Thorough Guide to SA2 Modding - V2.1

A modding guide covering the entire Mod Manager, that comes with my thoughts and 2 modpack setups to tinker with.

Introduction

Hello! Since you clicked on this, I'll assume you know either have the SA Mod Loader set up, or know how to. If you don't, I have a guide below! I notice some guides assume you already have a base knowledge of the subject, so I'll try to avoid that and give you links every chance I get, to make this as easy as humanly possible. If you already have this part set up, skip to the next section. Also, the Thumbnail is Super Sonic SA2 by Mephilez on DeviantArt.

1. Download the SA Mod Manager and the Requirements

The SA Mod Manager is available on Gamebanana,
this modification right here: https://gamebanana.com/tools/15436

And very specifically THIS application. There is an outdated SA2 Mod Manager that is not the recommended choice. Obviously, since Sega isn't actively updating SA2, the mod loader still WORKS, but the general SA Mod Manager is an overall better choice. It supports both SA2 and SA1, has a cleaner UI, it actively supported by the community, and contains plenty of other useful features.

Please also keep in mind that it requires NET 8.0 Desktop, so it won't run unless you've downloaded this. Here's the link: https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/download/dotnet/8.0

Also keep in mind that this version of NET is pretty old, as it says on the webpage. Just make sure to install the correct version - makes sure it matches to your computer's BITS and OS. E.g., you have a 64 Bit Windows 10/11, install x64 under Windows. If you have a 32 Bit system, install x86. I personally don't know why it's like this, but that's just how it is. Also, Arm64 isn't x64. Download x64 if you have a 64 bit system and Arm64 if you have an Arm64 system.

Make sure to install the correct version of the SA Mod Manager as well, as it also has a x64 and x32 version. The x32 here is labeled as x32, not x86, weirdly enough? Screw consistency, I suppose.

Also keep in mind some places may refer to x32 as 32x, x64 as 64x, so on.

[The page for SA Mod Manager also states somewhere that it requires NET 8, but the requirement lists NET 7.0. If NET 7.0 doesn't work, and NET 8 does, please inform me, thanks!] - SA Mod Manager requires NET 8.0, not 7.0. Looking back into it, I'm confident it's asking fir 8.0.

2. Install the SA Mod Manager into your SA2 folder

On the SA2 Steam Page (the one you'll find in your library, not the store page) click on the Settings icon next to the Hide Game Details and Add to Favorites icons. The Settings icon looks like a gear. Then, under the Manage subsection, click Browse Local Files.

You'll be sent to C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Sonic Adventure 2
This is the Root Directory. Remember this.

Place the SAModManager.exe into the Root Directory and run it. Select a language (presumably English) and click the Save button, and it should ask you to install the Mod Loader. Allow it to, and SA Mod Manager should be all set up! Keep in mind this isn't an SA1 Mod Loader guide, so I won't be guiding you on doing that, as I haven't done it myself yet.

SA Mod Manager is ready to be used and can be used to launch the game by clicking Save & Play!

Basic Configuration PT.1

Now that you have SA Mod Manager up and running, you'll notice a few things. There should be 5 tabs on the top - Mods, Codes, Game Config, Test Spawn, and Manager Config. Also, make sure that the game is set to Sonic Adventure 2 on the bottom right, not Sonic Adventure DX.

This section will cover Modes, Codes and Game Config. This is due to the per-chapter character limit. Lol.

1. The Mods Page

First off, Mods. This is obviously where you'll be finding you mods, which most people download off Gamebanana. Here's the link: https://gamebanana.com/games/5855

The Mods page has your standard Mod Manager functionalities; the ability to enable and disable mods, the ability to reorder them, and the ability to configure mods that have such capabilities. You can also right-click on mods to pop up a menu.

Open folder will take you to the mod's folder in SA2's Root Directory > mods folder.

Check for Updates will check the mod's individual update server. This feature allows you to update mods without re-downloading it. Also, this feature is usually used on every mod upon startup of the Mod Manager, which basically updates all the mods every time the Mod Manager launches.

