Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Developers
	KnowWonder
Mac OS (Classic)	Westlake Interactive
macOS (OS X)	Westlake Interactive
Publishers
	Electronic Arts
Russia	1C-SoftClub
Mac OS & macOS (OS X)	Aspyr Media
Engines
	Unreal Engine 1
Release dates
Windows	November 8, 2002
Mac OS (Classic)	April 10, 2003
macOS (OS X)	August 15, 2005
Reception
Metacritic	77
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Modes	Singleplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Third-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Adventure, Platform, Puzzle
Art styles	Realistic
Themes	Contemporary, Fantasy
Series	Harry Potter

Warnings

SafeDisc DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see Availability for affected releases).

The Mac OS X release of this game does not work on Mac OS X Lion (version 10.7) or later due to the removal of support for PowerPC apps.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is a singleplayer third-person adventure, platform and puzzle game in the Harry Potter series.

For the US version, Jim Dale is the narrator, whereas for the European version, the narrator is Stephen Fry. In the American versions of the Chamber of Secrets video game, the Fat Lady is named The Pink Lady instead.

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		SafeDisc 2 DRM

SafeDisc DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see above for affected releases).

Demo

A free demo version is available here.

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
Coca Cola Promotional CD-Rom	The promotional CD-Rom contains a 2D desktop mini-game (scourge challenge), demos for Harry Potter 1 and 2, and access to a secret level within the full game. The secret level can be also be accessed by using the debug mode.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Harry Potter II\
Mac OS (Classic)
macOS (OS X)

Game.ini contains general settings.

User.ini contains camera FOV, mouse, keyboard/controller bindings and other settings.

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Harry Potter II\Save\
Mac OS (Classic)
macOS (OS X)

Video

Launcher video settings.

In-game options menu.

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution			See Widescreen resolution.
Multi-monitor			See Widescreen resolution.
Ultra-widescreen			See Widescreen resolution.
4K Ultra HD			See Widescreen resolution.
Field of view (FOV)		See the WSGF entry.
Windowed		Use -windowed command line argument or edit the StartupFullscreen value under [WinDrv.WindowsClient] in Game.ini.
Borderless fullscreen windowed		Use the DirectX 9 renderer, and a utility such as Borderless Gaming.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		Use the DirectX 9 or DirectX11 renderer.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		Use the DirectX 9 or DirectX11 renderer.
High-fidelity upscaling		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Vertical sync (Vsync)		Edit the UseVSync value in Game.ini. As with the first game this is back to front, setting UseVSync=False enables Vsync.
60 FPS
120+ FPS		No frame rate cap, but very high framerates may break physics and sound in-game. A supposed fix can be found here. (Only changing 0AD7A33B to 00000000 needed).
High dynamic range display (HDR)		The DirectX11 renderer only adds HDR Rendering.
Color blind mode		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.

Widescreen resolution

Use the widescreen mod

Download the Widescreen mod and extract hgame.u to <path-to-game>\System. Go to configuration file(s) location. Edit Game.ini. Set the FullscreenViewportX and FullscreenViewportY values to the desired resolution. Optionally, edit User.ini and set the DesiredFOV value to compensate: 100 for the 16:10 aspect ratio, and 105 for 16:9. Notes Forcing a widescreen resolution without modifications cuts off the lower part of in-game menus. If using the default Direct3D 7 renderer, the LegacyD3DResolutionHack or dgVoodoo 2 is required to make popular resolutions higher than 2048x1536 work. If using Windows scaling above 100%, part of the game will appear outside of the screen. To fix this, reset scaling to 100% (See Automating 100% DPI Scaling for 4K Resolution with SetDpi to automate this). This mod shifts the menu to the left side of the screen, allowing all options to be fully displayed. Alternatively, use the Harry Potter Settings Utility to set the resolution and FOV without having to manually edit the configuration files.

