Prototype 2

Prototype 2

Developers
	Radical Entertainment
Publishers
	Activision
Engines
	Titanium 2.0
Release dates
Windows	July 24, 2012
Reception
Metacritic	76
IGDB	77
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Microtransactions	None
Modes	Singleplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Third-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Action, Brawler, Open world, Shooter
Art styles	Realistic
Themes	Contemporary, North America, Supernatural
Series	Prototype

Prototype
Prototype	2009
Prototype 2	2012

Prototype 2 is a singleplayer third-person action, brawler, open world and shooter game in the Prototype series.

The PC port suffers from a number of technical issues and engine-limitations. See Essential improvements.

General information

Steam Community Discussions

Steam Forum thread with additional fixes - maintained by Suicidal.banana.

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail
Retail
Steam		Not available to purchase in Serbia, Russia, Japan, South Korea, China, India, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, U.A.E., Israel, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Qatar, CIS and South Asia. Only Low Violence version is available in Germany.
Publisher website (unavailable)
Amazon.com (unavailable)
Amazon.co.uk (unavailable)
(unavailable)
Humble Store (unavailable)

Version differences

The German Low Violence version on Steam (Prototype 2 (DE)) is only available with German subtitles and English Audio.

Monetization

Type	Notes
One-time game purchase	The game requires an upfront purchase to access.

Microtransactions

Type	Notes
No microtransactions	The game does not contain microtransactions.

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
RADNET Access Pack	Over 55 unique pieces of digital content accessible at launch at no extra charge. 20 Events Death-defying chopper races, intense combat scenarios plus more! 20 Challenges Compete with and beat your friends’ best scores! 5 Exclusive ‘Behind The Scenes’ Videos 5 Exclusive Sgt James Heller Mutation Abilities 5 Bonus Unlock Abilities for Sgt James Heller Alex Mercer Skin unlock – the ultimate fan reward
Colossal Mayhem Pack	Thermobaric Boomstick: All the force of a Thermobaric Ordinance in a compact rocket launcher form. Will need to be reloaded from Radnet Menu if dropped. Heller Test Subject Skin: Playable skin of Heller after his infection while being experimented on. Infected Heller Skin: Playable skin that gives Heller a zombified appearance and changes all of his dialogue to growls. Infantry Heller Skin: Playable Skin from before Heller was infected with Blacklight. Warp Vortex: Throw or kick an object and it causes a vortex of energy to pick up all light objects and enemies nearby. Will also work with the Bio-Bomb grenade. Anti Gravity Field: Anything Heller comes into contact with instantly loses its gravitational hold to the earth, including people. Air Time: Infinite gliding, never touch the ground again.
Excessive Force Pack	New Weapon: Viral Infector Grenade Launcher Armored Heller Skin Agile Armor Alex Mercer Skin Zombie Mercer Skin Shockwave Chaos Creator Mode Medusa's Wrath

Colossal Mayhem Pack and Excessive Force Pack never released on Steam, however the files were hidden within the PC release files.

Download community fix
Download the file unlocker here. Extract the files to <path-to-game>. Start the game.

Essential improvements

Prototype2Fix

A mod that includes patches for several of the problems with the PC version mentioned in this article:

• Prevents crashes on machines with many cores and threads.
• Fixes framerate-related problems caused by game trying to poll every DirectInput/HID device.
• Can reduce frame-doubling and fixes mouse input issues at framerates higher than 60 FPS by removing tickrate limit.
• Fixes broken VRAM calculation on newer cards, allowing 4xMSAA option to be selectable again & slightly improving performance.
• Allows changing the in-game 640x480 & 800x600 resolution options to custom values (desktop resolution by default)
• Optionally allows increasing shadow resolution from 2048x2048 up to 8192x8192.
• Allows modifying camera FOV to increase/decrease by desired amount.
• Can run the game in borderless windowed mode, improving startup time & reducing issues when switching between game via ALT+TAB.
• Includes patch to fix shadowing issues on AMD graphics cards.
• Engines 500FPS limit can be customized, allowing even higher framerates or helping to limit it to the G-Sync/FreeSync framerate window.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Activision\Prototype 2\
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/115320/pfx/

