Sonic Adventure 2 PC - City Escape BugFix (Updated)

Trouble with the Trolley in City Escape? Here's -A- fix for that graphical glitch. Or use the SA2 Modloader!
Download Links and Video included.

Introduction

Many PC players of Sonic Adventure 2 have recently been experiencing a graphical glitch in the City Escape level. Briefly, it involves Trolleys, car wheels, and other random objects appearing to overlay the screen at points in the level.

For those who know the level well enough to make it through on instinct, while newcomers may have difficulty adapting and may have even put the game away due to this "game-breaking" glitch.

I was one of the former folks, being a Sonic veteran since the Genesis era. I felt that this bug in an otherwise good game was rather odd, so I set out to fix the glitch with some research and hard work with various tools around the web.

Somehow I struck it lucky, because we have a fix now! Read on to learn how to end those troubles with the trolley!

Important Notes:

Most people with Intel HD Graphics cards seem to have this glitch. However...

You don't have to have the bug to apply the bugfix! You could install it anyways if you want that authentic Dreamcast-version feel, or just wanna try out the bonus level content versions with the FBI Cars and an Easter Egg!

UPDATE: An updated .zip for each method has been uploaded to Dropbox! They include fixes for each mode, such as Single Player Mode, 2P Mode, and Hard Mode. I've also added a backup .zip to the Downloads section, just in case. Be sure to redownload and reapply for the latest fixes!

IMPORTANT UPDATE!!

A NEW and IMPROVED bugfix has been worked on and added to the official SA2 ModLoader. It fixes the graphical glitch more directly and without .SET edits. Please give it a try!

Video of Bug and Fix

I created a video to help illustrate what we're talking about here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_ka0MNWmjo

First Run-Through: With Graphical Glitches present in some areas.

Second Run-Through: With BugFixed files installed and no graphical glitches.

The third segment shows some features exclusive to the PLUS version.
While not required, they do add some immersion to the stage.

How to Fix (THE NEW Method)

Thanks to the efforts of the modding community since the early days, there is finally a new and improved way to fix the bug, directly from the SA2 ModLoader. Please download it and try it first!

https://gamebanana .com/tools/6333

It's enabled by default when using the SA2 ModLoader, so definitely worth a shot!

Thank you all for playing with the my older, slapped-together version of the fix up until now.
I'll leave the old packages up for the time being. Please try to use the ModLoader fix from now on!

How to Fix (Method A) (DEPRECATED)

In the "Downloads" section of this guide, there are links to four separate .zip files.

One is a simple "copy and overwrite files" approach, the initial release. This is for the technical types that can follow directories and directions well, so read up before installing!

1. Download the "resource.zip" file.

2. Extract its contents to somewhere easily accessible.

3. With your file browser / file explorer / whatever you use to navigate the filesystem on your computer, look in the extracted folders to find what files go in what directories. (In case you're wondering, the files are "set0013_s.bin", "set0013_u.bin" and "set0013_hd_s.bin", which are the game's level files for City Escape, HD being "Hard Mode".)

4. Copy the files from the extracted "resource\gd_PC\" folder using Right-Click and Copy.

5. Using Steam, Right-Click on Sonic Adventure 2 in your library, and click properties.

6. Browse / Click the tabs at the top of the properties window until you find an option to "open/browse local files/content". It should take you to your Sonic Adventure 2 Steam Directory. That should be in "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Sonic Adventure 2".

7. Navigate into the "resource" folder, then into the "gd_PC" folder within that.

8. Right-Click in a non-file-spaced area and click Paste. Overwrite/Replace the existing files.

9. Launch Sonic Adventure 2 via your Steam library, and make sure you don't have analyitcs ticked in your settings within the launcher.

10. Play City Escape and have fun!

How to Fix (Method A) PLUS! (DEPRECATED)

In the "Downloads" section of this guide, there are links to four separate .zip files.

I went to tinkering some more with various tools and software and decided to push the envelope a bit further by adding "Police Cars" in places where the siren sounds are.

Since it seems the only stage that Police Cars appear naturally (and perhaps hard-codedly) is Mission Street, a workaround had to be sorted out. Instead of going through the trial and error of rehashing the model files or something, I decided to keep it simple and use a native car model from City Escape to fill in for the Police Car, yet still look the part.

These mysterious black vehicles could be, with enough imagination, FBI or Secret Service vehicles. Sonic's in a truckload of trouble, so you could say he's got some serious heat on his spikes at that point in the game. As for the location of the vehicles, they're in non-intrusive places in the level, and mostly off to the sidelines, like they're guarding the WRONG major roads, but that's their problem, not Sonic's!

