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Sonic Generations

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Sonic Generations
Sonic Generations cover
Developers
Sonic Team
Windows Devil's Details
Publishers
Sega
Engines
Hedgehog Engine
Release dates
Windows November 1, 2011
Reception
Metacritic 77
IGDB 75
Taxonomy
Monetization DLC
Modes Singleplayer
Pacing Real-time
Perspectives Third-person, Side view
Controls Direct control
Genres Platform, Action
Art styles Cartoon
Themes Fantasy
Series Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic Generations on HowLongToBeat
Sonic Generations on IGDB
Sonic Generations guide on StrategyWiki
Sonic Generations on MobyGames
Sonic Generations on Wikipedia
Sonic the Hedgehog fangames (series)
Sonic CD 1995
Sonic's Schoolhouse 1996
Sonic 3D Blast (series)
Sonic & Knuckles Collection 1997
Sonic R (series)
Sonic Adventure (series)
Sonic Heroes 2004
Sonic Mega Collection Plus 2006
Sonic Riders 2006
Sonic Racing (series)
Sonic the Hedgehog 2010
Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine 2010
Sonic Spinball 2010
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 2011
Sonic 3 & Knuckles 2011
Sonic Generations 2011
Sonic CD (2012) 2012
Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I 2012
Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II 2012
Sonic Dash 2014
Sonic Lost World 2015
Sonic Mania 2017
Sonic Forces 2017
Sonic the Hedgehog (Mobile Decompilation) 2021
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Mobile Decompilation) 2021
Sonic Colors: Ultimate 2021
Sonic Origins 2022
Sonic Frontiers 2022
The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog 2023
Sonic Superstars 2023
Sonic Dream Team 2023
Sonic X Shadow Generations 2024

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 Version uses the low resolution 480p cutscenes from the Xbox 360 version. The 720p cutscenes from the PS3 version can be restored using a mod.

General information

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
Retail
Icon overlay.png
Europe only.
Windows
Amazon.com
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Windows
Gamesplanet logo.svg
Icon overlay.png
Windows
Humble Store
Icon overlay.png
Windows
Steam
Icon overlay.png
Windows
All versions require Steam DRM.

DLC and expansion packs

Name Notes
Casino Night Zone As of 29/09/2016, all PC Players receive this DLC for free, but is still purchasable.
Windows

Essential improvements

Skip intro videos

Startup logo removal mod[1]
  1. Download HedgeModManager and extract to the installation folder.
  2. Download Startup Logo Removal and extract LogoRemoval folder to <path-to-game>\mods\.
  3. Run HedgeModManager.
  4. Enable "LogoRemoval" and click "Save and Play".

Improved Renderer

Direct3D 9 Ex (Optimized Renderer)
  1. Download HedgeModManager and extract to the installation folder.
  2. Download Direct3D 9 Ex (Optimized Renderer) and extract Direct3D 9 Ex (Optimized Renderer) folder to <path-to-game>\mods\.
  3. Run HedgeModManager.
  4. 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 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.

Game data

In-game options menu.
In-game options menu.

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\*.cfg[Note 1]
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/71340/pfx/[Note 2]

Save game data location

System Location
Windows <Steam-folder>\userdata\<user-id>\71340\
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/71340/pfx/[Note 2]

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
Steam Cloud
Approx. 100 MB available.

Video

External video settings.
External video settings.

Graphics feature State WSGF Notes
Widescreen resolution
See the WSGF entry for aspect ratios besides 16:9.
Multi-monitor
See the WSGF entry.
Ultra-widescreen
See the WSGF entry.
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
See Field of view (FOV).
Windowed
See Windowed.
Borderless fullscreen windowed
See Windowed.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anti-aliasing (AA)
FXAA.
Nvidia users can force SGSSAA in Nvidia Profile Inspector with the 0x084010C5 anti-aliasing flag.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS
Cutscenes are pre-rendered at 30 FPS.
120+ FPS
Frame rate is capped at 60 FPS.
High dynamic range display (HDR)
See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

Windowed

Force windowed through DxWnd[citation needed]
  1. Download and run DxWnd. (v2.04.62 is confirmed to work.)
  2. Click on Edit, then Add.
  3. Set the Path to <path-to-game>\SonicGenerations.exe.
  4. Set the window position and size.
  5. Set Desktop for borderless fullscreen windowed.
  6. Click on Input tab, set Cursor visibility to Hide.
  7. 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.
Force windowed through Direct3D 9 Ex (Optimized Renderer) mod
  1. Download HedgeModManager and extract to the installation folder.
  2. Download Direct3D 9 Ex (Optimized Renderer) and extract Direct3D 9 Ex (Optimized Renderer) folder to <path-to-game>\mods\.
  3. Run HedgeModManager.
  4. Enable "Direct3D 9 Ex"
  5. Go to Configure Mod
  6. Set "Display mode" to either "Windowed" or "Borderless Fullscreen"
  7. 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.

Field of view (FOV)

Change FOV with Flawless Widescreen[citation needed]
  1. Install Flawless Widescreen.
  2. Run it and install the Sonic Generations plugin.
  3. Go to the Flawless Widescreen installation folder.
  4. Go into the \PluginCache\FWS_Plugins\Modules\SonicGenerations\Dependencies\Scripts\ folder.
  5. Download the modified FWS Script Mod from WSGF.
  6. Replace the original SonicGenerations.lua with the modified one.
  7. Restart Flawless Widescreen and adjust the FOV as needed.
Hex edit .exe files[citation needed]
  1. Download the fixed .exe from the WSGF attachment
  2. Install a hex editor such as HxD.
  3. Go to offset 0xFC10B5.
  4. 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.

