Sonic Adventure 2 is a cartoon third-person platform game developed by Sonic Team, published by Sega, and released for PC on November 9, 2012. It is a part of the Sonic the Hedgehog series and the sequel to Sonic Adventure.
The original game was first released for the Dreamcast in North America on June 18, 2001, and the rest of the world on June 23.
The game was later ported to the GameCube in 2002 as Sonic Adventure 2: Battle as an updated version of the game, featuring an expanded multiplayer mode and readjusted gameplay elements. This PC port is based off the GameCube version, with the expanded multiplayer and Chao Karate content being locked behind a separate DLC purchase.[1]
The game's physics and speed are tied around 60 FPS, meaning slowdowns on lower end machines and speedups with high refresh-rate displays. Various mods are available to restore original features from the Dreamcast version and address issues with the PC version; see Modifications for recommendations and how to setup MainMemory's SA2 Mod Loader to ease the installation of mods.
General information
- Sonic Retro - A huge fan site for everything Sonic the Hedgehog. Mods for all the games can be found here
- Steam Community Discussions
Availability
- All versions require Steam DRM.
DLC and expansion packs
Essential improvements
Bypass launcher
Use the -q command line argument[2]
|
- If configuration files are missing, it will load the launcher regardless of the command line argument.
|
Skip company logos and intro cutscene
Enable Skip Intro in SA2 Mod Loader[3]
|
- See instructions for installing SA2 Mod Loader here.
- Go to the Options tab, and check Skip Intro from the Misc. section.
- Click the Save button to apply the changes. The game should now boot directly into the title screen upon launch.
|
Game data
Configuration file(s) location
Save game data location
- Chao Garden is saved to the file
SONIC2B__ALF
.
- Game progression is saved to numbered
SONIC2B__S##
files; one file per slot.
Video
In game general settings. Options clockwise starting from the bottom: Vibration, Save/Load, Erase save, main menu theme, speech language and Stereo/Mono.
Launcher general settings.
Input
Launcher control settings.
Audio
Audio feature |
State |
Notes |
Separate volume controls |
|
|
Surround sound |
|
Based on system configuration; otherwise not configurable. Tested with 7.1 surround sound. No centre and LFE channels, just a 4.0 quadraphonic mix.[citation needed] |
Subtitles |
|
On by default. Subtitles during pre-rendered cutscenes are not available. |
Closed captions |
|
Idle Chatter mod is not captioned, however, Retranslated Story Complete features captions for idle chatter. |
Mute on focus lost |
|
|
Localizations
- Text language is selected from launcher, dialogue language is selected from in game settings.
Network
Multiplayer types
VR support
Issues unresolved
Steam API Compatibility (Controllers)
- When using any controller under the Steam Controller API, analog sticks are treated as digital keyboard keys and will be considered as 100% analog for all values beyond the dead zone.[citation needed]
- On AMD cards, menus won't render if the resolution exceeds 4579 x 3965, on either axis.[citation needed]
FXAA breaks the game
- Forcing FXAA through the graphics card control panel will cause the game to stop responding.[citation needed]
Game freezes and hardlocks when trying to load a stage
- This issues is related to the SA2 Mod Loader. Rebooting the computer with the mod loader uninstalled seems to help temporarily.[5] An issue ticket can be found on the Mod Loader's GitHub repo. Another potential solution is to to launch SA2 Mod Loader, click "Uninstall loader" to disable the mod loader, launching the game normally via
Launcher.exe
and exiting the game, and then re-launching the Mod Loader and clicking "Install Loader" to re-enable it.
Issues fixed
Game crashes after the Sonic Team logo
Use DXVK[citation needed]
|
- Go to DXVK's project page.
- Download the latest release.
- Open it using a ZIP program, and go to the X32 folder.
- Copy
d3d9.dll and paste it into <path-to-game>
|
Use ForceD3D9On12[citation needed]
|
- Download the latest release
- Open it using a ZIP program, and go to the x86 folder.
