Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell

Developers
	Ubisoft Montreal
macOS (OS X)	i5works
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

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

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		SafeDisc 2 DRM
Epic Games Store
GamersGate
GOG.com
Green Man Gaming
Humble Store
Steam
Ubisoft Store		Included with Ubisoft+

SafeDisc retail DRM does not work 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

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

Essential improvements

Patches

The latest patch is 1.3. Older patches are available here (if you get a "403 Forbidden" message, simply try again).

Digital distribution versions are already patched.

HD Textures from the PS3 version

Instructions
Download the archive from here. 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

Instructions
Download the archive from here. 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.

Skip intro videos

Instructions
Go to <path-to-game>\Videos. Delete or rename Logos.bik and videointro.bik.

Fixed loading screens

For some reason, the leaked Splinter Cell Xbox prototype build contains the loading screens that should display between Kalinatek and Chinese Embassy. This mod adds them back in.

Instructions
Download the mod here Unpack everything to <path-to-game>\system\LoadingScreens. Works only for the english version.

Fixed typos for english version

this mod fixes some typos from the english version of the game

Instructions[citation needed]
Download the mod here. Unpack everything to <path-to-game>\system\LOCALIZATION.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

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

Save game data location

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

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Epic Games Launcher
GOG Galaxy
Steam Cloud
Ubisoft Connect

Video

In-game video settings.

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution			See Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor			See Widescreen resolution
Ultra-widescreen			See Widescreen resolution
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

Use ThirteenAG's Widescreen Fix

Go to this site and hit the small arrow on the right of the Download button for a direct download link in the drop down list. Alternatively, download SplinterCell.WidescreenFix.zip after going to the GitHub release page. Extract the system folder to <path-to-game>. 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. The ending of the game is stretched 4:3. 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)

Use either this or ThirteenAG's Widescreen Fix or the FOV will be too wide.

Edit SplinterCellUser.ini
Go to the configuration file(s) location. Open SplinterCellUser.ini. Find a section [Engine.PlayerController]. 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)

Override AA settings[citation needed]
Download and run Nvidia Profile Inspector. Search and open the game profile. Locate the Antialiasing section. Set Behavior Flags to None. Set Mode to Override. Set Setting to desired AA (e.g. Multisampling). Apply changes. Notes This works for both Nvidia and AMD GPUs.

Force MSAA using dgVoodoo 2

Read the instructions below to properly setup dgVoodoo 2 for this game. Open dgVoodooCpl.exe and click on the DirectX tab. 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).

Force SMAA using ReShade

Read the instructions below to properly setup dgVoodoo 2 for this game. Download the latest version of ReShade and run the Reshade Setup program. Click Select game, then select SplinterCell.exe found in <path-to-game>\system\. Select Direct3D 10+ as the rendering API. Allow to download shaders/effects and choose either all of them or just SMAA. Run the game, press ⇧ Shift+F2 to enter the configuration menu and follow the tutorial to create new profile and activate SMAA. In the Settings tab, under Usage Mode select Performance Mode. 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. Using the Night Vision Goggles causes a huge performance loss because ReShade tries to anti-alias the grain effect.

Vertical sync (Vsync)

Edit SplinterCell.ini
Go to the configuration file(s) location. Open SplinterCell.ini. Find a section [D3DDrv.D3DRenderDevice]. At the bottom of the section, after FullScreenVideo=True, add a line: UseVsync=True Save the file. Notes Only works in fullscreen mode.

Input

In-game general control 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		Edit SplinterCellUser.ini
Full controller support
Controller remapping		Edit SplinterCellUser.ini
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

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

Audio

In-game audio settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Ambient, voice, music and SFX.
Surround sound
Subtitles		Only in-game subtitles for the OPSAT dialogue, not available in cutscenes, except for Polish version, which also adds subtitles to every dialogue in-game.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
EAX support		EAX 3.0 Supports EAX Unified 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
Hungarian				Fan translation
Italian
Polish				Retail only. Patch for digital release here.
Russian				Retail only. Patch for digital release here.
Spanish				Retail only. Patch for digital release here.

Issues unresolved

Sounds stop playing

Sometimes when quicksaving or entering the menu (OPSAT) some looped sounds, like clock ticking or water running, can stop playing.

Instructions
Quick save and quick load the game to reset the sounds.

Vselka Infiltration - Stuck in control room

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
Use F2 to open the console. Type ghost and press ↵ Enter to activate the no clipping mode. Go through the closed doors. Type walk and press ↵ Enter to deactivate the no clipping mode.

Issues fixed

Broken shadows

Shadow comparison.

Due to relying on now-obsolete functionality in Nvidia GPUs, the default "buffer" shadows are broken on modern hardware. This impacts gameplay as many light sources such as searchlights become invisible but can still trigger alarms.

Force projector shadows

The game, when tweaked, supports projection shadows, which work on modern hardware.

