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Crysis 2

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Crysis 2
Crysis 2 cover
Developers
Crytek
Multiplayer Crytek UK
Publishers
Electronic Arts
Engines
CryEngine 3
Release dates
Windows March 22, 2011
Reception
Metacritic 86
IGDB 87
Taxonomy
Series Crysis
Crysis 2 on HowLongToBeat
Crysis 2 on IGDB
Crysis 2 guide on StrategyWiki
Crysis 2 on MobyGames
Crysis 2 on Wikipedia
Crysis
Crysis 2007
Crysis Warhead 2008
Crysis 2 2011
Crysis 3 2013
Crysis Remastered 2020
Crysis 2 Remastered 2021
Crysis 3 Remastered 2021
Crysis 4 TBA

Warnings

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

Key points

PC version features high resolution textures, tessellation, high quality shadows and more PC-specific features.

General information

Crysis Website
MyCrysis Forums
Crysis Wiki - A wiki for everything Crysis related
Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
Requires online activation
Can only be used x times
TAGES Solidshield DRM.
Icon overlay.png
Windows
Gamesplanet logo.svg
Origin
Maximum Edition.
Windows
Humble Store
Origin
Maximum Edition. Region locked in Latin America.
Windows
Origin
Origin
Maximum Edition. Included with EA Play.
Has Solidshield DRM removed.
Windows
Steam
Icon overlay.png
Maximum Edition. Included with EA Play (Steam).
Windows
Steam (unavailable)
Icon overlay.png
Can only be used x times
TAGES Solidshield DRM, 5 machine limit.
Icon overlay.png
Windows
The original edition of Crysis 2 on Steam carries TAGES Solidshield DRM with a 5 machine limit, while the Maximum Edition contains SteamStub DRM in addition to SolidShield, although the SolidShield wrapping seems inert.[citation needed]

Essential improvements

Skip intro videos

Edit system.cfg[1]
  1. Go to the installation folder.
  2. Open system.cfg with Notepad.
  3. Write g_skipIntro = 1 at the end of the file.

Skip log in screen

Edit game.cfg[2]
  1. Go to %USERPROFILE%\Saved Games\Crysis2\
  2. Open game.cfg with Notepad (or create if it doesn't exist).
  3. Add g_enableInitialLoginScreen = 0 to the file.

How to change the in-game language

Crysis 2 auto-detects your Operating System's language and uses it without asking.
If you want to play Crysis in English instead of your own locale[citation needed]
  1. Go to the installation folder.
  2. Open system.cfg.
  3. Change the last line to: g_language = English

Patches

Patch 1.9 prepares Crysis 2 for DX11 features and high-resolution textures. Each need to be downloaded and installed separately from the 1.9 patch. They are both included in the Maximum Edition.

Patch 1.9 can be downloaded from here.

DirectX 11 Ultra Upgrade

The DirectX 11 Ultra Upgrade can be downloaded here.
Included in Maximum Edition.
Features

With this package the following DX11 exclusive features will be activated:

  • Tessellation + Displacement Mapping
  • Realistic Shadows with Variable Penumbra
  • High Quality HDR Motion Blur
  • Sprite Based Bokeh Depth of Field
  • Parallax Occlusion Mapping
  • Particles Motion Blur, Shadows and Art Updates
  • Water Rendering improvements and using Tessellation + Displacement Mapping
Requirements
  • DX11 compatible graphics card with 768 MB Video Memory
  • 545 MB HD space

High-Resolution Textures

The High-Res Texture Pack can be downloaded here.
Included in Maximum Edition.
Features

The High-Resolution Texture Pack doubles the fidelity of many of the game's art assets.

Requirements
  • 64-bit operating system
  • DirectX 9-compatible graphics card with 768 MB Video Memory

NTCore 4GB Patch

Crysis 2 is very memory intensive. This app improves performance for Crysis 2 on 64-bit Windows systems with more than 2GB RAM by allowing it to access up to 4GB RAM.

