KOTOR on Win 7... anyone get it to work right?

[NTAC]

I picked this up on Steam for like $3 or whatever it was, but I can't get it to work right on Win7...

Anyone successful with this, and if yes, what did you do?

 

[shortylickens]

Nope. Still using XP for a crapload of legacy support.

 

[Dankk]

Be more specific. What exactly happens when you try to start the game?

 

[blackened23]

I picked this up on Steam for like $3 or whatever it was, but I can't get it to work right on Win7...

Anyone successful with this, and if yes, what did you do?

Runs fine me when launching from steam in windows 7. I need to get some mods to enable high resolution support...

 

[RavenSEAL]

I'm pretty sure I've beaten the whole gaming using W7.

 

[arredondo]

In the Steam and Bioware forums (among other random sites) there are threads with instructions for Win 7 modifications. I bought the game a month ago and followed a bunch of instructions/installation mods here and there and the game works perfectly, including widescreen support with a properly scaled UI.

 

[Nizbot]

• Locate \Steam\steamapps\common\swkotor\swkotor.exe
• Right click - Compatibility tab - Check "Run this program in compatibility mode for:"
• Choose Windows XP (Service Pack 2)
• Check "Run this program as an administrator"
• Make sure all of the check boxes in the Settings section are unchecked.
• Lastly, run the swupdate.exe in that same directory.

Should run just fine after doing all that.

 

[amanoai]

I'm running Kotor on Windows 7 and widescreen. What is your issue with it?

 

[NTAC]

I admittedly did not have a chance to really get into it, but the fixes I saw that I tried involved disabling the movies in the game, which I find unacceptable.

My main problem, before disabling the movies, was that it would launch in the EXE but I'd get a black screen and then nothing. The KOTR exe was still running, but the game was not visible on my monitor.

After disabling the movies and the hardware mouse support as some instructions suggested, I was then able to launch the game, but my mouse cursor was not ligning up with the on-screen options. So I was unable to accurately select any conversation options when they appeared.

I pretty much stopped trying at that point.

I will however roll up my sleeves and dive into the fixes a bit deeper, but I wanted to make sure that there was a way to get the game to work out there without having to disable the in game movies or else I'm not going to bother.

 

[Cheesetogo]

It's a little buggy for me (especially with dual monitors) but it works. Sometimes the game will crash or the main menu will get screwed up, but it's definitely playable.

Make sure you save often.

If you haven't played it before, it's well worth it to get it working. I'd point out that the combat for the first couple hours is a little shaky, but once you get a bit into the game it's fine. Don't get put off if you don't immediately like it.

If nothing works, VMWare with XP loaded should. It's actually fairly easy to set up.

 

[Anteaus]

This might sound silly, but try this :

Add the following under graphics in swkotor.ini

Disable Vertex Buffer Objects=1


This simple line cured pretty much all of my problems back when I played the game. Not saying it will help but it's worth a shot.

 

[Nizbot]

...which I find unacceptable

You find that an 8 year old game that doesn't work perfectly "out of the box" unacceptable? Haha, c'mon dude.

From the Steam forums (link):

Three separate fixes have been popularly told and none of them worked individually for me so I decided to put them all in one thread.

The following fixes got the game to work on my Windows 7 Professional 64-bit laptop with an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5450 graphics card. (ATI is sometimes said to cause problems with this game)

First, disable In-Game Steam Overlay for KoToR. This can be done by heading to your Steam Library and right clicking KoToR and selecting Properties.

Second, navigate in Windows Explorer program files or program files 86 (this depends if you're running 32-bit or 64-bit windows) > steam > steamapps > common > swkotor > and then run swconfig.exe which should be found in the swkotor folder.

Third, after this applet is up, uncheck the "Use Hardware Mouse" and check the "Disable Movies" (this just disables the intro movies, to my knowledge).

Also, if you're still having problems I've heard some people suggest running it in windowed mode.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

It runs perfectly for me. I just run it from steam haven't had any issues (played through the initial ship area till I got on the planet), and I run dual monitor with two different resolutions too.

 

[NTAC]

You find that an 8 year old game that doesn't work perfectly "out of the box" unacceptable? Haha, c'mon dude.

No, playing the game without the movie cut scenes would be an unacceptable experience for me, so if that is what I have to do to get it to work, then I won't bother with it.

It runs perfectly for me. I just run it from steam haven't had any issues (played through the initial ship area till I got on the planet), and I run dual monitor with two different resolutions too.

Go figure Do you have Win 7 64 bit?

 

[thespyder]

When I run in Win 7 (Compat Mode for XP SP2 as Admin), I can launch the game and actually get 10-15 min into it. Then it CTD. This is a consistent issue with no (apparent) consistent cause. I will be playing just fine and then CTD. Haven't gotten off the Endar Spire yet so don't know if it corrects after that point.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Go figure Do you have Win 7 64 bit?

Yea.

