Dead Space 2

Dead Space 2

Developers
	Visceral Games
Publishers
	Electronic Arts
Engines
	Visceral Engine
Release dates
Windows	January 25, 2011
Reception
Metacritic	87
IGDB	90
Taxonomy
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Third-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Shooter, Survival horror
Art styles	Realistic
Themes	Horror, Sci-fi, Space
Series	Dead Space

Dead Space
Dead Space	2008
Dead Space 2	2011
Dead Space 3	2013
Dead Space (2023)	2023

Key points

In-game Vsync option caps frame rate at 30 FPS.

Suffers from poor mouse input. See Raw mouse input fix.

Game may crash at start-up if CPU has Logical Processors above 8. Disable SMT Mode / Hyper-Threading in BIOS.

General information

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		Released on 2 DVDs. TAGES Solidshield v2.0.3.0 DRM. All retail versions require signing into an EA account in-game. This unlocks a copy of the game on Origin for that EA account.
Amazon.com (unavailable)
Green Man Gaming
Humble Store
Origin		Included with EA Play.
Steam		Included with EA Play (Steam). TAGES Solidshield DRM. EA account sign-in can be skipped in the Steam version for singleplayer but is still required for multiplayer.

All digital versions activate on Origin.

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
Hazard Pack	Integrated in Update 1.
Martial Law Pack	Integrated in Update 1.
Supernova Pack	Integrated in Update 1.
Collector's Edition	Includes: Zealot Suit and Zealot Force Gun.
Ignition Rewards	Reward for completing console exclusive Dead Space - Ignition. Can be unofficially unlocked on PC, see Conduit rooms not accessible.
Refurbished Plasma Cutter	Reward for having a Dead Space save file.
Preorder bonus	Allows to use Rivet Gun both in singleplayer or multiplayer. Unavailable to purchase.

Buying this Zealot Suit would cause the Elite Security Suit to disappear from the Safe (Can not retain 2 suits together). See Save game editor

The Dead Space 2: Severed story and Outbreak multiplayer maps package DLC are not available on the PC.

Essential improvements

Skip intro videos

May cause the main menu to become glitched and unusable.

Delete/rename video
Go to <path-to-game>\movies\ followed by your language's folder. Delete or rename Trio_FrontEnd.vp6, or replace with an empty VP6 video.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	%LOCALAPPDATA%\EA Games\Dead Space 2\
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/47780/pfx/

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\EA Games\Dead Space 2\
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/47780/pfx/

20 save slots available.

Save game cloud syncing

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

Video

Visuals settings.

Custom Render Settings

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD			Subtitles do not scale.
Field of view (FOV)		Use Widescreen Fixer. Changing FOV inhibits selecting things in menus.
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		On/off only. See Anti-aliasing (AA).
Vertical sync (Vsync)		In-game Vsync limits frame rate to 30 FPS for all refresh rates. See the glossary page for proper Vsync.
60 FPS and 120+ FPS		Very high frame-rate (+30 FPS)potentially causes problems with QTEs, physics (specifically ragdoll), and animations.[citation needed]
High dynamic range display (HDR)		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

Anti-aliasing (AA)

Apply hardware anti-aliasing (Nvidia only)

Open the game profile via Nvidia Profile Inspector. Change Antialiasing compatibility to... 0x004030C0 : the anti-aliasing works flawlessly but shadows will only work on normal setting (they disappear completely on high or very high setting), alt-tabbing may possibly break the game's lighting. 0x00411245 : the anti-aliasing is not as thorough and white artifacts may appear on the edges of objects but shadows will work correctly on all settings and the game can be safely alt-tabbed. Change Antialiasing - Behavior Flags to None. Change Antialiasing - Mode to Override any application setting. Change Antialiasing - Setting to 4x [4x Multisampling] or 8xQ [8x Multisampling]. Change Antialiasing - Transparency Supersampling to 4x Sparse Grid Supersampling or 8x Sparse Grid Supersampling Click apply changes.

Input

Control settings.

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		Unable to assign "Aim Mode (Toggle)" function to any mouse button.
Mouse acceleration		See Raw mouse input fix to disable negative mouse acceleration.
Mouse sensitivity		See Raw mouse input fix to fix multiple issues.
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support
Controller remapping		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers

PlayStation controllers

Generic/other controllers

Additional information
Button prompts
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
Digital movement supported
Simultaneous controller+KB/M		Rapidly changes button prompts

Raw mouse input fix

Dead Space 2 suffers from negative mouse acceleration by default.