Verify Integrity checks through the mod and attempts to repair any files. I assume it checks the mod's update server to do this, otherwise I don't know what basis it has to go on to repair any files. I've never used this feature.

Force Update does what it says on the tin.

Configure Mod is how you access the mod's own Configuration Menu. Not all mods have these. You can also select a mod and click the Configure Mod located at the bottom of the program, next to the Refresh and Add Mod buttons, which we'll cover later.

Edit Mod pulls up a menu where all its various details are located, such as it's name, version, author, description, and dependencies.

Delete Mod also does what it says on the tin, it banishes the mod to the Shadow Realm.

There are also 6 buttons to the side. In order, they move the selected mod to the top, move the selected mod up one slot, move the selected mod down one slot, move the selected mod to the bottom, enables every mod, and disables every mod.

2. The Codes Page

The Codes page contains various pre-installed game codes. Mods also have the ability to load their own codes, but you'll find many individual-configurable codes here, many offering basic changes. One example is "Shadow has Bounce Bracelet" which allows Shadow to tap Action in the air to Bounce, like Sonic.

3. The Game Config Page

This page has a bit more meat than the last 2, containing 3 sub-tabs of it's own, so we'll split this section into 3 separate sub-sections, too.

3a. Graphics

This tab contains many essential configurations, including setting the aspect ration to 16:9.

The Display option is for setups with multiple monitors. You won't ever need to touch this if you use a single monitor.

Screen Mode allows you to toggle between Windowed, Borderless Fullscreen, Custom Window, and Exclusive Fullscreen. I suggest setting it to Borderless Fullscreen.

Render Resolution allows you to either manually set an aspect ratio, or select from a preset. I personally just use 1080p, but I haven't experimented with other options. You can also enable 4:3 Ratio to the side to lock the game to 4:3.

Window Size is available when you use the Custom Window Screen Mode, where you can very specifically set the size of the window, offering the same configurations as Render Resolution, except 4:3 Ratio, in where it's replaced with a Match Render Ratio option, which locks it to the configurations of Render Resolution.

There are then 4 options side-by-side.

Pause When Inactive freezes the game when the window is out of focus.

Resizable Window allows you to resize the window like a browser tab when Windowed mode is enabled.

Stretch to Window causes the game to render to it's fullest capacity in the window, which causes stretching, as usually when the aspect ration doesn't fit the window, the game will become as large as possible with the aspect ration in mind, and underlay a border image everywhere else. Speaking of which...

Disable Border Image causes the border image not to render, presumably instead making it black. I haven't used this option before.

Even further below these options, there's one more option and an option to download something.

The Refresh Rate option will change the refresh rate of the game. Keep this at 60, as that's what the game runs at. This game was not programmed with flexible code - that is they didn't do the thing where you multiply by delta when running code. Lowering this will lock the game's framerate, making it outright run slower. Increasing it will make the game run faster, and a lot of people suffer from this when playing the game unmodded. The easiest way to fix this is through the Mod Manager, which I do believe automatically does so. You can also use the Nvidia Control Panel to do so to keep the game vanilla, among other things, but we aren't going to go over that here.

Enhancements will ask you to download DXVK. You should do this. When clicking the button, you'll be sent to a Github downloads page. Download the latest version under the latest post's Assets section, which is as of right now 2.5.2. The file type - gz - can be opened with most standard Zip File viewers, including Window's own File Explorer. Upon opening the file, you'll be met with dxvk-2.5.2. Opening the file leads you to 2 more, x32 and x64. Open the folder corresponding to your computer's bit. Then, copy the file called d3d9.dll and paste it into SA2's Root Directory.

3b. Options

Here are a few pretty basic options.

Skip Intro causes the game to automatically skip the opening cinematic introducing the characters to you, and Text Language and Voice Language allow you to toggle text and audio languages respectively.

3c. Patches

These are all automatically enabled. You should keep them all on, but you can always disable them if you want.

Lock Framerate locks the game as 60fps fixing the problem with monitors with higher refresh rates running the game faster. If for some reason your monitor's max refresh rate is below 60, e.g. 30, you're outta luck.

Disable Exit Prompt stops the game from asking you if you really want to leave when exiting the game.

