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KotOR 1 won't load on XP


Taiz

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I just downloaded and installed KotOR and when I launch and select "game" I get the standard "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic has encountered a problem and needs to close" message. I've tried updating the drivers for my video card as suggested in previous threads and there are no patches for the game left to download.

 

Here is the report generated from the scan hardware options:

 

[sWKotOR]

ReportDateTime=7/16/2011 5:50:25 PM

SysInfoVersion=v1.00.60

GameExists=1

GameVersion=v1.03.514077

GameInstallLocation=C:\Program Files\LucasArts\SWKotOR\

 

[OS]

Name=WinXP

Version=Windows XP v5.1 build 2600 Service Pack 2

Service Pack=Service Pack 2

Status=Pass

 

[swapFiles]

C:\pagefile.sys=2046

 

[CPU]

CPUCount=1

CPUSpeed=2194

CPUFamily=6

CPUModel=15

CPUStepping=13

CPUVendor=Intel

CPUName=Intel® Core2 Duo CPU E4500 @ 2.20GHz

Status=Pass

 

Does anyone have a suggestion as to what I should try next?

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My apologies. I didn't realize it had been cut off. This is everything.

 

[sWKotOR]

ReportDateTime=7/16/2011 5:50:25 PM

SysInfoVersion=v1.00.60

GameExists=1

GameVersion=v1.03.514077

GameInstallLocation=C:\Program Files\LucasArts\SWKotOR\

 

[OS]

Name=WinXP

Version=Windows XP v5.1 build 2600 Service Pack 2

Service Pack=Service Pack 2

Status=Pass

 

[swapFiles]

C:\pagefile.sys=2046

 

[CPU]

CPUCount=1

CPUSpeed=2194

CPUFamily=6

CPUModel=15

CPUStepping=13

CPUVendor=Intel

CPUName=Intel® Core2 Duo CPU E4500 @ 2.20GHz

Status=Pass

 

[Memory]

RAM=2048

Status=Pass

 

[Disk Free Space]

C: (NTFS), UNICODE=63.61GB

Status=Pass

 

[CD-ROMs]

DriveLetters=D:\

Drives=TSSTcorp DVD+-RW TS-H653B

 

[Video]

Video Card Name=ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT

Video Memory=1024

Desktop Resolution=1280x1024x32 @ 60Hz

DirectX=DirectX (9.0+) (4.09.00.0904)

OpenGL Version=2.0.6945 Release

OpenGL Vendor=ATI Technologies Inc.

OpenGL Renderer=ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT

Vid Card Status=Warning

Vid Card Driver Status=Pass

GL Status=Pass

DX Status=Pass

 

[Audio]

Sound Card Name=USB Audio Device

Status=Pass

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There are a few things that you're going to need to do get the game running on your system.

 

First, since you have a multi-core CPU and you're using XP, you're going to have set affinity to a single CPU core every time you launch the game. How I do it is to 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. Not doing this can cause the game to randomly crash.

 

The next couple of things have to do with your graphics card. Modern ATI cards are notorious fro their lack of support for the KotOR games, but, luckily, your card is older while still being powerful enough and has a very good chance of running both games without problems.

 

The first thing that you'll need to do here is called the Dantooine lag fix:

  • 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.

 

The second fix has to do with your video card drivers. Modern AMD/ATI drivers don't support the KotOR games well, if at all, so we need to either make them compatible (the easy fix, which might work) or replace them with older drivers (more complicated, but almost guaranteed to work).

 

The first driver fix involves downloading Catalyst 9.12 and extracting it using 7-Zip. After extraction find the "atioglxx.dll" file and put it in your game folder (the one where the swkotor.exe is located).

 

If that doesn't work, you'll need to delete that file from your game folder and roll your drivers back to a much earlier version that still supports your card. I would suggest Catalyst 7.12. Replacing your drivers with an older version is a complicated process because the newer drivers will always leave junk files behind. These have to be eliminated or they will mess up the installation of the older ones.

 

1) Download and install Driver Sweeper and CCleaner. If the installation packages contain adware, be careful not to install it as well.

 

2) Go to Start>Control Panel>Add or Remove Programs and uninstall the AMD/ATI drivers, Catalyst Control Center and anything else that has anything to do with them, then reboot.

 

3) Boot into Safe Mode (tap F8 at POST screen when the computer first powers up), login to the administrator account and run Driver Sweeper. When it's done it will prompt you to reboot, so do so, but into Normal Mode this time.

 

4) Run CCleaner's registry cleaner. It will prompt you to back up your registry first, and I would do so, then fix any issues and reboot into Normal Mode again.

 

5) Now you can install the new (old) drivers.

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Well, I've tried both options for the driver fix with no changes.

 

After applying the Dantooine lag fix, I tried the easy fix w/ Catalyst 9.12. When that didn't work I went through the process of rolling back to Catalyst 7.12. I even went through that one twice to make sure I didn't miss a step.

 

The result is still the same: I pull up the launcher, set the affinity in Task Manager for launcher.exe such that CPU0 is the only box checked; click "game" to begin, make sure to set affinity for swkotor.exe w/only CPU0 selected as well (seems to default if I set the launcher this way); then the screen goes black and I get the same pop up "SW:KotOR has encountered an error and has to close."

 

Is there another fix I can try or am I simply out of luck (and out $10 for the cost of the game)?

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