Sonic Frontiers Mod Improves Performance By Porting Over Switch Files

thegamer.com:

Sonic Frontiers is fine on PC so long as you’ve got a decent rig, but older hardware really struggles to make Sonic go fast. That’s a problem for a game that’s all about speed, but luckily, there is now a solution.

Using files from the Nintendo Switch version of Sonic Frontiers, mod maker NnandoAnimando has created new graphics options that’ll make the game run faster on more modest PCs. Because the Switch is basically a glorified phone, Sega really had to tone down the graphics to get the Switch version to function at all, but using those humbler graphics presets can be a real boon for PC gamers running on potatoes.

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Like many of Sonic Frontier’s graphics options, there are two settings for bloom: low and high. Low will make visual effects like the ones surrounding Sonic during his Sonic Boom attack appear very pixilated, while the high setting makes them look a bit better. Just keep in mind that these are Switch graphics presets we’re talking about here, so don’t expect your Frontier’s experience to be anything like you’d see on a PlayStation 5. The idea here is to maximize your framerate, not your visual fidelity.

To that end, the mod can also disable shadows and even remove foliage on Starfall Islands--two graphics-intensive features that Sonic doesn’t necessarily need to go fast. These granular graphics options are completely absent from the vanilla Sonic Frontier’s options menu so it’s impossible to achieve a more hardware-appropriate experience besides lowering the game resolution and turning off anti-aliasing.

To install the Switch Conversion mod, head over to GameBanana and download the mod’s zip file, then use HedgeModManager