Since it stirred up a few posts worth of talk in the What Are You Playing topic, I thought I would make the Kotor games a thread of their own.

I'll start with some handy tips for playing them on a modern computer. First off getting them to install on a 64 bit OS is probably not likely. But Gog.com has them for $10 each, and their installs will work on Windows 7 (I haven't tried them on my Win 8 tablet, and I don't have Win 10, but I am sure they work on those OSes as well). There are probably some modder-built installers floating around the internets if you still have the old cds as well.

In any case, neither game can do 1920 x 1080 resolution out of the box. But you can get it on each.


The only way I know for Kotor 1 is to use Flawless Widescreen. You have to start it first, select the Kotor profile, and leave it running. Then start Kotor 1 itself and go to the graphics options to set the resolution there to anything different from what you find it. 1920 x 1080 won't be there the first time you try. But change the resolution to something anyway. Flawless Widescreen is a memory hack, that detects the change in resolutions and then tries to add in the higher resolutions. Exit the game, restart it, and 1920 x 1080 might be there the second time. If not, go for a third time, etc... Sometimes it comes up the second time. Sometimes even after six or seven times it does not. If I go that long I turn off Flawless Widescreen and open it again. Usually then the next time you start Kotor you have the higher resolutions. Sadly, you have to do this every time you play the game.

Okay, I found an update to running Kotor 1 at high resolution. Make a backup copy of your Swkotor.exe file. Download the KotOR High Resolution Menus 1.4. Then copy the 3 hires_patcher files to your main Kotor folder. Run the bat file. It will ask you four questions, such as the width, height, etc... that you want. Then go back to the file you downloaded, and navigate to the folder of the screen size you want. They will first be in ratios like 16-9, and so on. Drill down until you find the one you want. Then copy the files over to your Kotor\Override folder. Done! The menus in the game will look really big. But the hud will be visible in gameplay.

Now a year later, I am having problems with even this method. It just is not working anymore, and I do not know why. But what I did find that works is to download the latest version of Flawless Widescreen here. I used the x86 version. Run that and select the Kotor 1 profile. Then start Kotor 1, go to the graphics options, and 1920 x 1080 will be there for you to change to.

You only have to change the graphics options once. But you do have to start Flawless Widescreen every time, before you start Kotor. It is a bit more convenient than the old way of using Flawless Widescreen however.





Kotor 2 has a slightly more complicated fix, but at least you only have to do it once, and then you will always have the high resolution.

Start the game and set it to the highest resolution available, then exit it.

Run the Universal Widescreen Patcher. Select the Kotor2 profile, tell it where the game is on the computer, and put in the resolution you want (1920 x 1080).

Go to your Kotor 2 folder and open swkotor2.ini file.

Set the following:
Under
[Display Options]
Width=1920
Height=1080

Under
[Graphics Options]
Width=1920
Height=1080

Copy the Widescreen UI Fix to the Kotor2\Override folder.

Done!


Steam has the revamped version of Kotor 2 done by Aspyr. It has the advantage of high resolutions built in without need of all the work above. But other than that it does not really add anything I personally care about. It is all Steam achievements, Steam cloud saves, controller support, and so on. The native 5k support would be handy for folks like ghastley that use multiple monitors though. But I think that can be done as with a hack (not positive though). I am glad I did not buy it this way, as I got everything I wanted from the Gog version, without the added joy of DRM.



On to mods.
Kotor 1 & 2
Kotor Tool - A modding tool that allows you to extract and mod the game's files.

Kotor Savegame Editor - A savegame editor that allows you to modify all of your stats, and those of your companions. It works on both games. One really cool thing about it is that it allows you to edit your inventory, and modded items will show up in the editor. So you don't need to use the command console to add them within the game.


Kotor 1
Lightsaber Choices - When you construct your lightsaber on Dantoine, this mod gives you more options in the choice of your color crystal, what type of saber (standard, short, or double), and lets you create a second one too if you want to dual wield.

90SK's K1 Robes - changes the look of the jedi robes, based on the Bastila robes. A big improvement over the vanilla look.

