ATI cards with Shared Video Memory

[mars_army]

Hi guys, first time poster here...

 

First and foremost, I do not yet own KOTOR II, I have the first one, and would like to address an issue before I spend the 50 bucks on II.

 

My post here is sort of meant to cover both KOTOR games, but I did NOT want to discuss it on Bioware because you guys just seem to be way more competant and helpful.

 

Now here's the facts: the people on Bioware forums say that KOTOR I will not run on my laptop because it uses shared video memory and will never work because of that fact.

 

My question: will KOTOR II run with an ATI card with shared video memory?

 

I'm using: ATI Radeon Xpress 200M with 128mb shared memory.

System memory is 1024mb

Processor AMD Turion64 1.8ghz

 

Has ANYONE gotten either KOTOR game to work on a computer (in my case, a laptop) with shared video memory? I read this topic and someone posted near the middle that using the ATI Modder from driverheaven.net enabled them to play KOTOR? Does that mean it'll work for mine as well?

 

Thanks guys

[Trin]

Hi Mars

 

You read my input on the ATI/shared memory/laptop issue.

 

It seems to me that laptops are a bit funny on games. Looking at your specs you should be ok memory wise you have double the Ram/Vid I have so it may run better.

 

Before I loaded the ATI mod both games would not work on my laptop, where as my work laptop (useless spec wise - 1.33Hz processor, 128mb ram, 8mb Intel Extreme vid) would load and run K1 and K2 at about 2 FPS. Go figure (your guess is as good as mine).

 

I had to load Patje’s ATI mod to get ATI Catalyst to run on my Laptop the ATI 345m card does not support it. As an aside I think I am not doing the best thing by my Graphic Card, and I will probably fry it – but I want to play the games!

 

However before you do what I did with the ATI mod I would actually try to load the latest ATI Catalyst software/drivers without it. It appears that you have a card that ATI Catalyst will work on without the ATI mod.

 

If you can’t load ATI Catalyst directly – you will know because an error message will come up – then use the ATI mod.

 

If you have to use the mod it is best to use DriverCleaner first then load the mod then ATI Catalyst.

 

If you have K1 running, you should be able to run K2. My understanding is that the only significant difference is the OpenGL (which is 1.4). How significant that is I don’t know, but it does not seem to affect my laptop.

 

Make sure you go into the kotor2.ini file (it will be in the folder you loaded K2 into/as) and under [Graphics Options] make sure the following is set as "Disable vertex buffer objects=1" (I think the default is 0).

 

Just a warning, I am no expert, my advice is make sure you read the “readme.txt” files included with DriverCleaner and Patje’s ATI Mod – follow the instructions exactly. Also – backup before you make any changes and take your time.

 

Ultimately it appears to be a bit of a lottery with laptops and there is no way of testing until you buy the game.

 

Good luck and let me know how you get on.

 

Trin

 

P.S. despite the apparent "unfinishedness" of the game it is still a great game!

 

and - welcome to the forums

 

and - dufflover will likely ask you to play Pazaak!

Edited October 3, 2005 by Trin

[mars_army]

Hey Trin!

 

Yes it was your particular post I was referring to in that topic.

 

Now, my card IS supported by the 'official' Catalyst drivers and I currently have 5.9. I had a similar problem as you with a laptop I had a year ago where I had to use the Mod to install Catalyst.

 

Here's the thing about running KOTOR 1, though...

 

No matter what settings or tweaks, the framerate is ALWAYS low and there are a few random graphical glitches. Yes the game will load, but very very slowly.

 

The guys in the Bioware forum told me this: KOTOR simply will not run correctly on vid cards with shared memory, period.

 

They also said that rolling back to version 4.2 Catalyst (a popular thing to do concerning KOTOR 1, apparently) would STILL not work because of the shared memory *shrug*

 

Now obviously I've become quite discouraged. I have the same complaints as most people with this problem, IE: I can play Doom3 and Half-Life2 perfectly but I can't even play KOTOR?

 

I'm just curious as to whether KOTOR II will run smoothly on shared memory cards as where KOTOR I didn't. And does anybody have any suggestions or know of any mods that will allow me to play KOTOR on my laptop.

 

and Trin- have you personally gotten either of the KOTORs to run on your system? Smoothly or otherwise?

[Trin]

Hey Mars!

 

Answering your questions (as I understand)

[mars_army]

Wow, thanks Trin!

 

That has to be one of, if not the MOST helpful reply I've gotten on a message board :D

 

After reading through your post I've decided that I should be able to get the KOTORs to work "fluidly" on my laptop. The big thing was, from the Bioware guys, they said that shared memory at all was bad and was unfixable, but with you it seems that there's surely a way around it.

