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[Fixed] Get KOTOR 1/2 Working on Vista


Astrotoy7

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Im stickying this here to have a permanent reference to the KOTOR Vista fix. It has been around a few months, but has not made prolific progress at making the rounds...

 

Thank you to SD Nihil for the original heads up :)

 

In the tech area we quite often get queries about hardware etc from KOTOR fans querying a vista upgrade. This info will stay here for any Vista user wishing to find out about KOTOR and Vista.

 

Im glad I no longer have to tell people to dual boot or try figure out Linux and WINE

 

Ive so far tested K2 on my Vista 64 bit rig and all is working well. I will be testing K1 shortly.

 

Im not sure what limitations there are, or what bugs persist for the duration of the entire game. I will attempt a summary from what I glean from obsidian etc relevant threads. Feel free to report anything as you come across it.

 

The fix is a tiny file >> mss32.dll (372kb) HERE

 

I invite others with Vista 32 bit to chime in as well if theyve given this a go.

 

Shame on those LFN members who knew this fix and didnt spread it around better! :p

 

* * *

 

Source: Post by RenegadeSniper7 at

[Tutorial]Original Team Gizka thread link

 

Here's are the instructions to save you the journey/if you are lazy ;)

 

 

The instructions describe conditions where KOTOR1/2 is not installed on your Windows Vista system.

 

 

1. Insert the install disk.

 

2. Open up "computer" , right-click the disc drive and click "Explore", so you can have a poke around what is on the disc.

 

3. Find the file called setup.exe

>Right-click> select Properties.

>Click the tab labelled, "Compatibility". > Select, "run this program in compatibility mode for Windows XP Service Pack 2(SP2)"

 

Pic For Steps 3,4(and 9)

compatk2.jpg

 

4. Go farther down and also select, "Run as Administrator". In order to install KotOR II, you require admin privileges for the duration of installation to start-up. Playing it without this causes failure to launch. (Nb. if you are already logged in as an admin, this option may be grayed out.)

 

5. Run setup.exe. Select continue, and install as you normally would.

 

6. Once it is installed, you'll need to fix the mss32.dll file > this is done by simply replacing it with the fixed one from the above link

 

7. Once that file is downloaded, place it in your KotOR II's root file directory, eg: C:\Program Files\LucasArts\SWKotOR2. (or wherever you have installed it)

 

When it says, "Move and replace", select that option. This successfully fixes the "KotOR II has stopped working" bug.

 

8. Almost done! Find or create a shortcut directly for swkotor2.exe. (or kotor.exe for K1 of course) This is different from the launcher file that automatically gets created.

 

The file is located in your root file, which is where you put the mss32.dll file.

 

This is as easy as right-clicking swkotor2.exe, clicking create shortcut. If windows says, "Windows cannot create a shortcut here, would you like on placed on your Desktop instead?", click yes.

 

9. Now, the last step!

>Right-click the swkotor2.exe shortcut you created and select Properties. >Click on compatibility , then select "Run this program in compatibility mode for Windows XP SP 2". and "Run as Administrator"(if not greyed out)

 

Good luck! I'll be back with my K1 results later, but if anyone else has had a go, please report.

 

mtfbwya

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Definitive Order of Installation and Fixes for the Original CD Versions of KotOR 1 & 2 - NOT the Collection DVDs! (Also Works for Windows 7):

 

THIS SHOULD ALL BE DONE USING AN ADMINISTRATOR ACCOUNT TO AVOID ANY POTENTIAL PROBLEMS WITH PERMISSIONS. IT SHOULD ALSO BE DONE IN THE EXACT ORDER AS LAID OUT BELOW IN ORDER TO AVOID POTENTIAL PROBLEMS.

 

1) Start by updating DirectX. For those that haven't yet, it's a good idea to download and install the latest DirectX Redistributable Package available here. This will install a full version of DX9.0c alongside DX10 and DX11 that will not conflict with them in any way. Vista is supposed to provide backward-compatibility with DX9, but I think that it falls short is some areas and this will fix that. The link is for the June 2010 version, so be sure to check for the latest version before downloading. First-time installers are going to want to install the entire redistributable package. Just download the file, extract it to a temporary folder and run the .exe. You can then delete both the temporary folder and the file that you downloaded after installation is complete.