Modifications

BlackFire's Mod 2 and MaLDo HD Textures

For those who truly want to push Crysis 2's graphical fidelity to its limits, BlackFire's Mod 2 and MaLDo HD serves their needs. Note that BlackFire's Mod 2 require thes MaLDo HD mod to be installed and properly configured, on the other hand the MaLDo HD mod can be used alone as it's meant to improve the vanilla game with higher quality textures, model and bugfixes, a variety of game tweaks etc.

A step by step list of instructions for BlackFire's mod is available at the mod file's description on ModDB.

Most of the download links for the MaLDo HD mod on the original blog page are dead. The files can be found elsewhere though, e.g. over at Mod DB and over at gamepressure.

Game data

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

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows %USERPROFILE%\Saved Games\Crysis2\
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/108800/pfx/[Note 1]

Save game data location

System Location
Windows %USERPROFILE%\Saved Games\Crysis2\SaveGames\
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/108800/pfx/[Note 1]
Every automatic checkpoint save made in the game is saved as a permanent save file. There is no way to delete these files in-game, nor are they ever overwritten on subsequent playthroughs. These files can add up to several hundred megabytes worth of permanent save files if playing through the single-player campaign more than once.

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
Origin
[citation needed]
Steam Cloud

Video

In-game general video settings.
In-game general video settings.
In-game advanced video settings.
In-game advanced video settings.

Field of view (FOV)

This game uses vertical FOV. See FOV Calculator for help.
Change FOV[3][citation needed]
  1. Create an autoexec.cfg file in the installation folder.
  2. Add cl_FOV = 55, which controls the main game world FOV.
  3. Add r_DrawNearFOV = 55, which controls the viewmodel FOV.
  4. Add pl_movement.power_sprint_targetFOV = 55, which controls the FOV used only when you sprint.
  5. Change the default values of 55 to the desired FOV.

Note

Not a permanent solution. The viewmodel FOV resets to its default value randomly after a few minutes or during certain actions such as dying, and there's some chance the camera/sprint FOV might reset at certain points as well.

Anti-aliasing (AA)

Disable AA[3]
  1. Create an autoexec.cfg file in the installation folder.
  2. Add the following lines.
r_PostMSAA=0
r_UseEdgeAA=0

Input

In-game key map settings.
In-game key map settings.
In-game mouse settings.
In-game mouse settings.
In-game general gamepad settings.
In-game general gamepad settings.
In-game gamepad layout settings for the player.
In-game gamepad layout settings for the player.
In-game gamepad layout settings for vehicles.
In-game gamepad layout settings for vehicles.

Audio

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

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Up to 7.1 output[4]
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
Traditional Chinese
Czech
French
German
Hungarian
Fan translation
Italian
Japanese
Polish
Brazilian Portuguese
Fan translation, download.
Russian
Spanish
Turkish

Network

Multiplayer types

Type Native Players Notes
LAN play
Online play
16 Online server browser stopped working on May 31, 2014.[5]

Connection types

Ports

Protocol Port(s) and/or port range(s)
TCP 80, 2891, 2990, 6667, 29900, 64100
UDP 27900-27901, 64100
Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.

VR support

3D modes State GG3D Notes
Native 3D
Nvidia 3D Vision
See Helix Mod: Crysis 2 for better 3D support.
vorpX
2D
Officialy supported game. See vorpx game list Note: Game is on the official list but not yet confirmed to be 3D.
Devices
3RD Space Gaming Vest

Issues unresolved

Statistic screen

The statistic-screen in the menu displays that 13 weapon-attachments are findable in single-player but in fact there are only 12. Therefore, it is not possible to achieve "100%".

