NOTICE: This guide does NOT support the Classic Collection of SWBF2.

This guide assumes you understand with your OS for a quick, concise setup. It covers every version of the game (Steam, Retail, and their variants EXCLUDING Classic Collection), on every (major) platform, focusing on Linux/SteamOS. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to comment, and thanks for choosing my guide!

Credits:
- General inspiration for this guide: TigerEye6
- Xbox DLC Port: SleepKiller, Rayman1103
- Remastered UI, Expansion: [GT]Anakin, AnthonyBF2
- Remastered Maps: HarisonFog
- Guide Icon: SirYodaJedi from PCGamingWiki
- High Framerate Patches: Michaelswbf2

The Remastered Patch includes the 1.3 Patch required by many mods, Main Menu fixes to allow higher resolutions, AI Heroes on all maps & sound fixes. I also recommend installing an unofficial expansion, which adds additional QoL improvements. Downloads are here & here.
Start the installer, and follow the instructions from there. A 1920x1080 Desktop Shortcut will be created, feel free to modify or delete it if you're using another resolution.
(To find your GameData folder, right-click on your game > Properties > Installed Files > Browse...).
For the expansion, copy the files from "v1.5 r2 Steam GOG" to your GameData\data\_lvl_pc folder & override the files. Now, append to your Launch Options. (Replace X's and Y's with your resolution's width & height, Right-Click on game, it's the box under "Selected Launch Option"
If you'd also like to skip the Startup Logos, append this argument to your Launch Options:

NOTICE: You may experience bugs with Windows 8 or later (e.g. muffled/muted sounds, or no EAX detection). The fix is this registry patch.[github.com]

For those unaware, This game is one of many that supports EAX, a hardware sound acceleration feature for Sound Blaster cards of the era, based on DirectSound3D, which was deprecated in Windows Vista. There's been many solutions to emulate EAX through OpenAL, namely Creative ALchemy, which requires Creative sound cards. DSOAL negates ALchemy's requirements, and uses the same technology that both later versions of EAX & ALchemy are based on, OpenAL.

Download DSOAL from here & extract it.[github.com]

(Linux/Steam Deck users, append this to your Launch Options or DSOAL won't work!)
Copy the files from "Win32" to your GameData folder. Open "alsoft.ini", change to and launch the game. Go to Options > Audio, change "Mixer Config" to Hardware, make sure "Effects" is enabled, "Bass Management" is disabled, and set your "Output Mode" to "7.1".

Most people won't need this, it's only useful for bigger mods that require the extra RAM. For my fellow Linux users, it's enabled by default in Proton. Windows users, the download's here. Drag & Drop your SWBF2 EXE to the 4GB patch EXE.[ntcore.com]

Make sure to enable VSync, otherwise the game's framerate will be uncapped! The menu will always be uncapped!
Simply append to your Launch Options. If your monitor's refresh rate is below 80Hz, don't bother. If the game looks like it's running in slo-mo, your PC can't handle a constant framerate at your refresh rate and you should revert to the default 80 FPS cap. If you'd like to connect online, use these patched EXEs instead! (Back up your EXE first, if anything happens)

If you'd like a few more mods with the vanilla spirit, here's a few stable ones I recommend:
Official Xbox DLC for PC (Warning, all custom maps, heroes and their abilities *may* have blank names!)
HD Graphics Mod Installer (Not to be confused with the Remastered UI Mod, SIGNIFICANTLY increases game size!)

If you'd like to save a bit of space, you can get about 1.5GB by deleting the duplicate language folders inand the "Movies" folder in your game's root.

Here's a little hub for tweaks and solutions for common issues I've compiled from ModDB and various SWBF2 modding guides, with a few from yours truly. With the exception of the SWBF2 HD Graphics mod (and a few others), these mods keep the vanilla experience. If you want conversions, go to ModDB, but please don't ask for support, and to answer the question between the Steam and GOG Galaxy versions, they're the same but GOG has no DRM, with the offline installer containing the original/retail 1.1 version. All Origin versions are the original 1.1 version.

If your screen goes blank when you're not paused, disable the Discord overlay.
If you're having subtitle/text issues, append "/lang 0" in your Launch Options.
If your game's experiencing crashing, plug in a microphone. This is the official solution, as explained here:


If you're experiencing crashes on startup, there's a variety of reasons, but it's most likely a lack of .NET/Mono, C++ Redistributable/Mono and/or DirectX.
If you get a message on startup saying "Too many Missions", you have too many mods. You can ignore the message, but it'll likely crash your game trying to load maps.