Anonymous edits have been disabled on the wiki. If you want to contribute please login or create an account.

Unreal II: The Awakening

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Unreal II: The Awakening
Unreal II: The Awakening cover
Developers
Legend Entertainment
Publishers
Retail Infogrames
Unreal Anthology Midway Games
Digital Epic Games
Engines
Unreal Engine 2
Release dates
Windows February 3, 2003
Reception
Metacritic 75
Taxonomy
Monetization One-time game purchase
Modes Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing Real-time
Perspectives First-person
Controls Direct control
Genres Action, FPS, Shooter
Themes Sci-fi, Space
Series Unreal
Unreal II: The Awakening on HowLongToBeat
Unreal II: The Awakening on IGDB
Unreal II: The Awakening on MobyGames
Unreal II: The Awakening on Wikipedia
Unreal
Unreal 1998
Unreal Tournament 1999
Unreal Tournament 2003 2002
Unreal II: The Awakening 2003
Unreal Tournament 2004 2004
Unreal Tournament 3 2007
Unreal Tournament 4 Cancelled

Unreal II: The Awakening is a singleplayer and multiplayer first-person action, FPS and shooter game in the Unreal series.

General information

Liandri Archives - A dedicated Unreal wiki site that collects information about all the games in the series
Unreal Wiki - A wiki on how to use Unreal Editor, UnrealScript and other technical aspects of Unreal Engine
GOG.com Community Discussions for game series
GOG.com Support Page
Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
Disc check (requires the CD/DVD in the drive to play)
SecuROM DRM disc check. Disc check removed from Unreal Anthology version.
Windows
GOG.com (unavailable)
DRM-free
Unreal II: The Awakening Special Edition. Includes the eXpanded MultiPlayer (XMP) expansion.
Delisted on December 23, 2022.[1]
Windows
GamersGate (unavailable)
Icon overlay.png
Unavailable in Germany.
Windows
Steam (unavailable)
Icon overlay.png
Windows

DLC and expansion packs

Name Notes
Expanded Multiplayer (XMP) Available for free. Included with Unreal II: The Awakening Special Edition. See Expanded Multiplayer (XMP) for details.
Windows

Demos

Essential improvements

In-game HUD settings.
In-game HUD settings.

Patches

The latest version available is v1403 (only needed for retail versions).

The patch is available for the following versions:

  • North America (US)
  • Europe (UK)

They can be downloaded from the Files section.

Expanded Multiplayer (XMP)

The expansion cannot be installed with the Steam version nor the retail Anthology release

Included with Unreal II: The Awakening Special Edition, it is an official expansion to the game adding multiplayer functionality (with 8 maps). The expansion is available for free for regular copies of the game. Note that the PLAY disk for Unreal II: The Awakening is required to install the expansion.

A Community Edition exists, made for users of the Steam version and the retail Anthology release. The HD version of the patch contains HUD scaling, new visuals, and modernized keybinds, but the original 2006 version is still available.

Game data

In-game general settings.
In-game general settings.

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\System\Unreal2.ini[Note 1]
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/13200/pfx/[Note 2]

Save game data location

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\Save\[Note 1]
<path-to-game>\System\User.ini[Note 1]
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/13200/pfx/[Note 2]
The save files do not store which story missions you have unlocked. That is stored with the user's input settings in <path-to-game>\System\User.ini, in the variable AutoSaveIndex=0. For example, if you have finished the game and unlocked all the chapters it will be AutoSaveIndex=22

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
GOG Galaxy
Steam Cloud

Video

In-game graphics settings.
In-game graphics settings.
In-game shadows settings.
In-game shadows settings.

Graphics feature State WSGF Notes
Widescreen resolution
Image is Vert-. FOV can be increased to compensate. See Field of view (FOV).
Multi-monitor
See Field of view (FOV).
Ultra-widescreen
See Field of view (FOV).
4K Ultra HD
See Field of view (FOV).
Field of view (FOV)
Defaults to 90° vertical. See Field of view (FOV).
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
<path-to-game>\System\Unreal2.ini → LevelOfAnisotropy
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Nvidia cards can force MSAA, TrSSAA, SGSSAA, OGSSAA, etc. through Nvidia Profile Inspector without compatibility bits.[2]
Vertical sync (Vsync)
See Vsync doesn't work in Windows 10.
60 FPS
120+ FPS
See Run the game at screen refresh rate. 60+ fps speeds up loading screens (see Long load screens) but causes a glitchy water animation (too fast/blinking) (see Glitchy water animation).

Field of view (FOV)

Set FOV in console[3]
  1. Go to <path-to-game>\System.
  2. Open user.ini.
  3. Change bCheatsEnabled=false to bCheatsEnabled=true.
  4. Open the console in-game (~).
  5. Enter SetFOV 100 (replace with the desired FOV).
  6. Optionally, use the Cutscene FOV Fix to fix FOV during cutscenes.
Set FOV in User.ini
  1. Go to <path-to-game>\System.
  2. Open user.ini.
  3. Change both DesiredFOV=90 and DefaultFOV=90 to the desired values.
  4. Optionally, use the Cutscene FOV Fix to fix FOV during cutscenes.
If adjusting FOV to obtain Hor+ scaling for widescreen or ultra-widescreen, to maintain identical vertical FOV to the default 4:3 FOV at 16:9 resolutions, use 106.270273206. At 21:9 resolutions, use 121.66.

