memory attached 256MB is all well and good, but it won't have a chance of catching 512MB Ahem, well, I used to have your exact card before I gave it back to the work stockpile and got this 9800 Pro and severely modded it IMHO, I guess I could try to land a 6800 GT and attach this Zalman to it...But I'd never be able to con work into paying $400 for another 256MB card They can see wisdom in allowing an UPGRADE, but when it's just switching the same technology around...Well, you know Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judge Hades Posted March 16, 2005 Share Posted March 16, 2005 Yeah I know exactly what you mean. The version I got my 5700 LE was the 256 MB. I don't see myself upgrading till I upgrade my whole computer and that is a year or two down the line. When they reach 1 gig of video ram that is when things are going to get scarey... in a good way. I wouldn't have a clue about modding video cards though. What exactly did you do to it and what exactly is a Zalman? My bit is software, not hardware. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlaricQelDroma Posted March 16, 2005 Author Share Posted March 16, 2005 Yeah I know exactly what you mean. The version I got my 5700 LE was the 256 MB. I don't see myself upgrading till I upgrade my whole computer and that is a year or two down the line. When they reach 1 gig of video ram that is when things are going to get scarey... in a good way. I wouldn't have a clue about modding video cards though. What exactly did you do to it and what exactly is a Zalman? My bit is software, not hardware. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Hrm, bit off-topic (but what the hell man? It's like every other thread on this board is off-topic anyway right? ), but ok... Zalman is a maker of high-end cooling solutions for PC components and cases. I myself have heavily re-designed an Antec AMG1000 case for maximum air-cooling, and the Zalman keeps my overclocked 9800Pro to XT at a constant 85F, even when the card is loaded with a bloatware piece like HL2 or D3...Or...K2 IMHO, Zalman just means a really big cooling solution so I could mod my 9800 Pro into an XT with a simple BIOS mod. I did some of these things back in the old original UT days with my ATI and NVidia boards I used back then, and I have been doing BIOS mods ever since...The Zalman is just the latest cooling toy I've gotten You can mod that card of yours with some BIOS editing tools, you know Want to make the Rancor sing, dance, and bake the cake too? But before you do any real hardware mods, you need some real cooling solutions first, but you know this I guess Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judge Hades Posted March 16, 2005 Share Posted March 16, 2005 Well, when I do my next computer upgrade I want it be not only cool but cold. :D Right now, with money being tight I was only able to get a baseline Compaq Presario with a substandard power source which needs upping bad. I keep the rom where I keep my coputer around 60 to 70 degrees and I have an basic extra fan system taking up an empty PCI slot but that is all I could afford at the time. Jobs in Iowa don't pay that much, even with a degree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manitsbuggy Posted March 16, 2005 Share Posted March 16, 2005 What a crappy post by the original thread starter, the guy is a idiot on top of that its obvious he is on CRACK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlaricQelDroma Posted March 16, 2005 Author Share Posted March 16, 2005 What a crappy post by the original thread starter, the guy is a idiot on top of that its obvious he is on CRACK. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Crack? nah...I do like pain meds though...All the surgeries I've been through the last two years...sigh..I feel like a Sith Lord...Pah! I might be foolish, I will admit that I have been called a great many things by a great many people, many of them a lot bigger and nastier than you are, my friend... Thanks for fanning the fires though...I'll just sit back and watch... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judge Hades Posted March 16, 2005 Share Posted March 16, 2005 The guy is an moron and jealous that you can play the game and he can't/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlaricQelDroma Posted March 16, 2005 Author Share Posted March 16, 2005 The guy is an moron and jealous that you can play the game and he can't/ <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I know, that's why I made the retort...I've played with many people who are just as elite and experienced as I am...Being the leader of Imperial Intelligence for a league of over 500 people can really twist your mind after enough years of arguing logically with everyone in a massive IRC room for 5 years IMHO, I don't play with the puppies