Sonic Adventure 2

Sonic Adventure 2

Developers
	Sonic Team
Windows	Sega of China
Publishers
	Sega
Release dates
Windows	November 9, 2012
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase, DLC
Microtransactions	None
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Third-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Action, Adventure, Platform
Vehicles	Automobile, Track racing
Art styles	Cartoon
Themes	Contemporary
Series	Sonic Adventure

Sonic Adventure
Subseries of Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic Adventure DX	2003
Sonic Adventure DX (2011)	2011
Sonic Adventure 2	2012
Sonic Adventure DX (Steam)	2014

Sonic Adventure 2 is a cartoon third-person platform game developed by Sonic Team, published by Sega, and released for PC on November 9, 2012. It is a part of the Sonic the Hedgehog series and the sequel to Sonic Adventure.

The original game was first released for the Dreamcast in North America on June 18, 2001, and the rest of the world on June 23. The game was later ported to the GameCube in 2002 as Sonic Adventure 2: Battle as an updated version of the game, featuring an expanded multiplayer mode and readjusted gameplay elements. This PC port is based off the GameCube version, with the expanded multiplayer and Chao Karate content being locked behind a separate DLC purchase.

The game's physics and speed are tied around 60 FPS, meaning slowdowns on lower end machines and speedups with high refresh-rate displays. Various mods are available to restore original features from the Dreamcast version and address issues with the PC version; see Modifications for recommendations and how to setup MainMemory's SA2 Mod Loader to ease the installation of mods.

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
Humble Store
Steam
GamersGate (unavailable)
Green Man Gaming (unavailable)
Publisher website (unavailable)

All versions require Steam DRM.

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
SONIC ADVENTURE 2: BATTLE	Unlocks the Battle Mode, extra versus characters and maps, and Chao Karate.

Essential improvements

Bypass launcher

Use the -q command line argument
If configuration files are missing, it will load the launcher regardless of the command line argument.

Skip company logos and intro cutscene

Enable Skip Intro in SA2 Mod Loader
See instructions for installing SA2 Mod Loader here. Go to the Options tab, and check Skip Intro from the Misc. section. Click the Save button to apply the changes. The game should now boot directly into the title screen upon launch.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\Config\Keyboard.cfg <path-to-game>\Config\UserConfig.cfg
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/213610/pfx/

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\resource\gd_PC\SAVEDATA\
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/213610/pfx/

Chao Garden is saved to the file SONIC2B__ALF.

Game progression is saved to numbered SONIC2B__S## files; one file per slot.

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Steam Cloud

Video

In game general settings. Options clockwise starting from the bottom: Vibration, Save/Load, Erase save, main menu theme, speech language and Stereo/Mono.

Launcher general settings.

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution			A few cutscenes are pillarboxed to 4:3; use the Cutscene revamp mod to remove the black bars.
Multi-monitor			Use Flawless Widescreen to fix spanned HUD.
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed		Use SA2 Mod Loader.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		Force in GPU control panel. Nvidia users can force SGSSAA in Nvidia Profile Inspector without any compatibility bits. Do not force FXAA, see the talk page.
Vertical sync (Vsync)		Always enabled. Every loading screen needs to run at monitor's refresh rate or else it will crash.
60 FPS		The game must run at 60 FPS as game speed is tied to frame rate.
120+ FPS		Fullscreen Mode is capped 60 Hz. See Run the game at screen refresh rate. If the display runs higher than 60 Hz in Windowed mode, use SA2 Mod Loader and enable Lock framerate under its Graphics settings.
High dynamic range display (HDR)		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

Input

Launcher control settings.

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration		Mouse not used at all.
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support		XInput only. Controller must be selected from configuration launcher.
Full controller support
Controller remapping		Controller buttons cannot be remapped, however a mod exists to change the placement of context-sensitive actions.
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts		Xbox 360 variant. See Better Buttons for an alternative or Xbox One Buttons for Xbox One prompts (if using HD GUI: SA2, set Button Prompts Style to Vanilla+Custom within SA2 Mod Loader).
Impulse Trigger vibration

PlayStation controllers		Not supported natively. Use Steam Input as a workaround.
PlayStation button prompts		See the DualShock 3 variant of Better Buttons for DualShock prompts (if using HD GUI: SA2, set Button Prompts Style to Vanilla+Custom and Compatibility Mode to True within SA2 Mod Loader). for DualSense Button use this DualSense Button Mod
Light bar support
Adaptive trigger support
DualSense haptic feedback support
Connection modes	Wired, Wireless (Bluetooth) V2 controller tested.

