The guide for playing Saints Row 2 *MUST READ*

[Slaya]

New Guide updates is currently being worked on to better help everyone. Just taking longer than expected to finish.

*For those thinking about purchasing this game. Honestly. If you think you can do these tweaks then I say get it for a good sale price. If not then this is not the game for you and you should move on but you'll be missing out as it's really easy to do plus you have a great community that is willing to help you get it going. This is also one of the best co-op games made.*

*Remember to save often and save in multiple slots. In co-op both players should save at the same time. This means after doing a mission or buying an upgrade or making changes to your character or whatever. Make sure to save and again in multiple slots and never the same slot twice.*

If the game is not loading for you. Then check out IdolNinja's FAQ guide linked at the bottom of this post.

These tweaks can be needed to make the game functional and also add some awesome enhancements. :D

You may want to get Gentlemen of the Row: http://idolninja.com/sr2.php
****Does fix some issues & alters many aspects of the game from the vanilla version too. Read through the FAQ guide.****

*According to IdolNinja about choosing to use Gentlemen of the Row or not*

"The Gentlemen of the Row mod enhances the base game with additional content, and over 150 bugfixes and tweaks making Saints Row 2 a much more stable and rich experience. Some of the new content includes 100+ new clothing items with 120+ new logos, improved weather including a darker nighttime and more vibrant colors in daytime, plane and boat mechanics for customizing, additional missions, new vehicle dealerships, new weapons, new cribs, new homies and gang styles, more car paints, more skin colors, tattoos, makeup, optional 360/PS3 onscreen prompts, and even new cheat codes including NPC morphs (just to name a few.) All of these features have been extensively tested and confirmed to work correctly with either a new game and complete playthrough from start to finish, as well as being compatible with existing vanilla saves. Keep in mind certain new features aren't as slick as they could be. For example, the new vehicle stores have a naming problem when you buy them and it displays an strange name on the confirmation screen. Another example, is that Maero's monster truck can now be customized with everything except body paint. Doing so crashes the game, etc. I had to make a decision that the benefit of certain new features outweigh the problems with them.

While most of the Gentlemen of the Row mod is comprised of additions and enhancements, it also does permanently change some of the original features like certain taunts, compliments, walks, weapon meshes/skins, logos, and other things that may bother a purist."

You can go back to Vanilla easily too: http://steamcommunity.com/app/9480/discussions/0/846958724811426425/#c846959520918347839

Is everything going super fast in game? You have the CPU speedup bug. Easy fix. Just run Command prompt as Admin by right clicking on Command prompt and select run as administrator. Then copy and paste this without the quotes: "bcdedit /set useplatformclock true" then press enter. Now reboot and try the game. (If you have Powertools installed make sure to uninstall it first.)

From the guide linked below: "One reader reported that by just using the CMD (no BIOS editing), he was able to fix Saints Row 2's speed. So I suggest for those that don't want to edit their BIOS to just do it with CMD, see if it will work just by this way."

Check out the guide: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=195925809 <-- Bios method is the best. Your bios may be already set and just need the command prompt tweak done.

If for some reason you have to use Saints Row Powertools click here: http://steamcommunity.com/app/9480/discussions/0/846958724811426425/#c540738052867958016

Need help Installing Gentlemen Of The Row: http://steamcommunity.com/app/9480/discussions/0/846958724811426425/#c540738052868190920

*Want better car handling?* http://steamcommunity.com/app/9480/discussions/0/846958724811426425/#c846960628231948496

*NEW* How to make SR2 run optimally: http://steamcommunity.com/app/9480/discussions/0/846964364042529447/


If you --wanna play co-op-- Use Evolve ( http://www.evolvehq.com ) as GameSpy is no more so the normal online mode will not work. With Evolve you can play LAN games online.

How it works:

One person creates a Party and the other joins. This creates a virtual lan. Leave the Party open or minimize it as closing it will disable the virtural lan.
You can also set the Party to Private which is invite only for your Friends. ;)

Then one person hosts a Lan game and the other joins.

****You and your co-op partner will need to use the same options in GotR and any additional mods.****

If the other player trying to join cannot see the Hosts game then you may have the rare SR2 LAN issue some users have.... This applies to straight up LAN or using an online LAN program like Evolve.

1. For the Host. Start Party in Evolve. Invite your co-op pal. Tell them to wait.

2. Go in the Network and Sharing center in Windows. On the left click on Change Adapter settings.

3. Now right click on your Network adapter not your Virtual Lan Adapter (Evolve Gaming Connection) and select disable.

4. Load up Saints Row 2 and host a LAN game it will say waiting for player. Leave it and Alt + Tab to the Desktop.

Re-able the network adapter you disabled. Now wait for the Evolve Party to reconnect.