Disables the Omochao loading animation. Doing this fixes some crashes and increases the speed of loading, as modern PCs have no problem loading SA2.

Increase Vertex Buffer Limit allows the game to render more vertexes. This patches enables to modding community to do things like import high-poly models.

Environment Mapping Fixes fixes a bug that causes some things/places - mostly Chao World - to render better.

Screen Fade Fixes fixes a bug involving the screen fade during the victory animation.

City Escape Car Fixes fixes the trolley car glitch that you'll encounter when using an Intel GPU.

Particles Effect Fixes fixes some particles not rendering when using an Intel GPU.

Continued Below...

Basic Configuration PT.2

,,,Continued Basic Configuration

4. Test Spawn

This is mostly here for mod developers. This allows you to quickly load into situation in the game, including loading stages as any character, cutscenes, and specific missions.

It also comes with it's own Launch Game option separate from the Save & Play. Only this button will launch the game with the conditions you set.

5. Manager Config

Game Directory will point to game's Root Directory and allow you to change/browse it.

You can also set profiles here, which is a really useful feature. Upon setting up the manager, you'll be loaded into a "Default" profile. By clicking the button next to the dropdown, you can create, copy, and delete profiles. Upon creating a profile, you can select it from the dropdown. You can set different layouts of mods, codes, and configurations in each profile, allowing you to essentially have "modpacks" you can access by selecting it in the dropdown.

Uninstall Mod Loader will remove the elements installed into SA2 by the mod loader, reverting it to it's retail version. There's no real reason to touch this, as you have to reinstall the mod loader to, well use it.

Open Game Directory is another way to navigate to the Root Directory.

Preform Game Health Check will verify all files (except audio files) are repair them if damaged.

Off to the left are 4 more options, as well.

Enable Console Window does what it says on the tin, displaying the console. May be useful for debugging if you've forked the manager or are developing a modification.

Print Debug in Game Window displays some debugging info within SA2's window.

Log Debug Info to File logs debug info to files you can check later in case you can't read fast enough or need to refer to an old error.

Create Crash Dumps will create a file containing debug info when the game crashes so you can debug or report it.

Below, Advanced Options contains a few more options you may want to toggle.

Enable Developer Options claims to enable Test Spawn within the manager, but it functions when toggled off, so it may be an oversight fixed in the future.

Maintain Mod Order won't ever automatically sort enabled mods to the top of the list when the Save or Save & Play button is used.

Keep Mod Manager Open after Launching Game does what it says on the tin.

Language set's the manager's language.

Themes allows you choose between a light, dark, and weirdly enough, a Telegram Night mode.

Update Channels will change which updates the manager will detect and update to. Most people will want to stick to full releases, as they are stable, but you may need to switch to developer to test new features.

Check for Mod Manager Updates on Startup does what it says on the tin.

Check for Mod Loader Updates on Startup does what it says on the tin, as well. The Mod Loader is separate, I do believe that's whats injected into SA2.

Check for Mod Updates does what it sa- you get it. You can also use the Check for Updates button to the right to... yeah that's getting old, huh?

The small about section allows you to view some credits and report bugs. You can only do so in English, however.

SA2+ Modpack

These Modpack chapters will be rather basic - listing Mods in the order they should be loaded (or at least the order I loaded them in), and linking to their Gamebanana page.

Here I'll be listing a lot of mods that simply improve SA2 as a whole, while not adding any fancy new features like new moves. Some mods will come with a description.

SA2 Render Fix - Fixes hundreds of rendering errors in SA2's steam port compared to the Dreamcast original. GB: https://gamebanana.com/mods/452445

SA2 Volume Controls - The steam port of SA2 has poor sound mixing, and this mod allows you to configure Global, Music, SFX, and Voice separately. It also comes with a default config if you don't wanna mess with it. GB: https://gamebanana.com/mods/381193

Menu Overhaul - Removes clutter and restores some functionality of the original game. GB: https://gamebanana.com/mods/33169

Smoother Wall Collisions - Smooths out collisions and stops characters from losing all speed by rubbing up against walls. It fixes other issue involving trick ramps and mech hovers. GB: https://gamebanana.com/mods/363188