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

Additional information
Controller hotplugging		Only for the selected input input device from the configuration launcher can be hotplugged, otherwise the game will prompt a "Reboot Now/Later" to change devices. If the controller was not plugged in from the initial launch of the game, it will switch to keyboard instead and request a reboot of the game.
Haptic feedback
Digital movement supported
Simultaneous controller+KB/M		Only for the selected input input device from the configuration launcher is usable when launching the game.

Audio

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound		Based on system configuration; otherwise not configurable. Tested with 7.1 surround sound. No centre and LFE channels, just a 4.0 quadraphonic mix.[citation needed]
Subtitles		On by default. Subtitles during pre-rendered cutscenes are not available.
Closed captions		Idle Chatter mod is not captioned, however, Retranslated Story Complete features captions for idle chatter.
Mute on focus lost

Localizations

Text language is selected from launcher, dialogue language is selected from in game settings.

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English				Dubtitles only. Use Retranslated Story Complete if playing with Japanese audio and English subtitles.
French				Dubtitles only. Use French Retranslation if playing with Japanese audio and French subtitles.
German
Italian
Japanese
Brazilian Portuguese				Fan translation of the "Sonic Adventure 2 Retranslated" mod. Mod created by «Luks_18»
Russian				Fan localization by «Sonic and all Characters/Joker Studio».
Spanish				Castilian.

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
Local play		2	Other player can use keyboard or controller if enabled in the config file. "Battle" DLC adds 21 battle maps to multiplayer.
LAN play
Online play		2	Use Sonic Adventure 2: Battle Network.

VR support

3D modes	State	Notes
Nvidia 3D Vision

Issues unresolved

Steam API Compatibility (Controllers)

When using any controller under the Steam Controller API, analog sticks are treated as digital keyboard keys and will be considered as 100% analog for all values beyond the dead zone.^{[citation needed]}

Menus don't render

On AMD cards, menus won't render if the resolution exceeds 4579 x 3965, on either axis.^{[citation needed]}

FXAA breaks the game

Forcing FXAA through the graphics card control panel will cause the game to stop responding.^{[citation needed]}

Game freezes and hardlocks when trying to load a stage

This issues is related to the SA2 Mod Loader. Rebooting the computer with the mod loader uninstalled seems to help temporarily. An issue ticket can be found on the Mod Loader's GitHub repo. Another potential solution is to to launch SA2 Mod Loader, click "Uninstall loader" to disable the mod loader, launching the game normally via Launcher.exe and exiting the game, and then re-launching the Mod Loader and clicking "Install Loader" to re-enable it.

Issues fixed

Game crashes after the Sonic Team logo

Use DXVK[citation needed]
Go to DXVK's project page. Download the latest release. Open it using a ZIP program, and go to the X32 folder. Copy d3d9.dll and paste it into <path-to-game>

Use ForceD3D9On12[citation needed]
Download the latest release Open it using a ZIP program, and go to the x86 folder. Copy d3d9.dll and paste it into <path-to-game>

Fixing crashes[citation needed]

If the game is crashing only in fullscreen mode, an easy workaround is to use a borderless fullscreen tool to make windowed mode fill the entire screen. The SA2 Mod Loader offers an option to do that. If the game is crashing in both fullscreen and windowed mode: Disable any framerate limiters; Sonic Adventure 2's loading screens rely on uncapped FPS in order to load properly.[citation needed] Disable any overlays (e.g. Steam Overlay, GeForce Experience). For Nvidia cards, open Nvidia Control Panel, click Manage 3D Settings, Program Settings, and add sonic2app.exe. Set V-Sync to On and set Preferred refresh rate to Application-controlled, then click Apply.

Game freezing for few seconds randomly

Fixing crashes[citation needed]
For Nvidia cards, open Nvidia Control Panel, click Manage 3D Settings, Program Settings, and add sonic2app.exe. Set Power management mode to Prefer maximum performance, click Apply.

