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Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed Collection
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed Collection cover
Developers
Sumo Digital
Publishers
Sega
1C-SoftClub
Engines
Sumo Engine
Release dates
Windows January 31, 2013
Reception
Metacritic 79
IGDB 79
Taxonomy
Monetization One-time game purchase
Microtransactions Unlock
Modes Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing Real-time
Perspectives Third-person
Controls Direct control
Genres Racing, Vehicle combat
Sports Sailing/boating
Vehicles Automobile, Flight, Naval/watercraft, Track racing
Art styles Cartoon
Themes Fantasy
Series Sonic Racing
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed on HowLongToBeat
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed on IGDB
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed guide on StrategyWiki
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed on MobyGames
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed on Wikipedia
Sonic Racing
Subseries of Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing 2010
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed 2013
Team Sonic Racing 2019
Sonic Racing 2019

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed is a singleplayer and multiplayer third-person racing and vehicle combat game in the Sonic Racing series.

Key points

Free downloadable content through updates.
Suffers from poor handling of the frame rate with the update rate limit being always set at 60 FPS and v-sync changing the presentation logic; capped at ~58 FPS with an inaccurate internal frame limiter if v-sync is disabled, and while limiter is bypassed if v-sync is enabled, frame rates higher than 60 FPS will cause the engine to duplicate the frames and may cause extreme stuttering. See High frame rate and Run the game at maximum refresh rate.[1]
Game can look very dithered and blurry even at the highest settings. See Dithering and pop-in and Poor image quality[2]
Not fully compatible with Nvidia GPUs with Turing or newer architectures (1600 series and above). Game will boot and run, but will crash at random mid-race. Workarounds are detailed here

General information

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
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
Metal Sonic & Outrun Unlocks Metal Sonic from the Sonic The Hedgehog series and the Outrun Bay course from the Outrun series. Included with the game for all owners as of January 17, 2018.
Windows
Ryo Hazuki Unlocks Ryo Hazuki from the Shenmue series. Included with the game for all owners as of January 17, 2018.
Windows
Yogscast Unlocks Simon Lane from Yogscast.
Windows

Essential improvements

Skip intro videos

Use intro skip[3]
  1. Download the Intro Skip Files.
  2. Extract to <path-to-game>\Data\movies.

Start the Launcher

Open Steam, view the game's properties from your library, select the Local Files tab, then click Browse Local Files. Run Launcher.exe (Windows 10: Must run as an administrator). This allows you to make essential changes to the graphics and especially controllers!

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows %USERPROFILE%\Documents\SART\
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/212480/pfx/[Note 1]

Save game data location

System Location
Windows <Steam-folder>\userdata\<user-id>\212480\remote\
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/212480/pfx/[Note 1]

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
Steam Cloud

Video

Graphics settings in launcher.
Graphics settings in launcher.
Advanced graphics settings in launcher.
Advanced graphics settings in launcher.
Video options are only accessible through the configuration tool.

Graphics feature State WSGF Notes
Widescreen resolution
16:9 letterboxing. For resolutions narrower than 16:9, see Field of view (FOV).
Multi-monitor
See the WSGF entry.
Ultra-widescreen
See the WSGF entry.
4K Ultra HD
Sun may be blinding in some areas at 4K resolution.[citation needed]
Field of view (FOV)
See Field of view (FOV).
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Referred to as Windowed/Fullscreen in the launcher.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
No Texture filtering options presented. Force through GPU control panel.
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Toggleable FXAA. See the related wiki article for other methods.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
Poor implementation of v-sync. It's highly recommended to disable through launcher and to force v-sync externally if desired; note that doing so via GPU control panel may only work if exclusive full-screen mode is selected. See High frame rate and Run the game at maximum refresh rate.[4]
60 FPS
Inaccurately capped at ~58 FPS with (in-game) v-sync disabled and with possible stuttering with it enabled. For best results - if only 60 FPS is desired - set the refresh rate to 60 Hz and enable v-sync through launcher or see High frame rate and only change the frame limiter value and manually cap the FPS.[5]
120+ FPS
Inaccurately capped at ~58 FPS with (in-game) v-sync disabled. Tick rate / update rate limit set to 60 FPS with v-sync enabled, causing frame duplication and stuttering at higher refresh rates if overall output rate is not divisible by 60 FPS. To change the frame limiter and the update rate value see High frame rate and Run the game at maximum refresh rate.[6][7]
High dynamic range display (HDR)
See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

