oneeyedhobbit Posted August 23, 2004 Report Share Posted August 23, 2004 Hey people, I've been posting on various forums and trying to get a straight up answer to this, but no one has been able to give me a definite answer. I've tried driver heaven, Dell's forums, and one other techie forum--hopefully someone here can give me a straight up answer. A short while ago, I discovered the wonder that is Star Wars: KOTOR. I absolutely fell in love with the game. Now, normally I prefer a console, but not having space at college, PC gaming via my Dell laptop is the only route. Here are the computer specs: Dell Inspiron 5150 P-4, 3.06Ghz 512 MB RAM 60GB 7200 rpm hard drive Onboard Sound Nvidia GeForceFX 5200 Go Native resolution on my LCD is 1600x1200, but I'm definitely not expecting to play the game at this resolution. Now, several people have told me I won't be able to play this game at a good resolution/with good graphics, unless I knock it down to 640x480 or 800x600, something like that. That would obviously not be cool on my LCD. I contaced Lucasarts' tech support, and was told that they have never tested the game on a mobile system with my specific card, or any mobile card for that matter. He informed me, however, that my driver was out of date. I went direct to Nvidia and through Dell, but my driver was still unsupported for KOTOR. Now, some people have suggested I get a driver from either or , I'm told either of these will be a driver update comparable to what Nvidia has released for desktop, and that I can even clock things more for speed than performance. So, my question(s): 1) With either of those drivers, can I play KOTOR at reasonably good graphics on my computer (reasonably good meaning, say, 1028x760 resolution (at least), most settings moderate (i.e. texture details, etc.), and probably no antialiasing (AA) or anisiotropic filtering (AF)? 2) Is either of these drivers technically superior to the other? Is one recommended more than the other? Is there one on either site that is especially recommended for my notebook? 3) Because I'm clueless and this is my first foray into driver tweaks, how do I set either of those alternate drivers up? Omegadrivers offers a .exe, while Laptopvideo2go offers .exes and ini files, I think. Be brutally honest with me, please. I would love to be able to play the game, but I'd rather hear people tell me I can't than a wishy-washy maybe it'll be a go and then waste $20. Sorry for the extremely long post, but thanks for all of your help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oneeyedhobbit Posted August 23, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2004 Hmm--anyway to change my title to reflect that I'm interested especially/specifically in KOTOR (Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic)? i've seen several other threads basically titled the same, but with a different focus. That being said, I could really use some help/advice/opinions! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSudlow Posted August 23, 2004 Report Share Posted August 23, 2004 I'm quite sure your machine will play the game, but I don't know if it will run at 1600x1200. Many games have trouble at such high resolutions. As to speed, do you have the 32MB or 64MB version of the GF2Go? The 32MB version is almost worthless, but the 64MB version should at least be playable. If you want to be conservative, try driver version 61.77. If you want to experiment, I recommend the new driver, version 66.00. Pieter's INF is the best bet and allows overclocking. If you want to try my INF, tailored specifically for the Inspiron 5150, you can find it here. I've disabled the overclocking page but enabled every other tweak I know of. It's very stable with every game I've tried. Unfortunately that doesn't include KOTOR. And it's very easy to re-enable the overclocking page if you want. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oneeyedhobbit Posted August 23, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2004 I'm not expecting to make the 1600x1200, if I can make 1028x768 with around moderate settings, I'll be happy--1280x1024 would just be icing on the cake. Oh, and I have the 64MB 5200 Go. That being said, do I just download one of the inf's being recommended and the latest detonator driver, or one that has tested fast on 3DMark? If I can run the game reasonably (as you are suggesting), then I'll go ahead and order it, I could just use some help determining which drivers and inf files to use. I care more about stability than raw power, but would still like to be able to get the best (stable) graphics/speed available to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSudlow Posted August 24, 2004 Report Share Posted August 24, 2004 See my PM reply, but in general you are on the right track and your goals (the best speed and stability you can get) are exactly why we started this site. Both of the drivers I mentioned are quite fast and stable. 66.00 seems solid, but if you want to be a bit more conservative, you won't go wrong with 61.77. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Posted August 24, 2004 Report Share Posted August 24, 2004 Try running the game at 800x600 res with high graphics settings or close to it, once you find some good drivers. 800x600 does not get distorted when it is scaled to fit a 1600x1200 screen, unlike 1280x1024 or 1024x768, plus it runs faster than them. :) Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andru123 Posted August 24, 2004 Report Share Posted August 24, 2004 Please post useful info to public, not PM it! :) Why did not I get 64 mb??? :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSudlow Posted August 24, 2004 Report Share Posted August 24, 2004 andru123, check with Dell on the price of the 64MB replacement card. They're very affordable. If you're into games at all, it's definitely worth it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oneeyedhobbit Posted September 1, 2004 Author Report Share Posted September 1, 2004 (edited) Success! I got KOTOR today, using 61.77 with Larry's personal inf has been working great. Right now my settings are at 800x600 with all graphics settings maxed save AA (2x) and AF (2x), and she runs smoothly! Quick question though--someone mentioned scaling on my LCD. Will it really look better at 800x600 versus, say, 1024x768? Oh, and how high do you think I can push the AA/AF > :) (home made :) smiley, for lack of real one--no, I'm normally not an emoticon driven teen, but it seemed apt). Edited September 9, 2004 by dontknow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSudlow Posted September 1, 2004 Report Share Posted September 1, 2004 Now the fun begins! Try various combinations and see what you like best. It's purely personal preference from here on out. Enjoy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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