Missing or broken graphical effects

Some effects such as rain, fire, smoke, footprints, and dirt from digging as Knuckles or Rouge are missing on integrated graphics with application optimization mode enabled.

Disable Application Optimal Mode from the integrated GPU control panel

Run the game at screen refresh rate

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

Set screen refresh rate and 60 FPS cap[citation needed]
Download Special K. Copy SpecialK32.dll to the installation folder. Rename SpecialK32.dll to d3d9.dll. Start the game and then exit. Open d3d9.ini in the installation folder. Change TargetFPS to 60.0. Change RefreshRate to 0.

Launcher crashes when trying to start the game, No resolution options available

Manually create config files

Go to the configuration file(s) location. If no files are present, create files named Keyboard.cfg and UserConfig.cfg. Copy and paste following to files. Keyboard.cfg: <?xml version="1.0" ?> <Setup Layout="0" /> <Players> <Player InputWay="1" Vibrate="0"> <key index="83" /> <key index="65" /> <key index="73" /> <key index="79" /> <key index="5" /> <key index="52" /> <key index="56" /> <key index="54" /> <key index="25" /> <key index="16" /> <key index="37" /> <key index="23" /> <key index="4" /> <key index="37" /> <key index="27" /> <key index="67" /> </Player> <Player InputWay="0" Vibrate="0"> <key index="22" /> <key index="18" /> <key index="0" /> <key index="3" /> <key index="102" /> <key index="98" /> <key index="101" /> <key index="99" /> <key index="66" /> <key index="104" /> <key index="37" /> <key index="76" /> <key index="105" /> <key index="37" /> <key index="28" /> <key index="111" /> </Player> </Players> UserConfig.cfg: <?xml version="1.0" ?> <Configs FullScreen="1" Display="0" Res="22" Width="640" Height="480" RefreshRate="60" Language="0" Analytics="0" /> Start the game from <path-to-game>\sonic2app.exe. If everything works, then change the values in UserConfig.cfg to desired ones. Bypassing the launcher is also recommended afterwards.

Planted Trees in the Chao Garden appear as saplings despite being fully grown

This fix requires SA2 Mod Loader.

Instructions
Download and install SA2 Mod Loader. Download the Enhanced Chao World mod. In the mod manager, tick and enable the mod, then click Configure and toggle any preferred features of the mod. The tree scaling fix is not listed as it is a part of the mod.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9.0c
Shader Model support	3.0

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Modifications

This section may require cleanup to meet basic quality standards. The specific problem is: Needs a serious trim. You can help by modifying the article. The discussion page may contain useful suggestions.

Modding essentials

How to install SA2 Mod Manager

Download SA2 Mod Manager from here. Extract the contents of SA2ModLoader.7z to <path-to-game>. Run SA2ModManager.exe, click the Install loader, then go to the Options tab and adjust settings as desired. Notes Eases installation and configuration of mods without replacing installation files. Adds optional tweaks such as skipping intro videos and splash screens, locking the framerate for higher refresh rate displays, and disabling loading screen animations which also speed up loading times.

Featured websites

• MainMemory's mods - Features a number of useful mods, including models converted from the Dreamcast version.
• GameBanana - Hosts a large number of user-created mods for Sonic Adventure 2.
• SF94's Sandwich - Features a small number of mods such Sonic Adventure 2: Battle Network and Stache Fix.
• Sonic Community Hacking Guide on Sonic Retro

Recommended Mods

No Battle

Removes the Battle branding from the game.

Sonic Adventure 2: Full Story

Reorganizes the game's three side of story and puts the in a chronological order.

Sonic: New Tricks

Adds new features to Sonic/Shadow and Allows for Remaping the buttons. Light Speed Dash is reamaped to Y by default.

Better Miles (Tails Gameplay Overhaul)

Changes the gameplay of the Tails's Mech section to that of SA1 and allows to switch to the mech gameplay at anytime.

Knuckles: New Tricks

Introduces new feature to Knuckles/Rouge gameplay.

Better Radar

Improves the Radar to be more like SA1.

