Bet you didn’t see this one coming! But here it is anyway. It’s been five billion years since the last proper update for Serious Sam 2. In the meantime, we have released a bunch of games, but Serious Sam 2 was always creeping in the darkest corners of our minds. So much so that when the ol’ Nate, aka Nathan Brown, aka DwK, mentioned how he’d love to give Serious Sam 2 another chance, we jumped right onto the hype train.

Nathan did some amazing work in the past couple of months and made sure we deliver the ultimate Serious Sam 2 update, changing the game forever. For the better, of course. With additions like dual-wielding, enemy multiplier, new weapons, and 12 brand new multiplayer maps, Serious Sam 2 gets a new life today. All hail Nathan!

Serious Sam 2 Update 2.090 is quite substantial, so make sure to check out the full changelog at the very bottom of this post. Before you do that, why not get to know Nate a bit more in the latest edition of Basement Chats With Yasen, and find out what exactly inspired him to make this update, how he got in contact with Serious Sam 2, to begin with, and what led him to become a full-time Croteam member.

As always, we'll be looking out for your feedback and acting on it. Feel free to report any issues in the tech-support subforum, and we're always open to suggestions via forums. We'll love you even more if you join our official Discord server[discord.gg].

Got a fun mod to share? Maybe some fan-art or a crazy Serious Sam video you made? We'd love to take a look and share it for everyone else to see. Reach out to our community team directly via Discord, or holler at us via Twitter - @croteam, @serioussamiam, @danny_hr, and @yasenstavrev.

Oh, almost forgot. The Serious Sam 2 soundtrack has been remastered! Soon, you will be able to find it on Steam, and all relevant streaming platforms. Drumjan is a god.

Much love from Croteam!
Danny

___


⚪ Hello Nathan, or should I say: Hello “DwK”, the guy with the Simba Avatar from the old Serious Sam forums! Now that I have mentioned your old nickname “DwK” and the forums, we have to start by asking you- back when the gaming forums were the place for everyone to hang out, when and why did you join the Serious Sam community? Also, what inspired you to start modding for Serious Sam?

Back in the spring of 2002, I was doing research online to determine what new video card I was going to buy. During that research, I ran across a review for the GeForce4 Ti4400 cards. In the review, they used a game for benchmarking I'd never heard of before, Serious Sam 2. I got curious, researched the game, and found out they had free demos for Serious Sam TFE and Serious Sam TSE. I downloaded them and played them, and that was pretty much all she wrote. I had to have those games.

After playing with a buddy via LAN for a few weeks, and since I had his computer at my house, I started hosting games with it. Then I started meeting lots of great people and joined the Seriously! community. About 5 or so months later, a group of us started playing Louva Deus's (Dev Mystic) "Odd World" mod. We all loved it, but there was a problem. It was only for The First Encounter. So half the time, we couldn't play it. One night we were hanging around chatting after a battle and they all ganged up on me and tried to convince me that I should make the Odd World mod for The Second Encounter. I'd never really programmed before, but I had made skins for us all, so they thought I could do it. This part still gives me chills, and still seems a little surreal. Louva Deus released the source code for Odd World the very next day.

I had no real excuses after that, so I learned how to create mods for Sam, and the "Dances World" mod was born. Then, later on, after a short-lived collaboration with Louva Deus, "Parse Error" was born.

⚪ After being a part of the community for a long time, and thanks to your amazing work as a modder, you became a part of Croteam and have been with us for almost 10 years now. You were also one of the first people, if not the first person, who got hired from the community. How did that happen?

When Serious Sam 2 was released, I wasn't sure if I was going to do a mod for the game. There wasn't an SDK available like there was with the first two games. But, I took a chance and reached out to Alen Ladavac, he gave me the source code so I could make one, and InSamnity! 2 was born. After about a year or so of just working on InSamnity, I started helping out with the Sam Forever mod. During its development, I reached out to Alen again to deal with some odd issues I had run into with the deathmatch bots, and we became friends. He offered me a job in the early part of 2008, but we just couldn't make it happen at the time.

When Croteam released Serious Sam HD, it kind of killed the Sam Forever mod. By this time I was doing contract web work, and just beta-tested the games. Working for them still seemed to be outside the realm of possibility.

Then in late 2011, Sam 3 was nearing release, and I beta tested it. Along the way, I started working with Alen to come up with ways to make the beta testing process better and did everything I could to help make them happen. After the game was released, and Croteam had caught their breath, I got my second job offer. This time we made it happen.

⚪ Many years later after you finished working on anything related to Serious Sam 2, you decide it's time for one last dance. You pitched your idea for a huge update to a million years old game to the higher-ups – and they said yes. What inspired you to do so, and what’s the idea behind this update?

