Sonic Heroes
| Developers | |
|---|---|
| Sonic Team USA | |
| Publishers | |
| Sega | |
| Russia | 1C-SoftClub[1] |
| Retail re-release | Sold Out Software |
| Engines | |
| RenderWare[2] | |
| Release dates | |
| Windows | November 16, 2004[3] |
| Reception | |
| Metacritic | 66 |
| Taxonomy | |
| Monetization | One-time game purchase |
| Modes | Singleplayer, Multiplayer |
| Pacing | Real-time |
| Perspectives | Third-person |
| Controls | Direct control |
| Genres | Action, Platform |
| Art styles | Cartoon |
| Themes | Contemporary |
| Series | Sonic the Hedgehog |
| ⤏ Go to series page | |
| Sonic the Hedgehog fangames (series) | |
| Sonic the Hedgehog unofficial ports (series) | |
| Sonic CD | 1995 |
| Sonic's Schoolhouse | 1996 |
| Sonic & Knuckles Collection | 1997 |
| Sonic 3D Blast | 1997 |
| Sonic Racing (series) | |
| Sonic Adventure (series) | |
| Sonic Heroes | 2004 |
| Sonic Mega Collection Plus | 2006 |
| Sonic 3D Blast (Genesis) | 2010 |
| Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine | 2010 |
| Sonic Spinball | 2010 |
| Sonic the Hedgehog | 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 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 Rumble Party | 2025 |
Warnings
- SafeDisc DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see Availability for affected releases).
- RenderWare games may not work on Windows 11 24H2 or later without using a DirectSound wrapper (see the engine page for details).
Sonic Heroes is a singleplayer and multiplayer third-person action platform game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series developed by Sonic Team USA and published by Sega.
After the game's original release on PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube in late 2003, a PC port of Sonic Heroes was released on November 16, 2004.[3]
Most of the fixes documented in this article target the DRM-free release and will not work with other versions of the game.
Availability
| Source | DRM | Notes | Keys | OS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail | SafeDisc 4 DRM[Note 1]. Released on 2 CDs. The Korean release has a simple disc check. |
|||
| Retail | DRM-free executable found in the Sonic PC Collection.[6] |
Demo
- Available to download from PCGamingWiki Files.
Monetization
| Type | Notes |
|---|---|
| One-time game purchase | The game requires an upfront purchase to access. |
Essential improvements
- Almost all mods in the article require Reloaded-II.
SH Essentials: Graphics
- Implements widescreen (and tallscreen) support, improves loading times, borderless fullscreen windowed mode, high aspect-ratio fixes, an improved launcher, removes frame skipping for split-screen multiplayer and various other options.
| Installation[7] |
|---|
|
SH Essentials: Widescreen Revamp
- Requires TONERR, Universal File Redirector and SH Essentials: Graphics.
- Remakes most UI elements in widescreen and uses higher quality assets from the console versions.
Sonic Heroes: Fixed Edition
- Fixes several issues listed in the Issues fixed section of this article, among many others.