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Activision\Prototype 2\
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/115320/pfx/

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
OneDrive		Requires enabling backup of the Documents folder in OneDrive on all computers.
Steam Cloud

Video

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution			See Widescreen resolution.
Multi-monitor			See Widescreen resolution.
Ultra-widescreen			See Widescreen resolution. Fix for FOV with UW
4K Ultra HD			See Widescreen resolution.
Field of view (FOV)		See the WSGF entry.
Windowed		See Windowed.
Borderless fullscreen windowed		See Borderless fullscreen windowed.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)		FXAA Low and High quality options.
High-fidelity upscaling		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Frame generation		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS		No in-game FPS limiter.
120+ FPS		Set refresh rate manually; see Widescreen resolution. Frame rate is capped at 500 FPS; However, all games using the Titanium engine are internally locked at 60 FPS and will duplicate previous frames to achieve higher frame rates. Only the mouse cursor updates above that, which can lead to difference in mouse acceleration depending on performance. Install Prototype2Fix, and set RemoveTickRateLimit, FixButtonTapTickRate and FPSLimitOverride to desired values to fix it.
High dynamic range display (HDR)		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.
Color blind mode		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

An in-depth look at the Prototype 2 settings is available on GameSpy Port Authority article.

Widescreen resolution

Resolution is natively capped at 1920x1080 and 1920x1200.

Use the Prototype2Fix
Download and install the Prototype2Fix mod. Open <path-to-game>\prototype_fix.ini with a text editor. Set CustomResolution to the desired values. By default, it will use the display's native resolution. Save the file.

Use the resolution=2560x1600@60 (resolution followed by refresh rate) command line argument

Windowed

Use the windowed command line argument
Notes Mouse cursor is always visible and not captured to window. See the glossary page for potential workarounds.

Borderless fullscreen windowed

Use the Prototype2Fix
Download and install the Prototype2Fix mod. Open <path-to-game>\prototype_fix.ini with a text editor. Change BorderlessWindow value to true. Save the file.

Input

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse acceleration		See Mouse acceleration.
Mouse input in menus
Keyboard and mouse prompts
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support
Controller remapping		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger support

DirectInput-compatible controllers

PlayStation controllers		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.

Nintendo controllers

Other controller(s)

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

Mouse acceleration

Mouse acceleration is tied to frame rate of the game, leading to extremely choppy control in periods of poor performance.

Use controller[citation needed]
Usage of a controller is unaffected by the mouse acceleration problem.

Limit frame rate to keep mouse acceleration constant

Audio

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Music, Sound FX, and Dialogue.
Surround sound		Up to 7.0 output.
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

See the archived Gamasutra article for an in-depth look on the sound mix of the game.

Sound System

The Home Theater setting offers the most dynamic range, while the TV setting adds compression, elevating quieter sounds and dialogue.

Home Theater setting is recommended for headphone users.

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Czech				Fan translation - #1
French
German
Italian
Brazilian Portuguese				Fan translation by Tribo Gamer; download.
Polish				Available on steam despite not being listed on the store page.
Russian				Available on steam despite not being listed on the store page.
Spanish

Issues unresolved

No shadows with AMD/ATI graphics cards

Prototype 2 has a similar bug as with Prototype, where shadows are not rendered properly on AMD/ATI Radeon cards.

While there is a fix for Prototype, there are no known fixes for Prototype 2.

Unknown if this bug has been solved over the years through graphics driver updates.

• 

  Prototype on Nvidia graphics card.

• 

  Prototype on AMD/ATI graphics card.

Cannot complete Operation Flytrap

On some PC configurations it's impossible to complete the mission Operation Flytrap.

Force game to use only one CPU core[citation needed]
Advised to enable all cores for the game again after finishing this level for improved performance. Alt+Tab ↹ out of the game Open task manager, Find prototype2.exe Right click → Set Affinity... and uncheck all but one of the checkboxes. Go back into the game and restart the mission.

Cap framerate to 60 or lower before starting the mission[citation needed]

Performance degrades over time

Prototype 2 has possible memory leak issues that cause performance degradation after extended time of playing the game.^{[citation needed]}

Workaround: Alt+Tab ↹ to release memory
Appears to release 500-600mb of RAM, delaying the onset of a memory leak crash temporarily.

