wvsnl

Time to buy a new pc,

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Hello everybody, after my recent pc trouble it is clear that I need to buy a new pc.

 

However I would like to play older games like Kotor and Rome Total war with optimal settings, so naturally I would think well lets just buy a pc with newest parts.

 

But I have heard of trouble playing Kotor I or II on newer pc's. So I hope that you guys could help me set up a list with parts that are optimal for Kotor. I would like to install XP on the pc so that I do not need to install fixes to play kotor.

 

I am aware of the fact that in a few years XP will no longer be supported by microsoft, so I plan to disconnect this PC from the internet then, and buy or use my old computer to browse around the internet for the nescessary things.

 

So I hope you guys could help with good suggestions,

 

Thanks in advance

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I am aware of the fact that in a few years XP will no longer be supported by Microsoft, so I plan to disconnect this PC from the internet then, and buy or use my old computer to browse around the internet for the necessary things.

 

I'm under the impression that Microsoft doesn't support XP now!

 

That being said, my suggestion is to look through older gaming magazines. One of the favorite features gaming magazines like to run are "Build An Awesome Gaming PC" articles. As Vista was released worldwide for retail on October 2009, I would recommend looking at gaming and computer magazines from January to September 2009.

 

Edit: On April 10, 2012, Microsoft reaffirmed that extended support for Windows XP and Office 2003 would end on April 8, 2014 and suggested that administrators begin preparing to migrate to a newer OS. So I was wrong on that.

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I did find out via google that on Windows 7 you can play both KotOR I AND II, but you have to change a lot of the properties for them. For KotOR II:TSL you need to update to the newest version as well.

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I did find out via google that on Windows 7 you can play both KotOR I AND II.

 

He specifically asked for a parts list for an Windows XP computer rig. He probably wants it as a retro gaming machine so let's not try to steer the topic to other operating systems.

 

If I'm wrong about this wvnsl, let us know please.

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Sorry if I am wrong, I was just pointing that out. I am getting an old XP from my Grandpa.

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@ Sith holocron, you are right I would like to make it a retro gaming machine. In any case thanks for the info on searching through magazines, I will certainly do that, thanks for the info SH. And Ninko thanks for your effort for trying to help, I appreciate it :)

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Thats fine wvsnl. My pleasure

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I will let you know I have already found some interesting parts, but before I do anything I am consulting a PC Hardware store in my city to ask if those parts can be build in one pc. Anyway I will let you know

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Well there has been some development, I have been to a hardware store who have made a list for a Windows XP 32 bit PC. Only there is one thing I am a bit uncertain about, the graphics card. It is from 2011 so it is quite new, the card I am talking about is, NVIDIA Geforce GTX 550 TI.

 

Does anybody here have any experience with this card and does it work good with Kotor?

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I see from your status update that your computer has been built. What's in your retro-machine, if I may be so bold?

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Well there has been some development, I have been to a hardware store who have made a list for a Windows XP 32 bit PC. Only there is one thing I am a bit uncertain about, the graphics card. It is from 2011 so it is quite new, the card I am talking about is, NVIDIA Geforce GTX 550 TI.

 

Does anybody here have any experience with this card and does it work good with Kotor?

 

I myself use a Nvidia GeForce FX 5200 with the drivers installed, and it works excellently on KOTOR and TSL.

 

Incidentally, here is a link to the drivers for your graphics card.

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I myself use a Nvidia GeForce FX 5200 with the drivers installed, and it works excellently on KOTOR and TSL.

 

I wonder if that's the card he settled on in the end.

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Well I do have a new PC now, and I did install windows 7 on it. Yup in the end there were many new parts so it would be a waste if I installed windows XP on it considering the power that would not be used. Parts for a retro PC were to difficult (did I write that correct?) to get, to expensive or out of stock. So the PC is quite new. However Kotor plays excellent on the new PC, but I have not tried Kotor II yet. Also I can play many games on the highest setting, games like Napoleon total war run without any trouble. In any case here are my system specs for anybody else looking for a new PC, everything including buying windows 7 was around 700 Euro's, I guess that is around 850 dollars?

 

System specs:

 

 

 

Motherboard

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- Manufacturer: ASRock

- Model: H61M

- BIOS Manufacturer: American Megatrends Inc.