Issues fixed

High sensitivity when using assault scope

When aiming down sights with assault scope mounted on any weapon, the sensitivity will be a lot higher than the one set in the game settings.
Use this mod[6]

Extreme lag while using Nvidia graphics

When playing Crysis 2 on an Nvidia card, there can be extreme and unexpected lag in the single-player or multiplayer campaign. This is very noticeable while navigating the menu, something that should be instantaneous and direct. If you experience this lag, try switching to windowed mode (Alt+ Enter). If this lag now disappears and gameplay is suddenly fast again, the solution is this:
Use display scaling[citation needed]
  1. Open the Nvidia Control Panel program
  2. Go to Display > Adjust desktop size and position
  3. If necessary, for step 1, select your main display
  4. At step 2, view the Scaling tab
  5. Select No scaling
  6. Select Perform scaling on: Display

Notes

Make sure your display is capable of scaling the game resolution to its native resolution, if you like to game at weird resolutions. GPU scaling is very useful but under Crysis 2, it introduces an extreme form of lag. Now, play Crysis 2 and see if you notice the difference.
This game does not appear to like the Xbox One Controller and will cause severe lag on launch. If you happen to have one plugged in, disconnect it.[citation needed]

Crash to desktop at startup

The game may freeze up and crash to the desktop without any errors.
Disable Lucid Virtu MVP 2.0[citation needed]

Run the game at screen refresh rate

The game may cap the framerate at 24 to 60 fps (the monitor's lowest refresh rate). This can mean stuttering and lower framerate than the GPU is capable of.[7]
Override refresh rate set by game[8]
  1. Download 3Dmigoto.
  2. Copy the files in the x32 folder to <path-to-game>\bin32\.
  3. Open d3dx.ini.
  4. Change ;refresh_rate=60 to the desired value, and remove the semicolon (e.g. refresh_rate=144).
  5. Change hunting=1 to ;hunting=1 by adding a semicolon.
  6. Save the changes and close the file.
Run in DirectX 9[9]

Windows Defender detects malware-like activity in Crysis 2

The game will close shortly after starting, and Windows Defender / Microsoft Security Essentials will report to have blocked activity of "VirTool:Win32/CeeInject.gen!FG" malware. However, this is a false positive.
Add the Crysis 2 folder to the exclusion list[10]

Crash to desktop when using MSI Afterburner's On Screen Display

Config file edit[11]
  1. Open the MSI On-Screen Display Server program (RivaTuner Statistics Server).
  2. Click the plus sign (or newly "add" button) and navigate to where you installed Crysis 2 and add Crysis2.exe
  3. Once you have that added go to C:\Program Files (x86)\RivaTuner Statistics Server\Profiles
  4. Edit Crysis2.exe.cfg
  5. Change EnableDynamicOffsetDetection=0 to EnableDynamicOffsetDetection=1
  6. Change HookDirectDraw=0 to HookDirectDraw=1

The game is capped to 100 or 64 FPS even with VSync disabled

Enable ultra low latency mode[12]
  1. Go to the Nvidia control panel, enable Ultra Low Latency Mode for Crysis 2 in the "Manage 3D Settings" tab and press Apply.
Apply RTSS framerate limiter[13][14]
  1. Download and install RivaTuner Statistics Server.
  2. Run it.
  3. Click the "add" button and navigate to where you installed Crysis 2 and add Crysis2.exe.
  4. Set framerate limiter to any number (e.g. 200).
  5. Minimize (don't close) the program.
Use Xbox 360 Controller Emulator[15]
Having the Xbox 360 Controller Emulator running in the background (even if it's not used) uncaps the framerate
  1. Download x360ce v4.x.
  2. Unzip the archive.
  3. Run x360ce.exe.
  4. On the Controller 1 tab, put a check next to Enable 0 Mapped Devices.
  5. On the Issues tab, install the virtual driver.
  6. On the Options tab, set the program to start with Windows (or else it will have to be run manually).
  7. Minimize (don't close) the program.
May have no effect on Windows 10 2004 and later.

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 9, 11
Shader Model support 3, 5
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Audio FMOD
Interface Scaleform
Multiplayer GameSpy

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) XP SP3
Processor (CPU) Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz
AMD Athlon 64 X2 2.0 GHz
System memory (RAM) 2 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 9 GB
Video card (GPU) Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT
ATI Radeon HD 3850
512 MB of VRAM
DirectX 9.0c 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>/108800/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (108800) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References