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How To Set Up Sonic Unleashed, Xenia

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Here is the definitive, full guide on how to get Sonic Unleashed, its DLC & Mods set up for Xenia Canary on your PC.

The RPCS3 version of this guide can be found HERE!

Common Prerequisites.[edit | edit source]

Mods:

First Steps:[edit | edit source]

Setting up the Sonic Unleashed rom for modding.[edit | edit source]

First, You are going to need your Sonic Unleashed ISO ready, this can be anywhere, now extract the isoextract.zip file, inside the extracted contents, open XBOX360 ISO Extract.exe, it should look like this:





Second, Click "choose ISO-Folder" & select the folder your ISO is in then click "choose destination" & select any folder, but remember where folder.

Just click go, then wait anywhere from ten seconds to a few minutes for the process to complete, ISO Extract's global log & "isos: progress bar" will display that it is complete.

Setting up Xenia Canary & patches for Sonic Unleashed.[edit | edit source]

First, Download all prerequisites listed above, for the Sonic Unleashed ROM, DLC & Updates you will need to find your own source for that unfortunately, this guide is going to assume that you already have the Unleashed ROM ISO & DLC to hand.


Second, Open the xenia_manager.zip file, extract this anywhere (I extracted mine to my downloads folder, don't do this of course), this is where we will host everything such as the game, DLC & mods.

However it is not required to host everything in this folder, this will be the easiest method for new users however.

Now copy your extracted Unleashed ROM and create a folder within the "xenia_manager" folder called "games", then paste your extracted Unleashed ROM within the games folder .


Third, Open "Xenia Manager.exe", select the "Install Xenia Canary" option.

Once this is complete, select the "Add Game" option at the top of the window, the explorer should pop up.

Navigate to Sonic Unleashed within your games folder, locate "default.xex" and press open.

Simply follow what Xenia Manager shows you on screen.

Now Unleashed should appear in your games list.


Fourth, We will now install the DLC & Title Updates.

Right click the game in your games list, select "Content" then "Install DLC/Updates".

Press the folder icon at the bottom of the window, this will open file explorer, navigate to where your DLC/Updates are located, highlight them all and click open.

Xenia Manager will display all the content you wish to install, confirm and upon installation, Xenia Manager will notify you that your DLC is installed!


Fifth, Patches!

Right click the game in your games list, select "Game Patch", then "Download and Apply Patch".

When asked if you have patches locally, select "no".


Important!

If you followed every step, select "53450812 - Sonic Unleashed (TU2).patch.toml" If you skipped the DLC/Update, select "53450812 - Sonic Unleashed.patch.toml"

Now we will set the basic patches for all experiences, right click the game once more, select "Game Patch" then "Manage Patches".

Enable "60fps" & "Disable Color Adjustment", you can enable remaining patches at your choice, unless you are planning to use Vulkan, in which case DO NOT enable "1280x720 Resolution".


Sixth, Xenia Settings.

Now within Xenia Manager, click on the "Xenia Settings" button, We do not have to do anything here yet, but I suggest you glance at all settings.


Some information:

"Internal Display Resolution" will not change the games resolution above 1280x720p, ignore this setting. Do not change the "Graphics API" option from "Any" yet.

Lastly, We will not be opening the game from Xenia Manager, for this we will use Unleashed Mod Manager.

Setting up the Unleashed Mod Manager.[edit | edit source]

First, Extract latest_1c75d.zip then within the extracted contents, copy Unleashed Mod Manager.exe into your xenia_manager folder, next create a folder called "Mods" in your xenia_manager folder.

Second, Open Unleashed Mod Manager.exe, you will get a window like this:

For the Mods Directory you will want to press the three dots in the white square, then select the Mods folder we put in the xenia_manager folder earlier.

For the Game Executable you will want to press the three dots in the white square, then go in to your ROM folder, at the bottom of the list of folders, there should be a file called "default.xex", select that.

For the Emulator Executable you will want to go back in to the xenia_manager folder, then the "Xenia Canary" folder & select "xenia_canary.exe".

We will skip the Save Data option as no mods currently support that. Now just press Continue.



Third, Now that the mod manager is open, click the Settings button in the bottom left then within the settings, click on "Install 1-Click URL Handler", this will allow magnet links to work.

Fourth, Navigate to the "Emulator" bar in the mod manager, and set the "API" to "Custom".

Now you need to pick with API you use, basically meaning how you wish to play the game.

For stability at the cost of accurate visuals when it comes to some particles, refer to Vulkan.

