Mod Build Request Thread - KOTOR

[Snigaroo 119]

I am lucky enough that I believe most modders are aware of what the mod builds are, and are broadly supportive of them and their objectives. I want to lead with saying I'm extremely grateful for the support that the mod community has consistently shown me; the builds wouldn't be where they are now without the cooperation of so many modders. But I think the builds can be better still, and it's time to start working towards that.

In past updates to the builds, my focus has broadly been on reaching certain quality and feature thresholds. While I would include any new mods which caught my eye, I would focus on, say, textures for one revision, or features for another (like mobile support for Revision 9, or non-English support for Revision 10). I have--generally--felt that there was always something more for me to do on the backend, but with Revision 10, I have hit my sweet spot. That's not to say that further improvements aren't possible, but the builds finally reached a level of quality and breadth where I felt comfortable sharing them offsite. Most of the features that I can add on my own are done, and the builds are about as stable, modular, and user-friendly as I can make them without a whole team of volunteers to help.

Which is, of course, where the mod community can come in. I have been hesitant to directly request mods before, or intervene to offer my opinions in the case of mods which are actively in development. The mod builds have exacting content standards, and I have been brutally cognizant of the dangers of making it seem like I am mandating the creation of content that fits my outlook and smothering content which doesn't. It's never been my intent to try to pidgeonhole modders into making the kinds of things I want, and so I have remained virtually entirely hands-off. But, as mentioned above, the time where I could improve the mod builds solely through spit and polish is beginning to draw to a close. The builds, just by nature of their existing feature base, are beginning to move from a point of refinement to a point of expansion, and I will be the first to admit modding is not something I can do. I need help.

What I have settled on is this thread, and companion thread for KOTOR 2. Listed in these threads are an expansive--but by no means exhaustive--series of mods and patches that I would love to have available for the builds, but which I also think would simply benefit the KOTOR community more broadly. I intend to update these threads over time as new ideas for improvements strike me. If something catches your eye you can jump on it, and if nothing does you can move along and not be bothered. I think it's the best compromise state I can reach which will let interested modders know what kinds of things I would like to see without unfairly inserting myself into the development process.

I should, however, stress the annoying part: completion of any of the below does not guarantee inclusion in the mod builds. Which is a bit of a pain in the ass, I know, but if I requested a lightsaber mod and you made one but each lightsaber had +10 STR and +20 ATK, that might be a bit imbalanced. That's an extreme example, but I hope you all follow what I mean: the more complex the mod is the more scrutiny I'll have to put it under to ensure it meets the builds' content standards. That means it might be of benefit to you to communicate with me during the development process, either here or on the Discord, to make sure that the mod as you're producing it fits the build standard, OR that we can setup an alternate install option with a different setup that does.

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A Brief Breakdown:

Mod requests are split into two broad categories: New Mods and Patches to existing mods. Generally speaking Patch requests will be easier, but I will also attempt to place requests in order of what I think the assumed difficulty of each request is. I will probably regularly be very wrong.

Many of these requests will be discussed in the comments, and I recommend reading through the thread if you're just stumbling on it to get an idea of my discussions with other modders, as there are usually some good ideas circulating around how to implement some of these.

As I mentioned previously, this list is never going to be exhaustive. If you have an idea for a mod that you think would fit into the builds well, feel free to reach out to me and discuss it, as long as you're comfortable with me giving you pre-release feedback. I'm happy to do so, but as I said I don't want to presume and initiate such a conversation on my own.

Whenever a mod request is completed and I have tested and confirmed I would like to use it in the builds, I will remove it from this list. Whenever I come up with a new idea I will edit it into this OP as well as posting a comment talking about the new request.

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Mod Requests:

Yavin and The Great Hunt

Spoiler

I've spoken before--multiple times in this thread, in fact--about the concept of the "illusion of urgency"; the impression that you are in a life-or-death race with the ever-expanding strength of the Sith, and that any delay could bring about the failure of your quest. This is, of course, not how it actually works ingame. However, the sensation of this urgency, irrespective of its reality, is an important structural element of KOTOR, I feel, and enhances the atmosphere of the game considerably. My preference for maintaining this illusion is why I am generally against multi-planet quests in KOTOR, because how can an illusion of urgency be maintained if you're spending weeks in hyperspace to deliver a box to a Hutt?

There isn't much that can be done with the Geno'haradan to make their quest "urgency-compliant", nor with Motta's delivery without substantively changing what's being asked of you. Yet, with that said, I think Yavin can be "fixed."

In the vanilla game, the player has no reason to go to the Yavin system whatsoever; there's no signal or quest pointing them in that direction, they just fly there for no reason and find the best merchant in the game. Yeah right. Instead of this unprompted unlock, I would prefer that the player discovers something which suddenly makes travel to the system make sense. I'm open to alternate ideas here, but my proposal would be that the player discovers rumors that Tarentatek are still lurking on Yavin IV. This would be revealed to the player in datapads on the corpse of the Tarentatek of Kashyyyk, or the Qel-Droma corpse on Korriban, both of which would discuss the hunting party's shared concerns that Tarentatek on Yavin may have survived. Picking up either datapad would unlock the system.

Now this leads to the much harder part of this request: going to Yavin IV. In the context of this request, one can imagine that the idea for a DS player is to loot artefacts of Exar Kun, while the LS player wants to find and eliminate any remaining Tarentatek. Yet either way, regardless of alignment the player will have reason to go down there, and thematically I think it hooks well into KOTOR's narrative anyway, due to how frequently Exar Kun is discussed as the immediate antecedent--and perhaps indirect cause--of the Mandalorian Wars, and thus the Jedi Civil War. Players would need to be able to land and explore at least two modules, both of which would have to be substantively original in design; reusing elements from either game would not work here, especially since I think everyone can agree that one module should be a Massassi temple. Because of this, I imagine it would take a team to complete this request in full, and I recognize it's a tremendous ask. I put it here in hopes it might inspire someone.

 

Yuthura as a Companion

Spoiler

This would be an absolute ton of work, and is probably the most unrealistic request of everything here. It would also be one of the most difficult to achieve in a way which would allow for mod build inclusion, given the scope of the changes it would necessarily involve and how seamless they would need to be. Nevertheless, I'm going to put it here as a request anyway.

One of the most popular requests on the subreddit, either in a wishlist for the remake or as a standalone mod presently, is to make Yuthura a companion. I broadly agree with this; the game has a dearth of actually DS-aligned party members, and not a one of them being Force Sensitive. Yuthura is also in the unique position of having the potential to be redeemed already, so you could feasibly recruit her either as a Sith or as a redeemed Jedi, and either would have a unique perspective.

The nature of this mod would require massive changes across much of the game, however, and I'm aware of just how daunting a prospect that is. Writing new dialogue with her and party banter between her and the other companions and recording it; integrating her into existing scenes; taking T3 out of the party and putting him as an NPC on the ship; finding a way to work her into the Temple sequence when you already have a full party. It would be a tremendous amount of work. However, I can promise that, if the attempt is made, I will take a serious look at integrating it.

 

Return to Dantooine

Spoiler

As we see in KOTOR 2, Dantooine was not utterly destroyed as Taris was. This makes sense; Dantooine is a rural world, and even with the power of the Sith fleet they could do little more than fire on the small buildings they could find. They wreaked havoc and killed many, but it's not quite the same as being able to target the huge spires of a giant planetwide city, killing millions by dropping the upper levels down on the lower.

Yet despite this the party never inquires as to the state of Dantooine--whether there may be any survivors, or whether they might be able to assist. Realistically, even with the assumption that the Enclave had been completely destroyed I feel as if the party still would have attempted to return and help the survivors if they could; even a DS player likely would have done this, to loot the ruined Enclave if nothing else.

