This thread is to merely inform those who had the same experience that I did.
I have searched the forums and other mod communities, but there were only
questions, no answers. So when I figured out how, I decided to post this here.
In case it's improper in any way, please move/delete it. :toilet1:

Most of the recent KOTOR/TSL mods comes with binary format 2DA files (that
is, whenever they have any included). However, some of the older mods come
in the older text format files, which is not able to open using most 2DA editing
tools on StarWarsKnights.com or else.

So, following the tracks of ye olde 2DA historie :naughty: I found out that the Aurora
engine of NWN1 indeed used text format 2DA files. Since TlkEdit for NWN1/2 is
easy to grab from nwnvault (needs Java) I downloaded it, and it seems TlkEdit
DOES support the old text format 2DA.

I opened up the problematic appearance.2da file and voila, it works!
Now I can make any old KOTOR/TSL mods compatible with the recent ones :)



TlkEdit is available from the following link:
http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=other.Detail&id=669)