God of War: two players

A second Kratos on a second controller, for the PlayStation 2 game running in PCSX2.

Setup

You need your own copies of two things. Neither is included.

PCSX2, version 2 or newer, installed and already working with a BIOS (start it once and finish its own first-time setup).
God of War, US release, as a plain .iso disc image. The serial is SCUS-97399. Other regions and the Greatest Hits re-pressings with a different program are not supported; the installer checks and tells you.

Unzip the mod folder somewhere it can stay (not inside the zip, and not a folder you will delete).
Close PCSX2.
Double-click Install.bat. If Python is not on the PC it offers to install it; say yes, then run Install.bat again.
In the wizard, point at pcsx2-qt.exe and at your disc image, and press Install.
In PCSX2, set up the second controller: Settings → Controllers → Controller Port 2, choose DualShock 2, and map it ("Automatic Mapping" works for most gamepads).

What the installer changes. For this game only: cheats on and the 128 MB memory option on. For PCSX2 as a whole: the PINE connection on (slot 28011), which is how the mod talks to the game. It keeps a copy of each settings file it touches, ending in .before-coop-mod. It also writes one cheat file, SCUS-97399_D6385328.pnach, into PCSX2's cheats folder. Your disc image and your saves are not modified.

Starting a game

Double-click Play God of War Co-op.bat (or the desktop shortcut). PCSX2 opens with the game, and a small black window appears: that is the mod. Leave it open.
Load your save from the memory card, or start a new game.
A few seconds after you can move Kratos, player 2 appears beside him. The black window says two players active.

Save states. A save state made before the mod was installed, or made with an older version of the mod, will not work properly. Load from the memory card first; save states you make after that are fine.

Controls

Both players use the normal God of War controls. These are the additions.

Who	Button	What it does
Player 2	`Select`	Jump to player 1. Use it whenever player 2 is stuck or left behind.
Either	hold `Circle` next to a downed partner	Revive. Takes two seconds; a percentage counts up, and the helper crouches while holding.
Player 1	`Start`, `Select`	Pause and the upgrade menu, as usual. Menus are driven from controller 1.

How it plays

On screen

Player 2's health and magic bars are in the top right corner. They slide down when a boss health bar appears.
If a player is off screen, P1 or P2 shows at the edge of the screen in their direction.
The camera follows the point between the two players. Stray too far apart and player 2 is brought back.

Shared between the players

Red orbs, upgrades, weapons and magic are one pool: what player 1 buys, both have.
Health and magic picked up from chests and orbs go to both players.
The players cannot hurt each other.

Going down

A player who runs out of health is downed, not dead. Their partner has 20 seconds to revive them; they get up with a quarter of their health.
If the time runs out, or both are down at once, it is the game's normal death and you restart from the checkpoint together.

Bosses and button prompts

Either player can stun a boss, and either can grab it with Circle to start the button sequence. Whoever grabs does the sequence.
Doors, levers, chests and save points work for both players. Going through a door or into a new area takes both of you.

Extras

The pre-rendered videos can be skipped with a button press.

Known issues and limits

Not tested yet

Most of the game. Testing so far was mainly in the opening level (the ship and the Hydra) and the final Ares fight. Later levels, puzzles and scripted sections have not been played through in two-player. Expect rough spots there; player 2's Select gets you out of most of them. Save often.
Portable installs of PCSX2, and PCSX2 versions older than 2.0.

Known issues

Enemies keep moving for a moment in some pause situations.
While you save or the game swaps weapons, player 2 vanishes for a few seconds and comes back.
Player 2's health bars move down when a boss health bar appears; with some bosses they may still overlap it slightly.
The "player" the game thinks of (for button prompts, doors and boss grabs) is whoever pressed an action button last. If a prompt does not appear for you, press an attack button first.
Save states made before installing, or with an older version of the mod, do not work properly. Load from the memory card instead.

Limits

Both players are on one PC and one screen. There is no online play.
Player 2 wears the Rage of the Gods helmet so you can tell the two apart. Other costumes for player 2 do not work: a player 2 in a bonus costume could not grab or use doors.
Menus, pausing and saving are player 1's.
Only the US disc SCUS-97399, as a plain .iso. Windows only.
The mod talks to PCSX2 through PINE, which serves one program at a time. Other tools that use PINE cannot run alongside it.

If something goes wrong

What you see	What to do
Player 2 never appears; the black window says `cannot talk to PCSX2`	PINE is off. In PCSX2: Settings → Advanced → PINE Settings → Enable, slot 28011. (If you do not see an Advanced page, switch on Tools → Show Advanced Settings.) Then restart PCSX2.
The black window says `NEW two-player code is ready - close PCSX2 and start it again`, or the game crashes soon after loading	Cheats or the 128 MB option is off for this game. Right-click the game in PCSX2's list → Properties: under Cheats tick "Enable Cheats"; under Advanced tick "Enable 128MB RAM". Close PCSX2 and start again with the Play shortcut.
`waiting for gameplay` and nothing more	Normal in menus, loading, cutscenes and while paused. It continues once you control Kratos.
Player 2 appears but the second controller does nothing	Controller Port 2 is not mapped in PCSX2 (Settings → Controllers).
Things behave strangely right after loading a save state	It is an old state. Load from the memory card and make a fresh one.
Player 2 is stuck, fell, or was left behind	Player 2 presses `Select`.
Install.bat says the disc is a different version	The mod only fits the exact program on the US disc SCUS-97399 (PCSX2 shows its CRC as D6385328).
You moved PCSX2, the disc image or the mod folder	Run Install.bat again.
Something else	Report it on the project's GitHub page under Issues. Include what the black window said last, your PCSX2 version, and where in the game it happened.

Removing it

Close PCSX2, double-click Uninstall.bat in the mod folder, then delete the folder. It removes the cheat file, the desktop shortcut and the launcher, and puts this game's PCSX2 settings back.

By hand, if that does not work:

Delete SCUS-97399_D6385328.pnach from PCSX2's cheats folder (normally Documents\PCSX2\cheats). If there is a .before-coop-mod copy beside it, rename it back.
Delete the mod folder and the desktop shortcut.
Optional: in PCSX2's gamesettings folder, replace SCUS-97399_D6385328.ini with its .before-coop-mod copy.

Start the game from PCSX2 as usual and it is single-player again. Your memory-card saves are ordinary game saves.

About this mod

A fan-made, non-commercial mod. Not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Sony Interactive Entertainment or Santa Monica Studio. God of War is a trademark of Sony Interactive Entertainment. The mod contains none of the game's files: it needs your own copy of the game, and builds its patch from it on your PC.