This guide will explain how to get all achievements for SILENT HILL 2 while only playing the game through twice. It will show you how to use a debugging tool to examine and manipulate your main playthrough. Then, it will show you how to complete a New Game Plus playthrough to get the remaining achievements.
Stop!
This guide is for PC players only. The first section of this guide will only work on PC. However, the second section can be followed by players on any platform.
The remainder of this guide contains story spoilers.
Introduction
This guide will explain how to view every ending in the game—and unlock every achievement—as efficiently as possible. For the purposes of this guide, it doesn’t matter what choices you made or ending you got in your first playthrough. This guide:
– explains how to modify an existing New Game save to get the two remaining main endings off of your first playthrough, using the Unreal Engine 4/5 Scripting System (UE4SS) Debugging Tool (PC only)
– contains a link to full New Game Plus walkthrough guide that will get you all the remaining achievements (all platforms), with additional notes from me about following the guide
Section One: Getting the three main endings
1. Close the game, if it is running.
2. Navigate to the UE4SS-RE/RE-UE4SS[github.com] repository on GitHub. Under the latest Release, download and save the UE4SS_vX.X.X.zip file.
3. In Steam, right click on SILENT HILL 2. In the menu, select Manage > Browse local files.
4. In Explorer, navigate to SHProto > Binaries > Win64.
5. Extract the contents of the UE4SS_vX.X.X.zip to the Win64 directory.
6. Open the Win64/UE4SS-settings.ini file in Notepad.
7. Find the line that starts with “MajorVersion” and it to “MajorVersion = 5”.
8. Find the line that starts with “MinorVersion” and it to “MinorVersion = 1”.
9. Find the line that starts with “GuiConsoleEnabled” and it to “GuiConsoleEnabled = 1”.
10. Find the line that starts with “GuiConsoleVisible” and change it to “GuiConsoleVisible = 1”.
11. Save the settings file.
Test the installation by launching SILENT HILL 2. A window with the title “UE4SS Debugging Tools” should open.
– If it does not, close SILENT HILL 2. Open the Win64/UE4SS-settings.ini file in Notepad again, and change the line that starts with “GraphicsAPI” to “GraphicsAPI = dx11”.
– If the window opens but the text is too small, close SILENT HILL 2. Open the Win64/UE4SS-settings.ini file in Notepad again, and change the line that starts with “GuiConsoleFontScaling” to “GuiConsoleFontScaling = 2” or “GuiConsoleFontScaling = 3”.
Once the window is open, switch to the game and load your save file. Keep the game and the Debugging Tools window open for the next step.
SILENT HILL 2 uses are scoring system to determine which of the three main endings to show you. The three main endings are:
– Leave (James appears to leave Silent Hill with Laura)
– Maria (James appears to leave Silent Hill with Maria)
– In Water (James appears to commit suicide by driving into Lake Toluca)
You would’ve seen one of these already. You will use UE4SS to help you see the other two endings.
Firstly, open this read-only Google Sheets document[docs.google.com] and, in the menu bar, select File > Make a copy.
Each row in the table is an EndingFactor, which is a variable that the game uses to determine how much to increase or decrease each of three ending scores. We will search for each EndingFactor in the UE4SS Debugging Tools window and copy the current value into the Google Sheet.
1. Copy the contents of Cell A2 (“SHPlaythroughHealingExcessEndingFactor”).
2. In the UE4SS Debugging Tools window, switch to the Live View tab.
3. In the Search field, paste the name of the EndingFactor and press Enter.
4. From the list of results, click the result with that begins with the name of the ending factor and contains the text string “PersistentLevel”. It is usually the second-to-last result.
5. This result should have the text “Player Controlled: Yes” in the lower text area. If it doesn’t, pick a different search result.
6. Find the line that begins “0x80 Value”. Right click on this line and select “Copy value”.
7. Paste the copied value into column B for that EndingFactor.
Repeat these steps for all 20 EndingFactors. If you loaded a save from inside the Corridor before the Dual Pyramid Head boss, you won’t have a value for the last two EndingFactors (“SHHotelFWPyramidHeadBossAftermathEndingFactor” and “SHHotelFWListenedSickbedConversationEndingFactor”), so you can leave these blank.
After filling out the Google Sheet with the values from UE4SS, the highest number out of the totals for Leave, Maria, and In Water should be that of the ending you’ve already seen. If not, check that you’ve entered the correct values or that you loaded the right save file.
You will now need to figure out what actions you need to take in-game, or values you need to change via UE4SS, to increase/decrease the ending scores to get two remaining endings. You will need to figure this out yourself by using the Google Sheet to see what different values for each EndingFactor does to your overall totals.
1. Duplicate the EndingFactors tab in the Google Sheets doc twice; each tab will be an ending. The first tab will be your unmodified save file/your first ending. The other two tabs (one for each remaining ending) will be your area to test what EndingFactors you need to change to see that ending.
In the future, I may update the Google Sheet to do make these suggestions for you. For now, let’s look at two examples.