 

 

2) Install the game according to Astro's instructions in Post #1, but hold off on replacing the mss32.dll and also on making the shortcut until you have patched the game and replaced the swkotor.exe (or swkotor2.exe) with the version that has been updated by SecuROM.

 

 

3) Patch the game. This is NOT NECESSARY for, and should NOT be done with, the "Best of PC" version of KotOR 1. When patching either game to the latest version, download and use the manual patches instead of the auto-updaters (KotOR 1; KotOR 2) -Note that, while KotOR 1's patch is for all versions, non-US versions of KotOR 2 require one of the international patches, found here. The international update for KotOR 2 consists of two separate patches, and you will need to install both of them; first 1.0a, and then 1.0b. Using the wrong patch will screw up your game installation, so be sure about which version you have before applying it.. Once downloaded, right-click on them, select "Properties" and set them to XP SP2 compatibility mode just like Astro described for the setup.exe and the shortcut and then run them as an administrator. If you have them, you can also install the enhanced movie (only recommended for monitors with a vertical resolution of 1200 or higher; don't bother otherwise) and music files for KotOR 2 (available on the same site as the official patches) at this time.

 

 

4) Remove the "Read-Only" property from the entire game folder (default location: C:\Program Files\LucasArts\SWKotOR). Right-click on the folder, select "Properties", deselect "Read-Only", hit "Apply", select "Apply changes to this folder, subfolders and files" and hit OK. Windows may indicate that the folder is still read-only after doing this, but if you've done the above, it has indeed worked and doesn't need to be repeated. This is a necessary step for installation of the TSLRCM mod, but it also helps with some of the remaining steps in this guide.

 

 

5) This step is for running KotOR 2 on Vista. You don't need to do this if you're using Windows 7. Backup, move or rename the mss32.dll file in the main game folder. Then download the replacement mss32.dll found here and extract that archived file to the main game folder -This is NOT NECESSARY for KotOR 1.

 

 

6) This step is for Vista only. Download the SecuROM-updated .exe's. This is NOT NECESSARY for, and should NOT be done with, the "Best of PC" version of KotOR 1. Once again, these two files are for the US versions of KotOR 1&2:

 

For KotOR 1

For KotOR 2

 

Owners of non-US versions and those of you who are experiencing problems with the new .exe, such as its accusing you of using an emulator when you're actually using an original disc, need to go to SecuROM's website and jump through their hoops in order to get a working .exe. It shouldn't take more than a couple of days. After receiving it from SecuROM, anyone who wants to post a download link to one of the updated .exes for a non-US version may do so with my gratitude and I will add it to this guide. They are not as easy to find as the patches.

 

Extract the archived file to the main game folder after either renaming the old one or moving it elsewhere. Don't overwrite the old one. You may need it later. Then right-click on it, select "properties", then under the "compatibility" tab set it to run in XP SP2 compatibility mode as an administrator. While you're at it, it wouldn't hurt to set the launcher.exe and swconfig.exe files to run in XP SP2 compatibility mode as an administrator using the same method.

 

 

7) Now you can make the shortcut as instructed by Astro in Post #1.

 

 

8) Those with multi-core CPUs (which is just about everyone these days) need to set CPU affinity to a single core. Not doing so will cause the game to randomly crash. This can be done by modifying the game's shortcut to command Windows to automatically set affinity every time the game is launched:

It's possible to alter your shortcut to automatically launch an application with the affinity you want.

 

The command I have in my target box of the shortcut is:

 

C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /C start "SWKOTOR" /D "C:\Users\Public\Games\SWKotoR" /high /affinity 1 "C:\Users\Public\Games\SWKotoR\swkotor.exe"

 

Obviously you'd replace the directory I have my swkotor.exe file in with the one yours is in in both places in the above line.

 

So it's a shortcut to the cmd.exe that launches what follows as a command. The command actually being executed is the start command, and the start command is what allows you to pick what CPU(s) to use for executing the game. The affinity integer is a bit flag, with the least significant bit representing the first CPU and going up from there.