 

I'm going to take all of your advice and see if I can get the games to run on my system, and as you can clearly tell, I am quite determined to get them to work!

 

I do, however, think it's best that I get KOTOR 1 to work on my laptop before I buy KOTOR 2 just to be sure of success.

 

And sorry to ask again, but did you mean that you use Catalyst 5.4 to run the KOTOR games, or does running 4.2 work better? I'm currently using the newest Catalyst and it runs absolutely awful with KOTOR.

[Trin]

Hi Mars

 

No problem in the reply/help

 

Answering your question on which Catalyst I have used and I am using

Edited October 4, 2005 by Trin

[mars_army]

Thanks for the links, Trin.

 

I tried putting the 4.2 dll into my kotor directory and running it...the game would not even load

 

I'll try with 5.4 but I would like to just have the opengl driver and not have to install the whole 5.4 Catalyst.

 

I noticed noone else seems to have any input at all on the subject of shared video memory, though I KNOW that there are others with the same issues.

 

Anyway, for anyone who cares to know, my Radeon Xpress 200M card wouldn't work with the 4.2 opengl driver. I doubt using the 4.11 would make any difference seeing as it's an earlier version, but I'm going to try with 5.4

[Trin]

Hey Mars

 

I recalled that when I got K2 I tried to find how to download OpenGL 1.4, but got no info.

 

I just went to OpenGL.org and to this page and it seems you have to get the latest OpenGL software from the graphics card manufacturer.

 

On ATI.com I got this result from my search for

Edited October 5, 2005 by Trin

[mars_army]

hi again Trin,

 

my laptop is the new limited edition HP Lance Armstrong model...runs everything perfectly EXCEPT for KOTOR of course

 

I tried changing the settings for opengl and directx in my advanced graphics settings but it didn't change anything. If you can upload that 5.4 dll that'd be great, otherwise I'll try installing the full Catalyst set and hope it makes any difference.

 

This whole shared memory thing is really getting to me! Surely that can't be the one reason my gameplay is so choppy.

[Trin]

Mars

 

Man what a laptop, cycling and computers - two of my favourite things! A Lance Armstrong comp is kinda cool (didn't even know they made them), it

Edited October 18, 2005 by Trin

[Trin]

Hey Mars

 

Hope yo got the dll files I see they have deleted it form pcgamemods, wasn't sure if they would like it - not sure why though ...

 

Anyway if you didn't let me know and I will see if I can host it somewhere else.

 

Trin

[mars_army]

hey Trin, I got the dlls alright from pcgamemods, thanks dude!

 

i've yet to test the 5.4 one because i've been hooked on half-life 2, which i just beat today, so i'm gonna do some tests with those dlls and post my results.

 

 

UPDATE 10-11-05: Well I tried putting the 5.4 dll in the folder and running the game...nothing happened. Actually, my cd rom froze and most apps on my laptop stopped running, so I had to do an unorthodox restart and get rid of the dll. I really appreciate your help Trin but it looks like it's going to take a miracle to get KOTOR to run on my notebook

Edited October 11, 2005 by mars_army

[Maytime]

bump

 

I'm having troubles with the ati radeon xpress 200m as well;

When I start the game, the menu runs at like 5 fps, and the game itself is worse. I've tried adding Disable Vetex Buffer Objects=1 to [Graphics Options], but to no avail. All of my other games (HL2, AAO, BF2, etc.) run perfectly.

 

Also, when I run the system check thing in the launcher, it gives me a yellow on the graphics card. It thinks I have a 512MB vid card, when I only have a 128MB.

 

 

[sWKotOR]

ReportDateTime=10/17/2005 7:28:18 PM

SysInfoVersion=v1.00.60

GameExists=1

GameVersion=v2.00.424

GameInstallLocation=C:\Program Files\LucasArts\SWKotOR2\

 

[OS]

Name=WinXP

Version=Windows XP v5.1 build 2600 Service Pack 2

Service Pack=Service Pack 2

Status=Pass

 

[swapFiles]

C:\pagefile.sys=1536

 

[CPU]

CPUCount=1

CPUSpeed=2387

CPUFamily=15

CPUModel=7

CPUStepping=10

CPUVendor=AMD

CPUName=AMD Athlon 64 Processor 4000+

Status=Pass

 

[Memory]

RAM=1024

Status=Pass

 

[Disk Free Space]

C: (NTFS), UNICODE=20.04GB

Status=Pass

 

[CD-ROMs]

DriveLetters=D:\

Drives=HL-DT-ST DVD-RW GCA-4080N

 

[Video]

Video Card Name=ATI MOBILITY RADEON Xpress 200 Series

Video Memory=512

Desktop Resolution=1280x800x32 @ 60Hz

DirectX=DirectX 9.0c (4.09.00.0904)

OpenGL Version=1.4.5279 WinXP Release

OpenGL Vendor=ATI Technologies Inc.

