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Jazz Jackrabbit 2

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Revision as of 14:34, 4 July 2021 by Orzelek303 (talk | contribs) (added HLTB ID, added GOG.com version notes, corrected Jazz² Resurrection typo, fixed inactive link to DLC section, slighty updated template usage (sections), cosmetic changes)
Jazz Jackrabbit 2
Jazz Jackrabbit 2 cover
Developers
Orange Games
Epic MegaGames
Mac OS (Classic) Logicware
macOS (OS X) Contraband Entertainment
Publishers
Gathering of Developers
Mac OS MacPlay
Release dates
Windows May 7, 1998[1]
Mac OS (Classic) February 4, 1999
macOS (OS X) January 18, 2002
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Jazz Jackrabbit 2 on HowLongToBeat
Jazz Jackrabbit 2 on MobyGames
Jazz Jackrabbit 2 on Wikipedia
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Warnings

The Mac OS X version of this game does not work on Mac OS X Lion (version 10.7) or later due to the removal of support for PowerPC apps.
Jazz Jackrabbit
Jazz Jackrabbit 1994
Jazz Jackrabbit 2 1998
Jazz Jackrabbit 3 Cancelled

General information

Official site for game series (Archived)
Jazz2Online - A fan site for game series
Hardcore Gaming 101 - Comprehensive feature
GOG.com Community Discussions for game series
GOG.com Support Page

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
DRM-free
 The game had two different releases and two standalone expansions. See Version differences and DLC and expansion packs.
Windows
Mac OS
GOG.com
DRM-free
 Jazz Jackrabbit 2: The Secret Files bundled with The Christmas Chronicles.
Windows

Version differences

Jazz Jackrabbit 2 is the original release. It contains four episodes and the shareware demo levels.
Jazz Jackrabbit 2: The Secret Files is a 1999 re-release with an additional episode and a new playable character, Lori. It also includes the shareware demo levels. It was only available in Europe.

Demo

A demo is available. It contains three single player and two multiplayer levels.

Monetization

DLC and expansion packs

Name Notes
Holiday Hare 98 Standalone Christmas episode, released commercially in 1998. It also includes the shareware demo levels. It was only available in the US.
Windows
The Christmas Chronicles 2000 re-release of Holiday Hare 98 with a new playable character, Lori. It was only available in limited quantities in Europe.
Windows

Essential improvements

Patches

The latest official patch is v1.23. GOG.com version is patched with v1.24.
JJ2+ is a multiplayer-focused unofficial patch/mod which fixes numerous bugs and adds a host of new features. It is included in the GOG.com version as a bonus, see how to apply it here.

Import The Christmas Chronicles levels

If you have both The Secret Files and The Christmas Chronicles, you can just copy over the files without overwriting, resulting in the episode being listed and the levels being playable.
While you can play as Lori, it's likely unintentional and unknown if it's conducive to a good playing experience.

Skip intro videos

Use JJ2+[2]
  1. Download and install JJ2+.
  2. Use the -menu parameter.
Use Jazz² Resurrection

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\JAZZ2.CFG[Note 1]
Mac OS (Classic)

Save game data location

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\SAVEGAME.***[Note 1]
Mac OS (Classic)

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
GOG Galaxy

Video settings

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

Template:Video settings

Input settings

In-game keyboard key map settings.
In-game keyboard key map settings.
In-game joystick button map settings.
In-game joystick button map settings.

Template:Input settings

Audio settings

In-game general audio settings.
In-game general audio settings.
In-game advanced audio settings.
In-game advanced audio settings.
In-game language settings.
In-game language settings.

Template:Audio settings

Localizations

Idle animations with speech are only used when playing in English.
Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
Voices with idle animations only.
Afrikaans
Fan translation, download. Included in JJ2+.[3]
Arabic
Fan translation, download. Included in JJ2+.[3]
Czech
Fan translation, download.
Dutch
Finnish
Fan translation, download.
French
German
Italian
Polish
Local retail release and GOG.com version. Included in JJ2+.[3]
Romanian
Fan translation, download.
Serbian
Fan translation, download.
Spanish
Swedish
Fan translation, download. Included in JJ2+.[3]
Turkish
Fan translation, download.

Network

Multiplayer types

Type Native Players Notes
Local play
4 Co-op, Versus
Split-screen.
LAN play
8 Co-op, Versus
Up to 32 players when 4 players share one computer in split-screen mode.
Online play
8 Co-op, Versus
Up to 32 players when 4 players share one computer in split-screen mode.

Connection types

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

Ports

Protocol Port(s) and/or port range(s)
TCP 10052, 10053, 10054
UDP 10052
Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.

Issues fixed

Unplayable low frame rate in fullscreen mode

Disable Hardware Mode[citation needed]
  1. Go to Options, Video, Advanced.
  2. Set Hardware Mode to Off.
Use Jazz² Resurrection

Turn off information shown on screen (level name, resolution, etc.)

Press F9 in-game

Low frame rate in fullscreen mode on Windows 8/8.1/10 due to DirectDraw

Install ddwrapper into the game directory[4]
  1. Download ddwrapper and extract ddraw.dll and aqrit.cfg to the game's installation directory.
  2. Edit aqrit.cfg so that ColorFix = 1 and ShowFPS = 15

Notes

If the above fix doesn't work initially, try forcing Jazz2.exe to run in 640x480 resolution under the compatibility properties tab.
In addition, try starting the game in windowed mode and enable fullscreen mode once a level has loaded. Use Alt+Enter to switch between fullscreen and windowed modes.

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
DirectDraw 6
OpenGL 2.1 Jazz² Resurrection runs on OpenGL
ExecutablePPC16-bit 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Mac OS (Classic)

Jazz² Resurrection

Open-source re-implementation of the original game's engine, allowing for the importing of the original game's assets.
Supports various versions of the game (Shareware Demo, Holiday Hare '98, The Secret Files and Christmas Chronicles) and all of them can be imported but the dev recommends to use The Secret Files and install it the latest if more than one version are to be imported.
Renders at fixed resolution 720x405 and cannot be adjusted manually
Partially supports some features of JJ2+ extension and MLLE.
Allows Jazz Jackrabbit 2 to be played natively on Windows, MacOS, and Linux; supports pixel perfect scaling, can be played at unlimited FPS, supports XInput and has widescreen aspect ratio support.
As this is merely a recreation of the original game, the physics differ significantly.

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 95
Processor (CPU) Intel Pentium 90 MHz
System memory (RAM) 16 MB 32 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 45 MB
Video card (GPU) DirectX 6 compatible
Mac OS
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 7.5.3
Processor (CPU) PowerPC
System memory (RAM) 16 MB 32 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 45 MB

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 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).

References