Star Wars: KotOR and Catalyst v5.1

Decoy^ · Jan 30, 2005, 02:00 AM

Yesterday I just thought I would try out the new 5.1 drivers. The first game I try, is Knights of the Old Republic. Now, it mostly works fine, but the average framerates have gone down compared to previous drivers. But in some areas, things are pretty bad. For those who have the game and wish to compare, Taris Undercity and Davik's Estate are such areas. While one area so far, made the game crawl to a standstill, notably outside the Dantooine Enclave.

This all seemed more or less random to me, and actually appeared to be alleviated by killing all enemies in the worst areas. No idea if that was my imagination, or really made a difference.

Anyhow, just for testing, I roll down to the 4.12s, which I have never used before, as I came straight from 4.11. And it works, game runs better than before. Except if I make a save, then suddenly everything is f**ked again. Feels like a 1-5 fps slideshow. Then loading the save I just made... smooth as ever.

Anyone have any idea what this is? Is it the game as I first thought? Or could it be the drivers, as I suspect after trying the 4.12s? I would still blame the game, due to the saving/loading f**king it up/fixing it. But the 4.12 is still so much better than 5.1 that I have to ask whether or not drivers might be to blame... anyone?

Decoy^ · Jan 30, 2005, 02:22 PM

It appears that this is a driver problem. The 4.12 driver slowdown occurs whenever a menu is used, or the 3D environment of the game is interrupted in any way.
I checked out the BioWare support forums for the game, and it appears that people have had similar problems with previous realeases, like 4.4 and 4.5.

If this behavior is due to poor game engine programming, or poor driver programming, I will not even attempt to be the judge of. But I did drop a note on it in the driver feedback program. Hope this is something ATI can fix, as BioWare apparenty have no interest in releasing new patches for the game.

Oh well, end of that story I guess. Unless of course someone know about a solution, or have an opinion to offer.

mkk · Jan 30, 2005, 03:14 PM

Have you tried switching off some graphics features in the game and see if it makes a difference? It was a long time ago that I played this game but remember playing mostly with some kind of frame buffer effect turned off, the one that causes excessive blurring when the Jedi Speedup force is active. (used it a lot for travelling) Also try switching the shadows off, and run with no AA or just 2X AA forced on the game. Just a few ideas.

Jan 30, 2005, 02:00 AM	#1
Decoy^ DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Nordland, Norway Posts: 2 Rep Power: 0	Star Wars: KotOR and Catalyst v5.1 Yesterday I just thought I would try out the new 5.1 drivers. The first game I try, is Knights of the Old Republic. Now, it mostly works fine, but the average framerates have gone down compared to previous drivers. But in some areas, things are pretty bad. For those who have the game and wish to compare, Taris Undercity and Davik's Estate are such areas. While one area so far, made the game crawl to a standstill, notably outside the Dantooine Enclave. This all seemed more or less random to me, and actually appeared to be alleviated by killing all enemies in the worst areas. No idea if that was my imagination, or really made a difference. Anyhow, just for testing, I roll down to the 4.12s, which I have never used before, as I came straight from 4.11. And it works, game runs better than before. Except if I make a save, then suddenly everything is fked again. Feels like a 1-5 fps slideshow. Then loading the save I just made... smooth as ever. Anyone have any idea what this is? Is it the game as I first thought? Or could it be the drivers, as I suspect after trying the 4.12s? I would still blame the game, due to the saving/loading fking it up/fixing it. But the 4.12 is still so much better than 5.1 that I have to ask whether or not drivers might be to blame... anyone?

Jan 30, 2005, 02:22 PM	Thread Starter #2
Decoy^ DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Nordland, Norway Posts: 2 Rep Power: 0	It appears that this is a driver problem. The 4.12 driver slowdown occurs whenever a menu is used, or the 3D environment of the game is interrupted in any way. I checked out the BioWare support forums for the game, and it appears that people have had similar problems with previous realeases, like 4.4 and 4.5. If this behavior is due to poor game engine programming, or poor driver programming, I will not even attempt to be the judge of. But I did drop a note on it in the driver feedback program. Hope this is something ATI can fix, as BioWare apparenty have no interest in releasing new patches for the game. Oh well, end of that story I guess. Unless of course someone know about a solution, or have an opinion to offer.

Jan 30, 2005, 03:14 PM	#3
mkk Cthulhu/Dagon 2012 Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Gefle, Sweden Posts: 4,495 Rep Power: 132 System Specs	Have you tried switching off some graphics features in the game and see if it makes a difference? It was a long time ago that I played this game but remember playing mostly with some kind of frame buffer effect turned off, the one that causes excessive blurring when the Jedi Speedup force is active. (used it a lot for travelling) Also try switching the shadows off, and run with no AA or just 2X AA forced on the game. Just a few ideas.