STAR WARS™ Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast™

STAR WARS™ Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast™

177 ratings
Jedi Outcast tweaks (UPDATED 2023) no downloads required
By Lucas
This guide will help you make Jedi Outcast look/sound & play as good as possible with some simple tweaks to your autoexec.cfg file

I have updated this guide several times over the last few years as i have received feedback & also developed a better understanding of how the id Tech 3 engine works
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Creating an Autoexec.cfg
The default location for the jk2config.cfg file is
\Steam\steamapps\common\Jedi Outcast\GameData\base\jk2config.cfg

Once you locate jk2config.cfg create a copy of the file & rename it to autoexec.cfg this will allow you to simply paste in the lines you want to use from the guide, open the autoexec.cfg file with WordPad to begin adding the command lines.

make sure you keep the autoexec.cfg file in this location Steam\steamapps\common\Jedi Outcast\GameData\base\
Generic Tweaks
The following commands are pretty generic which should benefit anyone regardless of your hardware configuration.

seta r_allowExtensions "0"
seta r_ext_compress_textures "0"
seta r_ext_compress_lightmaps "0"
seta cl_mouseAccel "0"
seta r_ext_compiled_vertex_array "0"
seta r_picmip "0"
seta r_detailtextures "1"
seta r_texturebits "32"
seta r_texturebitslm "0"
seta r_colorbits "32"
seta r_stencilbits "8"
seta r_ext_gamma_control "0"
seta r_overBrightBits "0"
seta r_ignorehwgamma "1"
seta r_gamma "1"
seta r_intensity "1"
seta r_fullscreen "1"
seta r_lodCurveError "999"
seta r_lodbias "0"
seta r_dynamiclight "1"
seta r_dlightBacks "1"
seta r_textureMode "GL_NEAREST_MIPMAP_LINEAR"
seta r_ext_texture_filter_anisotropic "0"
seta r_ext_max_anisotropy "16"
seta cg_shadows "1"
seta s_khz "44"
seta s_mixahead "0.2"
seta s_mixPreStep "0.05"
seta s_soundpoolmegs "32"
seta m_filter "0"
seta use_ff "0"
seta r_primitives "2"
seta r_simpleMipMaps "1"
seta r_subdivisions "4"
seta r_depthbits "32"
seta r_ext_multitexture "1"
seta r_ext_texture_env_add "0"
seta r_finish "1"
seta in_mouse "-1"
seta cg_dynamiccrosshair "0"

NOTE:
the commands
seta r_textureMode "GL_NEAREST_MIPMAP_NEAREST"
gives a Software Rendered "pixelated" look but can cause aliasing in the distance

seta r_textureMode "GL_LINEAR_MIPMAP_NEAREST"
Applies Bi-linear filtering to textures but breaks the sky textures unless using 4:3 resolutions

seta r_textureMode "GL_LINEAR_MIPMAP_LINEAR"
Applies Tri-linear filtering to textures but breaks the sky textures unless using 4:3 resolutions

seta r_textureMode "GL_NEAREST_MIPMAP_LINEAR"
this is the best option imo as you get the sharpness in textures up close of the first command but also applies filtering to mipmaps which reduces the aliasing, also has the added benefit of not breaking the sky textures

NOTE:
Anisotropic Filtering is disabled above, if you want it enabled change
seta r_ext_texture_filter_anisotropic "0"
to
seta r_ext_texture_filter_anisotropic "1"
personally i think it looks better disabled but thats purely based on my distaste for filtered textures on older games

NOTE:
Additive Blending in Multitexturing is disabled above, if you want it enabled change
seta r_ext_texture_env_add "0"
to
seta r_ext_texture_env_add "1"
again i think it looks better disabled as its another filter for textures but its only a personal preference of mine
Custom Resolution (widescreen etc)
I use the following for a 120hz 2560x1440 16:9 display, change yours accordingly, its usually a good idea to have these lines at the bottom of the list


seta com_maxfps "85"
seta r_customwidth "2560"
seta r_customheight "1440"
seta r_mode "-1"
vid_restart

