Sonic Generations

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Key points:

Active Modding Community

The Unleashed Project Mod comes with a graphics renderer (ported from the 360/PS3 versions of Sonic Unleashed) that provides graphical and stability improvements to the base game.

Availability

All versions require Steam, including both retail and digital distribution.

Performance Improvements

The game is not very well ported and many people have large performance issues (especially in Chemical Plant Zone). Thanks to BlackLionPT of the SPUF forums for the following guides.

Unleashed Project Mod

The Unleashed Project Mod provides a graphics renderer ported from Sonic Unleashed that adds stability and graphical enhancements.

Set resolutions with 60 Hz

In the configuration tool, make sure you select your resolution with 60 Hz, not 75 Hz. The game can not run smooth on 75 Hz, because it's engine is limited to +/- 60 FPS.

Force Vsync with D3DOverrider

1. Download and run D3DOverrider
2. Click the "+" sign, and locate \Steam\steamapps\common\sonic generations\SonicGenerations.exe
3. Open the game's configuration tool and disable vSync. In D3DOverrider, make sure vSync and Triple buffering are on.
4. NOTE: You need to keep D3DOverrider running on background.

Set the FPS with FPS Limiter

1. For this you need to have your java software updated. Click on the following link, download and install java, and then proceed to the next step. Link: http://java.com/en/download/index.jsp
2. Download FPS Limiter.
3. Now, on the extracted files in the folder FPS_Limiter_2.0, open up the file "FPS_Limiter_GUI" with "Java Platform". A small blueish window should appear.
4. Now, in this window, click on "Search Executable" and find \Steam\steamapps\common\sonic generations\SonicGenerations.exe
5. On "Maximum FPS", write down 15, 20, or 30 (select the one most suitable to your system). NOTE: Even if you want 30, you have to re write "30" in the input box, or the final bat file won't be created.
6. Click on "create bat". A File Called "SonicGenerations.exe.limited" file should appear in the "FPS_Limiter_0.2" folder.
7. Open up the new created file "SonicGenerations.exe.limited". The game should start with your desired frame rate.

Some notes about this:

• The game must be always opened from the bat file created. Also, if you move the FPS_Limiter folder, you must re-create the bat file again.
• Compatible with the D3DOverrider tweak. If you find it not stable enough, use vSync option in the game's configuration tool instead.
• The game won't run at real time at anything bellow 15 FPS. Only use settings that are divisions of 60.
• Once again, make sure that you select your resolution in the configuration tool with 60 Hz.

Issues And Fixes

Issues with Nvidia Optimus laptops

Method 1: "Extend Desktop" Fix

1. Open up Nvidia Control Panel.
2. Click on "Manage 3D Settings" in the left side of the panel, and click "add".
3. Select SonicGenerations.exe with the explorer window [Located at <steam install path> Steam\steamapps\common\sonic generations\SonicGenerations.exe].
4. Select the option to force it to use Nvidia Graphics Card.
5. Now, go to your desktop. Right click on it, and select "Screen Resolution". Press Detect in this new Window. (If you can see two displays that are grayed out and named after your video cards, you're probably good to go.)
6. Choose your Nvidia card and select "Attempt to connect anyway on [VGA/HDMI]". When you found it, click apply.
7. Choose extended desktop and apply again. This will force-activate your discrete GPU.
8. Open the Sonic Config tool and see if your Nvidia card is present (it really should be), and of course, choose it. Now start Sonic, and it will probably work.
9. If not, try running the Sonic Config again and this time deliberately select the non-Nvidia card. Try starting Sonic again. Some people have said that the now-force-activated Nvidia card took control anyway at this point, solving the problem.

Method 2: "Config File Edit" Fix

TESTED AND FOUND TO WORK ON GeForce GT 555M, GeForce GT 540M, AND GeForce GT 525M CHIPS. In some cases, the fix in Method 1 does not work, and starting Sonic just makes the game run invisibly on the non-existent second desktop. The following method may prove more helpful.

1. (Revert any changes you made in Method 1, if necessary: alter the Screen Resolution settings to Show Desktop Only on 1, Apply, then pick Remove This Display on the NVIDIA screen, and Apply again).
2. Open the NVIDIA Control Panel, go to "Manage 3D Settings" then "Program Settings". Add the sonicgenerations.exe executable and set the preferred graphics processor to be the NVIDIA one.
3. Open "Control Panel" and look for the "Device Manager". Open it and expand the "Display Adapters" item. Make a note of the exact name given to your NVIDIA adapter (including the use of capitalisation). There may be trailing spaces - to be sure you have the whole name, open the adapter's properties in the same menu, switch to the Details tab, select "Device Description" from the drop-down, and right-click copy the displayed information.
4. Use the Sonic Generations configuration tool to configure the game to your liking and save.
5. Go to the Sonic Generations directory (in most cases "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\sonic generations") and open GraphicsConfig.cfg in notepad or your preferred text editing software.
6. You should notice that the second line will be the name of your Intel adapter. Replace this with the name of your NVIDIA adapter exactly as it appeared in Device Manager.
7. You should see a line that says something like "MONITOR\LGD0292\{4d36e96e-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}\ 0000" (this will vary depending on your exact setup, just look for line of this format), it should be the second to last line. Delete the contents of this line completely so you are left with a blank line. Here is a finished configuration file as an example:

Do not manually edit this file, use the configuration tool.
NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M 
\\.\DISPLAY1
1600.900.60
1
1
1
1
0
d7b78e66-4256-11cf-fd56-b424b7c2c535

1515474505

Save the edited file. You should now be able to play the game.

One thing that should be noted is that the line "\\.\DISPLAY1" may need changing as well. In one test case, DISPLAY1 was fine when only the laptop display was enabled. However when the display was extended onto the "fake" Intel VGA display, it had to be changed to DISPLAY2. Therefore if DISPLAY1 does not work, it is recommended to try DISPLAYi where i is the number of displays you currently have enabled.

REMINDER: It is crucial that when you go to device manager you copy it exactly as it says. The tested GTX 580M was followed by 5 spaces; the tested 540M and 525M by 2. Your own chip's details may vary.

This second method was suggested by ezodagrom, and is reproduced here from a post by BlackLionPT.

Configuration Tool does not open/crashes

1. Download and Install Microsoft Net Framework 4.0 from here.
2. NOTE: If the above doesn't, please run Windows Update and install ALL Updates available. This way you can make sure it's not a "flaw" in your system that's causing the problem.

Black screen but can hear sound

1. Go to Catalyst Control Center / Nvidia Control Panel and disable all custom Anti Aliasing profiles (reset it to default if needed).

Crash on startup

Instructions

Instructions

Critical Error

If you get the error stating the following:

Instructions

...then ensure the "Resolution" section in the Config tool is put at a resolution and refresh rate your computer and monitor can display.

Crash when trying to play online ranking mode

• If you have more than 100 friends on Steam, even if you are offline in chat, online mode will cause to crash the game. Remove friends to have 99 or less, and the game won't crash anymore.
• Loading a level in the singleplayer, exiting it and then starting it in ranked mode may reduce the chances of a crash.