Reworked Afterimages - GB: https://gamebanana.com/mods/331030

No Battle Mod - This is simply a preference, as all it does is remove the "Battle" branding. Some other mods have some features locked behind this mod, but they're usually simply auditory/visual as well. GB: https://gamebanana.com/mods/33167

SA2 Input Controls - This fixes a lot of issues relating to controls, including the infamous grind rail sensitivity problem, in which attempting to lean on rails sends you way leaning way too far off to the side. This mod fixes the issue and finally restores proper functionality, as well as supporting many more controllers naively, allowing you to boot up the game with a controller and just have it work. The mod also allows for other useful misc. options relating to controls. GB: https://gamebanana.com/mods/515637

Edit: Fixed Typo

Cutscene Revamp - Fixes hundreds of issues relating to cutscenes, restoring them to look like the original release. It also allows cutscenes to render over 4:3 aspect ratio. GB: https://gamebanana.com/mods/48872

Level Oddity Patch - Fixes various things involving stages in the game, such as typos in hunting stage hints and leftover objects, like unreachable Golden Beetles. GB: https://gamebanana.com/mods/48894

Edit: Enhanced and fixed description

Amy Eyeliner Fix - This mod is debatable, but it tints Amy's eyeliner black and makes it actually visible. Cutscene Revamp has compatibility for this mod. GB: https://gamebanana.com/mods/245545

I personally don't use the following mods, but you can!

Dreamcast Characters - Replaces many assets with their Dreamcast counterparts, as many where changed when ported to the Gamecube, which is the release the Steam version is based upon. You can individually toggle many models. Be aware this mod can cause many comparability issues with other mods altering the same models. GB: https://gamebanana.com/wips/48797

Level Oddity Patch 2: Electric Boogaloo - A unofficial "sequel" to Level Oddity Patch, fixing a few more things, mainly Small Animals and odd placements making them extremely difficult to collect. I don't have this downloaded out of laziness, honestly. GB: https://gamebanana.com/mods/491615

My Personal Definitive Modpack

Here I'll be listing all the other mods/codes I have loaded that don't fall under a "Vanilla Plus" category. I'll also be listing my configurations out if it's important to my personal modpack, such as key rebinds.

Hedgepanel - Offers various configurable alterations to Sonic and Shadow's gameplay. I have Fast Somersault, Random Homing Attack Sounds, and Homing Attack at Low Heights all enabled. Everything else is off. GB: https://gamebanana.com/mods/48950

Better Radar - Reverts the Hunting Radar to resemble the way it functioned in SA1, being able to track every shard at once. It also offers a few new features, such as spatial sound and blue/pink stages in detection, making figuring out where the shard is easier. GB: https://gamebanana.com/mods/313161

Character Select Plus - You can select from any of the characters when attempting to select a stage from the Stage Select mode, including the multiplayer only characters and mechless Tails and Eggman. GB: https://gamebanana.com/mods/33170

Amy/Metal Spindash - Does what it says on the tin. It lets Amy and Metal Sonic Spindash. The conflicts will be solved later, don't worry. GB: https://gamebanana.com/mods/48842

Sonic New Tricks - Changes and adds many things to Sonic/Shadow, if it applies. I have Instant Spindash, Faster Spindash, Homing Attack Grunt, Shadow has Bounce Bracelet, Shadow Homing Attack Grunt, Amy Homing Attack Grunt, Allow Metal Sonic Spindash and Remove Black Shield Limits enabled. Everything else is disabled. As for the Action remaps, I have Y as Light Speed Dash, X as Bounce, B as Spindash, X as Somersault, Y as Black Shield, Y as Pick, Put and Grab Object, and Pet and Crazy Gadget Switches on Y as well. GB: https://gamebanana.com/mods/48941

Edit: Fixed incorrect word being used

Mania Drop Dash - Adds the Dropdash from Sonic Mania into Speed Character's kits. I have the Dropdash Button as B, and Dropdash is Chargeable while Falling as well as Dropdash works on Rails enabled. Sonic, Shadow, and Metal Sonic can also use the Dropdash. Amy gets something different later. I have the Dropdash's base speed set to 7, but you might wanna up that a bit. GB: https://gamebanana.com/mods/486804

