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Resident Evil 2 (2019)

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games

This page is for the remake of Resident Evil 2. For the original game, see Resident Evil 2.

Resident Evil 2
Resident Evil 2 cover
Developers
Capcom
2022 update NeoBards[1]
Engines
RE Engine
Release dates
Windows January 25, 2019
Reception
Metacritic 89
OpenCritic 92
IGDB 93
Taxonomy
Monetization One-time game purchase
Microtransactions Cosmetic, Unlock
Modes Singleplayer
Pacing Real-time
Perspectives Third-person
Controls Direct control
Genres Action, Survival horror, TPS
Art styles Realistic
Themes Contemporary, Horror, North America, Zombies
Series Resident Evil
Resident Evil 2 (2019) on HowLongToBeat
Resident Evil 2 (2019) on IGDB
Resident Evil 2 (2019) guide on StrategyWiki
Resident Evil 2 (2019) on MobyGames
Resident Evil 2 (2019) on Wikipedia
Resident Evil 1996
Resident Evil 2 1999
Resident Evil 3: Nemesis 1999
Resident Evil Survivor 2002
Biohazard 2 (Sourcenext) 2006
Biohazard 3: Last Escape (Sourcenext) 2006
Resident Evil 4 2007
Resident Evil 5 2009
Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City 2012
Resident Evil 6 2013
Resident Evil: Revelations (series)
Resident Evil 4 Ultimate HD Edition 2014
Resident Evil HD Remaster 2015
Resident Evil Zero HD Remaster 2016
Umbrella Corps 2016
Resident Evil 7 Teaser: Beginning Hour 2016
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard 2017
Resident Evil 2 (2019) 2019
Resident Evil 3 (2020) 2020
Resident Evil Resistance 2020
Resident Evil Village 2021
Resident Evil Re:Verse 2022
Resident Evil 4 (2023) 2023

Resident Evil 2[Note 1] is a singleplayer survival horror game developed and published by Capcom. It is part of the Resident Evil series and a remake of the original 1998 game of the same name, chronologically takes place two months after the event of Resident Evil remake.

It was released on January 25, 2019. A demo of the game is also available.

On June 14, 2022, Capcom rolled out a update for the game in which raytracing and 3D audio were added, but the same update had also removed the option to use DirectX 11, forcing players to use DirectX 12. After complaints of worse performance, a beta branch was made available to use the older version of the game. The same update also breaks many mods made specifically for older version of the game, requiring many modders to update their mods to be compatible with the latest version. Enabling Shadow Cache may increase performance by 33%.[2]

General information

Steam Community Discussions
Resident Evil Modding Forums

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
Icon overlay.png
Europe only.
Windows
GamersGate
Icon overlay.png
Deluxe Edition also available.
Windows
Gamesplanet logo.svg
Icon overlay.png
Deluxe Edition also available.
Windows
Green Man Gaming
Icon overlay.png
Deluxe Edition also available.
Windows
Humble Store
Icon overlay.png
Deluxe Edition also available.
Windows
Microsoft Store
Microsoft Store
Xbox Play Anywhere.
Included with Xbox Game Pass for PC.
Deluxe Edition also available.
Windows
Steam
Icon overlay.png
Deluxe Edition also available.
Windows
Microsoft Store version requires Enigma Protector DRM.[3]
A demo is available on Steam.
Bypassing the Steam DRM via .dll removal will create a new local save folder inside the game folder. Any DLC files present (if you own any) will not function this way, but game content introduced via patches (such as the "The Ghost Survivors" episodes) will.
Denuvo Anti-Tamper DRM was removed from the Steam version on December 18, 2019.[4]

Version differences

The Deluxe Edition includes all the DLC minus the pre-order bonus.

