Difference between revisions of "Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2"

Revision as of 18:53, 3 April 2023

Legacy of Kain
Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain	1997
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver	1999
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2	2001
Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen 2	2002
Legacy of Kain: Defiance	2003
Nosgoth	Cancelled

Key points

Many users report random crashes. See Issues fixed.

Lacks Motion Blur and Distortion Effects from the PS2 version.

General information

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		SafeDisc V2 DRM^{[Note 1]}
		Includes Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen 2 and Legacy of Kain: Defiance.
GOG.com
Green Man Gaming
Humble Store
Steam
Publisher website (unavailable)

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

Demo

A demo is available here.

Essential improvements

Patches

Patch 1.02 is the latest version. Digital distribution versions are already patched.

To install this patch on newer versions of Windows, run sr2pc102.exe as an administrator.

Soul Fixer

Fixes crashes related to audio or resolution switching without the need of single core affinity.

Fully restores motion blur and improves the effect, replaces FSAA with MSAA, adds support for aspect ratio at any resolution.

Adds compatibility with all DirectInput and XInput controllers.

Requires version 1.02 from GoG.com or Steam.

Requires Steam Overlay to be disabled to avoid color degrading.

Peixoto's patch

Solves frequent crashes by restoring VSync and forcing single core affinity, allows supersampling anti-aliasing and keyboard/mouse emulation with XInput gamepads.

Extra setup dialog options

Add DWORD value
Press `⊞ Win`+`R`. Type `regedit` and press `↵ Enter`. Go to `HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Crystal Dynamics\Soul Reaver 2\1.00.000`. Create a new DWORD (32-bit) Value and rename it to `ExtendedDialog`. Change its value data from `0` to `1`. Run the game and tick `Show devtech options` in the setup dialog.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Crystal Dynamics\Soul Reaver 2\1.00.000
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/224940/pfx/^{[Note 2]}

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Soul Reaver 2\
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/224940/pfx/^{[Note 2]}

Save game cloud syncing

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

Video

Graphics feature	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution		See Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor		See Widescreen resolution
Ultra-widescreen		See Widescreen resolution
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed	See Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed	See Windowed
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)	FSAA. Can't be enabled when Fullscreen effects is selected in the setup dialog.
Vertical sync (Vsync)	Run `sr2.exe` with `-setup` command line argument and tick `Sync to refresh`
60 FPS
120+ FPS	Causes incorrect functioning of the "devour souls" button and other glitches such as brief teleport (especially during combats) and certain corrupted sections of the game. See Uncapped frame rate issue.^[4]

Widescreen resolution

Widescreen fix^{[citation needed]}

Download Widescreen fix by nemesis2000.
Extract sr2.7z files to the installation folder (password=sr2).
Run upx.bat for the GOG.com version.
Edit sr2.ini to set the resolution.

Notes

Supported exe size: 1 609 728 bytes.

Windowed

Use DxWnd

Download and run DxWnd as administrator.
Click on Edit, then Add.
Set name to Legacy of Kain - Soul Reaver 2.
Set path to <path-to-game>\sr2.exe.
Set Acquire admin caps.
Set Desktop for borderless fullscreen windowed.
Click on DirectX tab, set DirectX8.
Click on DirectX(2) tab, set VSync to ON and Wait for Frequency.
Click on Mouse tab, set Cursor visibility to Hide.
Click OK, then File and Save.
Run the game directly from DxWnd.

Input

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support		Uses DirectInput. XInput controllers may experience issues, use Soul Fixer or Xidi to fix them.
Full controller support
Controller remapping
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers

PlayStation controllers

Generic/other controllers		Generic DirectInput controllers are supported.
Button prompts

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

Audio

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Has on/off options for sound and music
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
French				Retail and GOG only
German				Retail and GOG only. Patch for other digital releases here.
Italian				Retail only. Download.
Russian				Unofficial translation by «Fargus» + «7Wolf»
Spanish				Retail only. Download.

VR support

3D modes	State	Notes
Nvidia 3D Vision		See Helix Mod: Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2
vorpX		G3D, Z3D User created profile, requires DGVoodoo2 v 2.55.4, see profile introdution. `Note:` Profile may not work with the latest wrapper, in case of issues please report to the vorpx forum.

Issues fixed

Crashes on multi-core CPUs

Force CPU affinity to one core^{[citation needed]}

Use DxWnd

Use the following configuration in DxWnd:

Under the Compat. tab, tick Set single core process affinity.

VSync does not work on Windows 10

Use DxWnd

Use d3d8to9
Download d3d8to9. Copy `d3d8.dll` to the game directory.

Uncapped frame rate issue

Limit the frame rate to 60 FPS^{[citation needed]}

Enable VSync and set the refresh rate to 60Hz

Purplish screen

Modify DWORD value
Press `⊞ Win`+`R`. Type `regedit` and press `↵ Enter`. Go to `HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Crystal Dynamics\Soul Reaver 2\1.00.000`. Open `DisableVShader` and change its value data from `0` to `1`. Click OK.

Switch from 16-bit to 32-bit color depth in the graphics options

Mouse cursor gets stuck in the top left corner

Occurs when running digital distribution versions from DxWnd.

Configure DxWnd
Under the Hook tab, set Injection to `Inject DLL`. Click OK and save the changes. Right-click the game icon, then go to `Run...` and select `Run suspended`.

Opening FMA plays slow or choppy

Running from DxWnd, the intro movie is often played in a stuttering manner.

Replace Binkw32.dll
Download the version 1.8w of the DLL here. Copy the DLL file to the game directory by overwriting the existing one.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	8

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	98, ME
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium III 450 MHz AMD K6-III 500 MHz	Intel Pentium III 700 MHz AMD Athlon 700 MHz
System memory (RAM)	128 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	850 MB	1 GB
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
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 (224940) may differ in some cases.
- Treat backslashes as forward slashes.
- See the glossary page for details on Windows data paths.

References

↑ soul reaver2 Wayback Machine [missing title] - last accessed on 2021-9-5
↑ 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
↑ It's FPS problem

[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]

[Proton_path_note-5] 2.0 ^2.1 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 (224940) may differ in some cases.
Treat backslashes as forward slashes.
See the glossary page for details on Windows data paths.

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

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

[5] The app ID (224940) may differ in some cases.

[6] Treat backslashes as forward slashes.

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

[Nixxes-1] soul reaver2 Wayback Machine [missing title] - last accessed on 2021-9-5

[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

[6] It's FPS problem

[1]

[Note 1]

[Note 2]

[4]

[2]

[3]

@@ Line 193: / Line 193: @@
 |invert mouse y-axis notes =
 |controller support        = true
-|controller support notes  = Uses DirectInput. XInput controllers may experience issues, use [https://github.com/samuelgr/Xidi Xidi] to fix them.
+|controller support notes  = Uses DirectInput. XInput controllers may experience issues, use [[#Soul Fixer|Soul Fixer]] or [https://github.com/samuelgr/Xidi Xidi] to fix them.
 |full controller           = false
 |full controller notes     =

Developers

	Crystal Dynamics
Windows	Nixxes Software^[1]
Publishers
2001-2009	Eidos Interactive
2009-2023	Square Enix
2023-present	Crystal Dynamics
Retail re-release	Sold Out Software
Engines
	Gex Engine
Release dates
Windows	October 30, 2001
Reception
Metacritic	77
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Third-person
Themes	Fantasy
Series	Legacy of Kain