Natural Selection 2

Natural Selection 2

Developers
	Unknown Worlds Entertainment
Engines
	Spark
Release dates
Windows	October 30, 2012
Linux	Cancelled
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Modes	Multiplayer
Series	Natural Selection

Natural Selection
Natural Selection	2002
Natural Selection 2	2012
NS2: Combat	2014

Natural Selection 2 is a multiplayer game in the Natural Selection series.

The developers ceased active development of the game on February 14, 2023.

General information

Official Forums

Official Wiki

Natural Selection Subreddit

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Humble Store
Steam

All versions require Steam DRM.

Essential improvements

Modifications

Installed mods must be activated through the main menu.

Natural Selection 2 supports Steam Workshop, allowing for easy installation, updating and sharing of modifications.

Be aware of reports that certain menu and UI mods may cause problems with the game. If encountering issues, the most likely culprit will be conflicts with installed mods.

Game data

In-game general settings.

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	%APPDATA%\Natural Selection 2\system_options.xml %APPDATA%\Natural Selection 2\*.json
Linux
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/4920/pfx/

Save game data location

System	Location
Steam	<Steam-folder>/userdata/<user-id>/4920/
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/4920/pfx/

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Steam Cloud

Video

In-game video settings.

Multi-monitor setup with multi-monitor HUD mod.

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor			Multi-monitor HUD mod can be used to centre the HUD.
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD			UI elements will be too small. There is an experimental setting for UI scaling.
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		On/off toggle. The level of anisotropic filtering is unknown. It seems to be 4x.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		FXAA or TAA.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS and 120+ FPS		Custom FPS slider from 30 to 1000 FPS.
High dynamic range display (HDR)		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.
Color blind mode		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.

Multi-monitor

NS2 Multi-monitor HUD[citation needed]
Download the mod files. Unzip to <path-to-game>\ns2\lua\.

Input

In-game key map settings.

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse sensitivity		Find row <sensitivity> in <Steam-folder>/userdata/<user-id>/4920/remote/options.xml to customise with greater precision
Mouse acceleration
Mouse input in menus
Keyboard and mouse prompts
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support		Support may be added in a future update.

Audio

In-game audio settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Sound, music, voice.
Surround sound		Supports 5.1 and 7.1
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English				Official translation.
Czech
Finnish
French
German
Polish
Romanian
Russian
Spanish
Swedish

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
LAN play		24	Requires an internet connection for Steam authentication.
Online play		24

All official maps are designed for at most 24 players. However, dedicated servers can be set externally to have the max player limit increased beyond the recommended amount

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated		A full guide on running a dedicated server can be found on the Community Wiki.
Self-hosting		For dedicated, install Dedicated Server under Tools in the Steam client.
Direct IP		Open the console (~) and use connect followed by the IP and port.

Ports

Protocol	Port(s) and/or port range(s)
TCP	27015-27016 (Server only), 27014-27050
UDP	27015-27016 (Server only), 3478, 4379-4380, 27000-27030

Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.

Issues fixed

Random latency spikes while moving around maps

Downscale your graphical settings[citation needed]

If you are playing the game on high graphical settings with certain hardware setups, the game might stutter as it loads a new texture for the first time in a given match. Because of how the game is coded, this will appear as random high latency spikes in the ingame match ping overview (in spite of being related to graphical settings and not to latency). These spikes can typically be rectified by turning down the graphics via the options menu in the game. Setting the texture quality to Medium or below will typically resolve the issue. If not, try to toggle the multicore settings.

"Client and Server Differ" error message

Verify the game cache in Steam
Navigate to your library in Steam. Right-click Natural Selection 2. Click "Properties". Go to the "Local Files" tab. Click the "Verify Integrity of Game Cache" button.

Cannot get past the Main Menu

There are two possible fixes for this issue.

Delete Local Game Content[citation needed]
On Steam, Right click Natural Selection 2 and select "Delete Local Game Content". This will delete the game, and afterwards you need to redownload and install the game. Note this will delete any mods you may currently have.

Remove all files related to Natural Selection 2[citation needed]
Uninstall Natural Selection 2 from Steam. Delete the configuration folder. Delete the installation folder. Reinstall Natural Selection 2.

Favorite servers do not get saved

Create FavoriteServers.json[citation needed]
Go to the configuration file(s) location. Create an empty file called FavoriteServers.json.

Windows

Textures are pitch black/transparent on AMD cards

Use application settings[citation needed]
In the Catalyst Control Center, go to the AA Tab under 3D settings. If "Use Application settings" is unchecked, this will cause the textures in the game to appear pitch black. Checking this field again will resolve the issue.

Game crashes immediately on Gigabyte graphics cards

Close the Gigabyte OC Guru overlay[citation needed]
In the taskbar, right click on the Gigabyte OC Guru and click Close. You may need to click show hidden icons to see the icon. Other overlays such as mumble or Fraps may apparently cause the same issue, so try disabling those as well.

Game crashes when marines fire

Disable Steam in-game overlay from Steam's right click menu on NS2[citation needed]

Other information

Console commands

Command	Notes
fps	Toggles the FPS counter on the HUD.
i_rawinput true	Sets raw mouse input to true.
setsensitivity x	Set mouse sensitivity, substitute x with a desired value.
maxfps 60	Limits FPS to chosen parameter.
r_bloom false	Disables bloom effect.
r_atmospherics false	Disables atmospheric lighting.
r_shadows false	Disables shadow rendering.
r_flash false	Disables flash GUI.
r_aa true	Enables FXAA (Fast Approximate Anti-Aliasing).
r_stats	Displays render scene data/stats/FPS.
net_stats	Displays network data.
server_sound false	Turns off server sounds.
retry	Connects to previously-played server if disconnected.
kill	Commit suicide.
j1	Join Marines (Ready Room only).
j2	Join Aliens (Ready Room only).

A full list of console commands is available at the official NS2 wiki.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9	11 is WIP
OpenGL	3.1

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Physics	PhysX
Audio	FMOD

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum		Recommended
Operating system (OS)	Vista		7
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core 2 Duo 2.6 GHz		Intel Core 2 Quad 3.0 GHz
System memory (RAM)	4 GB
Storage drive (HDD/SSD)	12 GB
Video card (GPU)	ATI Radeon X800 Nvidia GeForce 8600 1 GB of VRAM DirectX 9 compatible		AMD Radeon HD 5770 Nvidia GeForce GTX 450 1 GB of VRAM

A 64-bit operating system is required.