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Serious Sam 2
*Release 1.00*
*Release notes*
Developed by: Croteam <http://www.croteam.com/>
Published by: 2K Games <http://www.2kgames.com/>
*Contents:*
1. Introduction <#introduction>
2. System requirements <#system>
3. Troubleshooting <#troubleshooting>
4. Tips and tricks <#tips>
5. Difficulty Settings <#gameplay>
6. Hardware compatibility issues <#drivers>
7. Updates <#updates>
8. Legal Information <#legal>
*IMPORTANT:
If you have any problems running the game, please see troubleshooting
<#troubleshooting>.
If you feel that the game is too easy or too hard for you, please see
difficulty settings <#gameplay>.*
1. Introduction
Serious Sam is an action based FPS (First Person Shooter) game set in 7
beautiful, colorful fantasy environments including the oriental cities
of Chifang, deep jungles of M'digbo, castles of Ellenier and the sci fi
planet Sirius. It is fast, frantic and humorous action, with 20+ hours
in single play and much more in cooperative mode. You take the role of
Sam 'Serious' Stone, Earth hero, chosen to defend the Universe from the
dark evil entity, Mental. After battling through the pyramids of ancient
Egypt, the monumental temples of Persia, sacred Mayan shrines and
medieval ghost towns, killing some of the most horrific villains in the
Universe, now Sam has finally left the Earth and is heading towards
Sirius, home planet of Mental for a final confrontation.
Good luck! You'll need it...
*If you are eager to start playing right now*, we recommend that you
skim through the manual first, and get familiar with the game's
interface. Make sure you don't miss out on how to use the NETRICSA!
For those who like to read the game background before they jump into the
gameplay, we recommend a visit to the Croteam site
<http://www.croteam.com/SeriousSam2/> and take a look at the loads of
materials we have prepared there for you.
For discussions about the game, tips, news and general chat, take a look
at the Serious Sam 2 forum
<http://www.croteam.com/Active/Forums/Croteam/SeriousSam/>.
*To Play the game:*
1) Launch the Serious Sam 2 shortcut.
2) From the Main Menu select Single Player.
3) Select existing player profile or create new one.
4) Select Difficulty level.
5) Watch the intro video and get ready to fight!
2. System requirements
*Hardware Requirements:*
OS: Windows 2000 or Windows XP
CPU: AMD Athlon or Intel Pentium
RAM: 512MB
GFX: Graphics board with complete support for hardware pixel shaders
(compliant with DirectX 8 or higher).
Drivers: newest available hardware drivers
DirectX 9.0c
Please make sure that DirectX9.0c is installed, and that you have
updated your graphics card drivers.
*Not supported:*
- Windows 95, 98 and ME
- DirectX 7.0 or lower 3D accelerator, or one without DirectX 9.0
compatible driver
(Matrox Parhelia, nVidia TNT and GeForce1,2,4MX series, ATI Radeon 7000
series, Intel integrated graphics prior to 915G chipset, ...)
*Minimum supported (low-end system):*
CPU: ~1.5 GHz Athlon XP or Pentium M, or ~2 GHz Pentium 4
RAM: 256 MB
Sound: any DirectSound compatible sound board
Graphics: DirectX 8.0/8.1 compliant or low-end DirectX 9 3D
accelerator
(nVidia GeForce3 and 4 series (not MX!), GeForceFX 5200 through 5700
series, ATI Radeon 8500 through 9200 and X300 series, S3 DeltaChrome or
XGI Volari ... )
*Recommended (mainstream):*
CPU: ~2.0 GHz Athlon XP or Pentium M or ~2.6 GHz Pentium 4
RAM: 512 MB
Sound: DirectSound3D compliant sound board
(Creative SoundBlaster Live series, nVidia SoundStorm, ...)
Graphics: DirectX 9.0 compliant 3D accelerator
(nVidia GeForceFX 5900 series and GeForce 6200 and 6600 series, ATI
Radeon 9500 thru 9800 and X600-X700 series, ...)
*Full-experience (high-end):*
CPU: ~2 GHz Athlon64, or ~3 GHz Pentium 4
RAM: 1 GB (1024 MB)
Sound: DirectSound3D with EAX 2.0+ sound board
(Creative SoundBlaster Audigy series, nVidia SoundStorm, ...)
Graphics: DirectX 9.0 high-end 3D accelerator
(nVidia GeForce6 6800 and 7800 series, ATI Radeon X800 and X850 series, ...)
3. Troubleshooting
Although Croteam has invested all efforts to provide maximum
compatibility with all hardware configurations, there are some cases
that cannot be remedied in the game, but require intervention from the
user. We are sorry for the inconvenience, but those problems are beyond
our control and are usually caused by limitations imposed by the
operating system, faulty drivers or other problematic software installed
on your machine.
Here is the list of the cases and suggested remedies:
*_FatalError: 'Cannot set display mode'_*
Sometimes "Serious Sam 2" won't start, and will report the above error
message. Here are the possible reasons and suggested remedies:
- You do not have a proper DirectX driver for your card installed.
