First thing's first. I can't seem to use 1280x1024 as a resolution on the Steam version. I only have 800x600 and 1024x768. I used swconfig.exe, and clicked Scan Hardware, and it complains about the reported NVIDIA driver. I'm on Kubuntu 12.04 and use the official NVIDIA driver that's in the Ubuntu repos.
Also, it has a warning about my CPU, which is an Intel i5 Quad Core 2.8 GHz, and it says that a 1.6 GHz CPU is recommended, which confuses me as my CPU is clearly better than that. The report apparently clocked my CPU at 1.2 GHz, so I guess that explains that, at least in part.
The video report looks like this:
[Video]
Video Card Name=Error -- []
Video Memory=512
Desktop Resolution=0x0x0
DirectX=DirectX (9.0+) (4.09.00.0904)
OpenGL Version=3.3.0 NVIDIA 295.40
OpenGL Vendor=NVIDIA Corporation
OpenGL Renderer=GeForce GT 240/PCIe/SSE2
NVidia Driver=(null)
Vid Card Status=Warning
Vid Card Driver Status=Fail
GL Status=Pass
DX Status=Pass
I think this may be why I can't get 1280x1024 in KOTOR, but I don't know how or if I can fix it. Also, my video card has 1 Gig of VRAM, not 512 Meg.
All other Steam games I own run at 1280x1024, except Morrowind GOTY which runs at 1280x960.
As for the menu issues, it seems to be commonplace that the main menu won't respond to my mouse until I click the X on the window, which makes the confirmation prompt come up. I click Cancel on that, then I can use the menu. It's really weird and makes me wonder what I would do if this happens when I'm at full-screen. (Going full-screen at 1024x768 caused the game to freeze.)