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Watch Dogs 2

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Revision as of 09:35, 20 September 2020 by Rose (talk | contribs) (Undo revision 999662 by 2607:FCC8:9FC4:A100:FD8D:6587:4ECC:231F (talk))
Watch_Dogs 2
Watch_Dogs 2 cover
Developers
Ubisoft Montreal
Ubisoft Paris
Ubisoft Toronto
Ubisoft Bucharest
Ubisoft Reflections
Publishers
Ubisoft
Engines
Disrupt
Release dates
Windows November 29, 2016[1]
Watch Dogs 2 guide on StrategyWiki
Watch Dogs 2 on MobyGames
Watch Dogs 2 on Wikipedia
Watch Dogs
Watch Dogs 2014
Watch Dogs 2 2016
Watch Dogs: Legion 2020

General information

PC Report
Official forum
Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
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Windows
Amazon.com
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Deluxe Edition and Gold Edition also available. Only activates in the United States.
Windows
Amazon.co.uk
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Deluxe Edition and Gold Edition also available. Only available in the United Kingdom.
Windows
Epic Games Store
Icon overlay.png
Deluxe Edition and Gold Edition also available.
Windows
Gamesplanet logo.svg
Icon overlay.png
Deluxe Edition and Gold Edition also available.
Windows
Green Man Gaming
Icon overlay.png
Deluxe Edition and Gold Edition also available.
Windows
Humble Store
Icon overlay.png
Deluxe Edition and Gold Edition also available.
Windows
Origin
Origin
Icon overlay.png
Deluxe Edition and Gold Edition also available.
Windows
Steam
Icon overlay.png
Icon overlay.png
Deluxe Edition and Gold Edition also available.
Windows
Ubisoft Store
Icon overlay.png
Deluxe Edition and Gold Edition also available.
The latter is part of Ubisoft+.
Windows
All versions require Ubisoft Connect and Denuvo Anti-Tamper DRM.[2]

DLC and expansion packs

Name Notes
Season Pass
Windows
Ultra Texture Pack Free
Windows
Human Conditions Included in the Season Pass
Windows
No Compromise Included in the Season Pass
Windows
Mega Pack A bundle that includes: Retro Modernist Pack, Glow_Pro Pack, Ride Britannia Pack, Kick It Pack, Velvet Cowboy and Bay Area Thrash Pack
Windows
Supreme Pack A bundle that includes: Black Hat Pack, EliteSec Pack, Guru Pack, Dumpster Diver Pack and Home Town Pack
Windows
Ultimate Pack A bundle that includes: Psychedelic Pack, Pixel Art Pack, Ded Labs Pack, Glam Pack, Ubisoft Pack, Punk Rock Pack, Urban Artist Pack, Private Eye Pack and Guts, Grit and Liberty Pack
Windows
Bay Area Thrash Pack
Windows
Black Hat Pack
Windows
Ded Labs Pack
Windows
Dumpster Diver Pack
Windows
EliteSec Pack
Windows
Fully Decked Out Bundle
Windows
Glam Pack
Windows
Glow_Pro Pack
Windows
Guru Pack
Windows
Guts, Grit and Liberty Pack
Windows
Home Town Pack
Windows
Kick It Pack
Windows
Pixel Art Pack
Windows
Private Eye Pack Free
Windows
Psychedelic Pack Included in the Season Pass
Windows
Punk Rock Pack
Windows
Retro Modernist Pack
Windows
Ride Britannia Pack
Windows
Root Access Pack Included in the Season Pass
Windows
T-Bone Pack Included in the Season Pass
Windows
Ubisoft Pack
Windows
Urban Artist Pack
Windows
Velvet Cowboy
Windows
Zodiac Killer Mission Pre-order bonus, also included in Root Access Pack. Can't be purchased individually.
Windows
(Un)Lawful (Dis)Order and Bitflip Suit DLC are PS4 exclusive.[3]
To purchase the complete game with all content, you only need to buy five things on Steam. You need to get the Gold Edition of the game, the Mega Pack, Supreme Pack, Ultimate Pack, and the free Ultra Texture Pack. This combination gets you all the content for the least amount of money.

Essential improvements

Skip launcher

Use the -nosplash command line argument[citation needed]
Does not skip the Uplay launcher, only the game's launcher.

Skip intro videos

No intro mod
  1. Download and install no intro mod.

Game data

Configuration file location

System Location
Windows %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Watch_Dogs 2\WD2_GamerProfile.xml
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/447040/pfx/[Note 1]

Save location of photos taken with the in-game camera

System Location
Windows %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Watch_Dogs 2\LocalStorage0\
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/447040/pfx/[Note 1]

Save game data location

System Location
Windows <Ubisoft-Connect-folder>\savegames\<user-id>\2688\
Steam <Ubisoft-Connect-folder>\savegames\<user-id>\3619\
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/447040/pfx/[Note 1]

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
Epic Games Launcher
Origin
OneDrive
Requires enabling backup of the Documents folder in OneDrive on all computers.
Steam Cloud
Ubisoft Connect

Video settings

Display settings.
Display settings.
Quality settings.
Quality settings.