DLC and expansion packs

Name Notes
Claire Costume: Elza Walker
Windows
Claire Costume: Military
Windows
Claire Costume: Noir
Windows
Deluxe Weapon: Samurai Edge - Albert Model
Windows
Deluxe Weapon: Samurai Edge - Chris Model Timed pre-order exclusive; became purchasable on March 22, 2019.
Windows
Deluxe Weapon: Samurai Edge - Jill Model Timed pre-order exclusive; became purchasable on March 22, 2019.
Windows
Leon Costume: Arklay Sheriff
Windows
Leon Costume: Noir
Windows
Original Ver. Soundtrack Swap
Windows

Essential improvements

REFix

An REFramework plugin that provides fixes and gameplay improvements. Works on both the DX11 non-raytraced version and the DX12 version.
Removes horizontal mouse speed scaling relative to pitch
Removes input damping
FOV-dependent sensitivity
Removes dynamic difficulty[5]
Improves zombie animation frame rate
Installation
  1. Download REFramework and REFix.
  2. Put dinput8.dll found in RE2.zip or RE2_TDB66.zip depending on your version of the game in <path-to-game>.
  3. Run your game and then exit (so it makes its files/folders etc).
  4. Put REFix.dll from REFix into <path-to-game>\reframework\plugins.
If running under Proton, user.reg needs to be updated so that the custom dinput8.dll gets loaded. Refer to this reddit post.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\re2_config.ini[Note 2]
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/883710/pfx/[Note 3]

Save game data location

System Location
Windows <Steam-folder>\userdata\<user-id>\883710\remote\
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/883710/pfx/[Note 3]
20 save slots + 1 autosave slot available

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
Steam Cloud
Xbox Cloud

Video

Display settings
Display settings
Display settings
Display settings

Graphics feature State WSGF Notes
Widescreen resolution
16:10 and 4:3 are letterboxed. See the WSGF topic.
Multi-monitor
Vert- by default. See Multi-monitor.
Ultra-widescreen
Hor+ gameplay with pillarboxed cutscenes at 21:9. Vert- at 32:9. See Multi-monitor.
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Limited in-game slider with no numerical values. Use REFramework or RE2RUTrainer to change camera FOV, height, and zoom offsets further.
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Up to 16x.
Anti-aliasing (AA)
FXAA, TAA, FXAA + TAA, and SMAA.
High-fidelity upscaling
FSR 1.0
Vertical sync (Vsync)
Triple-buffered.
60 FPS and 120+ FPS
See Zombies animate at 30 FPS. Knife damage is tied to FPS.
High dynamic range display (HDR)
The setting to enable it won't be shown unless all the connected monitors support HDR. HDR setting in Windows is not relevant.
Ray tracing (RT)
Ray-traced global illumination, ambient occlusion, and reflections.

Multi-monitor

This mod centers the UI for multi-monitor resolutions and removes the cinematic black borders for 21:9 resolutions and above.
It also tweaks the vignette so it is not visible (removing it creates a color inversion bug).
Use fix by helifax (DX11/DX12 versions)[6]
  1. Download RE2 3DMigoto w/Reshade Hook Support Fix.
  2. Copy the content next to RE2.exe.
  3. Fix the FOV for multi-monitor resolutions:
    1. Option 1: Apply the FOV hex edit by Jackfuste
    2. Option 2: Using a hex editor, replace the following bytes in re2.exe: FD FF A7 3F 00 00 00 00 => FD FF A7 40 00 00 00 00
  4. Swap between centered UI and default UI by pressing F11 (enabled by default for multi-monitor resolutions).

Notes

It doesn't change the UI at 4:3, 16:9, 16:10, 21:9 resolutions.
Not compatible with the REFramework mod.
Does not work for ultrawide resolutions in DX12 mode.

Disable vignette

Resident Evil 2 has a very strong vignette. While some may feel being unable to see the left and right sides of the screen adds to the horror, others may feel it is annoyingly dark and like looking through a telescope. This is the game with vignette on and this is vignette off.
Use REFramework[7]
  1. Put dinput8.dll found in RE2.zip or RE2_TDB66.zip depending on your version of the game in <path-to-game> (if you do not use VR, do NOT extract anything else, only dinput8.dll).
  2. Press Insert in-game to access to the menu and disable the vignette. You might need to toggle in and out of first person mode for the vignette to be disabled in third person.
Hex edit the executable of the game[8]
  1. Go to <path-to-game>.
  2. Copy re2.exe and paste it somewhere.
  3. Open original re2.exe from <path-to-game> in a hex editor, e.g. HxD.
  4. Search for 8B 87 3C 01 00 00 89 83 DC 00 00 00 and replace it with 31 C0 90 90 90 90 89 83 DC 00 00 00.
  5. Save and close the file.