NOTE
changing the maxfps above or below 85 will affect the physics in the game, alot of people prefer 125 as it allows you to jump further/higher but i prefer to play the way the devs intended (again a personal preference)

FOV (Field of View)
FOV is a personal preference but the game uses a default of 80 based off of a horizontal degree 4:3 aspect ratio, ive added how this will scale to different aspect ratios

4:3
seta cg_fov "80"

16:10
seta cg_fov "90"

16:9
seta cg_fov "96"

21:9
seta cg_fov "112"

NOTE: enter the chosen line above your resolution commands in the autoexec.cfg file or it may not work
Cropped Weapons
to fix the cropped weapons while using a 16:9 resolution the following must be entered into the console manually, to enter the console hold SHIFT then ` (tilde key next to 1) this cant be added into the .cfg file as it doesnt work on new games & can cause issues with cutscenes crashing

helpusobi "1"
seta cg_gunx "3"
seta cg_guny "-1"

not sure if this also works for 21:9 or 16:10 resolutions as it may require adjusting

NOTE: the "helpusobi" command is to enable cheats & may not work on multiplayer servers

if all this seems like too much trouble, you can simply go to PCgamingWiki & read the instructions for the game there as they have a few different methods for fixing the gun fov
EAX Surround Sound
If you have a Creative Labs EAX surround sound setup.

seta s_UseOpenAL "1"
Screenshots
Here is a video demonstrating how the game looks

Here is a few screenshots
46 Comments
Risenzealot 18 Jun @ 2:41pm 
I tried this and while it's in 4k now my screen is zoomed in and I only see like the top third of the entire game. No idea how to explain it really. It's just zoomed in to the top left basically.
Bobfranklinhippyflower 6 Jun @ 2:00pm 
Hey, I followed the guide step by step, even took care of the compatability and DPI issues and my game still looks blurry and low res, super aliased. I'm on a 1080p native monitor but set the resolution to 4K, hoping it would fix the issue, but there doesn't seem to be any change at all. Your screenshots look so clean and sharp, and I can't seem to figure why the settings don't seem to be working on my end. Any ideas? Thank you
teatotler206 2 Dec, 2024 @ 9:17pm 
Star Wars: Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast is unplayable on Steam. I downloaded it and would not play.
Lucas  [author] 21 Nov, 2024 @ 3:28pm 
Fair enough, sometimes making changes to the settings ingame can cause issues, its usually best to make any ingame changes first before creating the autoexec file
Blood Prince 16 Nov, 2024 @ 3:44am 
it is vanilla, straight from steam, i haven't touched it in any other way, thats why i couldn't understand what was going on, anyways i really just wanted custom resolution, added tweaks would've been nice, but since that apparently can't happen, i'm just sticking with the resolution changes unless something gets fucked up further down the line as i'm playing
Lucas  [author] 16 Nov, 2024 @ 3:27am 
This method works on vanilla Jedi Outcast, if you have installed any mods or are using a sourceport like Openjk then that could be the cause
Blood Prince 16 Nov, 2024 @ 3:24am 
okay i completely abandoned the generic tweaks and focused solely on the custom resolution and FOV commands (didn't bother with an autoexec either, just set the main file to read only) and the character models and shit look normal, so most likely theres something in the generic tweaks that i either got wrong multiple times without knowing or theres a wrong value there or something
Blood Prince 15 Nov, 2024 @ 11:52pm 
i don't know if this is working correctly, the opening cinematic has the textures still looking pretty terrible, and the actual character models look really bad, especially the face, like its as a super low graphics setting, and the actual game settings look to be set pretty low so i don't know if the file is actually overiding the original config file like it should, getting rid of the autoexec makes the character models go back to normal so i don't know if theres a tweak or something like the custom resolution thats causing the issue
Lucas  [author] 15 Nov, 2024 @ 2:58am 
I need abit more info in order to help, when you click play does the game start up? Or does nothing happen at all? also have you edited any of the .cfg files?
teatotler206 10 Nov, 2024 @ 9:23pm 
I saw the title of this thread and wondered if it meant that there is new or updated version of this game where it's the same objectives, but new features. Maybe that would help people play this game. I installed this game back in July, but it won't run. I do appreciate & ask for any assistance.