- Copy
d3d9.dll and paste it into <path-to-game>
|
Fixing crashes[citation needed]
|
If the game is crashing only in fullscreen mode, an easy workaround is to use a borderless fullscreen tool to make windowed mode fill the entire screen. The SA2 Mod Loader offers an option to do that.[6]
If the game is crashing in both fullscreen and windowed mode:
- Disable any framerate limiters; Sonic Adventure 2's loading screens rely on uncapped FPS in order to load properly.[citation needed]
- Disable any overlays (e.g. Steam Overlay, GeForce Experience).
- For Nvidia cards, open Nvidia Control Panel, click
Manage 3D Settings , Program Settings , and add sonic2app.exe .
- Set V-Sync to
On and set Preferred refresh rate to Application-controlled , then click Apply.
|
Game freezing for few seconds randomly
Fixing crashes[citation needed]
|
- For Nvidia cards, open Nvidia Control Panel, click
Manage 3D Settings , Program Settings , and add sonic2app.exe .
- Set Power management mode to
Prefer maximum performance , click Apply.
|
Missing or broken graphical effects
- Some effects such as rain, fire, smoke, footprints, and dirt from digging as Knuckles or Rouge are missing on integrated graphics with application optimization mode enabled.
Disable Application Optimal Mode from the integrated GPU control panel[7]
|
Run the game at screen refresh rate
- Fullscreen mode is limited to 60 Hz, even if the screen refresh rate is set higher than that.
Set screen refresh rate and 60 FPS cap[citation needed]
|
- Download Special K.
- Copy
SpecialK32.dll to the installation folder.
- Rename
SpecialK32.dll to d3d9.dll .
- Start the game and then exit.
- Open
d3d9.ini in the installation folder.
- Change
TargetFPS to 60.0 .
- Change
RefreshRate to 0 .
|
Launcher crashes when trying to start the game, No resolution options available
Manually create config files[8]
|
- Go to the configuration file(s) location.
- If no files are present, create files named
Keyboard.cfg and UserConfig.cfg .
- Copy and paste following to files.
<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<Setup Layout="0" />
<Players>
<Player InputWay="1" Vibrate="0">
<key index="83" />
<key index="65" />
<key index="73" />
<key index="79" />
<key index="5" />
<key index="52" />
<key index="56" />
<key index="54" />
<key index="25" />
<key index="16" />
<key index="37" />
<key index="23" />
<key index="4" />
<key index="37" />
<key index="27" />
<key index="67" />
</Player>
<Player InputWay="0" Vibrate="0">
<key index="22" />
<key index="18" />
<key index="0" />
<key index="3" />
<key index="102" />
<key index="98" />
<key index="101" />
<key index="99" />
<key index="66" />
<key index="104" />
<key index="37" />
<key index="76" />
<key index="105" />
<key index="37" />
<key index="28" />
<key index="111" />
</Player>
</Players>
<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<Configs FullScreen="1" Display="0" Res="22" Width="640" Height="480" RefreshRate="60" Language="0" Analytics="0" />
- Start the game from
<path-to-game>\sonic2app.exe .
- If everything works, then change the values in
UserConfig.cfg to desired ones. Bypassing the launcher is also recommended afterwards.
|
Planted Trees in the Chao Garden appear as saplings despite being fully grown
- This fix requires SA2 Mod Loader.
Instructions
|
- Download and install SA2 Mod Loader.
- Download the Enhanced Chao World mod.
- In the mod manager, tick and enable the mod, then click
Configure and toggle any preferred features of the mod. The tree scaling fix is not listed as it is a part of the mod.
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Other information
API
Technical specs |
Supported |
Notes |
Direct3D |
9.0c |
|
Shader Model support |
3.0 |
|
Executable |
32-bit |
64-bit |
Notes |
Windows |
|
|
|
Modifications
Modding essentials
How to install SA2 Mod Manager[9]
|
- Download SA2 Mod Manager from here.