| Installation[8] |
|---|
|
Game data
Configuration file(s) location
| System | Location |
|---|---|
| Windows | %APPDATA%\Sega\SONICHEROES\sonic_h.ini |
Save game data location
| System | Location |
|---|---|
| Windows | %APPDATA%\Sega\SONICHEROES\SONICHEROES_* |
Video
| Graphics feature | State | WSGF | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Widescreen resolution | Supports 4:3 resolutions up to 1280x960 only. See Widescreen resolution. | ||
| Multi-monitor | See Widescreen resolution. | ||
| Ultra-widescreen | See Widescreen resolution. | ||
| 4K Ultra HD | See Widescreen resolution. | ||
| Field of view (FOV) | See Field of view (FOV). | ||
| Windowed | See Windowed. | ||
| Borderless fullscreen windowed | See Borderless fullscreen windowed. | ||
| Anisotropic filtering (AF) | Toggleable on/off. Sampling amount is unknown. | ||
| Anti-aliasing (AA) | See the glossary page for potential workarounds. | ||
| Vertical sync (Vsync) | See the glossary page for potential workarounds. | ||
| 60 FPS | External launcher has options for 15, 20, 30, or 60 FPS cap for singleplayer, however, split-screen multiplayer is always rendered at 30 FPS (frameskip). Game speed is tied to target framerate. See Frame rate (FPS). | ||
| 120+ FPS | Capped at 60 FPS. | ||
| High dynamic range display (HDR) | |||
| Color blind mode | See the glossary page for potential alternatives. | ||
Widescreen resolution
| Use SH Essentials: Graphics and SH Essentials: Widescreen Revamp[9] |
|---|
|
| Use a Flawless Widescreen script[citation needed] |
|---|
Field of view (FOV)
| Change FOV with Widescreen Fix[citation needed] |
|---|
|
Windowed
Enable Windowed mode through configuration launcher or set Screen_Full to 0 in sonic_h.ini
|
|---|
| SH Essentials: Graphics mod: disable Full Screen mode under the Default Settings section[7] |
|---|
|
Notes
|
Borderless fullscreen windowed
| Use SH Essentials: Graphics mod[9] |
|---|
|
Notes
|
Frame rate (FPS)
- Split-screen multiplayer is always capped at 30 FPS by default regardless of frame rate setting.
| Disable 2P frame skip[9] |
|---|
|
Input
| Keyboard and mouse | State | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Remapping | Mouse remapping only. Refer to Strategy Wiki for keyboard controls here. Custom keybindings can be achieved by installing Reloaded-II and the Controller Hook mod (SH Essentials: Controller Hook and Custom Mapping for Heroes Controller Hook). | |
| Mouse sensitivity | ||
| Mouse acceleration | ||
| Mouse input in menus | ||
| Keyboard and mouse prompts | Generic controller prompts are always shown regardless if keyboard and mouse is being used. | |
| Mouse Y-axis inversion | ||
| Controller | ||
| Controller support | Uses DirectInput. Refer to Strategy Wiki for the console version's controls. | |
| Full controller support | ||
| Controller remapping | Basic button remapping available in external launcher and in-game options. PC version lacks camera rotation when using the right analog stick without a workaround.[11] See Controller support. | |
| Controller sensitivity | ||
| Controller Y-axis inversion |
| Controller types |
|---|
| XInput-compatible controllers | XInput-compatible controllers work at a basic level correctly via the DirectInput interface.[12] See Controller support for improved XInput support. | |
|---|---|---|
| Xbox button prompts | Install SH Essentials: Widescreen Revamp, then change HUD Style to Xbox. |
|
| Impulse Trigger support |
| DirectInput-compatible controllers |
|---|
| PlayStation controllers | DualShock 4 Supported via DirectInput. Game does not register any inputs from a DualSense controller without a workaround.[13] |
|
|---|---|---|
| PlayStation button prompts | Install SH Essentials: Widescreen Revamp, then change HUD Style to PlayStation 2. |
|
| Motion sensors support | ||
| Light bar support | Requires the Dualshock 4 & Dualsense LED Support mod. | |
| Adaptive trigger support | ||
| DualSense haptic feedback support | ||
| Connection modes | Wired, Wireless (Bluetooth) | |
| Nintendo controllers |
|---|
| Other controller(s) | May cause spinning camera on some controllers due to wrong axis being interpreted as the right analog stick. | |
|---|---|---|
| Additional button prompts |
| Additional information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Controller hotplugging | Not supported by default. See Controller support for hotplugging support. | |
| Input prompt override | SH Essentials: Widescreen Revamp offers button prompts based on the Nintendo GameCube, Xbox, PlayStation 2, and Sega Dreamcast controller or the stock generic prompts. | |
| Haptic feedback | Disabled by default in the Options menu. Supported on some DirectInput controllers. See Controller support to restore haptic feedback for XInput controllers. | |
| Digital movement support | ||
| Simultaneous controller+KB/M |
Controller support
- The PC version of Sonic Heroes does not read trigger information from DirectInput controllers. The game still supports pressure sensitive rotation using the trigger buttons.[14] The following solutions can potentially restore these features.
