Released on December 6, 2004, Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords (KOTOR2) was the first game from the then newly formed Obsidian Entertainment. At that time, the new studio was a shoestring operation with just seven veteran developers who had made the move from the recently shuttered Black Isle Studios, all holed up in CEO Feargus Urquhart's attic. But publisher LucasArts, wanting to capitalize on the success of the original KOTOR from the year before, reportedly gave that threadbare new team just 14 to 16 months to create a sequel.
It's no surprise that the finished product had some issues.
The most noticeable of these issues at launch might have been the conclusion to the HK-50 factory side quest. Specifically, that conclusion is just nowhere to be found in the final game.
Expanded Galaxy Project KotOR 2&1 Sep 4 2020 Early Access Jan 8, 2019 Role Playing. This is the page for the Expanded Galaxy Project consisting of the Exiles Expanded Galaxy and Revans Eternal Empire a follow up mod to the mod I am currently. Beaten Kotor recently as dark side consular an decided to start kotor 2. Problem is I cannot find myself continuing past peragus because of the dialogue choices that give light side or dark side points. I've read multiple builds an how sides don't matter since the FP will be high enough for both light & dark powers. I just cannot decide because the suppose dialogue for dark side points seems.
That means players never get to discover the origins of KOTOR2's most recurring threat. Several files buried in the game's code reveal content Obsidian made for KOTOR2's final planet—including dialogue and action set pieces—that the developers just couldn't get working before launch.
And that's where 15 years of collective modder obsession comes in.. Gulbransen organ serial numbers.
Putting the pieces back together
When he first started modding KOTOR2 over ten years ago, Zbigniew 'zbyl2' Staniewicz had previously been working with the mod toolset for Neverwinter Nights. That meant he already had experience navigating KOTOR2's engine.
His initial focus was finishing a mod to bring cut planet M4-78 back into the main game. That's the droid planet where players were supposed to originally find Jedi Master Lonna Vash hiding from the Sith threat stalking Jedi across the galaxy.
Progress on restoring the M4-78 file was halted while Staniewicz was waiting for a writer to return scripts. So he moved on to begin work on what would become the Restored Content Mod.
'Another group that was making a restoration mod was taking years to release anything, and I knew I could have done what they were trying to do much faster,' he recalled. 'I met this other guy in the modding community [DarthStoney] that shared my sentiments and we just went for it.'
Originally, Staniewicz and his team planned to fix one planet at a time and release them accordingly as they were completed. Once the team finished working on Nar Shaddaa, however, they decided to keep going and release their work as one large mod encompassing all the cut content.
As development went on, Staniewicz started looking for more people to help get the project across the finish line. A modder named Hassat Hunter was brought in to perform beta testing and eventually began assisting with development. And another modder named VarsityPuppet was brought in to troubleshoot issues with that incomplete HK-50 Factory, putting together the unfinished second half of the mission.
This kind of modding was far from a direct process. Even something as simple as changing the location of an NPC required going into the game, finding the character, writing down the coordinates, then leaving the game and inputting and modifying the coordinates in a modding tool, as Staniewicz described it. But that mod tool gives no indication if the process worked, so the modders had to start the game back up and find the NPC's new location to see if they had succeeded.
'With what was left in the game files, the dialogue worked, but there was no ending,' Staniewicz explained. So they put the final sequences of the factory mission together to fit the available dialogue from the factory and Malachor V.
After releasing a few versions of the RCM, Staniewicz stepped away from the project while the team was fixing problems with the game's random loot system, saying he believed he no longer had substantial feedback to offer during the process. The involvement of the other team members meant progress never ground to a halt, though. 'If it was just me and Stoney… we probably would have stopped way sooner,' Staniewicz said.
The Restored Content Mod entered open beta in 2009. It has more than 400,000 subscribers on the Steam Workshop.
Putting on a disguise
Not all KOTOR2 mods are so intricate. Effix, who has posted more than 60 mods on Steam since 2010, focuses instead on more cosmetic changes. That can mean everything from changing a companion's hair color to turning Hanharr, a darkside specific Wookiee companion, into a pink 'Care Bear.'
'There was someone who suggested it, and a few others were also on board with the idea or daring me to [make the Care Bear mod],' Effix said. 'I don't think they expected me to make work of it, but to me that was extra funny to turn that idea into an actual mod.'
Other work by Effix includes mods allowing the player to replace their standard human head with alien variants like the ancient Rakatan or dark Darth Malak. 'The technical term [for these mods] is ‘disguise' because that's the name of the [in-game] item property that lets you take on another appearance,' Effix said. 'A lot of things from KOTOR [like disguises] were left in KOTOR2's files, even though they might not make an appearance in the game.'