 

You need to run this shortcut as administrator as well.

 

The actual game executables will run in compatability mode/as administrator since you should have set those properties already if you followed the steps outlined in the second post.

 

Since it's a shortcut to the cmd.exe, the icon will be for cmd.exe. To change it to the swkotor icon you just open the properties for the shortcut, click on the change icon button, and browse to your swkotor.exe and select the icon to change it.

 

Obviously this will work for any old game that doesn't work well on multiple cores.

Note that Windows 7 seems to do this for KotOR 2 already without any modification, but not for KotOR 1.

 

*If the above does not work for whatever reason, you're going to have set affinity to a single CPU core manually every time you launch the game. Before launching the game, open Task Manager (right-click on the Taskbar at the bottom of Windows' desktop and select "Task Manager") and click on the "Processes" tab. Check the "Show processes for all users" box if it isn't already and then launch the game. Once you get to the game's main menu, hit the Windows key to get back to the desktop and look for the game's executable (swkotor2.exe) in the Task Manager under the "Processes" tab. When you find it, right click on it, select "set affinity" and uncheck every box but "CPU 0" and hit "OK". Once you've done that, just hit the game's icon in the Taskbar and you should be good to go. Remember that you'll have to set CPU affinity like this every time you launch the game.

 

 

9) It would appear that the classic "Dantooine lag fix" for ATI video cards is now required for BOTH ATI and Nvidia DX10 and DX11 cards, as well as for Intel integrated GPUs. This should be done with both games. It should also be done when using XP with a DX10 or DX11 card:

  • First, figure out where the .ini is installed. Default is "C:\Program Files\Lucasarts\swkotor(2)\swkotor(2).ini". If its not in that location, then your going to have to do some searching around on the hard drive a bit.
  • When you find it, just double-click on the file to open it in Notepad.
  • Scroll down the file until you find the Graphics Options
  • Under the last line ("last line" as in the last line of the list of entries under "Graphics Options", NOT the last line of "swkotor(2).ini), add "Disable Vertex Buffer Objects=1", without the quotes.
  • Goto File, then Save.

If, for any reason, you want to disable the fix, simply change the "1" to a "0".

 

With KotOR 2 only, make sure that Fullscreen=1 and that the Width and Height values are the same and set to a resolution that the game actually supports (800x600, 1024x768, 1280x768, 1280x960, 1280x1024 or 1600x1200) under both "Display Options" and "Graphics Options" in the "swkotor2.ini" file. After applying the changes, save and exit then go back into the file to make sure that the changes were saved. If they weren't, move the swkotor.ini file to your desktop and apply the changes there. Save it, exit, go back in to check and see if the changes were applied, then move it back to the game's main folder.

 

 

10) Those of you with an Intel GPU need to open your Intel graphics driver's control panel and Click on "3D Options". Look for "Flipping Policy" and change it to "Blit". Note that you might have to download and install Intel's drivers instead of using the ones that shipped with your laptop for the Intel graphics driver control panel to be accessible. NOTE: The newest drivers don't have this option, so if you can't do it, don't worry about it.

 

How to open the graphics properties window

 

OpenGL settings guide

 

If the game still crashes right after character creation after completing the installation, try using the the original .exe instead of the one from SecuROM. If that doesn't work, there is a link in Step #6 that will allow you to contact SecuROM and request a new .exe.

 

 

11) If the game is crashing or exiting to the desktop whenever a movie tries to play, you may need to enable support for 640x480 resolution in your graphics driver control panel to allow movies to play.

 

 

12) If the game still won't load for whatever reason, it might be a good idea to disable the intro ad movies by renaming their files. This is also handy if you just don't want to sit through them. These are located in the "movies" folder, which is in the main game folder. The files in question are:

 

KotOR 1: biologo.bik; leclogo.bik; legal.bik

KotOR 2: leclogo.bik; legal.bik; ObsidianEnt.bik

 

In each case you can just change their file extension from "bik" to "bak" and they'll be skipped.

