Keyboard shortcuts

Press ← or → to navigate between chapters

Press S or / to search in the book

Press ? to show this help

Press Esc to hide this help

Installing K1 Modern Driver Compatibility

To install version 2.0.0 of the patch, you need the KotOR Patch Manager, version 0.7.2 or later.

The patch doesn’t change swkotor.exe on disk. The Patch Manager applies the patch to the game as it starts, and you can turn the patch off in the Patch Manager.

Install the patch

  1. Download the zip file from the releases page, and unzip it.
  2. Move the .kpatch file out of the Copy into patches folder folder and into the folder that your Patch Manager reads patches from. The Patch Manager’s release includes a patches folder for this. Move the file itself, not the folder that contains it.
  3. Open the Patch Manager. Set Game to your swkotor.exe, and set Patches to the folder from step 2. The patch appears in the Patch Manager’s list of patches.
  4. Select the patch’s checkbox, and then select Apply.
  5. Start the game with the Patch Manager’s Launch button. On Linux, if you play through Proton, you can start the game the way you usually do instead.

You don’t need to copy anything into your game folder. The Patch Manager adds the files it needs there itself.

On Windows, the Patch Manager by default applies the patch only to a game it starts. If you start the game from Steam or a desktop shortcut instead of the Launch button, the game runs without the patch, and the game looks as if the patch does nothing. To have the patch load however you start the game, turn on the Patch Manager’s library proxy, as Load the patch however you start the game describes.

Load the patch however you start the game

On Windows, you can have the patch load whenever the game starts, from Steam, a desktop shortcut, or Launch, by using the Patch Manager’s library proxy:

  1. If any patches are installed, clear their checkboxes, and then select Apply. The Patch Manager lets you change this option only while no patches are installed.
  2. In the Options menu, select Use library proxy.
  3. Select the patches again, and then select Apply.

With the library proxy, the Patch Manager puts a stand-in binkw32.dll in your game folder and renames the game’s own copy to binkw32Hooked.dll. The game loads binkw32.dll every time it starts, and the stand-in loads the patch. On Linux, the Patch Manager always uses this method.

What appears in your game folder

The first time you run the game with the patch, the patch creates two files:

  • logs/K1DriverCompat.log records one session, and the patch replaces it each time the game starts. If something looks wrong, send this file.
  • K1DriverCompat.ini lists every setting the patch has, with an explanation of each, all commented out. You don’t need to change either file to play. For more information, see Settings.

If the Mod Options patch is installed, the patch also writes two menus for its settings into the Mod Options folder, K1DriverCompat.toml and K1DriverCompat Troubleshooting.toml. They appear in the game’s options screen.

The first run also turns on soft shadows and the screen effects in the game’s own graphics options. The Steam release’s settings file has soft shadows off, and the game’s options menu saved both off on cards that the unpatched game judged unable to run them. The patch does this only on the run that creates K1DriverCompat.ini. If you turn either option off afterwards, it stays off unless you delete that file.

Troubleshooting

The patch needs a newer Patch Manager

Cause: version 2.0.0 and later of the patch passes values from the game’s registers, and fixed values, to its hooks. The Patch Manager supports both from version 0.7.2, and earlier versions can’t install those hooks.

Solution: check the Patch Manager’s version, and update it to 0.7.2 or later.

Uninstall the patch

In the Patch Manager, clear the patch’s checkbox, and then select Apply. The Patch Manager removes the files it added.

Some things stay behind. logs/K1DriverCompat.log and K1DriverCompat.ini remain in your game folder, and so do the two menus in Mod Options if the patch wrote them. You can delete all of them. Soft shadows and the screen effects stay on in the game’s graphics options until you turn them off there.

Compatibility

The patch works with version 1.03 of the game as GOG and Steam ship it. It also works with the 1.03 executable that CD copies run with the common no-CD crack.

The patch includes the separate cube map fix and soft shadow fix. Don’t install either of them alongside this patch.