Ok, here's my list of fixes for TSL:

[Vorador]

thanks dood! those are great tips. I Think I'll try them. +

Anyway, I've been using the omega drivers and they work pretty welll. what do you think?

Another thing: disabling vertex buffer... does it also disable any FX?

[MaglorD]

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.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I run fraps thoughout the game so I spot frame rate issues easily whereas others may not. I did not experience any slowdowns on Dantooine due to "Disable Vertex Buffers". However, I have read having this option also reduces overall frame rate in other parts of the game, and could contribute to frame rate issues elsewhere. If you're running Cats 4.11, then you do not have to disable vertex buffers. Somehow, 4.12 onwards, the option has to be activated otherwise Dantooine becomes unplayable.

 

I do not know if the fault lies with ATI, but as it stands, ATI cards do have slightly more issues than Nvidia. I do know though that the gamma issues should be fixed in the patch.

 

If like me you have played on both ATI and Nvidia, you will find playing on Nvidia much more pleasurable due to less glitches overall.

[eckertt001]

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}>

 

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.

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I have an X800 XT PE and I dont have any of these issues that are being described. The only framerate issue I have is Khoonda, thats all. And when in Khoonda I can fix if by turning everything off and down (texture settings AF/AA). I can go right back in turn everything back on, textures on High, and AF/AA x4, and then it runs fine, until I enter either dialog, or go to the menu. I rinse and repeat to fix again. Again its just Koonda, the area outside the enclave is fine, and every other area on Dantoonie is fine. And every other planet is fine. I dont believe it's the drivers and/or the card. Because for one I dont have any other framerate issues, and when I turned the settings down to the lowest possible (with everything off) it still happens.

 

Im running Catalyst Control Center v5.3, my specs are below:

 

AMD64 FX-55

Abit K8T800 Pro

2GB DDR400 Corsair

ATi X800 XT Platinum Edition

SoundBlaster Audigy2 ZS Platinum Pro

Saitek GamerBoard

Razer Diamondback High Precision Mouse

[MaglorD]

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}>

 

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.

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I have an X800 XT PE and I dont have any of these issues that are being described. The only framerate issue I have is Khoonda, thats all. And when in Khoonda I can fix if by turning everything off and down (texture settings AF/AA). I can go right back in turn everything back on, textures on High, and AF/AA x4, and then it runs fine, until I enter either dialog, or go to the menu. I rinse and repeat to fix again. Again its just Koonda, the area outside the enclave is fine, and every other area on Dantoonie is fine. And every other planet is fine. I dont believe it's the drivers and/or the card. Because for one I dont have any other framerate issues, and when I turned the settings down to the lowest possible (with everything off) it still happens.

 

Im running Catalyst Control Center v5.3, my specs are below:

 

AMD64 FX-55

Abit K8T800 Pro

2GB DDR400 Corsair

ATi X800 XT Platinum Edition

SoundBlaster Audigy2 ZS Platinum Pro

Saitek GamerBoard

Razer Diamondback High Precision Mouse

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Maybe it's because you have a very good cpu. I'm running on amd64 3000+ and 1GB RAM.

 

Do you have "disable vertex buffers" enabled?

What are your frame rates in those areas I mentioned?

Do you have gamma issues?

 

For good measure, I don't have any issues at Khoonda or any part of Dantooine.

[will_990]

Ahm, listen up, folks! All this info AlaricQelDroma wrote CAN be useful for SOME people who MIGHT have run into the same problems, nothing more and nothing less. I will try it for myself (I have to see this glow thing everyone

[eckertt001]

Maybe it's because you have a very good cpu. I'm running on amd64 3000+ and 1GB RAM.

 

Do you have "disable vertex buffers" enabled?

What are your frame rates in those areas I mentioned?

Do you have gamma issues?

 

For good measure, I don't have any issues at Khoonda or any part of Dantooine.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Thanks for the reply...

 

Im sure my CPU does have something to do with it, I dont doubt that.

 

I dont know if I have Disable Vertex Buffers enabled...I normally just install games, turned everything on to their highest setting except for AF/AA. So most likely, if its in the options menu, and it says Disable, I leave it alone.