The bulk of Effix's work, he said, is done through Fred Tetra's 'KOTOR Tool,' a simple utility for editing modules, images, wire models, character appearances, dialogue, and items in the game. Focusing on these elements has helped Effix to retain his enthusiasm for modding the game, he said, as has concentrating on projects that are 'fairly bite-sized' when compared to others. 'I like doing retextures because I like giving something a new look, and for me it's pretty straightforward. I'm not that into more complex things like scripts, adding new areas, new 3D models and animations.'
'Making mods for a game that you really enjoy is great fun, so that's my motivation,' he added. 'It's also satisfying to get positive feedback from people who use your mods and also are passionate about the same game. For me it's a fun and relaxing hobby. It's cool to create things and see your creation in a Star Wars game, and I get a lot of positive feedback from the community.'
Listing image by Effix
It's Star Wars day, and what better way to celebrate than by looking back at the two most popular games in the GameFront mod library, in the Knights of the Old Republic series?
Whether you're a veteran or a newcomer, your KOTOR experience isn't complete without mods. To help you out, we've assembled this list of ten essential mods you shouldn't play these games without. Note that this isn't strictly a list of the best mods, but rather the mods that you shouldn't do without.
Knights of the Old Republic Mods
Brotherhood of Shadow: Solomon's Revenge
This mod is essentially a fan-made expansion pack, boasting an epic storyline which encompasses new quests, new party members, new fully voiced characters, new items, and new areas, adding hours of additional gameplay to KOTOR.
It even includes custom-modeled areas in addition to reskins of existing location models, and has been executed, overall, with a high level of polish.
Bastila Romance Enhancement
I don't know how prudish the developers thought we are, but the whole fade to black before even seeing characters kiss is a degree of unnecessary censorship that can only be explained as a cop-out to avoid animating a kissing scene. Here's a mod that actually shows some kissing during Bastila's romance scene, and it includes a vital fix to a bug that could prevent the romance path from progressing entirely after the scene.
K1 Force Pack (2.0)
This mod adds 18 distinct Force powers to the game, available during character level-up. Seven of these are lightsaber forms, and the rest are regular powers, with 4 Light Side powers, 4 Universal powers, and 3 Dark Side powers.
As the mod effectively doubles the total number of selectable Force powers, the author vastly increased the number of powers that can be chosen each level-up to allow players to make use of the new powers. Some balance tweaks are included as well, such as slightly increased opponent difficulty and the elimination of cross-class skill penalties.
Enhanced Merchants for K1
Here's a mod that makes merchants more useful. 90% of all the merchants you see will carry both a greater quantity of items in general, as well as a greater amount of useful items. A veteran KOTOR player can easily rack up more credits than he can spend — this mod seeks to fix that.
Super Skip Taris
Fed up of having to go through the Taris sequence every time you replay KOTOR? This mod allows you to skip Endar Spire, skip Taris while taking the Light Side options, skip Taris while taking the Dark Side options, all without sacrificing what you would normally lose by skipping the content.
That means you receive all the items you would have otherwise received, all party members, Dark Side or Light Side points, experience points, and credits.
Knights of the Old Republic II Mods
90SK's SUPER Content Mod
What better way to kick off this list than with a content mod? Not just any content mod, mind you — a SUPER content mod. Ps2 bios usa 77001 v.2006.nvm. This massive content mod revamps the SWTOR 2′s armor and robes while also adding new encounters, merchants, items, character portraits, and more.
Some of the new baddies are even fully-voiced, and the new dialogue is quality material. Look for new merchants on Nar Shadaa and Onderon.
Ultimate Saber Mod
Best Mods For Kotor 1
No, I'm not just picking mods with the words 'super' or 'ultimate' in them. This saber mod adds 36 new lightsaber hilt models to the game, enhancing your saber customization options. All of the important Jedi and Sith NPC's in the game will also be sporting the new lightsaber hilts.
Skip Peragus
Want to get to Telos in under 15 minutes? This mod allows you to skip through the vast majority of Peragus and even acquire a lightsaber, color crystals, and a pair of weak Jedi Robes — essential for second, third, of twelfth playthrough.
KOTOR and TSL Save Game Editor
Save game editors aren't just for 'cheating.' This one allows you to do so much more than alter your attributes, skills, feats, Force Powers, and equipment. You can do those things, of course, but you can also change your character's name, your class, your appearance, the names, classes and appearance of your companions, and much, much more.
TSL Restored Content Mod
Apparently, a fair amount of content was cut from Knights of the Old Republic II, and this mod restores that missing content.
There are complete story arcs, each planet has some added content, you have party interaction, Dantooine is much more complete and the Battle is even more epic. There is also the much vaunted HK factory and new high quality voice-overs.
Star Wars Kotor Mod
To quote from the trailer:
There was once a game. And it was released to the public incomplete, and left broken.
Now… it has been made whole.
(Cue dramatic music)
Kotor Mods Steam
