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Blood II: The Chosen

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Blood II: The Chosen
Blood II: The Chosen cover
Developers
Monolith Productions
Publishers
1998-1999 GT Interactive
1999-2003 Infogrames
2003-present Atari
Engines
LithTech 1.0
Release dates
Windows November 25, 1998
Taxonomy
Monetization One-time game purchase, Expansion pack
Modes Singleplayer
Pacing Real-time
Perspectives First-person
Controls Direct control
Genres Action, FPS, Shooter
Art styles Realistic
Themes Fantasy, Horror
Series Blood
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Blood II: The Chosen on HowLongToBeat
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Blood II: The Chosen guide on StrategyWiki
Blood II: The Chosen on MobyGames
Blood II: The Chosen on Wikipedia
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Blood
Blood 1997
Blood II: The Chosen 1998
Blood: Fresh Supply 2019

Warnings

GameSpy online services have been shut down (see Network for solutions).

Blood II: The Chosen is a singleplayer first-person action, FPS and shooter game in the Blood series.

The game is well-known for its troubled development and subsequent stability issues in the released version. The Nightmare Levels expansion was released in August 1999, but most issues were left unresolved by the developers.

On modern systems, the game requires testing one of multiple methods to set up correctly.

General information

Blood Wiki
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)
 SafeDisc DRM[Note 1]
Windows
GamersGate
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Windows
GOG.com
DRM-free
 Includes "The Nightmare Levels" expansion.
Windows
Humble Store
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Windows
Steam
DRM-free after installation through Steam client (notes may include more details)
 Includes "The Nightmare Levels" expansion.
Windows
SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see above for affected versions).
A free demo version is available from Archive.org.

Monetization

DLC and expansion packs

Name Notes
The Nightmare Levels
Windows

Essential improvements

Patches

Both the Steam and GOG.com versions already come pre-patched.

Skip intro videos

Delete file[citation needed]
  1. Go to the installation folder.
  2. Delete/rename Monolith.smk.

Running Blood II on modern systems

Note that any method will fail to result in the game launching if a wireless headset is plugged in. The USB dongle needs to be plugged out when launching the game, but can be plugged back in once the game starts. [3] [4]
Use Peixoto's patch[citation needed]
  • Fixes bad performance and initialization problems on Windows 10.
  • Forced resolution allows high resolution without shrinking the HUD\menus and SSAA.
  • Gets the installer running on 64-bit Windows.
dgVoodoo 2 alternative[5]
  1. Download dgVoodoo 2.
  2. Extract dgVoodooCpl.exe, as well as the D3DImm.dll and DDraw.dll files from the MS\x86 subfolder to <path-to-game>.
  3. Run dgVoodooCpl.exe and click on DirectX tab.
  4. Uncheck "Disable Alt-Enter to toggle screen state".
  5. Uncheck "dgVoodoo Watermark".
  6. Set "Antialiasing (MSAA)" to the desired samples.
  7. Click Apply.


To fix white textures error, in the General tab set Output API to Direct3D 11 MS WARP (software).
If dgVoodoo 2 does not fix the game, try elishacloud's wrapper. Note that it automatically limits resolutions to prevent the high resolution crash, though this can be disabled in the settings.
If neither method resolves the issues, this ddraw.dll will fix performance in Lithtech games under Windows 8 and newer. Place it in the game main folder.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\[Note 2]
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/299050/pfx/[Note 3]

Save game data location

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\Save\[Note 2]
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/299050/pfx/[Note 3]

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
GOG Galaxy
Steam Cloud

Video

External video settings.
External video settings.
In-game video settings.
In-game video settings.

Graphics feature State WSGF Notes
Widescreen resolution
 
 See Widescreen resolution.
Multi-monitor
 
Ultra-widescreen
 
 See Widescreen resolution.
4K Ultra HD
 
 Widescreen patch only supports up to 1440p.
Field of view (FOV)
See Widescreen resolution.
Windowed
Set up dgVoodoo to enable Alt+↵ Enter shortcut.
Borderless fullscreen windowed
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Set up dgVoodoo to enable MSAA.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
Enabled by default. Can be forced off.
60 FPS
Set up dgVoodoo for stable performance.
120+ FPS
Game logic is tied to frame rate. At over 60 FPS, mouse is jerky and cutscenes are too fast, cutting off characters' voice lines. At extremely high frame rates, game runs inhumanly fast. See Cutscenes play too fast.

