Sonic's Schoolhouse
Developers | |
---|---|
BAP Interactive | |
Orion Interactive | |
Publishers | |
Sega | |
Re-release | Expert Software |
Engines | |
I3D[Note 1] | |
Release dates | |
Windows 3.x (Win32s) | October 18, 1996[2] |
Windows | October 18, 1996[2] |
Taxonomy | |
Monetization | One-time game purchase |
Modes | Singleplayer, Multiplayer |
Pacing | Real-time |
Perspectives | First-person |
Controls | Direct control, Point and select |
Genres | Educational |
Art styles | Cartoon, Pre-rendered graphics |
Series | Sonic the Hedgehog |
⤏ Go to series page | |
Sonic the Hedgehog fangames (series) | |
Sonic CD | 1995 |
Sonic's Schoolhouse | 1996 |
Sonic 3D Blast (series) | |
Sonic & Knuckles Collection | 1997 |
Sonic R (series) | |
Sonic Adventure (series) | |
Sonic Heroes | 2004 |
Sonic Mega Collection Plus | 2006 |
Sonic Riders | 2006 |
Sonic Racing (series) | |
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 |
Sonic the Hedgehog (mobile decompilation) | 2021 |
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (mobile decompilation) | 2021 |
Sonic Colors: Ultimate | 2021 |
Sonic Origins | 2022 |
Sonic Frontiers | 2022 |
The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog | 2023 |
Sonic Superstars | 2023 |
Sonic Dream Team | 2023 |
Sonic X Shadow Generations | 2024 |
Sonic's Schoolhouse is a singleplayer and multiplayer first-person educational game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series developed by BAP Interactive and Orion Interactive and published by Sega.
The game was released for Windows on October 18, 1996.[2]
Sonic's Schoolhouse suffers from various compatibility issues on modern systems. Most issues can be resolved with compatibility settings and third-party programs.
Availability
Source | DRM | Notes | Keys | OS |
---|---|---|---|---|
Retail | See Run without the CD. |
Version differences
- The 1997 Expert Software re-release is version 1.1.[3] There are currently two known differences from the original version 1.0 release:
- A newer
<path-to-game>\SONIC.EXE
is included, with a build date of November 6, 1996.[4] - The configuration/save filename has been changed from
SONIC.INI
toSONICSH.INI
. It is now the filename expected by<path-to-game>\SONIC.EXE
when loading game data.[5]
- A newer
Demo
- A demo version of the game was distributed on various Sega PC sampler discs between 1996 and 1997.[Note 2]
- A single room titled "Demo Room" is available in the schoolhouse, covering addition/multiplication, subtraction/division, and spelling. It is accessed through the blue door usually reserved for addition/multiplication only in the full version.[6]
- All other rooms, as well as the playground mini-game doors and the school bus, are blocked off with a sign that reads, "Sorry, not in demo". As a result, playground passes and field trips collected from rooms cannot be used.[6]
Game data
- The configuration/save filename is different depending on the game version.
Configuration file(s) location
Save game data location
Video
Graphics feature | State | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|
Widescreen resolution | 640x480 only. | ||
Multi-monitor | |||
Ultra-widescreen | |||
4K Ultra HD | |||
Field of view (FOV) | |||
Windowed | See the glossary page for potential workarounds. | ||
Borderless fullscreen windowed | Prone to multiple graphical issues, such as disappearing/blackened UI elements and incorrect window scaling.[7] | ||
Anisotropic filtering (AF) | |||
Anti-aliasing (AA) | |||
High-fidelity upscaling | See the glossary page for potential workarounds. | ||
Vertical sync (Vsync) | See the glossary page for potential workarounds. | ||
60 FPS and 120+ FPS | |||
High dynamic range display (HDR) |
Input
Keyboard and mouse | State | Notes |
---|---|---|
Remapping | See the glossary page for potential workarounds. | |
Mouse acceleration | ||
Mouse sensitivity | ||
Mouse input in menus | ||
Mouse Y-axis inversion | ||
Controller | ||
Controller support | ||
Full controller support | Must be toggled in the in-game options. | |
Controller remapping | See the glossary page for potential workarounds. | |
Controller sensitivity | ||
Controller Y-axis inversion |
Controller types |
---|
XInput-compatible controllers | ||
---|---|---|
Xbox button prompts | ||
Impulse Trigger vibration |
PlayStation controllers |
---|
Generic/other controllers | ||
---|---|---|
Button prompts |
Additional information | ||
---|---|---|
Controller hotplugging | ||
Haptic feedback | ||
Digital movement supported | ||
Simultaneous controller+KB/M |
Audio
Audio feature | State | Notes |
---|---|---|
Separate volume controls | On/off toggle for music only. | |
Surround sound | ||
Subtitles | ||
Closed captions | ||
Mute on focus lost | ||
Royalty free audio | ||
General MIDI audio |
Localizations
Language | UI | Audio | Sub | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
English |
Network
Multiplayer types
Type | Native | Players | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Local play | 2 | Co-op, Hot seat, Versus Shared keyboard; player one uses ↑+↓+←+→+↵ Enter, player two uses W+A+S+D+Ctrl. |
||
LAN play | ||||
Online play | ||||
Asynchronous multiplayer |
Issues fixed
Unable to install on 64-bit systems
- Both installers on the game CD are 16-bit, making them incompatible with 64-bit versions of Windows.
Use winevdm[8] |
---|
|
Copy over required files from the CD[9][10] |
---|
Note
|
Game window does not scale to screen
Enable the following compatibility settings for <path-to-game>\SONIC.EXE : Run in 640x480 screen resolution [8]
|
---|
"Unable to initialize sound system"
- Results in missing in-game music/sounds.
Enable the following compatibility settings for <path-to-game>\SONIC.EXE : Compatibility mode (Windows 95) or Compatibility mode (Windows 98 / Windows Me) [8][Note 4]
|
---|
Apply the CorrectSoundDeviceId compatibility fix to <path-to-game>\SONIC.EXE in Compatibility Administrator[8]
|
---|
|
"ERROR: Specified System Has Not Been Initialized"
- Often occurs after resolving "Unable to initialize sound system".
Use CoolSoft MIDIMapper[10][11] |
---|
|
"Video not available, cannot find 'vids:IV32' decompressor"
- Occurs upon entering the field trip school bus.
Enable the Indeo Video 3.2 codec for Windows[10] |
---|
|
Other information
API
Technical specs | Supported | Notes |
---|---|---|
WinG |
Executable | 32-bit | 64-bit | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Windows | [12] |
Middleware
Middleware | Notes | |
---|---|---|
Audio | Human Machine Interface (HMI) audio drivers |
Run without the CD
- By default, the installer copies minimal game assets to the system. The rest are fetched from the CD using paths defined in the configuration/save file.
Copy over assets from the CD[8] |
---|
|
System requirements
Windows | ||
---|---|---|
Minimum[13] | Recommended | |
Operating system (OS) | 3.1, 95 | |
Processor (CPU) | Intel i486DX2 66 MHz | Intel Pentium 60 MHz |
System memory (RAM) | 8 MB | |
Hard disk drive (HDD) | 2 MB | |
Video card (GPU) | SVGA | |
Sound (audio device) | Sound Blaster 16 compatible | |
Other | 2x CD-ROM drive | 4x CD-ROM drive |
Notes
- ↑ I3D engine build: 2.1[1]
- ↑ Sampler discs known to contain the demo include: Sega Proven Family Fun Sampler (1996), Sega Family Fun Pak (1996), Trident Sampler Disc (1997), and Hershey's sampler (1997).
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 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). - ↑ These compatibility modes include the
CorrectSoundDeviceId
compatibility fix, which resolves the error.
References
- ↑ Verified by User:Mystyle48 on 2023-10-06
- Opening
SONIC.EXE
in ImHex and going to address 0x0002C480 reveals the following string:I3D Tool Kit 2.1 (c)1993-94 Jim O'Keane
- Opening
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 SEGA ENTERTAINMENT, ORION INTERACTIVE BRING FUN AND GAMES TO PC LEARNING SOFTWARE (retrieved) - last accessed on 2023-05-18
- "The title will be available, for children ages five to nine, nationwide on October 18 for a suggested retail price of $34.99."
- ↑ Verified by User:Mystyle48 on 2024-07-05
6806.TXT
on the disc of the Expert Software release contains the text:Version: 0680602 Version Number:1.1
- ↑ Verified by User:Mystyle48 on 2024-07-05
- Checked with System Informer. The build date of
<path-to-game>\SONIC.EXE
from the Expert Software release is 1996-11-06, rather than 1996-10-14 like the original release.
- Checked with System Informer. The build date of
- ↑ Verified by User:Mystyle48 on 2024-08-07
- Checked by comparing the contents of
SONIC
on each game CD and running both versions of<path-to-game>\SONIC.EXE
without the configuration file.
- Checked by comparing the contents of
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Verified by User:Mystyle48 on 2024-08-12
- Tested with the demo on the Trident Sampler Disc.
- ↑ Verified by User:Mystyle48 on 2023-11-11
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 Verified by User:Mystyle48 on 2023-06-25
- ↑ Let's Get Old Sega PC Games to Work Again - Sonic and Sega Retro Forums - last accessed on 2023-03-18
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Win10 x64 Instructions - Guides - Sonic's Schoolhouse - speedrun.com - last accessed on 2022-12-23
- ↑ DxWnd / Discussion / General Discussion: Sonic's Schoolhouse - last accessed on 2022-12-23
- ↑ Verified by User:Mystyle48 on 2023-11-25
- ↑ sonic schoolhouse manual : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive - last accessed on 2023-06-08