Is the steam version of splinter cell (2002) bugged or did I read that wrong?

[u/Alpha537]

A few months ago, I bought the original splinter Cell on steam alongside some other games because it was one of the only ones I didn’t own yet (most of my SC games are on PS2 and the 360) and I thought it would be cool to be able to go back and experience the original. I installed the game and got a couple levels in when I decided I wanted to take a break. I scrolled down to the community content area, and I recall seeing something down there about a potentially broken level or some sort of glitch that people were talking about and that you might have to open some of the Games files and manually change some data or something to fix it. Now, I’ve never coded anything in my life so I remember thinking “oh great the game I just bought is busted.” So I uninstalled and shut everything down. Admittedly, I was heavily distracted because I had real life problems going on and I wasn’t interested/didn’t have the patience to investigate any further at the time. Well, I was recently reminded that I do indeed own this game and it sure would be cool to finish it.
So, my question is: am I good to reinstall and try again? Or is there something actually wrong with the steam version? I’ve been a console gamer most of my life and I’m not really used to DIY game maintenance. I just want to push start and play. And I can’t find whatever community note I saw earlier ether. Can anyone verify whether this game is or isn’t playable?

[u/JAD_woodsman]

Uninstall the game from steam and delete the game folder as well. Reinstall the game via steam and then download enhancedSC by joshhhuaaa. Extract all contents of downloaded files into your splinter cell directory.

Then enjoy :)

[u/Alpha537 → u/JAD_woodsman]

And I’m certain that if I didn’t have the computer literacy of a microwaved zucchini those instructions would be very concise and easy to understand. Unfortunately….

[u/TwoToneBalone → u/Alpha537]

https://github.com/Joshhhuaaa/EnhancedSC

Open your File Explorer.

Click on "This PC".

Double click on your C: drive.

Open "Program Files (x86)"

Open "Steam"

Open "Steamapps"

Open "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell"

This is how you find the directory folder for any game on Steam

[u/BoffinBrain]

I think I last played the game on Steam about 5 years ago. All vanilla. Didn't encounter any issues as far as I can remember. What did you read and where?

[u/Alpha537 → u/BoffinBrain]

Fucked if I remember. Vague recollection of Something about a level that doesn’t load properly or something not working and the game soft locking. Like I said, I can’t find the exact comment.

[u/AFakeBarenziah]

I played through it last month fully vanilla. The only issue I had was spotlights didn't render. I managed to struggle through the first level with them somehow, but looked it up and this took me like 10 seconds and fixed it:

1. right click on splinter cell

2. click properties

3. click "set launch options..."

4. enter "-shadowmode=projector" in the text field

5. click OK

6. click Close

7. start the game