Silent Hill 2: Director's Cut

This page is for the original Silent Hill 2. For the remake, see Silent Hill 2.

Silent Hill 2: Director's Cut

Developers
	Team Silent
Windows	Creature Labs
Publishers
	Konami
Release dates
Windows	December 2, 2002
Reception
Metacritic	70
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Modes	Singleplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Cinematic camera, Third-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Survival horror
Art styles	Realistic
Themes	Contemporary, Horror, North America
Series	Silent Hill

Silent Hill
Silent Hill 2: Director's Cut	2002
Silent Hill 3	2003
Silent Hill 4: The Room	2004
Silent Hill: Homecoming	2008
Silent Hill 2	2024

Silent Hill 2: Director's Cut is a survival horror game developed by Team Silent, ported by Creature Labs, and published by Konami. It is the second installment in the Silent Hill series.

The game was originally released for the PlayStation 2 on September 21, 2001 worldwide. The game later received an extended Director's Cut version on PlayStation 2 as a Greatest Hits re-release, Xbox, and PC, which added a new Born from a Wish scenario, a secret UFO ending, and for the PC version, a quick-save function, real-time weapon swapping, and a movie gallery. The PC version also features improved flashlight lighting like in the Xbox port, however, it also has a number of inaccuracies, missing or downgraded effects, and lower audio and FMV quality than previous versions. It also has compatibility issues with newer versions of Windows and hardware (see here for details).

There have been growing efforts by modders to fix the issues with the PC version, starting with sh2proxy by emoose to address compatibility issues and implement widescreen support for the game. It has since been succeeded by Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition, a community-driven project for the PC version that restores features from the original PlayStation 2 version, adds support for HD and widescreen resolutions, improved controller support, and other quality-of-life improvements.

General information

Silent Hill Memories - Informative site

Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		SecuROM 4.83 DRM. Patch 1.1 removes the DRM. Released on 3 CDs.

There are two versions: the North American version and the European Director's Cut version.
If the title screen lacks "Director's Cut" on it, it's the North American version.
Both versions include the extra scenario Born from a Wish along with an extra UFO ending.

Essential improvements

Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition

All improvements in this section are included in the full installation of the Enhanced Edition project.

Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition is a compilation of mods which implements widescreen resolution support, adds PlayStation 2 audio quality and fog that were missing from the PC version, provides upscaled images and FMVs, adds support for 60 FPS, improves controller and keyboard/mouse support and fixes countless bugs among other things.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\

keyconf.dat stores input bindings.

language.ini stores language settings.

options.ini stores gameplay and volume settings.

settings.ini stores video and audio settings.

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\data\save\Folder 01\

Video

Video settings

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution			Use Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen			Use Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition
4K Ultra HD			Use Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed		Use Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition, then set ScreenMode = 1 in d3d8.ini.
Borderless fullscreen windowed		Use Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition, then set ScreenMode = 2 in d3d8.ini.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		Causes black lines to appear in some textures when forced.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		Use Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition for SMAA; set EnableSMAA = 1 in d3d8.ini. Alternatively, MSAA can be forced via the GPU control panel. See here for instructions and recommended settings.
High-fidelity upscaling		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Vertical sync (Vsync)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
60 FPS		Capped at 30 FPS by default. See High frame rate for 60 FPS support.
120+ FPS		The game engine starts to break in various ways, such as character movement becoming disabled, when playing at high frame rate.
High dynamic range display (HDR)

High frame rate

The game runs at 30 FPS by default. Use Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition to run the game at 60 FPS while fixing egregious high frame issues.

Install Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition and enable 60 FPS support
Install Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition. Open d3d8.ini and ensure that SetSixtyFPS is set to 1. Notes Interpolated videos at 60 FPS are available here.

Change noise effect resolution

Change IncreaseNoiseEffectRes
Install Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition. Open d3d8.ini. Set IncreaseNoiseEffectRes to any value between 128 and 4096. The larger the value, the smaller the noise grain will be. 512 is the default noise grain value.

Input

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		All game functions can be remapped on the keyboard. Mouse buttons cannot be remapped with other keys. Use Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition to assign different actions to the same input on keyboard.
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus		Some menus do not support mouse input. For full mouse menu support, use Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition, then set EnableEnhancedMouse = 1 in d3d8.ini.
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support		DirectInput only. See Controller support.
Full controller support
Controller remapping		Use Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition to assign different actions to the same button on controllers.
Controller sensitivity		Silent Hill 2: Director's Cut supports analog movement for controller joysticks but does not support pressure sensitive face buttons.
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers		See Controller support
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger vibration

Generic/other controllers
Button prompts

Additional information
Button prompts
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback		DirectInput only. Use Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition to restore vibration for XInput controllers.
Digital movement supported
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Controller support

Analog triggers and vibration on XInput controllers won't function without workarounds.

Fix triggers and vibration via Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition
Notes The "Xidi" package contained in the project has to be installed. This will restore trigger and vibration functionality for XInput-based controllers and includes a pre-configured keyconf.dat file so that inputs on XInput controllers are correctly mapped for Silent Hill 2: Director's Cut out of the box. This will also improve hotplugging support for other XInput-based controllers.