Glowing outlines on characters

• 

  Glowing outlines visible on NPCs

Issues fixed

Low frame rate

This is caused by the engine incorrectly overpolling the USB I/O in Windows in some cases.

Install Prototype2Fix

Crash after starting or loading a game

The game may crash on a CPU with more than 8 threads.

Install Prototype2Fix

Turn off CPU threads above 8 in the BIOS
Strongly advised to turn these CPU threads back on after exiting the game to prevent general lower system performance afterwards.

Use msconfig to limit your processor without going into BIOS.

If you're on Windows, you can simply turn off your threads in System Configuration: Hit the windows key on your keyboard Type msconfig then enter Go to the boot tab Hit Advanced Options... Checkmark Number of processors Set to 4 Restart your PC. IMPORTANT: When you are finished playing Prototype 2 go back and uncheck the Number of processors button and then restart your PC to get your CPU cores back!

(Linux/Proton only) Add taskset -c 0-7 %command% as a command line argument[citation needed]

No voice audio during gameplay

Bug caused by Dolby surround setups.

Set sound option to TV[citation needed]
Go to Options → Audio. Set the sound system option to TV instead of Home Theater.

Game crashes when booting the game

Some keyboards (and likely other input devices) may cause Prototype 2 to crash while attempting to load the game, showing a brief black screen that is followed by a crash-to-desktop.

Devices with additional USB ports for connecting peripherals may be responsible for the problem.

Disable HID-compliant consumer control devices
This may accidentally disable an input device. Open the Device Manager. Disable one or more instances of HID-compliant consumer control device, not HID-compliant device, till the game boots again.

Unplug USB devices till the game boots[citation needed]
When the device causing this crash is found, unplug the device(s) before starting the game, then plug them back in.

Stuck at gray screen after task switching

Press Alt+Tab ↹ two more times[citation needed]

Run the game in Windowed mode[citation needed]

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9.0c

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Audio	Dolby Digital
Interface	Scaleform GFx
Cutscenes	Bink Video	v1.9.99.0

Command line arguments

Parameter	Description
Autotester
BatchMode
BitDemonNoDebugOutput
BitDemonWarningsAsErrors
DebugFilter=[value]
DebugLevel=[value]
DebugOutputHideFileName
DebugOutputHideTags
DebugOutputHideTime
DebugOutputHideType
DetachedRenderer
HideHUD
LanHost=[value]
Level=[level]	Starts chosen level on launch
LookUpNameStrings
MemoryMonitor
Monkey=[value]
MonkeyOptions=[value]
MonkeyTimeout=[value]
NoCrashRecord
NoGameState
NoInteractiveAsserts
NoSleepOnLostFocus	Prevents the game from capping the framerate when out of focus
NoVSync	Disables Vertical sync (Vsync)
Paranoid
RandomStreamingDelay=[value],[value]
ReproducibleAmbientManager
Resolution=[width]x[height]@[hz]	Forces chosen resolution and framerate cap
SkipMovies
SubmitNameStrings
VSync	Enables Vertical sync (Vsync)
Windowed	Enables Windowed mode
WindowHeight=[value]
WindowWidth=[value]
WindowX=[value]
WindowY=[value]

Starting up levels using the Level= command-line argument can result in unlocking of achievements and overwrite the automatic save file. It is recommended to save the game manually before doing so.

