Assassin's Creed II

Assassin's Creed II

Developers
	Ubisoft Montreal
macOS (OS X)	Ubisoft Ukraine
Publishers
	Ubisoft
	Akella
Engines
	Anvil
Release dates
Windows	March 9, 2010
macOS (OS X)	October 1, 2010
Reception
Metacritic	86
IGDB	90
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase, DLC
Modes	Singleplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Third-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Action, Stealth
Art styles	Realistic
Themes	Europe, Historical, Renaissance
Series	Assassin's Creed

Assassin's Creed II is a singleplayer third-person action and stealth game in the Assassin's Creed series.

Key points

Very poor mouse input due to aggressive acceleration. A controller is highly recommended.

Online services shut down on October 1, 2022.

General information

Official manual

Official forums

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail
Amazon.com
Epic Games Store
GamersGate
Green Man Gaming
Humble Store
Steam
Ubisoft Store		Included with Ubisoft+.
Amazon.co.uk (unavailable)
Games for Windows Marketplace (unavailable)
Mac App Store (unavailable)
Origin (unavailable)

All Windows versions require Ubisoft Connect DRM.

A constant internet connection is no longer required. The game is playable offline.

Monetization

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
Battle of Forlì	Included in the Deluxe Edition. No longer available. Sequence patched into the game. See EaglePatchAC2 to unlock the Bonus Content.
Bonfire of the Vanities	Included in the Deluxe Edition. No longer available. Sequence patched into the game. See EaglePatchAC2 to unlock the Bonus Content.

Essential improvements

Patches

Version 1.01 patch can be downloaded here.

Among other fixes, it adds ATI Eyefinity support and provides some performance enhancements for multi-core processors.

EaglePatchAC2

Latest version can be downloaded here.

Improved shadow map size from 1024 to 4096.

Draw distance maxed out for buildings, peds and flags.

Enables UPlay bonuses - Auditore Crypt, Altair robes, extra knifes, bonus dye.

Added support of all XInput controllers.

Added detection of hotplugged controllers.

Gamepad and kb/mouse controls work at the same time.

Added ini setting for enabling PS3-like controls.

Added ini setting to skip intro videos.

Options configurable in .ini file.

Removes support of DirectInput controllers. Use of a DirectInput to XInput translator such as XOutput is recommended if using a DirectInput only controller.

Game data

In-game general settings.

In-game HUD settings.

Configuration file location

System	Location
Windows	%APPDATA%\Ubisoft\Assassin's Creed 2\Assassin2.ini
macOS (OS X)
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/33230/pfx/

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<Ubisoft-Connect-folder>\savegames\<user-id>\4\
macOS (OS X)
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/33230/pfx/

Save games before the new patch are in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Ubisoft Game Launcher\savegame_storage

The save folder was relocated in a November 23, 2012 patch.

If you change the XML config file to allow offline play, or if you select the Uplay launcher to stay offline in the options, then your progress and games will NOT be saved!

You CAN turn cloud-sync OFF in the options, but you must allow Uplay to go online to allow Assassin's Creed II to save games to this location on your local hard drive.

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Epic Games Launcher
Origin
Steam Cloud
Ubisoft Connect

Video

In-game video settings.

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution			Higher vertical aspect ratios (e.g. 16:10, 4:3, 5:4) are letterboxed.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen			Cutscenes and some menus are pillarboxed. Use this fix for 21:9 / 16:10.
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Borderless fullscreen windowed		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		Up to 8x MSAA.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS		The game has a poorly implemented 59 FPS cap which can jump between 57 to 63 FPS; however, it allows a high refresh rate.
120+ FPS
High dynamic range display (HDR)		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

Input

In-game control settings.

In-game key map settings.

In-game button map settings.

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration		Aggressive mouse acceleration. Can't be disabled.
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion		X and Y inversion can be set independently for first-person, third-person, or both.
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support
Controller remapping		For non-XInput devices only.
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion		X and Y inversion can be set independently for first-person, third-person, or both.

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger vibration

Generic/other controllers
Button prompts

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

Audio

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		SFX, Character Voices, Music.
Surround sound		5.0
Subtitles		Some in-game dialogue is spoken in Italian. Translations are displayed in the subtitles.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
Czech				Available only at local distributors.
Danish
Dutch
French
German
Hungarian				Fan translation.
Indonesian				Fan translation by IGTC Team, download.
Italian
Korean
Norwegian
Polish				Use this if the game won't run in Polish.
Portuguese
Brazilian Portuguese				Fan translation.
Russian				Retail only, download. Origin version has a full official translation by Akella.
Spanish
Swedish
Turkish				Fan translation, download.

VR support

3D modes	State	GG3D	Notes
Nvidia 3D Vision			Use Helix Mod: Assassin's Creed 2 for better support.
TriDef 3D
iZ3D
vorpX		G3D, DirectVR Officially supported game, see official vorpx game list.