Notes

Causes color inversion bug.
Supports DirectX 11 and 12.
This fix will only work on the dx11_non-rt branch of the game, updated as of 04/27/2023.
If a mistake is made and the file gets corrupted, verify the game files through Steam to restore it to its original state or replace original re2.exe with saved copy.

Disable sharpening

Use REFramework
  1. Put dinput8.dll found in RE2.zip or RE2_TDB66.zip depending on your version of the game in <path-to-game>.
  2. Launch RE2 to generate the required autorun and plugins folders.
  3. Put re2_sharpness_removal.lua and utility found in RE2.zip or RE2_TDB66.zip in <path-to-game>\reframework\autorun
Use RE2 3D Vision Fix

Notes

Press F4 for no sharpening.
Use jackfuste's fix
DX11&12: Hex edit the executable of the game[9]
  1. Go to <path-to-game>.
  2. Copy re2.exe and paste it somewhere.
  3. Open original re2.exe from <path-to-game> in a hex editor, e.g. HxD.
  4. Search for 80 BB FD 00 00 00 00 48 8B F8 74 05 and replace it with 80 BB FD 00 00 00 00 48 8B F8 74 00.
  5. Save and close the file.

Notes

If a mistake is made and the file gets corrupted, verify the game files through Steam to restore it to its original state or replace original re2.exe with saved copy.

Zombies animate at 30 FPS

Even if you play at 60 or variable (uncapped) FPS, zombies still animate at a maximum of 30 FPS when they are far from the player.[10]
Use REFix
Make zombies always animate at full frame rate[11]
  1. Go to <path-to-game>.
  2. Copy re2.exe and paste it somewhere.
  3. Open re2.exe with a hex editor such as HxD.
  4. Go to offset 4F3E70 (Ctrl+G in HxD).
  5. Find 44 8B C5.
  6. Replace with 45 31 C0.
  7. Save and close the file.

Notes

This fix will only work on the dx11_non-rt branch of the game, updated as of 04/27/2023.
If a mistake is made and the file gets corrupted, verify the game files through Steam to restore it to its original state or replace original re2.exe with saved copy.

Input

Control settings
Control settings
Camera settings
Camera settings

Keyboard and mouse State Notes
Remapping
Left-click and Enter are hardcoded to Confirm.[12]
Mouse acceleration
Forced negative mouse acceleration and deadzone. Use REFix to remove negative mouse acceleration.
Mouse sensitivity
Individual sliders for camera and aiming.
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support
Controller remapping
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Controller sensitivity
Individual sliders for camera and aiming.
Controller Y-axis inversion
Controller types
XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger vibration
PlayStation controllers
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Tracked motion controllers
Use Praydog's REFramework.
Button/gesture prompts
Generic/other controllers
Button prompts
Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
Digital movement supported
Simultaneous controller+KB/M
Windows media keys do not work while playing this game.

Audio

Sound settings
Sound settings
Language settings
Language settings

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Voice, BGM, Sound Effects.
Surround sound
5.1/7.1 and Dolby Atmos.
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
EAX support
Real-Time Binaural in-game; Windows Sonic, Dolby Atmos, or DTS Headphone:X 2.0.[13][14]
Royalty free audio

Localizations

In-game voice and text can be changed to separate supported languages.
Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
Arabic
Exclusive to the ray tracing build.
Arabic
Fan translation (Games in Arabic).
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
French
German
Hungarian
Fan translation.
Indonesian
Fan translation by IGTC Team, download.
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Polish
Portuguese
Fan translation by David Pires, download.
Brazilian Portuguese
Russian
Fan voice-over by «Mechanics VoiceOver», download.
Spanish
Latin American Spanish
Added on August 14, 2023, exclusive to the ray tracing version.
Fan voice-over by Primera Llamada and NegaArmax (Available in two versions: DX11 and DX12, respectively).
Thai
Exclusive to the ray tracing build.

VR support

Issues unresolved

Multimedia keys and Windows key are disabled

No solution.