| How to improve controller support[15] |
|---|
|
Method 1: Install the following mods for Reloaded-II (XInput and PlayStation)
Method 2: Install Xidi (XInput)
|
Audio
| Audio feature | State | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Separate volume controls | Individual sliders for SE/Voice and BGM in external configuration launcher, both of which can also be muted. | |
| Surround sound | Up to 7.1 output during gameplay and in-game cutscenes with DirectSound3D restoration software. The original PS2 and Xbox releases had support for Dolby Digital 5.1 in FMV cutscenes, but FMV cutscenes are limited to stereo in the PC version.[16] |
|
| Subtitles | Always on by default. Install SH Essentials: Graphics, then toggle "Remove Subtitles" to disable. |
|
| Closed captions | ||
| Mute on focus lost | ||
| Royalty free audio |
Localizations
- The non-Japanese versions only includes the English voice-over tracks, and lip-synching during FMV sequences are synched up to the English dub.
| Language | UI | Audio | Sub | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | Dubtitles. | |||
| French | ||||
| German | ||||
| Italian | ||||
| Japanese | Lacks dual-audio support in non-Japanese releases (i.e. cannot select Japanese voices with English subtitles). Japanese voice mod, download. See XBOX Quality Media for the Xbox-quality Japanese FMV files. |
|||
| Korean | ||||
| Brazilian Portuguese | Fan translation by Brazilian Warriors / Tribo Gamer; download. | |||
| Russian | Officially distributed by SoftClub, but with no localization; fan translation is available here. | |||
| Spanish | Castilian. Contains some translation errors. |
Disable voices
- This setting will disable most in-game voice-overs without muting sound effects altogether, however, voice-clips that also have subtitles will still play out as normal.
| Use SH Essentials: Graphics[7] |
|---|
|
Add Charmy_Shutup to sonic_h.ini[17]
|
|---|
|
Network
Multiplayer types
| Type | Native | Players | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Local play | 2 | Versus Holding down the A+Y buttons after selecting a level to turn the chosen team into "Metal Heroes". |
||
| LAN play | ||||
| Online play | ||||
Issues fixed
Game refuses to start
- This issue is caused by the RenderWare engine where the Code Segment is incorrectly marked as non-executable.
Fix Data Execution Prevention setting for Tsonic_win.exe[18]
|
|---|
| Use SH Essentials: Graphics[18] |
|---|
Missing voice-over lines
- Certain in-game voice-overs lines are missing in the PC port of the game.
| Use Sonic Heroes Missing Audio clip fixes[19] |
|---|
| Use XBOX Quality Media[20] |
|---|
Missing explosion effects from Espio's shurikens
- The blue crescent particle textures are not included in the PC port of the game.
| Use Sonic Heroes: Fixed Edition[7] |
|---|
| Hex editing solution[21] |
|---|
|
Leadership Crown not displaying
- Bobsled HUD textures is missing.
| Use Sonic Heroes: Fixed Edition[7] |
|---|
| Hex editing solution[citation needed] |
|---|
|
Egg UFO sign light not animating
- Fading light arrow animations are missing.
| Use Sonic Heroes: Fixed Edition[7] |
|---|
| Hex editing solution[citation needed] |
|---|
|
White borders when rail grinding on splines
- White borders can be seen on the screen while rail grinding on splines.
| Hex editing solution[citation needed] |
|---|
F9A4D 0A --> 02 F9A6C 02 --> 03 F9A6E 0A --> 02 F9AA4 0A --> 02 |
Transparent frog feet
- The frog's feet in Frog Forest and Lost Jungle are incorrectly due to a Z-buffering error.