 

I also am not sure what my specific framerates are, everything is smooth to my eyes. Thats normally all I ask for.

 

As for gamma, I dont mess with the in game gamma. ATi's CCC has a profiling option, and one section has a gamma slider, and I create seperate profiles for each game I play. I select that profile, and start my game. That way I dont have to mess with it in game.

 

Its interesting you are not having issues with Khoonda. Even my Xbox version even has framerate issues with Khoonda. Are you doing anything different? That is not contained in the normal options menu?

[MaglorD]

Maybe it's because you have a very good cpu. I'm running on amd64 3000+ and 1GB RAM.

 

Do you have "disable vertex buffers" enabled?

What are your frame rates in those areas I mentioned?

Do you have gamma issues?

 

For good measure, I don't have any issues at Khoonda or any part of Dantooine.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Thanks for the reply...

 

Im sure my CPU does have something to do with it, I dont doubt that.

 

I dont know if I have Disable Vertex Buffers enabled...I normally just install games, turned everything on to their highest setting except for AF/AA. So most likely, if its in the options menu, and it says Disable, I leave it alone.

 

I also am not sure what my specific framerates are, everything is smooth to my eyes. Thats normally all I ask for.

 

As for gamma, I dont mess with the in game gamma. ATi's CCC has a profiling option, and one section has a gamma slider, and I create seperate profiles for each game I play. I select that profile, and start my game. That way I dont have to mess with it in game.

 

Its interesting you are not having issues with Khoonda. Even my Xbox version even has framerate issues with Khoonda. Are you doing anything different? That is not contained in the normal options menu?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

If you're using Cats 5.3, you should go into swkotor2.ini and insert this line under

[Graphics Options]

 

Disable Vertex Buffer Objects=1

 

This will solve your problems at Khoonda.

 

Those areas that I mentioned a drop in frame rates may not be noticeable to someone without software checking for frame rates. That's often an excuse used by graphics card manufacturers not to have to fix frame rate issues. They will say it's only noticeable if you use 3rd party software to check frame rates, so it doesn't need fixing.

 

I will try CCC's gamma control as a temporary fix.

[Vorador]

thanks for the feedback people.... geez...

[MaglorD]

I will try CCC's gamma control as a temporary fix.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Hmm I'm quite happy with this. Not having to meddle with the buggy ingame gamma slider bar is great.

[eckertt001]

 

I will try CCC's gamma control as a temporary fix.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Hmm I'm quite happy with this. Not having to meddle with the buggy ingame gamma slider bar is great.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Thanks for that...I'll be sure to disable those buffers when I get home...

 

ATi's CCC is a good tool, I like it myself, lots of useful options. I'd rather use that then any of the ingame stuff, with any game, not just KoToR2.

 

Another thing: disabling vertex buffer... does it also disable any FX?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

There is no decrease in Graphic Quality or content, its a buffer that is used to store, basically many vertices, if used properly it can increase frame rate. However, if it keeps looping and not killed properly, well, it'll look like Khoonda.

 

Nvidia has a presentation of what a vertex buffer is/does on their website.

 

http://developer.nvidia.com/object/vertex_buffers.html

 

The guy who wrote that presentation likes to be sarcastic...

[Vorador]

thanks dood! I'll take a look at it

[Master Dahvernas]

The CCC is a buggy piece of bloatware.

 

ATI's drivers keep getting WORSE instead of better.

 

No one needs ANOTHER system process running in the background when trying to game. This isn't rocket science... Yet ATI keeps making the choice to switch to Nvidia (if you're already ATI) all that much easier with every thing they keep doing like the CCC...

[AlanC9]

One of the weird things about ATI cards is that the problems really do depend on OS. My 9800 Pro/Win98 system has no performance issues anywhere, including Khoonda. It just tends to crash after about four area transitions.

[11238_1556103629]

The next card that I will buy will most definitely not be an ATI card...

Marketleaders my ass...

[MaglorD]

The CCC is a buggy piece of bloatware.

 

ATI's drivers keep getting WORSE instead of better.

 

No one needs ANOTHER system process running in the background when trying to game. This isn't rocket science... Yet ATI keeps making the choice to switch to Nvidia (if you're already ATI) all that much easier with every thing they keep doing like the CCC...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Have to agree.

