Sonic Generations
This page is for the original 2011 game. For the 2024 remaster, see Sonic X Shadow Generations.
Developers | |
---|---|
Sonic Team | |
Windows | Devil's Details |
Publishers | |
Sega | |
Russia | 1C-SoftClub |
Engines | |
Hedgehog Engine | |
Release dates | |
Windows | November 3, 2011[1] |
Reception | |
Metacritic | 77 |
IGDB | 75 |
Taxonomy | |
Monetization | DLC, One-time game purchase |
Microtransactions | None |
Modes | Singleplayer |
Pacing | Real-time |
Perspectives | Side view, Third-person |
Controls | Direct control |
Genres | Action, Platform |
Vehicles | Track racing |
Art styles | Cartoon |
Themes | Fantasy |
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 Generations is a singleplayer platform game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega. The game is intended to be a celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, with it featuring the play-styles and character designs of two different eras of Sonic ("Classic" and "Modern") and stages based on various games from the franchise spanning 1991 to 2010.[2]
The PC version of the game was released on November 3, 2011 on Steam, with Europe and Australia exclusively receiving a physical release.[1] Unlike the console versions, the PC version lacks the unlockable emulated copy of the original Sonic the Hedgehog.
On September 29, 2016, all Steam users received the Casino Night DLC (an in-game pinball mini-game) for free.[3] The DLC was initially an exclusive GameStop pre-order bonus for the console versions that was later made available for purchase on Steam.
On August 9, 2024, ahead of the release of the Sonic X Shadow Generations remaster of the game, it was announced that Sonic Generations would be delisted from Steam as a standalone title on September 9, 2024. The game is now only available as part of the Sonic the Hedgehog Legacy Bundle, a bundle of older Sonic games on Steam.[4]
Sonic Generations boasts an active modding community; players have produced a variety of mods for the game’s stages, models, visual effects, audio, and animations. One such notable mod is the Unleashed Project, which ports the nine "daytime" stages from Sonic Unleashed into the game, replacing the vanilla stages.[5]
Various mods that enhance the vanilla game are strongly recommended, even for a first-time playthrough; these mods include HQ pre-rendered cutscenes, increased shadow resolution, and HUD upscales. See Essential improvements and Modifications for more information.
General information
Availability
Source | DRM | Notes | Keys | OS |
---|---|---|---|---|
Retail | Europe and Oceania only. | |||
Amazon.com | ||||
Steam | Bundled in the Sonic the Hedgehog Legacy Bundle. | |||
(unavailable) | ||||
Green Man Gaming (unavailable) | ||||
Humble Store (unavailable) | ||||
Steam (unavailable) | Standalone release. Delisted on September 9, 2024.[4] |
Demo
- Available on Steam.
Monetization
DLC and expansion packs
Name | Notes | |
---|---|---|
Casino Night | Bundled with the game for free as of September 29, 2016.[3] |
Essential improvements
Skip intro videos
Startup logo removal mod[6] |
---|
|
Game data
Configuration file(s) location
System | Location |
---|---|
Windows | <path-to-game>\*.cfg[Note 1] |
Steam Play (Linux) | <SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/71340/pfx/[Note 2] |
Save game data location
System | Location |
---|---|
Windows | <Steam-folder>\userdata\<user-id>\71340\ |
Steam Play (Linux) | <SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/71340/pfx/[Note 2] |
Save game cloud syncing
System | Native | Notes |
---|---|---|
Steam Cloud | Approx. 100 MB available. |
Video
Graphics feature | State | WSGF | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Widescreen resolution | See the WSGF entry for aspect ratios other than 16:9. | ||
Multi-monitor | See the WSGF entry. | ||
Ultra-widescreen | See the WSGF entry. | ||
4K Ultra HD | |||
Field of view (FOV) | See Field of view (FOV). | ||
Windowed | See Windowed. | ||
Borderless fullscreen windowed | See Windowed. | ||
Anisotropic filtering (AF) | See the glossary page for potential workarounds. | ||
Anti-aliasing (AA) | FXAA only. Can be configured or replaced by SSAA with Better FxPipeline. | ||
Vertical sync (Vsync) | |||
60 FPS | Capped at 60 FPS, with cutscenes being capped at 30 FPS. See Frame rate (FPS). | ||
120+ FPS | Can be hacked in, see Frame rate (FPS). Playing the game at framerates above 60FPS will render some stages unbeatable. | ||
High dynamic range display (HDR) | For Auto-HDR, see Improved renderer. | ||
Ray tracing (RT) |
Improved renderer
Direct3D 11 replacement renderer |
---|
Notes
|
Better FxPipeline
- Adds multiple fixes and new features to the game's renderer.
