I had this idea from seeing the mod "KOTOR 3: Jedi masters" on steam workshop

[CQ]

So, i'll be frank, KOTOR 1 getting actual controller support has been a big thing for years. Aspyr won't do it outside of mobile.

I see 2 options--
Take the APK files and port them into a PC version of the game, which is surprisingly hard

Or 2

Import all the files we need from KOTOR 1 into KOTOR 2 which has innate controller support, and just recreate KOTOR 1 into KOTOR 2. All of the textures, voice files, movies, etc. are already there on steam with the game downloaded.
I don't think anyone has actually tried creating a mod in KOTOR 2, that's just KOTOR 1. But trying out a the KOTOR 3 mod which came out in 2012, but on steam workshop, and seeing that it has controller support convinces me of 2 things

1. It won't be 1:1 recreation. All of the feats/weapons/UI changes for KOTOR 2 will be the same, which is 100% okay in my book because KOTOR 2 was an upgrade in the UI department anyway.
2. Why hasn't anyone thought of doing this up to this point? Well, I'm sure some people have thought about it, but I don't think anyone has actually tried it yet due to "copyright", and sure, that makes sense.

But, for the owners who own both KOTOR 1 and KOTOR 2, and steamworkshop being what it is, technically, in order to play KOTOR 1 legally and recreate it on KOTOR 2, it would have to be done without "distribution" right?

So.......... What if we as a community just import all the files, see what needs work, create some automated tools to make it easier to import those files, and just create a KOTOR 1 (2.0) version of the game that *has* to use the files from KOTOR 1 anyway? Instead of distributing the mod directly, we distribute a new "tool" to take the files from KOTOR 1 and plop them into KOTOR 2, without altering any armor/weapons/feats from KOTOR 2?

I mean... How bad does the community want controller support on PC after 20 years, knowing that Aspyr won't add it for us?

[Thor110]

3 minutes ago, CQ said:

So, i'll be frank, KOTOR 1 getting actual controller support has been a big thing for years. Aspyr won't do it outside of mobile.

I have a better idea  as I have been working on a port of K1 to K2 for quite some time now, I will release it here when it's actually ready.

4 minutes ago, CQ said:

Import all the files we need from KOTOR 1 into KOTOR 2 which has innate controller support, and just recreate KOTOR 1 into KOTOR 2. All of the textures, voice files, movies, etc. are already there on steam with the game downloaded.
I don't think anyone has actually tried creating a mod in KOTOR 2, that's just KOTOR 1. But trying out a the KOTOR 3 mod which came out in 2012, but on steam workshop, and seeing that it has controller support convinces me of 2 things

Play my port of KotOR1 to KotOR2

https://github.com/Thor110/Expanded-Galaxy-Port

Though I will say, it isn't finished yet and is FAR from perfect, still quite buggy.

[CQ]

2 minutes ago, Thor110 said:

I have a better idea  as I have been working on a port of K1 to K2 for quite some time now, I will release it here when it's actually ready.

Play my port of KotOR1 to KotOR2

https://github.com/Thor110/Expanded-Galaxy-Port

Though I will say, it isn't finished yet and is FAR from perfect, still quite buggy.

I'm going to check it out now, but I think I can help in some way to make the process a bit easier. I'm not gonna step on your toes, I'm the new kid on the block I guess. Let me check your mod at first before I shoot myself in the foot, since i have no idea how likely my idea is to actually happen

[Thor110]

3 minutes ago, CQ said:

I'm going to check it out now, but I think I can help in some way to make the process a bit easier. I'm not gonna step on your toes, I'm the new kid on the block I guess. Let me check your mod at first before I shoot myself in the foot, since i have no idea how likely my idea is to actually happen

It's pretty much complete, I have finished LS & DS playthroughs, but there's still quite a few little bugs, some broken quests, some balancing issues and still quite a bit of general tinkering left to do.

You are more than welcome to help out, the repository has access to everything, I have also written tutorials on modding the game.

Currently it is just me and one other working on it who joined recently, I have been working on the Expanded Galaxy Project for around 6 years now on and off.

[Salk]

37 minutes ago, Thor110 said:

Currently it is just me and one other working on it who joined recently, I have been working on the Expanded Galaxy Project for around 6 years now on and off.

