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Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen 2

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen 2
Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen 2 cover
Developers
Crystal Dynamics
Windows Nixxes Software[1]
Publishers
2002-2009 Eidos Interactive
2009-2023 Square Enix
2023-present Crystal Dynamics
Retail re-release Sold Out Software
Release dates
Windows March 29, 2002
Reception
Metacritic 66
Taxonomy
Monetization One-time game purchase
Modes Singleplayer
Pacing Real-time
Perspectives Third-person
Controls Direct control
Genres Action
Themes Fantasy
Series Legacy of Kain
Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen 2 on HowLongToBeat
Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen 2 on IGDB
Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen 2 guide on StrategyWiki
Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen 2 on MobyGames
Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen 2 on Wikipedia
Legacy of Kain
Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain 1997
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1999
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2 2001
Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen 2 2002
Legacy of Kain: Defiance 2003
Nosgoth Cancelled

Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen 2 is a singleplayer third-person action game in the Legacy of Kain series.

The PC version lacks some effects from the Xbox and PlayStation 2 versions.

The game has compatibility issues on modern systems; use the Re-vamped patch to fix them.

General information

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series
GOG.com Support Page
Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Essential improvements

Patches

Patch 1.02 is the latest version. Digital distribution versions are already patched.

Re-vamped

Fixes crashes related to audio (no longer requires single core affinity) and the Bink video player.
Fully restores motion blur by improving the effect, replaces FSAA with MSAA, and adds support for aspect ratio at any resolution.
Adds compatibility with all DirectInput and XInput controllers.
Requires version 1.02 from GOG.com or Steam.

Blood Omen 2: Conceptual Edition

This project aims to restore cut content, solve various in-game issues, retexture most of the characters, tweak in-game elements and bring FMVs from the PlayStation 2 version in high quality with fixed widescreen aspect ratio.

Skip intro videos

Instructions
  1. Go to <path-to-game>\data.
  2. Delete or rename bo2intro.dat, crystal.dat and eidos.dat.

Extra setup dialog options

Add DWORD value
  1. With the Registry Editor, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Crystal Dynamics\Blood Omen 2.
  2. Create a new DWORD (32-bit) Value and rename it to ExtendedDialog.
  3. Change its value data from 0 to 1.
  4. Run the game and tick Show devtech options in the setup dialog.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Crystal Dynamics\Blood Omen 2\
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/242960/pfx/[Note 1]

Save game data location

System Location
Windows %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Blood Omen 2\Save *\
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/242960/pfx/[Note 1]

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
GOG Galaxy
OneDrive
Requires enabling backup of the Documents folder in OneDrive on all computers.
Steam Cloud

Video

Graphic Options
Graphic Options
Resolution Options
Resolution Options

Graphics feature State WSGF Notes
Widescreen resolution
Use Re-vamped or see the WSGF entry
Multi-monitor
Use Helix Mod: Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen 2
Ultra-widescreen
Use Re-vamped or see the WSGF entry
4K Ultra HD
Use Re-vamped
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed
Use Re-vamped
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Use Re-vamped or see WSGF topic
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Vertical sync (Vsync)
Run bo2.exe with -setup command line argument and tick Sync to refresh
60 FPS
120+ FPS
Exceeding the range of 900-1000 FPS slows down the main menu a lot and causes glitches (brief teleportation and a bit of blocking) that occur when touching walls or other geometrical elements. Use Re-vamped to prevent these issues.

Input

Control Options
Control Options
Rebindable keys
Rebindable keys

Keyboard and mouse State Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Acceleration is always on
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support
Can be played with controller.
Keyboard and mouse are necessary to access the main and pause menus.
Controller remapping
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion
Controller types
XInput-compatible controllers
Use Re-vamped to add support to XInput controllers.
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger vibration
PlayStation controllers
Generic/other controllers
Generic DirectInput controllers are supported.
Button prompts Input settings icon - Generic Controller.svg
Additional information
Button prompts Input settings icon - Generic Controller.svg
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
Digital movement supported
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Audio

Audio Options
Audio Options

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Sound & Music
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
French
Retail only. download for digital releases.
German
Retail and GOG.com only. download for Steam release.
Italian
Retail only. download for digital releases.
Russian
Retail only. download for digital releases.
Spanish
Retail only. download for digital releases.

VR support

3D modes State Notes
Nvidia 3D Vision
See Helix Mod: Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen 2
vorpX
Crashes after intro on Windows 7

Issues fixed

Random crashes and freezes

Use Re-vamped
Force CPU affinity to one core[2]

Uncapped frame rate issue

Use Re-vamped
Limit the frame rate to 60 FPS[3]
Enable VSync and set the refresh rate to 60Hz

Mouse cursor does not remain inside the monitor

Occurs when running the game with a secondary monitor connected.
Use Re-vamped

VSync does not work on Windows 10

Use Re-vamped

FMVs play slow or choppy

Use Re-vamped
Run bo2.exe with -setup command line argument and tick Switch resolution for movies

Notes

If the intent is to enjoy the FMVs provided with "Blood Omen 2: Conceptual Edition", it's necessary to disable this option to prevent crashes at startup.

Crashes during the playback of Soul Reaver 2 trailer

Appears to be an issue with some digital distribution versions.
Replace video file
  1. Download this video file.
  2. Copy the video file to <path-to-game>\data by overwriting the existing one.

Black screen at startup

Use Re-vamped
Modify DWORD value
  1. Press Win+R.
  2. Type regedit and press Enter.
  3. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Crystal Dynamics\Blood Omen 2\1.00.000.
  4. Open DisableVShader and change its value data from 0 to 1.
  5. Click OK.

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 8.1 Use Re-vamped for Direct3D9
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 98, XP
Processor (CPU) Intel Pentium III 450 MHz
System memory (RAM) 128 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 1,8 GB
Video card (GPU) 16 MB of VRAM
DirectX 8.1 compatible


Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 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>/242960/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (242960) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References

  1. blood omen2 Wayback Machine [missing title] - last accessed on 2021-9-5
  2. Set affinity to CPU 0 - last accessed on May 2023
  3. It's a FPS problem - last accessed on May 2023