Breathe new life into the galaxy far, far away

International Star Wars Day is one of our favorite holidays, and a big reason for that is the dozens of ways to celebrate it. One option is to play through the catalog of exceptional video games set in the galaxy far, far away. Of all the games to choose from, two stand out — Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2 — a duo of classic RPGs from Bioware and Obsidian that redefined the genre in 2003 and 2004. Both of these classics received mobile ports in the last few years. However, one thing, sets them apart from other mobile games — mods. These Android ports use the same file system as their PC counterparts, opening up the world of modding to mobile players.

Why would you want to install mods? Although many would argue that these games have aged like a fine wine, there's no denying that they look and feel their age. Mods won't make the game look like something from the last five years, but improved textures and character models go a long way towards making the games feel fresh. Many fans have created new weapons and armor, quest lines, and even planets to explore. In the case of Knights of the Old Republic 2 (KOTOR 2), there's an important reason to mod the game — it will let you play the whole thing.

KOTOR 2 endured an infamously rushed development, leading to a massive portion of the game being cut in order to get it out the door on time. This happened late enough in development that the files for the cut content were hidden on the disc when the game shipped, and those extraneous bits included a lot of dialogue from the voice actors. Fans in the modding community quickly got to work. Several years later, The Sith Lords Recovered Content Mod was released, restoring the missing story beats to the game, improving something already revered as one of the greatest games of all time. This mod is fully compatible with the Android version of the game, and we highly recommend installing it.

The first thing you'll need is a files app. Our app of choice is Solid Explorer, but alternatives like ES File Explorer will work fine. The built-in files apps from Google and Samsung won't cut it as they don't provide access to the folders we need. Once you have your files app, you'll need to grant it some permissions before you can install any mods:

Fear not if you'd prefer not to let third-party apps access these folders. You can connect your device to a PC via USB and use File Explorer to install your mods.

With that out of the way, it's time to download some mods. They're available from many different places, but we recommend Nexus Mods. It's been around for a long time and has become the default platform for modding. It's safe, easy to use, and whatever mod you're looking for is almost guaranteed to be there.

Each mod will provide instructions on how to install it and whether or not other mods are required for them to run. Just note that if it offers automatic installation, you'll need to ignore that and use the manual method. The instructions for installing each mod will differ based on what it does, so you'll be sorting through several folders in the game's directory. I recommend backing up your saves before you start installing anything to be safe. We'll be using the file directory "com.aspyr.swkotor," which corresponds to the first game for this tutorial. For the second game, look for the "com.aspyr.swkotorii" directory. The instructions for backing up your saves are the same for both games.

Where you back them up is your choice. If you're connected to a PC, you can copy and paste them to its hard drive or use the files app's share function to upload them to Google Drive. Whichever you choose, your current progress is safe if anything goes wrong and you have to reinstall the game.

As we said before, the method for installing each mod will vary based on what it does. Some will require pasting files into existing folders, and others will have you creating entirely new folders in the game's directory. Just make sure you read the mod's instructions, and everything will be fine. For this demonstration, we'll be installing the Recovered Content mod for Kotor 2. While we prefer Nexus Mods, the version needed here is only available from Deadly Stream as it had to be tweaked to function on mobile. Note that, unlike most mods, this one will require that you start the game again to use it.

Once you've completed these steps and everything is copied over, launch Knights of the Old Republic 2. You should see "The Sith Lords restored content modification" in the main menu under the title. That means the mod has been installed correctly, and you can enjoy the game as it was always intended.

So long as you follow the instructions provided with each mod and put the files exactly where they're supposed to go, you shouldn't have any problems modding Knights of the Old Republic 1 or 2. These mods breathe new life into these old games and are a testament to the community that continues to love them after all these years.

Once you've modded KOTR and are ready to venture to another galaxy, check out some of these incredible RPGs.

UK-based Android aficionado specializing in everything Samsung and Android. There's a 90% chance my articles will contain Spongebob or Transformers references. Current devices: Galaxy S21 Ultra Galaxy Watch4 Galaxy Buds/Buds+/Buds Pro Pixelbook iPad Pro 2020