Nothing compared to how long another much anticipated modification has been brewing. 😁

 

[Thor110]

Just now, Salk said:

Nothing compared to how long another much anticipated modification has been brewing. 😁

True! But that is a totally different breed of mod! Looks so damn good too!!!!!!!

[CQ]

46 minutes ago, Thor110 said:

It's pretty much complete, I have finished LS & DS playthroughs, but there's still quite a few little bugs, some broken quests, some balancing issues and still quite a bit of general tinkering left to do.

You are more than welcome to help out, the repository has access to everything, I have also written tutorials on modding the game.

Currently it is just me and one other working on it, I have been working on the Expanded Galaxy Project for around 6 years now on and off.

Okay so this is exactly what my idea was, I had no idea anyone was working on this.

PSA, Controller support works well, but there's 3 issues. 1 of which can't be fixed, which is the tutorials telling you to left click. It's taking the PC files and KOTOR 1 innately doesn't have controller support.

As for the other 2,
on controller, in the item UI there is no "highlighted" on the section you're selecting, example, if I move my DPAD to "head" there is no visual indication on the screen other than text that says "head" (in KOTOR 2, there's a colored outline around the box you're selecting)

for the last, and this is more of a question, could you add an optional mod to put 2x lightsabers on the endar spire for the jedi vs sith fight? Just for funsies since they both have lightsabers equipped. I remember playing this when it first came out and being disappointed I couldn't steal their lightsabers, even if I couldn't use them yet.

I'm still on the endar spire, right before trask leaves so I didn't go very far. I just wanted to check the UI elements and see if there's any interesting things happening in dialogue/combat

Only saw 2 minor bugs, one mentioned above with the tutorial which isn't a bug so exclude this im filling a word count for no one

1. the Ui element in the gear screen not having a box to visually tell you what you're selecting
2. and one is when the sith throws a grenade during the.. 3rd? fight sequence after the "light" cutscene, he didn't do the animation for the grenade.

But all in all, this is exactly what I've been craving for years so far

Edited November 19, 2024 by CQ

[Thor110]

50 minutes ago, CQ said:

PSA, Controller support works well, but there's 3 issues. 1 of which can't be fixed, which is the tutorials telling you to left click. It's taking the PC files and KOTOR 1 innately doesn't have controller support.

As for the other 2,
on controller, in the item UI there is no "highlighted" on the section you're selecting, example, if I move my DPAD to "head" there is no visual indication on the screen other than text that says "head" (in KOTOR 2, there's a colored outline around the box you're selecting)

Even TSL says left click with controller support, but I think that it can be added in, it would just have to be a completely different dialog.tlk file.

50 minutes ago, CQ said:

for the last, and this is more of a question, could you add an optional mod to put 2x lightsabers on the endar spire for the jedi vs sith fight? Just for funsies since they both have lightsabers equipped. I remember playing this when it first came out and being disappointed I couldn't steal their lightsabers, even if I couldn't use them yet.

I am trying to keep things as vanilla as possible while also expanding and enhancing the game, so that's a no from me, but you can always mod it in yourself, people are free to release mods for my mod too.

50 minutes ago, CQ said:

I'm still on the endar spire, right before trask leaves so I didn't go very far. I just wanted to check the UI elements and see if there's any interesting things happening in dialogue/combat

Only saw 2 minor bugs, one mentioned above with the tutorial which isn't a bug so exclude this im filling a word count for no one

Yeah, there are still a number of issues for me to fix, as I mentioned don't expect perfection just yet! But I would say it's 99% complete.

Changing all of the UI was difficult enough and required hexediting the executable to get a number of specific things to change colour.

It's also possible to swap between playing K1 & K2 under the same installation, which I felt was necessary.

50 minutes ago, CQ said:

1. the Ui element in the gear screen not having a box to visually tell you what you're selecting

The selection screen does have a flickering highlight and new items have a green/yellow border.

50 minutes ago, CQ said:

2. and one is when the sith throws a grenade during the.. 3rd? fight sequence after the "light" cutscene, he didn't do the animation for the grenade.