Better Miles - Many changes and improvements to Mechless Tails. I have Allow Custom Physics, Allow Custom Animations, Light Dash, Bounce, and Fly Sound Effect enabled. Anything else is disabled. I have Roll Button as B, Bounce Button as B, Spin Attack as X, and Light Dash with Y. Better Miles isn't perfect (I want an actual Spindash and Dropdash compatibility) but it suffices greatly. GB: https://gamebanana.com/mods/48940

Knuckles New Tricks - Once again, Knuckles gameplay changes. Allow Custom Animations, Allow Rolling and Fast Sunglasses are enabled. Hunter 2 Battle is obviously disabled, and I have roll on B and SA2 Punch/Kick on X. SA1 Punches are off. GB: https://gamebanana.com/mods/326868

Amy New Tricks - Once more, Amy gameplay changes. Allow Amy Grunt is enabled, but not Amy Adventure 2 Battle or Hammer Rotation Fix. I, personally, have the bird off. I have Hammer Jump disabled, Hammer Attack and Spin and Hammer Air Attack on Y, and have Hammer Propeller on B. GB: https://gamebanana.com/mods/354107

Physics Improvement - Various physics tweaks for Mechs, Amy, Metal Sonic and Tails. It seems this mod makes Metal Sonic jump ridiculously high, but it's a non-issue. Makes him a fun OP character. Also, the mod is labeled obsolete and urges you to use SA2 Character Oddity Tweaks, but that mod replaces animations, which conflicts with a later mod. If that mod ever has a version that doesn't touch animations, I'll switch over. GB: https://gamebanana.com/mods/48920

Disable Upgrade Models - Does what it says on the tin. Also configurable for individual upgrade models. GB: https://gamebanana.com/mods/48841

Trail Shoes on Battle Sonic - Basically, Sonic with his Classic Shoes rather than the Soap Shoes. GB: https://gamebanana.com/mods/526303

Chaos 0 Fix Glow - Fixes Chaos 0's weird glowing effect. GB: https://gamebanana.com/mods/409532

Sonic Adventure 2 Animated - Fixes the rigs of various characters and modifies many animations to make them objectively higher quality. GB: https://gamebanana.com/mods/538657

Amy SA1 Hammer - Replaces the textures on Amy's Hammer to match the ones from SA1. GB: https://gamebanana.com/mods/377183

I also have the following codes enabled...

Disable Special Moves in 2P

Have All Upgrades

Have All Upgrades P2

Infinite Lives P1

Infinite Lives P2

Additional Great Mods

Some other mods you might be interested in are listed here!

Chao World Extended - Overhauls the Chao World entirely. I haven't tried the Chao World yet, and I don't intend to, but this mod seems amazing. GB: https://gamebanana.com/mods/48840

The New Challengers Assets - Replaces various item textures with HD/altered versions from an old hack of the sonic2.exe file (SA2) called Sonic Adventure 2: The New Challengers. GB: https://gamebanana.com/mods/422188

SA2 Character Oddity Tweaks + Fixes - The aforementioned mod that replaced another, but also edited animations, which I don't like. All the physics changes are positive, however. GB: https://gamebanana.com/mods/485945

Modern SA2 - A W.I.P complete overhaul of the game. Currently at Version 3. It includes modernized visuals, that is to say, high poly assets. There are also stage changes, visual changes, audio changes, all the works. It's not close to completion is a sort of pseudo-remake, so use with caution. GB: https://gamebanana.com/mods/549654

Enhanced Chao World - More changes and additions to Chao World. These Chaos mods are crazy, jeez- GB: https://gamebanana.com/mods/48915

Clean Mod Ordering

Below is a clean list of my modpack, in case there was confusion before,

SA2 Render Fix
SA2 Volume Controls
Menu Overhaul
Smoother Wall Collisions
Reworked Afterimages
No Battle Mod
HedgePanel
Better Radar
SA2 Input Controls
Cutscene Revamp
Character Select Plus
Amy/Metal Spindash
Sonic New Tricks
Mania Dropdash
Better Miles
Knuckles New Tricks
Amy New Tricks
Oddity Patch
Physics Improvement
Disable Upgrade Models
Amy Eyeliner Fix
Chaos 0 Fix Glow
Sonic Adventure 2 Animated
Amy SA1 Hammer

On the Topic of Sonic Himself

Okay, we're finally getting to the part where I share my thoughts on this game and everything surrounding is as a whole, including the Sonic series in it's entirety.