 

 

13) If you have an AMD/ATI video card and are still experiencing problems, here are a couple of things that you can do:

Hello,

 

first some facts about the setup:

 

o Win7 x64

o KoToR via steam (so the installation guide is useless)

o HD5770

o Catalyst 10.2

 

It's rather simple, really. The game had trouble locating the OpenGL driver and I got a atioglxx.dll exception.

 

I found the workaround at guru3d and the AMD forums: Put the atioglxx.dll from Catalyst 9.12 in the game folder. So far it works in windowed mode only, but I am glad it works at all.

 

Source: http://forums.amd.com/game/messageview.cfm?catid=279&threadid=128067&enterthread=y

Thread at guru3d: http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=315893

 

Maybe you can work this into one of the guides.

 

Thanks,

Christian

I downloaded ATI System Tools (pretty sure he means ATI Tray Tools, here), created a game profile where I set Direct3d and OpenGL settings to Auto Balanced and it worked like a charm!

 

***************************************************************************************************************************************

ORIGINAL POST:

 

My God.

 

And here I had thought that you had already known about this and still couldn't get it to work. Good to hear that you got it working.

 

OK, first and foremost:

If you are using a no-CD crack for whatever reason, you do so at your own risk. It's not our fault that it's crashing the game, so STOP PESTERING US!

In other words:

If you're using a crack, DON'T EVEN BOTHER TRYING TO ASK US FOR HELP.

 

 

EDIT: We forgot about the SecuROM Vista fixes! Make sure that their properties are set to run in XP SP2 compatibility mode as an administrator.

 

For KotOR

 

For KotOR2

 

Those of you who are still experiencing problems with the new .exe, such as its accusing you of using an emulator when you're actually using an original disk need to go to SecuROM's website and jump through their hoops in order to get a working .exe. If you're not using an original disk, well, that's your problem. ;P

 

 

EDIT#2 VERY IMPORTANT:

For those that haven't yet, it's a good idea to download and install the latest DirectX Redistributable Package available here. This will install a full version of DX9.0c alongside DX10 that will not conflict with DX10 in any way. This should help with any DirectX 9 compatibility issues which I believe are the heart of KotOR's problems with Vista. Vista is supposed to provide backward-compatibility with DX9, but I think that it falls short is some areas and this will fix that. The link is for the August 2009 version, so be sure to check for the latest version before downloading. First-time installers are going to want to install the entire redistributable package. Just download the file, extract it to a temporary folder and run the .exe. You can then delete both the temporary folder and the file that you downloaded after installation is complete. ;)

 

 

EDIT#3 This is not Vista-related, but it is a common problem with modern multi-core systems. This should be done with BOTH GAMES. Setting CPU affinity for a multi-core CPU:

After starting the game, press Ctrl-Shift-Esc to bring up the task manager. Right-click "Knights of the Old Republic" under the applications list and select "Go to process." Right click on the highlighted process (probably something like (sw)kotor.exe) and select "Set Affinity..." In the dialog box that comes up, deselect all but one core. Then return to the game and see what happens ^/_\^

 

Just remember that you'll need to do this every time you start the game.

Note that Windows 7 seems to do this automatically, but it wouldn't hurt to check and make sure that it's actually doing it the first time that you launch the game after installing it.

 

 

EDIT #4 This is also not Vista-related, but it would appear that the classic "Dantooine lag fix" for ATI video cards is now required for BOTH ATI and Nvidia DX10 cards, as well as for Intel integrated GPUs. This should also be done with BOTH GAMES. It should also be done when using XP with a DX10 card:

  • First, figure out where the .ini is installed. Default is "C:\Program Files\Lucasarts\swkotor(2)\swkotor(2).ini". If its not in that location, then your going to have to do some searching around on the hard drive a bit.
  • When you find it, just double-click on the file to open it in Notepad.
  • Scroll down the file until you find the Graphics Options
  • Under the last line ("last line" as in the last line of the list of entries under "Graphics Options", NOT the last line of "swkotor(2).ini), add "Disable Vertex Buffer Objects=1", without the quotes.
  • Goto File, then Save.

 

EDIT #5 OMG, PATCHING! I can't believe that I missed this one. When patching either game to the latest version, download and use the manual patches instead of the auto-updaters (TSL's is broken anyway, I believe :p). Once downloaded, right-click on them, select "Properties" and set them to XP SP2 compatibility mode just like Astro described for the setup.exe and the shortcut and then run them as an administrator.

