Problem breaking down items at workbench

[Rinze]

I've had KotOR II installed for several months now and played through it entirely several times already with different characters without any complaints. A few days ago though, I started a new game with yet another new character which started out perfectly fine as well, until I tried to break down items at the workbench. Even though I haven't recently installed any patches and my operating system is exactly the same as it was before, breaking down items suddenly only yielded a fraction of the components it had always yielded before.

 

Where on the previous runs breaking down a twi'lek spinning blade (with a repair skill of 32 or higher) always yielded 500 components, now it suddenly and without any apparant reason only yielded 150 and most other items seemed to be even worse off, barely breaking the double digits, if at all. Since with yields that low it would make more sense to just sell all my items and try to buy the best upgrades I can find, since even if I'd break down just about my entire inventory I'd still only be able to create maybe 2 or 3 high level upgrades, the whole process of creating upgrades and customizing your weapons and armor (which was always one of my favorite improvement in KotOR II over the original KotOR) becomes rather useless.

 

Since I could reach the point I had played up to in just a few days of light gaming again I initially just decided to uninstall my current installation of the game and reinstall it from disc, figuring that reinstalling should fix pretty much any problem, especially one so obviously software-related as this one. It didn't though... Even though I haven't played up to the point where I have a twi'lek spinning blade to compare its breakdown with the previous installation, the problem may well have gotten worse. With the help of two machine interfaces my T3 unit already has a repair skill of 28, but a disruptor rifle for example only breaks down into 12 components and I just know that isn't right.

 

If anyone knows what might cause this odd problem that even a clean reinstallation can't seem to fix and/or knows how it can actually be fixed, I'd be very grateful.

Edited October 10, 2008 by Rinze

[Hassat Hunter]

In an unmodded KOTOR2 the Repair Bench breakdown ALWAYS uses the PC's skill, instead of the user of the bench.

 

What's your PC's repair-value?

[Rinze]

In an unmodded KOTOR2 the Repair Bench breakdown ALWAYS uses the PC's skill, instead of the user of the bench.

 

What's your PC's repair-value?

 

For my last two characters (the ones I've been experiencing this problem with) it's been zero... Still, in all my previous games, breaking down items definitely DID use the repair skill of the user of the bench, not just that of my PC, so that still doesn't explain why it suddenly no longer does so.

Edited October 10, 2008 by Rinze

[Hassat Hunter]

Unless you had a mod that changed it, it has always been this way.

 

Well, it actually uses the skill of the main character, which at some points in the story (think Freedon Nadd's tomb) might be a different character than your actual PC. When did you break down with those chars before the previous 2 games?

[Rinze]

On numerous occasions and in numerous different places, where I usually had my PC around. Also, are you sure that the unmodded version of the game always use the PC's repair skill? Because, unless Lucasarts included a mod on the disc and included it in the standard installation without ever even mentioning it, I have always played an unmodded version of the game and it has always used the repair skill of the character actually using the workbench.

Edited October 10, 2008 by Rinze

[Rinze]

Never mind my previous post... You were right. I've started yet another new game, this time upping the repair skill of my PC and with a skill of just 8 I'm already seeing a significant increase in the component yield from breaking down items. Apparently I did have a mod installed, even though I really can't recall ever installing one. It still puzzles me why that mod would suddenly kick out, but at least I have part of the answer now.

 

Which leads me to a new question; anyone got any ideas where I might find a mod that makes the game use the repair skill of the character actually using the workbench, but *doesn't change anything else? It really makes no sense to me the way it is now and I want my item breakdown back the way it was, with T3 and/or Bao-Dur creating a lot of nice, useful components even when my PC's repair skills are non-existent.

 

 

(*Or at least as little as possible)

Edited October 11, 2008 by Rinze