I love SA2. I'm assuming you do too, because, well, you're here. But it's not without many flaws, and that's why the SA2+ list of mods is so long. Well- most of it is just reverting the game to it's dreamcast version, but other than that, a lot of things could be better.

I love the speed stages in SA2, but they have room to grow. A dream SA3 would have more emphasis on the classic Sonic pinball physics and alternate paths, with just a little more exploration thrown in there. Also, in said dream, stages would be like 6 minutes long on average, but we all love to dream, huh?

I'd also quickly like to discuss the controls of the Speed Characters. The mods I have loaded fix all the issues I have, so I'll quickly gloss over this-

The Somersault isn't a bad idea, but it should've kept speed and been mapped to a different button. I'd also prefer if it was a standard slide, in a similar vein to Sonic 2006 or the various Boost games, being used to slide under gaps quickly, take out enemies without committing to a Spindash or Homing Attack, or in other odd situations. One addition to a slide that would be very cool, is that jumping out of it would result in a lower jump that boosted you forward a bit. Mechanics for speedrunners to abuse is usually a good thing. Oh, and also, bring the Spamdash back. Waiting half a century for the Spindash to start up in SA2 feels awful, get rid of that. So that's the Slide, which would be on X. Additionally, Bounce would be on X, with Spindash and Dropdash on B, and Light Speed Dash on Y.

Edit: Fixed typo, fixed using incorrect word

Now, I have vague ideas for other character's play styles, so I'll share them here, too.

Tails would use his flight to navigate a large open-world like area, ideally solving fast-paced puzzles.

Knuckles would keep his emerald hunting, but the stages would be much larger, and would have beat-em-up components. Ideally, this would stick to being fast paced, while still fun. Not too many enemies would be thrown in so it wouldn't become repetitive. I'd also like to think there were many more emerald shards per level, so more enemies could hold them, and defeating them could potentially unlock new areas, too.

I don't yet have complete ideas for other characters, but I might come back and update this whole guide with more things, so maybe stay tuned? Idk.

As for the modern state of the franchise, I don't like it as much. It's clearly healing, but I do prefer these older games. Keep in mind, I have 0 nostalgia for these games, and I think they're peak Sonic. One area that reflects this nicely (besides gameplay) is music. Sonic music is still great, but this was peak. Especially with Crush 40. I can name many great songs from this era, here, watch me, like Open Your Heart, Live and Learn, It Doesn't Matter, E.G.G.M.A.N, I Am All of Me, Waking Up, Never Turn Back, Chosen One, Sonic Heroes, What I'm Made Of, This Machine, All Hail Shadow, Knight of the Wind (this one is a bit of a stretch but it's still great.)

As for Modern Sonic? The list is noticeably worse, in my opinion. I can list Endless Possibilities, Sonic Youth (was pretty good but was scrapped >:(), Undefeatable, Find Your Flame and I'm Here.

The Frontiers Songs were a step in the right direction but was too same-y. Open Your Heart and Live & Learn are similar in genre but are very distinguishable. Undefeatable and Find Your Flame are much closer to a degree where people who were just introduced to the songs might confuse them. I do wish Crush 40 would make a comeback, they make the best Sonic rock sounds. The new Frontiers compositions, like I said, are great! But they don't hold the same spirit as the old tracks quite yet.

Please keep in mind the songs listed are the ones I remember. I find myself humming Adventure to Dark era songs much more than Modern era songs. I miss these composition styles, which may be extreme, but I look back and listen to songs like Breaking Out Waking Up, and I know we're not getting new songs like this in a long time.