 

[Anteaus]

When I run in Win 7 (Compat Mode for XP SP2 as Admin), I can launch the game and actually get 10-15 min into it. Then it CTD. This is a consistent issue with no (apparent) consistent cause. I will be playing just fine and then CTD. Haven't gotten off the Endar Spire yet so don't know if it corrects after that point.

This was exactly what happened to me before I applied the fix I posted earlier. It was an issue with the older game engine and newer graphics cards.

 

[thespyder]

This was exactly what happened to me before I applied the fix I posted earlier. It was an issue with the older game engine and newer graphics cards.

glad I posted here. Gonna try it this evening. Hoping it works well. Thanks!

 

[Chiropteran]

You find that an 8 year old game that doesn't work perfectly "out of the box" unacceptable? Haha, c'mon dude.

If I buy the game today it's not 8 years old, it's brand new Or is steam illegally selling *used* games?! If they are still making money off it by selling it on steam, the developers should use at least a bit of that money to support the game and make sure it works.

Eh, part of the blame is steam, steam knows what OS you are using and doesn't give you any warning or anything when you buy an incompatible game, so that is a bit shady as well. For example, on my old android phone there were some apps I just couldn't buy because they android market knew they wouldn't run on my old phone. Seems like steam should be doing something similar.

edit: This post looks like a random rant, but I bought KOTOR a couple years ago on steam and had similar problems with getting it to run. I eventually just gave up and wrote it off as a loss.

 

[NTAC]

If I buy the game today it's not 8 years old, it's brand new Or is steam illegally selling *used* games?! If they are still making money off it by selling it on steam, the developers should use at least a bit of that money to support the game and make sure it works.

Eh, part of the blame is steam, steam knows what OS you are using and doesn't give you any warning or anything when you buy an incompatible game, so that is a bit shady as well. For example, on my old android phone there were some apps I just couldn't buy because they android market knew they wouldn't run on my old phone. Seems like steam should be doing something similar.

edit: This post looks like a random rant, but I bought KOTOR a couple years ago on steam and had similar problems with getting it to run. I eventually just gave up and wrote it off as a loss.

I do agree, they should at least put up a warning or something. At least it was dirt cheap so its not the end of the world, I rather just play the stupid thing then not though

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

If I buy the game today it's not 8 years old, it's brand new Or is steam illegally selling *used* games?! If they are still making money off it by selling it on steam, the developers should use at least a bit of that money to support the game and make sure it works.

People have willingly thrown out the right to merchantable goods. They don't care how much a company pisses on them now.

 

[HydroSqueegee]

If I buy the game today it's not 8 years old, it's brand new Or is steam illegally selling *used* games?! If they are still making money off it by selling it on steam, the developers should use at least a bit of that money to support the game and make sure it works.

Eh, part of the blame is steam, steam knows what OS you are using and doesn't give you any warning or anything when you buy an incompatible game, so that is a bit shady as well. For example, on my old android phone there were some apps I just couldn't buy because they android market knew they wouldn't run on my old phone. Seems like steam should be doing something similar.

edit: This post looks like a random rant, but I bought KOTOR a couple years ago on steam and had similar problems with getting it to run. I eventually just gave up and wrote it off as a loss.

this problem chaps my ass too. their needs to be some sort of OS compatability list or maybe make the game work with new OS's. I just bought Max Payne and was hyped up to play it again not thinking about how old it was. It has issues with sound and i had to go get a fan made patch to convert the files into something Win7 can see... wtf. easy fix this time, but im sure im going to get burned in the future.

 

[Dankk]

this problem chaps my ass too. their needs to be some sort of OS compatability list or maybe make the game work with new OS's. I just bought Max Payne and was hyped up to play it again not thinking about how old it was. It has issues with sound and i had to go get a fan made patch to convert the files into something Win7 can see... wtf. easy fix this time, but im sure im going to get burned in the future.

To be fair, the system requirements for Max Payne are listed right there on the Steam store page. It says "OS: Microsoft® Windows® 2000/XP (only)".

 

[DaveSimmons]

Eh, part of the blame is steam, steam knows what OS you are using and doesn't give you any warning or anything when you buy an incompatible game, so that is a bit shady as well. For example, on my old android phone there were some apps I just couldn't buy because they android market knew they wouldn't run on my old phone. Seems like steam should be doing something similar.

I use steam on 3 different computers, with XP, 7-32 and 7-64 and vastly different hardware. I don't want Steam to stop me from ordering a game on one system that I plan to play on a different one.

Also, Valve probably can't legally deliver games with fan patches or hacks pre-applied even though they're needed for some games like Vampire TM: Bloodlines.

 

[NTAC]

I use steam on 3 different computers, with XP, 7-32 and 7-64 and vastly different hardware. I don't want Steam to stop me from ordering a game on one system that I plan to play on a different one.

Also, Valve probably can't legally deliver games with fan patches or hacks pre-applied even though they're needed for some games like Vampire TM: Bloodlines.

I think just a heads up.. maybe a list of known issues with the more modern OS... I don't think anyone would suggest that they outright deny you the purchase, that would be silly.