Snigaroo

I'm not an expert on the ins and outs of what's been occurring, but speaking from that somewhat outside perspective, this entire conundrum seems farcical. I understand that there may be annoyance about why such a popular mod as TSLRCM needed to be removed over something seemingly so minor. Indeed, since I think rules against porting are something of an antiquated defense against anti-modder thinking which has by-and-large passed with the years (certainly so for games so old as these), I might even be counted among those annoyed that this rule is being applied at all. Yet the rule against porting is still just that: a rule. Unless one wishes to forego all modding conventions and standards of behavior, it should be followed unless and until it's removed; no modder here would appreciate me uploading their mods elsewhere without permission or authorial attribution, and it's the rules and standards of the community which offer such protections. You take the good with the bad. But the complete lack of dialogue and progress since the removal occurred is both striking and, in my view, unjustifiable. Although the mod is available on ModDB and the Workshop, not all users are aware of the former archive and not all users have access to (or the desire to use) the latter. Moreover, there's been incredible confusion among the broader community about whether or not the new version will be just the audio fix or include other minor changes which might need to be tested for. I've had to put the testing of the new mod builds off for months in the hopes that the new version would be released in time for testing--but it hasn't been. No word, no progress, no indication of anything about the new version. And, worse still, no indication of whether this is a matter of intransigence or simple slow progress. People rely on TSLRCM, and I, at least, rely on transparency to do the work which I do, to know if I have to account for mod updates. This fix, by all rights, should be minor. The work of splicing necessary audio, so far as I've seen, has already been done. That leads me to the conclusion that intransigence is the problem, not slow work. To which I must ask: why? If the concern is one of porting, a real stance that it should be allowed, then a discussion on the matter should have begun over a month ago. But if it's simple bull-headedness over TSLRCM itself having the rules enforced against it, I can't see a way to conscience such a stance. I would love to have it explained to me.

That sucks about your situation, but I thank you for mentioning it. It's another option in my expanding arsenal of "things you can try using to un-f*ck your game," which is becoming unfortunately long at this point.

Really, this works? Interesting, I'll absolutely have to keep that in mind for future bug reports on the sub. I've actually never heard of this as a fix before.

Fullscreen bug. Follow the instructions here, specifically the third option with the two linked videos. Although time-consuming, that should allow you to play at native resolution while avoiding the issue, provided you're not on a laptop (in which case it becomes more complicated, as the fix may or may not take).

How does the player know that the targets aren't people who are deserving of being assassinated, as Hulas indicates to you? What tips the player off that they're worthy of being saved, and how does the player know that all three of them are worthy (provided, of course, that the player decides to keep them all alive and does so on the basis of being an LS character) and not simply one or two of them?

The same thing happens when using the KOTOR 2 Full Build, which can be used to help isolate this, perhaps.

Welcome. Very glad to see that work has resumed, and that you've decided to release completed areas in individual releases, as one of my previous problems with Ultimate was its all-in-one release while yet being an incomplete mod. It's quite likely that I'll be advising the use of your work in the Builds from here on out.

The update seems to completely remove the fullscreen bug, which has long been a major problem. For that reason alone it's a lifesaver, but I agree that it has other, and significant, problems. Screen tear and visual lag even with v-sync enabled is something I've experienced, in addition to the rather poor menus filled with Xbox controller buttons which are simply... unnecessary, and Ubisoft-esque in the worst of ways. That said, I would still gladly choose to use the update so long as the lightsaber texture issue is fixed. I can deal with screen tear in exchange for not needing to spend hours getting the game and movies running in widescreen without native support.

The original not receiving the same update is almost certainly an issue of licensing or some such other permissions which is entirely outside of Aspyr's control. There wouldn't really be much point bugging him about that; better to ask about something which can be fixed.

It's quite possible that it's the latter; Mediafire has rapidly gone downhill of late. Ads used to be minimalist and generally clean, but recently it's gotten so bad that I've had to migrate all Build hosting to MEGA.

Bugging Mike Blair would be a lovely thing right about now, especially since (as I see it) the length of time between the original update and this proposed fix makes it less and less likely that Aspyr will ever fix the problem. I would contact them myself if I felt that it would get me anywhere, but if they're familiar with any of us they're familiar with the mod community, not me.

