Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I

Developers
	Dimps
	Sonic Team
Publishers
	Sega
Release dates
Windows	January 19, 2012

Sonic the Hedgehog

Sonic CD (1996)	1996
Sonic's Schoolhouse	1996
Sonic 3D Blast	1997
Sonic & Knuckles Collection	1997
Sonic R (1998)	1998
Sonic R (2004)	2004
Sonic Adventure (series)
Sonic Heroes	2004
Sonic Mega Collection Plus	2006
Sonic Riders	2006
Sonic Racing (series)
Sonic 3D Blast (2010)	2010
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

General information

Official site

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Gamesplanet
Humble Store
Steam

All versions require Steam DRM.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\main.conf
Linux (Proton)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/202530/pfx/

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\Sonic_vis_save.dat <path-to-game>\data.txt
Linux (Proton)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/202530/pfx/

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Steam Cloud

Video settings

Configuration utility general settings.

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution			Game renders at 1280x720. See Widescreen resolution.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen			See the WSGF entry.
4K Ultra HD			See 4K Ultra HD Launcher Fix.
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		Use 0x000012C1 compatibility flag with Nvidia Profile Inspector.
Vertical sync (Vsync)		Always enabled.
60 FPS
120+ FPS		Uncapped frame rate, gameplay is capped at ~60 FPS. Manually cap the frame rate at 60 FPS if the game appears to stutter.
High dynamic range display (HDR)

Widescreen resolution

By default, game renders at 1280x720 and then upscales the content to match selected resolution. It's possible to raise the internal resolution to 1920x1080, however most 2D assets are done for 1280x720 and thus are upscaled regardless.

Replace files Download this patched executable. Extract to <path-to-game>. Leaderboard can't be accessed and achievements can't be unlocked.

Input settings

Configuration utility keyboard remapping.

Configuration utility controller settings.

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration		Mouse not used outside the launcher.
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support		XInput only.
Full controller support		Controller has to be selected from the launcher.
Controller remapping		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Controller sensitivity		Digital movement.
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger vibration

DualShock 4 controllers		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.

Tracked motion controllers

Generic/other controllers		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.

Additional information
Button prompts
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Audio settings

In-game audio settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Music, SFX
Surround sound
Subtitles		No speech.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost		See Mute on focus lost.

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Spanish
French
German
Italian
Japanese

Mute on focus lost

Set mute in background Install Special K by following the Special K Unofficial Guide. Manual local installation may work better. Start the game and press Ctrl+⇧ Shift+← Backspace to toggle Special K's Control Panel. Expand Window Management and Input/Output Behavior. Enable Mute Game under Background Behavior.

Issues fixed

Run the game at screen refresh rate

Fullscreen mode defaults to 60 Hz, even if the screen refresh rate is set higher than that.

Set screen refresh rate Install Special K by following the Special K Unofficial Guide. Manual local installation may work better. Start the game once and close it to allow the configuration file of Special K to be created. Open <path-to-game>\d3d9.ini or %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Mods\SpecialK\Profiles\Sonic_vis.exe\SpecialK.ini depending on the installation method you used. Change TargetFPS=0.0 to TargetFPS=60.0. Change RefreshRate=-1 to RefreshRate=0.

Mouse cursor visible during gameplay

Auto-hide mouse cursor Install Special K by following the Special K Unofficial Guide. Manual local installation may work better. Start the game and press Ctrl+⇧ Shift+← Backspace to toggle Special K's Control Panel. Expand Input Management and Mouse Cursor. Enable Hide When Not Moved and adjust Seconds Before Hiding to your liking.

4K Ultra HD Launcher Fix

If the launcher doesn't open properly on a 4K display, you will need to do some steps to fix this:

Change "SonicLaucher" Properties Right click on "SonicLaucher" and go to properties Go to compatibility and click on "Change High DPI Settings" Check "Program DPI" box Check "High DPI Scaling Override" box Choose "Scaling Performed by: Application" Apply and its done. Now the launcher should open normally and you will be able to change the resolution (up to 3840x2160 confirmed).

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	XP, Vista, 7	7
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium 4 @ 3.2 GHz/AMD Athlon 64 3000+ or Equivalent & above	Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.4 GHz/AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ & above
System memory (RAM)	1 GB (2 GB on Vista)	2 GB+
Hard disk drive (HDD)	6 GB	6 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce 8600 ATI Radeon HD3650 256 MB of VRAM	Nvidia GeForce 8800 ATI Radeon HD 3800 512 MB of VRAM