Sonic Generation Steamdeck great fps nd Hedgemodmanager works

[Derik-For-Real]

Its not really hard to get the fixes for this game.

First; you need to make sure to install DeckyLoader (Instal guide nd usage https://github.com/SteamDeckHomebrew/decky-loader) After installing this program on your deck, you must visit the plugins store through the deckyloader icon when pressing the right bottom button. After visiting the plugin store you must download the powertools plugins, after download it gets installed automatically, restart is required.

You should now have powertools plugins inside decky loader menu, open powertools, you must disable SMT nd the number of threads should be changed to 4, however sometimes it wont change to 4, to ensure this, you have to enable nd disable a couple times the smt toggle.

This brings huge fps boost, nd stable experience

Secondly, Its possible to run Hedgemodmanager on the deck, the method I used was on Lutris which is not too hard.

You just need to download the Hedgemodmanager.exe file nd place it wherever you like. Open Lutris and press the plus button on top left, press add locally installed game, give name (Hedgemodmanager), runner must be wine, then move to game option section in the menu, select executeable (hedgemodmanager.exe file). I used wine version Lutris-7.2-2-2x86_64.

Your almost there, after you finished saving the lutris configuration above, you have to make sure to install the following dependencies for hedgemodmanager, which can be installed from the winetricks menu

Dependencies; d3dcompiler_47, dotnet48, vcrun2019.

If done correctly, you should be able to open hedgemodmanager through lutris,. The first thing you notice is that the hedgemodmanger user interface is a bit buggy, you have to move around with your mouse to see parts of the interface but it works.

I have installed direct3d 9ex nd also sonic frontiers mod nd it works great.

Im not sure why the Hedgemodmanager user interface is buggy visually, maybi someone can figure out how to fix it ?

I hope this helps guys !

[Cap]

Just by turning off SMT, the game became insanely stable. Cheers and great post.

[Musclebob Buffpants]

Working perfect for me. Haven't tried any mods yet.

[Graxer]

Using this guide I managed to load HedgeModManager through Lutris, but none of the mods I activate actually have an effect on the game unfortunately. I ticked them, installed the mod loader and clicked save. Maybe its because I am trying to load Generations mods, not Forces. I was hoping to get Unleashed Project running, but no luck.

On the other hand, this guide completely solved my performance problems! It is amazing playing Generations (non-3DS) on a handheld. Thanks!

[Graxer]

Also, I fixed the glitchy visuals in HedgeModManager. In Lutris select "Open Wine Console" for HedgeModManager and type:

reg add "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Avalon.Graphics" /v DisableHWAcceleration /t REG_DWORD /d 1

Then press enter

[FolkSong]

Thanks, I got it working with these steps!

And the registry fix is super helpful to fix the display problem. One note, I had to delete the word ”wine” from the command when pasting it into the console, it's the Windows command line so the command was just ”reg add” etc.

[FolkSong]

I actually find it runs worse with the d3d9e mod installed. Best performance seems to just be vanilla with SMT disabled.

[Graxer]

Originally posted by FolkSong:

Thanks, I got it working with these steps!

And the registry fix is super helpful to fix the display problem. One note, I had to delete the word ”wine” from the command when pasting it into the console, it's the Windows command line so the command was just ”reg add” etc.

Thanks! I removed "wine" from my post. I tried it with and without and thought it had worked with "wine", but clearly I got that in reverse.

Also, I have managed to fix the problem I was having with mods not loading now (it seems it would only have affected certain mods), so all is good! I can't explain off the top of my head how I did it, but if someone else has the same problem I will try to help.

[Derik-For-Real]

Graxer thnx for trying this out and sharing interesting info.

Regarding the sonic unleashed project mod, I copied the extracted Sonic Unleashed Project folder to sonic generation game folder, I also included the better fx pipeline which is required for the mod to work. I opend Hedgemod through lutris, the mods recently added where available, I selected the 3 mods (better fx pipeline, unleashed fxpipeline shaders, unleashed project. Finaly started the game, the intro scene was stock indicating mod is not loaded, but when ingame, the level were all stock, but the sound changed which indicates that the mod is not completely loaded.

I decided to put SonicGMI.exe in lutris and I appointed to the same prefix folder used for hedgemod manager. The SonicGMI.exe came with the Unleashed Project mod folder and was placed in the Sonic generation folder, I basically followed this guys video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZWmh6z0Rxw. So I saved and booted from the SonicGMI.exe mod interface through lutris, nd the game was able to load the entire Unleashed mod, it looked gorgeous, however at first start it said no save data to be loaded, so i made new save data just to get in de game nd test.

Ofcourse I had to make my old save file recognized in unleashed mod someway, what I did, was to disable all the mods from SonicGMI.exe and see if the game would load my old save, which it did. Then I went to load Hedgemod nd double check if i was able to load my old save file without enabling mods. FInaly I went back to SonicGMI.exe interface nd I had to reanable a few things again, nd it worked, Sonic unleashed was fully loaded with all the music tracks I unlocked from original game nd the red rings.

So here is the deal, technically Hedgemod manager should load the entire Sonic Unleashed mod but it does not do that at all on the deck, it loads part of the unleashed mod which is only the music tracks for stages. My guess is that better fxpipeline is not loaded in hedgemod manager on the deck trough lutris.

But if you try SonicGMI.exe mod interface which comes with the unleashed project folder, the Better fxpipeline render does its job and is able to load fully the Unleashed project mod succesfully, however not the case with Hedgemod. This sucks, cuz the SonicGMI.exe is old, Hedgemod has some cool mod codes that can be used but this is not available with SonicGMI.