Input

External control settings.
External control settings.

Keyboard and mouse State Notes
Remapping
Keys must be bound to a virtual Xbox 360 Controller. The game will display the matching gamepad buttons instead of keyboard keys in the tooltips.
Certain keys, such as Shift, Ctrl, and Alt cannot be bound.
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Only for external configuration tool.
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
XInput controllers only.
Full controller support
Controller remapping
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion
Controller types
XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger vibration
PlayStation controllers
Use Steam Input.
PlayStation button prompts
Download Sonic GMI and use the mod from this video's description.
Light bar support
Adaptive trigger support
DualSense haptic feedback support
Connection modes
Generic/other controllers
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
On by default, no apparent way to disable it.
Digital movement supported
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Audio

External audio settings.
External audio settings.

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Auto configures up to 5.1 output.[2]
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
French
German
Italian
Has some translation issues.
Japanese
Spanish
Castilian.
Russian
Fan translation, available here.
Brazilian Portuguese
Fan translation, download.

VR support

3D modes State GG3D Notes
Native 3D
Side-by-side
Nvidia 3D Vision
See Helix Mod: Sonic Generations for improved support.
TriDef 3D
iZ3D
vorpX
G3D
User created game profile, see vorpx forum profile introduction.

Issues fixed

Issues with Nvidia Optimus laptops

Method 1: "Extend Desktop" Fix[citation needed]
  1. Open Nvidia Control Panel.
  2. Click on "Manage 3D Settings" in the left side of the panel, and click "add".
  3. Select <path-to-game>\SonicGenerations.exe.
  4. Select the option to force it to use Nvidia Graphics Card.
  5. 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).
  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[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.
  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 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.
  4. Use the Sonic Generations configuration tool to configure the game to your liking and save.
  5. Go to Sonic Generations installation folder.
  6. Edit GraphicsConfig.cfg.
  7. 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.
  8. 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.

Low FPS

Lag in-game[3]
  1. Turn off in-game Vsync through the config tool.
  2. Force it through the graphics driver.

Configuration Tool does not open/crashes

Config tool crashing[citation needed]

Notes

If the above doesn't work run Windows Update and install ALL Updates available.

Crash on startup

Set sound quality to 24 bit, 48000 Hz[citation needed]
Other possible solutions[citation needed]
If the sound quality fix doesn't work, try the following:
  1. Run Sonic Generations and Steam as administrator.
  2. Have Steam verify the integrity of the game cache
  3. 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.

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]
  1. Delete *.cfg files in <path-to-game>.
  2. Re-run config tool and ensure you select resolution and refresh rate that your computer supports.

Crash when trying to play online ranking mode

Instructions[citation needed]
  • 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.

Quickstep fix

Modern Sonic's Quickstep sound doesn't play[citation needed]
  1. Download this fix.
  2. 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.

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 9
Shader Model support 3
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Physics Havok

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]
All mods mentioned below, as well as several others, are listed here.

SonicGMI

The recommended mod manager for Sonic Generations.
Compatible with older mods that have difficulty running in HedgeModManager.[5]

HD Pre-rendered Cutscenes

This mod uses the 720p cutscenes from the Ps3 version of the game.
Only Compatible with Hedgehog Mod Manager Via the 720p Video Player Code.

HedgeModManager

Mod manager for all Hedgehog Engine titles. Required for all non-exe mods. [citation needed]
Includes FxPipeline Renderer, which contains graphical improvements and an optimized graphical renderer, providing better performance and lighting.
Adds the Blue Trail effect back to the game that was removed after Unleashed.
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.
Some older mods have issues running in HedgeModManager. If this is the case, use SonicGMI instead.[5]
Older mods may still be able to run in HedgeModManager by editing the "mod.ini" file inside mod folers. 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.

Graphics Overhaul

Minimal to no performance impact.
Generations renders generic shadows at 90° angles, this mod enables true directional shadows and light shafts, as well as some graphical tweaks.
Also includes a version for the "Unleashed Project v1.0".

High Resolution Shadows

A hex modification to the executable increases the game's shadow resolutions.
Only for the shadows cast by dynamic objects, not those that are baked into the levels themselves.
May impact performance.
Included as a toggleable code in HedgeModManager.

High-Res HUD

Increases the resolution of the HUD elements.

Casino Night Done Right

Adds in the Casino Night cutscene missing from the PC version.

Unleashed Project Mod

Unleashed Project Mod comes with Sonic Unleashed day stages ported from the Xbox 360 version with many graphical and minor gameplay improvements, as well as its own hub world.
Does not work out of the box on Turing GPUs, However a Workaround has fixed this. See: workaround [1].

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) XP, Vista
Processor (CPU) Intel Pentium Dual-Core T4200 2.0 GHz
System memory (RAM) 2 GB (XP)
3 GB (Vista, 7)
Hard disk drive (HDD) 11 GB
Video card (GPU) Nvidia GeForce 8800
ATI Radeon HD 2900
512 MB of VRAM
DirectX 9 compatible


Notes

  1. When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).
  2. 2.0 2.1 File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data (use Wine regedit to access Windows registry paths). Games with Steam Cloud support may store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/71340/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (71340) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References