I had to overcome a lot of obstacles to get it this far, there are quite a few cutscenes that need fixing up, the first level needs reworking to include the special messages for each class and fixing the cutscenes, on Taris, the cutscene with the Hidden Beks is broken, the Rancor is broken, Malak walks off after being defeated during the ending.

Oh, the current release has a broken version of the Naga Sadows tomb level, but it is fixed in the repository.

Feel free to post any issues you encounter in the WIP thread for the project or on my Discord server.

50 minutes ago, CQ said:

But all in all, this is exactly what I've been craving for years so far

Hopefully with a few more years I can make it perfect! But there's still a lot left to be desired.

EDIT :

50 minutes ago, CQ said:

PSA, Controller support works well, but there's 3 issues. 1 of which can't be fixed, which is the tutorials telling you to left click. It's taking the PC files and KOTOR 1 innately doesn't have controller support.

Unfortunately the tokens for the buttons don't work like they do on console, but it could be manually written in. ( "<abutton>" etc )

When I get around to programming a proper launcher, I could potentially add a tickbox that swaps between dialog lines specific to using or not using a controller, but that's a long way off.

There's a lot of things that are more important left for me to work on unfortunately, but I would like to get around to doing everything eventually.

Edited November 19, 2024 by Thor110

[CQ]

37 minutes ago, Thor110 said:

 

The blaster icon to the left is what I was talking about, my bad

[Thor110]

1 minute ago, CQ said:

The blaster icon to the left is what I was talking about, my bad

I am not sure what you mean, whatever item is highlighted flashes, in this image it is the combat suit at the top.

[CQ]

1 hour ago, Thor110 said:

I am not sure what you mean, whatever item is highlighted flashes, in this image it is the combat suit at the top.

Each picture, at the top says the part for the equipment

when you manuever to then on controller, there isn’t a visual outline showing you which box you’re in

[Thor110]

Ah, now I see what you mean, it is actually there as I just tested with my controller, it's just almost the same shade of blue! thanks for pointing this out!

I don't use controller so I would have probably never noticed this.

It is barely noticeable! But it is there, I will see what I can do about that.

Also, with regards to updating the tutorial prompts, it is not possible to display the icon images for each button, so each tutorial entry would have to be edited specifically for whatever controller type is being used, I am thinking whenever I get around to programming a custom launcher I could implement a tickbox for Xbox or PS controller, where you can only tick one at a time and it updates the strings in the dialog.tlk accordingly, otherwise it would require a whole separate install and differing dialog.tlk files all over the place.

Doing it this way, there would of course be no way to change from controller to keyboard mid-playthrough, but I don't think that's really an issue, though saying that, the launcher might be able to run in the background and edit the dialog.tlk on the fly, but it's also possible that could cause a crash if done at the wrong time.

Will cross that bridge when I come to it but I have left myself meticulous notes on the subject in the repository / future folder.

[CQ]

35 minutes ago, Thor110 said:

Ah, now I see what you mean, it is actually there as I just tested with my controller, it's just almost the same shade of blue! thanks for pointing this out!

I don't use controller so I would have probably never noticed this.

It is barely noticeable! But it is there, I will see what I can do about that.

Also, with regards to updating the tutorial prompts, it is not possible to display the icon images for each button, so each tutorial entry would have to be edited specifically for whatever controller type is being used, I am thinking whenever I get around to programming a custom launcher I could implement a tickbox for Xbox or PS controller, where you can only tick one at a time and it updates the strings in the dialog.tlk accordingly, otherwise it would require a whole separate install and differing dialog.tlk files all over the place.

Doing it this way, there would of course be no way to change from controller to keyboard mid-playthrough, but I don't think that's really an issue, though saying that, the launcher might be able to run in the background and edit the dialog.tlk on the fly, but it's also possible that could cause a crash if done at the wrong time.

Will cross that bridge when I come to it but I have left myself meticulous notes on the subject in the repository / future folder.

It’s all good, you’ve done the lords work and I am happy I get to play kotor with controllers like I did on the original xbox when I was 9 or 10. The buttom prompt stuff isn’t super necessary in my opinion, the only real issue I can see is the bugs you pointed out on future planets, and the UI issue for controllers. I have close to 0 skill with any of this but I can try and learn and help where I can.