Launch the game with -shadowmode=projector parameter

Edit SplinterCell.ini
Go to the configuration file(s) location. Open SplinterCell.ini. Find [D3DDrv.D3DRenderDevice] section. Uncomment ;ForceShadowMode=0 line (remove the semicolon).

Use dgVoodoo2 with default buffer shadows

Use dgVoodoo2

Download dgVoodoo2 from the official website. Extract the contents to the folder of your choice. Open dgVoodooCpl.exe and click the DirectX tab. Under Videocard select GeForce 4 Ti 4800 from the drop-down menu. Select 256 MB from the VRAM drop-down menu. Click Apply and OK at the bottom of the dgVoodoo 2 application window. 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

Force CPU affinity to one core[citation needed]

Game not detecting EAX support

Edit SplinterCellUser.ini

Go to the configuration file(s) location. Open SplinterCellUser.ini Find [Engine.EPCGameOptions] section. Change the following lines: EAX=false EAX_Capable=false Sound3DAcc=false To: EAX=true EAX_Capable=true Sound3DAcc=true 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

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

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	8
Shader Model support	1.4

Executable	PPC	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows
macOS (OS X)

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Audio	Dolby Digital, DirectSound
Cutscenes	Bink Video

Cutscenes from PlayStation 2 version

Instructions[citation needed]
Download the archive from here. Extract the archive and copy the Videos folder to the game installation folder and overwrite the existing files. Notes PlayStation 2 cutscenes are pre-rendered and story is slightly altered in that version.

Thermal vision in every level

The game allows the use of thermal vision after mission four, this mod allows to use them from the beginning of the game.

Instructions[citation needed]
Download the archive from here. Extract the archive to <path-to-game>\videos.

loading screens to the bonus levels from the Xbox version

The Xbox version of the game had different loading screens for the bonus levels, this mod adds them back.

Instructions[citation needed]
Download the archive from here. Extract the archive to <path-to-game>\system

improved graphics

The game allows for better graphics by editing the inis.

Instructions[citation needed]

Change the values of SplinterCell.ini to be like that: [Engine.Engine] RenderDevice=D3DDrv.D3DRenderDevice GameRenderDevice=D3DDrv.D3DRenderDevice AudioDevice=DareAudio.DareAudioSubsystem Console=Engine.Console DefaultPlayerMenu=None EchelonPCConsole=EchelonMenus.EPCConsole Language=int GameEngine=Engine.GameEngine EditorEngine=Editor.EditorEngine WindowedRenderDevice=D3DDrv.D3DRenderDevice DefaultGame=Echelon.EchelonGameInfo DefaultServerGame=Engine.GameInfo ViewportManager=WinDrv.WindowsClient Render=Render.Render Input=Engine.Input Canvas=Echelon.ECanvas Editor3DRenderDevice=D3DDrv.D3DRenderDevice [WinDrv.WindowsClient] TextureDetail=High SkinDetail=High Brightness=0.500000 Contrast=0.500000 Gamma=1.000000 MipFactor=1.000000 UseJoystick=True CaptureMouse=True StartupFullscreen=True ScreenFlashes=True NoLighting=False DeadZoneXYZ=True DeadZoneRUV=False InvertVertical=False ScaleXYZ=1.000000 ScaleRUV=1.000000 MinDesiredFrameRate=10.000000 Decals=True NoDynamicLights=False SkinDetail=High TextureDetail=High NoFractalAnim=False Decals=True [D3DDrv.D3DRenderDevice] Translucency=True VolumetricLighting=True ShinySurfaces=True HighDetailActors=True UsePrecaching=True UseMipmapping=True UseTrilinear=True UseMultitexture=True UsePageFlipping=True UseFullscreen=False UseGammaCorrection=True DetailTextures=True UseTripleBuffering=True UsePrecache=True Use32BitTextures=True HardwareSkinning=False AdapterNumber=-1 ReduceMouseLag=False UseTripleBuffering=True ; ForceShadowMode flag : 0==projector, 1==buffer, unspecified==auto-detect ForceShadowMode=1 EmulateGF2Mode=0 FullScreenVideo=True UseVsync=True Change the values of SplinterCellUser.ini to be like that: [Engine.EPCGameOptions] AnimatedGeometry=True ShadowLevel=2 LightMapsLevel=2 TextureLevel=2 Resolution=1920x1080 AmbiantVolume=99 VoicesVolume=99 MusicVolume=99 AudioVirt=2 Sound3DAcc=true EAX=True InvertMouse=False FireEquipGun=False MouseSensitivity=50 ShadowResolution=2 EnableFadeOut=0 FadeOutNearPlane=1000 FadeOutFarPlane=1250 SFXVolume=99 Brightness=50 Gamma=50 EffectsQuality=3 FadeOut=0 VidMem=2 GraphicsCaps=0 EAX_Capable=true AntiAliasing=2 Save the files as read-only.

System requirements

Windows

macOS (OS X)

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