Kotor I I - Peragus - Black Screen / Broken T3 Fix, How to get by problems running from HDD. Options

[chefelf]

This is an annoying problem when playing the game backed up to the HDD. On Peragus, the game begins to act strangely. After your T3 droid gets zapped, the game goes to a black screen. The only way to resolve this is to save and load, then you find yourself in a situation where you are your Jedi character. This is a glitch! If you go back to the fuel depot you will turn into your broken T3 unit and not be able to do anything.

I ran into this problem as well. I tried the original disc and found that that worked perfectly.

To test, I created and burned an ISO onto DVD-R and found that the backup DVD worked perfectly as well. I then began poking around the game files I'd FTP'ed to my PC and I discovered the "swdirsXbox.ini" file that was previously mentioned here.

This is the original INI file from the game as it appears on the original game disc:

Original "swdirsXbox.ini" file from KotOR II

CODE

[Alias]
HD0=d:\
OVERRIDE=d:\Override
ERRORTEX=d:\Errortex
TEMP=z:\Temp
MODULES=d:\Modules
LOGS=t:\Logs
LOCALVAULT=d:\LocalVault
DMVAULT=d:\DMVault
SERVERVAULT=d:\ServerVault
STREAMMUSIC=d:\STREAMMusic
TEMPCLIENT=z:\Tempclient
SAVES=u:\
CURRENTGAME=z:\currentgame
TEXTUREPACKS=d:\texturepacks
STREAMWAVES=d:\StreamWaves
GAMEINPROGRESS=z:\GAMEINPROGRESS
REBOOTDATA=z:\rebootdata
LIPS=d:\Lips

As you can It references the "d:" directory many times. I figured, why not change those instances to the actual game directory when running from the HDD?

So I revised the file by replacing each mention of d: with f:\games\Star Wars KotOR II. The latter is the directory you are most likely copying to. This will be the directory that 99% of people have backed up to. If you backed up elsewhere, you will obviously have to change to the appropriate game directory.

The resulting INI file should look like this:

Modified "swdirsXbox.ini" file from KotOR II

CODE

[Alias]
HD0=f:\games\Star Wars KotOR II
OVERRIDE=f:\games\Star Wars KotOR II\Override
ERRORTEX=f:\games\Star Wars KotOR II\Errortex
TEMP=z:\Temp
MODULES=f:\games\Star Wars KotOR II\Modules
LOGS=t:\Logs
LOCALVAULT=f:\games\Star Wars KotOR II\LocalVault
DMVAULT=f:\games\Star Wars KotOR II\DMVault
SERVERVAULT=f:\games\Star Wars KotOR II\ServerVault
STREAMMUSIC=f:\games\Star Wars KotOR II\STREAMMusic
TEMPCLIENT=z:\Tempclient
SAVES=u:\
CURRENTGAME=z:\currentgame
TEXTUREPACKS=f:\games\Star Wars KotOR II\texturepacks
STREAMWAVES=f:\games\Star Wars KotOR II\StreamWaves
GAMEINPROGRESS=z:\GAMEINPROGRESS
REBOOTDATA=z:\rebootdata
LIPS=f:\games\Star Wars KotOR II\Lips

After modifying the file the game worked perfectly. No black screen, no getting stuck as the broken T3 droid.

I hope this helps people experiencing a similar problem when backing up to their HDD.

Originally posted by chefelf here.

This post has been edited by chefelf: Feb 10 2005, 04:24 PM

[k_line]

I hope this helps people experiencing a similar problem when backing up to their HDD. 

Thanks man! You saved my day!

[bikehorn]

yu0 is t3h m4n

[DantheOutcast]

didn't work for me =/

even copied the whole "this is what the ini should look like" into my file [after several tries with my own edited ini, i thought mabey i had mis-typed something and i just couldnt see it]

meh probibly just me

[j_guzzler]

It didnt work for me either, so I dont think its just you. Do we need that xbe patch?

[chefelf]

DantheOutcast & j_guzzler,

Did you try clearing your CACHE files after uploading the new INI file? Give that a shot if you haven't tried it.

Report your results back here. If clearing the CACHE doesn't work, let me know your BIOS, how you backed up, DVD or HDD, etc.

Note: You may need to load from a save point BEFORE the T3 gets blasted.

[j_guzzler]

-Thanks, will do when i get home, and by clearing the cache you mean, load up a bunch of games so that KOTOR2 gets removed from the cache?

-I have a save point right before I access the computer console, cause i read somewhere that saving there, then quiting, watching the movie trailer, then loading back will work....but no....so I have a save right at that point.

[chefelf]

-Thanks, will do when i get home, and by clearing the cache you mean, load up a bunch of games so that KOTOR2 gets removed from the cache? 

Well you could do it that way but it would be easiest to use a file manager or FTP.

Instructions for how to clear the cache can be found here: Troubleshooting Game Backup Problems

[j_guzzler]

Duh, i didnt even think about that...such an idiot.....now just got to wait another half hour to get off work and try it out....hope it works.

[The Fiend]

hmmm, still no results chefelf... i'm not saying that your fix won't work on ANY box, it just doesn't on mine.

[j_guzzler]

Hey, the cache thing didnt work for me neither (and my hopes were so hi). I am running a V 1.6 xbox, think its an M8 Bios, I bought the game then sold it too my sister (she doesnt have a mod chip) so I will probably get the disk back from her and pass this frickin part then save again....

[mannion]

this worked a treat for me

I edited the .ini as chefelf outlined. changing where appropriate

first, I tried playing on from the game I had saved just before the blackness bit. no joy, black as the night itself.

then I deleted all kotor2 save games and cleared out the cache and started a new game.

bingo! sans blackness

simple but effective elf
respect

[j_guzzler]

This weekend I am going to get my copy back from my sis and try that, if that doesnt work (which it should) then i will delete all saved games and try, try again.....damnit all you you others are talking about light sabers and such, and here my guy is half naked with a vibroblade...

[T-1200]

i deleted my ini, deleted all my save games and still got the black screen

[quall]

I just unequipped everything and accessd the terminal from the far right. It loaded past it fine. Autosave was left on.