OpenGL Renderer=RADEON XPRESS 200M Series SW TCL x86/MMX/3DNow!/SSE2

Vid Card Status=Warning

Vid Card Driver Status=Pass

GL Status=Pass

DX Status=Pass

 

[Audio]

Sound Card Name=Conexant AC-Link Audio

Status=Pass

[mars_army]

You're in the EXACT same boat as me, Maytime.

My Xpress 200 is doing the same thing where the menu is really slow and the in-game gets even worse.

 

The horrible thing is that NOTHING I've tried has given any remote difference! I mean drastically different drivers, settings, etc. and the menu still runs at the same low ~5 fps and the game still lags as slow as it always does. Not ONE solution has worked at all, though me and Trin were trying to figure it out.

 

The only explanation I've gotten is from some guys on the Lucasarts forum and they said that the game will NOT run correctly on vid cards with shared video memory. Period. No fix, no tweaks, no solution.

 

Oh, and I'm willing to bet it's seeing your card as 512mb because the mem is shared.

 

I don't know, there must be SOMETHING we can do. My laptop is running Doom3 and Half-Life2 fine but it's ridiculous for it not to be able to run KOTOR. It's not that the game is graphically intensive, it's that it was poorly ported from Xbox to PC.

[Trin]

Hi Mars & Maytime

 

I'm thinking here ... I have a couple of things I need to look into tonight on my laptop, but Maytime's post got me thinking a bit more - can you post you kotor.ini file?

 

Also, both of you, which Catalyst are you using -

 

1. the Catalyst supplied via driver updates from your laptop manufacturer's web site e.g in Mars case from here at HP.com; or

 

2. the Catalyst for Notebooks (Hydravision) from here at the ATI notebook support page; or

 

3. the general release Catalyst from here at ATI.

 

And finally - have you both patched the game? Maytime I know you are running K2 and it looks like you have from your .ini file but let me know anyway.

 

I'm thinking I may have a solution - don't hold your breath, but I may ...

[Maytime]

I'm using the HP provided drivers, the generic catalyst ones randomly give me a BSOD so I dropped those like a bad habit.

here's my kotor.ini file:

 

 

[Display Options]

FullScreen=1

Disable Movies=0

Disable Intro Movies=0

Sort Modules=1

Width=640

Height=480

BitsPerPixels=32

RefreshRate=60

 

 

[sound Options]

Music Volume=85

Voiceover Volume=85

Sound Effects Volume=85

Movie Volume=85

Number 3D Voices=32

Number 2D Voices=32

2D3D Bias=1.00

EAX=0

Sound Init=0

Disable Sound=0

Force Software=0

 

 

[Graphics Options]

Grass=0

Shadows=0

EnableHardwareMouse=1

FullScreen=1

AllowSoftShadows=1

RefreshRate=60

Width=1024

Height=768

Emitters=0

Anisotropy=0

Frame Buffer=0

Soft Shadows=0

Brightness=47

V-Sync=0

Texture Quality=0

Anti Aliasing=0

Disable Vertex Buffer Objects=1

 

 

 

[Game Options]

UnlockedPlanetSongs=3

Enable Tooltips=0

Keyboard Camera Deceleration=2000.000000

Keyboard Camera Acceleration=500.000000

Keyboard Camera DPS=200.000000

TextureVariation=6

BodyVariation=14

AppearanceType=103

PCGender=1

GameCompleted=0

CurSithLord=0

Hide InGame GUI=0

Use Small Fonts=0

Hide Unequippable=0

Tutorial Popups=0

Subtitles=1

Mini Map=1

Floating Numbers=1

Status Summary=1

Enable Mouse Teleporting To Buttons=1

Mouse Sensitivity=44

Difficulty Level=1

Auto Level Up NPCs=0

Mouse Look=0

AutoSave=1

EnableScreenShot=0

Reverse Mouse Buttons=0

Reverse Ingame YAxis=0

Reverse Minigame YAxis=0

Combat Movement=1

TooltipDelay Sec=1

Disable Movies=1

EnableCheats=1

 

 

[config]

firstrun=0

 

[Keymapping]

Action286B=8

Action286A=7

Action285B=10

Action285A=9

Action284B=54

Action284A=51

Action283B=54

Action283A=51

Action282B=69

Action282A=73

Action281B=53

Action281A=76

Action280B=69

Action280A=73

Action268=52

Action265=58

Action264=57

Action263=43

Action262=85

Action261=84

Action260=83

Action259=82

Action258=81

Action257=80

Action256=79

Action255=78

Action254=77

Action253=31

Action245=75

Action244=55

Action243=67

Action242=74

Action241=87

Action240=56

Action239=68

Action238=82

Action236=83

Action234=81

Action232=80

Action230=79

Action228=78

Action226=77

Action225=70

Action224=90

Action223=31

Action222=25

Action221=24

Action220=29

Action219=28

Action218=42

Action217=87

Action216=65

Action215=63

Action214=60

Action213=62

Action212=61

Action211=66

Action210=59

Action209=71

Action208=89

Action207=72

Action206=30

Action205=55

Action204=67

 