I could presumably test any resolutions below 1920x1080, although with my current time constraints it would be difficult for me to do so in the short-term, but unfortunately no, I have no way of testing the higher resolutions. I asked here primarily because I was hoping that there were extant HUD fixes that I simply wasn't aware of. I could probably find a user on /r/kotor who had those resolutions and could test them, but I have no idea how much that would help.

They're in the link I posted in the OP, sorry. Ideally I'd like 1440x900, 1680x1050, 1920x1200, and 2560x1600, just to match what's available for the original KOTOR on the WSGF. I can't really advise using Legacy unless I can provide a reliable method for the majority of my users to get it running widescreen.

Damn it. I suspected that was probably the case. I'm left with little choice but to look into Legacy, then, but now I've got those UI issues. Is anyone aware of any HUD mods for TSL for widescreen which aren't 1920x1080 (I have that one)?

This issue has been plaguing me for quite some time, but until just now I never thought to ask about it here. I hope some of you knowledgeable folks may be able to help me. For those unaware, in the Aspyr update to KOTOR 2, vanilla's "Disable Vertex Buffer Options=1" line in the .ini file was switched to "DisableVertexBufferOptions=1". For many users this doesn't cause any issues, but for some (myself included) it causes major problems with how some textures are displayed, most notably lightsabers; the entire texture is invisible from most angles, so the player is left staring at a bare model. This also happens in some other isolated situations, but lightsabers are the biggie. What's worse, while it is possible to fix this rendering issue by reverting the DVBO option to include spaces as in the vanilla version, that change causes semi-random crashes in certain modules. You can fix this, of course, by reverting it back to the Aspyr-update no-space DBVO setting, but at the cost of having to stare at bare tin cans for the duration of that module, then reverting the change again and tiptoeing around, hoping you don't get another crash in the next module. I've been searching for ways to permanently fix (or bypass; the semantics of it matter little to me) this issue without facing crashes or being forced to constantly change settings in the .ini. Unfortunately, the only thing I can personally think of which can absolutely fix the problem is reverting the game to Legacy, but for users who experience the fullscreen bug in the Legacy version, that opens up an entire new can of worms. It would necessitate upscaling the game and the movies to fix, the latter of which is horribly time-consuming and the latter of which is more difficult for KOTOR 2 now, as many widescreen HUD mods are no longer supported thanks to the Apeiron update. So, basically, I'm looking for a way to handle this issue without needing to tell my users to revert to Legacy, which at this point isn't even a fully tenable suggestion. Failing that solution, if I recall correctly there's only one properly-made HUD fix for KOTOR 2, for 1920x1080. If I were to use the Legacy solution, I would need widescreen support for at least the resolutions listed on the WSG forums for the original KOTOR, which as you can imagine is a further issue. So... please somebody know how to permanently get around this.

Look at the before/after pictures, the facial closeup especially, and you can tell that the color was changed. It went from a darker blue to a more faded cyan. Somewhat off-topic, but I've never had trouble with UniWS, with the exception of needing to upscale the game's cutscenes alongside the UniWS changes to get it to be stable. Some users encounter persistent crashes, especially with intro cutscenes or cutscenes played back-to-back, if the movies aren't scaled to the resolution the game is being played in when the game is in widescreen. Aside from that, though, I had none of the issues typically experienced with Flawless.

Thanks for the before/afters. I would agree with Kainzorus on the lipstick; it's a bit too vibrant. Additionally, I can't place it, but I also feel the prior skin leaves her a little bit more emotive. Aside from the dark lipstick somewhat clashing with the paleness of her face, I think the washed-out eyes are contributing to it a bit. Was there a reason why you changed her eye color?

If you could include comparison photos from the original clothing/skin/underwear, that would be extremely helpful for me. I'm considering whether or not I want to test this mod for a future Build, but for some reason Bastila's new face is just throwing me, and I'm not sure if it's just me or if its variance from the original texture really is that pronounced.

Fair Strides directed me over here, and I have to say I'm happy he did. Some of the questions you may have I might be able to answer. I'd like to give you a dedicated response, but I'm incredibly busy just this second and can't at the moment. What I can do is direct you to the Compendium, the list of community-driven answers on /r/kotor, specifically the KOTOR 2 lore section. It has questions and answers which I believe might be able to clear up some of your confusion about endgame. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be more available and I can make a response more directly geared toward your questions. Especially as regards the plot, I know an uncomfortable amount about KOTOR 2.