Being able to back-port areas from K2 helps tremendously with this request, as the ruined Enclave façade and perhaps parts of the interior of the upper-level (though it would need to be much more significantly damaged than the K2 restored Enclave is) could be used. The biggest troubles that I can foresee are finding a place for the 'Hawk to land (I assume using the open field right next to the Enclave might not be a terrible idea); having the Enclave upper level be even more damaged than what we see of the restored Enclave in K2, yet still having there be people there the party can try to save and a bit of loot for the player to grab; and finding sufficient other things to do on the planet to make a return worth it. I think here that the player bringing the wounded to the Matale Estate, gathering survivors there and doing quests to find lost loved ones would be one way to accomplish this, while also subtly implying that that's how the Khoonda government got started in the Matale building: the triage efforts of the K1 party there organizing most of the area's survivors there. Hell, Terena Adare from K2 might even be justified in making an appearance. There could also be stealthed Sith commando units still on the planet trying to harass locals and hunt down the last Jedi, giving the player something to actually fight while there.

The main things I'd like to avoid with this request are: entering the sublevel (we know from K2 that it's untouched, so it should remain inaccessible in K1, at least after the Sith attack--I have no problems with it being accessible to the player prior to the Leviathan); giving away that too many of the Masters survived (you should meet either Vrook or one of Dorak or Zhar, but the survival of at least two of the Masters, and especially Vandar, should be withheld until endgame, with the surviving Master you meet unsure of whether their counterparts fled successfully); and, strange as it may sound, there being too many bodies to find. There should be very few survivors but also very few corpses: remember, Malak took many of them with him to the Star Forge.

 

Dyanmic Juhani Alignment

Spoiler

This one would be tough, and is perhaps a bit of a pipedream, but one of the things I am generally most frustrated about in KOTOR is the lack of party dynamism. KOTOR 2's influence system is an abomination in many ways, but at least it actually makes your party feel like a living thing. In KOTOR you can bait Juhani, you can be ruthless to Juhani, you can make her feel rage and anger and hatred for the man who killed her father... and she will end up saying "nooo don't become a sith your so sexy good at heart haha" at the Temple. Bitch what?

For the most part, I feel the companions in KOTOR at least have suitable reasons to behave as they do. HK, Canderous and (to an extent) Zalbaar will follow you no matter where you go, because you're their natural leader. Carth, Mission and Jolee will always stand against you if you turn to the Dark Side, and all have a wealth of experience in their lives to tell them that's the right thing, and they shouldn't budge. But not Juhani. Juhani is consumed by doubt and rage when you find her, and even when she is calmed, that rage is never far from the surface. If the player worked with her to bring her to peace, then her words at the Temple would make sense. Yet if the player had worked to prey on her anxieties, had deliberately made her feel her rage and give in to her temptations to kill Xor, we should not be seeing a Juhani who repudiates the Sith. In short: Juhani, like Revan themselves, should be able to truly fall.

By necessity a mod such as this would require either a perfect Juhani impression or, more likely, AI VO. It would likely also require at least a decent amount of writing, to convey Juhani's changing outlook across conversations as you tempt her closer and closer to the Dark Side, eventually culminating in her fall when Xor is killed and her betrayal of Jolee at the Temple mount. But I think giving Juhani that dynamism would instantly move her from being regarded as a C-rank companion at best to a fan favorite.

 

Stealing is Bad, M'kay?

Spoiler

It always struck me as extremely strange that, in the fabulous logic of the Force, killing a murderer for a legitimate planetary government is evil but stealing a poor, downtrodden alien's last possessions is just fine.

I already have a mod that fixes Bendak, but I don't have one that handles stealing yet, and I think doing so would greatly enhance the game. The Dark Side is an actively seductive force, not stronger than the light yet presented as a quicker and easier path, yet in KOTOR the Dark Side is just "be a dick for no reason." It's not presented in that seductive capacity well, but tying looting to evil acts will place the player in a situation where they feel pressured to take the quicker path in order to sustain themselves.

Of course, if every single case of looting what may be somebody else's possessions was punishable by DS points, it would be virtually impossible to avoid going DS. As such, that's not what I'm suggesting. I suggest that, once per module, looting any container in a room occupied by innocents whom you cannot kill should give DS points. This would not apply to modules belonging to factions which you have either pledged your allegiance to, or which have pledged you their support (for instance, the Beks when they agree to help you, or the Dantooine Enclave when you become a Jedi).

 So, to use examples from Taris: looting the Twisted Rancor Trio case is fine, because the room is currently empty (you have no way of knowing if the occupants are still alive). Looting Dia's room is also acceptable, because you can kill her (and then the loot wouldn't be stealing, and you'd have already eaten your DS points besides). However, looting the room of the lone Ithorian in the apartments would give DS points, because he is both innocent and unkillable. The room is occupied, he can never die, and it is clearly stealing on the player's part.

Aside from making the mod itself, I think the hardest part of this mod would be clarifying ingame the conditions in which you would receive DS points for stealing.

 

The Hutt of Dantooine

Spoiler

Multiple NPCs mention muttered rumors of a Hutt on Dantooine, controlling the local economy and, it's implied, perhaps even funding Sherruk and the Mandalorian raiders terrorizing the settlers. This all comes to naught in vanilla, and I'd rather it... not. I think the idea of a Hutt on Dantooine is an interesting one, especially when one considers what his possible angle could be in organizing the Mandalorians and interfering with the local economy.

I don't have any particular ideas myself about the restoration--either how to do it in module terms or what this mystery Hutt's goal would actually be. The only requirements I would have for such a mod is the avoidance of reusing existing K1 modules (at least unless very heavily modified).

 

K2 Loot Bashing Back-Port

Spoiler

A system I very much like from K2 and believe is under-utilized is bashed containers resulting in broken loot drops. Aside from missing out on the XP for using security, there is no actual downside to bashing containers in K1 (and little enough of it in K2; the system isn't used frequently enough). But I very much like the idea of a risk of losing loot if you can't open a container properly, and I'd like to see it introduced in K1 (I'll also be requesting it be expanded in K2 in the K2 request thread).

Because the loot in K1 is largely static, I'm hoping that implementing a system like this might not be as difficult as expanding the system will be in K2, due to its dynamic loot. Whereas in K2 presently only consumables are ever at risk of being broken (as far as I'm aware), I would very much like it if the risk extended to virtually all item types in this expanded system, so the player is at risk of losing armor, weapons, implants and so on when bashing.

 

Saving the Infected Republic Soldier

Spoiler

It is, perhaps, a stupid thing to get angry about. But I mald every time I go out of my way to get the Rakghoul serum before talking to the Republic soldier at the downed escape shuttle, and he has a grand total of ONE extra line of dialogue before he runs DIRECTLY INTO A PACK OF RAKGHOULS AND GETS HIMSELF KILLED. There's no reason that he has to die other than that BioWare didn't want him as a party member so he couldn't be allowed to stick around.

But why does he have to be a party member, actually? I'd love a mod where you can actually cure him from the disease and save him from the attacking Rakghoul, and if you do he escapes from the undercity and makes his way to your hideout in the upper city. He could just chill there in a corner as an NPC, and eventually escape from Taris with the crew, disembarking on Dantooine to return to the fight.

Not only would this cure my irrational annoyance, I think it would also add some believability to the circumstances on Taris. Most people don't save this guy, but if you do there's someone who will never join your party who nevertheless makes it out and lives another day because of you. Your narrow party won't necessarily be the only survivors of Taris.

As of right now, I doubt enough VO of this guy actually exists to train an AI model to give him the lines he'd need, however. A voice actor would likely either need to be found, or the soldier would need to be made an alien and given alien VO for this to work.

 

Make T3 An Actual Character

Spoiler

T3 in KOTOR could at best be called a sort of pathetic joke. He opens the door to the Sith Military Base and then, if you try to talk to him after that, his dialogue is essentially a polite way of saying they didn't write him any dialogue. He's clearly the weakest link in the game, which is why I think it would be acceptable to make him an NPC and replace him with Yuthura in the long-term.