Example manipulation: in-game actions only
In this example, the game was loaded from a save file that matches this guide’s assumptions (i.e. the player is in the Ruined Hotel Corridor, just before the Dual Pyramid Head boss fight). Based on the Google Sheet, the scores for this playthrough are:
– Leave = 10
– Maria = 7
– In Water = 7
Given the values of the EndingFactors in this playthrough, I learn from the Google Sheet that I can manipulate the ending scores without using UE4SS (i.e. there are still in-game actions that I can take to change the EndingFactors values). These actions are:
– Checking Angela’s knife additional times
– Spend a decent amount of time at low health in the Pyramid Head boss fight
– Pass through the Scarlet Egg door
– Rush through the hallway after the Pyramid Head boss to skip listening to Mary’s dialogue
These actions, based on the Google Sheet, change the ending scores to:
– Leave = 8
– Maria = 8
– In Water = 9
Therefore, the In Water ending is shown to the player after beating Mary.
Example manipulation: using UE4SS
Using the same example as above, there are not enough EndingFactors that are still changeable before the dual Pyramid Head fight that will allow us to see the Maria ending. Therefore, I need to use the UE4SS window to directly change previously set values while the game is running, so that the ending score is calculated correctly at the end of the game. The full list of actions that I need to take are:
– Pass through the Scarlet Egg door
– Rush through the hallway after the Pyramid Head boss to skip listening to Mary’s dialogue
– In UE4SS, change the value of “SHWoodsideCoinPuzzleEndingFactor” to “WomanCoin”.
These actions, based on the Google Sheet, change the ending scores to:
– Leave = 7
– Maria = 9
– In Water = 7
Section One (cont.)
1. In the UE4SS Debugging Tools window, switch to the Live View tab.
2. In the Search field, paste the name of the EndingFactor and press Enter.
3. From the list of results, click the result with that begins with the name of the ending factor and contains the text string “PersistentLevel”. It is usually the second-to-last result.
4. This result should have the text “Player Controlled: Yes” in the lower text area. If it doesn’t, pick a different search result.
5. Find the line that begins “0x80 Value”. Right click on this line and select “Edit value”.
6. Check the valid values from the Google Sheet and enter your desired value that changes the ending scores in the way that you want. If the value is a number, the number must be positive.
7. Click “Apply”.
As this is a debugging tool and as we are doing unsupported operations, the game may crash after updating a value. Try again, and if the game repeatedly crashes after changing a particular EndingFactor, try changing a different one. Do not change the EndingFactor values to anything other than what is listed in the Google Sheet or your game will probably crash.
If you edit a value for an EndingFactor that has not yet been set by the game, the game will overwrite your value, or it may crash. For integer values, the game will increment your set value, rather than reverting your change. This means that you can increase certain EndingFactors above the threshold (e.g. SHPlaythroughHealingExcessEndingFactor to a value above 600) and actions that change the value (e.g. healing for SHPlaythroughHealingExcessEndingFactor) won’t change the ending scores.
Use the Google Sheet to figure out what actions you need to take either in-game or with the UE4SS tool. Once you’ve changed all the values that you need to change, continue with the game and do not save over your original save file. After seeing the second remaining ending, repeat this process for the last one.
Again, do not save over your original save file that you started working from! If you do, you will need to collect your values again, as some may have changed.
Thanks to Death is Coming, Hntd, and TheDementedSalad for their prior research into how endings work in SILENT HILL 2. I’d recommend reading Death is Coming’s guide, which is available here.
Section Two: Getting the remaining endings and achievements
I would strongly recommend following the great guide available at Silent Hill Memories. View the guide here![www.silenthillmemories.net] You will receive all achievements by following their guide and using only the Chainsaw to kill enemies. Nearly all enemies are one shot with the Chainsaw; only some bosses require two hits to kill or move to their next stage.
I have a few notes to make seeing each ending a little easier for those following the Silent Hill Memories guide.
After solving the music box puzzle near the end of the [Chapter 11 – Lakeview Hotel] and receiving 3F Corridor Key, create a save file at the Reception. You will use this save file as a starting point for seeing each of the five remaining endings.
Ending: Dog
– Load your Reception save file.
– Use the 3F Corridor Key to unlock the gate to the third-floor corridor.
– Use the Dog Key to unlock the Observation Room and see the “Dog” ending.
Ending: UFO
– Load your Reception save file.
– Use the 3F Corridor Key to unlock the gate to the third-floor corridor.
– Use the 312 Room Key to unlock Room 312. Open your inventory and “Investigate” the Blue Gem to see the “UFO” ending.
Ending: Bliss
– Load your Reception save file.
– Use the 3F Corridor Key to unlock the gate to the third-floor corridor.
– Use the 312 Room Key to unlock Room 312. Open your inventory and “Use” the White Claudia.
– Insert the videotape into the VCR to see the “Bliss” ending.
There is no achievement for seeing this ending.
Ending: Rebirth
– Load your Reception save file.
– Follow the Silent Hill Memories guide through to when you enter the manager’s office on 1F.
– Do not collect the Toluca Postcard from the locked safe.
– Proceed to the Save Point in the 1F Corridor and save your game.
– Continue following the guide through the end of the game to see the “Rebirth” ending.
Ending: Stillness
– Load the 1F Corridor save file that you created just before seeing the “Rebirth” ending.
– Walk back to the manager’s office and collect the Toluca Postcard from the manager’s safe.
– Continue following the guide through the end of the game to see the “Stillness” ending.
There is no achievement for seeing this ending.
And that wraps up our share on SILENT HILL 2: 100% Achievements Guide | SILENT HILL 2. If you have any additional insights or tips to contribute, don’t hesitate to drop a comment below. For a more in-depth read, you can refer to the original article here by kookyklavicle, who deserves all the credit. Happy gaming!