The old republic era in general goes from 25,053 BBY to 1000 BBY.
But when exactly does the game take place in relation to Episode 1 of the Star Wars Movie Saga? Are any of the movie characters born yet? Is any of that known?
I normally listen to cutscenes and read quest text, but I don't recall any information about that and there seem to be no sort of books in the game that explain any background story / lore of the game.
Best Answer
It is set around 300 years after the events of KOTOR (placed at 3956 BBY), which puts it around 3600 years before the events of the original trilogy. 3653 BBY is the most common date, however the storyline of the game expands both before and after that.
There are books that explain the back story of the game, as well as games. However, obviously these sources don't place themselves in time in relation to events that haven't happened yet.
The assumed oldest character from the movies, I think, is Yoda. He is around 2700 years away from being born at this point in the timeline.