Level
ms8_character_test
Red_Zone_Press
test_aidan
test_apc_tank_race
test_audio
test_autotest_green_zone
test_autotest_red_zone
test_autotest_yellow_zone
test_behemoth
test_black_box_manager
test_combatTestBed
test_combat_1
test_combat_2
test_combat_3
test_combat_3way
test_combat_infected
test_combat_interior
test_combat_military
test_facility_infiltration_1
test_facility_infiltration_2
test_gray01
test_gray02
test_infected
test_infected_transport_1
test_infected_transport_2
test_infected_transport_3
test_infected_transport_4
test_infection_green
test_infection_red
test_infection_yellow
test_jak
test_lars
test_markers
test_nis
test_nis_autotest
test_nis_green
test_nis_yellow
test_objective_templates
test_prop_green
test_prop_red
test_prop_store
test_prop_yellow
test_rampage01
test_recovery_1
test_recovery_2
test_recovery_3
test_recovery_4
test_scientist
test_scientist_consume_1
test_scientist_consume_2
test_scientist_consume_3
test_scientist_consume_4
test_scientist_consume_5
test_scripted_checkpoints
test_shaders_green
test_shaders_red
test_shaders_yellow
test_stockpile_2
test_vc1
test_vehicles
test_vehicle_commander_1
test_vehicle_commander_2
test_vip_hunting
yz_cd_01
yz_cd_02
yz_cd_03
yz_cd_04
yz_cr_01
yz_cr_02
yz_fi_01
yz_it_01
yz_it_02
yz_la_01
yz_m001
yz_ra_01
yz_ra_02
yz_re_01
yz_rr_01
yz_sc_01
yz_sp_01
yz_vc_02
yz_vc_02_lair_interior
location_yellow
location_yellow_empty
meta_yellow
gz_fi_01
gz_fi_02
gz_it_01
gz_la_01
gz_la_02
gz_la_03
gz_la_04
gz_m001
gz_ra_01
gz_re_01
gz_re_02
gz_re_03
gz_rr_01
gz_sc_02
gz_sp_01
gz_sp_02
gz_vc_01
gz_vc_02
location_green
location_green_empty
meta_green
rz_cr_01
rz_cr_02
rz_fi_01
rz_fi_02
rz_it_01
rz_it_02
rz_la_02
rz_la_04
rz_la_05
rz_la_06
rz_m001
rz_ra_01
rz_re_01
rz_re_02
rz_rr_01
rz_rr_02
rz_sc_01
rz_sc_02
rz_sp_01
rz_vc_01
rz_vc_02
location_red
location_red_empty
meta_red
story_a1
story_a2
story_a3
story_b2
story_b3
story_c1
story_c2
story_c3
story_d3
story_e1
story_e2
story_e3
story_f1
story_f2
story_FinalBoss
story_g1
story_g2
story_g3
story_h1
story_i1
story_i3
story_intro2
story_l1
story_l2
story_l2pre
story_l3
story_l3pre
story_m1
story_m2
story_m3
ow_green_black_net_hunt_target
ow_red_black_net_hunt_target
ow_yellow_black_net_hunt_target
structure_green_blackwatch_interior_275
structure_green_facility_interior_113
structure_green_facility_interior_185
structure_green_group001
structure_green_group002
structure_green_group003
structure_green_group004
structure_green_lair_interior_253
structure_green_lair_interior_294
structure_green_lair_interior_304
structure_green_lair_interior_test_s_c_4
structure_green_lair_interior_test_v_c_1
structure_red_blackwatch_interior_253
structure_red_blackwatch_interior_94
structure_red_bunker_interior_214
structure_red_facility_interior_it_01
structure_red_group001
structure_red_group002
structure_red_group003
structure_red_group004
structure_red_group005
structure_red_group006
structure_red_hotspot001
structure_red_lair_interior_306
structure_red_lair_interior_315
structure_yellow_blackwatch_interior_204
structure_yellow_checkpoint001
structure_yellow_checkpoint002
structure_yellow_checkpoint003
structure_yellow_checkpoint004
structure_yellow_facility_interior_135
structure_yellow_facility_interior_164
structure_yellow_facility_interior_94
structure_yellow_group001
structure_yellow_group002
structure_yellow_group003
structure_yellow_group004
structure_yellow_group005
structure_yellow_lair_interior_it_02
structure_yellow_lair_interior_s_c_02
structure_yellow_lair_interior_yz_ra_01
structure_yellow_military_interior_245

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum		Recommended
Operating system (OS)	XP, Vista		7
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core 2 Duo 2.6 GHz AMD Phenom X3 8750		Intel Core 2 Quad 2.7 GHz AMD Phenom II X4 3 GHz
System memory (RAM)	2 GB		4 GB
Storage drive (HDD/SSD)	10 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT ATI Radeon HD 4850 512 MB of VRAM		Nvidia GeForce GTX 460 ATI Radeon HD 5850 1 GB of VRAM