I had some downtime after Sam 4 was released and was looking through the Serious Sam 2 Steam forum posts and I thought the game could use a little love. It's a great game. It's the game that really turned me into a game developer. So I suggested a simple patch. I was told to spend some real-time on it, maybe add a few options from my InSamnity! 2 mod.

Well, you know the saying... "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face". Needless to say, I got punched in the face. Hard.

I hope that all that was done helps keep the game enjoyable for a long time to come. If that works out, it was all worth it. Long live Serious Sam 2!

___


What’s new:

• Sam can now wield a brand new weapon called the BeamGun (aka The Ghost Buster from the original Serious Sam design document)
  
• Enemy multiplier option is now available in singleplayer and co-op. Go, create your own Legion System in Serious Sam 2.
  
• Duke it out on 12 previously unreleased multiplayer maps, coming to you straight from the dusty basement at Croteam HQ. Those include Yodeller, Stadium, Hole, Desert Temple, and more.
  
• A brand new Flame-Thrower weapon is now available to all you modders out there, and so is the napalm item, so you can feed it.
  
• Sam finally learned to dual wield all of his toys. That’s pretty cool if I do say so myself.
  
• You know what else is cool? The ability to sprint. Well, Sam can do that now, too.
  
• He can also Rocket Jump, just like in the classics.
  
• Get lost no more with the brand new Enemy, NPC, and Objective radar.

Stability and performance fixes:

1. Fixed the notorious profile corruption issue. It’s been five million years, but we got there.

Gameplay changes and fixes:

• The RollerBall in “The Road to Ursul” level will no longer self destroy!
  
• Uzis firing speed has been doubled and the damage per bullet reduced from 10 to 9. Such balance!
  
• Fixed statistics menu not showing correctly when skipping movies.
  
• Colt Reloading has been added.

Visual changes:

• Hud, menu, and mic textures have been upscaled by 2x!
  
• All fonts are now available in shiny high definition, thanks to the House Of Sam.
  
• Improved animations for the Chainsaw, Rocket, and Grenade launchers.
  
• Screen and Bullets animation fix for Minigun.
  
• Menu fonts no longer force proportional shadow direction and shadow distance in the menu parameters.
  
• Fixed mapping for the Uzi weapon mesh.
  
• Fixed mapping for the Minigun weapon mesh.

General changes:

• Crosshair selection has been added, and it comes with different color and size options!
  
• New menu image and menu music have been added!
  
• Added a new "Special Thanks" section to the Extras menu.
  
• MODDING – Added the ability to specify mouse cursors.
  
• MODDING – Added saved cvars to show/hide the cheats info, and paused message.
  
• MODDING – Added debug menu available in the editor to control debug variables. Invoked with the '.' key.
  
• MODDING – Added "sam_bSkipMovies" saved cvar to skip the level intro and outro movies. Applies during gameplay and also stops the menu "attract" movies from playing.
  
• MODDING – Added visible version of Entity ID to the Serious Editor 2 entity properties panel.
  
• MODDING – Added ability to specify mouse cursors (In the Serious Editor).

Hey guys.

Serious Sam 2 is 15 years old today, and because it's likely the most bizarre game we ever made, we thought it would be great hearing about some of the most interesting SS2 related stories directly from those who have been enjoying it ever since.

Share them below, and the ones that make us laugh or cry get a free Serious Sam 4 code for Steam.

We're all ear... erm... eyes. I guess.

All of us at Croteam wish you to have a great Winter break.

Happy Holidays and have a great New Year. 2020 is about to get Serious!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yvz1-pWeq7I

Serious Sam is 18 years old today. It was on March 21st, 2001 that Serious Sam: The First Encounter hit the shelves. Quite literally, as digital distribution was still a distant future back then.

We were young, super passionate and, after a successful tech test launched in the summer of 2000, confident that Serious Sam would resonate well with the gaming community. Turns out, we were right. Serious Sam: The First Encounter caused quite a stir in the gaming community, won dozens of awards (including Gamespot's Game of the Year) and laid the foundation of everything Croteam is today.

Fast forward 18 years later and Serious Sam got numerous sequels, spin-offs and remasters on most platforms. Hell, we even sent Sam to virtual reality and as with everything else - had tons of fun doing so.

Even though he's 18 years old (and legally allowed to buy a beer here in Croatia, finally), Sam's still going strong and we can't wait to take you on another journey of chaos and mayhem with Serious Sam 4.

Until then, we'll raise a glass (of aforementioned beer) in Sam's name and celebrate all of you for being Seriously awesome. Whether you've been demolishing hordes of aliens since day one or just joined our community – we thank you for supporting us from the bottom of our hearts!


BOOM GOES THE ALIEN!