- BIOS Model: BIOS Date: 03/03/11 16:36:40 Ver: 04.06.04, version P1.10

- Connections: PCIE1 (In use), PCI1 (Free), PCI2 (Free), PCIE2 (Free)

- Ports:

 

 

Processor

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- Model: Intel® Core i3-2100 CPU @ 3.10GHz (Quad Core)

- Clock Speed: 3100 MHz

- Socket & Cache(s): CPUSocket, 512 KB L2 Cache, 3.072 KB L3 Cache

 

 

Memory

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- Size: 4.079 MB RAM

- Type(s): 2.048 MB RAM (DDR2-1067 PC2-8500 533 MHz, DIMM), 2.048 MB RAM (DDR2-1067 PC2-8500 533 MHz, DIMM)

 

 

Harddisk

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- File Format(s): NTFS (C:)

- Size: 1.397,17 GB (1.397,17 GB (C:) )

- Free Space: 1.269,50 GB (1.269,50 GB (C:) )

 

 

Drives

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- Type(s): C: Lokale harde schijf, D: Unknown, E: Unknown

- Model(s): C: SAMSUNG HD155UI ATA Device IDE, D: TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-222BB ATA Device, E: DTSOFT Virtual CdRom Device

 

 

Sound Card

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- Manufacturer: NVIDIA

- Model: NVIDIA High Definition Audio

 

 

Graphics Card

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- Model: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti

- Video Processor: GeForce GTX 550 Ti (0x1244)

- Memory Size: 1.024 MB VRAM

- Driver: nvd3dumx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvd3dum,nvwgf2um,nvwgf2um, version 8.17.12.9573

 

 

Display

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- Manufacturer: (Standaardbeeldschermtypen)

- Model: Algemeen PnP-beeldscherm

- Screen Resolution: 1280x1024 (Normal 5:4 SXGA)

- Color Depth: 32-bit

- Refresh Rate: 60 Hz

 

 

Mouse

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- Manufacturer: Microsoft

- Model: HID-muis

- # of Buttons: 2

- Connection: USB

 

 

Keyboard

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- Model: USB-invoerapparaat

- Type: Uitgebreid (101 of 102 toetsen)

- # of Function Keys: 12

 

 

Network Card

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- Model(s): Atheros AR8151 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller (NDIS 6.20) (Ethernet 802.3)

- Addresses: IP: 192.168.2.52, MAC: 00:25:22:C7:1A:47, DHCP: 192.168.2.254

 

 

DirectX

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- Version: 11.0

 

 

Operating System

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- Name: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional

- Version: 6.1.7601

- Service Pack: Service Pack 1

 

 

 

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Generated by Flitskikker InfoTool (Version 3.1.0.136)

http://flitskikker.fl.funpic.org/software/infotool

 

So all in all I am quite happy with it and I hope that Kotor II will also play without trouble, (apart from a few fixes like I did with Kotor I)

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I will do, but I am going to install TSL when TSLRCM 1.8 is out so it may be a while. But in any case I well let you know.

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Well another new update, I have recently completed Kotor 1 without any major issues. I followed the instructions from this guide, Click Except from one step I did not use the Securom exe update, because I have the UK version and the whole site of securom was a little too complicated for me. Anyway as I said no major issues.

 

Note: The second post in the guide is of great importance too.

 

In the options tab in the main menu was one thing I had to adjust for myself. Namely turning VSync on, without that my character had movement issues which meant that it could not move after a fight or conversation. By turning VSync on that problem was solved. Sometimes the game did not start properly the screen was minimized and I could not open the screen of the game anymore. I had to terminate the proces in task manager, after that I opened a different task and closed it again. Having done that I would select the game again and it ran fine.

 

I have now finnaly installed Kotor II with Tslrcm, I am still on Peragus having only played 1 and a half hour, (just before the segment in which I get to play with T3-M4 again). It is running great so far(also super excited to play Kotor II again), I followed the guide except for once again the Securom exe update.

 

So in short if you are looking for a PC with windows 7 but that is still able to play the Kotor's then the specifications of the pc I have now are perfect for this. The costs are also quite cheap for building an entire pc (minus monitor) in the Netherlands it costed around 700 euro's, for you Americans out there I think that equals around 900 dollars.

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