A couple of months back I had KotOR installed on my pc, while running on an Ati Radeon 9200. While this didn't exactly deliver me the best visual experience, it was ok. A few days later my dad got me a bunch of RAM (which is now a total of 512), a new processor (Athlon 2200 mhz), but most importantly, a Geforce FX 5600, which, which gave a big boost to the visual experience of the game. Everything became prettier, lamps, lightsabers, water, everything.
Now, after finishing the game 22 times, I decided it was time to uninstall it cos I was getting pretty tired of the game (figures, right? :D) Now, yesterday I reinstalled it again, and to my great surprise I find that my visual experience wasn't back at the same quality I had when I still had my Radeon. Even worse, the lightsabers look downright crappy. Tweaking some of the options in the game, I got everything working normally again, EXCEPT for the lightsabers, which are still of very poor quality. Since activating the 'frame buffer effects' helped me regain the quality of lighting and water and such, I was hoping it would do the same for lightsabers. Alas, it didn't.
Does anybody know what's up with that? I really want my game back functioning like it should, but I don't have a clue as to what the problem could be.
I dunno what to say your system specs are great. You may have some kinda software or driver incompatibility. I have 384 megs memory intergrated graphics and 1.8 ghz processor. It runs fine and has great graphic quality except for the ocassional slowdown with 10+ enemies on screen or in intense lighting conditions.
hmm, i have a geforce fx5600 (although i will soon be upgrading to a radeon 9800 xt :D), and kotor seems to work just fine on my system. from the sounds of it, your computer has about the same specs as mine as well, except that i have an athlon 2800 xp.
the graphics settings i use for kotor are:
resolution: 1024x768
refresh rate: 85 hz
textures: high
v-sync enabled (not gonna get 85 fps anyway :rolleyes: )
anti-aliasing disabled
anti-stropic filtering disabled
shadows enabled
soft shadows disabled
grass enabled
frame buffer effects enabled
hope that helps. :D
ps-the frame buffer effects gives you all the graphics goodies like sparks and lighting effects. if you don't have it on, then the game will very closely resemble the xbox version. ;)
thx for those specs stingerhs. I've changed some of my settings according to those and new everything works perfectly. :)
i tried that it won't work. nothing is pretty. maybe it's the drivers? i'm using 4.11 maybe 4.2 would work?
well, umm, what kind of drivers are you talking about??? video drivers, sound drivers, modem drivers, etc???
also, system specs are always helpful in order for us to help you. *hint hint* ;)
oh, and if you don't already know this, updating your drivers on a 3-4 month basis (depending on how often they're released by the manufacturer) is always going to help you prevent problems. :D
This are my PC specs:
3GHz P4
1GB DDR RAM
X800Pro
I first played Kotor with old drivers. Frame buffer effects were there, lightning were there, everything was ok.
I had to update the driver because Dantooine lagged horrible. We're talking about single-digit FPS.
Now the game runs smoothly except that there is no GLOW anymore.
I need help on how to enable it. Is there something to alter in the ini. file??
out of curiousity, what version of directx are you using???
i'm asking this because the latest ati video drivers are designed to work with directx 9.0c, not 9.0b. if you have 9.0b, then consider upgrading it from microsoft's website. i'm not sure what kind of a difference it will make, but it might help. :D
I'm havin DirectX 9.0c. I'm just trying to get the lightsaber glow back. Everything else runs fine...
I sure hope this problem is solved in Sith Lords ... it's gonna be a bummer if it ain't ...
hmm, i'm using a radeon 9700 pro, and i don't have any problem w/ the lightsaber glow.
2 things:
1. could you give me the graphics settings your running kotor at???
2. could you give me a screenshot to show me your problem???
i'll continue to try to help you the best i can. ;)
edit: a case of me not thinking straight, sry bout the confusion w/ the vid. cards. ;)
Graphic Settings
Resolution 1280x(sumthin) 70Hz
AA - 2x
Antistropy - 16x (i'm not sure what this does)
Soft Shadows on
Frame Buffer Effects - on
V sync - on
A little hard on getting screenshots now because I'll have to reinstall my old driver...
You can notice the difference in your surroundings and lightsaber glow by turning the frame buffer effects on and off ...
Glows work on mines as well ... check it out. I'd appreciate any help ... thanks!
Originally posted by seanlooi
Antistropy - 16x (i'm not sure what this does)
Antistropy deals with your texture quality. The higher the setting the more fine detail you'll get (especially in the face). Toggle your settings and notice the face detail whenever you're in a dialogue.
You might get a little better system performance if you knock the antisoptry down to 2x - 4x. Anymore than that is a little overkill unless it's not being a terrible burden on your system. It might also help your glow problem since your card won't be trying to write the higher texture details, it will allow more ambient lighting (which usually kills texture detail)...
Your other settings seem to be "spot on" other than 'soft' shadows (another memory hog). But it's all in a player's preference ;)
There are no problems on the system performances ... except when i crank up AA though :p
The glow does not come back even when I lower Antistropy. I don't think the glow problem can be solved by normal means. I'm pretty much convinced that it has something to do with the ini. file.
Thanks for your help
as i have just this moment stated here:
http://www.lucasforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=141731)
The Frame Buffer Effects stop working for some reason after ATI Drivers 4.3. (not sure about 4.4, not tried.