The Darkness II

Warnings

The macOS (OS X) version of this game does not work on macOS Catalina (version 10.15) or later due to the removal of support for 32-bit-only apps.

Key points

Game has significant issues on OS X, due to the port using Cider.^[1]^[2]

General information

The Darkness II 2K Forums

Steam Community Discussions

Availability[edit]

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		Limited Edition also available
Gamesplanet
Humble Store
Steam

All versions require Steam DRM.

Version differences[edit]

Limited Edition content includes the Gourmet Hearts & Relic Hunter character abilities, Crazy Abdul Darkling Outfit, custom illustration by Marc Silvestri, and The Darkness Origins Volume 1 & Volume 2

Game data[edit]

Configuration file(s) location[edit]

System	Location
Windows	%APPDATA%\DarknessII\
macOS (OS X)
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/67370/pfx/^{[Note 1]}

Configuration files are encrypted.

Save game data location[edit]

System	Location
Windows	%APPDATA%\DarknessII\
macOS (OS X)
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/67370/pfx/^{[Note 1]}

Save game cloud syncing[edit]

System	Native	Notes
Steam Cloud

Video[edit]

Video settings.

Graphics feature	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor		Use Flawless Widescreen.
Ultra-widescreen		May only work in windowed mode. Fullscreen mode may result in a stretched 16:9 image. Use Flawless Widescreen. Some screen effects are pillarboxed 16:9.^[3]
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)	Features an in-game slider, but it is Windows only. Use Flawless Widescreen for higher settings.
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed	See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)	See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anti-aliasing (AA)	Seems to be enabled by default. No option in-game.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS and 120+ FPS	Exceeding 60 FPS causes an issue in one part of the game.

Input[edit]

Input settings.

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support
Controller remapping		Choose between Default and Southpaw controls
Controller sensitivity		Mouse and Controller share the same sensitivity slider
Controller Y-axis inversion

Additional information
Button prompts
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
Simultaneous controller+KB/M		The game will prioritize gamepad prompts over KB/M prompts when a gamepad is plugged in

Audio[edit]

Audio settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound		Auto detects and outputs up to 5.1 surround.^[4]
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Russian
Spanish

All other languages have the in-game option to select English audio.

VR support[edit]

3D modes	Native	Notes
vorpX		G3D Officially supported game, see official vorpx game list.

Network[edit]

Multiplayer types

Type	Players	Notes
Local play	4	Co-op Use Nucleus Coop & Unofficial mod.
LAN play
Online play	4	Co-op

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP

Issues fixed[edit]

Yellow Screen Issue[edit]

For Nvidia users^{[citation needed]}
Open the Nvidia Control Panel. Go to Manage 3D settings. Select Application-controlled for Antialiasing - Mode under Global Settings. Ensure there is no custom profile for The Darkness II under the Program Settings tab overriding the global option you just set. Play.

For AMD users^{[citation needed]}
Open the Catalyst Control Panel. Set Anti-aliasing to be application-controlled. Play.

For OS X users^{[citation needed]}
Unfortunately, no solution has been found for fixing this issue in the OS X version of The Darkness II, and developer support seems to have ceased. The issue is likely to be caused by Intel integrated graphics cards, and may not occur if using Nvidia or AMD cards.

Crashes right after pressing the Play button[edit]

Run in Compatibility Mode^{[citation needed]}
Go the The Darkness II installation folder `C:\Program Files (x86)\2K Games\Digital Extremes\The Darkness II\` Right-click a file named `DarknessII.exe` Go to the 'Compatibility Mode' tab and check 'Disable Desktop Composition'. Try running the game.

"Could not load image"[edit]

Run the game from DarknessII.exe^{[citation needed]}
Go to the The Darkness II installation folder `C:\Program Files (x86)\2K Games\Digital Extremes\The Darkness II\` and look for `DarknessII.exe`. Run it directly from this file, rather than using the shortcut or client link.

Getting stuck in an invisible wall inside a vent[edit]

Possible solutions^{[citation needed]}
Capping to 60 FPS^[5] Verifying game cache Enable VSync

Performance/FPS problems[edit]

Run the game in Windowed Mode^{[citation needed]}
Running the game in windowed mode has been reported to alleviate certain frame rate issues.

Blurry screen[edit]

Switch from Full Screen to Windowed mode and back

This is not a permanent fix and will need to be performed every time it occurs.

Pause the game and go into Options, Display.
Switch Display Mode from Full Screen to Windowed. Apply changes.
When the game asks if you would like to Keep or Revert changes, revert them.

Other information[edit]

API[edit]

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows
macOS (OS X)			This 32-bit-only macOS game does not work* on macOS Catalina (10.15) or later.*

Middleware[edit]

	Middleware	Notes
Physics	PhysX
Cutscenes	Bink Video

System requirements[edit]

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	XP	Vista, 7
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+	2.4 GHz Quad Core
System memory (RAM)	1.5 GB	2 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	10 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce 8600 ATI Radeon HD 2600 256 MB of VRAM	Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX or ATI equivalent 512 MB of VRAM

macOS (OS X)
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	10.6.8
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core 2 Duo
System memory (RAM)	2 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	11 GB
Video card (GPU)	AMD Radeon HD2600 Nvidia GeForce 9600GT 256 MB of VRAM	Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX 512 MB of VRAM

Notes

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 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>/67370/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (67370) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References

[Proton_path_note-3] 1.0 ^1.1 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>/67370/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (67370) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

[1] "darkness 2 for mac is just a wine-wrapped pc version" - 2K Forums

[2] "Yellow screen" - Steam Community Discussions

[4] The Darkness II 21:9 Gameplay (2560x1080) (60fps) (Ultrawide) - YouTube

[5] PC Gaming Surround Sound Round-up

[Invisible_wall_bugfix-6] Invisible wall bug-fix - Steam Users' Forums (retrieved)

[1]

[2]

[Note 1]

[3]

[4]

[5]

Developers

	Digital Extremes
macOS (OS X)	TransGaming Inc.
Publishers
	2K Games
Engines
	Evolution
Release dates
Windows	February 7, 2012
macOS (OS X) (Cider)	April 24, 2012
Reception
Metacritic	77
IGDB	77