Graphical Tweaks

Unreal Engine DirectX 11 Renderer

A fork of Kentie's Direct3D 10 renderer that adds more graphical features.

Might cause some bugs and slow rendering.

Run games at HD resolution.

Improved lighting.

Adds ambient occlusion, screen space reflections and higher quality HDR post-processing.

Places a watermark in the bottom right, and overrides the clipboard with a link to the developer's PayPal. Follow these instructions to disable the watermark and remove the PayPal link from being inserted into the clipboard.

Installing DirectX 11 renderer

Download the newest version of D3D11 renderer that supports Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (also referred to as Harry Potter 2). Open downloaded archive. Copy files from Common to <path-to-game>\System\. Copy files from Harry Potter 2 to <path-to-game>\System\. Edit <path-to-game>\System\Default.ini with text editor and find a section [Engine.Engine]. Set GameRenderDevice to D3D11Drv.D3D11RenderDevice (i.e. GameRenderDevice=D3D11Drv.D3D11RenderDevice. Set WindowedRenderDevice to D3D11Drv.D3D11RenderDevice. Set RenderDevice to D3D11Drv.D3D11RenderDevice. To disable the watermark and clipboard override, add the following text to the bottom of the file: [D3D11Drv.D3D11RenderDevice] SupportMETextEnabled=False Navigate to %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Harry Potter II and delete Game.ini.

Installing HP2 ESRGAN Upscale pack
Download the Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets ESRGAN Upscale pack

DirectX 9 renderer for Stock HP2

A port of the Unreal Tournament DX9 driver, with fixes and HP2 specific implementations.

Fully compatible with modern systems.

Supports HD resolutions, anti-aliasing, anisotropic filtering, frame rate cap, v-sync, high res textures, DXT textures, and more.

Better performance than the DX11 renderer.

Installing DirectX 9 renderer
Download the mod and follow the installation instructions.

Input

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse acceleration
Mouse input in menus
Keyboard and mouse prompts
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support		See Controller support
Full controller support		Launcher requires mouse input.
Controller remapping
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers

DirectInput-compatible controllers

PlayStation controllers

Nintendo controllers

Other controller(s)

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

Controller support

Instructions
Open %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Harry Potter II\Game.ini. Find UseJoystick= and change the value to true. Next, use Layout for Xbox gamepads (XInput compatible). Notes Since author of this github page isn't active anymore, check comment section of this ISSUE (Allows casting spells while moving and fixes wrong camera axis).

Audio

Launcher audio settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Music, Sound Effects.
Surround sound
Subtitles		On by default.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Simplified Chinese				Only available in retail release in Mainland China, Translated by EA China.
Traditional Chinese				Only available in retail release in Taiwan, Translated by EA Taiwan.
Czech				Only available in Czech & Slovak retail release.
Danish				Only available in Danish retail release.
Dutch
Finnish
French
German
Greek				Only available in Greek retail release.
Italian
Japanese				Only available in Japanese retail release.
Korean				Only available in Korean retail release.
Norwegian				Only available in Norwegian retail release.
Polish				Only available in Polish retail release.
Portuguese
Brazilian Portuguese				Only available in Brazilian retail release. Download for the digital version of the translation available here.
Russian				Only available in Russian retail release.
Spanish
Swedish				Only available in Swedish retail release.

Issues fixed

Most bugs can be fixed with dgVoodoo2 (UsePrecache should still be set to False in Game.ini).

Certain transparent effects and textures are not rendered properly

• 

  Trees

• 

  Eyeglasses

Edit configuration file
Go to the configuration file(s) location. Open Game.ini. Change the UsePrecache= value under [D3DDrv.D3DRenderDevice] to False.

Extract this fix into <path-to-game>\System
Notes Changing the brightness setting in the pause menu will reset the textures which will also solve the problem (temporarily).

