Serious Sam: The Second Encounter

Warnings

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


⤏ Go to series page
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

For the updated HD version, see Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter.

Key points

Engine was made open source in 2016.^[1]

General information

Official game series site

Serious Sam Wiki

Seriously! Forums

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		SafeDisc DRM^{[Note 1]}
GOG.com
Steam		Renamed as "Serious Sam Classic: The Second Encounter".

SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see above for affected versions).

Game data

In-game player settings.

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\Scripts^{[Note 2]}
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/41060/pfx/^{[Note 3]}

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\SaveGame^{[Note 2]}
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/41060/pfx/^{[Note 3]}

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy
Steam Cloud

Video settings

In-game video settings.

In-game general rendering settings.

Template:Video settings

Widescreen resolution

This is what happens if you don't disable widescreen when setting a custom resolution in Serious Sam: The First Encounter.

Custom resolution^{[citation needed]}

Do not enable wide screen option from rendering menu. If it is enabled, game will add black bars on top and bottom of the screen regardless of aspect ratio or resolution.

1) Run game at least once.

2) Go to Scripts in the installation folder.

3) Open PersistentSymbols.ini.

4) Locate lines

persistent extern INDEX sam_iScreenSizeI=(INDEX)XXX;
persistent extern INDEX sam_iScreenSizeJ=(INDEX)YYY;

5) Change XXX and YYY to your preferred resolution.

Field of view (FOV)

Field of view (FOV)^{[citation needed]}
Run game at least once. Go to `<path-to-game>\Scripts\` Open `PersistentSymbols.ini` Locate the line `persistent extern user FLOAT plr_fFOV=(FLOAT)XX;` Change `XX` to your preferred field of view.

Input settings

In-game general control settings.

In-game key map settings.

In-game axis settings.

Template:Input settings

Audio settings

In-game audio settings.

Template:Audio settings

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Russian				Only available in the retail release.

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Players	Notes
Local play	4	Co-op, Versus Split-screen.
LAN play	16
Online play	16	GameSpy services have been shut down;^[4] see GameSpy for workarounds.

Connection types

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

Ports

Protocol	Port(s) and/or port range(s)
TCP	25600 - 25616
UDP	25600 - 25616

Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	8
OpenGL	1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Audio	DirectSound
Multiplayer	GameSpy

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	95 OSR2, NT 4.0 SP5	98, ME, 2000, XP
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium II or Celeron-A 300 MHz AMD K6-3 400 MHz	Intel Pentium III 650 MHz AMD Athlon 650 MHz
System memory (RAM)	64 MB	128 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	150 MB	450 MB
Video card (GPU)	16 MB of VRAM DirectX 8 compatible	32 MB of VRAM

Notes

↑ SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows 10^[2] or Windows 11 and is disabled by default on Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 when the KB3086255 update is installed.^[3]
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 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).
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1
Notes regarding Steam Play (Linux) data:
- File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data.
- Use Wine's registry editor to access any Windows registry paths.
- The app ID (41060) may differ in some cases.
- Treat backslashes as forward slashes.
- See the glossary page for details on Windows data paths.

References

↑ Serious Sam’s Serious Engine source code released - Croteam - Croteam
↑ Not Loading in Windows 10; this will break thousands of - Microsoft Community - last accessed on 2017-01-16
↑ Microsoft - MS15-097: Description of the security update for the graphics component in Windows: September 8, 2015 - last accessed on 2018-02-16
↑ Pricing | GameSpy Technology

[4] SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows 10^[2] or Windows 11 and is disabled by default on Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 when the KB3086255 update is installed.^[3]

[gamedir-5] 2.0 ^2.1 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).

[Proton_path_note-6] 3.0 ^3.1 Notes regarding Steam Play (Linux) data:
File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data.
Use Wine's registry editor to access any Windows registry paths.
The app ID (41060) may differ in some cases.
Treat backslashes as forward slashes.
See the glossary page for details on Windows data paths.

[4] File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data.

[5] Use Wine's registry editor to access any Windows registry paths.

[6] The app ID (41060) may differ in some cases.

[7] Treat backslashes as forward slashes.

[8] See the glossary page for details on Windows data paths.

[1] Serious Sam’s Serious Engine source code released - Croteam - Croteam

[2] Not Loading in Windows 10; this will break thousands of - Microsoft Community - last accessed on 2017-01-16

[3] Microsoft - MS15-097: Description of the security update for the graphics component in Windows: September 8, 2015 - last accessed on 2018-02-16

[7] Pricing | GameSpy Technology

[1]

[Note 1]

[Note 2]

[Note 3]

[4]

[2]

[3]

Developers

	Croteam
Publishers
	Gathering of Developers
	Devolver Digital
Engines
	Serious Engine 1
Release dates
Windows	February 5, 2002