Warnings
- SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see Availability for affected versions).
Key points
- Shadows, water and torchlight may not render correctly on modern PCs. See Issues fixed.
- Online multiplayer is no longer functional.
- Doesn't contain the Depth of Field and Rain effects from the Xbox version.
Availability
- SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see above for affected versions).
- Not available digitally.
- A faithful and higher quality icon is available on SteamGridDB.
Essential improvements
Patches
- Latest patch is automatically downloaded by SC:PT Updater Launcher, or standalone patches can be downloaded directly here. All patches are available from ubisoft here (if you get a "403 Forbidden" error, simply try again).
Skip intro videos
Instructions[3]
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- Go to the game directory, and run
pandora_tomorrow.exe to directly access the main menu.
- To start single-player mode, go to
<path-to-game>\offline\system\ , and run SplinterCell2.exe .
- To start multiplayer mode, go to
<path-to-game>\online\system\ , and run SplinterCell.exe or shadowstrike_static_retail.exe .
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Game data
Configuration file(s) location
Save game data location
Video
Use ThirteenAG's Widescreen Fix[3]
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- Download the ZIP file here.
- Copy the
offline folder to <path-to-game> .
Notes
- FOV is automatically adjusted according to the resolution.
- Removes stretched HUD and moves HUD elements to the edge of the screen.
- When running the game, a prompt message may request to download dgVoodoo 2 for fixing some rendering issues.
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Edit SplinterCell2User.ini[5]
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- Go to the configuration files location.
- Open
SplinterCell2User.ini .
- Find
[Engine.PlayerController] section.
- Adjust the following values (91.3154482287 is advised for 16:9 displays and 85.2812718522 for 16:10 ones):
DesiredFOV=75.0
DefaultFOV=75.0
- Save the changes.
Notes
- Use either this or ThirteenAG's Widescreen Fix or the FOV will be too wide.
- Custom FOV and Hor+ work only if applied before creating a new profile.
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Edit SplinterCell2.ini[citation needed]
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- Go to the configuration files location.
- Open
SplinterCell2.ini .
- Find
StartupFullscreen=True and change it to StartupFullscreen=False .
- Save the changes.
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Modify driver profile[citation needed]
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- Download and run Nvidia Profile Inspector.
- Search and select the game profile.
- Set Antialiasing compatibility to
0x08000040 .
- Set Antialiasing - Behavior Flags to
None .
- Set Antialiasing - Mode to
Override .
- Set Antialiasing - Setting to
8x Multisampling or the desired value.
- Set Antialiasing - Transparency Supersampling to
8x Sparse Grid Supersampling (optional).
- Click Apply changes.
Notes
- This works only for Nvidia GPUs.
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Force MSAA using dgVoodoo 2[3]
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- Install dgVoodoo 2.
- Open
dgVoodooCpl.exe and click on the DirectX tab.
- Set
Antialiasing(MSAA) to 2x, 4x or 8x.
Notes
- When using ThirteenAG's Widescreen Fix the included
<path-to-game>\offline\system\dgVoodoo.conf file overrides the global dgVoodoo 2 settings. Delete/rename that file to use the global settings or edit it directly when using dgVoodooCpl.exe .
- Water will be rendered incorrectly in two places in Komodo Shipyard level.
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Force SMAA using ReShade[3]
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- Read the instructions below to properly setup dgVoodoo 2 for this game.
- Download the latest version of ReShade and run the Reshade Setup program.
- Click Select game, then select
SplinterCell2.exe found in <path-to-game>\offline\system\ .
- Select Direct3D 10+ as the rendering API.
- Allow to download shaders/effects and choose either all of them or just SMAA.
- Run the game, press ⇧ Shift+F2 to enter the configuration menu and follow the tutorial to create new profile and activate SMAA.
- In the Settings tab, under Usage Mode select Performance Mode.
- Click X in top right to exit the configuration menu.
Notes
- If downloading shader archive fails, download the archive manually and extract it to
<path-to-game>\offline\system\ . Then in game in ReShade settings add \reshade-shaders-master\Shaders to end of the Effect Search Paths and \reshade-shaders-master\Textures to the end of Texture Search Paths field. Restart the game and continue from Step 6.
- No water rendering issues.
- Using the Night Vision Goggles causes a huge performance loss because ReShade tries to anti-alias the grain effect.
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Edit SplinterCell2.ini[citation needed]
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- Go to the configuration file(s) location.
- Open
SplinterCell2.ini .
- Find the
[D3DDrv.D3DRenderDevice] section.
- At the bottom of the section, after
OverrideOptimalRefreshRate=False , add a line:
- Save the changes.
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Input
- Mouse acceleration is present whenever you equip/shoulder your weapon, as well as during aiming.
Edit ESetting.ini[3]
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- Go to
<path-to-game>\offline\system\ .
- Open
ESetting.ini .
