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Key points
- Active modding community. Many mods are recommended for a first-time playthrough. See Mods.
- PC players receive the "Casino Night Zone DLC" for free.
- The PC and Xbox 360 versions of the game feature 480p pre-rendered cutscenes, however, these can be replaced with the higher-resolution [720p] ones from the PS3 version of the game via a mod.
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
Name |
Notes |
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Casino Night Zone |
As of 29/09/2016, all PC Players receive this DLC for free, but is still purchasable. |
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Essential improvements
Skip intro videos
Improved Renderer
Direct3D 9 Ex (Optimized Renderer), by Skyth
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- Download HedgeModManager and extract to the installation folder.
- Download Direct3D 9 Ex (Optimized Renderer) and extract
Direct3D 9 Ex (Optimized Renderer) folder to <path-to-game>\mods\ .
- Run
HedgeModManager .
- Enable "Direct3D 9 Ex" and click "Save and Play".
- Improves framerate and reduces stutter, Stutters in stages like Chemical Plant have been fixed, Heavily reduced RAM usage, Instant ALT+TAB, Adds Borderless and Borderless Fullscreen Display modes.
- You might get a graphics config mismatch error (when using this mod). A workaround was implemented to fix this issue. You can enable it through the configuration UI.
- Works with any display resolution. The only limits are your monitor and D3D9.
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Game data
Configuration file(s) location
Save game data location
System |
Native |
Notes |
Steam Cloud |
|
Approx. 100 MB available. |
Video
Force windowed through DxWnd[citation needed]
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- Download and run DxWnd. (v2.04.62 is confirmed to work.)
- Click on Edit, then Add.
- Set the Path to
<path-to-game>\SonicGenerations.exe .
- Set the window position and size.
- Set Desktop for borderless fullscreen windowed.
- Click on Input tab, set Cursor visibility to Hide.
- Click OK, then File and Save.
Notes
- Newer versions of DxWnd (tested with v2.05.14) do not work. The game refuses to start, saying the hardware doesn't match the configuration.
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Force windowed through Direct3D 9 Ex (Optimized Renderer) mod
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- Download HedgeModManager and extract to the installation folder.
- Download Direct3D 9 Ex (Optimized Renderer) and extract
Direct3D 9 Ex (Optimized Renderer) folder to <path-to-game>\mods\ .
- Run
HedgeModManager .
- Enable "Direct3D 9 Ex"
- Go to
Configure Mod
- Set "Display mode" to either "Windowed" or "Borderless Fullscreen"
- Click OK, then "Save and Play"
Notes
- You might get the infamous graphics config mismatch error (when using this mod). A workaround was implemented to fix this issue. You can enable it through the configuration UI.
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Change FOV with Flawless Widescreen[citation needed]
|
- Install Flawless Widescreen.
- Run it and install the Sonic Generations plugin.
- Go to the Flawless Widescreen installation folder.
- Go into the
\PluginCache\FWS_Plugins\Modules\SonicGenerations\Dependencies\Scripts\ folder.
- Download the modified FWS Script Mod from WSGF.
- Replace the original
SonicGenerations.lua with the modified one.
- Restart Flawless Widescreen and adjust the FOV as needed.
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Hex edit .exe files[citation needed]
|
- Download the fixed .exe from the WSGF attachment
- Install a hex editor such as HxD.
- Go to offset
0xFC10B5 .
- Change
00 00 80 3F to some other value like 00 00 40 3F .
Notes
- Some values will break the display and will render the game unplayable.
|
Remove 60 FPS Cap on Gameplay[citation needed]
|
Step 1 - Change Hex Values
- Download the fixed .exe from the WSGF attachment
- Install a hex editor such as HxD.
- Change both instances of
89 88 88 3C to either,
2F 8E E3 3B for 144FPS.
3F 0B 36 3B for 360FPS.
Step 2 - Change Binary Values
- This step must be performed each time the game is launched to take effect.
- Download and run Cheat Engine
- Search for the value
0.01666666666 as a float in rounded (extreme) mode, while Executable, Writable and CopyOnWrite is set to Don't Care.
- Right click the first value that appears (eg.
0019FD34 ) and select Find out what writes to this value to open the debugger.
- Continue running the game for a few seconds, selecting the code presented and clicking Disassembler.
