Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell

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Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell cover
Developers
Ubisoft Montreal
macOS (OS X) i5works[1][2]
Publishers
Ubisoft
OS X Aspyr Media
Engines
Unreal Engine 2
Release dates
Windows February 19, 2003
macOS (OS X) September 29, 2004
Reception
Metacritic 91
IGDB 85
Taxonomy
Modes Singleplayer
Pacing Real-time
Perspectives Third-person
Controls Direct control
Genres Action, Stealth
Art styles Realistic
Themes Contemporary, Asia, North America
Series Splinter Cell
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Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell on HowLongToBeat
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell on IGDB
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Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell guide on StrategyWiki
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell on MobyGames
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell on Wikipedia
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Splinter Cell
Subseries of Tom Clancy
Splinter Cell 2003
Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow 2004
Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory 2005
Splinter Cell: Double Agent 2006
Splinter Cell: Conviction 2010
Splinter Cell: Blacklist 2013


General information

Official Forums
Splinter Cell Wiki
GOG.com Community Discussions
GOG.com Support Page
Steam Community Discussions

Availability[edit]

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
Disc check (requires the CD/DVD in the drive to play)
 SafeDisc 2 DRM[Note 1].
Windows
GamersGate
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Windows
Gamesplanet
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Windows
GOG.com
DRM-free
Windows
Green Man Gaming
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Windows
Humble Store
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Windows
Steam
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Windows
Ubisoft Store
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 Included with Ubisoft+.
Windows
SafeDisc retail DRM no longer functions properly on Windows Vista and later (see above for affected versions).
GOG.com and Uplay releases have broken support for EAX Advanced HD, falling back to EAX 2.0.

Demo[edit]

A demo is available here. It includes parts from Police Station and Kalinatek missions.

Essential improvements[edit]

Patches[edit]

The latest patch is 1.3. Digital distribution versions are already patched.

HD Textures from the PS3 version[edit]

Instructions[5]
  1. Download the archive from here.
  2. Extract the archive and copy the Textures folder to the game installation folder and overwrite the existing files.

Notes

HD textures are mostly faithful to the original textures, except in the Abattoir level which looks much cleaner. Ads have been removed.

DLC missions[edit]

Instructions[citation needed]
  1. Download the archive from here.
  2. Extract the archive and copy the folders to the game installation folder.

Notes

The GOG.com and Uplay versions already come with the extra missions pre-installed.

Cutscenes from PS2 version[edit]

Instructions[citation needed]
  1. Download the archive from here.
  2. Extract the archive and copy the Videos folder to the game installation folder and overwrite the existing files.

Notes

PS2 cutscenes are pre-rendered and story is slightly altered in that version.

Skip intro videos[edit]

Instructions[6]
  1. Go to <path-to-game>\Videos.
  2. Delete or rename Logos.bik and videointro.bik.

Game data[edit]

Configuration file(s) location[edit]

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\system\[Note 2]
macOS (OS X)
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/13560/pfx/[Note 3]

Save game data location[edit]

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\Save\<user-id>[Note 2]
macOS (OS X)
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/13560/pfx/[Note 3]

Save game cloud syncing[edit]

System Native Notes
GOG Galaxy
Steam Cloud
Ubisoft Connect

Video[edit]

In-game video settings.
In-game video settings.

Graphics feature State WSGF Notes
Widescreen resolution
 
 See Widescreen resolution.
Multi-monitor
 
 See Widescreen resolution.
Ultra-widescreen
 
 Use ThirteenAG's fix.
4K Ultra HD
 
Field of view (FOV)
See Field of view (FOV).
Windowed
Toggle with Alt+↵ Enter.
Borderless fullscreen windowed
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anti-aliasing (AA)
See Anti-aliasing (AA).
Vertical sync (Vsync)
See Vertical sync (Vsync).
60 FPS and 120+ FPS
Capped at 200 FPS.

Widescreen resolution[edit]

Use ThirteenAG's Widescreen Fix[5]
  1. Download the archive from here.
  2. Extract the archive and copy the system folder to the game installation folder.

Notes

FOV is automatically adjusted to resolution.
Removes HUD stretching and moves HUD elements to the edge of the screen.
Cutscenes are no longer fullscreen; instead, they are played in an unscaled 640 x 480 resolution.
When launching the game a window may appear asking to download the latest version and dgVoodoo 2 which is required to fix some rendering issues.