Low frame rate on modern systems

Use dgVoodoo2 or DDrawCompat
Notes If resolution is changed from the game settings, dgVoodoo2 switches to windowed mode, and pressing Alt+↵ Enter might be required to get back to fullscreen. To avoid this, just force the desired resolution via dgVoodooCpl.exe. Keep in mind that the default game does not support very high resolutions.

Cutscenes are too fast cutting off characters voice lines / Physics bugs

Cap the frame rate at 60 FPS or set the refresh rate to 60 Hz with Vsync enabled

Brightness slider not working

Use dgVoodoo 2 or DDrawCompat

Camera spinning/Harry constantly walking backwards with Xbox 360 or Xbox One Controller

Edit configuration file
Go to the configuration file(s) location. Open Game.ini. Locate [WinDrv.WindowsClient] section and change DeadZoneRUV=False to DeadZoneRUV=True and DeadZoneXYZ=False to DeadZoneXYZ=True.

Small text on Full HD resolutions and higher

Use the new engine
After installing the new engine, go to the game's configuration file (If the new engine was installed with default settings, the new save and configuration location is inside %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Harry - Coding Evolved). Open Game.ini. Locate the line ExtraFontScale=1 and change the number to the desired value.

Launcher badly rendered on Wine

Use Federico Dossena's fix
Download the fix from here (or Mirror Link). Browse for the virtual "C:" drive in Wine. The default path is ~/.wine/drive_C. Extract the two files from the archive into <path-to-game>\System and overwrite when prompted. Notes Comes with a modified D3DDrv.dll with UsePrecache forced to 0.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	7
Software renderer

Executable	PPC	16-bit	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows					A new engine is required for native 64-bit.
macOS (OS X)					Mac is only for Power PC, OSX executable runs in Rosetta.
Mac OS (Classic)

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Audio	OpenAL

Automating 100% DPI scaling for 4K resolution with SetDpi

To play the game in 4K, the display scale has to be set to 100% for it to display correctly. In the case where the display scale has to be set to anything else than 100% when not playing the game, thanks to SetDpi, the setting can be automated to 100% and then restored back to what it's usually set to when done playing.

Instructions for Playnite[citation needed]

If not already done, add the game to the Playnite library. Right click the game and click Edit. Click on the Scripts tab. For Execute before starting a game, enter: SetDpi 100 [monitor index]. For Execute after exiting a game, enter: SetDpi [scale % when not playing the game] [monitor index]. Notes SetDpi.exe must be included in PATH for the SetDpi command to work with steps 4 & 5 in the Playnite instructions above. If not, replace SetDpi with the full path to where SetDpi.exe is located. See more info on how to use SetDpi here.

System requirements

Windows

Mac OS (Classic)

macOS (OS X)

Windows
	Minimum		Recommended
Operating system (OS)	95		98, 2000, ME, XP
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium II 300 MHz		Intel Pentium III 500 MHz
System memory (RAM)	64 MB (95, 98) 128 MB (2000, XP)		128 MB (95, 98) 256 MB (2000, XP)
Storage drive (HDD/SSD)	600 MB
Video card (GPU)	4 MB (Software rendering) 8 MB (Hardware rendering) of VRAM DirectX 8.0a compatible		16 MB of VRAM

Supported chipsets: ATI Rage 128, ATI Radeon series, Nvidia RIVA TNT, Nvidia RIVA TNT2 (Ultra), Nvidia GeForce series, Matrox G400, Matrox G450, Matrox G550, Matrox Parhelia, Power VR Kyro I & II, SiS 315

Mac OS
	Minimum		Recommended
Operating system (OS)	9.1
Processor (CPU)	PowerPC G3 350 MHz		G3 500 MHz
System memory (RAM)	128 MB		256 MB
Storage drive (HDD/SSD)	600 MB
Video card (GPU)	ATI Rage 128 16 MB of VRAM		Nvidia GeForce 2MX ATI Radeon
Other	4x CD-ROM drive		8x CD-ROM drive