- Find all
useAimTuning= lines, then edit their values from v=1 to v=0 and save the changes.
- When running them game, make sure to create a new save (loading a previous save doesn't register the change).
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- This fix makes XInput controllers somewhat compatible (menus can be navigated without a mouse, however cutscenes can't be skipped with a controller).
- Disables the mouse to control the in-game camera.
Instructions
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- Go to
<path-to-game>\offline\system and open Spintercell2.ini .
- Find
UseJoystick=False and change it to UseJoystick=True .
- Download this fix and copy the contents to
<path-to-game>\offline\system .
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- Keyboard is required to skip cutscenes and start missions.
- Disables the mouse to control the in-game camera.
Instructions
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- Download this Zip file.
- Copy the contents to
<path-to-game>\offline\system .
- Open
Spintercell2.ini with a text editor.
- Find
UseJoystick=False and change it to UseJoystick=True .
- To remap controls:
- Open
Spintercell2.ini , then scroll down to joy 1-10 and remap controls as you wish.
Notes
- Read this guide on Steam for any help.
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Audio
Audio feature |
State |
Notes |
Separate volume controls |
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Voice, music, ambient and SFX. |
Surround sound |
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Up to 7.1[6] |
Subtitles |
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Only in-game subtitles for the OPSAT dialogue, not available in cutscenes, except for Polish version, which also adds subtitles to every dialogue in-game. |
Closed captions |
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Mute on focus lost |
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EAX support |
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EAX 3.0[7] |
Royalty free audio |
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- May require DirectSound3D restoration software to restore proper audio functionality on Vista and later.
Localizations
Language |
UI |
Audio |
Sub |
Notes |
English |
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Traditional Chinese |
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French |
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German |
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Hungarian |
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Italian |
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Polish |
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Retail only. Patch for other releases here. |
Brazilian Portuguese |
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Fan translation, download. |
Spanish |
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Network
Multiplayer types
Connection types
VR support
Issues unresolved
Bottom Tooltip Erratic Movement
Bottom Tooltip Erratic Movement Example. Click to see it in action.
Bottom Tooltip seems a bit broken in some game versions, as it doesn't move back to the bottom sometimes or it moves back and forth in a erratic and not smooth movement like it should, sometimes not reaching its normal position.
- Discussion and more info here
Issues fixed
Rendering issues on modern PCs
- Due to relying on now-obsolete functionality in Nvidia GPUs, the default "buffer" shadows are broken on modern hardware.
This impacts gameplay as many light sources such as searchlights become invisible but can still trigger alarms.
- Sea and water may flicker in some maps.
- Torchlight doesn't work in multiplayer.
Use dgVoodoo2
Use dgVoodoo2[3]
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- Download dgVoodoo2 from the official website.
- Extract the contents to the folder of your choice.
- Open
dgVoodooCpl.exe and click the DirectX tab.
- Under
Videocard select GeForce 4 Ti 4800 from the drop-down menu.
- Select
256 MB from the VRAM drop-down menu.
- Click
Apply and OK at the bottom of the dgVoodoo 2 application window.
- Copy
D3D8.dll file from dgVoodoo2\MS\ folder to <path-to-game>\system folder.
Notes
- Requires dgVoodoo2 2.53 or later (included in the newest version of ThirteenAG's Widescreen Fix).
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Use experimental fix[citation needed]
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- Download the experimental fix.
- Copy
d3d8.dll to <path-to-game>\offline\system .
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Crashes during cutscenes
- Crashes may occur at any random point by returning a "General protection fault!" error.
Other information
API
Technical specs |
Supported |
Notes |
Direct3D |
8.1 |
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Executable |
32-bit |
64-bit |
Notes |
Windows |
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Middleware
HD Textures from the PS3 version
Instructions[3]
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- Download the archive here.
- Copy the
offline folder to the game directory and overwrite when prompted.
Notes
- Although in high resolution, HD textures often look bland (e.g. wood).
- The
HUDPC.utx file contains a completely different hud from the original. Ads have been removed.
- Certain textures have transparency problems when applied to the PC version.
For example, the train lights that leak through the grids at the beginning of the second mission. In this case, the grates do not let light through properly and have a black texture where it should be invisible.
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System requirements
Windows |
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Minimum |
Recommended |
Operating system (OS) |
98SE, ME, 2000 |
XP |
Processor (CPU) |
Intel Pentium III 1.0 GHz AMD Athlon |
Intel Pentium 4 1.8 GHz |
System memory (RAM) |
128 MB |
512 MB |
Hard disk drive (HDD) |
2 GB |
2.5 GB |
Video card (GPU) |
Nvidia GeForce 3 ATI Radeon 8500 64 MB of VRAM DirectX 8.1 compatible
| Nvidia GeForce FX ATI Radeon 9800 128 MB of VRAM |
Notes
- ↑ SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows 10[1] 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.[2]
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 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