[KOTOR II] Bastila PC Head on Xbox and Lost Saves (Storm Singer's Windstream/Dak Vesser Modpackl)

[DoolittleFanny 1]

Hi everyone! I started playing this series again on my original Xbox and I'm having a wonderful time with KOTOR I, it's beautiful to go through the game as a more mature person and have a marvelous time enjoying the subtle details, it really makes me appreciate the effort many people did in order to give us an unforgettable experience. (I'm as corny as Kansas in August, sorry, I just can't help it D': )

Anyways, I still have a long way till KOTOR II, and I know it's easier and more enjoyable to play it on PC, but I would really want to play it on the console (I know it may sound stupid, I know, but I've always played this game on PC with the restored content. I really want to dig into unknown realms and live the experience as it hit the shelfs, on console and everything. As a matter of fact, I think I've enjoyed more KOTOR on Xbox than in PC) . My only problem (aside from missing the restored content from PC) it's that, when I played KOTOR II for the first time, I started the game with a Bastila's head on PC, and it has been a tradition for me since then. 

 

Installing mods on Xbox it's just not a problem for me, I know how to and where to put the files. My concerns are related to crashing the game, because I've read that you'll have problems installing model files and things like that. I'm not sure if it's safe to put any file of Bastila's head mods (for PC) on the game (which they usually have TSL patchers) or if there are other ways of handling the situation.
 

Of course I've searched for info on the topic, but it seems that most things related to Xbox Kotor games have virtually dissapeared. For what I've gathered, the easier way of getting mods was to download a save file and FTP it to your console. I've found many useful sites, but unfortunately they are mostly offline. For example, most Xbox users refered to Storm Singer~~Vox Angel blog in Windstream, but it's offline making the files dead. Another example was in the Xbox scene, and one specific thread brought my attention. Apparently, a user named Dak Vesser made a modpack of Bastila in the game, and also "modified the Peragus Kolto Tank which becomes a vending machine for lightsaber's and other items, plus you can use it to change Bastila's lightside/darkside alignment", but, as you can imagine, everything is as dead as Taris (I even remember watching videos about the mod in youtube with Bastila in white Revan's robes and tho lightsabers in Peragus and having the Xbox HUD, but I can't find those either...)

 

I just wanted to know if anyone would be kind enough to help me to put the head on the game or to share the files/saves I've mentioned above in order to play as Bastila, please! I could say it 's rather shocking finding out that many of KOTOR's history has fallen to obscurity and no one cares about it, I could say it's normal, because we have superior things, but, it's just simply mesmerizing...  Here are the websites i found:

Windstream blog:
http://web.archive.org/web/20090211025914/http://home.alltel.net:80/jls31/index.html

Xbox-scene topic:
http://web.archive.org/web/20141029064758/http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?/topic/359678-kotorii-tsl-bastila-modpack-availible/

 

(I link them with archive because you cannot access them in any other way...)

Of course I know how to install mods, of course I know I need a modded Xbox (which I have), of course I know the PC version is bastly superior, and many other things, but I really want to live this experience. Thanks in advance! Have a great day ^^

[DarthParametric 3,782]

You can't use binary models from the PC version on the Xbox version. However, MDLEdit has the ability to compile Xbox-formatted models. I assume it should be possible to use an ASCII from a decompiled PC model as the source. The most practical option would be to replace an existing player head rather than try and deal with 2DAs as well. Textures may be an issue. I'm not sure if authoring TXBs is possible. It might require extracting the original Xbox textures and renaming them.

[N-DReW25 1,336]

It might require extracting the original Xbox textures and renaming them.

Is that possible??

[DarthParametric 3,782]

Yeah, with a modded Xbox you can do it. You install it on the HDD and you can use an Override folder just like the PC version.

[N-DReW25 1,336]

Yeah, with a modded Xbox you can do it. You install it on the HDD and you can use an Override folder just like the PC version.

I meant extracting the Xbox textures. Would it be possible to extract those textures and use them on PC (Reason I ask is because I suspect a specific NPC texture is different on Xbox and PC)

[DarthParametric 3,782]

Xbox textures are in the TXB format. You'd have to convert them to TPC or TGA to use with the PC version, but otherwise, yes, you could use them. I think Xoreos Tools can convert TXBs possibly.

[DrMcCoy 40]

Xbox textures are in the TXB format.

Yes and no. The naming is a bit inconsistent, unfortunately. Both KotOR Xbox .txb files and KotOR Windows PC .tpc files are fundamentally the same format, only that the Xbox one supports different encodings (and also swizzles the textures [1]).

 

xoreos-tools can read both of them (both via the --tpc switch of xoreostex2tga, because for xoreos, both of them are "TPC"), converting them into TGA (and unswizzles where necessary). xoreos-tools can't write TPC at the moment, unfortunately.

 

There's also another TXB format, used by Jade Empire (both the Xbox and the Windows PC version). That is a different format from KotOR Xbox TXB.

 

To have somewhat consistent naming, xoreos always calls the KotOR format, whether Xbox or Windows PC, "TPC", and the Jade Empire format, whether Xbox or Windows PC, "TXB".

 

(And if you're being pedantic, all of these formats, and also the non-standard .dds files in Neverwinter Nights, are still similar in concept. They're clearly different formats, but also very clearly variations on the same theme. Why they felt they had to reinvent the wheel three times, I don't know.)