Field of view (FOV)[edit]

Use either this or ThirteenAG's Widescreen Fix or the FOV will be too wide.
Edit SplinterCellUser.ini[7]
  1. Go to the configuration file(s) location.
  2. Open SplinterCellUser.ini.
  3. Find a section [Engine.PlayerController].
  4. There you'll find the two lines:
    • DesiredFOV=75.0
    • DefaultFOV=75.0

Notes

For Hor+ gameplay, a new profile must be created after this solution was applied. Otherwise, previously made profiles will still use the old FOV setting.

Anti-aliasing (AA)[edit]

Override AA settings[citation needed]
  1. Download and run Nvidia Profile Inspector.
  2. Search and open the game profile.
  3. Locate the Antialiasing section.
    1. Set Behavior Flags to None.
    2. Set Mode to Override.
    3. Set Setting to desired AA (e.g. Multisampling).
  4. Apply changes.

Notes

This works for both nvidia and AMD GPUs.
Force MSAA using dgVoodoo 2[5]
  1. Read the instructions below to properly setup dgVoodoo 2 for this game.
  2. Open dgVoodooCpl.exe and click on the DirectX tab.
  3. Set Antialiasing(MSAA) to 2x, 4x or 8x.

Notes

When using ThirteenAG's Widescreen Fix the included <path-to-game>\system\dgVoodoo.conf file overrides the global dgVoodoo settings. Delete/rename that file for the global settings to be applied, or edit that file directly in dgVoodooCpl.exe.
Water will be rendered incorrectly in few places (sea in the Oil Refinery level and water in two gardens in the last two levels of the main campaign).[8]
Force SMAA using ReShade[5]
  1. Read the instructions below to properly setup dgVoodoo 2 for this game.
  2. Download the latest version of ReShade and run the Reshade Setup program.
  3. Click Select game, then select SplinterCell2.exe found in <path-to-game>\system\.
  4. Select Direct3D 10+ as the rendering API.
  5. Allow to download shaders/effects and choose either all of them or just SMAA.
  6. Run the game, press ⇧ Shift+F2 to enter the configuration menu and follow the tutorial to create new profile and activate SMAA.
  7. In the Settings tab, under Usage Mode select Performance Mode.
  8. Click X in top right to exit the configuration menu.

Notes

If downloading shader archive fails, download the archive manually and extract it to <path-to-game>\system\. Then in game in ReShade settings add \reshade-shaders-master\Shaders to end of the Effect Search Paths and \reshade-shaders-master\Textures to the end of Texture Search Paths field. Restart the game and continue from Step 6.
No water rendering issues.

Vertical sync (Vsync)[edit]

Edit SplinterCell.ini[5]
  1. Go to the configuration file(s) location.
  2. Open SplinterCell.ini.
  3. Find a section [D3DDrv.D3DRenderDevice].
  4. At the bottom of the section, after FullScreenVideo=True, add a line:
    • UseVsync=True
  5. Save the file.

Input[edit]

In-game general control settings.
In-game general control settings.
In-game mouse settings.
In-game mouse settings.

Keyboard and mouse State Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.

Audio[edit]

In-game audio settings.
In-game audio settings.

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Ambient, voice, music and SFX.
Surround sound
Subtitles
Only in-game subtitles, not available in cutscenes.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
EAX support
EAX 3.0[9]
Supports EAX Unified[10]
GOG.com and Uplay releases have broken support for EAX Advanced HD, falling back to EAX 2.0.[citation needed]

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
French
German
Italian
Russian
Retail only. Patch for digital release here.
Spanish
Retail version, download.
Polish
Local retail only, download.
Hungarian
Fan translation.

Issues unresolved[edit]

Sounds stop playing[edit]

Sometimes when quicksaving or entering the menu (OPSAT) some looped sounds, like clock ticking or water running, can stop playing.
Instructions[5]
  1. Quick save and quick load the game to reset the sounds.

Vselka Infiltration - Stuck in control room[edit]

In Vselka Infiltration mission after using the laptop in the control room the player can't get out, because the closed doors never open, since enemies that should open them can get stuck in the stairway.
Instructions[11]
  1. Use F2 to open the console.
  2. Type ghost and press ↵ Enter to activate the no clipping mode.
  3. Go through the closed doors.
  4. Type walk and press ↵ Enter to deactivate the no clipping mode.

Issues fixed[edit]

Broken shadows[edit]

Shadow comparison.
Shadow comparison.
Due to relying on now-obsolete functionality in Nvidia GPUs, the default "buffer" shadows are broken on modern hardware.