With that said, T3's unimportance in the original game is the pure inverse of his importance in KOTOR 2. He's got such a central role in the sequel that I think it's whiplash-inducing how much you can totally forget about him in the original after you get off of Taris. I would like for a mod to take a stab at making a sort of "build-your-own-T3" concept, except instead of actual physical construction what you're building is his personality, through dialogue with him over time. A lot of this would necessarily be forced to turn out the same way--for instance, KOTOR 2 doesn't work if T3 doesn't idolize the player, so no matter what the little droid would need to get very attached to Revan. But there would be room for some nuance, such as how exactly that idolization comes about, as well as for some genuinely variable sequences, for instance in how T3 views Bastila and your other companions. I think giving him some dialogue and a budding personality over the course of the game will help players grow their attachment to him, as well as make it less strange when KOTOR 2 gives him such a huge role and defined personality where KOTOR had none at all.

 

Tatooine Temple Restoration

Spoiler

I am going to controversially add "or something."

The Dune Sea is a war crime against game design. It's visually uninteresting and it's physically empty, with virtually no landmarks outside of the sandcrawler. It desperately, direly needs something else going on out there to make it more visually distinct and to give the planet as a whole more dynamism. Whether that comes in the form of a restoration of the Rakata Temple as such or a partial modification to that concept to restore those modules in another way, any well-thought-out and well-executed area mod on Tatooine would be a huge improvement.

 

Additional Crystal Cave(s)

Spoiler

I don't think more than one additional cave is actually needed, but just in case someone wants to get fancy. While being careful not to hand the player crystals of mass destruction and make the game trivial, I do think K1 has a dearth of useful lightsaber crystals and that it's somewhat disappointing for the Jedi on Dantooine to warn you about running across crystal caves only for you to encounter exactly... one.

What planet to put the new cave on I leave entirely up to the mod fulfiller, as I could see arguments for every planet, even Manaan. An underwater cave system with crystals in it would be really cool, actually. My main requirement for such a mod would be that only a few crystals from K2 be back-ported into K1, if any are whatsoever, and none of them among K2's rare crystals. Most of the crystals used for this project, ideally, should be original crystals unique to K1, so both games retain their variety.

 

Believable Selkath Takeover

Spoiler

It's entirely unbelievable that the Selkath could take over Hrakert station. No matter how many more of them there were down there than the Republic crews, most don't use weapons, most are confined to individual rooms (and none are simply wandering around), there are absolutely no ambushes or unanticipated encounters, and you even see them attacking one another. They're slow, weak, and not coordinated. A mercenary team could've easily blown through them, and it's cripplingly immersion-breaking that the Selkath are spoken about in such terrified tones when they're some of the easiest fights in the game.

I don't know exactly what needs to be done to resolve this idiosyncrasy, but something is definitely needed. Just making the Selkath more difficult to fight would not, I think, resolve the issue (nor would it necessarily make any sense; they're not exactly built for combat, seemingly). I think giving them all weapons and preventing them from attacking one another is at least a start. It might also not be a bad idea to treat Selkath sort of like the K2 Sith Assassins, where they spawn when you're already within a room, cloaked at the very edges, and then turn hostile and rush you once you're already inside. That would at least make the assertion that they came out of nowhere and swarmed the mercenary parties realistic, implying that they're coming from vents or hatches and attacking anything that moves and isn't a Selkath.

 

Actually Hard-to-Navigate Shadowlands

Spoiler

The Shadowlands are referred to as this extremely dangerous zone of wild beasts and treacherous undergrowth, difficult to navigate and nigh-impossible to survive in. Except the only animals you see are Tach, Katarn and Kinrath, none of which are particularly threatening, and you very conveniently have a map the entire time.

The difficulty I don't believe can be solved adequately because it would take either making Katarn and Kinrath unrealistically difficult to fight OR adding different animals to the planet, none of which I think are more suited. There is the possibility of back-porting a small amount of Hssiss from K2 into the lower Shadowlands, I suppose, but I can't see any other creature from either game that would make sense down there, and a couple of Hssiss doesn't really solve the overall problem.

I am hoping that traversal, at least, can be addressed however. Removal of the map would be great; removal of the map until you get Jolee would be even better, with Jolee's presence restoring the map to you. I know the map can be removed per-module in K2, so I'm hoping removing it is at least possible in K1, but if the map absolutely can't be removed then adding in a modded map which is almost entirely wrong would also be an interesting way of going about this, where the player can't rely on the map to navigate because it's lying to them. That won't do much, due to the smallness of the area, but it's something.

 

Leviathan Command Deck Difficulty Increase

Spoiler

The Leviathan Command Deck is way too easy. It might not be the Star Forge, but the bridge of a starship should be one of its most heavily-defended points. They know you're coming and an alarm is blaring, but you have to fight nothing but a few patrols and, OPTIONALLY, two barracks full of men? There should be a lot more difficulty here--pop-up minefields, doors shutting and locking behind you, additional patrols pouring into the level. If possible, the player should feel heavily pressured to get out as soon as possible.

Now, with that said, I am generally against eternal spawns. I don't like it on the Star Forge, and at best I tolerate it on the way back through the command deck going down to the hangar. So rather than patrols constantly spawning, it might be best for entry into certain rooms to trigger a patrol to "come up" through the elevator, and you'd get an ingame cutscene of them pouring out and then rushing to your position, where they'd begin to engage you. So each room would have a risk of traps, as well as a new patrol rushing you.

 

 Peace on Lehon

Spoiler

It's implied by the Elder Rakatan researcher that you could reach a peaceful solution with The One and bring him to the Elders for them to study. Whether this was actually planned and walked back or simply a flavorful line of dialogue for what is ultimately an impossibility, it annoys me that it's presented as an option and then you simply can't achieve it.

I'd like it if there was a mod that made it possible to talk The One down, if you speak to the Elder historian and learn the full history of the Rakata. I think it would be difficult, with how aggressive the Black Rakata are, to actually talk them into a fully peaceful solution, but if you have a good idea for this I wouldn't be opposed. My personal take on how to achieve this would be forcing the player to fight the Black Rakata as normal if you side with the Elders, but upon reaching The One you could reveal to him the true history of the Rakata and present him an ultimatum: death at your hand, or surrender and the possibility to elevate all of the Rakata back to the stars. This would require a high persuade to succeed.

This wouldn't be a true "peaceful" solution I suppose, but it would be a way to complete this quest without having to kill the only latently Force-Sensitive Rakata out there. This modified quest would also need to be tied into the existing quest to return the genetic data from the Temple to the Elder Researcher, and I'd prefer for the player to be able to do both.

 

Restored Swoop Upgrade Functionality (Fulfilled by Salk here, not yet tested for integration)

Spoiler

Not necessarily upgrades as they were intended at launch, but there are multiple merchants who mention having swoop parts in their inventory, and the swoop races, as they are, are extremely difficult to win with the default swoop. Even a partial or altered implementation of the upgrade system would be nice as a risk/reward mechanism, whether the investment is worth the easier time winning each given race.

 

Sewer Consolidation

Spoiler

Difficult for limited benefit, and thus very low priority, but almost every user on the subreddit agrees the sewers are the worst part of the game. I think a consolidation of the two sewer modules into one by cutting several of the side paths and having Mission's force field door lead straight down to the Rancor room without need of a module transition would help speed things up and make an otherwise annoyingly long part of an already annoyingly long planet work better.

 

Back-Porting of TSL Areas to K1

Spoiler

This is an extremely general category because I don't necessarily have amazing ideas for it myself, and is included at least partly for brainstorming purposes. There are areas in KOTOR 2 (such as the Enclave sublevel, or Ludo Kressh's tomb on Korriban) which are inaccessible in the original game but could be ported over, potentially with great benefit. Revan entering Kressh's tomb could, for instance, force the player to confront jumbled and amorphous threats from their past, both as Revan and as the programmed identity the Jedi gave them--a hint that not all is what it seems. And, while the player wouldn't be able to take loot from the same containers the Exile can loot in K2 (unless the Star Wars universe comes with spontaneous item genesis), Revan could at least get to Kressh's actual burial chamber and do something there to leave an echo of themselves, something that would--implicitly--explain the vision of Revan the Exile encounters there years later.

That's just one suggestion, but I think reusing these areas in careful and intentional ways would be a great way to expand the game's content while keeping the quality high.

 

Bastila Needs to Hide - Fulfilled by @Salk, pending testing.