For accuracy, refer to D3D12, this is more unstable but is more visually correct and allows you to use the 1280x720p patch.

For high resolution, refer to D3D12 @2K/4K, this is more unstable than before but will allow the best visual clarity. To do this, either scroll below or you can scroll up to the table of contents and select your render option.

You only need to follow one of them options, not all 3.

All instances will have stuttering and possible lag within the first playthrough with a set renderer, this is normal.

Vulkan:[edit | edit source]

Suggested Prerequisites.

First, Open and paste all mods downloaded, into your mods folder.

Second, Within Xenia Manager, select "Xenia Settings", navigate to "Graphics API", change the option from "any" to "Vulkan".

Third, Keep "Render Target Path" set to "Auto" for now, but if you run into any issues, test between the options "FBO" & "FSI" until you get the generally better experience of the two.

Contrary to what the descriptions inform you, FBO & FSI have their own pros and cons each and are also inconsistent between users/hardware, use at your own modification.

Make sure to "Save changes"!!

WARNING: Do NOT enable the "1280x720 Resolution" patch, this will cause the game to become unplayable while boosting.

In addition, you CANNOT modify the "Draw Resolution Scale" setting, it will not do anything.

If you experience screen tearing, set one of- or all three of these settings to "OFF":

"Present Mode Immediate (Vulkan)"

"Present Mode Mailbox (Vulkan)"

"Present Mode FIFO Relaxed (Vulkan)"

D3D12:[edit | edit source]

Suggested Prerequisites.

First, Open and paste all mods downloaded, into your mods folder.

Second, Within Xenia Manager, select "Xenia Settings", navigate to "Graphics API", change the option from "any" to "D3D12".

Third, Keep "Render Target Path" set to "Auto" for now, but if you run into any issues, test between the options "RTV" & "ROV" until you get the generally better experience of the two.

RTV & ROV have their own pros and cons each and are also inconsistent between users/hardware, use at your own modification.

Make sure to "Save changes"!!

You may wish to enable the "1280x720 Resolution" patch, this will increase the games internal resolution, at the cost of performance.

In addition, you should not modify the "Draw Resolution Scale" setting for this part of the guide, we cover that in the D3D12 @2K/4K area.

D3D12 @2K/4K:[edit | edit source]

Prerequisites.

First, Open and paste all mods downloaded, into your mods folder.

Second, Within Xenia Manager, select "Xenia Settings", navigate to "Graphics API", change the option from "any" to "D3D12".

Third, Keep "Render Target Path" set to "Auto" for now, but if you run into any issues, test between the options "RTV" & "ROV" until you get the generally better experience of the two.

RTV & ROV have their own pros and cons each and are also inconsistent between users/hardware, use at your own modification.

Fourth, Set "Draw Resolution Scale" to:

2 (1760x1440p) (2K)

3 (2640x2160p) (4K)

You may wish to enable the "1280x720 Resolution" patch, this will increase the games internal resolution, at the cost of performance.

This also modifies the "Draw Resolution Scale" values to instead be:

2 (2560x1440p) (2K)

3 (3840x2160p) (4K)

Make sure to "Save changes"!!

The Flashbang Fix is required for resolution scaling as the game on Xenia has a bug that causes blinding flashes at higher resolutions, this is unavoidable but the Flashbang Fix does help mitigate 80-90% of all flashes.

Do not use anything considered as a HDR Fix when resolution scaling.

Flashbangs may still occur, the game may run poorly and crashes may occur.

Last steps:[edit | edit source]

(Optional) Setting up a 100% save file.[edit | edit source]

A 100% save file is NOT needed anymore, but if you wish to use one:

First, Whatever save file you download should be called "SYS-DATA", copy this file.

Second, Navigate within your xenia_canary folder to content\[your profile]\53450812\00000001\SYS-DATA\ then paste the "SYS-DATA" file in, you will be prompted to overwrite a file, do it.

However, If the path to [your profile]\53450812\00000001\SYS-DATA does NOT exist then open the Unleashed Mod Manager, click "Launch Sonic Unleashed" then on the title screen when prompted to save, pressed save as shown below:

Close the emulator, then do the second step.

Final Result and Step.[edit | edit source]

Anything listed as a prerequisite mod should go in the mods folder.

If any settings aren't working, make sure your "Xenia Canary Profile" settings are also matching within the "Sonic Unleashed" profile, there is an option to copy the settings from the base profile over too.

Now just open Unleashed Mod Manager & press "Save, Install content & launch Unleashed" & everything should be ready to play, Have Fun!

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