- Minimal-to-no performance impact.
- Features the ability to toggle between the Sonic Unleashed and Sonic Generations shader styles.
Installation |
---|
Notes
|
Windowed
Force windowed through Direct3D 11 Renderer |
---|
Notes
|
Force windowed through DxWnd[citation needed] |
---|
Notes
|
Field of view (FOV)
Change FOV with Flawless Widescreen[citation needed] |
---|
|
Hex edit .exe files[citation needed] |
---|
Notes
|
Frame rate (FPS)
Remove 60 FPS cap on gameplay[citation needed] |
---|
Step 1 - Change Hex Values
Step 2 - Change Binary Values
Notes
|
Remove 30 FPS cap on cutscenes[citation needed] |
---|
Step 1 - Change Hex Values
Step 2 - Change Binary Values
Notes
|
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Force SGSSAA (Nvidia only)[7][8] |
---|
Notes
|
Ambient occlusion
Force HBAO+ (Nvidia only)[10][11] |
---|
Notes
|
Input
Keyboard and mouse | State | Notes |
---|---|---|
Remapping | Keys must be bound to a virtual Xbox 360 Controller. The game will display the matching gamepad buttons instead of keyboard keys in the tooltips. Certain keys, such as ⇧ Shift, Ctrl, and Alt cannot be bound. |
|
Mouse acceleration | ||
Mouse sensitivity | ||
Mouse input in menus | Only for external configuration tool. | |
Mouse Y-axis inversion | ||
Controller | ||
Controller support | XInput controllers only. | |
Full controller support | ||
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 |
Generic/other controllers | Enable the other controller support options in Steam's controller controller settings. | |
---|---|---|
Button prompts |
Additional information | ||
---|---|---|
Controller hotplugging | Use Hedge Mod Manager and enable the "Controller Hotplugging Support" code. | |
Haptic feedback | On by default. Use Hedge Mod Manager and enable the "Disable Controller Rumble" code to turn vibration off. | |
Digital movement supported | ||
Simultaneous controller+KB/M |
Audio
Audio feature | State | Notes |
---|---|---|
Separate volume controls | ||
Surround sound | Auto configures up to 5.1 output.[13] | |
Subtitles | ||
Closed captions | ||
Mute on focus lost | ||
Royalty free audio |
Localizations
Language | UI | Audio | Sub | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
English | ||||
Simplified Chinese | Fan translation, download here. | |||
Traditional Chinese | Fan translation, download here. | |||
French | ||||
German | ||||
Italian | Configuration tool is poorly translated. | |||
Japanese | ||||
Brazilian Portuguese | Fan translation, available here. | |||
Russian | Fan translation, available here. | |||
Spanish | Castilian. | |||
Latin American Spanish | Fan translation, available here. |
VR support
3D modes | State | GG3D | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Native 3D | Side-by-side | |||
Nvidia 3D Vision | See Helix Mod: Sonic Generations for improved support. | |||
TriDef 3D | ||||
iZ3D | ||||
vorpX | G3D User created game profile, see vorpX forum profile introduction. |
Issues fixed
Issues with Nvidia Optimus laptops
- Fixed with newer Nvidia drivers (Late 2011-onward).[14]
"Extend Desktop" Fix[15] |
---|
|
"Config File Edit" Fix[16] |
---|
Do not manually edit this file, use the configuration tool. NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M \\.\DISPLAY1 1600.900.60 1 1 1 1 0 d7b78e66-4256-11cf-fd56-b424b7c2c535 1515474505 Notes
|
Low frame rate
Lag in-game[17] |
---|
|
Skipping/major lag
Cap frame rate |
---|
Notes
|
Force Vsync through graphics control panel and cap frame rate |
---|
Notes
|
Disable Steam Input |
---|
|
Configuration Tool does not open/crashes
Download and install Microsoft .NET Framework 4[citation needed] |
---|
|
Crash on startup
Set sound quality to 24 bit, 48000 Hz[citation needed] |
---|
Other possible solutions[citation needed] |
---|
|
"The detected configuration does not match your current hardware. Please run the configuration tool."