Spoiler

Bastila is the sole person that the entire Sith occupying force is looking for on Taris. They know what she looks like, they know she's a Jedi, and they're hunting her with all of their will. However, dozens of troopers in the upper city just miss her running around with her lightsaber out, or killing half of them in the Sith base. Uh-huh.

I would very much like a no-frills mod which requires Bastila to wear headgear which hides her face while on Taris, as well as preventing her from equipping her lightsaber (whether that's achieved by scripting or simply not giving her her lightsaber until Dantooine, either is fine with me). I know there's one mod at least that already does this, but I wasn't super fond of its particular implementation, so I'd very much like to try someone else's take on it.

 

Krayt Dragons are Hard to Kill

Spoiler

Ostensibly, anyway. All you need to do right now is throw some fodder at a bantha and kill a couple of Tusken and it dies in a cutscene.

Some level of player agency needs to be added back into the dragon encounter, even if all it boils down to is Komad asking the player to be the one to put down the minefield. But I'd much prefer it if there were an actual element of skill and a risk of losing the fight. I imagine that fighting the dragon is entirely impractical due to its size and a lack of animations, but if any method could be found which would give the player direct agency over some aspect of the encounter and run the risk of a potential loss, that would be huge.

 

Hulas Has No Reason to Fight (fulfilled by @N-DReW25 here, new version not yet tested for integration)

Spoiler

It always struck me as nonsensical that Hulas, now utterly in control of the Geno'Haradan, is willing to personally fight you just because you said he should. Why? The Geno'Haradan, whatever else may be true about them, is absolutely adept at subterfuge, and it's also undeniable that Hulas is now their sole leader. He has absolutely no incentive to risk everything--as he himself admits, the Geno'Haradan is not likely to survive his death in a meaningful way--just because you want him to.

I propose that Hulas should tell you he'll be on Tatooine as usual, and if you do go there you meet the ambush as usual, but it's led by Senni Vek (the mod builds make use of Drew's Senni Vek Restoration) and Hulas is nowhere to be found. When you defeat the ambushers you either find a datapad on Senni's body which gives Hulas's location and you're then able to travel and eliminate him, OR there is no datapad or clue whatsoever, and Hulas escapes without you ever being able to slay him.

I would accept either outcome, but I would prefer the latter. While it's more divergent from vanilla, since the Geno'Haradan do not normally return in KOTOR 2 I don't view it as having meaningful impact on either game to alter the outcome, while I think it's much more realistic for Hulas to play you the entire way through and go into hiding, now the sole leader of the Geno'Haradan.

 

The Endar Spire is Actually Blowing Up

Spoiler

For being a ship that's imminently in danger of exploding, the Endar Spire is a remarkably clean and functional vessel. Sure, they are a few piles of rubble and a tiny little bit of sparks, but the ship blows up literal seconds after you leave. With that in mind, it is a remarkably visually undamaged. I'd love to see a mod which presents the Endar Spire as a more obviously damaged vessel which is under imminent threat of destruction.

 

Leviathan Bridge Difficulty Increase

Spoiler

I grant that by the time Saul knows you've broken out the route to the bridge is already cut, so he can't get additional reinforcements. I feel like the bridge is ludicrously under-defended even still, however--again, even sitting in the middle of nowhere camping a hyperlane without anticipating encountering enemy forces, this is still an extremely advanced starship. There should be a few additional pop-up turrets at minimum, and potentially also a couple of additional troopers.

 

Kill/Capture Marlena

Spoiler

Revan may have brain damage, but I think even then it's a stretch that they don't realize what Marlena means when she says she's "done planning" to kill Tanis. And all you can say is UHHH WHAT IF HE HAS A MESSAGE FOR YOU? Come the fuck on BioWare. Anyone older than six would realize what's happening, and a Jedi would try to detain Marlena until they could get a grasp of the situation.

I know a mod like this already exists, and indeed I used it for a while, but I have some problems with its implementation, and especially its writing, that I think a more modern take can fix. An LS player should be trying to detain Marlena (after which she may resist), while a DS player should either try to kill her outright or recognize exactly what it is she's doing and deliberately let her go to let her get away with it. In the past that would've been difficult due to VO constraints, but the possibility of using AI VO or seeing if a volunteer would revoice Marlena entirely is viable these days.

 

Malak Knows What's Coming

Spoiler

Malak may look like an idiot, talk like an idiot and behave like an idiot, but the game assures us that he isn't an idiot. If we presume he's not, why does he only send a Rancor hunter and a baldy to stop you from finding the proverbial keys to his kingdom? Malak should be sweating the moment that Calo is taken out, and the second star map should be defended, as well. Bandon should bring more than just two little Sith to his confrontation with you--try a platoon instead. And your final star map should look like the subway at rush hour.

In other words, as you get closer to accomplishing the main thing that Malak would never, ever want you to do, you should be faced with progressively stronger threats and traps to attempt to keep you from succeeding. The last thing he wants is to see you confront him on the Star Forge itself.

 

Force-Sensitive Slaves?

Spoiler

If you bring Juhani or Jolee with you to Korriban and try to gain access to the Academy through Yuthura, when you call them your slaves Yuthura should be incredulous--they are Force Sensitive! That should set off alarm bells that not all is what it seems to her, and she should decline to support your entry, forcing you to get in by fighting one of the other groups of prospects in Dreshdae. I think this should be pretty easy to implement, the only issue being a trained Yuthura AI model for the little bit of extra VO it would require.

 

 Uthar's Room is Off-Limits

Spoiler

Why, exactly, would the Sith guards in the Academy be alright with you openly breaking into Uthar's room and rummaging in his stuff? If you're seen breaking in they any guard that catches you should turn hostile to you and force you to be taken to Uthar, who should praise you for your ingenuity but chastise you for being caught (this would of course require AI VO, probably both for the Sith guard and Uthar), and you should lose prestige the first time you're seen. As far as I know there are no other mechanisms by which you can lose prestige, so this would be an interesting mechanism of punishment which would force you to do more on the planet to be selected the victor.

 

Vorn Has a Pearl

Spoiler

Geno'Haradan leader Vorn Daasraad is found next to the corpse of a Krayt Dragon he had killed. There's no Dragon remains in or surrounding it, which implies he'd already taken his prize from the corpse, and logically that he should have at least one pearl on him. It's not said that every single dragon would have a pearl, but this one looked to be a big one, and the larger dragon in the deep dune sea had two.

Since almost nobody ever uses the pearl to speak to the Tusken storyteller, the presence of another might hopefully incentivize players to do so.

 

Mission Needs to Pay Attention

Spoiler

When you land on Kashyyyk, Zaalbar tells you early on that he was exiled from the planet, and why. When you meet with Chuundar this is affirmed, as well as confirming that Chuundar and Zaalbar are brothers, and sons of the chieftain Freyyr. But if you have Mission in your party when first meeting Freyyr, she acts shocked that Zaalbar was exiled, exclaiming that he never told her that, as well as being incredulous that he's some kind of "Wookiee prince" and that Chuundar was his brother.

Now, these responses make sense if Mission wasn't in your party for Zaalbar's story or your confrontation with Chuundar, but she says these things even if she was. It would be nice if there was a check to see if Mission was present at either conversation; if only the first she shouldn't interject with her line about being exiled, and if she was present at both she should say nothing when you're speaking to Freyyr at all.

Comprehensive Lightsaber Mod

Spoiler

Think USM, but with better balance, consistency, and less bloat. I would love to see a comprehensive take on a lightsaber mod which includes proper unique hilts for the game's most important Jedi and Sith, while also including a variety of unique hilts that the player can find, craft and/or modify. The landscape for hilt mods has been far too limited to this point, I feel, with much of the focus either being solely on unique hilts for NPCs or tying redesigns to color crystals, rather than a comprehensive joining of both concepts. And, of course, most mods are old enough that they didn't have the opportunity to take advantage of @Crazy34's excellent saber lighting, nor the ability to back-port KOTOR 2's color palette into the original.

