This page is for the original Silent Hill 2. For the remake, see Silent Hill 2.
Silent Hill 2: Director's Cut is a survival horror game developed by Team Silent, ported by Creature Labs, and published by Konami.
It is the second installment in the Silent Hill series.
The game was originally released for the PlayStation 2 on September 21, 2001 worldwide. The game later received an extended Director's Cut version on PlayStation 2 as a Greatest Hits re-release, Xbox, and PC, which added a new Born from a Wish scenario, a secret UFO ending, and for the PC version, a quick-save function, real-time weapon swapping, and a movie gallery. The PC version also features improved flashlight lighting like in the Xbox port, however, it also has a number of inaccuracies, missing or downgraded effects, and lower audio and FMV quality than previous versions.[1] It also has compatibility issues with newer versions of Windows and hardware (see here for details).
There have been growing efforts by modders to fix the issues with the PC version, starting with sh2proxy by emoose to address compatibility issues and implement widescreen support for the game. It has since been succeeded by Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition, a community-driven project for the PC version that restores features from the original PlayStation 2 version, adds support for HD and widescreen resolutions, improved controller support, and other quality-of-life improvements.
General information
- Silent Hill Memories - Informative site
- Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition
Availability
Source |
DRM |
Notes |
Keys |
OS |
Retail |
|
SecuROM 4.83 DRM. The Sound Patch removes SecuROM, although a simple disc check remains. |
|
|
- Released on 3 CDs.
- There are two versions: the North American version and the European Director's Cut version.
If the title screen lacks "Director's Cut" on it, it's the North American version.
Both versions include the extra scenario Born from a Wish along with an extra UFO ending.
Essential improvements
Patches
- There are two official patches:
- Sound Patch, also known as "Patch 1.1". Designed exclusively for the North American version of the game, it was supposed to fix the sound looping issues.
- GeForce FX Fix. Fixes missing text and/or missing videos on Nvidia GeForce FX GPUs (mobile chipsets are not included).
- Unfortunately, the Sound Patch does not fix the sound looping issues.
- It is possible to apply the Sound Patch to the EUR PC version. Download the EXE file v1.0 (US version) from here, then copy it to
<path-to-game>
and finally apply the Sound Patch.
- All improvements in this section are included in the full installation of the Enhanced Edition project.
- Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition is a compilation of mods which implements widescreen resolution support, adds PlayStation 2 audio quality and fog that were missing from the PC version, provides upscaled images and FMVs, adds support for 60 FPS, improves controller and keyboard/mouse support and fixes countless bugs among other things.
Game data
Configuration file(s) location
-
keyconf.dat
stores input bindings.
-
language.ini
stores language settings.
-
options.ini
stores gameplay and volume settings.
-
settings.ini
stores video and audio settings.
Save game data location
Video
- The game runs at 30 FPS by default. Use Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition to run the game at 60 FPS while fixing egregious high frame rate issues.
Change noise effect resolution
Change IncreaseNoiseEffectRes[4]
|
- Install Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition.
- Open
d3d8.ini .
- Set
IncreaseNoiseEffectRes to any value between 128 and 4096 .
Notes
- If the value increases, the noise grain decreases.
-
512 is the default noise grain value.
|
Input
- Analog triggers and vibration on XInput controllers won't function without workarounds.
Use Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition[5]
|
Notes
- The "Xidi" package, included in the project, must be installed to restore triggers and vibration for XInput controllers.
It includes a pre-configured keyconf.dat file so that controls are mapped correctly. This will also improve hotplugging support for other XInput-based controllers.
|
Use XInput Plus
|
- Download and run XInput Plus.
- Set Target Program to
sh2pc.exe .
- Go to the DirectInput tab and check Enable DirectInput Output.
- Assign LT/RT to
Button 11/12 .
- Click Apply and a DLL file will be added to the game directory.
|
Audio
Audio feature |
State |
Notes |
Separate volume controls |
|
Background music and sound effects. |
Surround sound |
|
Up to 7.0 output.[6] |
Subtitles |
|
|
Closed captions |
|
|
Mute on focus lost |
|
|
EAX support |
|
DirectSound3D. |
Royalty free audio |
|
|
- It may require DirectSound3D restoration software to restore hardware-accelerated 3D sound functionality on Windows Vista and later.