Delete config files and re-run configuration tool[citation needed] |
---|
|
Crash when trying to play online ranking mode
Decrease Steam friend count to 99 or less[citation needed] |
---|
|
Load a level in offline mode, exit it, and then start it in ranked mode[citation needed] |
---|
Modern Sonic's Quickstep sound is missing
Fix for Modern Sonic's missing quickstep sound |
---|
Notes
|
Other information
API
Technical specs | Supported | Notes |
---|---|---|
Direct3D | 9.0c | For Direct3D 11 support, see Improved renderer. |
Shader Model support | 3 |
Executable | 32-bit | 64-bit | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Windows |
Middleware
Middleware | Notes | |
---|---|---|
Physics | Havok | |
Audio | Criware | |
Cutscenes | Criware |
Modifications
- Nearly all mods require Hedge Mod Manager.
- Various mods provide gameplay and graphical enhancements that are strongly recommended, even for a first play-through.
- Users of Nvidia GPUs utilizing the Turing architecture will encounter issues with some stage mods.[18]
Quality of Life
Sonic Generations Configuration Tool (Rewrite)
- An open source replacement for the original configuration tool.
- Supports Graphics, Audio and Analytics configuration, all in the same tab.
- Supports fixing the registry to avoid the
Game files either missing or corrupt please reinstall
issue. - Supports proper scaling for resolutions different than 1280x720.
- Includes settings descriptions and images to better visualize the impact of each one.
- Proper Nvidia Optimus support, the config tool will always detect high performance Nvidia GPU.
- Supports changing the in-game language.
- Supports Dark Theme.
- Significantly smaller file size compared to the original configuration tool (~5MB instead of ~28MB).
Wall Jump Fix
- Fixes the Wall Jump by recreating behavior of this move known from the console versions of the game by making Sonic stick to the wall, instead of droping from it after a short bit.
HQ Pre-rendered cutscenes
- Replaces the PC version's 480p pre-rendered cutscenes with the PlayStation 3 version's 720p ones.
- Automatically enables the "1280x720 Media Player" code in Hedge Mod Manager to avoid black screens and crashes during cutscene playback.
Missing Cutscene for Casino Night DLC
- Restores the missing intro cut-scene for the Casino Night DLC, which was present in the console versions but absent from the PC version.
- Video demo from author available here.
High-res HUD Mod
- Remasters the HUD elements for higher resolutions.
PlayStation Prompts
- Replaces the Xbox controller button-prompts with their DualShock equivalents, in addition to replacing voice-clips, images, and video files referencing the Xbox buttons.
- Utilizes the official icons, voice files and video files ripped from the PlayStation 3 version of the game.
Fix Window Title
- Fixes the missing icon and removes the "SEGA" prefix from the game's window title bar.
Configuration Mismatch Fix
- Fixes errors displayed by the game when there is any change in the computer configuration or due to an error in the code.
