The Official Sonic 4 on PC discussion topic

[Nicknine]

Ok, so I ran the game at 1024x768 then ran it at 1280x960. Result? No differences in terms of picture quality. So, this game renders at 1024x768 max and is upscaled to higher reslutions. FAIL.

Edited February 26, 2012 by Nik1895

[ezodagrom]

Ok, so I ran the game at 1024x768 then ran it at 1280x960. Result? No differences in terms of picture quality. So, this game renders at 1024x768 max and is upscaled to higher reslutions. FAIL.

Actually the game renders at 1280x720, anything above is upscaled, anything below is downscaled.

The proof is anti-aliasing, forcing anti-aliasing through the graphics drivers (only works on AMD/ATI graphics cards, apparently) only works at 1280x720.

[A Spray Can in Tokyo-to]

EDIT: Wrong thread. :U

Edited March 4, 2012 by A Spray Can in Tokyo-to

[Nast]

.

[Blue Blood]

Boy oh boy, I sure have a lot of trouble playing Sonic games through Steam.

So yeah, I can't load this game up on my PC (Windows XP Media Center). Can anyone help me?

I don't even know what the problem is for sure. I've noticed that upon starting it up, a SonicLauncher.exe shows up on the task manager for a second then disappears, but I don't even get an error message or anything like that. Also, my computer does meet the requirements for the game, so that's not the problem.

[Nast]

.

[Swiss]

Have you tried verifying the integrity of the game cache? The game could me missing a file somewhere, it's quite a common occurrence.

If not, right-click the game in your Steam library, click Properties, then under the Local Files tab you should see the 'Verify Integrity of Game Cache' button. Worth a try!

[Nast]

.

[ezodagrom]

Try installing visual c++ 2005, 2008 and 2010 runtimes.

Edited March 26, 2012 by ezodagrom

[Nicknine]

There is currently -66% discount on Sonic 4: Episode 1 on Steam. It now costs $3.39. And that's it's true price.

Edited March 26, 2012 by Nik1895

[Swiss]

If somebody makes an amazing game-changing mod in the next 22 hours, I'll cough up the dough.

Everyone's just given up on the mod side of things, it seems.

[Nicknine]

Looks like it's possible to force anti-aliasing for Nvidia graphics cards afterall. I don't have an Nvidia graphics card myself, so I can't test this, but someone in the Guru3D forums mentioned that this works for Sonic 4 Episode 2.

First thing, the tool Nvidia Inspector is needed:

http://download.orbm...nload.php?id=51

When you open Nvidia inspector, next to the driver version tab, there's a little icon with the screwdriver and a wrench, click on it.

After that, follow the steps in the picture:

1: Select the game executable, it should be located in steam\steamapps\common\sonic the hedgehog 4 - ep 2, and then it's the file Sonic.exe.

2: Write 0x000012C1 in the Antialiasing compatibility option.

3: Set the Behaviour Flags to None.

4: Change the Antialiasing mode to Override.

5: Pick the Antialiasing setting you want (I don't have an nvidia graphics card, so no idea what options it has).

6: Click in Apply Changes.

I've just tried this on both episodes and it worked! (I have GeForce GTS 450) But SUDDENLY only at 1280x720. I had to edit config file to launch Episode 2 at 1280x720 because I have 4:3 display so there are only 4:3 resolutions available in the Episode 2 launcher.

EDIT: Screenshots:

Episode 1:

Episode 2:

Used 16xS AA method (4x Supersampling + 4x multisampling Combined)

Edited May 16, 2012 by Nik1895

[ezodagrom]

I edited the title of the topic, so this topic can now be used to discuss the PC versions of both Episode 1 and 2.

I might as well post the guide on how to use anti-aliasing for AMD/ATI graphics cards as well:

In the Catalyst Control Center (AMD/ATI graphics cards drivers), go to gaming and 3D Application Settings, there you can change the anti-aliasing level between 2x, 4x and 8x (note, you have to disable the "use application settings" option):

In more recent graphics cards (HD5000 series or newer), close to the end of the graphics options, there's an option to change the Anti-Aliasing mode. The more important ones are Multi-Sample and Super-Sample. Super-Sample offers better quality than Multi-Sample, but it uses more resources.

If your driver is older than the Catalyst 12.1 version, just click in the apply button. Note that this doesn't affect just Sonic 4 Episode 2, it affects every game, so be sure to set anti-aliasing to "Use Application Settings" when you close Episode 2.

If you have Catalyst version 12.1 or newer, it's possible to create profiles for different games. With this you can create a profile for Sonic 4 Episode 2 so the settings you use for Sonic 4 Episode 2 don't affect other games. Just put the graphics settings you want (you don't need to click in the Apply button in the end of the graphics settings page), click in the Save button next to "New Applications", select the game executable (Sonic.exe), and it's done, every time you start the game the drivers will load the settings from the profile automatically.