Force projector shadows[edit]

The game, when tweaked, supports projection shadows, which work on modern hardware.
Launch the game with -shadowmode=projector parameter[5]
Edit SplinterCell.ini[12]
  1. Go to the configuration file(s) location.
  2. Open SplinterCell.ini.
  3. Find [D3DDrv.D3DRenderDevice] section.
  4. Uncomment ;ForceShadowMode=0 line (remove the semicolon).

Use dgVoodoo2 with default buffer shadows[edit]

Use dgVoodoo2[12]
  1. Download dgVoodoo2 from the official website.
  2. Extract the contents to the folder of your choice.
  3. Open dgVoodooCpl.exe and click the DirectX tab.
  4. Under Videocard select GeForce 4 Ti 4800 from the drop-down menu.
  5. Select 256 MB from the VRAM drop-down menu.
  6. Click Apply and OK at the bottom of the dgVoodoo 2 application window.
  7. Copy D3D8.dll file from dgVoodoo2\MS\ folder to <path-to-game>\system folder.

Notes

Requires dgVoodoo2 2.53 or later (included in the newest version of ThirteenAG's Widescreen Fix).

Stuttering during gameplay[edit]

Set splintercell.exe affinity to 1 CPU core[citation needed]

Game not detecting EAX support[edit]

Edit SplinterCellUser.ini
  1. Go to the configuration file(s) location.
  2. Open SplinterCellUser.ini
  3. Find [Engine.EPCGameOptions] section.
  4. Change the following lines:
    • EAX=false
    • EAX_Capable=false
    • Sound3DAcc=false
  5. To:
    • EAX=true
    • EAX_Capable=true
    • Sound3DAcc=true
  6. Save file.

Notes

GOG.com and Uplay releases have broken support for EAX Advanced HD, falling back to EAX 2.0.
EAX will automatically be disabled if the audio settings menu is opened. The process has to be repeated then.

VR support[edit]

3D modes Native Notes
vorpX
G3D
User created profile, requires DGVoodoo2 v 2.55.4, see profile introdution.
Note: Profile may not work with the latest wrapper, in case of issues please report to the vorpx forum.

Other information[edit]

API[edit]

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 8
Shader Model support 1.4
ExecutablePPC 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows
macOS (OS X)

Middleware[edit]

Middleware Notes
Audio Dolby Digital, DirectSound
Cutscenes Bink Video

System requirements[edit]

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 98SE ME, 2000, XP
Processor (CPU) Intel Pentium III 800 MHz
AMD Athlon 800 MHz		 Intel Pentium III 1.0 GHz
AMD Athlon 1.0 GHz
System memory (RAM) 256 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 1.5 GB 2.1 GB
Video card (GPU) 32 MB of VRAM
DirectX 8.1 compatible 		64 MB of VRAM
Supported ATI chipsets: Radeon 7500, 8500, 9000, 9500, 9700
Supported Nvidia chipsets: GeForce 256, GeForce2 Ti/Ultra/Pro/GTS/MX400/MX, GeForce3 series, GeForce4 series
The Matrox Parhelia is also supported
macOS (OS X)
Minimum
Operating system (OS) 10.2.8
Processor (CPU) PowerPC 74xx
PowerPC G4
System memory (RAM) 256 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)
Other 2x DVD-ROM drive

Notes

  1. ↑ SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows 10[3] and is disabled by default on Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 when the KB3086255 update is installed.[4]
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 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>/13560/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (13560) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References

  1. ↑ Aspyr Media, Inc. Ships Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell For Macintosh - Business Wire - last accessed on 2016-7-23
  2. ↑ Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Ships for Mac - The Mac Observer - last accessed on 2016-7-23
  3. ↑ Not Loading in Windows 10; this will break thousands of - Microsoft Community - last accessed on 2017-01-16
  4. ↑ Microsoft - MS15-097: Description of the security update for the graphics component in Windows: September 8, 2015 - last accessed on 2018-02-16
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 Verified by User:Antrad on September 21, 2017
  6. ↑ Verified by User:aaronth07 on 2017-9-05
  7. ↑ Splinter Cell | WSGF
  8. ↑ Dege's stuffs - dgVoodoo test results
  9. ↑ EAX Featured Game: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell - EAX.CREATIVE.COM (retrieved)
  10. ↑ A Guide to Testing Positional Audio and EAX - EAX_QA.pdf (retrieved)
  11. ↑ Ubisoft Forums - Splinter Cell Vselka Infiltration bug
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Verified by User:Expack3 on 2016-09-14