 

EDIT #6 If you have an Intel GPU:

1) Open your Intel graphics driver's control panel and Click on "3D Options". Look for "Flipping Policy" and change it to "Blit".

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Hey Q ;) It is good news indeed. Simply out of curiousity > I want to look into that .dll a bit more closely, to see what is actually going on, and what the fix actually did. Some sleepless googling ahead :p

 

I just shows you the discrepancy between what we think we know and what is actually going on :D There were so many reports of incompatible shader models etc, the launchers own config reports - many of us(including myself), after so many tries, believed it was a no go.

 

Some even hoped that W7 would fix it!

 

Im just amazed that this news didnt spread so well. Theres some LFN members at team gizka, that didnt seem fussed with spreading it like wildfire across a prominent SW KOTOR forum... ah well, now we know. No more telling people to dual boot or "stick to xp"

 

I shouldnt be surprised though. In the htpc world, clever peeps are always pulling off amazing unsupported feats in Windows Media Center via registry tweaks and plugins. Its good that similarly clever coder types decided tho have a proper go at this.

 

We are grateful to them for that

 

mtfbwya

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lolz... and that mischievous miltiades... he's in that very team gizka thread :p

 

Ah well, its all there now.

 

Ive put in a request to the smods to do some type of mirroring magic across workbench and ahto from this thread.

 

Im still amazed that it all hinged around a 372kb file. The DirectX conflict mentioned by the launcher config tool was what seemed to eb the clincher. I wonder if this file somwhow makes K1/2 talk with DX10/Vistas compatibility layer ;)

 

mtfbwya

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Well, I'm pretty sure that the fix that got Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines to work on Vista was also an ms32.dll hack.

 

Speaking of hacks: were you aware that you can now run both KotORs in widescreen, and that it looks great?

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yes, I thought you knew about this stinger, as you'd mentioned kotor on vista a few times.

 

Did you ever have any issues or bugs that raised there head as you played? Did you run the patches and all stayed OK??

 

It is amazing that it isnt all over the place, but we'll see to that ;) Ive titled the thread in a way that will get search engines here too hopefully

 

mtfbwya

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Thats not suprising. There are a few WS hacks out there. Definitely will check it out when I test K1. Alas no 1600p hack I imagine ;)

 

mtfbwya

I'm not sure about KotOR1, but the patcher I use for KotOR2 supports 1600P. You'll have to Google it though because it makes use of that-which-shall-remain-unnamed. The only problem is with the way Obsidian designed the HUD. It'll probably be HUGE at 1600P and there's no way to fix it. There are custom-sized HUDs for KotOR1 available here (as well as some breadcrumbs to that-which-shall-remain-unnamed) in the TUCE.

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that-which-shall-remain-unnamed!

 

You mean "The Scottish Play"? Yes, it is bad luck to utter its name indeed :D

 

1600p kotor would be awesomez

 

EDIT: Just tried K1. Games starts nicely, but getting intermittent crashes with first few minutes of playing :( I havent applied any of the updates etc yet.

 

>> 2nd edit >> D'oh. Hadnt applied compatibility change to the kotor shortcut > all good now :D It would be good if I could follow my own instructions next time :p

 

mtfbwya

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In an effort to spread this info around I've made posts on the BioWare K1 Official Tech Support Forums, sent a pm to Kristy Kistic for her forums, and from the TG thread it mentions someone put a thread about this on Obsidian's forum. I hope they stickied it there too. Also, I saw on KOTORFiles n the K2 section Utilities>Patches section there is a file called K2 Vista Fix. It might help too. Thought I'd pass it along. Glad I was able to help the community.

 

As for the DirectX thing I saw recently that there is a DirectX10 for both XP and Vista now. And I'm just guessing that since with compatability mode that since it's emulating in XP SP2 with K2, that it must be emulating DirectX 10 as if it was running in XP SP2 mode.

