Sonic Heroes

Sonic Heroes

Developers
	Sonic Team USA
Publishers
	Sega
Engines
	RenderWare
Release dates
Windows	November 17, 2004

Warnings

SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see Availability for affected versions).

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.

Most of the fixes documented in this article target the DRM-free executable and will not work with other versions.

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		SafeDisc v4 DRM.
Retail		Korean Release. Simple disc check.
Retail		Available in the "Sonic PC Collection" bundle.

SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see above for affected versions).

This game is not available digitally.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	%APPDATA%\Sega\SONICHEROES\sonic_h.ini

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	%APPDATA%\Sega\SONICHEROES\SONICHEROES_##

Video settings

Widescreen resolution

Use Heroes Graphics Essentials
Requires Reloaded II Check Graphics.json for available features

Use Sonic Heroes Settings[citation needed]
Includes presets for 720p, 1080p, and 4K 16:9

Use Sonic Heroes Widescreen + 2D fix[citation needed]

ThirteenAG's Widescreen Fix[citation needed]
Open SonicHeroes.WidescreenFix.ini. Change ResX = 0 and ResY = 0 values to the desired resolution.

Field of view (FOV)

Change with Widescreen Fix
Download ThirteenAG's Widescreen Fix (developer build). Open SonicHeroes.WidescreenFix.ini. Change FOV_Zoom_Factor = 1 as needed.

Change FOV with Cheat Engine[citation needed]
Download and install Cheat Engine. Download the WSGF attachment (Widescreen presets + Transparency Bug Fixes). Use the included Cheat Table file to adjust the FOV (hotkeys: Ctrl+P/Ctrl+Alt+P).

Change FOV with hex edit[citation needed]

Original method: Open Tsonic_win.exe with a hex editor such as HxD. Go to offset 0x25811A. Replace bytes 00 00 80 3F with bytes representing your float value multiplier (default multiplier is 1.0). Remember to invert the byte order to Little Endian. Fixed exe with 2D aspect fix: Download the attachment "Sonic Heroes Widescreen + 2D fix" from WSGF. Replace the original/existing exe in the installation folder. Open Tsonic_win.exe with a hex editor such as HxD. Go to offset 0x31CA0B. Replace bytes 00 00 80 3F with bytes representing your float value multiplier (default multiplier is 1.0). Remember to invert the byte order to Little Endian. Notes Use this online float to hex converter. Changing FOV multiplier will slightly break the menus and won't adjust 2D HUD elements. FOV multiplier values lower than 1.0 will also cause black clipping on geometry.

Windowed

Use Graphics Essentials
Install Heroes Graphics Essentials (requires Reloaded II). Open Graphics.json. Edit the "Fullscreen", "Borderless", and "Resizable" parameters as needed.

Frame rate (FPS)

Multiplayer levels with split screen are capped at 30 FPS by default.

Disable 2P frame skip
Install Heroes Graphics Essentials (requires Reloaded II). Make sure "Disable2PFrameskip": true is set in Graphics.json.

Disable 2P frame skip (Manually with Hex Editor)[citation needed]
Open Tsonic_win.exe with a hex editor such as HxD. Go to offset 0x2CFC and replace the bytes A1 80 0B A6 00 with A1 B0 AE 8C 00. Go to offset 0x2D07 and simply replace the byte 40 with 90.

Input settings

Controller support

A fix is required for the game to recognize triggers.

The PC port of Sonic Heroes does not read trigger information from DirectInput controllers.

However, internally, the game engine still supports pressure sensitive rotation using the trigger buttons.

The following solution(s) restore trigger rotation functionality, providing pressure sensitive trigger rotation:

Use Heroes Controller Hook
Requires Reloaded II Enable provided XInput for Controller Hook mod (sonicheroes.controller.hook.xinput). For remapping, `Configure Mod` in Reloaded II launcher or see Controller0.json after running the mod once. To configure post processing (deadzones etc.), enable provided Post Process for Controller Hook mod. Controller vibration currently not supported.