- Click on the Opcode and replace it with
nop , then click yes on the following warning screen when presented.
- Go back to the searched value (
0019FD34 ) and replace with either,
0.00694444 for 144 FPS.
0.00277777 for 360 FPS.
Notes
- This may may some stages more difficult to complete or unplayable, due to reducing Sonic's jump height. Using a physics mod may fix the issue.
|
Remove 30FPS Cap on Cutscenes[citation needed]
|
Step 1 - Change Hex Values
- Download the fixed .exe from the WSGF attachment
- Install a hex editor such as HxD.
- Change both instances of
89 88 88 3C to either,
2F 8E E3 3B for 144FPS.
3F 0B 36 3B for 360FPS.
Step 2 - Change Binary Values
- This step must be performed each time the game is launched to take effect.
- Download and run Cheat Engine
- Search for the value
0.033333333333 as a float in rounded (extreme) mode, while Executable, Writable and CopyOnWrite is set to Don't Care.
- Select all values that appear and replace with either
0.00694444 for 144 FPS.
0.00277777 for 360 FPS.
Notes
- This may cause some mouth animations to be out of sync.
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Input
External control settings.
Audio
Audio feature |
State |
Notes |
Separate volume controls |
|
|
Surround sound |
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Auto configures up to 5.1 output.[2] |
Subtitles |
|
|
Closed captions |
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Mute on focus lost |
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Localizations
Language |
UI |
Audio |
Sub |
Notes |
English |
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French |
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German |
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|
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Italian |
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|
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Has some translation issues. |
Japanese |
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Spanish |
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Castilian. |
Russian |
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Fan translation, available here. |
Brazilian Portuguese |
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|
Fan translation, available here. |
Latin American Spanish |
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Fan translation, available here. |
VR support
Issues fixed
Issues with Nvidia Optimus laptops
Method 1: "Extend Desktop" Fix[citation needed]
|
- Open Nvidia Control Panel.
- Click on "Manage 3D Settings" in the left side of the panel, and click "add".
- Select
<path-to-game>\SonicGenerations.exe .
- Select the option to force it to use Nvidia Graphics Card.
- Now, go to the 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).
- Choose your Nvidia card and select "Attempt to connect anyway on [VGA/HDMI]". When you found it, click apply.
- Choose extended desktop and apply again. This will force-activate your discrete GPU.
- 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.
- 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.
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Method 2: "Config File Edit" Fix[3]
|
- Use Method 2 only if Method 1 does not work.
- This fix is known to work on GeForce GT 555M, GeForce GT 540M, and GeForce GT 525M chipsets.
- (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).
- 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.
- 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 capitalization). 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.
- Use the Sonic Generations configuration tool to configure the game to your liking and save.
- Go to Sonic Generations installation folder.
- Edit
GraphicsConfig.cfg .
- The second line will be the name of your Intel adapter. Replace this with the name of your NVIDIA adapter as it appeared in Device Manager.
- 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, so you are now left with a blank line. Save the edited file. 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
Notes
- 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.
- If DISPLAY1 does not work, it is recommended to try DISPLAYi, where i is the number of displays you currently have enabled.
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Low FPS
Lag in-game[3]
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- Turn off in-game Vsync through the config tool.
- Force it through the graphics driver.
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Configuration Tool does not open/crashes
Config tool crashing[citation needed]
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Notes
- If the above doesn't work run Windows Update and install ALL Updates available.
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Crash on startup
Set sound quality to 24 bit, 48000 Hz[citation needed]
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Other possible solutions[citation needed]
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- If the sound quality fix doesn't work, try the following:
- Run Sonic Generations and Steam as administrator.
- Have Steam verify the integrity of the game cache
- If you still have a crash after doing the above, update your graphics card drivers, download the newest DirectX and install it, and finally run Windows Update and install all updates available.
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Critical Error
- Complete error states
The detected configuration does not match your current hardware. Please run the configuration tool.
Delete config files and re-run config tool[citation needed]
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- Delete
*.cfg files in <path-to-game>.
- Re-run config tool and ensure you select resolution and refresh rate that your computer supports.
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Crash when trying to play online ranking mode
Instructions[citation needed]
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- 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.
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Quickstep fix
Modern Sonic's Quickstep sound doesn't play[citation needed]
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- Download this fix.