Issues fixed

Mouse sensitivity issues

The horizontal mouse speed is highest when looking at the horizon and decreases linearly as the player looks up or down.
All mouse movement is scaled by a factor that changes dynamically based on how much the mouse is already moving.
The mouse sensitivity decreases when the FOV is lower and vice versa.
Use REFix to fix all mouse issues

Knife damage is tied to frame rate

The survival knife does variable damage based on the current frame rate.[15]

Fatal Application Exit - renderdevicedx11.cpp error crash

This may occur when the helicopter comes.[16]

  • Update Windows and drivers to the latest version
  • Verify integrity of the game
  • Delete re2_config.ini in the game folder location and reopen the game
  • Open re2_config.ini in the game folder and add "PCResolution=12" under "[Render]". Edit resolution once the game is able to open
  • Change DirectX version (if both work fine, use 11 as there is less performance loss over 12 in this game)

Graphics menu displays incorrect amount of VRAM

The game can display an incorrect amount of VRAM for you GPU in the graphics menu.[17][18]

Does not affect performance or available graphics options.
The game may warn you that you will experience poor performance in high settings, but as long as your GPU's actual VRAM is sufficient this is not true.

"This extra save data is not compatible and cannot be used"

Saved games are tied to whatever region Windows is set to, so it can cause issues with cloud-saves across computers.
Change Windows region settings[19]

If your save game is failing to load after changing to another computer, you need to go into the Windows "Region" settings and change your region to whichever the previous computer had theirs set to. Typically for most English users, its default is "United States". Once you've changed it, re-launch the game (no reboot required)

Game becomes too dark/bright at times

Sometimes, the game may become very dark, such as when standing near the stairs in the main hall, or even simply exploring the RPD. Then at other times, it may become too bright.
Various fixes[20]
  • Try installing latest video drivers.
  • Lower the image quality, such as from 100% to 50%.
  • Turn off Screen Space Reflections in options.
  • Cap the framerate at 30 or 60, not Variable.
  • Try changing around windowed/fullscreen/borderless fullscreen mode.
  • Disable anything with "shadow" in options (Shadow Cache, Contact Shadows).
  • Try changing from DirectX 12 back to 11.
  • Try increasing the texture quality to use 2GB or more of VRAM. It is set to 0.5GB by default.
  • Try changing Ambient Occlusion settings, watching for screen darkening/brightening.

Note:

Some potential fixes, specifically setting Shadow Cache to off, will have a negative impact on performance.[2]
(Nvidia users) Downgrade graphics drivers to version 399.24[citation needed]

Stutters

Resident Evil 2 is known to have stutters for many players. Apart from the possible fixes under "Game becomes too dark/bright at times", another method is to increase the paging file size. Resident Evil 2 uses heavy resources on a PC's paging file, which acts as alternate virtual RAM.[21] If the paging file is set too low (such as a maximum of 2GB), this can act as a performance bottleneck, resulting in frequent stutters while exploring. This is especially true if the system's RAM is 8GB and under. Increasing the paging file size (such as from 2GB to 8GB) can drastically improve performance and reduce stutters.
Increase paging file size
  1. Open start menu, type "run" and use run command.
  2. Enter systempropertiesadvanced. Go to "Advanced" tab and click settings.
  3. Go to "Advanced" and choose "programs" instead of "background services".
  4. Under virtual memory, click change. Uncheck "Automatically manage paging file for all drives" at the top.
  5. Select custom size. Although there is no definitive paging file size, try making the initial and maximum both 12288.
  6. Click OK and restart your computer. Try the game to see if performance is improved.
Remove all devices that tether to your PC via USB (a mobile phone with USB tethering enabled, for example)[citation needed]

Game fails to launch (Win 10 users)

Disable Hyper-V in Windows Features[22]

Game fails to launch (ASUS motherboard users)

Uninstall the Sonic suite of applications[23]

Mouse/keyboard stops working

The mouse and keyboard may stop responding if you Alt+Tab out or after a cutscene ends.
Open the Steam Overlay with Shift+Tab and close it[24]
Plug in, then unplug a controller[25]

Cutscene playback issues

The game relies on the presence of Windows Media Player and its codec.
Install the Media Feature Pack for your version of Windows[26]

Notes

Windows 8/8.1/10 Media Feature Pack downloads
Windows 7 Media Feature Pack download
Ensure any Media Feature Pack alternatives are not running under Windows Media Foundation[26]

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 12, 11 Updated to D3D12 exclusively in 2022. The previous D3D11 version is available via the dx11_non-rt beta branch on Steam.
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Audio Wwise
Cutscenes Windows Media Player

Mods

RE2 Mod Framework - Adds first-person mode, manual flashlight, disable vignette
RE2 Ultimate Trainer - Adds character/outfit swaplayer wetness adjustment, manual flashlight, HUD adjustments, camera FOV, etc., p
The game has dynamic color filters which will appear depending on the room, such as a blue tint. There is a mod for those who dislike them which works for both the older version and the raytracing patch update.

