The Saints Row games are easily my favorite games of all time, they hold a lot of sentimental value to me since I literally grew up with them. Saints Row 1 was the first game I played on the 360 and exposed me to games as a whole. It created a burning passion within me that has led me into wanting to work in the animation and games industry.

Unfortunately, Saints Row 2's PC port is horrible. It was ported by CD Projekt Black and they did not do a great job with it, over compressing audio and introducing a multitude of bugs. I can't really blame them though since it is a miracle Saints Row 2 even works at all, even on console. Seriously the code is horrible, but this is easily the best open world game of all time.

There are two options when it comes to playing this game on PC, emulation through Xenia and playing the PC version. This guide is going to show you how to setup the definitive PC version of Saints Row 2. Xenia is the simpler and more stable option, trading in modding for DLC and stability. A more in-depth comparison can be found here.[www.saintsrowmods.com]

With the development of the Juiced Patch, it can be argued that Saints Row 2 is now best played on PC!

Before we start, these are the mods that we will be using to clean up SR2 while keeping it as close to vanilla as possible, here is what you should download. (Mods that cannot be installed with SR2MM will have instructions next to them).

• SuperUI[www.saintsrowmods.com] - Heavily improves the UI and adds quality of life features such as character importing from a previous save, being able to buy clothes and ammo from your crib, and more.
  
• Sandbox++[www.saintsrowmods.com] - Pretty much just an advanced cheat menu.
  
• F13's Visual Overhaul[www.saintsrowmods.com] - Makes the game look a bit better while maintaining the original feel.
  
• Cutscene Patch[www.saintsrowmods.com] - Fixes a lot of small problems in cutscenes throughout the game.
  
• Radiomod[www.saintsrowmods.com] - Replaces the horrible audio banks for the radio stations with the high quality 360 ones, making music sound great. (Replace music1.vpp_pc & music2.vpp_pc)
  
• Improved Audio [For Linux][www.saintsrowmods.com] - This may not be necessary as Juiced fixes the audio with the XACT patch, but this may improve the quality.

Download these mods and continue with the guide. You can find more mods at Saints Row Mods.[saintsrowmods.com]

Gentlemen of The Row[www.saintsrowmods.com]is easily the most popular and helpful mod for Saints Row 2 on PC. It alleviates a lot of issues with the port, adds in a lot of fun stuff, and is essential if you plan to install any other mods. GoTR is one of the two essential tools we will use to get this busted port working and maybe adding a bit of spice to the game.

1. Download and extract Gentlemen of The Row v1.9.2
   
2. Run Create_Custom_GotR_v1.9.2.bat
   
3. Customize as you wish, however if you are a first time player, I recommend just reverting the main menu and pause music to original in Audio Menu and reverting CDs to OG placement in Misc Menu to keep the experience as vanilla as possible.
   
4. Type in P to BUILD CUSTOM PATCH!
   
5. Move the files in MY_CUSTOM_PATCH into Saints Row 2's main directory, overwrite files if asked.

One of the first thoughts I had before modding SR2 on Linux was, "How the hell are we gonna running the bat file?" Thankfully, user adamhm on the GOG forums solved this issue by supplying a .sh script that replaces the original Create_Custom_GotR_v1.9.2.bat, so shoutout to him.

• Open GotR_Linux and move GotR_v1.9.2.sh to the Gentlemen of the Row directory
  
• Get all of the raw files (xtbl/lua) from SR2 Visual Overhaul, Sandbox++, and SuperUI, then put them in the optional_mod_stuff>MODDERS folder in your Gentlemen of the Row directory
  
• Run GotR_v1.9.2.sh, customize your install, and select build custom patch. If your a first time player, I would just revert the main and pause menu music in Audio Settings
  
• When the build is complete, copy the three files in MY_CUSTOM_PATCH and place them in your Saints Row 2 directory

A problem I encountered on Linux was a lack of cutscene audio. I originally thought it was music4.vpp_pc and replaced it, while it did fix mission cutscene audio, I soon discovered activity cutscene audio was mostly muted. I realized the files were fine and it was actually because XACT wasn't installed because...this isn't Windows. I was able to fix the problem by installing XACT through Protontricks!

• Open Protontricks and select Saints Row 2
  
• Select install an application, then select Install a Windows DLL or Component
  
• From the menu, select and install xact and xact_x64
  
• Exit Protontricks

You should now have 100% working audio across the board!

Congratulations! You have successfully installed Gentlemen of the Row and XACT into Saints Row 2! However, we still got more work to do.

Masamaru's SR2 Mod Manager[www.saintsrowmods.com] is a tool I have been using as of recently, but it is easily the most helpful tool when you are modding this game. Gone are the days of having to recreate a patch for every configuration of mods you use, now it can all be done and controlled in one simple program, along with being able to set mod priority.

Note: This manager is for mods you would put in the personal mods folder in GoTR before creating the patch, not mods that require you to replace game files with (EX: Radiomod, Optimized Stilwater, Improved Audio).

Note: You can use the Linux method to build a patch with the mods, however you will lose the functionality of SR2ModManager!

1. Download and extract the mod manager.
   
2. Put the mods you downloaded into the mods folder. it is important that you structure them correctly, create and name a folder for each mod and place the raw files into that folder. (EX: SR2ModManger_v2.07>mods>SuperUI>Raw Files)
   
3. Open the mod manager, go to File>Open SR2 Installed Folder, it should automatically detect where the game is located, if not, locate it. It will copy the patch file into the patch_vpp_pc_original folder.
   