See here <#drivers> for a list of recommended 3D card drivers.
*_Game crashes at startup_*
If you have incompatible video card drivers installed, if something else
is bad in your system, or if you have changed some of the advanced
rendering options, the game might not be able to start at all.
To remedy this:
a) Make sure you have all the proper drivers <#drivers> installed, and
b) Try to start the Safe Mode <#safemode>.
*_Choppy performance or 'stuttering'_*
On some mis-configured systems, you may experience extreme slowdowns, or
game playing very choppy. Here are the possible reasons and suggested
remedies:
- Old motherboard chipset drivers.
See here <#mbdrivers> on how to update your motherboard drivers.
- Old or incompatible sound drivers.
See here <#sounddrivers> on how to update your sound drivers.
- Old or incompatible 3D card drivers.
See here <#drivers> for the list of recommended 3D card drivers.
- Misconfigured or incompatible joystick drivers.
For some joystick drivers, if a joystick driver is installed, but
the actual joystick is not present, driver may cause random delays when
reading the device. "Serious Sam 2" tries to auto-disable joystick
reading if it detects faulty drivers, but this mechanism might fail in
some cases.
Even if you think you don't have any joystick installed, please double
check in the Game Controllers configuration in the Windows' Control
Panel. Maybe you don't remember that it was installed once, or maybe it
was autoinstalled without you knowing it. Also, it may be possible that
you have installed a driver that is not compatible with your operating
system. (E.G. this can happen if you install some Win98 joystick drivers
on WinXP/2000.) To uninstall a joystick driver, go to Control Panel and
open Game Controllers. Select the joystick/controller. Press Remove.
- Too high quality settings
Unless you have a very fast 3D accelerator, your system may not be
capable of running "Serious Sam 2" at high resolutions.
See here <#improveperformance> for information on how to configure the
game for improved performance.
*_Sound crackling or stuttering_*
This symptom is usually due to either:
a) Sound hardware incompatibility
Some sound cards do not work well with some interfaces, or sound output
formats.
- Try disabling EAX in the 'Options->Audio Options' menu.
b) or performance problems
If the game has an overall slow framerate, the sound output quality will
suffer. See here <#improveperformance> on how to improve the overall
performance.
*_Crashes when switching between full-screen and window modes_*
On some operating systems and/or hardware setups, switching full-screen
and windowed mode might not work properly. This is a driver issue and
cannot be fixed from our side.
See here <#drivers> for the list of recommended 3D card drivers.
*_Cannot connect to an internet game_*
If you cannot connect to an internet game there are several possible
reasons:
- You are using personal firewall software, or a hardware firewall or
NAT. Such software or hardware can block game data traffic between your
computer and the server that you are trying to connect. It all depends
on how it is set up.
You should configure your firewall to allow "Serious Sam 2" to access
the internet, and forward the ports 25600 (UDP). You should check the
firewall's documentation on how to do that.
*_Poor performance in a network game_*
See network tips <#network> on how to improve the network gaming
performance.
*_Screen Tearing_*
On some systems, when standing in place and rotating your view
left-right quickly with the mouse, it might seem like the bottom of the
screen is lagging behind the top of the screen. It can appear as if the
screen is divided into stripes by one or more horizontal lines.
This is a usual effect known as 'Screen Tearing', noticed only if you
concentrate on it, and doesn't really affect the gameplay.
It is caused by the rendering not being synchronized with the vertical
refresh rate of your monitor. The option is usually present in one of
the advanced settings options in the Display Preferences in Windows. It
is driver-dependent and will be different for each video card. You
should consult your video card driver manual for details on this (if any
available).
/There is an option to turn the vsync on/off from "Serious Sam 2" in the
menu 'Options->Video Options'. But this might not work on some 3D cards/.
*Note that, even though turning the vsync on might remedy this, it will
as well limit your framerate in game.*
4. Tips and tricks
*_Network Tips_*
- Make sure that you have the correct speed setting in the
Multiplayer->Internet->Connection Type option. If this is set to a
setting higher than what you connection can handle, you may experience
issues like severe lag, jerky gameplay and even disconnection.
- When playing cooperative on slower computers, you might experience
slowdowns. This is normal. Minimum required configuration is tested for
single player gaming. If you play cooperative with a lot of players,
more action goes on on the screen, and your computer might not be
capable to process it all.
- If you are playing over the internet, try to find servers that give
you a better ping and have fewer players.
- Poor performance in a network game can sometimes be caused by not so
good overall performance of your game setup. See general performance
tips <#improveperformance> on how to improve the overall game performance.
_*Multiplayer Internet gaming*_
For multiplayer play on the Internet behind a firewall and/or proxy
server please make sure to have the required port open to connect. The
game's server uses port 25600 by default (it can be changed in game's
console through *net_iPort* cvar ).
*Note:* GameSpy Arcade utilizes additional ports. A list of those ports
and other support for GameSpy Arcade can be found here:
http://www.gamespyarcade.com/support/firewalls.shtml
*_General performance tips_*
"Serious Sam 2" can auto-adjust the configuration to match your system.