Template:Video settings

Input settings

Template:Input settings

Audio settings

Audio settings.
Audio settings.

Template:Audio settings

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
Arabic
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
Czech
Dutch
French
German
Hungarian
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Polish
Brazilian Portuguese
Russian
Spanish
Latin American Spanish
Uplay only. Other versions can be converted.

Network

Multiplayer types

Type Native Notes
LAN play
Online play

Disable Easy Anti-Cheat and online play

Besides using the multiplayer options found in the game configuration menu, you can also prevent online play by disabling the Easy Anti-Cheat protection.
Can be useful if you plan to mod the game, as Easy Anti-Cheat does not allow modified game files without in-game warning messages, and possible risk of an account ban.
Launch the game with the -eac_launcher command line argument[4]

VR support

3D modes State Notes
Native 3D
Nvidia 3D Vision Discover
Nvidia 3D Vision
See Helix Mod: WATCH_DOGS2.
Devices
Tobii Eye Tracking
Supports head tracking.

Issues fixed

Stuttering during gameplay

Install the game on SSD
It's recommended to install the game on SSD in order to get rid of frequent stuttering on various. Even on high end configurations. Please check the footnotes for reference [5] [6]
Be aware that minimal FPS is noticeably affected by slow RAM (see WD2 DDR3 vs DDR4 comparison)
(Nvidia) Set maximum pre rendered frames to 4[7]
Turn on in-game Multi-Frame Sampled AA (MFAA)[7]
Turn off multiplayer features in game options or disable Easy Anti-Cheat and online play[7]
Limit your framerate with RivaTuner to 45 - 50 - 55 or whatever you want[8]
Reinstall or update Windows 10 to at least Fall Creators Update (e.g. from 1709)[9]
(Esp. for notebooks) Unpark CPU cores with Quick CPU[9]
Turn down "Extra Details" responsible for draw distance[8]
Disable "Control Flow Guard" in Windows Defender for WD2[10]

Use this instruction and choose executable. Don't turn off CFG globally - it's a major security breach.

If you use another AV software, then you would naturally assume everything Defender related is disabled, and you would be wrong. If you use Defender, you will be brought to the Windows Defender Security Center straight away, but if you don't, you will end up on a Settings page saying that Windows Defender is not available because it's turned off. Click "Turn on Windows Defender Antivirus" - don't worry, your AV software will disable it again straight away.

Disabling Spectre and Meltdown patches

Use InSpectre
May lower stuttering and FPS issues on configurations with low RAM and weak CPU.[11]
Restart needed after changes.
Be warned your system will be vulnerable to the Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities while this is enabled.

Game doesn't launch

The game cannot handle a second monitor connected via an integrated graphics card

Turn off or unplug the monitor

After the game has launched, you can reconnect the monitor.
Easy Anti-Cheat sometimes finds a game file (ex: DbgHelp.dll) as untrusted and displays an error message about that

Remove the file (which is mentioned in the error message) from the game's library, also disable Easy Anti-Cheat if it's necesarry.

Incorrect aspect ratio, letterboxing or pillarboxing

Delete the 4096x2160 mode (or whatever it is in your case) so the display drivers no longer see it.

The following guide explains how, in simple details: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=806615157

Confirmed to work with LG B7 and C8 OLED TVs, as well as ViewSonic VX2475 monitors.
If your display device reports that it can handle a resolution higher than its native resolution, the game will render everything at that resolution and then scale it to the native one, resulting in distortion of some graphics (e.g. the HUD map is not circular, characters are tall or fat vs what they should be) and borders that should not be there on others (e.g. intro videos). This particularly affects some 4K monitors and TVs.
For example, many native 3840x2160 16:9 displays report they can also handle 4096x2160 as an input. The game will see that and render to it, even when you choose 3840x2160/16:9 in its settings.
Edit Configuration file
  1. Go to configuration file location.
  2. Change the value of ForceAspectRatio (in RenderProfile) from 0 to 1.777777777777778. (16:9)
You may need to set file to read-only.

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 11
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Physics Havok
Audio Wwise
Cutscenes Bink Video
Multiplayer Easy Anti-Cheat [12] See Disable Easy Anti-Cheat and online play.

System requirements

Windows[1]
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 7 SP1
Processor (CPU) Intel Core i5-2400S 2.5 GHz
AMD FX-6120 3.5 GHz
System memory (RAM) 6 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 50 GB
Video card (GPU) Nvidia GeForce GTX 660
AMD Radeon HD 7870
2 GB of VRAM
A 64-bit operating system is required.

Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data (use Wine regedit to access Windows registry paths). Games with Steam Cloud support may store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/447040/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (447040) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References