@JCarter426 is cooking something here and could use help, but with no disrespect intended to my co-author I'm not fully wedded to his concept. I think there are multiple ways to do a good saber mod, and whether in the form of assistance to JC or a standalone shot at it I would love to see some attempts made.

 

Comprehensive Melee Model/Texture Improvement

Spoiler

We have SithSpecter's incredible HQ Blasters, and about a billion lightsaber mods of every variety. We have AI upscales of every area in the game (of dubious quality though many are), and almost all the characters. What we most decidedly do not have is a comprehensive and high-quality texture (and, if necessary, model) improvement package for melee weapons, which seem to languish. At best there are a handful of standalones, but oftentimes these standalones aren't broadly respectful of the aesthetic design of the vanilla weapons, and even those that are only cover a small proportion of the weapons available ingame. This would be a major visual consistency improvement.

To be clear, I am generally not looking for AI work in this request (such projects already exist). I'm also not asking for SithSpecter quality here, because his blaster mod is hard to top; just a human touch which enhances the visuals of each weapon while preserving their general appearance. I say human touch specifically because, since many of these weapons are very low-res, a direct AI upscale would probably just make them look like garbage, with garish colors or patterns. A human eye will translate the underlying intent of the design without making it look terrible, I feel.

 

Visually Distinct The One

Spoiler

The One, despite being effectively the leader of the largest Rakata nation, a latently Force-Sensitive Rakata, and an unparalleled warlord is a pushover to fight and his only visual distinction is that he's slightly more pale than the other Black Rakata. He rules hundreds of islands and has scavenged gear from at least dozens of ship crashes, but he fights in a glorified tunic with common vibroblades.

Thematic The One, a new mod by JC me, at least addresses some of the ease with which The One is dispatched. But I would also like to make him more visually distinct, with an appearance that reflects his warrior nature and his accomplishments of conquering dozens of other tribes. Ideally, I'd like to see a new model/texture combo for The One which includes an armor set made up of piecemeal bits of other armors: scraps of different combat suits, Mandalorian greaves, maybe some hollowed-out Rakata skulls as vambraces to show his brutality--that sort of thing. Something which conveys that he's a warrior who has defeated many different space-faring cultures, as well as many of his own people.

 

Unique Player Clothing

Spoiler

I'm a big fan of Ol' Cappy's Companion Starting Armors for K2, the goal of which is to give the party armored variants of their default clothing which let them retain their unique looks a bit longer before the starting armor becomes superseded by better loot drops & more difficult enemies.

I know that there are some mods which attempt similar things for K1, but for each I either dislike the implementation or think that the starting equipment is too powerful. I'd love a no-frills mod that functions similarly to Cappy's while maintaining lore-friendly descriptions and only moderate bonuses, so switching off the starting gear becomes logical by the midgame.

 

Twi'lek Don't Disappear

Spoiler

The Twi'lek merc you encounter when first entering the Hrakert station says emphatically he's going to wait right by the submersible for you to fix whatever's driving the Selkath and sharks crazy. Yet if you clear the entire station of hostiles and return to leave, even if Manaan isn't your third planet and Bandon doesn't come down to kill you, the Twi'lek is just gone. No corpse, just gone. It doesn't make sense; he should still be there, and come with you back up to the station, unless (if possible) you left any Selkath still alive before going out to the underwater section. In that case you should find his corpse, just as you should if Bandon comes down to face you.

 

Star Forge Spawn Sanity Module

Spoiler

Star Forge spawns are awful and we all know it. I know there's at least one mod out there that tries to add some sanity to it, but I think all it does is cap spawn numbers, which isn't the full problem as I see it. Presently there are two primary problems with the system: enemies can spawn directly in your line-of-sight, and they spawn infinitely. What I would like to see, ideally, is a system which guarantees that enemies will never spawn within the player's scope of vision, and which also caps enemy spawns in given spawn zones to a certain number of waves. This would help players who are DS (and thus forced to take Bastila with them) from having to try to drag her away from infinitely-spawning waves of enemies to get to the module transition point while still retaining significant difficulty.

 

Swoop Racing GUI Fix

Spoiler

Presently, on widescreen resolutions the GUI for your swoop bike--that is, the HUD which shows the borders of your swoop cockpit, your boost level, and so on--doesn't extend to the borders of the screen, but cuts off awkwardly. This video is a good example of what I mean. A small mod to fix this would be much-appreciated.

 

Why Are We Fighting?

Spoiler

You can convince Jagi, Canderous's old war compatriot, not to fight on the basis that Canderous's actions were correct. However, even if Jagi admits that he was in the wrong and commits suicide, his two hired goons fight you anyway. For what possible purpose? Lotta loyalty for a hired merc.

I'd like them to just sort of glance at each other if he kills himself and then run away toward Anchorhead, so the player wouldn't be required to kill anyone if they successfully resolve the situation with Jagi via dialogue.

 

Hukta Jax's Threat

Spoiler

If you threaten to unseat Hukta Jax's time in the swoop races on Manaan, he'll threaten you. If you actually do it, he'll tell you he's going to ambush you when you least expect it. Clearly he's a master at this, because he does the least expected thing possible--he never does it at all.

Some ambush by Jax being put in would be welcomed.

 

Tarentatek-Be-Gone

Spoiler

When you get rid of the Czerka poachers in the Shadowlands by disabling their sonic emitters, a Tarentatek appears to drive them off. While there is a Tarentatek on the planet, he's in the lower Shadowlands beyond the Czerka energy barrier. Jolee does say that native fauna are climbers that can get around those barriers, but Tarentatek aren't native to Kashyyyk, and even if they were Freyyr makes it clear that the Tarentatek is smart--it doesn't hunt large groups, and that's why they have the ritual to draw it out. It doesn't make sense for it to go after the large and well-defended Czerka camp under any circumstances, and it makes even less sense that the player would just let it happen without engaging it. I'd like for the Tarentatek to be replaced with something more fitting for the area--probably a Katarn pack.

 

Less Ridiculous Rakata Temple Entrance Animation

Spoiler

The "energy laser" thing the Rakata chanters cause to happen to unlock the Temple is flat-out hokey and weird. I would like the laser and sound effects to be removed entirely, and for the barrier on the door to simply go away after a brief time of them chanting, with the player and party rushing in while they continue to chant to keep the barrier down.

 

Going into Shock is Good for You

Spoiler

Okay maybe not under normal circumstances, but for the Mandalorian on Korriban it is. If you ask him how to help him, he specifically asks you to put him into shock so he doesn't have to reveal his stash. If you then comply with his request and put him into shock you... get DS points. Huh.

If you put him into shock without actively convincing him you're trying to help him, you should get the DS points. However, if you convince him you're trying to assist him and put him into shock as he requests, you should get LS points.

 

When I Say Leave, Leave

Spoiler

A simple request, I think--if you enter the room of any of Davik's guests and convince them not to attack you or call the guards, but then go on to loot the contents of their rooms anyway, they should turn hostile at that point. All of them demand you leave their rooms at once, not go steal from them. The only exception, if possible to implement, would be if the player opened the containers within their rooms while stealthed.

 

Ajuur Medical Supplies Respawn

Spoiler

I feel like this is a false memory, but back when I played on the Xbox I always felt like the emergency medical supplies in Ajuur's corner of the Taris cantina spawned a new medkit every time you won a duel. Even if that never happened, though, I actually really like the idea of that and would like to see it implemented. Each time you win against a duelist, the container should refill with a new medkit. If the player doesn't pick one up, a new one shouldn't spawn (that is, there should always be a max total of 1 medkit in the container).

 

Geno'Haradan DS Sanity Patch

Spoiler

When you're assassinating the Geno'Haradan leadership, you believe (or at least, can believe) that you're doing it for good reasons. But almost unique to K1, to complete this quest at all you're required to take DS points, and a significant amount. But why would the player be evil for taking actions they think are for the greater good? Assassination is distasteful, and I'm not suggesting they should be out here getting LS points or anything, but if they truly believe what they're doing is for the good of the galaxy and don't realize that they're being misled or revel in the deed, I don't think they should get the DS points.