- Place the contents of "normal" map into <path-to-game>\
Notes
- Replace Unleashed Project's files with the fixed files only if you plan to play through it, do not enable the regular Quickstep Fix mod with Unleashed Project.
- This mod has to be placed in higher priority over all other audio mods.
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Other information
API
Technical specs |
Supported |
Notes |
Direct3D |
9 |
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Shader Model support |
3 |
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Executable |
32-bit |
64-bit |
Notes |
Windows |
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Middleware
|
Middleware |
Notes |
Physics |
Havok |
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Audio |
Criware |
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Mods
- Many mods provide gameplay and graphical enhancements that are strongly recommended, even for a first play-through.
- Users of Nvidia GPUs utilizing the Turing architecture will encounter issues with some stage mods.[4]
- Mod manager for all Hedgehog Engine titles. Required for all non-exe mods.
- Features more functions than SonicGMI, such as a code loader and ability to automatically update mods.
- Compatible with DLL-based mods, eliminating the need of additional modified game executables.
- Some older mods have issues running in HedgeModManager. If this is the case, use SonicGMI instead.[5]
- Ensure "Enable save file redirection" is checked in HedgeModManager so that the mod uses its own save file called "cpkredir.sav", instead of "sonic.sav" which is linked to the Steam Cloud. That will avoid save file progress being accidentally overwritten or lost.
- Older mods may still be able to run in HedgeModManager by editing the "mod.ini" file inside mod folders. The "IncludeDir0=" code is what causes older mods to not run in HMM. When that code tries to specify a location, for example (IncludeDir0="./mods/Sonic 2006 Voice (Sonic)") it won't run because the location specifications is made to work with SonicGMI and not HMM. Changing it so it only shows (IncludeDir0=".") solves the problem and makes the older mods fully compatible with HedgeModManager.
- Compatible with older mods that have difficulty running in HedgeModManager.[5]
- Not compatible with mods that inject custom code into the game.
- Replaces the PC version's 480p pre-rendered cutscenes with the PS3 version's 720p ones.
- Requires the "1280x720 Media Player" code from HedgeModManager, as a simple file replacement will crash the game.
- Video demo from author available here.
- Minimal-to-no performance impact.
- Fixes post-processing effects, improves visual fidelity and enables true directional shadows and light shafts, among other graphical tweaks.
- Currently bugs certain aspects of the game; such as character portraits not appearing in the collection room, the "color restoration" effect of hub-world being broken, and a blur appearing in front of Sonic when FPS is not equal to 60.
- Alternative to "Better FxPipeline" (doesn't contain the same bugs, however contains considerably less improvements & features, and is not being worked on anymore)
- The game renders generic shadows at 90° angles; this mod enables true directional shadows and light shafts, as well as additional graphical tweaks.
- Minimal-to-no performance impact.
- Also includes a version for the "Unleashed Project".
- A hex modification to the executable which increases the game's shadow resolution.
- Only applies to shadows cast by dynamic objects, not those that are baked into the textures themselves.
- May impact performance.
- Included as a toggleable code in HedgeModManager.
- Softens the edges of shadows casted by dynamic objects.
- Features two levels ("Soft" and "Softer")
- May impact performance.
- Requires HedgeModManager.
- Remasters the HUD elements for higher resolutions.
- Adds missing intro cutscene for the Casino Night DLC, which is present in the console versions but absent from the PC version.
- Ports the 9 "daytime" stages from Sonic Unleashed into the game, replacing the original Generations stages.
- Features graphical and gameplay tweaks, as well as a custom hub-world.
- Does not work out-of-the-box on NVIDIA Turing GPUs. However a workaround has fixed this.
System requirements
Windows |
|
Minimum |
Recommended |
Operating system (OS) |
XP, Vista |
7 |
Processor (CPU) |
Intel Pentium Dual-Core T4200 2.0 GHz
| Intel Core i5 2.66 GHz AMD Phenom II X4 3.0 GHz |
System memory (RAM) |
2 GB (XP) 3 GB (Vista, 7) |
3 GB |
Hard disk drive (HDD) |
11 GB | |
Video card (GPU) |
Nvidia GeForce 8800 ATI Radeon HD 2900 512 MB of VRAM DirectX 9 compatible
| Nvidia GeForce GTX 460 ATI Radeon HD 5850 1 GB of VRAM |
Notes
References