I have tested the Unleashed project nd the majority of stages is rock solid 60fps which is insane despite being big mod nd very pleasing visuals, in some specific stages at specific points, performance can dip to upper 40 to 50, i believe its the highway stage in unleashed. I was shocked how good the mod is, if you play its different then the videos on youtube, very impresive mod nd performance.

I hope someone can find a way out to make fxpipeline nd Sonic Unleashed mod load propperly through hedgmod isntead of SonicGMI.

[Graxer]

I have got both the Sonic Unleashed and FXPipeline mods working with HedgeModManager, and the solution is surprisingly quite simple. When you activate mods in HedgeModManager a file called "cpkredir.ini" is created in the game's folder. If you open this in KWrite you will see a line in the file that says something similar to:

ModsDbIni="\run\media\mmcblk0p1\steamapps\common\Sonic Generations\mods\ModsDB.ini"

This line is meant to tell the game where the mod database file is (this isn't needed by all mods so some will work or will only partially work) but the location after the "=" is a Linux style location address for the file. It is completely meaningless the proton/wine instance that is playing the game and trying to apply mods, as it expects something like

ModsDbIni="C:\Program Files (x86)\..."

The best way to solve this problem in my opinion is to install Protontricks in Discover and then do the following things:

1. Run Protontricks
   
2. Scroll down until you find Sonic Generations, select it then click "ok".
   
3. Wait a few seconds then dismiss the 64 bit warning.
   
4. Make sure the "Select the default wine prefix" option is selected and press "ok"
   
5. Select "Run winecfg" and press "ok"
   
6. Click the drives tab at the top of the "Wine configuration" window.
   
7. In the table it shows the mappings that are in place between the Linux style file locations and emulated drives in the wine "Windows" instance. Open up the "cpkredir.ini" from your game's folder and look at the line that starts with:

   ModsDbIni=

   Compare the mapping in the Wine configuration window to the start of the location in this line. In my case I can see the line starts with

   \run\media\mmcblk0p1\

   and there is a mapping in the Wine Configuration that says

   E:        /run/media/mmcblk0p1

   this tells that that part of the the game sees that location as the E drive (don't worry about the different direction of the slashes).
   
8. Edit the line in cpkredir.ini to reflect this. In my case this:
   

   ModsDbIni="\run\media\mmcblk0p1\steamapps\common\Sonic Generations\mods\ModsDB.ini"

   Had to be changed to:
   

   ModsDbIni="E:\steamapps\common\Sonic Generations\mods\ModsDB.ini"

9. Save the file and close it. Feel free to close wine configuration at this point and all the winetricks windows that reappear as it steps back though the options you chose.
   
10. For completeness open HedgeModManager and press save in it again before closing it. Go back into the file you edited and make sure the changes are still there (they should be, but if they aren't change them and save again).
    
11. Run the game again and play with mods that have features which require CPK redirection.

I did this both with Generations and Lost World and in both cases it worked perfectly, so hopefully it works for anyone else who has issues!

In most cases, assuming you are running the game from an SD card you can probably start from step 8 and do exactly what I did using the E drive. If you are not playing the game from the SD card or it doesn't work it is best to follow the full guide as the drive mapping may be different.

P.S. if there isn't a cpkredir.ini file in your folder open HedgeModManager first, select some mods and click save. This will enable mods on your game and you will then be able to follow the guide.

[Derik-For-Real]

this is huge info, its important to note that (mmcblk0p1) is reffered to micro sd and not the internal nvme drive.

But in my case my Sonic Generation is installed on the nvme drive, My cpkredir.ini looks like this;

ModsDbIni="\home\deck\.local\share\Steam\steamapps\common\Sonic Generations\mods\ModsDB.ini"

And the winetricks configuration drives looks like this; https://imgur.com/gallery/95LgY2M

So to what should i change the cpkredir.ini code

[Graxer]

Originally posted by Derik-For-Real:

this is huge info, its important to note that (mmcblk0p1) is reffered to micro sd and not the internal nvme drive.

But in my case my Sonic Generation is installed on the nvme drive, My cpkredir.ini looks like this;

ModsDbIni="\home\deck\.local\share\Steam\steamapps\common\Sonic Generations\mods\ModsDB.ini"

And the winetricks configuration drives looks like this; https://imgur.com/gallery/95LgY2M

So to what should i change the cpkredir.ini code

Ah, I think in your case it would be the Z drive as it represents the root directory of your steam deck, so maybe even simpler:

ModsDbIni="Z:\home\deck\.local\share\Steam\steamapps\common\Sonic Generations\mods\ModsDB.ini"

Technically, using Z like that in all cases may work, but it is probably better to use the other drives if you can (im not sure if it is necessary though).

Please let me know whether it works!

[Derik-For-Real]

it worked flawless, your are amazing my guy, finally we can enjoy sonic games with mods with no compromise on the deck, this is great !

Really appreciate the help you gave to all of us.

[Graxer]

Originally posted by Derik-For-Real:

it worked flawless, your are amazing my guy, finally we can enjoy sonic games with mods with no compromise on the deck, this is great !

Really appreciate the help you gave to all of us.

That's brilliant to hear! Im glad that the two of us were able to come up with a solution together. Hopefully this conversation helps anyone else trying to play mods on the deck!

[Derik-For-Real]

yeah its really amazing, I really enjoyed this, I mean big love for all the steamdeck users nd sonic fans, keep enjoying guys, mods is what drives the life cycle of a game, we are lucky !

[Leonard]

This mod seems to improve performance on the steam deck by a lot. It upgrades the game to DX11.
https://gamebanana.com/mods/407367