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Serious Sam 2

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Serious Sam 2
Serious Sam 2 cover
Developers
Croteam
Maintenance Alligator Pit
Publishers
Former 2K Games
Current Devolver Digital
Re-release Sold Out Software
Russia 1C-SoftClub
Engines
Serious Engine 2
Release dates
Windows October 11, 2005
Reception
Metacritic 74
IGDB 78
Taxonomy
Monetization One-time game purchase
Modes Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing Real-time
Perspectives First-person, Third-person
Controls Direct control
Genres Action, Shooter
Vehicles Flight, Helicopter, Hovercraft
Art styles Stylized
Themes Comedy, Sci-fi, Space
Series Serious Sam
Serious Sam 2 on HowLongToBeat
Serious Sam 2 on IGDB
Serious Sam 2 on MobyGames
Serious Sam 2 on Wikipedia
Serious Sam: The First Encounter 2001
Serious Sam: The Second Encounter 2002
Serious Sam 2 2005
Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter 2009
Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter 2010
Serious Sam Double D 2011
Serious Sam: The Random Encounter 2011
Serious Sam 3: BFE 2011
Serious Sam: The Greek Encounter 2012
Serious Sam: Kamikaze Attack! 2012
Serious Sam VR (series)
Serious Sam Fusion 2017 EA
Serious Sam's Bogus Detour 2017
Serious Sam Classics: Revolution 2019
Serious Sam 4 2020
Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem 2022
Serious Sam: Tormental 2022

Warnings

GameSpy online services have been shut down (see Network for solutions).

Serious Sam 2 is a singleplayer and multiplayer first-person and third-person action and shooter game in the Serious Sam series.

The Steam version has been continually updated to fix bugs, add features for modern systems such as built-in widescreen and controller support, and also change the online multiplayer servers to Steamworks.[1][2] Additionally, a large quality-of-life update, version 2.090, was pushed to Steam in 2021 with features like sprinting and new radar, new maps, and fixes for bugs like profile corruption.[3]

General information

Bug Tracker
Seriously! Forums
Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
Disc check (requires the CD/DVD in the drive to play)
CD key
SecuROM 7 DRM disc check. 4 CDs or 1 DVD.
Windows
Humble Store
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Windows
Steam
Icon overlay.png
Windows
Amazon.com (unavailable)
Icon overlay.png
Windows
GamersGate (unavailable)
Icon overlay.png
Windows
A free demo version is available from Archive.org.

Essential improvements

Patches

Serious Sam II Patch 2.070. Do not install this if you have the German version as it can cause various problems due to the game's copy protection.[4] The Steam version also doesn't need this patch as it's already updated past this.

Unofficial Linux installer

flibitijibibo has made an unofficial installer that simplifies installation of the game on Linux. Download the installer here [1].
To run the game, just run serioussam2 in the installation folder. It may require privileges, so apply chmod +x to it first.
To run the editor, just run serioussam2-editor in the installation folder. It may require privileges, so apply chmod +x to it first.
To get audio working, move to <path-to-game> and make a symlink to the 32-bit libopenal.so. For Fedora, it looks like

ln -s /usr/lib/libopenal.so.1 libopenal.so.0.

Game data

In-game general settings.
In-game general settings.

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\Content\SeriousSam2\Sam2.ini[Note 1]
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/204340/pfx/[Note 2]

Save game data location

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\Content\SeriousSam2\PlayerProfiles\[Note 1]
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/204340/pfx/[Note 2]

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
Steam Cloud

Video

In-game general video settings.
In-game general video settings.
In-game advanced video settings (1/2).
In-game advanced video settings (1/2).
In-game advanced video settings (2/2).
In-game advanced video settings (2/2).

Graphics feature State WSGF Notes
Widescreen resolution
See Widescreen resolution.
Multi-monitor
See Widescreen resolution.
Ultra-widescreen
See Widescreen resolution.
4K Ultra HD
See Widescreen resolution.
Field of view (FOV)
See Field of view (FOV).
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Up to 16 samples.
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Up to 8x MSAA.[5]
Vertical sync (Vsync)
Can negatively affect performance in DX9 mode. See Very low FPS when activating Vsync in the game.[6]
60 FPS
Menu frame rate is capped at 33 FPS. Cutscenes are prerendered at 30 FPS.
120+ FPS
At high frame rates above 200fps physics and scripts break. See High FPS Issues.
High dynamic range display (HDR)
In-game HDR option refers only to HDR Rendering.

Widescreen resolution

Steam version has fixed aspect ratio support.[7] Non-standard resolutions still need to be edited manually and can't be selected in-game, but aspect ratio or FOV do not need to be adjusted for Hor+ ultrawide gameplay.
Fix widescreen support (Retail)[8]
  1. Edit <path-to-game>\Content\SeriousSam2\Sam2.ini.
  2. Locate the lines gfx_pixResWidth and gfx_pixResHeight.
  3. Set the values to the desired resolution width and height, respectively.
  4. Locate the line gfx_fAspectRatio.
  5. Set the value to the desired aspect ratio (Use 1.6 for 16:10, 1.777 for 16:9, 2.333 for 21:9).
  6. Save the file (Make sure "Wide Screen" option is enabled in-game).