4. Tell your co-op pal to go ahead join and Alt + Tab back in the game.

Should work. If it doesn't then you don't have UPNP enabled on your router and you will need to manually open a port on your router or enable UPNP. Check the Evolve Help section for more info.

Unfortunately until a real fix is discovered. The Host will have to do this each time when playing co-op. Again this seems to effect a small amount of people be it with virtual LAN or real LAN with Saints Row 2. Others it seems to work just fine and they don't have to do this at all.... Very strange.


Make sure to bookmark http://idolninja.com/index.php and http://www.saintsrowmods.com/forum/#saints-row-2.4

SR2 & 3, 4 are awesome. Just SR2 was a rushed PC port but luckily the modding community came to the rescue and with some nice enhancements for the game too. ;)

CO-OP is really fun as SR2 is more open ended and a little less linear.

For those that also own Saints Row 3 or 4. Both those sites have a section for SR3/SR4 stuff too.

A real SDK by the games creators (with the code they got from the outsourced company who handled Saints Row 2. THQ made this choice) is being released soon for SR2, 3 & 4.

Which means SR2 will be getting deeper enhancements than it already has now! So SR2 is far from dead.


Game on! :)

Read through IdolNinja's FAQ guide(read the whole darn thing. Full of useful information!): http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1715922

Then check here for additional tips: http://steamcommunity.com/app/9480/discussions/0/846958724811426425/#c846959179147465332

Read the information on the websites of the programs downloads and there included Read Me files

If you still cannot find an answer for your issue. Then I highly suggest you look and ask here: http://www.saintsrowmods.com/forum/forums/get-help-troubleshooting.33/


Misc stuff:

Controls: http://saintsrow.wikia.com/wiki/Controls

Audio sounds really compressed? http://steamcommunity.com/app/9480/discussions/0/846959362273975662/#c846959520877644834 Any fix coming? http://www.saintsrowmods.com/forum/threads/any-chance-for-better-audio-quality.2862/#post-24491

*NEW* Improved Radio Stations for SR2: https://www.saintsrowmods.com/forum/threads/high-quality-radio-mod.9515/ (High Quality)

If you notice people keep asking the same questions over and over. Point them to this guide. You can even use this fun thread I made: http://steamcommunity.com/app/9480/discussions/0/846960481972985479/ ;)

[Slaya]

*Additional tips*

- Some start up issues can be fixed by disabling display scaling: http://steamcommunity.com/app/9480/discussions/0/846958724811426425/#c846959520928120301

- Some other start up issues could be DirectX needing to be reinstalled: http://steamcommunity.com/app/9480/discussions/0/846960628211580819/#c846960628262940817

- A clean install may fix some startup issues: http://steamcommunity.com/app/9480/discussions/0/846959998009770007/#c846959998032623859

- The game may not like being installed on a drive other than the C: drive: http://steamcommunity.com/app/9480/discussions/0/846958724721576320/#c846959998023838299

- Having FPS issues? http://steamcommunity.com/app/9480/discussions/0/846958724806957465/

- Cut scenes out of wack: http://steamcommunity.com/app/9480/discussions/0/846959520960136458/

- Game doesn't like your screen resolution? There's a program to set custom resolutions: http://steamcommunity.com/app/9480/discussions/0/846959520960652061/#c846959520997018403

- Visual settings that make the game look not so good: http://steamcommunity.com/app/9480/discussions/0/846959876010842574/

- If another player in co-op needs Powertools and has it setup wrong it can cause issues between the two: http://steamcommunity.com/app/9480/discussions/0/846959998163116878/#c846960481941096968

More info: http://steamcommunity.com/app/9480/discussions/0/846959998087267813/#c846959998113122201

- Menus keeps scrolling? Game crashing when you try to load it? Might have a device plugged in or enabled the game doesn't like. http://steamcommunity.com/app/9480/discussions/0/846959520949389194/

More info: http://steamcommunity.com/app/9480/discussions/0/846960481975383001/#c846960628198178503

[76561197967299839]

Will the mods work with the German cut version? I changed some files including the .exe so that it is a bit more enjoyable, I don't know if this will affect anything.

[Slaya]

You may have to get a buddy from the US to gift you a US copy. I heard the German copy is locked down bad.

[<esc>:q!]

If you use these mods, can you still connect to other players in co op?

[Slaya]

Don't know for certain. I am guessing no and honestly it may be more trouble playing without mods as this game is quite quirky without them.

You'd want to play with a buddy anyways so you'd have them get this as well.

[apokwarg]

+1 for the OP, this man knows his ♥♥♥♥. I'm glad modders sacrificed their precious time to tweak SR2 to the max. Personally, i think it's the best Saints Row game out there.