Fix triggers and vibration via XInput Plus
Download and run XInput Plus. Set Target Program to sh2pc.exe. Go to the DirectInput tab and check Enable DirectInput Output. Assign LT/RT to Button 11/12. Click Apply and a DLL file will be added to the game directory.

Audio

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Background music and sound effects.
Surround sound		Up to 7.0 output.
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
EAX support		DirectSound3D.
Royalty free audio

May require DirectSound3D restoration software to restore hardware-accelerated 3D sound functionality on Windows Vista and later. DSOAL is included in Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition.

Localizations

Use Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition to restore the language selection in the options menu.

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Arabic				Fan translation, download.
Simplified Chinese				Fan translation, download.
French
German
Indonesian				Fan translation, download.
Italian
Japanese				Use Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition to restore the game's original Japanese language.
Polish				Fan translation, download.
Brazilian Portuguese				Fan translation, download. Version with a dub is available here.
Russian				Fan translation, download.
Spanish				Improved fan translation, download. (Included in Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition.)
Turkish				Fan translation, download.
Ukrainian				Fan translation, download.

Issues fixed

Audio stutters endlessly or stops completely

The game comes with a buggy, beta version of CRIWARE audio middleware that has issues running correctly on multicore processors.
Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition includes a custom reimplementation of this audio engine to fix this issue.

Use EnableCriWareReimplementation
Install Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition. Open d3d8.ini and ensure that EnableCriWareReimplementation is set to 1.

Clicking or popping sound effects

Use AudioClipDetection
Install Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition. Open d3d8.ini and ensure that AudioClipDetection is set to 1.

Textures appear as solid white surfaces

Use WhiteShaderFix
Install Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition. Open d3d8.ini and ensure that WhiteShaderFix is set to 1.

"Insert a disc" message appears during the ending

In rare situations, the game will look for end.bik instead of ending.bik for the credits video. If that happens, this error will occur.

Install Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition
Notes The project fixes this issue without having to rename the video file.

Rename the video file
Go to <path-to-game>\data\movie\. Rename ending.bik to end.bik.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	8.1	For Direct3D 9 support, use Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition.
Shader Model support	1.4

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Audio	ADX	Sound files are compressed compared to the PlayStation 2 version. The original PlayStation 2 quality audio files can be restored into the PC version by installing the Audio Enhancement Pack as part of the Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition project.
Cutscenes	Bink Video	FMVs are compressed and play at 29.97 full frames per second (29.97p), compared to the PlayStation 2 version which plays them at 59.94 half frames per second (29.97i). The quality of the PC version's FMVs can be improved by installing the FMV Enhancement Pack as part of the Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition project.

Silent Hill 2 HD Collection Voice Pack

Replaces the original voice acting with the new voices from the Silent Hill HD Collection release.

The HD Collection voices are very divisive and often considered to be inferior to the original voice acting.

Includes and integrates both the Audio Enhancement Pack and the FMV Enhancement Pack from the Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition project for its audio improvements.

Silent Hill 2 PC Fix by Steam006

This fix should not be combined with the Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition project.

An outdated alternative fix which adds new features and fixes some bugs.

Instructions[citation needed]
Copy all files to <path-to-game>. Configure options in Silent_Hill_2_PC_Fix.ini. Run the game from DLLInjector.exe.

Unlimited stamina

Apply hack for unlimited stamina
Open sh2pc.exe with a hex-editor such as HxD. Press Ctrl+F and find the address 89 BE 20 01 00 00 D8 B6 40 01 00 00 (Hex-values). Press Ctrl+G and go to 41 (offset relative to: current offset). Change the value CF to C8 and save the changes.

Disable background fog

Disable fogging
Download and run DxWnd as administrator. Click on Edit, then Add. Set path to <path-to-game>\sh2pc.exe. Set Acquire admin caps. Disable Run in Window. Click on the 3D tab and tick Disable Fogging. Click OK, then File and Save. Run the game directly from DxWnd.

Add icon to executable file

sh2pc.exe may have no icon set by default.

Set icon with Rcedit

Download Rcedit depending on the OS bitness, and copy it to <path-to-game>. Download sh2_newicon.zip and extract sh2_new.ico to <path-to-game>. Open a Command Prompt. Type in and enter cd <path-to-game>. Replace <path-to-game> with the actual path; e.g. cd C:\Games\Silent Hill 2. Type in and enter rcedit-x64.exe sh2pc.exe --set-icon sh2_new.ico. If the 32-bit version is used, replace rcedit-x64.exe with rcedit-x86.exe above.

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	98, ME, 2000, XP
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium 700 MHz AMD Athlon 700 MHz	Intel Pentium 1.0 GHz AMD Athlon 1.0 GHz
System memory (RAM)	64 MB	128 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	1.8 GB	2.3 GB
Video card (GPU)	32 MB of VRAM DirectX 8.1 compatible	64 MB of VRAM