Widescreen resolution

The game crashes when the vertical resolution exceeds 1000 pixels, and resolutions wider than 4:3 are simply a stretched image. Fixes can be installed to correct both issues.
Fix crashes and stretching[6]
  1. Download the high resolution fix.
  2. Extract to the installation folder and overwrite.
  3. Download widescreen patch.
  4. Extract the .REZ files to the Custom subfolder in <path-to-game>. If the Custom folder does not exist, create it manually.
  5. Run the Blood II launcher, click on "Customize", select either WidescreenPatch.rez for Blood II or WidescreenPatchNm.rez for the Nightmare Levels and click on "Add". Whenever you enable and disable the Nightmare Levels you have to add the right patch and remove the other one. Make sure that "Always load these rez files" is checked and click "OK".
  6. Click on "Advanced" and paste +ScreenWidth 1920 +ScreenHeight 1080 +FovX 100 in the Command-Line field.
  7. Adjust the values according to the desired resolution and horizontal FOV values (FOV parameter is optional).
  8. Make sure that "Always specify these command-line parameters" is checked and click "OK".

Input

In-game key map settings.
In-game key map settings.
In-game mouse settings.
In-game mouse settings.
In-game joystick settings.
In-game joystick settings.

Keyboard and mouse State Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
The GOG.com version has trouble detecting any joysticks.[7]
Full controller support
Controller remapping
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion
Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Audio

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

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Up to 7.0 output with DirectSound3D restoration software.
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
EAX support
A3D 1.0, EAX (2.0 update required)[8]
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English

Network

Multiplayer types

Type Native Players Notes
LAN play
32 Versus, Co-op
For co-op, use the Co-op addon.
Online play
32 Versus, Co-op
GameSpy services have been shut down;[9] see GameSpy for workarounds.

Connection types

Type Native Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP

Issues unresolved

Crashes on focus lost

When using Alt+Tab ↹, the game crashes with the error message: "Client MFC Application has stopped working".

Issues fixed

Poor performance on modern systems

See Running Blood II on modern systems.[5]

Broken mouselook behavior when mouse polling rate exceeds 125Hz

Wrapping the old DirectInput calls into DInput8 seems to fix the issue. 60 FPS Limit is still required
  1. Download DirectInput wrapper.
  2. Extract to <path-to-game>.

Crashes on certain resolutions

Crashes with 1000+ pixel height resolutions by default.
See Widescreen resolution.[5]

"ERROR - Unable to set the video mode. (6929314)" error

See Widescreen resolution[10]

Music doesn't play in game

Fix missing music[citation needed]
  1. Download the Music Patch.
  2. Extract its contents to <path-to-game> and overwrite.

Cutscenes play too fast

The game logic is tied to the framerate. At framerates over 60 FPS, the mouse is jerky and cutscenes are too fast, cutting off characters' voice lines. At extremely high frame rates, game runs inhumanly fast.
Limit frame rate to 60 FPS[citation needed]

Always starts on second monitor

Set display manually[citation needed]
  1. Go to the installation folder and edit autoexec.cfg.
  2. Locate line "CardDesc" "\\.\DISPLAY2"
  3. Replace with "CardDesc" "\\.\DISPLAY1"

Notes

If the line does not already exist, add it manually.
Can be set in the launcher, but may revert back to default.

Window positioned off-screen

Occurs with dgVoodoo's windowed mode.
Software workaround[citation needed]
  1. Install and run Borderless Gaming.
  2. Press ⊞ Win+F6 to set game window to top left corner.

Error 0xc0000022 on launch

Enable DirectPlay

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 6
Software renderer
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Audio Miles Sound System Version 5.0f, only in The Nightmare Levels expansion.
Cutscenes Smacker Version 3.0j, used for intro videos.
Multiplayer GameSpy

Running without the launcher

Start with batch file[11]
  1. Open a text editor and add the following.
    • For the main game:
    @echo off
cd "path-to-game"
start /affinity 1 client.exe -rez BLOOD2.REZ -rez SOUND.REZ -rez Custom/WidescreenPatch.REZ exit
    • For the expansion:
    @echo off
cd "path-to-game"
start /affinity 1 client.exe -rez BLOOD2.REZ -rez BLOOD2NM.REZ -rez SOUND.REZ -rez Custom/WidescreenPatchNM.REZ exit
  2. Replace path-to-game with the actual installation folder for the game. Any additional command-line arguments you wish to use can be added before the word exit.
  3. Save as a new file with the .bat file extension.
  4. Start the game by double-clicking the .bat file you created.

Mods

Blood II: The Chosen Upscale Pack - AI upscaled textures; requires Music Patch, high resolution fix and widescreen patch to work
REDUX CRUO - overhauls the gameplay entirerly
Blood 2 - Extra Crispy - alternative gameplay overhaul mod
FX Enhancer Mod - alternate version of the Extra Crispy mod

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 95 98
Processor (CPU) Intel Pentium 166 MHz Intel Pentium II
System memory (RAM) 64 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 175 MB 450 MB
Video card (GPU) 4 MB of VRAM
DirectX 6 compatible
Other 4X CD-ROM drive
An Intel Pentium II 233 MHz or equivalent is required for software rendering


Notes

  1. ↑ SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows 10[1] or Windows 11 and is disabled by default on Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 when the KB3086255 update is installed.[2]
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 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).
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 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>/299050/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (299050) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References