Deadly Stream has a huge amount of Kotor mods. Of course there is a Kotor 1 Nexus site, and Gamewatcher has a few Kotor 1 mods


Kotor 2
First and foremost is the Sith Lords Restored Content Mod, which puts a ton of stuff back into that game that never got used in the release version. I am using it now for the first time, but since I have not gotten far, I cannot say just how much it really changes. It sounds like it adds an awful lot though.

Again Deadly Stream has a bunch of Kotor 2 mods. The Nexus has a Kotor 2 site and Gamewatcher has a Kotor 2 mod site as well.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Dec 15 2020, 04:10 AM

I modded the texture for one of the character heads, and created Persephone in Kotor 1.

I spent a few hours trying to figure out what she would wear. All the low-tier armors are the wrong colors. The only white or silver ones are the 5th and final tier of armors. But as it turns out, they all make your character look... larger. Too larger for even me.

Finally I found this wearable Juhani clothing mod. One of the versions is white and black. But unfortunately that one only works on the Sentinel class. Persephone is a Soldier, who got a red and black version. So I copied the white and black version and replaced the soldier's version with it.

Now I am thinking that I could probably go to one of the existing low level armors and just retexture it to a white or silver color. But the Juhani outfit works for now. Persephone has not gotten far enough to where she can wear the Jedi Robes yet. So I am not sure what she will do at that point.

Yeah those low lvl armors are pretty fugly.

This post has been edited by TheCheshireKhajiit: Jul 4 2017, 01:44 AM

Yay, Persephone looks very much like the Force is with her!

The Darkside of the force!

The dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be... unnatural.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Jul 4 2017, 08:58 PM

Ah, Lord Sidious. Khajiit was hoping you'd turn up with some words of wisdom!

Fired up KotOR on GOG for the first ever today and Khajiit must say that it plays atrociously. It’s constantly crashing.
Does anyone else have this game on GOG and actually have it running well?

I have the Gog versions of both Kotor I and II, and never had any crashes with either.

What OS are you running?

Windows 7. I also use Flawless Widescreen to run it in 1920 x 1080. That can be a pain to get to work. But the actual game itself has always run fine for me, without having to do any tweaking.

Well, Khajiit’s interwebz was down today and he hasn’t actually clicked on the KotOR section of the Galaxy library since he downloaded it a while ago, so it’s possible the game just needs an update. We found some other tricks to try if that ends up not being the case.

Ok so there wasn’t an update for it but Khajiit did alter the compatibility settings and it seems to be more stable so far. Fingers crossed.

Is there a way to toggle the UI in KotOR?

Well anyway, Khajiit got Universal Widescreen working for his machine so now we’ve got KotOR running well in widescreen. Will post some pics for our new character later.

There is, but I forget what it is. I think it is CTRL + something. Or it could be Alt + something.

I've been playing the Restored Content Mod for KotOR II. I also used KotOR Tool to add the Disguise effect to Mandalorian armors like KotOR I had. The lack of anything that actually covered your head in the game was a massive annoyance, and when I later played KotOR I for the first time and realized that armors could support disguise effects, I was determined to tackle this limitation.

Started a new character today. Xia Zheng, female scoundrel. Currently in the cantina on Taris about to brush off her pazak skills!

Cool! I have never done a Scoundrel/Jedi Councilor. I usually do the Scout/Sentinel, and have only done the Soldier/Guardian a few times.

My first play through I did as an Asian character. I forget her name now. I only have a few pics left. Sadly, I do not have any of her saves. That was multiple computers ago. She was a dual wielding Sentinel, and wore the Xia Terashi armor.

I believe your character in the pic is using the same face my new character has, lol. Are you running mods in that pic?

I have a ton of mods. Probably everything on the Kotor Nexus. Her armor also came with the short saber. Plus I have a mod that allows you more lightsaber color choices. I can't remember if the armor Carth is wearing is vanilla or modded. I think it might be a vanilla resource someone jazzed up with the glowing lights. I have a version of it for KOTOR 2 that the Zabrak engineer can wear, which really makes him awesome.