Edited May 16, 2012 by ezodagrom

[Kokonoe]

jackfuste of Widescreen Gaming Forum made a 1080p patch for Sonic 4 Episode II.

http://www.wsgf.org/...#comment-245908

Uploaded to mediafire in .zip format.

http://www.mediafire.com/?yv27dos2wvibuih

Edited May 17, 2012 by Kokonoe

[Blue Blood]

Bloody brilliant. The lighting has all been redone too, and actually looks better. Sylvania Castle's sunset looks more convincing now.

[ezodagrom]

Bloody brilliant. The lighting has all been redone too, and actually looks better. Sylvania Castle's sunset looks more convincing now.

The orangeish lighting seems to be more of a "side-effect" of how he implemented super-sampling than something he did on purpose. Without the patch, when I try the drivers SSAA at resolutions that aren't 1280x720, while the game look jaggy, the image in Sylvania Castle is all orange, the way he applied SSAA in the supersampling patch must have caused the orangeish lighting.

It's kinda hard to explain what I mean, so I'll post some pictures. Most of the pictures are from the beta version though, since I'm not sure if I should try the patch in the official version, apparently it uses the cracked executable. The only picture that isn't from the beta version is the picture where I applied the drivers SSAA to the upscaled game, 2nd picture, but the results in the beta are the same.

This is how the beta version looks at 1440x900 without the patch, it's upscaled from 1280x720, but note how there's no light effects below the timer:

http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/6187/upscaled.jpg

After forcing SSAA in the drivers, this is the result:

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/1623/sonic20120517194838368.jpg

With the patch, this is how the game looks at 1440x900, now the light effects work properly, unlike in the upscaled images:

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/7189/natives.jpg

This is with 4x SSAA forced in the drivers together with the native patch, similar results to the native patch, but without jaggies:

http://img831.imageshack.us/img831/9307/nativessaa4x.jpg

And now this is the supersampling patch, it's kinda of a mix of the broken lighting in the 2nd picture and the proper lighting of the game:

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/6313/supersampling2x2.jpg

Edited May 17, 2012 by ezodagrom

[Tracker_TD]

Hm... at the risk of sounding like a complete moron, I'm a bit confused as to how to apply this 'patch.' :s

[Guest]

Finally a patch that can make resolution change "Native", not scaled like the consoles!

Awesome

[Blue Blood]

Someone should show this to Ken, after he made up an excuse for this game only scaling.

[ezodagrom]

Someone should show this to Ken, after he made up an excuse for this game only scaling.

The original link where the patch was uploaded has been "blocked for violation", SEGA is probably aware of the patch already.

Most likely they blocked the patch because it uses the cracked executable though.

Edited May 17, 2012 by ezodagrom

[ezodagrom]

According to the Steam registry, there's a patch being tested for the PC version of Sonic 4 Episode 2.

I wonder if the patch that is being tested could be related to the complaints in the SEGA forums about the game always being rendered at 1280x720 independently of the resolution chosen.

[PickleBrows]

According to the Steam registry, there's a patch being tested for the PC version of Sonic 4 Episode 2.

I wonder if the patch that is being tested could be related to the complaints in the SEGA forums about the game always being rendered at 1280x720 independently of the resolution chosen.

It could also be to allow tails to lead since Ken did say that may be something to consider after the game's launch.

[sovereign73811]

According to the Steam registry, there's a patch being tested for the PC version of Sonic 4 Episode 2.

I wonder if the patch that is being tested could be related to the complaints in the SEGA forums about the game always being rendered at 1280x720 independently of the resolution chosen.

It could also be to allow tails to lead since Ken did say that may be something to consider after the game's launch.

If they turn that into DLC that we have to pay money for, I'm gonna be ticked.

As far as resolution is concerned, Ep. II seems to render in 1080 for me. I wonder if the game has an automatic harware profile so it overrides settings based on hardware limitations...but I'm assuming you've got a decent machine to run it on; this game was made with Google Android in mind...

Edited May 22, 2012 by sovereign73811

[ezodagrom]

If they turn that into DLC that we have to pay money for, I'm gonna be ticked.

As far as resolution is concerned, Ep. II seems to render in 1080 for me. I wonder if the game has an automatic harware profile so it overrides settings based on hardware limitations...but I'm assuming you've got a decent machine to run it on; this game was made with Google Android in mind...

Unless you're using the modified executable that has been around, the game is not rendering at 1080p for you, it's just upscaled to 720p to 1080p, which makes the game look blurrier and more pixelated than how it would be if it was properly rendering at 1080p.

One way to know that the game isn't actually rendering at 1080p is to force anti-aliasing through the graphics drivers for amd/ati cards or nvidia inspector for nvidia cards. AA only works at 720p because all other resolutions are just downscaled or upscaled. If this issue is fixed with the patch, AA will work at any resolution.

[ezodagrom]

The Steam registry entry has been updated, the Beta Version ID was changed from version 12 to version 13: