Guide to Making Sonic R Run on XP/Vista/7 at Modern Resolutions

***Please check out the comments section below - there is a new patcher released that is MUCH easier to use than my guide. Thanks to Snow 344 and AmethystViper for the heads up and links! I'll leave this up in case anyone is insistent on fixing it themselves and also to draw attention to the new patcher.***

***This guide only tested on Win XP/Vista/7 - Guide will not be updated for newer OS's any time soon.***

Unfortunately (or fortunately ;) ), there's nowhere to put a Sonic R guide on Steam. This guide will show you how to make Sonic R run on a more modern machine at a modern resolution. It DOES require a basic understanding of hex editing, a working Sonic R CD, a few tool downloads from safe sites, and (optionally) a basic understanding of batch files. All sources are credited within the guide.

Steam also decided it would be a lovely idea to eat my old guide. This is the same one I uploaded earlier.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

Although the following steps work 100% on my Windows 7 64-bit machine, I cannot guarantee the same for you, and I therefore cannot be held liable for any damages or errors you cause to your own machine.

And always, ALWAYS make backups of any edited files!

Installing Sonic R

This step usually isn’t a problem for most machines. Simply place your Sonic R CD into the drive you wish to play it from.

IMPORTANT: Sonic R’s CD must be in the FIRST disc drive on your computer. For example, if you have two DVD drives, D and E, the CD MUST be in D. It will NOT play the game OR music in any other drive.

This next step can and likely WILL cause issues with other games and software. Only do this if absolutely necessary and you feel comfortable (if not, skip ahead!):

If you cannot place the CD into the first drive for some reason, you can change drive letters in the Control Panel. The setting can be found here: Control Panel -> All Control Panel Items -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management. Click Disk Management under Storage. Find the drive Sonic R’s CD is inserted into and change it to a drive letter closer to the beginning of the alphabet than your other drive(s)’s letter (Right click the drive -> Change Drive Letter and Paths -> Change… and select a new letter).

Now back to the installation instructions:

Navigate to your Sonic R disc’s directory. Try running setup.exe. If it fails to run, right click it, select Properties, then the Compatibility tab. Select Windows 98 Compatibility mode and check Run as Administrator and try again. Don’t worry if this doesn’t properly copy all the files. After setup is finished, you may simply copy and paste all of the disc’s data into the game’s installation directory.

Note that you still need the disc to play, regardless.

Getting Sonic R Running

Get a hex editor such as xvi32 (http://www.chmaas.handshake.de/delphi/freeware/xvi32/xvi32.htm#download ), which is freeware.

Use your hex editor to open sonicr.exe in the game’s installation directory (NOT the disc) and edit the following addresses:

00070584: Change 2E to B8
00070585: Change FF to 31
00070586: Change 15 to 00
00070587: Change 8C to 00
00070588: Change 05 to 00
00070589: Change 95 to 90
0007058A: Change 00 to 90
000705A0: Change 2E to B8
000705A1: Change FF to 01
000705A2: Change 15 to 00
000705A3: Change 8C to 00
000705A4: Change 05 to 00
000705A5: Change 95 to 90
000705A6: Change 00 to 90

(values posted by Extryn @ sonicstadium.org - http://board.sonicstadium.org/topic/4620-an-itch-to-play-sonic-r/?p=136804 )

Save and exit.

Get DXWnd ( http://www [dot] mediafire [dot] com/file/b4jubox1jm9v5iu/DXWnd.rar ), which is also freeware.

Click Edit -> Add. A new window will pop up. Click on the “…” button and select your Sonic R executable.

Set up your settings as follows:

For “DirectX Version to Hook,” choose DirectX9
Check the box for “Do not Notify on Task Change”
Check the box for “DirectInput is Hooked”
Check the box for “Auto Correct Mouse Position”
Check the box for “Reduce CPU Load (DirectX1-7)”
Leave everything else unchecked.

(DXWnd settings posted by BuckoA51 @ play-old-pc-games.com - http://www.play-old-pc-games.com/2013/04/09/sonic-r/ )

Sonic R is now ready to play. Start DXWnd, select Sonic R and right click -> Execute. Sonic R will launch. Select Direct3D with the spacebar to play. When you’re done playing and quit out, make sure to close DXWnd as well if you’re planning to skip making a batch file in the next section, as DXWnd may cause issues with other software.

Making Sonic R More Convenient

This step is not necessary to run Sonic R, but as the section title implies, it is indeed convenient. However, you may still skip this section entirely if you prefer.

Open Notepad. Type something like this example (details further down):

C:\Users\Angel.9\Downloads\DXWnd\
start C:\Users\Angel.9\Downloads\DXWnd\dxwnd.exe
cd C:\Sega\SonicR
start C:\Sega\SonicR\sonicr.exe
pause
taskkill /f /IM dxwnd.exe

(modified version of a batch file created by BuckoA51 @ play-old-pc-games.com -
http://www.play-old-pc-games.com/2013/04/09/sonic-r/ )

Line 1 is the full location of DXWnd’s file. Replace mine with yours.
Line 2 is start – then the full location of DXWnd’s executable. Replace mine with yours.
Line 3 is cd (change directory) – then the full location of Sonic R’s installation directory. Replace mine with yours.
Line 4 is start – then the full location of Sonic R’s executable (in the installation directory, NOT on the disc). Replace mine with yours.

The rest will remain unchanged regardless of your file setup. Pause tells the computer to wait for a user response and will execute the last line (taskkill) at the press of any key, thus shutting down DXWnd after Sonic R is shut.

Save the file as sonic_r.bat and make sure to select “all file types” rather than “text file” from the file type dropdown menu. Place this file in the same folder as DXWnd.

To play Sonic R now, all you need to click is the batch file (or create a shortcut to it), which will launch DXWnd, then Sonic R on its own, and then will shut DXWnd after you quit Sonic R and press any key.

Making Sonic R Run at Modern Resolutions

Open your hex editor again. This time open sonicr.inf, which is located in your game’s installation directory, and go to the address 00001C. There are twelve values there relating to resolution. The 1st and 2nd are the HEIGHT of your screen, in pixels. The 3rd and 4th are the WIDTH of your screen, in pixels. This pattern repeats 2 more times, for a total of 3 sets of values for resolutions.

For the sake of an easy example, we’ll use my resolution, 1920 (WIDTH) by 1080 (HEIGHT).

You will need the hexadecimal values for your resolution. Some common resolutions, for example:

1920: 80 07
1080: 38 04
1333: 35 05
1280: 00 05
1024: 00 04
960: C0 03
768: 00 03

These resolutions are supported natively, but in case you want to change back (or are unable to get 320 x 240 running, as the game often will not allow you to select a resolution in-game any longer):

640: 80 02
480: E0 01
320: 40 01
240: F0 00

(thanks to Wesley for additional values!)

Because Sonic R is buggy and likes to revert to undesired resolutions, you may as well replace all three resolution sets with your custom resolution. Starting at 00001C, replace the first two old values with the hexadecimal values for the HEIGHT of your screen, in pixels. For 1080, those two values are 38 04. After that, replace the following two values with the hexadecimal values for the WIDTH of your screen, in pixels. For 1920, those two values are 80 07. Repeat this process twice more, starting at the next value. Basically, for 1920 x 1080, you will type, starting at 00001C: 38 04 80 07 38 04 80 07 38 04 80 07 to set every necessary value.

Save your changes and exit.

The next time you launch Sonic R, it will be running at your custom resolution.

Congratulations! Sonic R is now ready for modern PCs!

Now go feel the sunshine!

Note that programs such as xpadder or joy2key may be used to get a gamepad working if you so prefer. They can even be added to your batch file to launch automatically alongside Sonic R.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=194287175

[RadiantStar]

the problem may be that i have the 1999 PC release

[RadiantStar]

ok so i got my disc drive, and my copy of R came today, but the drive is labeled as E, since my normal storage drives are C and D, so will it still work? im using windows 10 as well, and i tried to run INSTALL.exe but it didnt work

[Angel.9 Rakou Cobra]

Using my old guide, it should be fine if it's external, or even virtual. The only problem you'd run into is if you had more than one disc drive, and put it in the second one (like if you had drives D and E, and used E).

I can't remember if the new patcher even cares which drive you're using.

[RadiantStar]

will this work on any external disc drive, or will i have to search more specifically? my pc didn't come with a disc drive built in :/

[*]

:)

[AmethystViper]

Heads up for those using Sonic R Updater: Latest update has brought back the original Sega Saturn visuals to the 2004 PC version!

Here's also a video guide by BlazeHedgehog that shows you how to set-up Sonic R Updater: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChTn2S2DSS4

[Angel.9 Rakou Cobra]

Sure, just added names to the top bit. Thank you from a personal level too - that'll save me a massive headache for my next reinstall.

[Angel.9 Rakou Cobra]

Thanks for the new info! I put a note up above to check your links instead. This guide had gotten so obsolete I was having an impossible time trying to help people anymore.

[AmethystViper]

There's a much easier and more hassle-free way to play Sonic R on modern systems and the community a great job with this patcher. Details on the PC Gaming Wiki.

• https://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Sonic_R_(2004)

To sum things up:

• No disc required to play the game or music
• Easy access to widescreen and custom resolutions, no hex editing required
• Modern OS compatibly thanks to using the 2004 version as a base
• Windowed and borderless fullscreen modes
• XInput Plus can allow the game to be playable with Xbox 360/One controllers without running a keyboard mapping program

[HugeCowPatty]

I'm so close to getting this working I can taste it. When I try to launch the program I get a error message.

"The application was unable to start correctly (0xc0000022)."

I've been all over the internet looking for a solution to this and am coming up with nothing. Anyone else got any ideas? I'm running Windows 10.