xbox MOD:Kotor 2 720p Xbox Mod (Hardmod required)

[bizotry 6]

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Kotor 2 720p Xbox Mod (Hardmod required)

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THIS MOD REQUIRES THE 128mb RAM UPGRADE HARDWARE MOD!!!!!
https://consolemods.org/wiki/Xbox:RAM_Upgrade

CLARIFICATION: The Xbox has double the usual ram in its dev units. Meanwhile, the retail consoles use the same boards as the dev units.
STATEMENT: Therefore, there are empty spaces to add extra RAM to your console internally. You NEED to add this ram to play Kotor at 720p.

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Introduction:
This mod converts your Xbox Kotor 2 game folder into a 720p version of the game. You must have soldered additional ram into your console or you will get a black screen, as additional ram is expected.
The original Xbox natively supports 720p output and many games officially take advantage of this feature. It has long been possible to hex edit additional Xbox games to unofficially force 720p mode, but this causes several issues that make Kotor 2 unplayable. The goal of this mod is to combine a 720p hacked .xbe with a variety of fixes so that Kotor 2 can be fully enjoyed at 720p on the original Xbox. This mod is a fully tested and recommendable way to enjoy the game.

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How to install:
Put the mod into the root of your Xbox's Kotor 2 game folder. You will overwrite several files, and as a result, your game folder will permanently become a 720p version of Kotor 2. For this reason, I recommend making a copy of your original folder, so that you can easily play at 480p again if desired.

Note: This mod is fully tested, compatible, and stable with The Sith Lords Restored Content Modification - LOTO's Xbox Version! I recommend installing that mod, testing it on your Xbox, and then installing this one on top of it.

Another Note: A 720p AI upscaled cutscenes mod should work fine on Xbox if you prefer that over the vanilla upscaled movies. I have only tested the movies that I upscaled without AI for Xbox. If you want to try this, choose a 720p option. Also look at the Issues section below and consider keeping a few of my movie files!

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Changelog:
1.0
Implements edited 720p versions of all original Xbox .gui in game.
Increases the size of the minimap and zooms it out to take advantage of the resolution.
Replaces the original default.xbe with one modified for 720p by OgXHD software.
Replaces bugged security camera effect with a blue overlay.
Disables motion blur effect function calls in all swoop race minigame modules.
Disables motion blur effect on jedi force runs.
Reduces visual effect of Force Wave as it is bugged and would make it hard to see.
Disables first person droid view effects as they were bugged.
Replaces all movies with 720p upscaled Xbox versions (to eliminate significant black space and fill the screen.)

Issues:
-Three movies (only 1 in vanilla game) stutter on Xbox when displayed at 720p. To eliminate this, I reduced them to 18fps. They're all very short exterior ship shots and I think this is a decent fix. Effected movies are NarMov03, permov08, and permov09.
-The Xbox struggles with smoke effects up close. This doesn't really hurt the game but it helps to understand why the title screens is a little laggy.
-Atton's intercom cutscenes on Peragus and the Coruscant trial scene don't have special camera effects as a side effect of fixing security cameras.
-Many distortion effects display incorrectly at 720p. But it's not really that bad.
-The map on the map screen is stuck at its original size on Xbox.
-Some feats and powers gui elements seem to be hardcoded to a degree unlike the first game. This isn't really an issue and this stuff turned out well, but it's not ideal.
-There's a minor gui element on the main interface that seems to be entirely hardcoded. It's the text bubble that pops up when you pick a fighting behavior script for a character on the toolbar, or when you go in stealth. This is stuck at its original position, which luckily is out of the way and in a decent spot!

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Credits:

Sorry if I forget anything. This project was made entirely possible due to tools and discoveries created by many people. You don't need to ask me permission to use things from this mod for your own projects.

Hellraiser988
Came in at the end and helped a bit with testing and debug. Provided test feedback on the character screen, a stuttering movie, and the pazaak game screen. He probably would have helped me make the whole mod if we had gotten together earlier! There aren't a lot of people who care to make dedicated mods for Xbox Kotor, so shoutout to this guy. 

Jay's Xbox REPO by Jay
Fantastic compiled resource for learning about hex editing Xbox games to support alternative video modes.

ogXHD by Marvelous Mirth Studios
A tool for automatic find and replace hex editing of Xbox games for 720p patching purposes.

Console Mods Wiki
Thorough information about Xbox mods.

Lightweight GUI Patcher 0.4 by th3w1zard1
Made editing the UI so much easier. Really gave this entire project a starting point. I used this program to bulk convert the old Xbox .guis to 720p.

Kotor-gui-editor by amcolash
This tool was used to edit and shape the gui into something polished and in accordance with the changed aspect ratio of the game.

Holocron Toolset by Cortisol
KotOR Tool by Fred Tetra
Kotor Scripting Tool by Blue
All great tools for digging through the game files and extracting things. Important for reading and manipulating information to solve problems.

tpcview by ndix UR
tga2tpc by ndix UR
paint.net
All the software needed to fix minor texture issues with the gui.

ERFEdit 0.5 by Stoffe with fixes by Fair Strides
This was used to replace game script files in various .mod modules to make scripting changes within the scope of the swoop race minigames.

ffmpeg
Rocky's xmv converter by Rocky5
A script used for converting to Xbox's video format (.xmv) which is required by kotor 1.

DaVinci Resolve
Video editing software used to make the movies display correctly at 720p.

Kotor and Deadlystream Discord
JC, Thor110
It was very nice to have places and people to discuss Kotor modding with.

Loto
Ported the Kotor 2 Restoration Mod to Xbox, which inspired me to explore modding Xbox Kotor.
 

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• Submitter
  bizotry
• Submitted
  08/22/2024
• Category
  Mods
• TSLRCM Compatible
  Yes