Edit: Fixed a typo

Also I'd like to quickly discuss Sonic's representation in the Super Smash Brothers. Series. Yikes. The main gripe is absolutely his moveset, his S-Special and D-Special are practically identical. He needs to be totally revised. There is a mod out there right now which aims to do so, called Sonic Re-Imagined. V3 was shadow-dropped a few weeks ago, so go check it out! I'm not listing a link as I don't want to have this guide re-reviewed for dangerous links. Sonic also doesn't have a great list of music, but that's not nearly as offensive as his moveset. In fact, once they do fix his moveset, I'd love to see more Sonic characters in Smash. And I don't want to see one until so! Side Note, if any fighter were to echo Sonic, it wouldn't be Shadow, but Metal Sonic. He also deserves a full moveset, but Shadow is much more relevant and has much more potential that Metal Sonic. That being said, the next Sonic character should definitely be Eggman.

I hope Sonic redirects back towards his Adventure era more in the coming years. I especially want to see the Spindash return. Even just THAT would be enough.

Conclusion

Wow. This sure was a guide. I don't really know what to say about it, other than I hoped you enjoyed reading through it. Thank you for reading this!

This little guide didn't take all too long to create in reality, all I had was a little motivation and passion for these old games.

What you read was a slightly revised version 2, cleaning up some text and adding some new information. More tweaks and additions will likely come in the future as more SA2 mods come out and as I have more things I'd like to share. Also, thanks for boosting this Guide up so much! It currently has around 200 unique visitors, which is great!

Sayonara!

[MetoolMan]

First, try uninstalling and reinstalling all your mods and your mod loader?

https://gamebanana.com/questions/54944

If that doesn't work, try this: https://steamcommunity.com/app/213610/discussions/0/3132794099846942995/

[Covopus]

um how do i fix this issue SA2 has crashed at 42fce1
plz help

[MetoolMan]

Quick correction - the latest version is actually 4 months old, and SA Mod Manager is capable of updating itself without redownload. The latest release on Github is from 2024, which is where I got the info from. Still - I am on the latest version and I'm having no issues.

[MetoolMan]

Tiglet - People very commonly run into false virus flags. Sometimes just a certain file type appearing can flag an anti-virus under the right conditions. Don't worry - it's not a virus. SA Mod Manager is safe.

If you're unsure, here's the Github: https://github.com/X-Hax/SA-Mod-Manager

The project is open source, meaning hiding a virus within it is next to impossible without it eventually being detected by somebody. Unless it was recently compromised, there's no chance it's a virus. I am using the latest version, which came out on Oct 16 of 2024, and I've had no issues - so you should be A-OK!

Also, it seems that you indeed need to download NET 8.0 and not 7, so I'll fix that soon enough.

[Tiglet]

Thanks for taking the time to write this up! When downloading the .net 8.0 version of the mod manager linked above Microsoft Defender and virus total set off a whole host of warnings claiming it was malicious - have you encountered this issue before and confirmed it’s safe to run

[MetoolMan]

That's a new one for me.

This game has a myriad of issues on Steam, and I'm sorry to hear you can't launch it.

Hopefully you get an answer soon. For now, I can't help you.

[QC_BlancoStarz]

What I meant by that is that clicking "Save and play" in the Mod Manager launches the launcher, and that once the launcher is open, clicking on "Save settings and launch SONIC Adventure 2" simply closes the launcher and reopens it in an infinite loop.
I heard many have this issue and solved it with this mod launcher but it sadly does not solve my issue. Thought Id ask here.
I made a thread in Discussion called "Game launcher won't launch the game. Even with SA Mod Manager" if anyone wishes to try to help.

[MetoolMan]

QC_BlancoStarz - You say it keeps loading the launcher? You have noticed the button to launch the game through the launcher- the whole purpose of a launcher? It's on the bottom of the screen.

[QC_BlancoStarz]

Anyone else's game won't launch even with the mod manager? Keeps loading the launcher

[MetoolMan]

Enigmatic - I'm glad I could help! I wanted to try my hand at creating the Ultimate Modding Guide, as there isn't really one that goes over EVERYTHING. Considering creating a V3 that's more concise in formatting and documenting more mods.