There's also a neat little Easter Egg somewhere in the level. A hint: It seems that somebody's made it to the end of the level a little faster than you have. Additionally, who could we have to thank for that? Only one way to find out!

To install this version, download "resourcePLUS.zip" and install like the normal release.

How to Fix (Method B) (DEPRECATED)

In the "Downloads" section of this guide, there are links to four separate .zip files.

Second is an optional way to do it, probably safer as no files will be overwritten, but involves running the game with Mods enabled. If you know what all to do and how to do it, give it a whirl.

Using MainMemory's SA2ModManager, you can play Sonic Adventure 2 with mods, so go have a Google for it.

1. Download the file "City_Escape_BugFix.7z",

2. Extract the contents of the .7z to somewhere easy to locate.

3. Copy the folder containing "gd_PC" and "mod.ini" (read: copy the folder "CityEscapeBugFix", not the files themselves).

4. If you have a mods folder already, put the folder "City_Escape_BugFix" into that directoy.

5. Provided you've installed it right, open SA2ModManager.exe and Refresh the ModList if necessary.

6. Check the mod "City Escape BugFix" as enabled, and make sure to have it load at the bottom of the list.

7. Click "Save" or "Save and Play" if you want to get right to playing.

8. Play City Escape and have fun without any troublesome trolleys looming overhead!


Special Note: It includes the same files as the normal release, but is also ModManager ready. If you want to install the files from this version like the normal release, copy the "gd_PC" folder and paste it over the folder of the same name within SA2's "resource" directory.

How to Fix (Method B) PLUS! (DEPRECATED)

In the "Downloads" section of this guide, there are links to four separate .zip files.

I went to tinkering some more with various tools and software and decided to push the envelope a bit further by adding "Police Cars" in places where the siren sounds are.

Since it seems the only stage that Police Cars appear naturally (and perhaps hard-codedly) is Mission Street, a workaround had to be sorted out. Instead of going through the trial and error of rehashing the model files or something, I decided to keep it simple and use a native car model from City Escape to fill in for the Police Car, yet still look the part.

These mysterious black vehicles could be, with enough imagination, FBI or Secret Service vehicles. Sonic's in a truckload of trouble, so you could say he's got some serious heat on his spikes at that point in the game. As for the location of the vehicles, they're in non-intrusive places in the level, and mostly off to the sidelines, like they're guarding the WRONG major roads, but that's their problem, not Sonic's!

There's also a neat little Easter Egg somewhere in the level. A hint: It seems that somebody's made it to the end of the level a little faster than you have. Additionally, who could we have to thank for that? Only one way to find out!

Currently the installation process is the same as normal Method B using SA2ModManager. Follow the instructrions outlined in that section for installation, this time with "City_Escape_Bugfix_PLUS.7z" instead.

UPDATE: New "No-Egg" Version
I made a simple tweak to the PLUS version for the ModLoader version that removes the Easter Egg near the end of the level to some extent. It's included in a separate release called "City_Escape_BugFix_PLUS_No_Egg.7z".

For those curious as to what the Easter Egg was..
Big the Cat seems to have taken a crazy cabbie as to beat Sonic to the Goal Ring.
In the "No-Egg" version, Big will not be waving at a distance during the Results screen.
Instead, only the Taxi is there.

Downloads

Below are the downloads for this bugfix.

For THE NEW Method:

MainMemory's SA2 ModLoader on GameBanana[gamebanana.com]


For Method A (DEPRECATED):

GoogleDrive[drive.google.com]

OneDrive[1drv.ms]

For Method A PLUS Bonus Level Content (Added "Police/FBI Cars" and an Easter Egg!):

GoogleDrive[drive.google.com]

OneDrive[1drv.ms]


For Method B (ModLoader) (DEPRECATED):

GoogleDrive[drive.google.com]

OneDrive[1drv.ms]

For Method B PLUS Bonus Level Content (Added "Police/FBI Cars" and an Easter Egg!):

GoogleDrive[drive.google.com]

OneDrive[1drv.ms]

For Method B PLUS Bonus Level Content (Added "Police/FBI Cars" only!):

GoogleDrive[drive.google.com]

OneDrive[1drv.ms]


BackUp Files (just in case):

GoogleDrive[drive.google.com]

OneDrive[1drv.ms]

BONUS Content!

City Escape Generations Music

As quite a few may have noticed, I have the music from Sonic Generations playing during one of the videos, within the game, too! Here's a couple of downloads for just the music to be added.