- Note: This HEX Edit also messes with Lost Jungle's water.[22]
| Hex editing solution[citation needed] |
|---|
EE3ED C7 05 E4 AB 7B 00 70 2E 40 00 468A20 04 --> 12 468A44 04 --> 12 |
Grand Metropolis Energy pipes are not rendered correctly
- The game does not scan for the high quality object archive for the lava indirect effects.
| Use Sonic Heroes: Fixed Edition[7] |
|---|
| Hex editing solution[citation needed] |
|---|
|
Grand Metropolis Energy pipe glass can be seen through walls
- Caused by an incorrect material flag.
| Use Sonic Heroes: Fixed Edition[7] |
|---|
| Hex editing solution[citation needed] |
|---|
|
Laser indirect effects are disabled in Final Fortress
| Use Sonic Heroes: Fixed Edition[7] |
|---|
| Hex editing solution[citation needed] |
|---|
31A800 40 --> 50 31A950 40 --> 50 31AAA0 40 --> 50 31AB79 40 --> 50 |
Shadow's Tornado effect is single-sided
- Caused by an incorrect culling materials applied to the model.
| Use Sonic Heroes: Fixed Edition[7] |
|---|
| Hex editing solution[citation needed] |
|---|
|
Signal Monitor flickering
- Signal flickering animation present in console releases is missing on PC.
| Use Sonic Heroes: Fixed Edition[7] |
|---|
| Hex editing solution[citation needed] |
|---|
|
Incorrect Theater Lights rendering
- The theater lights appear dark in the PC port of the game.
| Hex editing solution[citation needed] |
|---|
8D 44 24 FC 50 6A 14 E8 40 B0 F2 FF 6A 02 8B 46 0C 85 C0 74 6F 8B 40 24 85 C0 74 68 8B 88 B0 00 00 00 8B 80 AC 00 00 00 85 C0 74 58 8B 00 85 C0 74 52 2D 00 01 00 00 51 69 D1 00 01 00 00 8B 4C 24 04 83 F9 01 75 23 83 7C 10 04 01 75 07 83 4C 10 08 04 EB 05 83 64 10 08 FB 50 6A 02 6A 14 E8 98 AF F2 FF 83 C4 08 58 EB 0C 83 7C 10 04 01 75 05 83 64 10 08 FB 59 49 75 BD E8 8D FF D2 FF FF 0C 24 75 8A 83 C4 04 E8 70 AF F2 FF 83 C4 08 C3 |
Odd Vertex Paint rendering for the root ball in Frog Forest
- The vertex paint disappears from the model.
| Use Sonic Heroes: Fixed Edition[7] |
|---|
| Hex editing solution[citation needed] |
|---|
|
Transparency bugs for certain game objects
- This issue is caused by incorrect object alpha blending modes being used in the PC port of the game.
| Use Sonic Heroes: Fixed Edition[7] |
|---|
Big's fur stripes are missing
- Big's in-game model in the PC port of the game shipped with a broken texture container, causing his fur stripes to go missing.
| Use Sonic Heroes: Fixed Edition[7] |
|---|
Incorrect colors on Metal Madness / Metal Overlord
- Neo Metal Sonic has a different environment map in the PC port of the game, as compared to the GameCube/PlayStation 2 ports that doesn't use such texture.
| Use Metal Sonic Fix[7] |
|---|
Extreme slowdown with crackling audio on Linux with Proton
| Disable ESYNC and FSYNC[23][24] |
|---|
|
Use the |
Other information
API
| Technical specs | Supported | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Direct3D | 8 | Minimal required DirectX version listed is 9.0b, however the game uses Direct3D 8 for rendering. For Direct3D 8, support, use an external wrapper such as d3d8to9[25] |
| Executable | 32-bit | 64-bit | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windows |
Middleware
Modifications
Reloaded-II
| How to install Reloaded-II[26] |
|---|
|
Featured mods
Bugfixes/improvements
- Dialogue Volume Fix - Rebalances the sound mixing of the in-game dialogue voices. Only applies to the English dub.