4. Check all your mods and set the priority. Mine look like the image below, but it shouldn't really matter as long as they're checked.
   
5. Go to Make>Compile and wait for it to finish.
   
6. Once it has compiled, go to File>Copy new patch.vpp_pc into installed SR2 folder.

You may want to also save your mod manager configuration through File>Save settings.

Even with the help of mods, Saints Row 2 has struggled for years with issues that simply seemed hard coded into the game, such as low and unstable frame rate, alt tabbing, cutscene desync, co-op, and much more. However, As of today, Uzi's has released his Juiced patch which is part of his SR2Reloaded project, this fixes all of these issues. It is built off of Scanti's Monkey Patch. I cannot emphasize how big of a breakthrough this patch is for fixing Saints Row 2.

What this patch does:

• Integrates Openspy (Fixing Co-op and Multiplayer)
  
• Adds Borderless and Alt+Tab functionality
  
• Fixes Cutscene Desync (Now cutscenes can play at a higher framerate without issue)
  
• Allows for framerates above 100
  
• Slightly Increases Render Distance
  
• Way more stuff!

Installation:
Copy DFEngine.dll, Mods, Patches, loose.txt, discord_game_sdk.dll, JuicedSteamXDel.bat, Juiced, and juiced.ini to your Saints Row 2 directory and replace files if necessary. I highly recommend renaming your original DFEngine.dll to pass_DFEngine.dll and adjusting your juiced.ini file accordingly.

Note: Make a GOTR.txt file in your game directory in order to properly play the game.

Please check out SR2Reloaded[sr2reloaded.webflow.io] for updates.

Note:

• It is unknown if DXVK will improve performance with this patch, however it may remove borderless functionality.
  
• Due to the SleepHack this patch uses to improve FPS, it will dramatically increase CPU usage, please adjust your juiced.ini file if necessary.

Uzi's Modded Exe[mega.nz] includes an LAA flag, allowing the SR2 to use double the memory (2GB to 4GB). It will boost performance due to the game being able to use a larger amount of memory and may be needed for Co-op and Multiplayer. (Note: You may need to use the included dinput8.dll file)

Thanks to Juiced, you can now get away with maxing everything out! These are my personal settings to make the game look as nice as possible.

Ambient Occlusion: All
Motion Blur (subjective): No
Fullscreen Antialiasing: 2X (Adds Transparency To Hair, Hair Will Look Ugly Without It!)
Anisotropy Filtering: 16X
HDR: No
Shadow Maps: All
View Distance: Far
Dynamic Lighting: All (Game Looks Horrible Without It!)
Blur (subjective): No
Depth of Field (subjective): No

Fullscreen Antialiasing: Off vs On (Credit to Uzi for the pictures.)

You may have heard that SR2 online is dead. Well, it was in a way, Gamespy shut down in 2014, taking SR2 online with it. However, you could still play the game using a LAN VPN, such as Hamachi, Radmin, or Zerotier. Still, that is a lot of effort, it straight up might not work, and not many people want to install networking software to play one game. That is why Openspy has become the best method to play SR2 online. It is easy to install, simple to get running, and just works.

Note: You will likely need to use the exact same patch/mod configuration for multiplayer to work correctly!

Note: Make sure that you are using the Modded EXE, otherwise this will not work!

1. Go to Saints Row 2's main menu.
   
2. Open Co-op or Multiplayer
   
3. Select Online, then create your account. (You don't need to use a real email for this)
   
4. Select Log Into Gamespy, your credentials will be saved.

If all goes well, you should see this. Go nuts, and wreak havoc with your friends in Stilwater!

Congratulations! You have completed the guide, and hopefully just didn't scroll down here to see the epilogue.
If you are a first time player to this series, I highly recommend playing Saints Row 1 following my guide below. It is not essential to play it before playing Saints Row 2 because SR2 stands on its own, but SR1 is still an amazing game and will give you more insight to this wonderful series.

https://psteamcommunity.yuanyoumao.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3422580665

• You should complete these activities first. Projects Fuzz for the Kobra and unlimited pistol ammo, Downtown Snatch for the Gal-43 and unlimited SMG ammo, Red Light Escort for free vehicle delivery and the Pimp Cane, and Mills Insurance Fraud for infinite sprint. See Unlockables in Saints Row 2[saintsrow.fandom.com] for more info.
  
• Complete the quick and easy Base-jumping diversion for no fall damage, seriously it will save you a lot.

Mike Watson, better known as Idolninja, the creator of GoTR and former Community Manager at Volition. Watson spearheaded trying to fix this game with a proper patch, he never stopped searching for the source code and when it was found, worked on the patch all the time he could, even on his last days. Unfortunately, Mike Watson passed away in August of 2021. His contributions to the community were immeasurable, rest in peace.

• July 16th, 2024 - Heavily adjusted Essential Improvements section, added information about Uzi's Juiced patch. Removed Cutscene Misalignment and DXVK mini-sections. Added Changelog to Guide..
  
• July 14th, 2025 - Combined Linux guide with this one.
  
• July 27th, 2025 - Updated Linux section and deprecated Quickfix section as it would be very time-consuming to maintain.