- Extract the contents of
SA2ModLoader.7z to <path-to-game> .
- Run
SA2ModManager.exe , click the Install loader , then go to the Options tab and adjust settings as desired.
Notes
- Eases installation and configuration of mods without replacing installation files.
- Adds optional tweaks such as skipping intro videos and splash screens, locking the framerate for higher refresh rate displays, and disabling loading screen animations which also speed up loading times.
|
Featured websites
Recommended Mods
- Removes the Battle branding from the game.
- Reorganizes the game's three side of story and puts the in a chronological order.
- Adds new features to Sonic/Shadow and Allows for Remaping the buttons. Light Speed Dash is reamaped to Y by default.
- Changes the gameplay of the Tails's Mech section to that of SA1 and allows to switch to the mech gameplay at anytime.
- Introduces new feature to Knuckles/Rouge gameplay.
- Improves the Radar to be more like SA1.
- Reduces the deadzone to 50% resulting in a better movement.
- Moderate improvements to the controls on non-flat surface.
- Makes the characters not loos momentum when hitting the wall.
- Adds many improvements to the character physics.
- Adds the abillity to change the FOV.
- Fixes various typos and grammar issues in the subtitles, and improves the French translation.
- Changes the font to be more in line with SA1.
- Fixes misplaced level objects, making "Perfect" ring collection possible.
- Replaces the duller sounding menu sounds from the Chao Garden's Black Market with ones that sound closer to the GameCube version.
- Permits chao to wander around more of the Hero and Dark gardens.
- Overhauls and revises the menu system of the game while removing unnecessary clutter and discrepancies. This mod however causes some of the main menu descriptions to not properly reflect the rearranged menu options, but an unofficial fix is available. Only English and Japanese localizations are currently supported.
- Updates many GUI and HUD elements with higher resolution ones, along with optional tweaks. Recommended with Menu Overhaul.
- Replaces the stock Xbox 360 prompts with ones from Sonic Generations. A DualShock 3 variant is also available.
- Replaces the Vanilla Speed-UP icon with Soap Shoes.
- Removes the prompts to restart the game when a controller is disconnected or the internet connection is lost.
- A collection of fixes for addressing rendering errors introduced in the GameCube version while restoring missing smaller details from the Dreamcast version, replaces stock textures with their highest quality equivalents from different versions of the game, and unstretches the ARK portion of the Stage Select screen.
- Uses the Higher poly Gameplay models for Afterimages instead of 2P Lower poly models.
- Fixes a visual bug in the stage in both single player and 2P mode where the skybox gets imprinted on the ship's towers.
- Fixes Tails' model at the end of Route 280 to appear more accurate to his in-game model.
- Disables level of detail models for Sonic and Shadow in singleplayer and multiplayer.
- Adds configurable volume settings for background music, sound effects, and voice overs, while fixing the poor sound mixing of the PC version by restoring the original Dreamcast volume levels, fixing sound effect errors, and implementing 3D positional audio.
- Dreamcast character models converted for the PC version. This results in consistent model quality between cutscenes and gameplay when used in conjunction with Cutscene Revamp, as most cutscenes use these models by default in the vanilla game.
- Similar to the above but also restores visual effects from the Dreamcast version used by each character.
- Restores the original Dreamcast version of the G.U.N. Hunters and Shield Hunter enemies.
- Restores many of the higher quality Dreamcast textures and effects from the Dreamcast version.
- Restores the object lighting of the Dreamcast version.
- Restores the missing fog to some of the stages.
- Restores fog to Flying Dog and Sonic vs Shadow Bosses.
- Restores fog to Prison Lane.
- Restores fog to Sonic vs Shadow Boss and Aquatic Mine.
- Includes many lighting alterations resulting in tweaking the atmosphere of the stages.
- Changes the lighting of the Biolizard boss to be more atmospheric.
- Restores the missing shadow effects from the Dreamcast version.