Dead-zone reduced to 50%

Reduces the deadzone to 50% resulting in a better movement.

Turning Corrections

Moderate improvements to the controls on non-flat surface.

Smoother Wall Collisions [port & bonus]

Makes the characters not loos momentum when hitting the wall.

Physics Improvement

Adds many improvements to the character physics.

Dynamic Field of View for Action Stages

Adds the abillity to change the FOV.

Subtitles Fix

Fixes various typos and grammar issues in the subtitles, and improves the French translation.

IMPRESSive

Changes the font to be more in line with SA1.

Level Oddity Patch

Fixes misplaced level objects, making "Perfect" ring collection possible.

Black Market Sound Fix

Replaces the duller sounding menu sounds from the Chao Garden's Black Market with ones that sound closer to the GameCube version.

Improved Waypoints(Chao Garden)

Permits chao to wander around more of the Hero and Dark gardens.

Menu Overhaul

Overhauls and revises the menu system of the game while removing unnecessary clutter and discrepancies. This mod however causes some of the main menu descriptions to not properly reflect the rearranged menu options, but an unofficial fix is available. Only English and Japanese localizations are currently supported.

HD GUI: SA2 Edition

Updates many GUI and HUD elements with higher resolution ones, along with optional tweaks. Recommended with Menu Overhaul.

Better Buttons

Replaces the stock Xbox 360 prompts with ones from Sonic Generations. A DualShock 3 variant is also available.

Speed UP Icon Fix

Replaces the Vanilla Speed-UP icon with Soap Shoes.

SA2 Error Message Fixes

Removes the prompts to restart the game when a controller is disconnected or the internet connection is lost.

SA2 Render Fix

A collection of fixes for addressing rendering errors introduced in the GameCube version while restoring missing smaller details from the Dreamcast version, replaces stock textures with their highest quality equivalents from different versions of the game, and unstretches the ARK portion of the Stage Select screen.

Reworked Afterimages

Uses the Higher poly Gameplay models for Afterimages instead of 2P Lower poly models.

Tails vs Eggman 1 Texture Fix

Fixes a visual bug in the stage in both single player and 2P mode where the skybox gets imprinted on the ship's towers.

Tails Cyclone Fix

Fixes Tails' model at the end of Route 280 to appear more accurate to his in-game model.

No LoD Models

Disables level of detail models for Sonic and Shadow in singleplayer and multiplayer.

Volume Controls

Adds configurable volume settings for background music, sound effects, and voice overs, while fixing the poor sound mixing of the PC version by restoring the original Dreamcast volume levels, fixing sound effect errors, and implementing 3D positional audio.

Dreamcast Characters

Dreamcast character models converted for the PC version. This results in consistent model quality between cutscenes and gameplay when used in conjunction with Cutscene Revamp, as most cutscenes use these models by default in the vanilla game.

Dreamcast Characters and Effects

Similar to the above but also restores visual effects from the Dreamcast version used by each character.

Dreamcast Shield Hunters

Restores the original Dreamcast version of the G.U.N. Hunters and Shield Hunter enemies.

Dreamcast Boss Texture and Effects

Restores many of the higher quality Dreamcast textures and effects from the Dreamcast version.

Dreamcast object light restoration

Restores the object lighting of the Dreamcast version.

Partial DC Fog Restoration - Complete Edition

Restores the missing fog to some of the stages.

Flying Dog and Sonic vs Shadow DC Fog Restoration

Restores fog to Flying Dog and Sonic vs Shadow Bosses.

Prison Lane Smooth DC Fog Restoration

Restores fog to Prison Lane.

DreamCast fog restore for SvS1 and Aquatic Mine

Restores fog to Sonic vs Shadow Boss and Aquatic Mine.

Stage Atmosphere Tweaks

Includes many lighting alterations resulting in tweaking the atmosphere of the stages.

Final Hazard Super Lighting

Changes the lighting of the Biolizard boss to be more atmospheric.

DC Shadows

Restores the missing shadow effects from the Dreamcast version.

DC+ Models

Versions of the higher-quality GameCube models edited to give the characters pointy ears, like Yuji Uekawa's original artwork. Requires the DC Models of Sonic and Shadow to be disabled in Dreamcast Characters mod.

