Serious Sam 2

Warnings

GameSpy online services have been shut down (see Network for solutions).

Serious Sam
Serious Sam: The First Encounter	2001
Serious Sam: The Second Encounter	2002
Serious Sam 2	2005
Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter	2009
Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter	2010
Serious Sam Double D	2011
Serious Sam: Kamikaze Attack!	2011
Serious Sam: The Random Encounter	2011
Serious Sam 3: BFE	2011
Serious Sam: The Greek Encounter	2012
Serious Sam VR: The First Encounter	2017
Serious Sam VR: The Second Encounter	2017
Serious Sam's Bogus Detour	2017
Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope	2017
Serious Sam 3 VR: BFE	2017
Serious Sam Classics: Revolution	2019
Serious Sam Fusion 2017	TBA
Serious Sam: Tormental	TBA
Serious Sam 4: Planet Badass	TBA

Key points

Steam version has been continually updated to fix bugs, add features for modern systems such as built-in widescreen and controller support, and also change the online multiplayer servers to Steamworks.^[1]^[2]

General information

Bug Tracker

Serious Sam Wiki

Seriously! Forums

Steam Community Discussions

Availability[edit]

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		SecuROM 7 DRM disc check
Amazon.com
GamersGate
Humble Store
Steam

Essential improvements[edit]

Patches[edit]

Serious Sam II Patch 2.070. Do not install this if you have the German version as it can cause various problems due to the game's copy protection.^[3] The Steam version also doesn't need this patch as it's already updated past this.

Unofficial Linux installer[edit]

flibitijibibo has made an unofficial installer that simplifies installation of the game on Linux. If you own the game, download the installer at http://www.flibitijibibo.com/fedora/installers/flibitSam2_2070b.tar.gz.

Running the game in Linux[edit]

To run the game, just run serioussam2 in the installation folder. You may have to chmod +x it first.

Serious Editor[edit]

To run the editor, just run serioussam2-editor in the installation folder. You may have to chmod +x it first.

Getting audio to work[edit]

To get audio working, move to the root of the Serious Sam 2 installation and make a symlink to your 32-bit libopenal.so. For Fedora, it looks like

ln -s /usr/lib/libopenal.so.1 libopenal.so.0

Game data[edit]

In-game general settings.

Configuration file(s) location[edit]

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\Content\SeriousSam2\Sam2.ini^{[Note 1]}
Linux (Proton)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/204340/pfx/^{[Note 2]}

Save game data location[edit]

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\Content\SeriousSam2\PlayerProfiles\^{[Note 1]}
Linux (Proton)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/204340/pfx/^{[Note 2]}

Save game cloud syncing[edit]

System	Native	Notes
Steam Cloud

Video settings[edit]

In-game general video settings.

In-game advanced video settings (1/2).

In-game advanced video settings (2/2).

Graphics feature	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution		See Widescreen resolution.
Multi-monitor		See Widescreen resolution.
Ultra-widescreen		See Widescreen resolution.
4K Ultra HD		See Widescreen resolution.
Field of view (FOV)	See Field of view (FOV).
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed	Use Borderless Gaming.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)	Up to 16 samples.
Anti-aliasing (AA)	Up to 8x MSAA.^[4]
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS and 120+ FPS	Menu frame rate is capped at 33 FPS.

Widescreen resolution[edit]

Steam version has fixed aspect ratio support.^[5]

Fix widescreen support (Retail)^[6]

Edit <path-to-game>\Content\SeriousSam2\Sam2.ini.
Locate the lines gfx_pixResWidth and gfx_pixResHeight.
Set the values to the desired resolution width and height, respectively.
Locate the line gfx_fAspectRatio.
Set the value to the desired aspect ratio. Use 1.6 for 16:10, 1.777 for 16:9, 2.333 for 21:9.
Save the file. Make sure "Wide Screen" option is enabled in-game.

Field of view (FOV)[edit]

Steam version has fixed widescreen FOV (and weapon FOV).^[5]

Set custom FOV^[6]

Edit <path-to-game>\Content\SeriousSam2\Sam2.ini.
Locate the line [Sam2Game].
Add this line underneath it: plr_fFOVOverride = X;
Replace X with the desired FOV. Default is 80 and maximum is 135. Use 90.4 for 16:10 or 96.4 for 16:9.
Save the file and set it to read only to prevent the game from changing it back.

