Optimizations to get KOTOR 1 to run better?

N

neoreturns

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Mar 20, 2002
Messages
1,493
I bought this game since I want to play through the first one before playing the second. Patched to retail 1.03 patch. Now I'm about 11 hours into the game and its been running flawlessly. I made it to Dantoine and the game runs like shit in the outdoor parts. When going into the fields it goes at 2-5 FPS and my character is impossible to control like he will keep running and the stuttering is just awful.

At first I thought it was because I had grass and shadows on. Turned those off and it did help in some areas. Then put details on medium instead of high yet I still get this. I think my computer is plenty fast to run it at 1024x768:

laptop:
Pentium M 1.8 GHz (p4 3-3.2 ghz)
1 gb pc2700
128 mb 9700

Anyone know of anything to make this better? Thanks
 
Video card drivers make a big difference, as I remember my 9800pro had a hissy fit several times during that level depending on what version I was using. I remember hearing that the old 3.9 cats or around their ran it the best where the new ones chug and sometimes lock up. I would try installing the newest cats and go from their.
 
I had the same issue, you can try changing out some of the drivers, but i dont know if itll fix it, to console you, it is only that one area, if you go past a load point your problems should vanish. It does the same thing on a couple of areas in KOTOR 2, both great games, but buggy as all hell.
 
Herulach said:
I had the same issue, you can try changing out some of the drivers, but i dont know if itll fix it, to console you, it is only that one area, if you go past a load point your problems should vanish. It does the same thing on a couple of areas in KOTOR 2, both great games, but buggy as all hell.
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So it only in that part of Dantoine? Because all through Taris I was running high details with constant 60 fps.
 
Yeah, the first bit you get to after teh starport right? The same bit does the same thing in KOTOR 2, except that fixes itself if you leave it alone for 10-15 seconds after loading the area.
 
One thing to note is that the particle engine in both KOTOR 1 and 2 is brutal on your FPS, and the level designers sure love those steam jets and sparks. Unfortunately, there aren't any options to tweak/disable the particles. D'oh :(
 
Rehevkor said:
One thing to note is that the particle engine in both KOTOR 1 and 2 is brutal on your FPS, and the level designers sure love those steam jets and sparks. Unfortunately, there aren't any options to tweak/disable the particles. D'oh :(
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Ah ok thats right. I distinctly remember that the major slowdown occurs when near the parked Ebon Hawk (steam out the sides) and same with the houses with steam things on the top.
 
Is it just me or do I see mention of "Catalyst Drivers" and "*!$&^! problems" in the same breath a lot? Both cause and fix.
 
eggrock said:
Is it just me or do I see mention of "Catalyst Drivers" and "*!$&^! problems" in the same breath a lot? Both cause and fix.
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:confused: did you read the thread?
 
The big question here is what kind of video card do you have in this rig?

edit : damned hangovers. I read that post 3-4 times & didn't see anything that said "video card" to me.
 
this is a bug with ati cards... Only workaround I know of is to alt tab out and then go back into the game, that fixes it.
 
It's not just an ATI bug, I had the same problem with my nvidia cards (5700nu and 6600gt) using nvidia beta drivers, 70.somethings. Rolled back to 66.93s and i was able to finish the game.

-wil
 
The only problem i've had with my 6800GT that amazingly freaking carried over to KOTOR 2 was my overclocking caused the Twilek models to "shimmer" and "sparke" which is really freaking annoying.
 
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