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I followed your steps to the letter and my game still won't run. Each time I click the swkotor2.exe shortcut I get the same message "Star Wars: KOTOR 2 Stopped Working"

 

one thing I noticed that nobody seems to have mentioned yet is that when I run the video test it comes back failed. It says that my video drivers are out of date and that KOTOR2 requires NVIDIA cards require detonator 45 23 drivers or better. I have the most recent drivers installed. I also noticed that in the config section of the launcher it wont let me pick a resolution for the game, I'm sure this is a related error.

 

Any suggestions on how I might fix this?

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Humm I don't know as much about computers hardware wise as Astro or Q, but maybe we need to collaborate on this. The people who have no problems with K1-2 must have something in common for them to work. And the ones who don't work must have something that this group over here doesn't. There configuration must be lacking or have something different. Maybe it's the range of video card. I don't know. I wonder if those that are working fine with K1-2 might have an ATI whereas this guy who doesn't work with KOTOR hasa NVIDA. I don't know.

 

All I can say is there must be something different with this guy's configuration than the rest of everyone elses that works. Knowing this might be important. Besides, I'm planning to get a new game computer soon and move to Vista. And I'd rather not get a card or something that will create the same issue this guy is having.

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I'm sure its a compatibility issue with NVIDIA, the thing I don't know is if there is a way around this issue.

 

I'm using an:

NVIDIA GeForce 7900GS

AMD Athalon 64 x2 dual core processor 5200+ 3.0ghz

2g ram

Windows Vista Business 64bit

 

I'll be checking back regularly if anybody comes up with a fix for this.

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Yeah I hope so too. I wonder if the rest that have been able to get Vista to work with K1-2 if they also have NVIDAs or ATIs. This maybe be important in that I am looking to get a new computer soon and I'd hate to get something that won't be compatibile with the fix. Astro what's your video card configuration and your specs in the areas that this guy gave? Areas as in O/S, Video Card, Processor. That kind of thing.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I have a problem i have done everything that you do but when i start SWKOTOR an error appear :This application has failed to start because binkw32.dll was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem. But i have re-installed it 3 time but still not working :( I have installed it in C:/Programfilesx86 a of course i have vista 64 i almost forgott :D ok so C:/Programfilesx86/Lucasarts pls someone help me :(

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  • 1 month later...

i was in the same boat as badphish. 100% working on xp but then installed vista and no luck. I have Nvidia 7800 GTX and I was getting exactly the same message about my drivers not being in date. I updated them through all the links it presented to me and it still gave me the same message. I uninstalled and tried again with the vista fix as per the above instructions and now works fine. Just got lucky I guess. But i wish I knew what the cause was. THat error message was driving me crazy.

 

Also, if it wasnt that error message, I would receive this one that said 'remove disk from current cd/dvd drive and reinsert original disk in another drive?:.' even though the disk was in.

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Hey, i had a problem with Kotor1 saying that my disc emulator software was incorrect or somthing along thoses lines and heres the fix i was given

 

Please perform these steps:

1. Open the folder 'C:\Program Files\LucasArts\SWKotOR\'

2. Rename the 'swkotor.exe' to 'swkotor.exe.OLD' in the folder above

(Right-click on this executable and go down to 'rename')

3. Download this zip-archive:

http://www.securom.com/support/customers/lucasarts/kotor_t081/swkotor.zip

4. Extract the new 'swkotor.exe' from the downloaded zip-archive into the

folder 'C:\Program Files\LucasArts\SWKotOR\'

5. Start the new 'swkotor.exe'

 

 

hope this helps anyone!

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  • 1 month later...

Please Help, I have no problem's with KotOR1 but I have followed all of your instuctions to the letter and I still cannot play KotOR2 I have the latest drivers for my nividia card and all I get when I try to play is a runtime error saying abnormal program termination please help as I have been desperate to play this since it came out. Thankyou in advance

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Hi people,

From what I can gather over the last 3 days of searching for some way to get KOTOR 2 to run is that it's a common problem. I've done everything mentioned in this thread as well as searched through other threads to find extra things that might make the thing run. Finally the game loaded and got me through character set up. As soon as the starting video finished it crashed. saying that KOTOR 2 has stopped working. Now it wont even get that far I open it and it crashes immediately. Please help

Thank you

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