in the yard...I play with the adults who can compete :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlaricQelDroma Posted March 16, 2005 Author Share Posted March 16, 2005 BTW: I really am torn between my ceaseless loyalty to XWA modding and my desire to mod KOTOR at this point...I am not a graphics wizard...Can't hold my mouse-hand steady enough for the art stuff...But I am a scripting wizard and I know a ton about creating storylines within the confines of EUSW and doing missions likewise... I was considering joining Holowan, but I think I'll just stay independant for now...The only two mods I see going on there these days are Hardcore and Ultimate Lightsabers pack...Most of the other stuff is just a load of mass-IMBA scripting that ruins all cohesiveness of the gameplay...Much as I like RedHawke...Ah well. I also like the skinning by Svosh and that new guy...Forget his name now... Ah well, I guess I'll work on my own balance mod and fix the spelling problems while I'm at it Back to work for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaglorD Posted March 16, 2005 Share Posted March 16, 2005 Sorry but your solution doesn't work with the X800 series cards as the 4.3 atioglxx.dll is not compatible wth those cards, as the 4.3 predates the X800 series. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judge Hades Posted March 16, 2005 Share Posted March 16, 2005 Did you try to skip the 4.3 step? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlaricQelDroma Posted March 16, 2005 Author Share Posted March 16, 2005 Sorry but your solution doesn't work with the X800 series cards as the 4.3 atioglxx.dll is not compatible wth those cards, as the 4.3 predates the X800 series. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Well then, it's a fix for people who don't have to insist on the abseloute latest and most expensive stuff I could've bought an X800, but look what I'd have gotten for the trouble! I wouldn't be able to fix my gameplay problems. Hehe...Sorry if you're latest and greatest isn't turning out to be oh-so-great, but I didn't promise this'd work for everyone, now did I? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Master Dahvernas Posted March 16, 2005 Share Posted March 16, 2005 Well then, it's a fix for people who don't have to insist on the abseloute latest and most expensive stuff I could've bought an X800, but look what I'd have gotten for the trouble! I wouldn't be able to fix my gameplay problems. Hehe...Sorry if you're latest and greatest isn't turning out to be oh-so-great, but I didn't promise this'd work for everyone, now did I? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Give me a break. You just blew ANY credibility you *might* of had. Some of your suggestions won't work for a lot of technical reasons too numerous to go into here (like copying the swkotor.ini from KOTOR into KOTOR2 because they are NOT the same engine). And Hades... Stop trolling this forum. You aren't helping and half the stuff that comes out of your mouth (your posts) isn't informative, or remotely helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlaricQelDroma Posted March 16, 2005 Author Share Posted March 16, 2005 Well then, it's a fix for people who don't have to insist on the abseloute latest and most expensive stuff I could've bought an X800, but look what I'd have gotten for the trouble! I wouldn't be able to fix my gameplay problems. Hehe...Sorry if you're latest and greatest isn't turning out to be oh-so-great, but I didn't promise this'd work for everyone, now did I? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Give me a break. You just blew ANY credibility you *might* of had. Some of your suggestions won't work for a lot of technical reasons too numerous to go into here (like copying the swkotor.ini from KOTOR into KOTOR2 because they are NOT the same engine). And Hades... Stop trolling this forum. You aren't helping and half the stuff that comes out of your mouth (your posts) isn't informative, or remotely helpful. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Oh really? Guess what! I don't really care much at all what you think. All I care about is that I got my own problems fixed, if what I did to fix my problems help you fix yours, then goody-goody! If it doesn't, then don't start a pissing contest with me about it! Got it? I don't have time to listen to your crying attitude because my fixes won't work for your specific hardware. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russki Bear Posted March 16, 2005 Share Posted March 16, 2005 Hey mate, I have a few points for you. Not everyone has the time to spend on modding games as you do. It sounds like you have a *lot* of time. Also, not everyone has such a *healthy* background in software or the motivation to hex edit things. I can get into these depths of a few games, but that was because A): The game worked and I wanted to mod it to either add new missions or content somehow. B): To manually add mods from other people before they were properly packaged. Not because I felt like chasing down bugs, or because I was doing it for fun. KOTOR2 isn't one of those games. So not everyone has the motivation to do this. Therefore, they must ask for a patch because it hasn't been completed to their satisfaction. Some people are getting a little red in the face about it but that is somewhat understandable provided they keep it from getting personal, IMO. Russki Bear PS: And you can stop telling us about your system now PPS: I haven't investigated yet but I am sceptical about pasting the KOTOR1 ini over the KOTOR2 one too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Master Dahvernas Posted March 16, 2005 Share Posted March 16, 2005 Oh really? Guess what! I don't really care much at all what you think. All I care about is that I got my own problems fixed, if what I did to fix my problems help you fix yours, then goody-goody! If it doesn't, then don't start a pissing contest with me about it! Got it? I don't have time to listen to your crying attitude because my fixes won't work for your specific hardware. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Are you high? Seriously. You come here and post what is an arrogant post full of a bunch of crap... Like Craftsman and Hades_One... And expect us to fall down and worship your "expert" advice? Please. You're either drunk, high, or an attention hound, kiddo. Drive on through. Next... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaglorD Posted March 16, 2005 Share Posted March 16, 2005 Well then, it's a fix for people who don't have to insist on the abseloute latest and most expensive stuff I could've bought an X800, but look what I'd have gotten for the trouble! I wouldn't be able to fix my gameplay problems. Hehe...Sorry if you're latest and greatest isn't turning out to be oh-so-great, but I didn't promise this'd work for everyone, now did I? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> That's just insane. No company in their right mind would sell newer products which perform worse than their older stuff. Fortunately, my X800 performs superbly for all other games I play. As far as KotOR 2 goes, the ATI-specific issues I've encountered on my X800 XT PE are: 1. gamma issues, which some people may not even have noticed. I actually saw a magazine with screenshots of KotOR 2 and it was obvious that the gamma was too low but it didn't bother them enough to correct. 2. slightly more areas with frame-rate issues compared to Nvidia, though all in all still relatively rare. The slowdowns I experienced were on Peragus at the Fuel Depot with the neon-coloured force-fields, some of the rooms with smoke where T3-M4 first ventures in on his way to the fuel depot and only in certain directions, the heated area with orange-red smoke where the exile is told to turn on his heat shield, Telos residential area(this one probably due to some kind of memory leak. Seems to occur after getting the first quest from the Ithorians. Doesn't occur during the finale when the Ravager goes to Telos) and Nar Shaddar at the docks area near the landspeeder. Oddly enough it only slows down after you return from destroying Goto's ship. PS: None of these issues are game-stopping and can be considered relatively minor. It's just that the Nvidia has fewer of these issues. For instance, it has no gamma issues at all and slowdowns were only encountered at the area with orange-red smoke on Peragus and the Telos residential area. Also for Nvidia, you don't have to fix the swkotor2.ini with Disable Vertex Buffers. However, my ATI can run at maxed AA and AF easily whereas the Nvidia starts slowing down. So the bottomline is the KotOR engine is optimised for Nvidia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedipodo Posted March 16, 2005 Share Posted March 16, 2005 The only problems I experienced with ATI's X800 XT graphics card were similar to your's. I had the gamma issue (which can be corrected easily). The only frame rate issue occured on the first Dantooine map (but this was an extreme one). Against some people's opinion here, I'm sure that this issues have nothing to do with any ATI hardware failures. "Jedi poodoo!" - some displeased Dug S.L.J. said he has already filmed his death scene and was visibly happy that he Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ketrilla Posted March 16, 2005 Share Posted March 16, 2005 What would you recommend for the Mobility ATI cards? I have the Mobility 9600, and I'm pretty sure they use different drivers than the regular cards. ~Ketrilla Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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