Please get this game and let the "requirements" intimidate you, it's totally worth it.

[76561197967299839]

yeah, there are shops that gift you foreign country versions of games that you can active, but it's kind of to late.. but saints row 4 will be uncut in germany as they've won a lawsuit recently to release it uncut.

[Slaya]

SR2 is still a fun game and good co-op games can be tough to find. ;)

[Slaya]

Originalmente postado por ApOkwARG:

+1 for the OP, this man knows his ♥♥♥♥. I'm glad modders sacrificed their precious time to tweak SR2 to the max. Personally, i think it's the best Saints Row game out there.

Please get this game and let the "requirements" intimidate you, it's totally worth it.

You should really thank Idol Ninja and the modding community at saintsrowmods.com but thanks. Glad to help spread info to make this game playable and fun. :D

Again a real SDK (Software Development Kit) from the company Volition (thank them too. They did not handle this PC port.) for this game is coming that will allow more in depth tweaking and modding to improve this game on a much deeper level than could ever be done currently.

So SR2 is far from becoming an abandoned Title. The improvements to this game are just the tip of what's going to be possible.

[Slaya]

If for some unholy reason you feel the need to play this Vanilla it's simple.

You can either just Load up Create_Custom_GotR_v1.9.1.exe

Just press V and once done copy the files over like you did when you modded everything.

Or backup the Vanilla files manually. *I'd recommend this method.*

- Make a patch and before you copy the files over. Mark down the file names in the MY_CUSTOM_PATCH folder. Should be 3 or 4 files. *Depending if you added any other mods like the Revamped Car Physics for example*

- Make a folder in the Gentlemen_of_the_Row_Saints_Row_2_Super_Mod_v1.9.1\MY_CUSTOM_PATCH folder and name it "SR2 unmodded"

and go in the main Saints Row 2 folder and copy and paste these files to the folder you just made (should match the sames ones in the MY_CUSTOM_PATCH folder): patch.vpp_pc, preload.tbl, preload_anim.tbl, shaders_pc.

*Already mod the game?*[/b] In Steam right click on Saints Row 2 and goto Properties and click on Local Files then Verify Integrity Of Game Cache which will replace any modded files with the original files.

Now backup those files listed above in the main Saints Row 2 folder before copying & pasting the modded files.

So it's really easy if you need too and are a glutton for punishment. ;)

Another issue is according to Idol Ninja's excellent FAQ guide(linked in OP): "Why can't I see my friends' coop games?

Different Saints Row 2 patch levels cannot see each other's games in Gamespy and cannot play together. For example, if you have the Steam release patched to the final 1.2, you will not be able to play with a user of the Games for Windows Live release which is still at 1.1. Check the end of the FAQ for more info on the different releases and versions of Saints Row 2."

"Where is the best place to buy Saints Row 2, and are there any differences between releases?

First of all, you will absolutely need the Steam release to get the latest patch of 1.2, as it is only available that way. Any other release is still at 1.1 which has serious performance, AI, coop, and resolution problems.

IMPORTANT: THE GERMAN VERSION OF SAINTS ROW 2 IS HEAVILY CENSORED AND WILL NOT WORK WITH MOST OF THE MODS AND TOOLS!
"

and lastly: "Problem releases of the game to avoid:
Games for Windows Live digital download - 1.1 patch level
Pirated/cracked versions - 1.1 patch level and you'll be haunted with recurring feelings of shame and regret"

[Xenocryst]

sweet thanks for this

[PaDaUy::::]

Thanks for the info, Road Killa... thanks to your effort i buyed the game (finally) i will tweak it to work properly...

[Slaya]

Some people may need to Disable display scaling on high DPI settings if issues arise.

Jump in \Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Saints Row 2

Find SR2_pc.exe and right click on it then goto Properties now click on the Compatibility tab and check Disable display scaling on high DPI settings and click Apply and OK.

Windows 8 automatically sets Compatibility settings for programs and games so it set that for this game. So it might be needed and it might not. However just passing the info on.

You Welcome everyone. Enjoy the game with it's fixes and extra goodies. It's a blast. :D

Co-op is great.

[-3xA'Lu©κy the disappearing act]

Hey - will this SDK help with the engine and overall performance? Maybe even fix bugs... might sound stupid and maybe this is the wrong place to ask :>

My game runs pretty decent with the GOTR mod, the powertools & having fraps limit it to 60 fps... but it'd be awesome if there was improved optomization.

[Shade]

I'm on Windows 7 64bit and I don't have any issue with the game, maybe it's pure luck.
Should I install Power Tools anyway? Maybe for the framerate: ~20/30 fps outside.