This would work, as implied, based off of the player's dialogue with each target. If they simply don't care about why they're doing the assassinations or take pleasure in hunting or goading their targets, the DS points should remain. But if they're dispassionate and maintain that they're only doing what they are for the sake of the galaxy, they should not gain DS points until Hulas reveals to them what they've truly done, at which time they should get a single DS shift (to represent their tortured conscious at the revelation of their actions).

 

Canderous Has Implants

Spoiler

Canderous literally begins the game with healing implants already in his body, so it doesn't make sense he doesn't have any of the implant feats. He needs Implant 1 & 2, I feel (his healing implant is more realistically a level 3 implant equivalent, but it would be way too busted for him to have that). I think he should lose Power Blast and Rapid Fire in exchange, but I'm open to other trade-offs. The overall feat amount should stay the same, though, so he should lose two.

 

Deep Dune Sea Gaffi Drops

Spoiler

Unless I'm missing something it's not possible for the Tusken of the Deep Dune Sea to drop Gaffi Sticks, or if they can not every warrior does. This doesn't make much sense to me; Czerka contracted you to kill the nearby tribe and not the deep-desert tribe, sure, but there's no way that a dispassionate Czerka corporate jockey would care enough about Tusken culture to be able to differentiate the two. The Deep Sea Tusken should drop Gaffi for you to trade to Czerka as well.

 

[Spectrometer 16]

25 minutes ago, Snigaroo said:

HK-47 STR/CON Flip

This mod already exists!

 

26 minutes ago, Snigaroo said:

Comprehensive Lightsaber Mod

Have you seen Kaidon Jorn's KSR? In my last playthrough I played with it and I quite liked it. It also has Crazy34's ambient lighting.

 

[Snigaroo 119]

4 minutes ago, Spectrometer said:

This mod already exists!

I figured there was and I just missed it, thanks. I'll take that one out of the list.

 

5 minutes ago, Spectrometer said:

Have you seen Kaidon Jorn's KSR? In my last playthrough I played with it and I quite liked it. It also has Crazy34's ambient lighting.

I was very much not a fan of the implementation of SOTOR, which I believe this mod was based off of, so I haven't tried KSR. If it's solely a texture replacement without the additional features of SOTOR it might be worth taking a look at.

[DarthParametric 3,782]

9 hours ago, Snigaroo said:

Sewer Consolidation Difficult for limited benefit

I don't think making it would pose any significant challenge. It would require adding the upper level's room models to the lower level's LYT and VIS and adding the appropriate scripts, UTCs, etc. to the lower level's MOD and editing its GIT to add creatures, placeables, triggers, etc. I'm not sure if there are any potential resref or script name clashes, but it's a possibility. There would need to be some minor editing of the room models where the two levels join, since in their current iteration they wouldn't just neatly slot together, which I guess would be the largest technical difficulty for those not accustomed to such things. If you were going to do this, I'd suggest packaging it as an entirely new unique RIM, in the same manner as M4-78 does for the Korriban Sith Academy. That would prevent most potential 3rd party mod clashes, although not anything editing room models unless you made your own uniquely named duplicates (probably unnecessary).

Ultimately though I'm not sure doing all that actually gains you anything, as alluded to. You save yourself a 10 second load screen and not much else unless you radically reworked the entire level to cut out half the content. You might be better off adding Zaalbar's cell and the forcefield to the start of the upper sewers and just skipping the lower level entirely.

9 hours ago, Snigaroo said:

What I would like to see, ideally, is a system which guarantees that enemies will never spawn within the player's scope of vision

Conceptually that's a pretty simple fix, since it's just moving some waypoints. But you might need to also adjust some scripts to ensure the mooks move towards the party after spawning in order to aggro correctly. It has been a while since I last looked at those scripts so I can't recall, but there may already be provision for that.

9 hours ago, Snigaroo said:

caps enemy spawns in given spawn zones to a certain number of waves

I'm pretty sure there's already provision to do this in the existing scripts with minimal adjustment, since it already tracks the spawn count to prevent overwhelming you all at once. You'd just need to add in a few extra globals so you could track each individual spawn point. You could probably have a variable cap determined by the difficulty setting, since there's a script function to check it (GetGameDifficulty), although I have never tested that one myself.

9 hours ago, Snigaroo said:

his mod should be trivially simple, as I'd really just like a retexture of the guy that gives him an appearance differentiated enough that new players can't mistake him for Bandon.

He needs a different head. I'd suggest giving him a helmet/mask (and maybe adding a filter to his VO). You could use one of the TSL ones, or modify them for something a bit more unique. You could also swap the body, although the only real vanilla option would be the Dark Jedi pajamas. Again there are TSL-ported options, perhaps as part of a larger Sith diversity mod.

I don't think I edited him in my Dark Jedi Hooded Robes mod. I could probably look at that one day, since I want to replace my existing versions of those three Masters on the Star Forge at some point anyway.

[Snigaroo 119]

4 hours ago, DarthParametric said:

Ultimately though I'm not sure doing all that actually gains you anything, as alluded to. You save yourself a 10 second load screen and not much else unless you radically reworked the entire level to cut out half the content. You might be better off adding Zaalbar's cell and the forcefield to the start of the upper sewers and just skipping the lower level entirely.

Well that's not exactly how I envisioned it, but I did say that ideally the change would result in the force field door opening and leading straight down that ramp to the Rancor room, ideally cutting the entire lower sewer area except for the Rancor encounter. That would remove the better part of a full module, for time savings of probably closer to 10-15 minutes for those who are completionists. Still probably not worth the work to do it, but better than 10 seconds.

[N-DReW25 1,336]

8 hours ago, Snigaroo said:

Back-Porting of TSL Areas to K1

I have a few ideas for this one you could consider:

 

1) In Kotor 1, the Korriban Sith Academy has two blocked off rooms the player never visits. In Kotor 2, you realize that these two blocked off rooms contain the Library and a storage room. If it's possible to port these rooms and attach them to the Kotor 1 Academy, we could have these rooms function in-game... maybe we can use the Academy terminal to gain hints for the Sith Code and little snippets of Sith history like you do in Kotor 2, except this time the info you get from the terminal can help you learn the Sith Code.

 

The existence of the Yavin Hangar mod proves that we can add new areas to already existing modules.

 

2) Nar Shaddaa is the only planet from Kotor 2 that is both practical to make and would make sense to travel to in K1. It's "the Smuggler's moon", it's an infamous location that Davik would no doubt have connections to. It'd make sense for Davik to have left the coordinates to Nar Shaddaa in the Galaxy Map (like he did with the Yavin station) and could serve as a nice hub for the player with new NPCs, K2 NPCs, Merchants, minor sidequests and the like... it would be similar to Yavin in the base game, it's entirely optional and can serve to benefit the player in their journey... whilst Yavin is a single merchant hub for overpowered expensive items with a small plotline to it the planet of Nar Shaddaa is a bigger hub with more NPC interactions and more opportunities to obtain/buy rare items players don't usually use in the vanilla game.

 

8 hours ago, Snigaroo said:

Retexture/Model of Sith Governor on Taris

I have a mod idea for this, however, the issue with this mod is that it wasn't going to redo the Sith Govenor on his own... it was meant to be part of a much bigger mod that would affect a lot of the Sith NPCs in the game.

 

I could just take my Sith Governor edit and make it a stand alone mod, it would do exactly what you've requested: a new unique appearances that won't get players mixed up with Darth Bandon.

[Snigaroo 119]

7 minutes ago, N-DReW25 said:

I have a few ideas for this one you could consider:

1) In Kotor 1, the Korriban Sith Academy has two blocked off rooms the player never visits. In Kotor 2, you realize that these two blocked off rooms contain the Library and a storage room. If it's possible to port these rooms and attach them to the Kotor 1 Academy, we could have these rooms function in-game... maybe we can use the Academy terminal to gain hints for the Sith Code and little snippets of Sith history like you do in Kotor 2, except this time the info you get from the terminal can help you learn the Sith Code.

The existence of the Yavin Hangar mod proves that we can add new areas to already existing modules.

