Half-Life 2: Episode Two

Half-Life 2: Episode Two

Developers   Valve Corporation

Engines   Source

Release dates Windows October 9, 2007 OS X May 26, 2010 Linux May 9, 2013

Half-Life

Half-Life	1998
Half-Life: Opposing Force	1999
Half-Life: Blue Shift	2001
Half-Life: Decay (unofficial port/mod)	2001
Half-Life: Source	2004
Half-Life 2	2004
Half-Life 2: Deathmatch	2004
Half-Life 2: Lost Coast	2005
Half-Life Deathmatch: Source	2006
Half-Life 2: Episode One	2006
Half-Life 2: Episode Two	2007
Black Mesa (unofficial mod)	2012

Key points

Runs on low end hardware.

General information

Unofficial Half-Life Wiki

GitHub Issue Tracker for Half-Life 2: Episode Two and other Source-based games

Steam Community Discussions

Steam Users' Forums

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys
Green Man Gaming
Steam
Retail

Soundtrack is available for free in here.

All versions require Steam.

Essential improvements

Skip intro videos

-novid Find Half-Life 2: Episode Two in your Steam Library Right-click the game name Select Properties Select Set Launch Options... Input -novid Press OK Launch the game

Mods

For popular mods, see ModDB's "Half-Life 2: Episode Two Mods" section.

Installing Source Mods

Installing from Desura Install the Desura client. Mods installed from Desura and ModDB go through this client. See individual mods for their specific instructions. Once the modification is installed, restart Steam. The modification should now show up in your Steam library. If a mod doesn't work you, you may need to install the Source SDK from Steam.

Research and Development

Research and Development is a Source Mod that requires Episode Two, download it from ModDB.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

	Location
Steam	<Steam-folder>/SteamApps/common/Half-Life 2/ep2/cfg/

This game does not support the XDG Base Directory Specification on Linux.

Save game data location

	Location
Steam	<Steam-folder>/SteamApps/common/Half-Life 2/ep2/save/

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Steam Cloud		Syncs save games and settings.
GameSave Manager

Video settings

In-game general video settings.

In-game advanced video settings.

Graphics option	Option	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
Field of view (FOV)		75-90 FOV. See Field of view (FOV).
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed		See Borderless fullscreen windowed.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Vertical sync (Vsync)
Oculus Rift		Available under Video Settings. See Oculus Rift for more information.
High frame rate		No frame rate or refresh rate cap.

Field of view (FOV)

• 

  75 FOV

• 

  90 FOV

Borderless fullscreen windowed

-window -noborder Find Half-Life 2: Episode Two in your Steam Library Right-click the game name Select Properties Select Set Launch Options... Input -window -noborder Press OK Launch the game

Oculus Rift

By default VR mode will run full screen, to switch back to a borderless windowed set the vr_force_windowed convar.

Input settings

In-game key map settings.

In-game mouse/gamepad settings.

Keyboard and mouse	Native	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support
Controller remapping
Controller Y-axis inversion

Audio settings

In-game audio settings.

Audio options	Native	Notes
Separate volume controls		Over-all game volume and separate music slider.
Surround sound		7.1, 5.1 surround sound, 4 speaker surround.
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost		"Silence the audio while the game window is in the background" check box.
EAX support

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	CC	Notes
English
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
Danish
Dutch
Finnish
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Norwegian
Polish
Portuguese
Russian
Spanish
Swedish

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
LAN play
Online play		10	Use Synergy.

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting		See Documentation: Dedicated Servers.
Direct IP

Issues fixed

Purple and black broken textures

A generic fix for this issue can be found on our Source engine page.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	6, 7, 8, 8.1, 9
OpenGL	2.1	OS X and Linux only.
Shader Model support	2, 3
64-bit executable		OS X and Linux only.[citation needed]

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Physics	Havok	Heavily modified variant.
Audio	Miles Sound System
Cutscenes	Bink Video

Console commands

Games running on the Source engine can utilize Source Engine Console Commands for various tasks.

Enabling the console in Source games Launch the game From the main menu select Options Select the Keyboard tab Click the Advanced button Check the box next to Enable developer console (~) Click Apply Notes: Press ~ to open the console. Some commands may first require you enabling sv_cheats. You can do so with sv_cheats 1. Users without a US keyboard could experience some problems.

You can also have the console open by default on launch by following this guide:

-console Find the game in your Steam Library Right-click the game name Select Properties Select Set Launch Options... Input -console Press OK Launch the game

Launch options

View this Steam Support Article regarding launch options as well as the relevant Valve Developer wiki page for further information and a list of useful Source engine launch options.

Enabling a launch parameter Find the game in your Steam Library Right-click the game name Select Properties Select Set Launch Options... Input your selected launch options and separate each command with a space Press OK Launch the game

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	XP, Vista, 7
Processor (CPU)	1.7 GHz
System memory (RAM)	512 MB	1 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	4.6 GB
Video card (GPU)	NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700 ATI Radeon 9500 128 MB of VRAM	NVIDIA GeForce 6800 ATI Radeon X800

OS X
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	10.5.8, 10.6.3
Processor (CPU)	1.7 GHz
System memory (RAM)	1 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	4.6 GB
Video card (GPU)	NVIDIA GeForce 8 Intel HD 3000