[Autopause Options]

End Of Combat Round=0

Mine Sighted=0

Enemy Sighted=1

Party Killed=1

Action Menu=0

New Target Selected=1

 

[Movies Shown]

Movie10=0

Movie 9=0

Movie 8=0

Movie 7=0

Movie 6=0

Movie 5=0

Movie 4=0

Movie 3=0

Movie 2=0

Movie 1=0

Movie 0=0

[Luke77]

Has ANYONE gotten either KOTOR game to work on a computer (in my case, a laptop) with shared video memory?

 

Hi to all of the previous posters here! I am also a new poster, so if I make any mistake please warn me! And... the english is not my native language, so please take that in mind when you read my post!

 

I don't know if this will help you, Mars, or anyone of the previous posters, because:

 

1) I only have PC, I don't have the occasion to try KotOR 1 & 2 on laptop

2) I only runned KotOR 1 on a system with shared video memory a couple of days in the summer of 2004 to see if it is working also that way

3) I have used an nVidia integrated video card with the following (2nd) system configuration:

 

CPU: AMD Athlon XP Palomino 1600+ 1.4GHz FSB 266

MB: MSI K7N420 Pro with the following nVidia nForce chipset: 420D NorthBridge & MCP-D SouthBridge (with the latest nVidia's 4.xx nForce driver available in that moment)

RAM: 256 MB DDR 266 MHz KingMax (224 MB System Memory & 32 MB Shared Video Memory)

Video-Card: Integrated GeForce 2 MX in the nForce's NorthBridge using the 32 MB Shared Memory (with nVidia's 56.64 GeForce driver)

OS: Windows Millenium (without any Microsoft update)

 

I have played KotOR 1 with the 1.02 Update, because the latest 1.03 Update is apparently introducing a memory leak, because many people on the Bioware's KotOR forum are complaining about this, and myself also I have experienced this in my 1st system! My 1st system is identical to my 2nd system with the following changes: 2*256 MB DDR 266 MHz KingMax CL 2.0 in DualChannel configuration, MSI's GeForce FX5900XT video-card with 128 MB DDR (390MHz GPU & 700MHz DDR, with nVidia's 56.64 GeForce driver). In this 1-st system with the 1.03 Update I have experienced periodically slowdowns (the only solution was to restart completely the program), meanwhile with the 1.02 Update KotOR 1 has runned perfectly with all settings at max at 1600x1200@75Hz (8xAA, 8xAF, Soft Shadows & FrameBuffer Effects both enabled)!

 

So when I tried KotOR with the 2nd system (with the shared video memory), I have also used the 1.02 Update of the game. If I remember correctly I have runned KotOR 1 that time at 1024x768 (or at 800x600) without AA, but with 2xAF (the max AF level supported by GeForce2MX), with Soft Shadows disabled (if the video-card cannot done this hardware with the 2.0 version shaders, it is emulated by the system CPU and so it use many CPU resources), but with FrameBuffer Effects enabled, and it has runned verry well approximately 1 week (the entire duration of my test). In this time I have done the Endar Spire multiple times (I have tryed all 3 class there) and I have done Taris Upper City & Lower City completelly without the serum-sidequest (because I don't go to Undercity) and without the final duel (connected with the bounty-hunter sidequest, i don't remember the name momentarily), and I have not experienced any problem! The only problem I have initially was when I tryed to use Soft Shadows, the game has slowdowned to 1 - 2 fps after a couple of seconds from the start-time!

 

But KotOR 2 i have only runned on my 3rd system (Athlon XP Barton 3200+ 2.2GHz FSB 400, Asus A7N8X MB with nForce2 Ultra 400 chipset, 2*256 MB DDR 400 MHz in DualChannel 2-3-2-6 latency Corsair memory, and using that FX5900XT card, XP SP1) and on that it is running satisfactory (both the unupdated and the updated version) with the nVidia's 66.93 GeForce driver (it seems that the newest driver versions are having problems with the FX and the older series nVidia cards).

Edited October 21, 2005 by Luke77

[nacom]

I have logged the issue with ATI. Lets see if they care enough to do anything with it. Reference is 737-935771 Ill post back here if I get any updates. I have also logged it through the hardware vendor EQS who use this chip on their boards. You may like to log an independent fault through your own vendor.