I think the restoration of those rooms would be great, but I'm not sure about using the library to learn the Code, necessarily, because Yuthura is already there for that. Perhaps rather than learning the Code, the terminals in the library could give historical examples of it. Like, for instance, the deeds of the ancient Sith and how they correspond to the ideologies of the Code. So rather than just teaching you the words or the basic principles, they could provide historical examples of the Code in practice.

 

12 minutes ago, N-DReW25 said:

2) Nar Shaddaa is the only planet from Kotor 2 that is both practical to make and would make sense to travel to in K1. It's "the Smuggler's moon", it's an infamous location that Davik would no doubt have connections to. It'd make sense for Davik to have left the coordinates to Nar Shaddaa in the Galaxy Map (like he did with the Yavin station) and could serve as a nice hub for the player with new NPCs, K2 NPCs, Merchants, minor sidequests and the like... it would be similar to Yavin in the base game, it's entirely optional and can serve to benefit the player in their journey... whilst Yavin is a single merchant hub for overpowered expensive items with a small plotline to it the planet of Nar Shaddaa is a bigger hub with more NPC interactions and more opportunities to obtain/buy rare items players don't usually use in the vanilla game.

I think it has potential as a mod, but I don't think that I would personally be interested in including something like that. I've spoken before about the "illusion of urgency" and its importance to KOTOR's plot, keeping the player feeling like they have a galaxy to save and that any waste of time is abhorrent. BioWare kind of spoils this themselves at times with things like Yavin, or cross-planetary quests like the Rakata puzzle box and, especially, the Geno'Haradan, but I don't want to further contribute to the problem through the inclusion of any completely new planets without there being a rationale tied directly to the core plot of the game for their inclusion; new areas on existing planets are fine, but it's harder to justify a days- or weeks-long hyperspace journey which isn't mandatory. Sleheyron would probably be the only one I would consider, once @Sithspecter gets it all finished up, simply because it would be mandatory to complete due to the Star Map there.

 

18 minutes ago, N-DReW25 said:

I have a mod idea for this, however, the issue with this mod is that it wasn't going to redo the Sith Govenor on his own... it was meant to be part of a much bigger mod that would affect a lot of the Sith NPCs in the game.

I could just take my Sith Governor edit and make it a stand alone mod, it would do exactly what you've requested: a new unique appearances that won't get players mixed up with Darth Bandon.

That would be great, yeah.

[darthbdaman 71]

Personally I really like Weapon Model Overhaul Texture Rework for the melee weapons (while letting HQ Blasters overwrite it), why doesn't it work?

[Snigaroo 119]

1 hour ago, darthbdaman said:

Personally I really like Weapon Model Overhaul Texture Rework for the melee weapons (while letting HQ Blasters overwrite it), why doesn't it work?

Doesn't that require WMO? I seem to remember there was a project to do texture enhancements without model change requirements, but if it does require WMO I recall that I was not super fond of WMO's changes.

[darthbdaman 71]

30 minutes ago, Snigaroo said:

Doesn't that require WMO? I seem to remember there was a project to do texture enhancements without model change requirements, but if it does require WMO I recall that I was not super fond of WMO's changes.

Yes it requires it. I don't find the melee weapon model changes that drastic, they match the aesthetic quite well, maybe give it a try (but make sure to install HQ Blasters after

[Snigaroo 119]

3 minutes ago, darthbdaman said:

Yes it requires it. I don't find the melee weapon model changes that drastic, they match the aesthetic quite well, maybe give it a try (but make sure to install HQ Blasters after

I'll give it a shot, it's possible I'm thinking of a different mod. Lord knows I've tried a lot of them over the years, they blur together sometimes.

[JCarter426 1,214]

On 5/10/2023 at 7:05 PM, Snigaroo said:

Dyanmic Juhani Alignment

I've had some ideas for how to implement an influence system in KOTOR 1 for a long time now that I think might help here. I'm going to try to implement it over the summer. "Hardening" NPCs à la Dragon Age is a mod I'd really like to see as well, for both games.

On 5/10/2023 at 7:05 PM, Snigaroo said:

Tatooine Temple Restoration

I am going to controversially add "or something."

We talked about the "or something" part before which evolved into a cross-planet quest in which a Jedi archaeologist on Dantooine sends you to look for a crystal cave on Tatooine. You would meet with the Jedi's contact in Anchorhead, whom you would find dead. You'd chase the bounty hunter who killed your contact and get back the stolen map to the caves. We talked about maybe incorporating the Sand People as guides or as an alternate path to get to the caves, too. From there, you'd take a swoop bike to a new module in the desert and descend into the caves, where you'd fight some kell dragons and find the crystals. A Sith who is also after the crystals would follow you, and then there would be various choices to resolve the conflict. You'd then have to find an alternate path out of the caves since the Sith cut the line, something like using the Force or explosives to clear a new tunnel.

Apart from the creation of a new area for the caves, I don't think it's a huge undertaking. It's something I'd be interested in doing eventually, but I'm not great at modeling, so I've been waiting until I have more time to practice or someone who wants to make some caves comes along.

On 5/10/2023 at 7:05 PM, Snigaroo said:

Sewer Consolidation

Rather than changing the area layout and combining the two modules, I would suggest removing a lot of the combat encounters in the first area and replacing them with the cut Gamorrean village. There's nothing left of the village in the game files, so this would have to be original content. There could be a non-violent option to free Zaalbar and some new side quests, maybe a restoration of the trash compactor puzzle too.

On 5/10/2023 at 7:05 PM, Snigaroo said:

Back-Porting of TSL Areas to K1

I was working on a port of the enclave sublevel for a while. Again, this is a case in which I don't want to fuss around with the area model. This one is easier to fix up, but it's tedious work, so I put off working on it. However, I did get pretty far along with filling the area with content for five side quests:

1. A sparring tournament similar to the Taris dueling arena. This would include the two cut Jedi (the guy who has a dinky sword and his master).
2. A quest that serves as a prequel to the "Meet and Greet" droids in the second game. You would help the technician diagnose why the protocol droids keep blowing up by play-acting different scenarios to test their behavioral programs, like pretending to be a visiting delegate or that the enclave is under attack.
3. A puzzle involving the power grid that would have you overload power conduits in a certain order. This would be an environmental puzzle because you would go around figuring out which devices in each room need to be turned on or off.
4. A quest do discover and repair Darth Revan's robes, giving you a lesser version of the ones you can craft on the Star Forge and without alignment restriction.
5. A puzzle in the library that leads you to discover a Sith holocron. There would be data glitches in texts about the history of the Jedi and Sith which, when arranged in the correct order, reveal an access code to the enclaves mainframe. After finding the holocron, you could accept or reject its offer for power.

On 5/10/2023 at 7:05 PM, Snigaroo said:

Malak Knows What's Coming

I remember we talked about this one before too. You suggested that the Sith ambush you outside the gates on Tatooine, which I liked. I was also thinking that if you visit Korriban last, there would be a new Sith Master in the academy who seems like just another instructor there, but then they lie in wait for you in the Tomb of Naga Sadow. And for Manaan, I thought it might be interesting if the Sith board your ship, like the two combat sequences on the Ebon Hawk in the second game.

On 5/10/2023 at 7:05 PM, Snigaroo said:

Comprehensive Lightsaber Mod

@JCarter426 is cooking something here and could use help, but with no disrespect intended to my co-author I'm not fully wedded to his concept. I think there are multiple ways to do a good saber mod, and whether in the form of assistance to JC or a standalone shot at it I would love to see some attempts made.

I have a thread about it here, but it hasn't been updated in five years and my ideas have evolved since then. The gist of it is that lightsaber color crystals as they function now would be replaced with items that include both a hilt and a color crystal, which you can assemble with different hilts and colors to change the final model that is rendered in the game. This is a design a few other mods have executed, although I think what makes my implementation different is that I figured out how to do it with minimal computer terminal dialogue.