Field of view (FOV)

Steam version has fixed widescreen FOV (and weapon FOV).[7]
Set custom FOV[8]
  1. Edit <path-to-game>\Content\SeriousSam2\Sam2.ini.
  2. Locate the line [Sam2Game].
  3. Add this line underneath it: plr_fFOVOverride = X;.
  4. Replace X with the desired FOV. Default is 80 and maximum is 135. Use 90.4 for 16:10 or 96.4 for 16:9.
  5. Save the file and set it to read only to prevent the game from changing it back.

Input

In-game general control settings.
In-game general control settings.
In-game key map settings.
In-game key map settings.
In-game gamepad settings.
In-game gamepad settings.

Mouse smoothing

Fixes mouse stuttering.
Fix mouse smoothing[9]
  1. Edit <path-to-game>\Content\SeriousSam2\Sam2.ini.
  2. Locate the line inp_bMouseSmoothing = 1;.
  3. Replace with inp_bMouseSmoothing = 0;.

Audio

In-game audio settings.
In-game audio settings.

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
EAX support

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
Croatian
Fan translation, download.
Italian
Retail only.
Polish
Fan translation, download.
Brazilian Portuguese
Fan translation, download.
Russian
Retail only. Patch for digital release here.
Spanish
Fan translation, download.
Turkish
Fan translation, download.

Network

Multiplayer types

Type Native Players Notes
Local play
4 Co-op, Versus
Use Nucleus Co-op.
LAN play
16 Co-op, Versus
6 players max for Co-op.
Online play
16 Co-op, Versus
6 players max for Co-op. To play online with non-Steam versions apply the Master Server Patch.

Connection types

Type Native Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP
Listed as "Specify server".

Ports

Protocol Port(s) and/or port range(s)
TCP 25600-25616
UDP 25600-25616
Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.

Issues fixed

Graphics problems or crashes

Set OpenGL renderer[8]
  1. Edit <path-to-game>\Content\SeriousSam2\Sam2.ini.
  2. Locate the line gfx_iAPI = 2;.
  3. Replace with gfx_iAPI = 1;.

Very low FPS when activating Vsync in the game

The game may lock itself to 32 FPS on modern operating systems due to broken 3D audio compatibility.
Use DirectSound 3D restoration software[citation needed]
Force in the graphics card control panel[citation needed]
Use dgVoodoo 2 wrapper instead of in-game VSync[citation needed]
  1. Download newest dgVoodoo 2 and extract where you want.
  2. Copy content from <dgVoodoo folder>\MS\x86\ to <path-to-game>\bin\.
  3. Start dgVoodooCpl.exe.
  4. Under Config folder / Running instance, click Add and choose <path-to-game>\bin\.
  5. In DirectX tab, under Miscellaneous check Force vSync and uncheck dgVoodoo Watermark.
  6. Click Apply.

Physics and scripts that break preventing the game from continuing

At high frame rates above 200 FPS, physics and scripts break.[10]
Limit the Framerate to 200FPS or lower[citation needed]
Enable Vsync in the Video Options and set refresh rate on 60 Hz[citation needed]

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 9
OpenGL 2.1
Shader Model support 1.1, 2
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Audio DirectSound, OpenAL
Multiplayer GameSpy, Steamworks

Console commands

Open the console (~ by default)
  • sam_iEnableCheats=1 - Enable Cheats
    • Press Esc and F1 to open the cheats window
  • hud_bShowPing = 1
  • hud_iShowBandwidth = 1
  • hud_bShowCrosshair = 1
  • sam_ctMaxDebris = 20
  • sam_bEnableRagdollDeaths = 0
  • prf_bShowFPS = 1
  • net_strConnectPassword = "password" - used to access password protected multiplayer games

Mods

Serious Sam 2: Renovation

Serious Sam 2: Renovation is a global cosmetic mod to ensure the most comfortable Serious Sam 2 experience possible.

InSamnity! 2

Made to give players tons of control over the Serious Sam experience.

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) XP or 2000
Processor (CPU) AMD Athlon XP 1.5 GHz
Intel Pentium 4 2.0 GHz
System memory (RAM) 256 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 3 GB
Video card (GPU) Nvidia GeForce 3
ATI Radeon 8500
S3 DeltaChrome or XGI Volari
DirectX 8.0 compatible
Sound (audio device) DirectSound compatible


Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 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. 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>/204340/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (204340) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References

  1. Steam official announcements - last accessed on May 2023
  2. Steam Community :: Group Announcements :: Serious Sam 2 - Yeehaaa! Serious Sam 2 now uses Steamworks for online play! - last accessed on May 2023
  3. Serious Sam 2 - Wait, what?! Serious Sam 2 Update 2.090 is Live! - Steam News - last accessed on 2023-09-02
  4. Serious Sam II Patch 2.070 Comments - last accessed on May 2023
  5. Serious Sam II : Screenshot Comparison - last accessed on May 2023
  6. PCGamingWiki user discussion - (Serious Sam 2 Vsync) Do not edit the article if you do not know about the topic - last accessed on 2023-10-23
    "I guess i've figured it out. Vsync only works only after a restart, so toggling it ingame doesn't have immediate effect. Using IndirectSound helps to get 60 fps at 60 Hz, but going higher (240 Hz in my case) still shows some performance loss (up to 50%). So anyway it's busted, better force Vsync from the GPU driver or other tools."
  7. 7.0 7.1 Steam Community :: Group Announcements :: Serious Sam 2
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 Serious Sam II | WSGF
  9. Steam Community :: Guide :: Serious Sam 2 Config/Tweak guide - last accessed on May 2023
  10. Steam Community - last accessed on 9 June 2023