Sonic Adventure 2 is a cartoon third-person platforming game developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega, and was released for PC on November 9, 2012. It is the sequel to Sonic Adventure.
The game was originally released worldwide on June 23, 2001 for the Dreamcast, and is historically notable for being one of the last games released for the Dreamcast, was released during the 10th Anniversary of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, and the final first-party game developed by Sega before became a third-party company and leaving the console market. Sonic Adventure 2 restructures and streamlines the gameplay elements from its predecessor, featuring "Team Hero" (Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles) and "Team Dark" (Shadow, Eggman, and Rouge) with platforming, mech shooting, and treasure hunting Action Stages, all played in sequential order.
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. Despite being ported to newer hardware, it also has simplified fog, missing vertex and colored lighting, and some missing and/or changed content compared to the original Dreamcast version. See TCRF for details and this video for cutscene-related changes. Similarly to Sonic Adventure DX and its subsequent ports, the 2012 PC port of Sonic Adventure 2, as well as the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions, was based off the GameCube version, with the expanded multiplayer and Chao Karate content from Sonic Adventure 2: Battle 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 missing or altered elements from the Dreamcast version or address issues with the PC version; see modding for recommendations and how to setup MainMemory's SA2 Mod Loader to ease mod installation.
General information
- Official developer site
- 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
Name |
Notes |
|
Sonic Adventure 2: Battle |
Unlocks the Battle Mode, extra versus characters and maps, and Chao Karate. |
|
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.
|
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. |
Closed captions |
|
Idle Chatter mod is not captioned. |
Mute on focus lost |
|
|
Localizations
- Text language is selected from launcher, dialogue language is selected from in game settings.
Network
Multiplayer types
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 level
- This issues is related to the Mod Loader. Rebooting the PC with the mod loader uninstalled seems to help temporarily.[4] An issue ticket can be found on the Mod Loader's GitHub repo.
Issues fixed
Planted Trees in the Chao Garden appear as saplings despite being fully grown
- This fix requires SA2 Mod Loader
Instructions[5]
|
- Open in a text editor
<path-to-game>\mods\Codes.lst
- Paste this code at the bottom of the file
Patch "Hero Garden Fruit Fix"
write8 8A6468 40
Patch "Chao Garden Tree Fix"
write8 1329149 0x7D
write16 1329154 0xAD9C
write16 1329160 0xDBE4
write16 132916C 0xFD04
write16 1329178 0x1C9C
write16 1329184 0x3DDC
write16 1329190 0x64FC
- Open SA2 Mod Loader
- Enable "Hero Garden Fruit Fix" and "Chao Garden Tree Fix" int the "Codes" Section
|
Game crashes after the Sonic Team logo
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 & 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 with 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 you can change
UserConfig.cfg values to desired ones. You may also want to bypass launcher.
|
Other information
API
Technical specs |
Supported |
Notes |
Direct3D |
9.0c |
|
Shader Model support |
3.0 |
|
Executable |
32-bit |
64-bit |
Notes |
Windows |
|
|
|
Modding
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.
|
Featured websites
Featured mods
Bugfixes/Improvements:
- Action Remap - Remaps the "Light Speed Dash" to the Y button, so that you don't unintentionally use the "Somersault" and "Bounce Bracelet" moves while trying to use the "Light Speed Dash".
- Subtitles Fix - Fixes various typos and grammar issues in the subtitles, and improves the French translation.
- Render Fix - Fixes some of the rendering oddities of the PC version, focusing on the GameCube models.
- Stache Fix - A texture replacement for Sonic and Shadow that fixes a rendering issue on their face.
- Level Oddity Patch - Fixes misplaced level objects, making "Perfect" ring collection possible.
- Black Market Sound Fix - Replaces the duller sounding menu sounds from the Chao Garden's Black Market with ones that sound closer to the GameCube version.
- Improved Waypoints (Chao Gardens) - Permits chao to wander around more of the Hero and Dark gardens.
- Menu Overhaul - 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 a available.
- HD GUI: SA2 - Updates many GUI and HUD elements with higher resolution ones, along with optional tweaks. Recommended with Menu Overhaul.
