Sonic Adventure 2

Sonic Adventure 2

Developers
	Sonic Team USA
Publishers
	Sega
Release dates
Windows	November 9, 2012

Sonic Adventure
Subseries of Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic Adventure DX	2003
Sonic Adventure DX (2011)	2011
Sonic Adventure 2	2012
Sonic Adventure DX (Steam)	2014

Key points

This port, as well as the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions, was based on the GameCube version, which has simplified fog, missing vertex and colored lighting, and some missing and/or changed content compared to the original Dreamcast version.

Game physics and speed are tied around 60 FPS, meaning slowdowns on lower end machines and speedups with high refresh-rate displays.

The two-player Battle Mode, extra versus characters and maps, and Chao Karate from Sonic Adventure 2: Battle are locked behind a separate DLC purchase, similarly to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 version.

General information

Official developer site

Sonic News Network - A massive wiki for the Sonic the Hedgehog universe

Sonic Retro - A huge fan site for everything Sonic the Hedgehog. Mods for all the games can be found here

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Publisher website
Steam

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
If configuration files are missing, it will load the launcher regardless of the command line argument.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\Config\
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/213610/pfx/

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\resource\gd_PC\SAVEDATA\
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/213610/pfx/

Chao Garden is saved to the file SONIC2B__ALF

Game progression is saved to numbered SONIC2B__S## files; one file per slot.

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Steam Cloud

Video settings

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 settings

Launcher control settings.

Audio settings

Localizations

Text language is selected from launcher, dialogue language is selected from in game settings.

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
German
French
Italian
Japanese
Spanish				Castilian.

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
Local play		2	Other player can use keyboard or controller if enabled in the config file. "Battle" DLC adds 21 battle maps to multiplayer.
LAN play
Online play		2	Use Sonic Adventure 2: Battle Network.

Issues unresolved

Menus don't render

On AMD cards menus won't render if the resolution exceeds 4579 x 3965, on either axis.^{[citation needed]}

FXAA breaks the game

Enabling FXAA will cause the game to stop responding.^{[citation needed]}

Issues fixed

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. If the game is crashing in both fullscreen & windowed mode: 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. 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.

Sound effects are too loud

Install the Fixed SFX Volume mod[citation needed]
Get the mod here

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 exit. Open d3d9.ini in the installation folder. Change TargetFPS=0.0 to TargetFPS=60.0. Change RefreshRate=-1 to RefreshRate=0.

If the SpecialK method is causing the game to freeze or crash on launch, try using the Nvidia Profile Inspector.

Set 60 FPS frame limit with Nvidia Profile Inspector[citation needed]

Download and run Nvidia Profile Inspector. Create a new profile for Sonic Adventure 2 (the yellow star at the top of the interface). Add the sonic2app.exe to the profile by clicking the icon that looks like a window with a plus sign, and selecting sonic2app.exe. Under Sync and Refresh set Frame Rate Limiter to 60 FPS. Leave Frame Rate Limiter Mode on Default, the lower lag option can crash the game.

Launcher crashes when trying to start the game, No resolution options available

Manually create config files

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. Keyboard.cfg: <?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> UserConfig.cfg: <?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.

Fix Pumpkin Mountain Skull Spitting Flame, Digging, Missile and Footsteps Effects (Graphical Effects Bug)

Fixing graphical effects

For some reason, with some graphical cards, some graphical effects in the game are missing by default, like the Skull Spitting Flame in the Pumpkin Mountain, the digging effect when digging with Knuckles or Rouge, the smoke effect from the missile, and even the stepping on dirt effect. One solution for this is to change the main executable file name (sonic2app.exe) to Launcher.exe, and for some reason, it fixes theses issues. It is advised to make a backup of these two files before doing this.

Change "Light Speed Dash" button mapping

The Action Remap mod 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".

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9
Shader Model support	3

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Mods

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.

Adress 0043D6EB must be set as 3D898989898989, Adress 00439703 as 9090 and Adress 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)

HD texture pack

Using AI neural networks, this HD texture mod upscales textures.

MainMemory's mods

A number of useful mods for the game, including character models converted from the Dreamcast version.

Mods at GameBanana

Hosts a large number of user-submitted mods for the game.

SA2 Save Utility

A utility designed to modify save files for the game.

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 sound card	DirectX compatible sound card