This is the most recent and most simple method which we are currently using to play. All you have to do is replace your FEAR2.exe file with patched one.

Procedure:

- Download the patched FEAR2.exe from this link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1q3BtGhGx-p4Tb7T-a4HFzoY6SoWdVloZ/view
- Locate your FEAR 2 installation folder: Go to your Steam Library -> Right click on FEAR 2 -> Manage -> Browse Local Files
- Copy the downloaded FEAR2.exe and paste it into your FEAR2 installation folder (make sure to replace the original when pasting).
- Now all you have to do is open your game, go to Online Play -> Unranked -> Join or Host

Feel free to post a comment here or add me, so I can add you to the FEAR 2 community group chat where players gather to play multiplayer.

Explanation:

What has been patched in this .exe file?
- We all know that GameSpy has shut down in 2014, which means many games that used it for online multiplayer, could no longer be played (FEAR 2 included). Meanwhile, an alternative to GameSpy, called OpenSpy has emerged. In simple terms, this .exe has been patched so it uses OpenSpy and not GameSpy to connect players to play multiplayer.

Why should I trust you with this .exe file?
- You don't have to. If you want, you can edit your own .exe file from FEAR 2 installation folder yourself. For reference, check the following guides (they are for different games, but the principle is the same, since they all used GameSpy in the past) :
- http://openspy.net/sr2_howto/exe_edit.html
https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1654378740

Troubleshooting

- If there is a host open, and your game can't find it, and if you have some LAN emulator (ZeroTier, Hamachi, Radmin VPN, etc...) installed, you need to disable it.
1) Open your Windows start menu and type "services.msc" and hit enter. Now find your LAN emulator, double click on it and disable it.
2) Go to Control Panel -> Network and Internet -> Network and Sharing Center -> Change adapter settings -> Double click on your LAN emulator adapter (For example Radmin VPN adapter) and click disable.

- If you're still having issues with finding other people's hosts in game, you can change your internet adapter's metric to 1.
Go to Control Panel -> Network and Internet -> Network and Sharing Center -> Change adapter settings -> Double click on your internet adapter -> Properties -> Select "Internet Protocol Version 4" -> Properties -> Advanced -> Unselect "Automatic Metric" -> Set it to 1

Alternative to the first method is to use Lan emulator software to be able to connect via 'Local Network' in the game. For that purpose we are currently using a software called Radmin VPN. It has proven to be very reliable and we had little to no problems connecting to each other. Also, latency is as good as it gets with VPN. You can download it here: https://www.radmin-vpn.com/ . After you have downloaded and installed it in order to play with our community you will need to join our network. Simply comment on this guide or send me a friend request, so I can add you to our group chat where we gather to play fear 2 multiplayer, and there we will also give you network name and password so you can connect and play with others. After that, just open the game click start->local network->join and if someone is hosting a lobby, you should be able to see it and join it.

IMPORTANT: Common fix for not being able to find Fear 2 lobby (Windows 10): Go to Control Panel -> Network and Internet -> Network and Sharing Center -> Change Adapter Settings -> right click on Radmin VPN-> Properties -> under 'Networking' tab, find "Internet protocol version 4 (TCP/IPv4)", select it and click Properties -> under General tab, click Advanced -> under IP settings tab, unselect "Automatic metric" and set "Interface metric" to 1.

31.5.2014. Gamespy master server shuts down. Online ranked and unranked play is not possible anymore.
7.1.2015. This guide is created. We are using Lan emulator called Tunngle to play multiplayer.
30.4.2018. Tunngle service shuts down. We are now using another Lan emulator called Evolve.
11.11.2018. Evolve has shutdown. We are currently using Hamachi to connect and play multiplayer.
25.5.2020. After some issues with Hamachi, community has decided to migrate to another service called 'Radmin VPN'.
20.8.2021. Community has switched to using OpenSpy, which is a free alternative to GameSpy. Radmin VPN is still the backup option in case of issues with OpenSpy.