Mouse sensitivity is dependent on the frame rate, which can lead to inconsistent movement when the performance is not stable. Horizontal sensitivity is also much higher than vertical sensitivity.

Use Dead Space 2 Mouse Fix
This fix will cause the game to crash when playing as a Necromorph in multiplayer.

Audio

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound		Up to 5.0 output.
Subtitles		Fixed size, does not scale up with resolution
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Simplified Chinese				Fan translation, donwload
French
German
Hungarian				Fan translation.
Italian
Polish				Fan translation, download.
Brazilian Portuguese				Fan translation: download (GGames)
Russian				Retail only. Patch for digital release here. Fan (audio) localization by CGInfo
Spanish
Turkish				Fan translation. Details missing—please edit this page and add it.

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
LAN play
Online play		8	Versus 4v4

VR support

3D modes	State	Notes
Nvidia 3D Vision		Very poor native support; see Nvidia 3D Vision to fix.
vorpX		G3D Officially supported game, see official vorpx game list.

Devices
3RD Space Gaming Vest

Nvidia 3D Vision

Dead Space 2 has mediocre Nvidia 3D Vision support out of the box.

It has however been modded by HeliX to the point where it can be considered a 3D Vision showcase game. You can play with any convergence and depth.

Use Helix Mod[citation needed]
Install Dead Space 2 3D Vision Fix. If you're playing through Steam or Origin, disable the overlay.

Issues fixed

Weapons/Armor unlocked at start

The latest updates of Dead Space 2 includes a piece of DLC that unlocks better armor and all the weapons at the start, thereby negating the need to find schematics and decreasing the difficulty.

1.0 exe will not unlock Elite Engineering Suit for subsequent play-throughs, Save games will not be recorded, and deducted, properly when playing the Single Player Campaign in Hardcore mode.

Remove the DLC[citation needed]

Download the original executable here. Make a backup copy of the currently installed executable and copy the downloaded .exe into the Dead Space 2 folder. Reset the keybindings to default. Notes It recommended that you use the newer .exe for subsequent play-throughs, as it properly unlocks some bonus items that you normally get for completing the game. The Origin version includes the DLC, and the above fix no longer works. This fix is not compatible with Dead Space 2 Mouse Fix and Widescreen Fixer.

Remove the DLC (for Origin version)

Make progress to first savepoint and save. Turn automatic game updates off in Origin. Download the Dead Space 2 v1.0 FairLight Fixed EXE here. Make a backup copy of the currently installed executable and copy the downloaded .exe into the Dead Space 2 folder. Delete controls.rmp from AppData\Local\EA Games\Dead Space 2. Notes If you are experiencing "Solar Array Elevator Glitch", just exit to main menu and then hit continue. It recommended that you use the newer .exe for subsequent play-throughs, as it properly unlocks some bonus items that you normally get for completing the game. Works with Dead Space 2 Mouse Fix. Makes the game crash when having WidescreenFixer running and engaging its hotkey.

No suit unlocks for higher difficulty completion

Riot Police Security Suit is unlocked after beating the game at any difficulty.

Normally upon completing the game on Hardcore or Zealot difficulty, you would unlock Soldier Suit^(Hardcore) and Arctic Security Suit^(Zealot). These unlocks do not work properly unless you happen to complete the game in a single playthrough.

This fix can also be used to unlock Hardcore difficulty early without beating the game once prior, by modifying Controls.AcL.X.

Unlock suits and Hardcore difficulty[1]

Navigate to %LOCALAPPDATA%\EA Games\Dead Space 2\. Edit the settings.txt file. Look for the lines containing Controls.AcL.X and Controls.AcL.Y, which dictate achievement progress. These values are shown in hexadecimal. Temporarily convert them into binary (a string of length 32 containing 1s and 0s) to start working on them. Flip bit 17 of Controls.AcL.X to 1 to unlock the Mission Impossible achievement (beat the game on Zealot) and the Arctic Security Suit. Flip bit 14 of Controls.AcL.Y to 1 to unlock the Hard to the Core achievement (beat the game on Hardcore), Soldier Suit, and Hand Cannon. Don't forget to convert the binary back into hexadecimal before saving the settings file. There is no need to apply this fix to the "Made Us Whole" achievement since that one works as intended.

Conduit rooms not accessible

There are four special rooms in the game that are unlocked by completing the Dead Space Ignition tie-in, which is not available for Windows.