High frame rate

This fix has only been tested during offline sessions. It may cause issues online.
Increasing the maximum update rate limit will cause increased handling sensitivity during flights and also a loss of acceleration while on water when not boosting for all vehicles; however game remains playable even at 300 FPS.
Increasing the maximum update rate limit will cause 2D animations (e.g. menu navigations) to be sped-up.
Modify with Cheat Engine[8]
  1. Disable v-sync through the launcher and launch the game.
  2. Install Cheat Engine and attach the game process.
  3. While ASN_App_PcDx9_Final.exe is selected in the memory search range, search for the following in rounded (extreme) mode, while Executable, Writable and CopyOnWrite is set to Don't Care and the Fast Scan option disabled: 0.016666666666 as a float of which there should be three instances of, 60.00000000 and 0.01666666 as a double.
  4. Change the three float values to 1/FPS (e.g. 0.006944444444 for 144 FPS or to 0.003333333333 for 300 FPS).
  5. Change the 60.00000000 double value to the desired FPS value (e.g. 144.00000000 or 300.00000000).
  6. Change the ~0.01666666 double value to a value close to the 1/FPS value (e.g. 0.005) [which is actually 1/200 FPS] instead of 0.006944444444 for 144 FPS or to 0.002 [which is actually 1/500 FPS] instead of 0.003333333333 for 300 FPS). This is due to the inaccuracy of this value, for example setting it to 0.006944444444 will return 120 FPS as opposed to 144 FPS.
  7. Save the cheat table.
Temporary solution. The saved cheat table must be used and its values changed with each launch.
If the first attempt causes the race to speed up, quit to the main menu, make sure the values have not changed and then start over. Restarting the race will not fix the issue. This may happen given how late into the game's proper launch the fixes are applied. For an instantaneous application, see the permanent fix below.
Manually force v-sync or external FPS capper if they're desired, given that the built-in ones have issues. Note that not capping the output FPS to the actual desired value if the distance between them is too much (as it may happen at very high FPS) will cause the gameplay to become sped up. Forcing v-sync through GPU control panel may only function if exclusive full-screen mode is selected; see Run the game at maximum refresh rate if the game is not using the maximum refresh rate.
Modify with hex editor[9]
  1. Disable v-sync through the launcher.
  2. Open ASN_App_PcDx9_Final.exe with a hex editor such as HxD.
  3. Replace all three instances of 89 88 88 3C (60 FPS) with one of the following,
    • 39 8E E3 3B for 144 FPS.
    • 89 88 88 3B for 240 FPS.
    • 0E 74 5A 3B for 300 FPS.
    • 61 0B 36 3B for 360 FPS.
  4. Replace the first instance of 00 00 00 00 00 00 4E 40 or 60 while Double, 8 Bytes is selected under the Floating point number tab with one of the following,
    • 00 00 00 00 00 00 62 40 or 144 while Double, 8 Bytes is selected under the Floating point number tab.
    • 00 00 00 00 00 00 6E 40 or 240 while Double, 8 Bytes is selected under the Floating point number tab.
    • 00 00 00 00 00 C0 72 40 or 300 while Double, 8 Bytes is selected under the Floating point number tab.
    • 00 00 00 00 00 80 76 40 or 360 while Double, 8 Bytes is selected under the Floating point number tab.
  5. Replace the first instance of 00 00 00 20 11 11 91 3F with one of the following,
    • 7B 14 AE 47 E1 7A 74 3F or ~200 for 144 FPS.
    • 4F 1B E8 B4 81 4E 6B 3F or ~300 for 240 FPS.
    • FC A9 F1 D2 4D 62 60 3F or ~500 for 300 FPS or for 360 FPS.
Permanent solution. Only needs to be applied once.
If the desired value is not listed above, apply it using the Cheat Engine method above. Right-Click one the changed values and select "Browse this memory region" to view the hex values.
Manually force v-sync or external FPS capper if they're desired, given that the built-in ones have issues. Note that not capping the output FPS to the actual desired value if the distance between them is too much (as it may happen at very high FPS) will cause the gameplay to become sped up. Forcing v-sync through GPU control panel may only function if exclusive full-screen mode is selected; see Run the game at maximum refresh rate if the game is not using the maximum refresh rate.

Field of view (FOV)

Change FOV with Flawless Widescreen[citation needed]
  1. Install Flawless Widescreen.
  2. Run it and install the plugin for Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed.
  3. Go to the Flawless Widescreen installation folder.
  4. Go into \PluginCache\FWS_Plugins\Modules\SonicASRTransformed\Dependencies\Scripts\.
  5. Download the modified Flawless Widescreen script.
  6. Replace the original SonicASRTransformed.lua with the fixed one.
  7. Restart Flawless Widescreen and adjust the FOV as needed.