The following solution(s) emulate button presses (for Rotate Camera Left/Right) using triggers:

Use Sonic Heroes Settings[citation needed]
Extract all files to the root directory of the game and run Sonic Heroes Settings.exe. The game will be automatically configured for Xinput controllers. This solution uses XInput Plus, as seen below.

Fix XInput triggers[citation needed]
If using Sonic Heroes Widescreen Fix, rename dinput8.dll to d3d8.dll. Download and run XInput Plus. Set the Target Program to Tsonic_win.exe. Go to DirectInput and check Enable DirectInput Output. Click on Customize. Assign Left Trigger to Button7. Assign Right Trigger to Button8. Click OK and Apply. Open Sonic Heroes controller settings. Assign Button 7 and Button 8 as needed.

Console controller bindings

The in-game's interface refers to gamepad's buttons in similar way to Nintendo GameCube's gamepad, but not sorted in the same way. PC controls doesn't corresponds to any of the console versions.

Instructions[citation needed]
Start/Pause: Start Jump: Button A Action/Cancel: Button X Formation Change to the Right: Button B Formation Change to the Left: Button Y Team Blast: Button Z Rotate the camera to the right: Right trigger Rotate the camera to the left: Left trigger

Configuring Xbox 360 controller[citation needed]

Because of DirectInput limitations, in this configuration L and R buttons are assigned on LB and RB since the LT and RT can't be configured by default. The missing Z button has been assigned on the Back button. (Start) Start/Pause: Button 8 (A) Jump: Button 1 (X) Action/Cancel: Button 3 (B) Formation Change to the Right: Button 2 (Y) Formation Change to the Left: Button 4 (Z) Team Blast: Button 7 (R) Rotate the camera to the right: Button 6 (L) Rotate the camera to the left: Button 5

Configuring DualShock 4 controller[citation needed]
(Start) Start/Pause: Button 10 (A) Jump: Button 2 (X) Action/Cancel: Button 3 (B) Formation Change to the Right: Button 4 (Y) Formation Change to the Left: Button 1 (Z) Team Blast: Button 6

Audio settings

Subtitle Language Settings Menu

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Spanish				Castilian. Contains some translation errors.

Subtitles for all languages are timed to line up with the English dub, except for Japanese and Korean, which are timed to line up with the Japanese dub.

Disable voices

Many voice clips can be disabled. Voice clips that also have subtitles will still play, however.

Instructions
Open %APPDATA%\Sega\SONICHEROES\sonic_h.ini Add the line Charmy_Shutup 1 to the end of the file.

Japanese voices

The non-JP releases of the PC version only include the English voice track. This mod will replace them with the Japanese track.

Use Sonic Heroes Japanese Voices

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
Local play		2	Hold A Button + Y Button after you select a level to turn your team into "Metal Heroes"
LAN play
Online play

Issues fixed

Game refuses to start

Fix Data Execution Prevention setting[citation needed]
Ensure Data Execution Prevention (DEP) setting is set to Turn on DEP for essential Windows programs and services only or add a DEP Exception for Tsonic_win.exe, and reboot.

Slow or choppy motion

Force GPU scaling[citation needed]
Graphics problem. Open Catalyst Control Center or Nvidia Control Panel. Force GPU scaling on.

Missing audio

Certain voice effects are missing in some releases of the PC port.

Use Sonic Heroes Missing Audio clip fixes[citation needed]

Transparency bugs for certain game objects

Transparency Blending fixes[citation needed]
Fixes various alpha blending issues by (mostly) tweaking individual object blend modes. Use Sonic Heroes Transparency Blending fixes.

Manual Tweaks

A list of optional tweaks to the game that can be applied with a hex editor.

Grand Metropolis Energy pipe glass see through walls

Remove obvious Z-buffering from the model[citation needed]
Incorrect material flag. Open Tsonic_win.exe with a hex editor such as HxD. Go to offset 0x174130. Change the byte from 64 to A4 (additive alpha, double sided) or B0 (regular alpha).

