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 found a good red haired player head here.

Ooo I like it!

I always mod the games so some of the armor has the "disguise" effect so I can appear as a helmeted Mandalorian or Sith Trooper instead of those dopey metallic form-fitting armors. It breaks a few small things in the game like changing in and out of enviro-suits and anything that requires the game have access to your character's face, but those minor inconveniences are worth it to me.

I created January for Kotor 1 a while ago, using the PFHC01 head as a base, mainly because it has a ponytail. I have not been able to port it over to Kotor 2 until now. I just found Effixian's K1 to K2 Heads. It ports over two of the Kotor 1 heads to Kotor 2, including the one I was using. So I replaced its textures with my January textures, and now I have Jan in both games.

I just have to get around to actually playing them...

I started playing some Kotor. I also wanted to experiment, so I created a Scoundrel with the intent to go Guardian later, with a twin sword/saber + Flurry idea. I saw some builds online for doing that, so it looked like it would work. Especially with using the Guardian's force jump to instantly engage and make a sneak attack. It worked a lot better than I expected in the tutorial. But I did not go beyond the start of Taris.

Then I started a game with January as a Scout, with the plan to go to Guardian later. I did not do her as the Scoundrel, because that is just not her. I got to Taris, and the game froze when trying to take the elevator to the Undercity. No matter how many reloads, I locked up there.

After trying a bunch of suggested fixes for crashes in the Undercity (like turning off Grass and Frame Buffer Effects), I eventually bit the bullet and just reinstalled the game. It worked! I was able to get into the Undercity.

But then I could not get it to work in Widescreen. I tried using the KotOR High Resolution Menus 1.4. mod that I was using before, but it either would not take. Or I would start to a bunch of blank menus. After a few hours of banging my head against a brick wall, I did come upon one method that it working, so far.

I 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.

So now I just have to reinstall all my mods, especially the one for January's head. Then hopefully I can get back to playing.

Yeah, if you recall, I had a heck of a time getting these games to work in widescreen. I’m currently using the Universal Widescreen method and it was working fine last I checked.

Ok, I found how to take screenshots without the hud.

Go to your Kotor folder and open the swkotor.ini file.

Find the
[Game Options]

If they are not here, add the following to lines, or if they are there, change them like so:
GUIsInScreenShot=0
EnableScreenShot=1

Using PrintScreen will put a screen shot in your Kotor folder, without the game hud.

So are there deathclaws in KOTOR? They really get around. Looks like Jan's up to some universe saving!

*Adjusts glasses* Ahem... actually that is a Rancor, not a Deathclaw.


So Subbie, how are you playing January in KotOR? Is she, in fact, ? Or is everybody else deluded and she is just January and having strange dreams?

So what you are saying is that it is a Deathclaw...


I don't think January is really sure herself. I have an idea that maybe in the distant future of the Stormcrow Fiction - maybe Season 3 or 4 - January will use the sanctum in the Witch House to accidentally go on a romp across time and alternate universes. Some of those places will include the fiction that she writes. Some will be real places (I can definitely see her having a Viking adventure in the 800s or 900s). When it is all over, she will be left wondering if any of it was real, or if she imagined it all.

Precisely! Wait...


Interesting! That last bit sounds a little like Sucker Punch, minus the horrific abuse and mental illness.

One of my favorite Magnum PI episodes was one were Magnum has this weird dream where he goes back in time. He is working on a case that is connected to the one he is on in the waking world, and all his friends are back in time as well. He cracks the case in the dream, but gets killed. He wakes up, goes to the place his dream self died, and finds the evidence that he hid there in the dream. With it he cracks the case in reality. Then at the end when he is sure it was all just a dream after all, he finds an old Tigers hat from the 30s in his car (he had been wearing it in his dream).

So I would like to do something like that someday, where maybe it really happened, maybe it did not, and maybe the experience itself is all that really matters in the end. She would get a lot of experience points doing it after all. I could see her learning things like sword fighting, and even just general outdoor survival camping stuff, and still know it all when she comes back.

The last bit sounds like the Matrix!
Person 1: *Wakes up from dream* “I know wilderness survival.”
Person 2: *leans forward* “Show me.”

Looks like Jan’s adventures from a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away have come to an end...



...or have they?

Wow! Jan went looking for Nemo and found him!

Light sabers and flying mantas, what’s this world coming to?

Love the wooki in the last shot!

Neat! So how did it turn out with Jan being you know who? Is she? Isn’t she? How are you tying her story to that of The Exile?

Jan did not go dark side, if that is what you mean. She's not Revan. At least not anymore. I am kind of seeing it now as something like in Quantum Leap, where she is taking the place of one person after another in the universe, or an alternate universe.