Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I
Developers

	Dimps
	Sonic Team
Publishers
	Sega
Engines
	Sega NN Graphics Library^[1]
Release dates
Windows	January 19, 2012
Reception
IGDB	75

Contents 1 Availability 2 Essential improvements 2.1 Sonic 4 Rewritten Launcher 3 Game data 3.1 Configuration file(s) location 3.2 Save game data location 3.3 Save game cloud syncing 4 Video 4.1 Widescreen resolution 5 Input 6 Audio 6.1 Localizations 6.2 Mute on focus lost 7 Issues fixed 7.1 4K Ultra HD Launcher Fixes 7.2 Run the game at screen refresh rate 7.3 Mouse cursor visible during gameplay 8 Other information 8.1 API 8.2 Mods 8.2.1 Sonic 4 Mod Loader 8.2.2 iPad HD Textures 8.2.3 Smoother Cel Shader 8.2.4 Splash Hill Zone Re-Imagined 8.2.5 No HUD 9 System requirements 10 Notes 11 References


⤏ Go to series page
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

Key points

Configuration tool requires installed Java runtime libraries in order to run despite not being stated in the game's system requirements. You can use Sonic 4 Rewritten Launcher as a non-Java alternative to configure the game.

General information

Steam Community Discussions

Availability[edit]

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Gamesplanet
Humble Store
Steam

Essential improvements[edit]

Sonic 4 Rewritten Launcher[edit]

A C++ rewrite of the configuration tool for Sonic The Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 that removes the dependency to have Java runtime libraries installed despite the actual game not using Java.

Game data[edit]

Configuration file(s) location[edit]

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\main.conf^{[Note 1]}
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/202530/pfx/^{[Note 2]}

Save game data location[edit]

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\Sonic_vis_save.dat^{[Note 1]} <path-to-game>\data.txt
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/202530/pfx/^{[Note 2]}

Save game cloud syncing[edit]

System	Native	Notes
Steam Cloud

Video[edit]

Configuration utility general settings.

Graphics feature	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution		Game renders internally at 1280x720. See Widescreen resolution for rendering internally at 1080p.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen		See the WSGF entry.
4K Ultra HD		See 4K Ultra HD Launcher Fixes for fixing issues opening the configuration tool on a 4K monitor.
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.^[2]
Vertical sync (Vsync)	See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
60 FPS
120+ FPS	Uncapped frame rate, gameplay is capped at ~60 FPS.^[3] Manually cap the frame rate at 60 FPS if the game appears to stutter.
High dynamic range display (HDR)

Widescreen resolution[edit]

By default, game renders internally 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^[4]
Download this patched executable. Extract to `<path-to-game>`. Leaderboards can't be accessed and achievements can't be unlocked.^[5]

Replace files^[4]

Download this patched executable.
Extract to <path-to-game>.

Leaderboards can't be accessed and achievements can't be unlocked.^[5]

Input[edit]

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.

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

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

Audio[edit]

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[edit]

Set mute in background^[6]
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[edit]

4K Ultra HD Launcher Fixes[edit]

Use Sonic 4 Rewritten Launcher
See Sonic 4 Rewritten Launcher for running the launcher without compatibility fixes and without Java runtime dependencies.

Change "SonicLauncher" Properties
Right click on "SonicLauncher" 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).

Change "SonicLauncher" Properties

Right click on "SonicLauncher" 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).

Run the game at screen refresh rate[edit]

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

Set screen refresh rate^[6]
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`.

Set screen refresh rate^[6]

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[edit]

Auto-hide mouse cursor^[6]
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.

Other information[edit]

API[edit]

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

No HUD[edit]

Removes the HUD from all gameplay stages and special stages.

System requirements[edit]

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

Notes

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 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).
↑ ^2.0 ^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>/202530/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (202530) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References

↑ Verified by User:Icup321 on 2020-06-28
Confirmed via checking file formats and embedded strings in executable: nn Ver 1.01.05 Build:Apr 24 2009 08:18:37, SEGA NN Library for DirectX G2.0
↑ http://forums.guru3d.com/showpost.php?p=4641593&postcount=1248
↑ Verified by User:Marioysikax on April 12, 2016
↑ 3DCenter Forum - Einzelnen Beitrag anzeigen - Antialiasing - Kompatibilitätsbits - Sammelthread
↑ https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=210551911
↑ ^6.0 ^6.1 ^6.2 Verified by User:Keith on 2017-09-18

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