There would be hilts for the player classes and all party members which would come with each character, as well as the Heart of the Guardian and Mantle of the Force. There would also be ten "material" hilts that could be crafted by finding rare items throughout the game. For example, the beskar lightsaber could be crafted after you loot some of the metal from Mandalorian enemies and the dragonbone hilt could be crafted after you slay the krayt dragon on Tatooine. Notable NPCs such as Belaya and Yuthura would also have unique hilts, and there would other unique lightsabers that you could loot, such as Shaela Nuur's and Nemo's.

While I've gotten better at modeling lightsabers since I started the project, it still takes me a long time to make one. I'd welcome any contribution, although I should get around to updating my thread with the new plans so things can be discussed properly.

[Snigaroo 119]

We've talked about a lot of these ideas before and I generally agree with your ideas (or at least giving a shot to your concepts), except this:

28 minutes ago, JCarter426 said:

Rather than changing the area layout and combining the two modules, I would suggest removing a lot of the combat encounters in the first area and replacing them the cut Gamorrean village. There's nothing left of the village in the game files, so this would have to be original content. There could be a non-violent option to free Zaalbar and some new side quests, maybe a restoration of the trash compactor puzzle too.

This one's not for me, chief. There are probably users out there that would love that, and that means there's going to be demand for it and if anyone wants to make it I'm sure it'll get used, but for me personally, I'm firmly of the opinion that Taris is already too long. The idea of making it longer frightens me on a primal level. Nixing half of the sewers is just the closest thing I can think of to a 0-content cost way of making the planet shorter, and thereby a little bit more bearable.

[JCarter426 1,214]

For me the issue is not that Taris is long, but that it has repetitive combat sequences back to back. I don't think replacing some of it with non-combat will make the planet longer. However, restoration mods to date have typically added the restored content on top of the combat sequences that replaced them, rather than providing it as an alternative to the combat as BioWare likely intended in the original plan, so I understand your apprehension.

[Salk 373]

I am just chiming in to say I thoroughly enjoy Taris. I realize I might be part of a minority.

[DarthParametric 3,782]

1 hour ago, JCarter426 said:

"Hardening" NPCs à la Dragon Age is a mod I'd really like to see as well, for both games.

Mission already has 95% of this in place with her existing dialogue and quest. All it lacks is a few extra lines from the player to nudge her outlook a little more and the ability to side with a DS Revan during the beach showdown. It was a mod I was planning on once VO generation became viable.

[Snigaroo 119]

35 minutes ago, DarthParametric said:

Mission already has 95% of this in place with her existing dialogue and quest. All it lacks is a few extra lines from the player to nudge her outlook a little more and the ability to side with a DS Revan during the beach showdown. It was a mod I was planning on once VO generation became viable.

I would welcome it, and if it came about it could maybe even be a wedge in the door for @EpicStoffer's Mission project. If the ability to harden her was intended and could be restored, it would make the Sith route in his mod a little more justifiable, although I do still have some reservations about Mission being a Force Sensitive to begin with.

[DarthParametric 3,782]

17 hours ago, Snigaroo said:

If the ability to harden her was intended and could be restored

I don't know whether they had any additional plans for her beyond what is in the final game. There's nothing to restore that I am aware of at least, although I suppose it's possible there could be something in the Xbox files. Regardless, since you can so easily push her towards a darker opinion of Griff and his ultimate fate, it doesn't seem like a stretch to get her to extend that a little more broadly and be more open to a new change in galaxy management.

19 hours ago, JCarter426 said:

I'd welcome any contribution

As I have said before, I'm happy to pitch in with saber modelling. That's the best/most fun part. Actually turning it into a mod is the boring/slog part, so I'm happy if someone else is dealing with that end of things. You just need a list breaking down the specifics of what you want design-wise, the more details the better.

[N-DReW25 1,336]

The Sith Governor request has been fulfilled.

 

 

[EpicStoffer 31]

@Snigaroo

Thanks for keeping me in mind, it would definitely help with motivation for the project, if I thought that I'd get on your modlist (as I'm understanding that most people only go as far as your list, to look for mods for Kotor).

Regarding Mission being force sensitive, she's a 14 year old kid holding her own with the likes of Revan, Bastilla, Carth, etc. If that isn't an indication of potential force sensitivity, idk what is Also fairly impressive that she taught herself to speak fluent Wookie with Zalbar. considering that Big Z hardly seems like a teacher or someone prone to linguistics (all the while navigating the dangerous lower and under cities better than most hardened adults, as a freaking kid)  
If I'm not mistaken, these are things that would typically be something you'd see in a force sensitive person. Particularly when there's no specific foundation given to the character, that would justify these things happening "naturally" to the point of how it is in the game.

Above are just my own musings, but in my PoV that's always been an indication of it to some extent, even if never explicitly touched upon in the game.

With all of that being said, what you described is pretty much what my mod is doing. I haven't actually looked at the Lehon part yet, as I wanted to finish up my triggers on all planets first, but as I mentioned last time, the plan is to allow a DS Mission to join Revan, and create some more content for her post the place where a DS MC would no longer have Mission with them.

I could re-write a more elaborate explanation as to what I've done, how far I am, and what's in the process of being worked on/planned, but I think I covered that fairly well last time I wrote to you over in the Mod Development channel in Discord.

If you feel like there's something I should keep an eye out for beyond what I've already shared, do @ me either here or on discord and let me know, and I'll most likely be happy to incorporate it into the mod.

Ps. Just to be explicit about it, my mod allows you either push her towards becoming more light sided, or more dark sided, and it's reflected in the available dialogue that the PC will be able to get during a playthrough, based on her alignment. Her aligntment is initially chosen by you through dialogue choices when you turn her into a Jedi on Dantoine, and the available dialogue is split around roughly 60% universal dialogue with 40% alignment restricted dialogue, depending on whether you've turned Mission towards the DS or LS (might be closer to a 50/50 split, but roughly there about).

PsPs:

I also think DarthParemtric raises some good points about Mission's PoV, and if you throw in the destruction of near everything she's ever known as well (Read: Taris), where the only person that truly stood by her was ultimately Big Z and Revan, it's really not that hard to see how she could be pushed to joining a DS Revan, and generally begin viewing the world in a more DS oriented "light".

[DeathScepter 46]

i would love to see a Kotor 1 and 2 version of the Shadow Guard with their Lightsaber Pikes from Force Unleashed for a boss battles at Key Sith Locations

[Snigaroo 119]

On 6/12/2023 at 5:44 PM, DeathScepter said:

i would love to see a Kotor 1 and 2 version of the Shadow Guard with their Lightsaber Pikes from Force Unleashed for a boss battles at Key Sith Locations

That isn't anything that I would want to include in the mod builds.

[DeathScepter 46]

1 hour ago, Snigaroo said:

That isn't anything that I would want to include in the mod builds.

 

good to know

[Snigaroo 119]

I have just added what I believe are almost forty mod requests. Quite a lot. I took notes during my most recent replay, which just finished, and put up everything I could think of which I'd like to see altered. Of course this is not an exhaustive list, but it is at least a list of things I know for sure I'd like.

There are quite a few relatively simple mods I think would be easy enough to make, but also quite a few big projects I'm mostly listing my interest in in the hopes that it might inspire some ideas in others.

Revision 11 of the mod builds is currently in testing and I expect to begin the K2 test in days, which means that the K2 request thread will probably see a similar explosion of requests soon. Bear in mind: I don't add mods to the builds outside of Revisions, so any requests that were just put up here, or will be put up shortly for K2, will not be tested for inclusion until the next Revision period. There's plenty of time to complete any of these if anybody's got a mind to, but also bear in mind that if you complete a mod request, I might not be firsthand reviewing it for a year or more.

[DarthParametric 3,782]

On 5/11/2023 at 9:05 AM, Snigaroo said:

Presently, on widescreen resolutions the GUI for your swoop bike--that is, the HUD which shows the borders of your swoop cockpit, your boost level, and so on--doesn't extend to the borders of the screen, but cuts off awkwardly. This video is a good example of what I mean. A small mod to fix this would be much-appreciated.

Aspyr already fixed this for the Switch version. You just need to steal it. Although from what I can tell, they used a kind of hacky (hardcoded) approach rather than fixing it properly, so it would need some additional work to port it across. Aspyr gonna Aspyr I guess.