Issues unresolved

No background music

Often after the game starts, the background music does not play.

Keep restarting the game until the music starts playing

Issues fixed

Stuttering/Tearing with Vsync On or Off

Ingame FPS Cap workaround and CPU load fix

This is caused by 2 issues - a uneven 59fps fps cap and excessive CPU load when using Vsync To fix the uneven cap. Set the refresh rate to 50hz in game instead (use CRU in case no such option is available in game for you) and use the Vsync as below: For Nvidia cards: use Nvidia's Adaptive Vsync in the Nvidia Control Panel. This minimizes Vsync drops to 25fps For newer AMD cards: turn on Radeon Chill as an FPS limiter set to 50/50 (min/max) and also turn on the "Enhanced sync" feature (don't forget to turn Vsync off in-game for AMD's enhanced sync to work). The alternative, if the other 2 are not possible for you, use the normal in-game Vsync on. When using VSync, excessive single core use is also evident (typically 99%) with any Quad Core CPU and above. Removing the first core of your CPU availability manually using the Task Manager affinity or alternatively using utility Process Lasso to automatically remove CPU 0 access from the AC2 executable resolves this. The affinity fix also fixes the same issue with ACB, ACR and AC3 when using VSync. Making affinity changes permanent (setting affinity in task manager only lasts until you exit the game): Edit your preferred shortcut for launching the game (desktop and/or start menu) In the target field, set the following (just put the default contents in double quotes and prepend cmd.exe /C ...): For a 4/4 (core/thread) CPU cmd.exe /C start "" /affinity e "<path-to-game>\AssassinsCreedIIGame.exe" For a 4/8 and 8/8 (core/thread) CPU cmd.exe /C start "" /affinity fe "<path-to-game>\AssassinsCreedIIGame.exe" For a 6/6 (core/thread) CPU cmd.exe /C start "" /affinity 3e "<path-to-game>\AssassinsCreedIIGame.exe" For a 6/12 (core/thread) CPU cmd.exe /C start "" /affinity 7fe "<path-to-game>\AssassinsCreedIIGame.exe" For a 8/16 (core/thread) CPU and higher cmd.exe /C start "" /affinity fffe "<path-to-game>\AssassinsCreedIIGame.exe" Verify correct affinity by launching the game and checking affinity in task manager (see beginning) To be used in Steam launch options, to launch the game directly from Steam, it must be a little different: Ex. for a 8/16 (core/thread) CPU and higher C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /C start "" /affinity FFFE "<path-to-game>\AssassinsCreedIIGame.exe" %command%

Lights shine through walls and other objects

Nvidia Control Panel Fix[citation needed]
This issue is cause by the Nvidia Control Panel forcing graphical settings on. Enter Nvidia Control Panel. Select "Adjust image settings with preview". Select "Let the 3D application decide".

Game freeze when given hidden blade

Press "2" to select the weapon to continue the cut-scene[citation needed]
Default mapped keys do not work as they should.

Error "A Ubisoft service is unavailable at the moment"

Download and install the UPlay client[citation needed]

Program hangs and screen flashes repeatedly on launch

Set monitor resolution to 1280x720 on launch and change resolution in-game[citation needed]

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9.0c
OpenGL	2	OS X only.
Shader Model support	3

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

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Physics	Havok
Audio	Wwise
Cutscenes	Bink Video	1.9n

Mods

Assassin's Creed 2 Overhaul

Updates most of the textures and particle effects in-game with a mix of Assassin's Creed Brotherhood textures and custom textures.

Neural 1080p Enhanced Cutscenes

Improves the quality of the heavily compressed FMVs

System requirements

Windows

macOS (OS X)

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	XP	Vista, 7
Processor (CPU)	AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 1.8 GHz	AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ 3.1 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 2.6 GHz
System memory (RAM)	1.5 GB	2 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	8 GB
Video card (GPU)	ATI Radeon X1950 ATI Radeon HD 2000/3000/4000/5000 series Nvidia GeForce 7/8/9/100/200 series 256 MB of VRAM DirectX 9.0c compatible Shader model 3.0 support	ATI Radeon HD 4700 Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT 512 MB of VRAM
Sound (audio device)	DirectX 9.0 compatible	5.1 sound card
Other		Xbox 360 Controller

macOS (OS X)
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	10.5	10.6
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core 2 Duo 3.06 GHz	Intel Core i5 2.66 GHz
System memory (RAM)	3 GB	4 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	9 GB
Video card (GPU)	256 MB of VRAM Shader model 3.0 support	AMD Radeon HD 4850 Nvidia GeForce GT120 512 MB of VRAM

Does not support Lion X (OS 10.7). Should work on any versions 10.8 and above.