- Better Buttons - Replaces the stock Xbox 360 prompts with ones from Sonic Generations. A DualShock 3 variant is also available.
- Chao Lobby Fix - Fixes some geometry sorting bugs in the Chao Lobby.
- SA2 Error Message Fixes - Removes the prompts to restart the game when a controller is disconnected or the internet connection is lost.
- No Model Tinting - Fixes a bug introduced by the Gamecube version where some models are greyer than intended
Audio/Visual enhancements:
- Fixed SFX Volume - The PC version's sound effects are much louder than previous releases, drowning out the music and some voice over lines.
- Highest Quality Textures - Replaces the textures with their highest-quality versions.
- Dreamcast Characters - 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.
- DC+ Models - Versions of the higher-quality GameCube models edited to give the characters pointy ears, like Yuji Uekawa's original artwork.
- Misc. Improvements and Dreamcast Textures - 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.
- Presentable Eggman Stages - An attempt to fix the lighting issues of the PC version of Dr. Eggman's Iron Gate and Lost Colony stages to resemble their GameCube counterparts, with the option to restore the Dreamcast fog effects and an experimental red alarm tint for the former.
- Ripple Fix - Fixes and restores the original Dreamcast version's water ripple effects.
- Better Shadows - The vanilla game draws shadows from very low-poly models of the characters; this mod enables the shadows to be drawn from the higher-poly models instead.
- Rouge's Eye Animation Fix - Fixes a bug with Rouge's eye texture when climbing along walls sideways.
- Restored G.U.N. Logos - Fixes a transparency sorting issue with the G.U.N. robots that causes the G.U.N. logo to be missing. This mod also features an option to restore the transparency effects of the Artificial Chaos enemies from the Dreamcast version, but the floating variant have buggy transparency effects and are disabled by default as a result.
- Cutscene Revamp - 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.
- Dreamcast Chao Garden - Restores the original Dreamcast version of the Chao Garden into the PC version.
- Dreamcast Chao Garden Textures - Replaces the Chao Garden's textures with those from the Dreamcast version, when possible without editing geometry.
- HQ Chao Sounds - Replaces Chao sound effects with higher quality recordings from Team Sonic Racing and adds some other music improvements.
- Crispy Green Hill - Integer upscales Green Hill's textures (with some cleanup), to give a point-sampled aesthetic akin to that on the Sega Saturn.
- GameCube Textures - Replaces the textures of the game with ones leftover from the GameCube port.
- Neuro AI HD Texture Pack - Enhanced HD-quality textures upscaled 4x by Gigapixel AI using neural networks.
- Clean Loading Screen Ring - Removes the visible compression artefacts from the spinning ring sprite on the loading screen, using the BC1Smooth2 ESRGAN model.
Miscellaneous:
- Disable Upgrade Models - Disable or show upgrade items on characters.
- Sonic Adventure 2 Retranslated - A fan-translation of the original Japanese script into English. Recommended when playing with Japanese voice-overs.
- Restore SOAP ads - Restores the various references to SOAP in City Escape, Radical Highway, Downtown Race, and the kart racing stages, without adding incidental GameCube button prompts.
- No Battle - Removes the "Battle" branding from the game if the Sonic Adventure 2: Battle DLC is installed and reverts the menus and intro cutscene to the original Dreamcast version.
- No Loading Screen Tips - Removes the gameplay tips that appear during a loading screen which may not be readable by default due to the faster loading times of the PC version.
- Character Select Mod - Allows players to play as other characters in stages they weren't intended for by pressing certain buttons while loading a stage.
- Higher Draw Distance - Increases the rendering draw distance for most objects. Not recommended for gameplay.
- Idle Chatter SA2 Edition - 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.
- Chao World Extended - adds new contents to the Chao Garden, while bringing back unused contents and adding a variety of ways to get a new kind of chao
Co-op Story Mode
- By using Cheat Engine after launching the game, you can enable co-op play at 2 players for the Story Mode, only possible on PC port.
- 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.
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
| Nvidia GeForce GTS 250 ATI Radeon HD 4850 512 MB of VRAM DirectX 11 compatible |
Sound (audio device) |
DirectX compatible | |
Notes
References