- Versions of the higher-quality GameCube models edited to give the characters pointy ears, like Yuji Uekawa's original artwork. Requires the DC Models of Sonic and Shadow to be disabled in Dreamcast Characters mod.
- Series of Options and QOL features for the City Escape.
- Ports the Stage Sets for DC version. reauires a Fix for the Green Forest, White Jungle and/or Eggman's Cannon's Core segment
- Replaces the Credit images from the Vanilla version with the DC version.
- Attempts to restore some of the missing effects and modified textures to their Dreamcast counterparts, as well as restoring the original item and enemy placements of City Escape, however, the modified City Escape stage in this mod can cause issues.[10] The White Jungle Fog fix is also available independently.
- Fixes the lighting of Eggman's stages to resemble their GameCube counterparts while restoring the directional light from his Egg Walker.
- Fixes a bug with Rouge's eye texture when climbing along walls sideways.
- Overhauls the game's Story Mode cutscenes by fixing various issues, importing assets, and workarounds so they appear closer to the original game. This also features tweaks such as 16:9 widescreen cutscenes and restoring the Dreamcast intro.
- Fixes some music issues with Cutscene Revamp.
- Corrects the volume levels for the transformation scene's music in the Final Story when using Cutscene Revamp.
Adds Subtitle to FMVs. Requires to be loaded under the Cutscene Revamp mod.
- Fixes the e0211 Scene by Removing Sonic's Hand in the corner of the screen that was resulted by the Widescreen.
- Fixes the Dialouge intruption that was caused by the incorrect timing.
- Replaces Chao sound effects with higher quality recordings from Team Sonic Racing and adds some other music improvements
- Changes the noises made by the mechs to be more easy on the ears.
- an Audio and Visual Overhaul that Uses Higher Quality Audio From other sources and Upscaled Textures.
- Replaces the Lens Flare with higher quality variant.
- Restores the various references to SOAP in City Escape, Radical Highway, Downtown Race, and the kart racing stages, without adding incidental GameCube button prompts.
- Replaces the running animation of Sonic to Visually be less noisy.
- A port of the similarly named Sonic Adventure DX mod for Sonic Adventure 2 that adds the ability to hear what the player's character has to say about the current stage. The function is mapped to Right on the D-pad due to the Input Mod not being available for Sonic Adventure 2.
- fixes, quality-of-life improvements, restorations, and configurable features for the Chao World.
- Restores the Spin Dash to the Chao World that was disabled from the later re-rleases.
- Allows to play any stage with any character.
Co-op Story Mode
- By using Cheat Engine after launching the game, two players can play the Story Mode co-operatively.
- Address 0043D6EB must be set as 3D898989898989, Address 00439703 as 9090 and Address 01934BE4 as 1 for having Shadow as P2 (or : 0 - Sonic / 1 - Shadow / 2 - Mechless Tails/ 3 - Mechless Eggman/ 4 - Knuckles/ 5 - Rouge/ 6 - Mech Tails / 7 - Mech Eggman)
SA2 Save Utility
- A utility designed to modify save files for the game. Can be downloaded here.
SA2 Save Converter
- A utility that can convert main game and Chao Garden save files from the GameCube, Xbox 360/PlayStation 3, and PC versions to another platform. Can be downloaded here.
System requirements
Windows |
|
Minimum |
Recommended |
Operating system (OS) |
XP |
Vista, 7 |
Processor (CPU) |
Intel Pentium 4 3.2 GHz AMD Athlon 64 3000+ |
Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ |
System memory (RAM) |
1 GB |
2 GB |
Hard disk drive (HDD) |
3 GB |
6 GB |
Video card (GPU) |
Nvidia GeForce 8600 ATI Radeon HD 3650 256 MB of VRAM DirectX 9.0c compatible Shader model 3.0 support |
Nvidia GeForce GTS 250 ATI Radeon HD 4850 512 MB of VRAM DirectX 11 compatible |
Sound (audio device) |
DirectX compatible | |
Notes
References