# Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is the best game ever **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 1, 2003, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-knights-of-the-old-republic-is-the-best-game-ever/216232 "2003-12-01T08:39:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-knights-of-the-old-republic-is-the-best-game-ever/216232/21 "2003-12-05T18:40:25Z")
OK, picked this one up last night. It looks good as far as I’ve gotten, but I have already hit a problem. I finished the introductory Endar Spire sequence fine. Graphics were smooth, the cut scenes looked good, no problems. I had a bit of trouble getting used to some of the quirks in the interface but that was about it. Problems started when I woke up in the apartment on Taris. As soon as the conversation/cutscene with Carth ended, my character ran full speed into the wall and kept trying to run. Nothing I could do would make him stop. Turning just made him run into a different wall and was very choppy and hard to control. I finally got out of the room when I managed to get the door in view. I clicked on it and he stopped running, walked over and opened the door. The next cutscene played then the combat with the sith soldiers started. My frame rate, which had been completely smooth on the Endar Spire, suddenly dropped to about 2 frames/second and control became erratic. I simply quit playing at that point. Any clues? I ran the updater and it says I am up to date. I don’t think it’s my system specs since everything was fine up until that point but I’m running a 1.7 Ghz P-IV with 512 Mb. My vid card is an ATI Radeon with 64 Mb. Running Windows XP Home. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-knights-of-the-old-republic-is-the-best-game-ever/216232/22 "2003-12-05T19:28:54Z")
> [@](#): > > Any clues? I ran the updater and it says I am up to date. I don’t think it’s my system specs since everything was fine up until that point but I’m running a 1.7 Ghz P-IV with 512 Mb. My vid card is an ATI Radeon with 64 Mb. Running Windows XP Home. They know abut the bug, you can’t fix it. I had the same game and you can basically try to tuff it out or just wait until they get the patch. It won’t be long now. ---
**Author:** ![Figaro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ea666f/32.png) [@Figaro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Figaro)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-knights-of-the-old-republic-is-the-best-game-ever/216232/23 "2003-12-05T21:51:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tanstaafl \* > \*\*Any clues? I ran the updater and it says I am up to date. I don’t think it’s my system specs since everything was fine up until that point but I’m running a 1.7 Ghz P-IV with 512 Mb. My vid card is an ATI Radeon with 64 Mb. Running Windows XP Home. \*\* I fixed a similar issue on my system by turning “shadows” off in the graphics option menu. It made a huge difference on my machine. I’ll have you all know that after a couple hours of play I was about to give this game up for dead. It seemed boring, stupid, and scripted for the average 12-year old. But after reading this thread a few days ago I gave it another wack and it’s really growing on me. Last night I stayed up MUCH too late playing it, which is usually the sign of a good game. So…thanks! ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-knights-of-the-old-republic-is-the-best-game-ever/216232/24 "2003-12-05T22:48:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by smiling bandit \* > \*\*They know abut the bug, you can’t fix it. I had the same game and you can basically try to tuff it out or just wait until they get the patch. It won’t be long now. \*\* OK, I just finished checking out the Bioware forums. I usually avoid those for games since they tend to either fill up with l33t d00ds or turn into whinefests but my problem was acknowledged there: > [@](#): > > To recap on the lag/stutter problem that shows up first in the Taris apartment: > > Try ALL of this stuff first: > > 1. Install the 1.01 beta patch. > 2. Open swkotor.ini, and change ALL of the Environmental Effects lines (Environmental Effects, Environmental Effects Nonstreaming and Environmental Effects streaming) to =0. If you don’t change ALL of them, the patch may or may not work on your system. > 3. When you start the game, go to the configuration menu and set hardware cursor back ON. > > The patch by itself fixes this problem for some people, but some folks have to go into the swkotor.ini and set ALL the Environmental Effects variables to =0. Also, you have to turn the hardware cursor ON or it will make the mouse cursor lag. Furthermore, the changed swkotor.ini lines won’t change anything if the beta patch isn’t installed first. > > If you EXACTLY follow the above and it doesn’t work, definitely keep posting about it so Bioware knows about it. So, I’ve downloaded the beta patch and will try it to see if that solves the problem. Thanks for the nudge in the right direction. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-knights-of-the-old-republic-is-the-best-game-ever/216232.md?page=1)