Miscellaneous
- E3 Title Screen - A recreation of the game's title screen from the E3 prototype (which are left in the final version's files) and supports up to 18:9 aspect-ratios. Must be placed below SH Essentials: Widescreen Revamp in the priority list.
- MisterCoderman's launcher for Sonic Heroes - Offers an alternative solution for widescreen support.
System requirements
| Windows[27] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum | Recommended | |||
| Operating system (OS) | 98 SE, 2000, ME, XP | |||
| Processor (CPU) | Intel Pentium III 866 MHz | Intel Pentium IV 1.4 GHz | ||
| System memory (RAM) | 128 MB | 256 MB | ||
| Storage drive (HDD/SSD) | 800 MB | 1.5 GB | ||
| Video card (GPU) | 16 MB of VRAM DirectX 9.0b compatible | 64 MB of VRAM | ||
| Other | 12x CD-ROM drive | |||
Notes
References
- ↑ [1] - last accessed on 2023-06-14
- ↑ renderware - clients & titles (archived) - last accessed on 2023-05-19
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 SEGA SHIPS SONIC HEROES FOR PC (archived) - last accessed on 2023-05-19
- ↑ Not Loading in Windows 10; this will break thousands of - Microsoft Community - last accessed on 2017-01-16
- ↑ Microsoft - MS15-097: Description of the security update for the graphics component in Windows: September 8, 2015 - last accessed on 2018-02-16
- ↑ Verified by User:Sewer56lol on 2019-08-03
- CRC32: 821662F7.
- ↑ 7.00 7.01 7.02 7.03 7.04 7.05 7.06 7.07 7.08 7.09 7.10 7.11 7.12 7.13 7.14 Verified by User:Sandemc on 2024-04-03
- ↑ Verified by User:Sandemc on 2025-9-18
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Verified by User:Sewer56lol on 2019-11-03
- Author of the solution.
- ↑ Verified by User:AmethystViper on 2024-09-02
- ↑ Verified by User:AmethystViper on 2020-09-25
- No such option for right stick camera looking exists in the PC version from what I can tell without mods.
- ↑ Verified by User:Sewer56lol on 2019-11-03
- Tested with Xbox One controller.
- ↑ Verified by User:Amethystviper on 2024-09-02
- Tested a V1 DualShock 4 controller and DualSense via USB. The latter did not work in the game whatsoever unless configured through Custom Mapping for Heroes Controller Hook.
- ↑ Verified by User:Sewer56lol on 2019-11-03
- Reverse Engineering of input handling code.
- ↑ Verified by User:Amethystviper on 2024-09-02
- ↑ Verified by User:MasterBlaster on 2025-02-19
- Tested in 7.1 using Orban Loudness Meter in conjunction with Razer Surround.
- ↑ Sonic Heroes Hidden Setting - The Cutting Room Floor - last accessed on May 2023
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 Sewer56: Twitter - last accessed on 2024-09-03
- ↑ Verified by User:AmethystViper on 2020-09-26
- Stock PC voice effects files is smaller than this fix.
- ↑ Verified by User:RaphaelDrewBoltman on {{{date}}}
- Uses XBOX media files from the port directly to PC port, which also fixes the missing dialog lines and other sound effects
- ↑ Verified by User:AmethystViper on 2020-09-26
- This fixed the mission shuriken effects with a vanilla copy of the game.
- ↑ Verified by User:RaphaelDrewBoltman on {{{date}}}
- Tested and verified by me, which is why it is not a featured "fix" in Sonic Heroes: Fixed Edition.
- ↑ Sonic Heroes PC running on Steam Deck : r/SteamDeck - last accessed on 2025-04-26
- ↑ Verified by User:Nogaems on 2025-04-26
- ↑ Verified by User:Sewer56lol on 2019-11-03
- ↑ Verified by User:AmethystViper on 2020-09-26
- ↑ SonicHeroes_PC_UK_manual.pdf - last accessed on 2024-12-12