New Serious Sam 2 Steam update 269486
General Fixes/Improvements

• Fixed issue with server port not getting set for dedicated servers.
  
• Fixed texture stretching for the Auto aim HUD element.

Serious Sam 2 Fixes/Improvements

• Fixed the possibility of the game getting stuck when a player tries to pick an item they don't need and they have the "Only pick items when needed" option enabled.

InSamnity! 2 Mod Fixes/Improvements

• Fixed a possible crash scenario when posing a posable model.

New Serious Sam 2 Steam update 252822

The beta update 252822 has been promoted from public beta to main.

General Fixes/Improvements

• Removed the ability to start a vote while another vote is in progress.
  
• Fixed voting for next map in Coop not working.
  
• Fixed original demos crashing when played.
  
• Removed "Local Network" option. All multiplayer games are now "Internet" only. If you want to play a "Local Network"/LAN game, just start and join as you would any other server. If you are playing inside the local network, packets will be routed locally. The experience should be the same as it was before Steam was implemented.
  
• Fixed an issue with profiles for different mods interfering with each other and damaging them.
  
• Fixed difficulty and friendly fire info not being set properly for dedicated servers in the server list.
  
• The Mental Institution model can no longer be used as a player model.

Serious Sam 2 Fixes/Improvements

• Added "Respawn in Place" option for cooperative games.
  
• Made it so a yes vote is automatically entered when votes are called by a player.

InSamnity! 2 Mod Fixes/Improvements

• Fixed issue with difficulty not being set properly when single player menu is created.
  
• Fixed vertical weapons list not handling the 'No weapons" weapon properly.
  
• Fixed single player in game menu buttons being too low for all the options.
  
• Fixed Bone Yard level not ending.

For all you Sam fans out there we have some great news: as a part of Devolver Digital Weekend Sale (August 13-17th) ALL Croteam's games are on sale NOW!

This is the time to complete your Serious Sam collection and a chance to try something different and challenge your mind even more with critically acclaimed puzzler The Talos Principle and it's DLC, Road to Gehenna.

Here's what we offer for you:

Serious Sam Series 90% off
Talos Principle 66% off
Talos Principle DLCs 66% off
Road to Gehenna 25% off

Share this great news with your friends and go buy yourself some great games. You deserved it!

http://steamproxy.net/steamstore/search/?snr=1_5_9__12&term=croteam

The beta update 244697 has been promoted from public beta to main.

General Fixes/Improvements

• Wait for VSync is now handled only by the D3D device.
  
• Added "Change active mod" file menu item and dialog for Serious Editor 2.
  
• Added mod and version support to online match menus.
  
• Improved controller support by making the distinction between what form of input was last processed more precise and include more usage scenarios.

InSamnity! 2 Mod Fixes/Improvements

• Made mod and author text light gray instead of white for select mod scroll list items.
  
• Fixed 1st person placements and FOV on weapons.
  
• Fixed Dunes and Metropolis levels being locked by default in custom level menu.
  
• Fixed Ursul Village door pusher Neanderthal not always getting made vulnerable.
  
• Fixed Approaching City ride arrival script so Bull enemy that kills Simba hover craft rider won't remain invulnerable.
  
• Added NPC subtitles and voice options.
  
• Fixed Kamikaze run animation speed being a little fast.
  
• Re-enabled item pickup element and created new text effect for it.
  
• Fixed auto aim not working due to double initialization of base weapon var.
  
• Fixed points not working properly in Single player.
  
• Ammo items are no longer spawned on enemy death when using infinite ammo in single player.
  
• Fixed item pickups not showing in the HUD.
  
• Fixed issue with scrolling, up and down, in advanced profile options menu.
  
• Removed "Check for updates" option in menus.
  
• Fixed multiple column scroll lists not working properly with a controller.

The beta update 244138 has been promoted from public beta to main.

• Added "Use auto jump" player profile option.
  
• Fixed overlapping text in customize controls menu screen due to 3 lines being possible due to the addition of controller support.
  
• Fixed improper controller button icons showing for Netricsa menu.
  
• Loading screen menu continue message now lists both buttons that can be used to continue.
  
• Fixed some issues with the controller setup menu screen not always showing axes and button info properly.
  
• Fixed not being able to interrupt boot intro movies with controller.
  
• Improved using of the cheats menu by having it exit back to the game, except unlock levels, where it seems more appropriate to exit back to the in game menu.
  
• Removed cheats button from main menu.
  
• Moved vehicle health HUD element down and more to the side.
  
• Fixed an issue with manual save naming when the only save is the "QuickSave".
  
• Fixed manual saves not loading.
  
• Created and implemented new 'Select Mod' menu.
  
• The InSamnity! 2 mod is now an official mod and can be selected from the "Select Mod" menu available in the Main Menu.