Input settings[edit]

In-game general control settings.

In-game key map settings.

In-game gamepad settings.

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity		Goes by percentage.
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support		XInput support only available in the Steam version.
Full controller support		Launch the game in Big Picture mode.
Controller remapping
Controller sensitivity		Uses the same sensitivity meter as mouse sensitivity.
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger vibration

DualShock 4 controllers

Tracked motion controllers

Generic/other controllers

Additional information
Button prompts
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Mouse smoothing[edit]

Fix mouse smoothing^[7]

Fixes mouse stuttering

Edit <path-to-game>\Content\SeriousSam2\Sam2.ini.
Locate the line inp_bMouseSmoothing = 1;.
Replace with inp_bMouseSmoothing = 0;.

Audio settings[edit]

In-game audio settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
EAX support

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Italian				Only available in the retail release.
Russian				Retail version, download.
Spanish				Fan translation, download.

Network[edit]

Multiplayer types

Type	Players	Notes
Local play
LAN play	16	Co-op, Versus 6 players max for Co-op.
Online play	16	Co-op, Versus 6 players max for Co-op.

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP		Listed as "Specify server".

Ports

Protocol	Port(s) and/or port range(s)
TCP	25600-25616
UDP	25600-25616

Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.

Issues fixed[edit]

Graphics problems or crashes[edit]

Set OpenGL renderer^[6]

Edit <path-to-game>\Content\SeriousSam2\Sam2.ini.
Locate the line gfx_iAPI = 2;.
Replace with gfx_iAPI = 1;.

Other information[edit]

API[edit]

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9
OpenGL	2.1
Shader Model support	1.1, 2

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware[edit]

	Middleware	Notes
Audio	DirectSound, OpenAL
Multiplayer	GameSpy, Steamworks

Console commands[edit]

Open the console (~ by default)

sam_iEnableCheats=1 - Enable Cheats
- Press Esc and F1 to open the cheats window
hud_bShowPing = 1
hud_iShowBandwidth = 1
hud_bShowCrosshair = 1
sam_ctMaxDebris = 20
sam_bEnableRagdollDeaths = 0
prf_bShowFPS = 1
net_strConnectPassword = "password" - used to access password protected multiplayer games

System requirements[edit]

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	XP or 2000
Processor (CPU)	AMD Athlon XP 1.5 GHz Intel Pentium 4 2.0 GHz	AMD Athlon 64 2 GHz Intel Pentium 4 3.0 GHz
System memory (RAM)	256 MB	512 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	3 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce 3 ATI Radeon 8500 S3 DeltaChrome or XGI Volari DirectX 8.0 compatible	Nvidia GeForce 7800 ATI Radeon X850 DirectX 9.0 compatible
Sound (audio device)	DirectSound compatible	DirectSound3D compatible with EAX 2.0+

Notes

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 When running this game without Administrator elevation, activity in %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMFILES(X86)%, and %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore\ (more details).
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 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>/204340/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (204340) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References

[gamedir-4] 1.0 ^1.1 When running this game without Administrator elevation, activity in %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMFILES(X86)%, and %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore\ (more details).

[Proton_path_note-5] 2.0 ^2.1 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>/204340/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (204340) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

[1] Steam official announcements

[2] Steam Community :: Group Announcements :: Serious Sam 2 - Yeehaaa! Serious Sam 2 now uses Steamworks for online play!

[3] Serious Sam II Patch 2.070 Comments

[6] Serious Sam II : Screenshot Comparison

[Steam_patch-7] 5.0 ^5.1 Steam Community :: Group Announcements :: Serious Sam 2

[WSGF-8] 6.0 ^6.1 ^6.2 Serious Sam II | WSGF

[9] Steam Community :: Guide :: Serious Sam 2 Config/Tweak guide

[1]

[2]

[3]

[Note 1]

[Note 2]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

Developers

	Croteam
Maintenance	Alligator Pit
Publishers
	2K Games
	Devolver Digital
Engines
	Serious Engine 2
Release dates
Windows	October 11, 2005