 

[1] In a swizzled texture, the pixels aren't laid out row-by-row, line-by-line, but in a zig-zag pattern. This is so that pixels that are near each other, i.e. also pixels that are below and above each other, are near each other in memory as well. This can help rendering performance. A more in-depth explanation is here: https://fgiesen.wordpress.com/2011/01/17/texture-tiling-and-swizzling/

[DarthParametric 3,782]

Ah, thanks for the clarification. If needed, ndix UR's TGA2TPC can handle conversion to TPC, but I believe TGA would be sufficient for N-DReW25's purposes.

 

But this is a derailment from the original purpose of the thread.

[DoolittleFanny 1]

First of all, thanks for you replies, it has been interesting to learn more about modding. Sorry for repliying at this time! Let me see...

You can't use binary models from the PC version on the Xbox version. However, MDLEdit has the ability to compile Xbox-formatted models. I assume it should be possible to use an ASCII from a decompiled PC model as the source. The most practical option would be to replace an existing player head rather than try and deal with 2DAs as well. Textures may be an issue. I'm not sure if authoring TXBs is possible. It might require extracting the original Xbox textures and renaming them.

I'm incredibly stupid modifying things, BUT, let me see if I understood. Would you think it's easier to replace an existing PC (as you said) with Bastila's KOTOR 1 head/or the one used in KOTOR 2 (extracting it from the xbox game and then replacing it with any head)? Would it be compatible or something? As I said, I'm very new to changing this things on my own, this is quite overwhelming...

So, there is not any news about the saves? Are they totally lost? That's a shame...

But, as I said, thank you very much for your help! ^^

[DarthParametric 3,782]

Well the "proper" way that you would create a player head mod for the PC version involves editing appearance.2da, heads.2da, and portraits.2da (in addition to the head model and textures, but you can use the vanilla ones for Bastila). I have no idea what the deal is with Xbox 2DAs, whether there is some big endian/little endian thing going on. You could try going that route first, although it would require extracting them from a BIF, presumably. If the Xbox data is anything like the PC, they should be in a file called 2DA.bif. You could try copying that and the KEY file (probably chitin.key) to your PC, then extracting it with unkeybif.exe from Xoreos Tools. Then you could use convert2da.exe to convert the required 2DAs to CSV. Then you would follow any standard "adding a player head" type tutorial to add the new data, then use convert2da again to convert the CSVs back to 2DAs. Then you'd transfer the modified 2DAs back to the Xbox, putting them in the Override folder. Like I said though, I don't know if Xbox 2DAs are different from PC 2DAs, so I have no idea if that will work.

 

Assuming that doesn't work, the other option is the more brute force route, replacing one of the existing player head models with the Bastila head model (P_BastilaH). This will require changing the Odyssey Base name, the quickest route being to decompile, edit the ASCII model, then recompile. MDLEdit can handle Xbox models, so that should be fine, although you'd presumably want the Xbox supermodel (P_BastilaBB). Those should also be in a BIF file. You'd also need the Bastila head textures, which are in ERFs on the PC version, not sure for the Xbox version. I'd suggest trying the 2DA route first though and seeing if that works.

[Squall Lionhart 81]

Only issue I know of when modding for the Xbox is that they don't like custom textures (One user on here tried to use TSLRCM on the Xbox, didn't work so well when it come to Dantooine.) 

BTW, DoolittleFanny I love your profile pic. And I'm not just saying that because of mine

[DarthParametric 3,782]

I assume you mean it doesn't like TGAs, which is to be expected. If ndix UR can implement swizzling in TGA2TPC then it should be a non-issue. I'm not sure the effort would be worth it though, so don't hold your breath.

[bead-v 251]

MDLEdit can handle Xbox models, so that should be fine, although you'd presumably want the Xbox supermodel (P_BastilaBB).

I'll need to check, but mdledit shouldn't require an Xbox supermodel to compile a model for the Xbox. Logically it is not necessary, because it just takes the supernode numbers, which are not different between the formats. So you could simply use the PC supermodel, provided the actual model is the same and mdledit allows it (if it doesn't, I'll change that).

[xtprojects 13]

On ‎5‎/‎7‎/‎2018 at 7:14 AM, bead-v said:

I'll need to check, but mdledit shouldn't require an Xbox supermodel to compile a model for the Xbox. Logically it is not necessary, because it just takes the supernode numbers, which are not different between the formats. So you could simply use the PC supermodel, provided the actual model is the same and mdledit allows it (if it doesn't, I'll change that).

Beadv, I must say, mdledit is an awesome piece of work! Thanks to this little gem, I have restarted on my mission to carry mods and restoration mods over to the xbox for all to enjoy and use! I successfully converted my first trial last night and It works wonders! I did have one weird issue with mdl/mdx files (not xbox related), though I pm'd you about it. But to stay on the topic at hand, at the moment I have a lot of things working on the xbox version of kotor, (restored content, diff level textures and other various mods, and thanks to bead, converted mdl/mdx files!) If I can be of help, I will most certainly do so or try.

There will always most certainly be limitations on the xbox, but I am really pushing the limits and you'd be surprised what you can get it to do! Once I  am through kotor, I will be going to TSL again next. It's very gratifying seeing all the things in action on the ole xbox. Rest assured, there are those of us who most certainly DO care!