Multiplayer Play All mode stops at the 2nd stage

Multiplayer Play all stage mode correction[citation needed]

Multiplayer ends at 2nd stage instead of the last one. Open Tsonic_win.exe with a hex editor such as HxD. Go to offsets 0x1A9534 and 0x1A9586 and replace the bytes from 02 to 03. Replace the hex string in offset 0x23FC0 from F8 02 7E 05 B8 02 00 00 00 83 F8 FF 7D 0A 83 C8 FF 88 81 BC D6 9D 00 C3 83 F8 02 7E 05 B8 02 00 to F8 03 7E 05 B8 03 00 00 00 83 F8 FF 7D 0A 83 C8 FF 88 81 BC D6 9D 00 C3 83 F8 03 7E 05 B8 03 00 In offset 0x74AAD, replace the hex string from F8 02 7E 05 B8 02 00 00 00 83 F8 FF 7D 05 83 C8 FF EB 0A 83 F8 02 7E 05 B8 02 00 to F8 03 7E 05 B8 03 00 00 00 83 F8 FF 7D 05 83 C8 FF EB 0A 83 F8 03 7E 05 B8 03 00 Replace the hex string at offset 0x13F2F8 from F8 02 7E 05 B8 02 00 00 00 83 F8 FF 7D 05 83 C8 FF EB 0A 83 F8 02 7E 05 B8 02 00 to F8 03 7E 05 B8 03 00 00 00 83 F8 FF 7D 05 83 C8 FF EB 0A 83 F8 03 7E 05 B8 03 00 Replace the hex string in offset 0x1A975F to F8 03 7E 05 B8 03 00 00 00 83 F8 FF 7D 05 83 C8 FF EB 0A 83 F8 03 7E 05 B8 03 00 Replace the hex string in offset 0x1A9842 to F8 03 7E 05 B8 03 00 00 00 83 F8 FF 7D 0B 83 C8 FF 88 86 BC D6 9D 00 5E C3 83 F8 03 7E 05 B8 03 00 Last, Paste write the hex string in offset 0x1B2956 to F8 03 7E 05 B8 03 00 00 00 83 F8 FF 7D 18 83 C8 FF 5F 88 86 BC D6 9D 00 80 8D 07 02 00 00 40 5E 5D 5B 83 C4 34 C3 83 F8 03 7E 05 B8 03 00

Shadow's tornado effect is single sided

Disable culling for Shadow the Hedgehog's tornado effect[citation needed]
Incorrect culling materials applied to the model. Open Tsonic_win.exe with a hex editor such as HxD. Next, Go to offset 0x23FEDA and change the byte from 05 to 01. Last, Go to offset 0x23FEDC and change the material type function byte from 0A (source blend) to 14 (culling).

Missing Effect for Espio's Shuriken explosion effect

Re-import the blue crescent effects into the PC port[citation needed]
The blue crescent particle textures are not included in the PC port of the game. Download the texture dictionary file from here Extract the file from this archive. Copy the cmn_effect.txd and replace the original file with this one in the directory "/dvdroot/textures".

Odd Vertex Paint rendering for the root ball in Frog Forest

Correctly render the floating root ball[citation needed]
The vertex paint disappears from the model at some positions. Open Tsonic_win.exe with a hex editor such as HxD. Go to offset 0xDDC4B, change the material flag pointer byte from 60 to 78 to remove the bug and then save. The vertex paint will remain on the model at all costs.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	8	Minimal required DirectX version listed is 9.0b, however the game uses D3D8 for rendering. For D3D9 support use external wrapper such as D3D8To9

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Xbox quality FMV movies

The Xbox port of the game contains the highest quality audio and video.

Use Xbox quality FMVs[citation needed]
Download Sonic Heroes FMV Movies (Xbox Quality). Extract the files from this archive. Copy them from the folder and replace the .sfd files with these ones in the directory "/dvdroot/movie".

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	98SE	ME, 2000, XP
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium III 866 MHz AMD Athlon 850 MHz	Intel Pentium 4 1.4 GHz AMD Athlon XP 1800+
System memory (RAM)	128 MB	256 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	800 MB	1.5 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce 256 ATI Radeon SDR 16 MB of VRAM DirectX 9.0b compatible	Nvidia GeForce 3 ATI Radeon 9000 64 MB of VRAM