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Xuul's Ultimate Kotor 2 guide Step by step guide to installing, modding and fixing Kotor 2 for the PC Topics covered in this guide Introduction Installing the Game Installing TSLRCM/M4-78 Widescreen resolutions HD/ Widescreen Cutscenes (movies) Installing other mods Recommended mods Troubleshooting Introduction With the advent of the new patch for the STEAM version much of this guide is out of date and not needed in regards to STEAM VERSION Hi there, welcome to my ultimate guide to Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2. This guide is intended to be the ultimate tutorial on everything from getting the base game running, to installing mods and changing to a custom resolution. Throughout the guide there will be links to various video tutorials that cover each of the steps in much greater detail. Before we begin I will introduce myself. I’m Xuul, I make Youtube videos about gaming, modding and tech. For over a year now I have been making video tutorials and spotlights to help people get into the Kotor modding community; so if you think this guide was helpful please consider checking out my Youtube Channel With that out of the way it is time to begin setting up Kotor. Installation The first thing you need to do is install Kotor 2. If you have already installed it and attempted to mod/change the files in any way I would recommend that you do a fresh install. (Uninstall the game, delete all files, and then reinstall). This will help prevent any problems that may arise from residual files. After that you need to determine two things: What version of Kotor 2 do you have? There are several different versions of Kotor 2 and each has its own problems and advantages. As of writing this guide the most common versions of the game are the 4 Disk Retail Version (Retail), Steam Version, & GoG Version The main differences in these files are that the Steam Version has an encrypted executable making the widescreen hacks not work correctly, while the retail version requires downloading and installing of several patches before it works. What version of windows do you have? This really comes down to two things (or really 3) What version of windows are you using and if the OS is 32 bit or 64 bit While the installation of the game itself should be simple it is important to test the game by launching it, creating a new character and entering the world once before continuing. This will help isolate if and crashing / errors that occur later are a result of a mod or from the game itself. TSLRCM & M4-78EP I do NOT recommend playing Kotor 2 without using TSLRCM. The game is an unfinished mess without the mod so do yourself a favor and install it. Just remember that some mods will not work with TSLRCM (see the Compatibility List for more info) M4-78EP (Droid Planet Mod) is optional although I would recommend you give it a try at least once. The mod is not without its flaws and some people prefer to play the game without it. You can take a look at my video review below if you are having trouble deciding. Due to the fact that TSLRCM and M4-78 have several custom movie files I recommend installing them before using any widescreen fixes. Download TSLRCM >>Link Run the .exe file Select the folder where Kotor 2 is installed and click next, then follow the prompts Launch Kotor 2 to confirm if the mod is working Download M4-78 EP >>Link Select the folder where Kotor 2 is installed and click next then follow the prompts If you are having installation issues check out the following videos. Each is very detailed and tailored to specific setups: Retail/GoG version: Steam version: Widescreen Resolution By default Kotor 2 will only run at a 4:3 resolution. Even if the game appears to fill your entire screen it is highly likely that is it merely stretching to fit your monitor. The method that I recommend requires two files Universal Widescreen (UniWS) and the UI Fixes. Depending on the version of the game you are using you may need to download the Editable .Exe File . This is a copy of the file that launches the game that is not encrypted, and allows hex editing. Download this file and If you are using the Steam version of the game I recommend clicking HERE for more information. Download all of the required files Set the ingame resolution to the second highest available resolution (Ex: 1280*960 on a 16:9 monitor) Run UniWS, Under the game dropdown menu select "Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords" Click find it for me** Set the width and height fields in the patcher to match your monitor (Ex: 1920 & 1080) Click Patch Go to your Kotor 2 installation folder and open the swkotor2.ini Find the entries under [Display options Find the width and height and set them to your resolution of choice Go to the area called [Graphics options in the .ini file and again change the width and height Set V-Sync=1 Extract the Hud Fix that matches your resolution to the override folder of the game Launch the game and enjoy widescreen **If this step fails something is wrong with your .exe file for Kotor 2. Search for the file manually. If it still fails to work check out the video below for troubleshooting. HERE is the video I made regarding Kotor 2 in widescreen It is important to note that if you do NOT see the option for the 1280X960 resolution in your list then simply use the SECOND LARGEST