Orcs Must Die! 2

Orcs Must Die!
Orcs Must Die!	2011
Orcs Must Die! 2	2012
Orcs Must Die! Unchained	2017
Orcs Must Die! 3	2021

Orcs Must Die! 2 is a singleplayer and multiplayer third-person action and shooter game in the Orcs Must Die! series.

General information

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
GamersGate

Steam		Download free demo: `steam://install/215020`
Origin (unavailable)

All versions require Steam DRM. A non-Steam version is available in China on Tencent Games Platform.

Owners of Orcs Must Die! get the Classic Levels DLC for free, which contains levels from original game revamped to support co-op and new enemy types.

Monetization

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
Fire and Water Booster Pack
Family Ties Booster Pack
Are We There Yeti?

Essential improvements

Skip intro videos

Go to `<path-to-game>\data\ui\video` and delete `Robot.usm`^[1]

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\data\startup\user.cfg^{[Note 1]}
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/201790/pfx/^{[Note 2]}

Must be created by user. For more information see Extra configurations.

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<Steam-folder>\userdata\<user-id>\201790\remote
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/201790/pfx/^{[Note 2]}

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Origin
Steam Cloud

Video

Video settings menu.

Gameplay settings including options effecting graphical quality.

Graphics feature	State	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen		Vert-. Use Flawless Widescreen to fix FOV.^[2]
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)		Use Flawless Widescreen.
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed		Native option called Full Window.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		MSAA^{(2x, 4x & 8x)}
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS
120+ FPS		Capped at 84 FPS by default; see High frame rate.
High dynamic range display (HDR)		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

High frame rate

Create user.cfg with desired FPS lock^[3]

Go to <path-to-game>\data\startup and create a file named user.cfg.
Write ForceFPS=# and change # to the desired frame rate.

Notes

Game seems to feature frame rate smoothing to keep frame rate steady. To get best results, change value little higher than the monitor's refresh rate.

If the frame rate jumps too much, the mouse may behave unexpectedly (set mouse polling rate to 125). To solve the mouse sensitivity issue, use the following command line argument: sudo chmod o-r /dev/input/js*^{[citation needed]}

Input

Key rebinding.

Shows the Xbox 360 prompts if the controller is connected even if keyboard and mouse is used.

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion		Under Gameplay options.
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support		The game has to be run in using Steam Big Picture in order to type in a character name.
Controller remapping		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion		Shared with mouse.

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers

PlayStation controllers

Generic/other controllers

Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
Digital movement supported
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Audio

Sound settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Master, music, effects and voice.
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Polish
Brazilian Portuguese
Russian
Spanish

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Players	Notes
Local play	2	Co-op Use Nucleus Co-op.
LAN play
Online play	2	Co-op

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP

Ports

Protocol	Port(s) and/or port range(s)
UDP	3478, 4379, 4380

This game supports Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) for automatic port configuration.

VR support

3D modes	State	Notes
vorpX		G3D User created game profile, see vorpx forum profile introduction.

Issues fixed

"Mic in use by game"

Orcs Must Die! 2 uses a native in-game voice chat system which disables the Steam voice chat and is also of lower quality than the Steam voice chat.^[4]

Easy method^[5]

Go to <path-to-game>\data\startup and create a file named user.cfg
Write -voice
Save the changes.

Notes

This disables the voice system.

Disable in-game voice chat^[6]

Extract data.zip!\startup\game.cfg located in {{folderw<path-to-game>}}
Open the file in a text editor and navigate to the following lines:
```
-PushToTalk
-DuckOnVoiceComm
```
Comment out these lines by entering a double forward slash in front of them, like so:
```
//-PushToTalk
//-DuckOnVoiceComm
```
Save the changes and put the file back into the data.zip archive.

Notes

Once in-game, an 'X' over the microphone icon under the character portrait will be shown, allowing Steam voice chat to be used.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9.0c

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Physics	PhysX
Audio	FMOD
Interface	Scaleform	3.3.92
Multiplayer	Steamworks

Extra configurations

Some elements of the game can be customized by creating a user.cfg file and adding notes into it.

Create user.cfg^[7]

Go to <path-to-game>\data\startup and create a text file called user.cfg.
Edit user.cfg and add options from the list below to change the settings:
NoAlienFX

Use this option to turn off the AlienFX lighting effects on Alienware Computers. This may also help with game launch issues that some Alienware users are experiencing.

–voice

Be sure the minus sign is included or this command won't work. Use this to completely disable in-game voice chat. Disabling the in-game voice chat will allow players to use the Steam voice chat instead, should they choose to.

HideCrosshair

For players that want to play in 3D, this option will turn off the 2D reticule.

SwapOnBind

Instead of unbinding a key when you set it in the game menus to a key that's already in use, the game will swap with the key that was previously mapped.

-sound

Completely disables game sounds

DoNotPostToLeaderboards

Prevents your scores from posting to the leaderboards

EnableBloodMapToggle

This allows you to toggle the blood map (at any time) using “L” key in-game or a custom keybind

ForceFPS=##

This will force the game to use a desired number of frames per second. Replace ## with the desired number.
Save the file and launch the game.

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	XP, Vista, 7
Processor (CPU)	2 GHz dual-core
System memory (RAM)	2 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	9 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce 6800 ATI Radeon x1950 256 MB of VRAM DirectX 9.0c compatible

Notes

↑ When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data (use Wine regedit to access Windows registry paths). Games with Steam Cloud support may store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/201790/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (201790) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References

↑ Skipping Intro in Orcs Must Die 2 - Steam Users' Forums (retrieved)
↑ Orcs Must Die 2 21:9 Review (2560x1080) (60fps) (Ultrawide) - YouTube - last accessed on May 2023
↑ How do I create a user.cfg file for Orcs Must Die! 2? – Robot Entertainment Help Center
↑ "Mic in use by game" - Steam Users' Forums (retrieved)
↑ How do I disable in-game voice chat for Orcs Must Die! 2? – Robot Entertainment Help Center - last accessed on 9 June 2023
↑ Figured out how to disable in-game voice chat. Maybe this will be useful to others? - Steam Users' Forums (retrieved)
↑ How do I create a user.cfg file for Orcs Must Die! 2? – Robot Entertainment Help Center - last accessed on 9 June 2023

[gamedir-2] When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).

[Proton_path_note-3] 2.0 ^2.1 File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data (use Wine regedit to access Windows registry paths). Games with Steam Cloud support may store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/201790/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (201790) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

[1] Skipping Intro in Orcs Must Die 2 - Steam Users' Forums (retrieved)

[4] Orcs Must Die 2 21:9 Review (2560x1080) (60fps) (Ultrawide) - YouTube - last accessed on May 2023

[5] How do I create a user.cfg file for Orcs Must Die! 2? – Robot Entertainment Help Center

[6] "Mic in use by game" - Steam Users' Forums (retrieved)

[7] How do I disable in-game voice chat for Orcs Must Die! 2? – Robot Entertainment Help Center - last accessed on 9 June 2023

[8] Figured out how to disable in-game voice chat. Maybe this will be useful to others? - Steam Users' Forums (retrieved)

[9] How do I create a user.cfg file for Orcs Must Die! 2? – Robot Entertainment Help Center - last accessed on 9 June 2023

[1]

[Note 1]

[Note 2]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

Developers

	Robot Entertainment
Engines
	Vision
Release dates
Windows	July 30, 2012
Reception
Metacritic	83
IGDB	82
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase, DLC
Microtransactions	None
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Third-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Action, Shooter
Art styles	Cartoon
Themes	Fantasy
Series	Orcs Must Die!