In order to make this workaround effective, you must have beaten the game at least once.

Use unlocker (batch method)
Download Dead Space 2 Conduit for PC (PCGW mirror) Extract the contents to the installation folder. Run DS2Patcher.bat to apply the fix.

Use unlocker (manual method)
Go to the installation folder. If you have a DS2DAT0.DAT, you'll need to rename all existing DS2DAT#.DAT to one number higher. For example: DS2DAT0.DAT → DS2DAT1.DAT, DS2DAT6.DAT → DS2DAT7.DAT, etc. Download Dead Space 2 Conduit for PC (PCGW mirror). Extract DS2DAT0_CONDUIT4PC.DAT to the installation folder, and rename it to DS2DAT0.DAT. Start the game and load any save file.

Buying this Hacker Suit would cause the Elite Advanced Suit to disappear from the Safe (Can not retain 2 suits together).

If need to intall any fanmade translation patchs which modify DS2DAT3.DAT packed file, replace before installing localization.

Mouse flings to side of screen

Occasionally with certain USB controllers or devices, the mouse will fling to the far edges of the screen, preventing proper aiming.

Possible solutions[citation needed]
Unplugging all USB controllers Disabling virtual mouse settings Selectively disabling HID compliant devices in the device manager.

Could not initialize display hardware

Reset settings[citation needed]
Go to the configuration file(s) location. Delete or rename settings.txt. Notes In other cases, where deleting settings.txt did not work, some users with multiple monitors found that disabling their second monitor fixed this issue.

BSOD on some AMD Radeon cards

Game falls into BSOD on different occasions, either randomly or at some particular point in the game.

Rollback to older driver version (Such as Catalyst 12.6)

Game minimizes at launch, or game freezes when changing the resolution

Occasionally, when starting the game on a newer system, the main window will minimize itself and will not let the user restore it.

In other cases, the game may freeze upon changing the resolution.

Set resolution manually[citation needed]
Go to the configuration file(s) location. Create a file named settings.txt. Open settings.txt and add the following lines: Window.Fullscreen = true Window.Height = 1200 Window.Width = 1920 where Window.Height is your desired height and Window.Width is your desired width.

Activation problems (Lucid Virtu conflict)

Some versions of Dead Space 2 may conflict with LucidLogix Virtu graphics switching software which may appear to be an activation error.

Remove the Lucid Virtu software or disabling it when running Dead Space 2[citation needed]

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Physics	Havok
Audio	RwAudioCore

Activation limits

EA limits Dead Space 2 to being authorized on a maximum of five computers at a time. The games must be authorized on a computer before you can play it. De-authorizing the game on a computer does not uninstall it.

To reauthorize the game on a given computer, simply launch the game on that computer while being connected to the Internet.

To de-authorize the games on a computer, simply uninstall it, or follow these instructions:

De-authorize game (Windows Vista and later)
Click on the Windows button on the Windows Taskbar. Select All Programs. Click on Games. Click on Games Explorer. Right-click on the Dead Space 2 icon. Click on Dead Space 2 - Deauthorize this machine.

De-authorize game (Windows XP)
Click on the Start menu on the Windows Taskbar. Select All Programs Find the EA Games folder. Roll over the Dead Space 2 folder. Click on the Dead Space 2 - Deauthorize this machine option.

Save game editor

A tool by VakhtinAndrey that allows players to modify their Dead Space 2 game save data. Backing up the original save files is recommended before using this tool. Can be downloaded here.

Can unlock access to items in the PC version that were previously exclusive to the console versions, which are the Hacker Suit and Hacker Contact Beam (required a save file from Dead Space: Ignition, which is not on PC), the Zealot Suit and Zealot Force Gun (exclusive to Collector's Edition owners), Rivet Gun (Pre-order bonus).

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	XP SP2, Vista, 7
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium 4 2.8 GHz AMD Athlon 64 4000+	Intel Core 2 Duo AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+
System memory (RAM)	1 GB (XP) 2 GB (Vista, 7)
Hard disk drive (HDD)	10 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce 6800 ATI Radeon X1600 Pro 256 MB of VRAM DirectX 9.0c compatible Shader model 3.0 support
Sound (audio device)	DirectX 9.0c compatible

Nvidia GeForce 7300, 7600 GS, 8500 and ATI Radeon X1300, X1300 Pro, HD2400 are below minimum system requirements.