 

It takes forever to load up even on my pretty high-end machine and is very buggy, as you said buggy piece of bloatware.

 

I have no choice but to use its profile section because of KotOR 2's screwed up ingame gamma control for ATI cards. The problem with the ingame control is it will always reset to default gamma after a movie. As there are opening 'movies' when starting KotOR thanks to Lucasarts and Obsidian, it also loads up at default gamma. Hence, the only way to fix the gamma presently is to use an external gamma control and not rely on the ingame gamma.

 

I also created a profile to reset the profile to normal and while it does reset the gamma according to the CCC, I still have to open up bloatware CCC to click reset before the gamma truly resets.

 

While the gamma problems existed for the old control panel, at least it loaded very quickly. But I noticed when using the old control panel, I get graphic glitches when running at even 1280x960. The graphics glitches disappeared when I loaded 5.3 CCC. Maybe 5.3 with the old control panel is ok.

 

Point is if you're using ATI, you have to jump through so many hoops just to make the game work at an equivalent standard on the Nvidia.

[MaglorD]

One of the weird things about ATI cards is that the problems really do depend on OS. My 9800 Pro/Win98 system has no performance issues anywhere, including Khoonda. It just tends to crash after about four area transitions.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

What Catalyst version are you using? Are you relying on your eyes to determine performance issues or do you use a proper program?

 

The Dantooine lag problem only started with Cat 4.12 and ironically the area transition crashing bug started in Cat 4.4 I believe and was fixed with Cat 4.11. Notice it too 7 mths for ATI to rectify the area transition bug and introduced the Dantooine bug almost immediately upon fixing the earlier bug. That is why many people claim 4.11 as the best ATI KoTOR driver, at least for those using X800 series cards, which require at least Cat 4.6 or so. People using older hardware can actually run KotOR 1/2 on Cat 4.3 and earlier without too many issues.

 

I suspect in your case, you're using an older Cat driver on your Win 98?

[MaglorD]

The CCC is a buggy piece of bloatware.

 

ATI's drivers keep getting WORSE instead of better.

 

No one needs ANOTHER system process running in the background when trying to game. This isn't rocket science... Yet ATI keeps making the choice to switch to Nvidia (if you're already ATI) all that much easier with every thing they keep doing like the CCC...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Have to agree.

 

It takes forever to load up even on my pretty high-end machine and is very buggy, as you said buggy piece of bloatware.

 

I have no choice but to use its profile section because of KotOR 2's screwed up ingame gamma control for ATI cards. The problem with the ingame control is it will always reset to default gamma after a movie. As there are opening 'movies' when starting KotOR thanks to Lucasarts and Obsidian, it also loads up at default gamma. Hence, the only way to fix the gamma presently is to use an external gamma control and not rely on the ingame gamma.

 

I also created a profile to reset the profile to normal and while it does reset the gamma according to the CCC, I still have to open up bloatware CCC to click reset before the gamma truly resets.

 

While the gamma problems existed for the old control panel, at least it loaded very quickly. But I noticed when using the old control panel, I get graphic glitches when running at even 1280x960. The graphics glitches disappeared when I loaded 5.3 CCC. Maybe 5.3 with the old control panel is ok.

 

Point is if you're using ATI, you have to jump through so many hoops just to make the game work at an equivalent standard on the Nvidia.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I switched to 5.3 with the old control panel and it seems I can run at 1280x960 without glitches so I don't need CCC. I am using the profile feature in the old control panel and the gamma problem has now been fixed :D

[jedipodo]

I don't get it, why do you still keep your ATI card, although you have a so much better card from NVidia?! Please explain.

 

If like me you have played on both ATI and Nvidia, you will find playing on Nvidia much more pleasurable due to less glitches overall.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[MaglorD]

I don't get it, why do you still keep your ATI card, although you have a so much better card from NVidia?! Please explain.

 

I have 2 gaming pcs, one with 6800 gt and the another with X800 xtpe.

 

Oh btw, I confirmed the 5.3 with the old control panel causes glitches for me at 1280x960, so it really does look like ATI is forcing people to move to their bloated CCC.