Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising

Developers
	Relic Entertainment
GOG.com	General Arcade
macOS (OS X)	Feral Interactive
Linux	Feral Interactive
Publishers
2010-2013	THQ
2013-2025	SEGA
2025-present	Relic Entertainment
OS X, Linux	Feral Interactive
Engines
	Essence Engine 2.0
Release dates
Windows	March 11, 2010
macOS (OS X)	September 29, 2016
Linux	September 29, 2016
Reception
Metacritic	85
IGDB	85
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Microtransactions	None
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Bird's-eye view
Controls	Multiple select, Point and select
Genres	RTS
Themes	Sci-fi
Series	Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War
Subseries of Warhammer 40,000
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War	2004
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War: Dark Crusade	2006
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War: Soulstorm	2008
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II	2009
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising	2010
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Retribution	2011
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War III	2017
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Definitive Edition	2025
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War IV	2026

Warnings

For Games for Windows - LIVE on Windows 8 or later, install the latest Games for Windows - LIVE software.

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising is the first standalone expansion pack for the 2009 strategy game Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II. It shares game files with the base game. Despite all this, it is classified as a DLC in the Games for Windows Live version. It includes the Chaos Space Marines playable faction, new units, heroes, missions and maps.

The game was migrated from Games for Windows - LIVE to Steamworks online services in first in a beta branch on June 27, 2014, and on the main branch on September 4, 2014. The GOG.com version from July 7, 2023 is isolated from the Steam playerbase and can only be used to connect to GOG Galaxy users. On September 19, 2024, the Grand Master Collection (containing the base game, both expansions and most minor DLC) became the main version of the game on Steam, renamed to the Anniversary Edition.

General information

Official developer Discord server

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail
Developer website
		Part of the Anniversary Edition.
GOG.com		Part of the Anniversary Edition.
Green Man Gaming		Part of the Anniversary Edition.
Mac App Store
Steam		Part of the Anniversary Edition.
(unavailable)
Games for Windows Marketplace (unavailable)
Humble Store (unavailable)		Master Collection and Grand Master Collection also available.
Steam (unavailable)

Games for Windows - LIVE DRM has been removed. See Downgrading to revert to the GFWL version.

All non-Steam versions require Games for Windows - LIVE DRM.

Version differences

The retail-only Gold Edition includes the base game and the Chaos Rising expansion.

The Master Collection includes the base game, Chaos Rising and Retribution.

The Grand Master Collection (titled Anniversary Edition on Steam and GOG.com as of September 19, 2024) includes the contents of the Master Collection, as well as all additional DLC for Retribution except The Last Stand Necron Overlord and Ridiculously Bloody Blood Pack.

Essential improvements

Skip intro videos

Move, delete or rename files
Go to <path-to-game>\GameAssets\Data\Movies. Move, delete or rename the following files. amd_intro.avi dowii_intro_final.avi gw_logo_720p_divx1.avi sega_logo_new_720p_divx.avi relicintro_720p_divx.avi For the Games for Windows LIVE version, gfwl_logo.avi may also be removed or renamed.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Dawn of War 2\Settings\
macOS (OS X)	$HOME/Library/Application Support/Feral Interactive/Dawn of War II/SaveData/Settings/
Linux	$XDG_DATA_HOME/feral-interactive/Dawn of War II/VFS/User/AppData/Roaming/My Games/Dawn of War 2/

This game follows the XDG Base Directory Specification on Linux.

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Dawn of War 2\Saved Games\
macOS (OS X)	$HOME/Library/Application Support/Feral Interactive/Dawn of War II/SaveData/Saved Games/
Linux	$XDG_DATA_HOME/feral-interactive/Dawn of War II/VFS/User/AppData/Roaming/My Games/Dawn of War 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

General settings.

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed		Use -window command line argument.
Borderless fullscreen windowed		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		Unknown method (On/Off).
Vertical sync (Vsync)		See Vertical sync (Vsync).
60 FPS and 120+ FPS
High dynamic range display (HDR)		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.
Color blind mode		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.

Vertical sync (Vsync)

Modify configuration file
Go to %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Dawn of War 2\Settings Edit configuration.lua. Find setting = "vsync". Change value = 0 to value = 1 Save the changes. To reverse the change, change back to value = 0.

Input

Controls settings menu.

Controls settings in game.

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		See Custom keyboard binding
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Keyboard and mouse prompts
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support

Custom keyboard binding

Edit configuration file[citation needed]
Go to the configuration file(s) location. Open _keydefaults.lua with a text editor. Locate actions to change and assign new keys to them. Save file as keydefaults.lua (without underscore). Be sure to read notes in the file.

Audio

Audio settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Traditional Chinese				Available on Steam, despite not being stated in the store page.
Czech				Available on Steam, despite not being stated in the store page.
French
German
Italian
Polish				Available on Steam, despite not being stated in the store page.
Russian				Available on Steam, despite not being stated in the store page.
Spanish

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
Local play
LAN play		6	Versus Available only in the GFWL version, as it was removed in the Steamworks update.
Online play		6	Versus, Co-op Steam and Mac App Store players cannot play together.
Asynchronous multiplayer

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP		Available only in the GFWL version, as it was removed in the Steamworks update.

VR support

3D modes	State	Notes
vorpX		G3D User created game profile, see vorpx forum profile introduction.

Issues fixed

Pagefile

The game may not run unless a pagefile of at least 1.5 GB in size is present on the computer. This can be worked around.

Run the game with the -disablepagefilecheck command line argument[citation needed]

Restoring LAN multi-player, direct IP connection and GFWL

Downgrading

Download this archive and extract it. Copy the extracted content to <path-to-game> and overwrite the existing files. If present, also delete xlive.dll from the game's folder. Launch the game from Steam and enter the key when the game asks. After activating the game, matchmaking (and all achievements associated with it) becomes available once again. This does not bypass neither remove Steam DRM. Steam is still required to run the game in addition to GFWL.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9.0c

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Physics	Havok Physics
Interface	Scaleform GFx
Multiplayer	Games for Windows Live, Steamworks, Relic BattleServer

System requirements

Windows

macOS (OS X)

Linux

Windows
	Minimum		Recommended
Operating system (OS)	XP SP2		Vista SP1
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium 4 3.2 GHz Dual Core (any processor)		Intel Core 2 Duo series AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+
System memory (RAM)	1 GB (XP) 1.5 GB (Vista)		2 GB
Storage drive (HDD/SSD)	6.5 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce 6600 GT ATI Radeon X1600 128 MB of VRAM Shader model 3.0 support		Nvidia GeForce 7800 GT ATI Radeon X1900 256 MB of VRAM

macOS (OS X)
	Minimum		Recommended
Operating system (OS)	10.10.5		10.11.5
Processor (CPU)	Intel 1.8 GHz		Intel 2.4 GHz
System memory (RAM)	4 GB		8 GB
Storage drive (HDD/SSD)	18 GB
Video card (GPU)	512 MB of VRAM		1 GB of VRAM

Intel HD Graphics 4000/5000 cards require 8 GB of RAM.

Linux
	Minimum		Recommended
Operating system (OS)	Ubuntu 16.04, SteamOS 2.0
Processor (CPU)	Intel 2.0 GHz		Intel 3.0 GHz
System memory (RAM)	4 GB		8 GB
Storage drive (HDD/SSD)	16 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce 600 series AMD Radeon HD 6000 series Intel Iris Pro Graphics series 512 MB of VRAM

Nvidia cards require driver version 367.35, AMD and Intel GPUs require MESA 11.2.