Notes

Changing the default FOV also affects HUD, menu, and loading screens.

Input

Control settings in game.
Control settings in game.
Input settings in launcher.
Input settings in launcher.
Key rebinding in launcher. From left: Keyboard, XInput and DirectInput.
Key rebinding in launcher. From left: Keyboard, XInput and DirectInput.
Key and controller bindings must be changed in the configuration tool. Inversion and vibration options must be changed in-game.
Supports motion controls under Windows 8.

Audio

Audio settings in game.
Audio settings in game.

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Music, FX, Announcer, and Steam Voice Chat.
Surround sound
Auto configures up to 5.1 output[11]
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost

Localizations

Language settings in launcher.
Language settings in launcher.
Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
French
German
Character speech remains in English.
Italian
Spanish
Castilian.

Network

Multiplayer types

Type Native Players Notes
Local play
4 Versus, Co-op
Local players can go online too. Co-op career mode supports 4 players.[12]
LAN play
Versus
Players on the same network will be directly connected. Requires an internet connection for Steam authentication.[13]
Online play
10 Versus
Matchmaking is not Region locked. However, if you have 128 friends who own the game, entering Matchmaking will crash the game. Only fix is to remove friends who own the game from your friends list.

Connection types

Type Native Notes
Matchmaking
It's possible to play private games.
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Players can create custom matches, but P2P networking is still used.
Direct IP
Players must join other friends through their Steam profiles. Additionally, there's a way to make matchmaking lobbies private.

Private matchmaking lobbies

Although not an official option, it is possible to play privately on matchmaking mode by using the -internalid command line argument.[14]
This method is intended for private ranked matchmaking lobbies only. Private matches can be created more easily by using the Custom Game option.
Instructions[14]

Use the -internalid secret_text command line argument.

  • Example: -internalid SegaDoesWhatNintendont

Notes

This option will force the game to connect only with players who are using the same internalid. Any player who wants to join your lobby must set this argument first.
Argument must be removed before playing in public matches.

VR support

3D modes State Notes
Native 3D
Nvidia 3D Vision
See Helix Mod: Sonic & Sega All Stars Transformed.
vorpX
G3D
User created game profile, see vorpx forum profile introduction.

Issues unresolved

Dithering and pop-in

Game uses a dithering effect for transitioning shadows from one quality level to another. Since shadow quality (including resolution, detail and render distance and ambient occlusion) and asset LOD is generally low even at the highest preset, this will cause the game to look very dithered up close and with missing shadows and detail in far distances. There's currently no known fixes for this.[15]

Missing objects on ATI Radeon HD3000/HD4000

Objects like the water and boost pads, essential to gameplay, will not render at all.[16]
This is a driver issue, and not much can be done about it. It may be partially fixed by messing about with the game's settings and window (minimizing, moving it, or even opening UAC prompts),[17] but even this will only make the objects slightly visible and still hard to see.

Shadow stripes

This occurs on some old Nvidia GPUs, like the GeForce 7600GS (AGP8x). Unfortunately, there is no known fix.[18]

Issues fixed

Run the game at maximum refresh rate

Game may force a low refresh rate if exclusive full-screen is selected.
Disable fullscreen optimizations[19]
  1. Make sure the current desktop is running with the maximum refresh rate, then navigate to the game's installation directory.
  2. Right-click on ASN_App_PcDx9_Final.exe and select Properties.
  3. Check Disable full-screen optimization under the Compatibility tab.
  4. If available, set Preferred refresh rate to Highest available or equivalent inside GPU control panel.

Poor image quality

Game is not dpi aware.
Change high dpi settings[20]
  1. Make sure the current desktop is running with the desired resolution, then navigate to the game's installation directory.
  2. Right-click on ASN_App_PcDx9_Final.exe and select Properties.
  3. Select Change high dpi settings under the Compatibility tab and check both options.

Bad performance on modern hardware

Game performs badly with random frame drops no matter how powerful you hardware is.
Disable the Resizable BAR feature on the motherboard's BIOS[21]

Game freezes mid-race

Game sometimes freezes or crashes to desktop randomly mid race.

Notes

This happens with Nvidia GPUs with Turing or newer architectures (1600 series and above)
Run the game using an API compatibility layer[22]

Download the DXVK layer and extract the d3d9.dll file located inside the x32 folder in the tar package and put it in <path-to-game>, to run the game using the Vulkan API, working around the incompatibility which would have caused a crash.