Graphics
Soft Shadows
- Requires Better FxPipeline.
- Features two levels ("Soft" and "Softer").
- May heavily impact performance.
Fix Broken Materials
- Fixes broken materials that are present throughout the game.
Miscellaneous
Unleashed Project
- Ports the nine "daytime" stages from Sonic Unleashed into the game, replacing the original Generations stages.
- Features graphical and gameplay tweaks, as well as a custom hub-world.
- Does not work out-of-the-box on NVIDIA Turing GPUs; see Improved renderer or use Unleashed Project RTX fix.
Unleashed Project: The Complete Addon
- Addon to the Unleashed Project featuring various optimizations, fixes, and enhancements.
- Requires the Unleashed Project to be installed and loaded below this mod in Hedge Mod Manager.
System requirements
Windows | ||
---|---|---|
Minimum | Recommended | |
Operating system (OS) | XP, Vista, 7 | 7 |
Processor (CPU) | Intel Pentium Dual-Core T4200 2.0 GHz | Intel Core i5 2.66 GHz AMD Phenom II X4 3.0 GHz |
System memory (RAM) | 2 GB (XP) 3 GB (Vista, 7) |
3 GB |
Hard disk drive (HDD) | 11 GB | |
Video card (GPU) | Nvidia GeForce 8800 ATI Radeon HD 2900 512 MB of VRAM DirectX 9 compatible | Nvidia GeForce GTX 460 ATI Radeon HD 5850 1 GB of VRAM |
Notes
- ↑ 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 Notes regarding Steam Play (Linux) data:
- File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data.
- Games with Steam Cloud support may also store data in
~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/71340/
. - Use Wine's registry editor to access any Windows registry paths.
- The app ID (71340) may differ in some cases.
- Treat backslashes as forward slashes.
- See the glossary page for details on Windows data paths.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 News - New Release - Sonic Generations - last accessed on 2023-07-10
- ↑ Sonic Generations announced - last accessed on 2021-07-17
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Sonic Generations Collection - Casino Night DLC now free for all Sonic Generations owners - Steam News - last accessed on 2021-07-17
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Sonic Generations Collection - Sonic Generations - Delisting FAQ - Steam News - last accessed on 2024-09-10
- ↑ Sonic Generations: Unleashed Project Mod Released - Sonic Retro - last accessed on 2021-07-17
- ↑ Steam Community :: Guide :: Mods for Sonic Generations - last accessed on 2023-11-06
- ↑ NVidia Profile Inspector - AA Flags - Google Drive - last accessed on 2023-11-06
- ↑ 3DCenter Forum - Einzelnen Beitrag anzeigen - Antialiasing - Kompatibilitätsbits - Sammelthread - last accessed on 2023-11-06
- ↑ NVidia Profile Inspector - AA Flags - Google Sheets - last accessed on 2023-11-06
- ↑ HBAO+ Compatibility Flags - last accessed on 2023-11-06
- ↑ Original HBAO+ Post at Guru3D.com Forums - last accessed on 2023-11-06
- ↑ HBAO+ Compatibility Flags Thread | Page 63 | guru3D Forums - last accessed on 2023-11-06
- ↑ PC Gaming Surround Sound Round-up - last accessed on 2023-11-06
- ↑ News - Sonic Generations Update Released - last accessed on 2024-07-02
- ↑ Running on Dell XPS 15 with Optimus - Page 3 - Steam Users' Forums (retrieved) - last accessed on 2023-11-06
- ↑ Sonic Generation Optimus Fail Sonic Generations wo | NVIDIA GeForce Forums - last accessed on 2023-11-06
- ↑ Steam Community :: Guide :: Setting Up, Troubleshooting, Configuring and Optimizing the Game – Noob & Pro Guide - last accessed on 2023-11-06
- ↑ Unleashed Project · Issue #42 · thesupersonic16/HedgeModManager - last accessed on 2023-11-06