Flawless Widescreen has massive issues with just about everything, honestly, but your point is taken. I've never encountered the particular issue the OP is referring to, however, nor have I had it function fine (which OP indicated was the case) prior to the builds being installed. Additionally, the guide I suggest to users for FW is Xuul's, and generally speaking the setup he does is very good for making it work with KOTOR, even though it's sub-optimal to UniWS. The OP hasn't PM'd me on reddit yet, but whatever the issues I'm still confident I can help fix them.

Ah, yes, that would be true, I didn't check the thread title. When OP referred to deleting Steam folders, I thought he was talking about Workshop folders, not the game folder itself. I just assumed it was KOTOR 2. That does leave me scratching my head a bit, but nevertheless usually stuff like this can be worked out.

As SH has said, no, I'm not an admin here. To be honest I don't even really check deadlystream aside from uploaded files very much; he was kind enough to point me in this direction. Any further questions you've got about the build should be directed to me in a PM on reddit. I've already got two distinct ideas for what could be causing this--as SH said it's probably that you're using Flawless on a version of the game which already has native 1920x1080 support--but it could be one other thing. If you PM me, I can help you work it out.

Typically such posts would not be allowed on /r/kotor, but if it would prevent you from removing the mod from the Workshop, Hassat, I'm prepared to permit an exception and allow you to post your criticism of this system on the subreddit.

I want to add my two cents to this discussion from a somewhat outside perspective. Recently there's been a relative upswing in interest for the KOTOR games. Between the releases on Steam, the popularization of TSLRCM and other major mods like K1R, the Aspyr update, and indeed the Workshop itself and the reinvigorated interest in modding it's brought about, the KOTOR community is in a much healthier place right now than I think many people would have anticipated it would be three or four years ago. I moderate the /r/kotor subreddit, and there's a really good case in point to be found there: just over two years ago we had about 2,000 members. Just barely over a year ago, on February 20th of 2015, we hit 6,000. And as of today, we're almost 12,000 users strong. In the first year we had nigh-exponential growth, and in the year since we've still managed to double our userbase. Regardless of our perspectives on any other issue, I believe that's a positive thing that we can all agree upon; whether you just want people to enjoy the games the same way you did or you want to keep hope for a true sequel alive, the interest KOTOR has been getting lately is wholly beneficial. I think we can also all agree that TSLRCM has been a major part of that. It's made the rounds through, and indeed beyond, virtually every center of KOTOR interest on the 'net. Gamers who played KOTOR 2 when it first came out and found it lackluster and buggy are replaying it now because of TSLRCM, they're almost unanimously finding it more enjoyable, and because of that quite a few of them are sticking around in our respective communities, expanding them and keeping them active. Since the Workshop has come about, this has only accelerated. This is why I'm wholly puzzled by this decision. Many of the people responding to this thread appear to be suggesting alternative solutions to an issue which shouldn't exist in the first place. Uploading an old version of TSLRCM with a link to deadlystream as a "workaround" for TSLRCM's removal from the Workshop, or creating a sticky with the link, isn't logical, it's merely as close as one can get to a logical response for an illogical action. As multiple users here have already noted, people are stupid. Yes, the Workshop is terrible for modding, and I think we can all agree on that too. But whether that's true or not, very few users actually care enough to install mods that are more difficult than the press of a button; fewer still are willing to check the steam forums to bother looking for a link to a mod they want elsewhere; and yet fewer again would care to ever try to fix something which is broken on the first install. While that last point applies to the Workshop and the mispointed launcher equally, I think my point is clear: by removing TSLRCM from the Workshop in any capacity, by segregating any part of it to Deadlystream, you would be placing artificial and unnecessary roadblocks in the way of users getting the mod. Those roadblocks may amount to no more than two button-clicks and a wait for a download, but that doesn't matter; people aren't just stupid, they're lazy. Many people simply won't do it, and the popularity of the mod, and likely the game as well, will suffer as a result. I understand frustration with Steam's system, and I understand frustration at a ban, but this will accomplish nothing for you. Valve won't care that a single mod for a game which is over a decade old has been removed, and the moderators on the Steam forums certainly won't care. What this will accomplish is damage, to the communities to which we all belong. Loss of popularity for the games which we have all, inevitably, invested so much time into can only be a negative thing in the long-run, even if linking directly to deadlystream brings in more users to this particular community in the short-term. I can see no possible benefit to this, and must advise strongly against it.