available resolution in its place. Widescreen Movies One problem with changing the game to run at widescreen is that it will cause all of the prerendered movies to play at a very small resolution. This not only looks bad but can actually result in crashes and errors that may cause cutscenes to not work. This method is based off of THIS post over on the lucasforums. All credit goes to the author of said post In order to fix this we are going to use a HeX editor and video conversion tools to both resize and upscale the movies to fit your screen. You may also need this Hexadecimal converter There are several different steps that need to be taken depending on what version of the game you own: Steam- Due to the encryption of the Kotor 2 .exe in the steam version you will be unable to edit the Hex values. An alternative method is outlined in the video >>Here Retail- This a complicated process. I would Highly recommend following this video guide as it is much more detailed and will walk you through the steps in detail. Make sure you download the HQ Movies Patch so you have the higher quality movies Ensure TSLRCM and M4-78 EP are installed Download the HQ movie patches found >>Here Install all of the HQ movies into the \Movies folder. This will overwrite many of your movie files with higher quality ones Use the video conversion tools to convert all of the .bik movies into the desired resolution. Convert all of the movies. There will be ~70 with TSLRCM and M4-78 EP installed. Select all the movies then click "Bink it!" in the lower left corner of the RAD Video Tools window. Then under "Browse" select an empty folder to output into the desktop Under "Input video settings," enter your desired resolutions. Ensure compress audio is selected (unchecking this *may* result in no audio on some configurations) Wait for the movies to convert. Install the HeX Editor Open the swkotor2.exe with the editor Find the following hex values and edit them to match your desired resolution (use crtl + F to find the values) Follow the steps below Ensure the .ini file is correctly set to your desired resolution The following Hex Strings need to be edited: 80 02 00 00 75 15 81 3D E8 C1 80 00 E0 01 & 80 02 00 00 C7 44 24 10 E0 01 The bold HeX values correspond with the width and height respectively. The pairs need to be flipped before they are converted into decimal. Use this Hexadecimal converter to find the values you need. For example in order to convert the movies into 1920x1080 I would change the following values: 80 02 00 00 75 15 81 3D E8 C1 80 00 E0 01 >>> 80 07 00 00 75 15 81 3D E8 C1 80 00 38 04 80 02 00 00 C7 44 24 10 E0 01 >>> 80 07 00 00 C7 44 24 10 38 04 Open the Hex calculator and type 1920 (Or any width) in the Decimal field Write down the Hexadecimal value as a pair adding 0 to the start as necessary (Ex. 780 >> 0780 >> 07 80) Flip the pair (Ex. 07 80 >> 80 70) Replace the blue value listed above (The width values) with the new width value (Ex. 80 02 >> 80 07) Open the Hex calculator and type 1080 (Or any height) in the Decimal field Write down the Hexadecimal value as a pair adding 0 to the start as necessary (Ex. 438 >> 0438 >> 04 38) Flip the pair (Ex. 04 38 >> 38 04) Replace the red value listed above (The height values) with the new width value (Ex. E0 01 >> 38 04) Installing other mods If you have followed the guide so far you have reached a point where you have a stable “base game”. At this point you can go ahead and play the game with no problems. Before you begin please read the Compatibility List to ensure that you do not have any conflicts. If you are like me, you probably want to check out many of the other awesome mods for kotor 2. These mods install differently than the others we have looked at thus far. While it is best to always read the description and follow the authors instructions there is really three main ways to install mods for kotor 2 that I will quickly outline now. The headers link to videos on the topics that are under 2 min long. If you are curious it will only take 90 seconds to see how it is done. Override mods These mods will come in a .zip or .rar archive. Use a tool like WinRar or 7Zip to extract the files into a folder. Drag the contents of the folder (NOT the folder itself) into the "Override" folder located in your Kotor 2 directory XNView override This method is identical to an override installation; it is often used for texture mods that have flipped textures. If you installed a mod via override and the textures look weird: Use XNVeiw. Extract the mod onto your desktop using 7Zip. Open the folder using XnView and select all of the files. Click batch process. Set the output directory to your override folder and set the filetype to TGA. Set the overwrite to replace. Then press go. After that the textures should work properly. TSL Patcher Unlike what the name suggests the TSL patcher is a tool for installing mods for Kotor and Kotor 2. It is preferable to use the patcher instead of copying a mod's files to the Override, since the Patcher can merge most files. Simply click the TSLpatcher.exe and set the directory to your Kotor 2 directory. It is still important to read all the directions put forth by mod authors but these instructions should help you if you run into trouble. Before installing any mods make sure you read the description and ensure that there are no incompatibilities and/or conflicts.