Enable hardware accelerated GPU scheduling

Enabling hardware accelerated scheduling in Windows settings prevents the crashes whilst running in DirectX 9, but the screen will flash white at intervals where the game would previously crash to desktop.

Launcher.exe has stopped working (Windows 8)

Application crashes with error message: Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Set Windows 7 compatibility mode[citation needed]
  1. Open Launcher.exe compatibility settings.
  2. Enable Windows 7 compatibility mode.

Crashing (Windows 10)

Game will freeze or crash after a few minutes.
Set Windows 7 compatibility mode[citation needed]
  1. Open ASN_App_PcDx9_Final.exe compatibility settings.
  2. Enable Windows 7 compatibility mode.

Stuttering

Can be caused by the game's poor handling of the frame rate. In another case, the GPU load can also be too low causing frame rates below 60 FPS.
See High frame rate and Run the game at maximum refresh rate.[23]
Set energy mode of the graphics card to maximum performance[24][25]
In "Graphics" of the Launcher Change "Display Options" to "Windowed / FullScreen" from "Fullscreen" (which causes stutters and FPS drops on Windows 10). This section shows how to do that: https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Sonic_%26_All-Stars_Racing_Transformed#Video_settings

Low audio volume

Volume level is very soft in game.
Disable automatic volume adjustments[citation needed]
  1. Open the Control Panel.
  2. Go to Hardware and Sound → Sound.
  3. On the Communications tab, choose "Do nothing".

The configuration menu doesn't load

Open it from the command line[26]
  1. Open PowerShell or Command Line (CMD)
  2. If a default Steam installation with default folders is used, run cd 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed'
  3. If that worked, run .\Launcher.exe

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 9.0c
Shader Model support 3
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Cutscenes CRI Movie
Multiplayer Steamworks
Anti-cheat Valve Anti-Cheat (VAC)

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) XP
Processor (CPU) Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz
System memory (RAM) 1 GB (XP)
2 GB (Vista, 7, 8)
Hard disk drive (HDD) 6.7 GB
Video card (GPU) 256 MB of VRAM
DirectX 9.0c compatible
Shader model 3.0 support
Sound (audio device) DirectX 9 compatible

Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 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>/212480/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (212480) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References

  1. Verified by User:Radmaxx on 2024-03-01
  2. Verified by User:Radmaxx on 2024-03-01
  3. Verified by User:Tecc on 2021-05-19
  4. Verified by User:Radmaxx on 2024-03-01
  5. Verified by User:Radmaxx on 2024-03-01
  6. Verified by User:Radmaxx on 2024-03-01
  7. New Game Update Now Live! (3rd May 2013) :: Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed General Discussion - last accessed on 17 May 2023
  8. Verified by User:Radmaxx on 2024-03-01
  9. Verified by User:Radmaxx on 2024-03-01
  10. Verified by User:Dandelion Sprout on 2020-11-30
  11. PC Gaming Surround Sound Round-up - last accessed on 17 May 2023
  12. How's splitscreen? :: Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed General Discussions - last accessed on 17 May 2023
  13. Steam Community Discussions: Developer's post on LAN support
  14. 14.0 14.1 Steam Community Discussions: internalid discussion
  15. Verified by User:Radmaxx on 2024-03-01
  16. "Setting Up, Troubleshooting, Configuring and Optimizing the Game – Noob & Pro Guide" on Steam Community Guides, section 5.7 - ATI HD3XXX Missing Water / Corruption
  17. YouTube video: ATI Radeon HD3000 fix, by SuperBlooop
  18. "Setting Up, Troubleshooting, Configuring and Optimizing the Game – Noob & Pro Guide" on Steam Community Guides, section 5.8 - Game's too Dark / Shadow Stripes
  19. Verified by User:Radmaxx on 2024-03-01
  20. Verified by User:Radmaxx on 2024-03-01
  21. Simply Bad performance no matter the settings on a good PC[FIXED SEE COMMENTS - Steam Discussion Forum] - last accessed on 2022-11-07
  22. Fix for SASRT crashes with RTX cards - last accessed on 17 May 2023
  23. Verified by User:Radmaxx on 2024-03-01
  24. Reddit - last accessed on 17 May 2023
  25. FPS locked at 56FPS? :: Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed General Discussions - last accessed on 17 May 2023
  26. Verified by User:Dandelion Sprout on 23 October 2022