Also, even though the devs who made space marine 2 are working on “Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic”, this is, for me, is recapturing my childhood magic. I always hated playing the kotor games on m/k, it never felt right to me.

i’ve purchased kotor 1 and kotor 2 on ios and android, bought them on xbox, bought the physical disks & bought them on steam for $0.99 each, and the mobile ones were the best versions for me because both ios and android have mod “support” (every mod like tslrcm/kse)

fun fact for anyone who stumbles across this,

you have to use itunes to move files into the directory for either game and virtually every mod that works on the pc version also works on IOS. And if it works for ios, it works for android

 

 

 

 

[Thor110]

8 minutes ago, CQ said:

i’ve purchased kotor 1 and kotor 2 on ios and android, bought them on xbox, bought the physical disks & bought them on steam for $0.99 each, and the mobile ones were the best versions for me because both ios and android have mod “support” (every mod like tslrcm/kse)

Always good, I am preparing this project for all 8 versions of the game as well.

Amazon
Android
Disc
GoG
LegacyPC
Steam
Switch
Xbox

And I will probably need to make a Mac specific version too, but I have it set up where I only edit one set of files and automatically create the changes.ini file for each version of the game.

Amazon, GoG & Steam are practically identical, apart from the .exe edit's for the port.

Disc & LegacyPC are also practically identical, again except for the .exe edit's for the port.

Switch and Xbox have their own GUI's and specific textures.

Unfortunately Android cannot have custom movies which kind of kills the entire thing, but here's to hoping someone figures it out eventually, I tried quite a few times and TSLRCM just didn't include their movie files with the Mobile version.

Not sure about iOS, I think it requires a jailbroken iPhone which means I might not support it due to low demand, however users should be able to just install the Android version for iOS and everything should be fine, I also don't have a Mac or an iPhone to test with, so it's something I will look into much later on.

13 minutes ago, CQ said:

i’ve purchased kotor 1 and kotor 2 on ios and android, bought them on xbox, bought the physical disks & bought them on steam for $0.99 each, and the mobile ones were the best versions for me because both ios and android have mod “support” (every mod like tslrcm/kse)

fun fact for anyone who stumbles across this,

you have to use itunes to move files into the directory for either game and virtually every mod that works on the pc version also works on IOS. And if it works for ios, it works for android

Oh, is that the case? Good to know, I suppose the Mac version of HoloPatcher will be handy for that then, should be easy to support it as well then!

14 minutes ago, CQ said:

Also, even though the devs who made space marine 2 are working on “Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic”, this is, for me, is recapturing my childhood magic. I always hated playing the kotor games on m/k, it never felt right to me.

"m/k"? are you referring to the remake? Yeah, will have to wait an see on that, it's bound to be different and some people just want to experience the original, many might want to even after the remake, if it happens.

15 minutes ago, CQ said:

It’s all good, you’ve done the lords work and I am happy I get to play kotor with controllers like I did on the original xbox when I was 9 or 10. The buttom prompt stuff isn’t super necessary in my opinion, the only real issue I can see is the bugs you pointed out on future planets, and the UI issue for controllers. I have close to 0 skill with any of this but I can try and learn and help where I can.

While I know the button prompt stuff isn't super necessary, I have written down what I need to do in order to support this as a feature one day, it will just require a custom launcher that edits the dialog.tlk file using all the string references from tutorials.2da, so it won't really be a problem, it will just have to wait until I get around to programming a custom launcher.

 

There are also a variety of limitations when it comes to iOS, Android and the LegacyPC version on Steam and that is that I cannot alter the dialog text colour, mouse cursors or some of the hard coded GUI elements due to being unable to edit the executable, for some reason the LegacyPC version on Steam pops error code : 41 with an edited .exe file which means it must check the bytes I need to change.

As for iOS and Android, I would have to release a modified .apk or .dmg? ( not sure what it would be for iOS ) which wouldn't work without rooted or jailbroken devices, I already tried making edits to the .apk for Android and it just redownloads it.

 

Not a big deal though, I am trying to leave no stone unturned, to try and cover everything, but there will just have to be some limitations.

 

I did manage to edit those things on the original xbox though, by editing the .xbe file! So only iOS, Android and maybe Mac will miss out on those GUI edits. Oh yeah and the Switch.