If you feel that the game is too slow on your computer, you can try to
run auto configuration from 'Options->Video Options' menu. Follow these
steps:
1) Go to 'Options->Video Options' menu.
2) Select AUTO DETECT QUALITY and wait a few seconds till it finishes
testing your system.
3) Press Apply.
If you are not satisfied with settings you can tweak them manually.
*_Safe mode_*
In case of faulty settings try running the game from Startup
menu->Serious Sam 2 folder, Serious Sam 2 (Safe mode). This will run
Serious Sam 2 executable with "Safe mode" settings.
5. Difficulty Settings
*_Choosing the right difficulty_*
The most important thing is to choose the right difficulty, the one that
will perfectly challenge your skills. Choosing a too easy or too hard
level of difficulty can harm the enjoyment of the game. Consult the
manual for choosing the right difficulty. Here are some quick tips:
- Tourist mode is the easiest, and it's for absolute beginners, the ones
who are still battling with the
game controls.
- Easy mode is for FPS beginners, the ones that play games but are very
casual FPS players.
- Normal mode is for experienced FPS players, the ones that played many
FPS games.
- Hard mode is for experienced "Serious Sam" players, the ones that have
already finished the Normal mode and possibly for the ones that have
finished our Demo many times on the Serious difficulty. Choose this mode
on your own responsibility.
- Serious mode - for the really serious ones.
*_Changing the difficulty 'on the fly'_*
If you find some level too hard or too easy to beat, you can always
restart it on lower or higher difficulty, from the 'Custom Levels' menu.
But in that case you will lose your score, which will be counted from
there on.
*_Cannot read messages_*
To read the in-game messages using the NETRICSA, you need to press TAB
button. If you have reconfigured your controls and you cannot find the
TAB button, you need to reset your controls and bind them again.
6. Hardware compatibility issues
*3D accelerators*
"Serious Sam 2" has been tested with many different 3D-accelerator
boards and drivers. The game will try to adjust optimal settings for
it._If you experience any problem, please make sure you have the correct
display driver installed._
You can download drivers from 3D board chipset manufacturer's site or
any driver repository on the internet.
All boards have been tested with Windows XP and 2000 operating system.
*Motherboard drivers*
On motherboards with chipsets that don't have native support in Windows,
you'll have to install the corresponding driver manually.
Complete explanation on how to do that can be found in the motherboard's
manual. You can download drivers from motherboard manufacturer's site or
any driver repository on the internet.
_Even if you have the correct display and sound drivers, you can still
have some problems with "Serious Sam 2" in case you don't have proper
motherboard drivers installed._
*Sound drivers*
"Serious Sam 2" has been tested with many different sound boards and
drivers. _If you experience any problem, please make sure you have the
correct sound driver installed._
You can download drivers from sound board manufacturer's site or any
driver repository on the internet.
All boards have been tested with Windows XP and 2000 operating system.
7. Updates
Improved versions of the game executables, additional driver
information, extra game content (like new multiplayer levels, or player
models and similar), add-on scripts, etc. might become available with time.
You should visit the Serious Sam 2 Update page
<http://www.croteam.com/SeriousSam/Update> periodically to see if
something interesting for you appears.
8. Legal Information
© 2005 CROTEAM LTD. 2K GAMES AND THE 2K GAMES LOGO, A TAKE2 COMPANY
LOGO, AND TAKE-TWO INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE ARE ALL TRADEMARKS AND/OR
REGISTERED TRADEMARKS OF TAKE-TWO INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE, INC. SERIOUS SAM
2, THE SERIOUS SAM 2 LOGO, SERIOUS ENGINE 2, THE SERIOUS ENGINE 2 LOGO,
CROTEAM AND THE CROTEAM LOGO ARE TRADEMARKS AND/OR REGISTERED TRADEMARKS
OF CROTEAM LTD. THE NVIDIA LOGO AND THE “THE WAY IT’S MEANT TO BE
PLAYED” LOGO ARE REGISTERED TRADEMARKS OR TRADEMARKS OF NVIDIA
CORPORATION. GAMESPY AND THE "POWERED BY GAMESPY" DESIGN ARE TRADEMARKS
OF GAMESPY INDUSTRIES, INC." THE RATINGS ICON IS A TRADEMARK OF THE
ENTERTAINMENT SOFTWARE ASSOCIATION. ALL OTHER MARKS AND TRADEMARKS ARE
THE PROPERTY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS. DEVELOPED BY CROTEAM. PUBLISHED
BY 2K GAMES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Serious Sam 2 uses Ogg Vorbis and Ogg Theora libraries, under the
following license:
Copyright (c) 2002, Xiph.org Foundation
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
are met:
- Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
- Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
- Neither the name of the Xiph.org Foundation nor the names of its
contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from
this software without specific prior written permission.
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS
``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT
LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS
FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
FOUNDATION OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT,
INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING,
BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES;
LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER
CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN
ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE
POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
Serious Sam 2 uses Zlib compression and decompression library, copyright
(c) 1995-1998 Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler.
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21st Sep 2005, 09:38 PM