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 10
Processor (CPU) Intel Core i5-4460
AMD FX-6300
System memory (RAM) 8 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 26 GB
Video card (GPU) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960
AMD Radeon RX 460
2 GB of VRAM
DirectX 12 compatible
A 64-bit operating system is required.

Notes

  1. Known as Biohazard RE:2 (Japanese: バイオハザード RE:2) in Japan
  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).
  3. 3.0 3.1 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>/883710/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (883710) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References

  1. Games - NeoBards Entertainment Ltd. - last accessed on 2022-10-20
  2. 2.0 2.1 Resident Evil 2 Remake: Complete PC Analysis + Xbox One X Comparison! - last accessed on 2019-01-29
    "[starting at timestamp 7:55] Here, I can only recommend leaving Shadow Caching on, as turning it off can result in a 25% performance loss with no visual gain."
  3. GamePass (RE2): Enigma workaround + fixes for new build · praydog/REFramework@1ed9f31 - last accessed on 2024-01-22
  4. Capcom has completely removed the Denuvo anti-tamper tech from Resident Evil 2 Remake - DSOGaming - last accessed on 2019-12-18
  5. Resident Evil 2 (2019) by Bawkbasoup in 54:29 SGDQ2019 - YouTube - last accessed on May 2023
  6. Widescreen Gaming Forum • View topic - Wrong FOV: RESIDENT EVIL 2 / BIOHAZARD RE:2 2019 - last accessed on 9 June 2023
  7. Resident Evil 2 in a First Person Perspective - YouTube
  8. Verified by User:Amuro on 2019-02-25
  9. View topic - Wrong FOV: RESIDENT EVIL 2 / BIOHAZARD RE:2 2019 - last accessed on May 2023
  10. zombies animate at 30fps when the game is set to either variable or 60fps :: RESIDENT EVIL 2 / BIOHAZARD RE:2 "1-Shot Demo" General Discussions - last accessed on May 2023
  11. Zombies always animate at full frame rate - last accessed on May 2023
  12. Resident Evil 2 Remake: Keybindings and menu guide - YouTube - last accessed on May 2023
  13. [PC [Issue] Impossible to play RE2 in full screen with Atmos audio and HDR on] - last accessed on 2021-05-19
  14. dolby.com - last accessed on May 2023
  15. Reddit /r/ResidentEvil - (RE2) PSA: Knife Damage is directly tied to frame rate. High frame rate=more damage - last accessed on 2019-01-30
  16. Steam Community Discussion - Fatal Application Exit - last accessed on 2019-02-03
  17. Steam Community Discussion - Game say's I have 0.00 GB in the graphics settings - last accessed on 2019-01-31
  18. Verified by User:Expack3 on 2019-01-31
    In my case, the graphics menu states I have 0.15GB of memory.
  19. Steam Community Discussion - This extra save data is not compatible and cannot be used - last accessed on [unknown]
  20. Steam Community Discussion - brightness bugs - last accessed on 2019-02-03
  21. Steam forums - STUTTERING FIX! - last accessed on May 2023
  22. Black Screen posible FIX - last accessed on 2019-03-14
  23. Steam Community Discussion - The game does not launch on Windows 10, just like Resident Evil 7 - WTF CAPCOM - last accessed on 2019-01-29
  24. Steam Community Discussion - Shift+Tab locks movement - last accessed on 2019-01-31
    "have u tried changing the steam hotkeys to brinup steam ui? i have mine set to + key on numpad and i my son run into the issue so he now using same keybinding and not had the issue since"
  25. Steam Community Discussion - Random no mouse support... - last accessed on 2019-02-03
  26. 26.0 26.1 Steam Community News - Getting around video playback issues in-game - last accessed on 2019-01-28