Input

In-game key map settings.
In-game key map settings.
In-game input settings.
In-game input settings.

Audio

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

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Up to 7.0 output; see Surround sound.[4]
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
EAX support
EAX 3.[5] Update the game to fix crashes
Royalty free audio

Surround sound

By default the game ouput to stereo on modern versions of Windows. This will force the game to use the system OpenAL device as ouput and restore surround sound.
Forcing the game to use system OpenAL device may lead to audio dropouts, missing and substituted audio samples.
Restore surround sound
  1. Edit <path-to-game>\System\Unreal2.ini.
  2. Set Use3DSound=true and UseDefaultDriver=false and save.

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
French
Retail version only.
German
Retail version only.
Italian
Retail version only.
Spanish
Retail version only.

Network

Requires the eXpanded MultiPlayer (XMP) expansion (included with Unreal II: The Awakening Special Edition and available as a free upgrade)

Multiplayer types

Type Native Players Notes
LAN play
32
Online play
32

Connection types

Type Native Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
A guide can be found here
Self-hosting
Direct IP
Open the console (~) and enter open followed by the IP and port.

Ports

Protocol Port(s) and/or port range(s)
UDP 7777, 7778, 27900, 28900
Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.

VR support

3D modes State Notes
Native 3D
Nvidia 3D Vision
TriDef 3D
iZ3D
vorpX
G3D
User created profile, requires D3D8to9 , see here

Issues fixed

Glitchy water animation

Running the game at more than 60 fps with the retail and GOG releases will cause the water animation to be too fast.
This is best shown by launching the very first map "Terran Colonial Authority HQ" and looking at the sea waves. They move too fast when the game runs above 60fps.
Cap the game to 60 FPS[6]

Notes:

Without a DX8 wrapper, such as dgVoodoo 2, neither Nvidia or AMD's frame rate capping methods will work.
Caping the framerate to 60 fps will lead to longer load screens.

Windows 10 D3DERR_DEVICELOST

This fix also seems to have fixed the random mouse jump/spin problem.
Edit Unreal2.ini[citation needed]
  1. Go to <path-to-game>\system.
  2. Open Unreal2.ini.
  3. Change ReduceMouseLag=True to ReduceMouseLag=False.

Long load screens

Disable Vsync/remove frame cap[citation needed]
Load screens are tied to frame rate. If the frame rate is capped, either by V-sync or a frame rate limiter software, loading times will be artificially increased. The lower the cap, the slower the load screens (eg. V-sync at 60Hz will result in longer loading times than V-sync at 120Hz).

Run the game at screen refresh rate

Maximum selectable refresh rate is 85 Hz. This does not limit FPS, but may set your monitor's refresh rate to 100 Hz, which may result in screen tearing on a 120 Hz or 144 Hz monitor.
Set fullscreen refresh rate[citation needed]
  1. Go to <path-to-game>\system.
  2. Open Unreal2.ini.
  3. Find this line: DesiredRefreshRate=60.
  4. Change the value to set your monitors refresh rate. For example 120 or 144.

Notes

Modifying any video options will undo the custom refresh rate.

V-sync does not work in Windows 10

Use Crosire's d3d8to9 wrapper
Direct3D 8 renderers ignore Vsync settings in modern versions of Windows (10 and newer) and are always running with unlimited framerates. This can be solved by using an API wrapper capable of translating D3D8 calls to a modern graphics API.
Nvidia GPU users can force SGSSAA in "wrapped" D3D9 by setting 0x080000C1 antialiasing compatibility bit in Nvidia Profile Inspector.

Steam screenshot fix

Edit user.ini[citation needed]
By default F12 changes your contrast, if you're trying to take a screenshot with Steam's default key, it will undesirably change the contrast.
  1. Go to <path-to-game>\system.
  2. Open user.ini.
  3. Change F12=BumpContrast to F12=

Intro does not play properly in Windows Vista or later

Use DirectMusic Fix[7]
  1. Download the DirectMusic Fix and extract it.
  2. Run DM_FIX.cmd as administrator.

Notes

If the fix does not work, reboot and try again.
This process may need to be repeated after certain Windows updates.

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 8.1
Shader Model support 1.1
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Audio OpenAL

Bonus Content

Solaris Base Bonus Map is an additional map created by Matthias Worch.

Unreal Editor

Unreal Editor is the official modding program for the Unreal 2 engine. It is used to create professional levels and full scale conversions for the game.

Version 3 of the editor comes bundled with all versions of Unreal 2.

It can be found in the Systems folder in the installation folder.

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 98
Processor (CPU) Intel Pentium III 1.0 GHz
AMD Athlon 733 MHz
System memory (RAM) 256 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 3 GB
Video card (GPU) Nvidia GeForce2 MX
32 MB of VRAM
DirectX 8.1 compatible
Sound (audio device)
Other 8X CD-ROM


Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 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).
  2. 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>/13200/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (13200) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References