- DSOAL is included in Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition.
Localizations
Issues fixed
Audio stutters endlessly or stops completely
- The game comes with a buggy, beta version of CRIWARE audio middleware that has issues running correctly on multi-core CPUs.
Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition includes a custom reimplementation of this audio engine to fix the issue.
Clicking or popping sound effects
Textures appear as solid white surfaces
- Certain areas appear white when they should be black. This issue affects Nvidia GPUs.
"Insert a disc" message appears during the ending
- In rare situations, the game will look for
end.bik
instead of ending.bik
for the credits video. If that happens, this error will occur.
Installation on modern systems
- On some modern systems, the installer won't run.
Run Setup.exe as administrator
|
Missing DAT and INI files
- DAT and INI files, used to store the game settings, won't be created after running the game for the first time.
Run sh2pc.exe as administrator
|
Unable to save
Run sh2pc.exe as administrator
|
A warning message pops up when the game crashes
- Warning: "A crash occurred the last time that game was played. Using safe graphics options."
- If this occurs, the game settings will be restored to their initial state.
Set INI file to read-only mode
|
- Go to
<path-to-game> .
- Right-click on
settings.ini and select Properties.
- Tick Read-only, then click Apply and OK.
|
In-game text is not displayed correctly
Other information
API
Executable |
32-bit |
64-bit |
Notes |
Windows |
|
|
|
Middleware
|
Middleware |
Notes |
Audio |
ADX |
Sound files are compressed compared to the PlayStation 2 version. The original PlayStation 2 quality audio files can be restored into the PC version by installing the Audio Enhancement Pack as part of the Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition project. |
Cutscenes |
Bink Video |
FMVs are compressed and play at 29.97 full frames per second (29.97p), compared to the PlayStation 2 version which plays them at 59.94 half frames per second (29.97i). The quality of the PC version's FMVs can be improved by installing the FMV Enhancement Pack as part of the Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition project. |
- Replaces the original voice acting with the new voices from the Silent Hill HD Collection release.[11]
- The HD Collection voices are very divisive and often considered to be inferior to the original voice acting.
- Includes and integrates both the Audio Enhancement Pack and the FMV Enhancement Pack from the Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition project for its audio improvements.
- This fix should not be combined with the Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition project.
- An outdated alternative fix which adds new features and fixes some bugs.
Instructions[citation needed]
|
- Copy all files to
<path-to-game> .
- Configure options in
Silent_Hill_2_PC_Fix.ini .
- Run the game from
DLLInjector.exe .
|
Unlimited stamina
Apply hack for unlimited stamina[12]
|
- Open
sh2pc.exe with a hex-editor such as HxD.
- Press Ctrl+F and find the address
89 BE 20 01 00 00 D8 B6 40 01 00 00 (Hex-values).
- Press Ctrl+G and go to
41 (offset relative to: current offset).
- Change the value
CF to C8 and save the changes.
|
Disable background fog
Disable fogging[13]
|
- Download and run DxWnd as administrator.
- Click on Edit, then Add.
- Set path to
<path-to-game>\sh2pc.exe .
- Set Acquire admin caps.
- Disable Run in Window.
- Click on the 3D tab and tick Disable Fogging.
- Click OK, then File and Save.
- Run the game directly from DxWnd.
|
Add icon to executable file
-
sh2pc.exe
may have no icon set by default.
System requirements
Windows |
|
Minimum |
Recommended |
Operating system (OS) |
98, ME, 2000, XP | |
Processor (CPU) |
Intel Pentium 700 MHz AMD Athlon 700 MHz |
Intel Pentium 1.0 GHz AMD Athlon 1.0 GHz |
System memory (RAM) |
64 MB |
128 MB |
Hard disk drive (HDD) |
1.8 GB |
2.3 GB |
Video card (GPU) |
32 MB of VRAM DirectX 8.1 compatible
| 64 MB of VRAM |
Notes
References