Normal Install Version:

GoogleDrive[drive.google.com]

OneDrive[1drv.ms]

ModLoader Version (Install To Mods Folder Manually!):

GoogleDrive[drive.google.com]

OneDrive[1drv.ms]

Backups (Just in Case!):

GoogleDrive[drive.google.com]

OneDrive[1drv.ms]



Radical Highway Generations Music

I've also compiled a similar set as the All-in-One Version above for Shadow's Radical Highway.

It also includes a bonus track befitting of Shadow for this level.

All-in-One Version for Radical Highway (.7z) (ModLoader Only!) (Install to Mods Manually!):

GoogleDrive[drive.google.com]

OneDrive[1drv.ms]


Bonus Music

Ever wonder what it'd be like to break through the besieging military in Radical Highway to a vocal track?

Or want something pumping to listen to while Kart Racing?

This should do the job:
Radical Highway to a custom track of Linkin' Park's "Faint" and Kart to Captain Jack's "The Race".

All-in-One Version of Bonus Music (.7z) (ModLoader Only!) (Install to Mods Folder Manually!):

GoogleDrive[drive.google.com]

OneDrive[1drv.ms]



Sonic - Original Shoes Compatibility

As some people have informed me, trying to use 1NaCsteR and DarknesS'' ModLoader-enabled mod for replacing Sonic's Soap shoes with his Original shoes with the City Escape Bugfix would result in some strange side-effects.

I did some quick debugging and found that the additional level content in that mod tends to conflict with the level files in the BugFix. The model, however, works fine.

I made a separate LITE version as an alternative for those who want to use both.

Sonic - Original Shoes LITE (.7z) (ModLoader Only!):

GoogleDrive[drive.google.com]

OneDrive[1drv.ms]



Enjoy!

Conclusion

Other than making the opening level of this game play graphically correct, it does remove the moving cars and moving trolleys that were the cause of the problem. However, stationary and non-moving vehicles are still present, though they don't affect the graphics.

Come to think of it, this also makes it more like the original Dreamcast version of the game, as there were no moving trolleys and moving cars on the streets, only parked and stationary vehicles. If you've played Sonic Generations as well, you'll notice there aren't moving vehicles in the City Escape level there, either, so you could say this makes the game resemble the first run of SA2,

UPDATE: Finishing touches on each pack and new download links have been applied, so please feel free to download them if you feel like staying up to date.

ModLoader is the reccomended install method now, works the same and doesn't mess with any files. You can still use the files within the ModLoader folders to manually replace things, but it isn't recommended.

If you'd like to download ModLoader, check out the following link, but replace all ░ with periods.

MainMemory's Site
https://mm░reimuhakurei░net

And for more Mods, you could visit a friend of mine's site, just replace all ░ with periods.

CheatFreak47's Site
http://cheatfreak47░cf/mods

Thank you for viewing and reading, and hope you enjoy City Escape the right way now!

[Varmint]

There's a new update to the SA2 ModLoader that implements a more thorough bugfix.
Please use it instead, credits to Kell for the work there.
Lastly, thank you for having used my old slapped-together set edits up until now. It's been a blast!

[Stegaming]

thanks that happens to me all the time i really appreciate it

[Sams12gm2020]

honestly i never had that glitch

[archerpeter]

It doesn't seem to work with the Modern Sonic Adventure 2 CE Mod. While it removes the infamous trolley, it also ruins the new layout. Making things worse is that in the location of where the Gold Beetle and the second Chao container is, Sonic will infinitely bounce between the two springs (which originally went to a Checkpoint), softlocking the game. Can you remove the moving cars on the first half without ruining the overall stage design?

[Varmint]

What mods do you have installed, if any? There may be another mod that is overwriting it, hence why it's a good idea to load it lower than others on the list, yeah.

[El_Has]

I don't think I saw the fact that method B needs to be at the bottom of the list. For some reason it wouldn't show up if the game executable was named sonic2app.exe. I changed the exec names because it fixes the fire in Shadow's levels, and the trolley started showing up. Doing Method A definitely doesn't do anything though.

[Varmint]

Did you install them correctly? It's been a while since I've worked on this, honestly.

[El_Has]

Neither of these methods work.

[Varmint]

@The_3rd_King It won't have any effects on graphics / controls. It only modifies level object layout files, pretty much.

@Quilly I'm not sure about that, I'll give it a look sometime soon though.

[The3rdKing]

Will this mod have any effects on the overall graphics and controls as opposed to the previous version without the aforementioned mod ?