Enhanced City Escape

Series of Options and QOL features for the City Escape.

Dreamcast SETs (Objects)

Ports the Stage Sets for DC version. reauires a Fix for the Green Forest, White Jungle and/or Eggman's Cannon's Core segment

Dreamcast Credit Images

Replaces the Credit images from the Vanilla version with the DC version.

Misc. Improvements and Dreamcast Textures

Attempts to restore some of the missing effects and modified textures to their Dreamcast counterparts, as well as restoring the original item and enemy placements of City Escape, however, the modified City Escape stage in this mod can cause issues. The White Jungle Fog fix is also available independently.

Eggman Lighting Fix

Fixes the lighting of Eggman's stages to resemble their GameCube counterparts while restoring the directional light from his Egg Walker.

Rouge's Eye Animation Fix

Fixes a bug with Rouge's eye texture when climbing along walls sideways.

Cutscene Revamp

Overhauls the game's Story Mode cutscenes by fixing various issues, importing assets, and workarounds so they appear closer to the original game. This also features tweaks such as 16:9 widescreen cutscenes and restoring the Dreamcast intro.

Cutscene Revamp Music Fixes

Fixes some music issues with Cutscene Revamp.

Transforming Scene Volume FIX

Corrects the volume levels for the transformation scene's music in the Final Story when using Cutscene Revamp.

SFDs with Subtitles

Adds Subtitle to FMVs. Requires to be loaded under the Cutscene Revamp mod.

e0211 Fix

Fixes the e0211 Scene by Removing Sonic's Hand in the corner of the screen that was resulted by the Widescreen.

Event Timescale Fix

Fixes the Dialouge intruption that was caused by the incorrect timing.

HQ Chao Sounds

Replaces Chao sound effects with higher quality recordings from Team Sonic Racing and adds some other music improvements

Mech Sound Improvement

Changes the noises made by the mechs to be more easy on the ears.

Sonic Adventure 2 - Ray's Remaster (DEMO)

an Audio and Visual Overhaul that Uses Higher Quality Audio From other sources and Upscaled Textures.

HD Lens Flares

Replaces the Lens Flare with higher quality variant.

Restore SOAP ads

Restores the various references to SOAP in City Escape, Radical Highway, Downtown Race, and the kart racing stages, without adding incidental GameCube button prompts.

Running Animation Bob Inversion

Replaces the running animation of Sonic to Visually be less noisy.

Idle Chatter SA2 Edition

A port of the similarly named Sonic Adventure DX mod for Sonic Adventure 2 that adds the ability to hear what the player's character has to say about the current stage. The function is mapped to Right on the D-pad due to the Input Mod not being available for Sonic Adventure 2.

Enhanced Chao World

fixes, quality-of-life improvements, restorations, and configurable features for the Chao World.

Enable Spindash in Chao Gardens (DC Restoration)

Restores the Spin Dash to the Chao World that was disabled from the later re-rleases.

Character Select PLUS

Allows to play any stage with any character.

Co-op Story Mode

By using Cheat Engine after launching the game, two players can play the Story Mode co-operatively.

Address 0043D6EB must be set as 3D898989898989, Address 00439703 as 9090 and Address 01934BE4 as 1 for having Shadow as P2 (or : 0 - Sonic / 1 - Shadow / 2 - Mechless Tails/ 3 - Mechless Eggman/ 4 - Knuckles/ 5 - Rouge/ 6 - Mech Tails / 7 - Mech Eggman)

SA2 Save Utility

A utility designed to modify save files for the game. Can be downloaded here.

SA2 Save Converter

A utility that can convert main game and Chao Garden save files from the GameCube, Xbox 360/PlayStation 3, and PC versions to another platform. Can be downloaded here.

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	XP	Vista, 7
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium 4 3.2 GHz AMD Athlon 64 3000+	Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+
System memory (RAM)	1 GB	2 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	3 GB	6 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce 8600 ATI Radeon HD 3650 256 MB of VRAM DirectX 9.0c compatible Shader model 3.0 support	Nvidia GeForce GTS 250 ATI Radeon HD 4850 512 MB of VRAM DirectX 11 compatible
Sound (audio device)	DirectX compatible