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Sonic Frontiers runs at 30FPS on Xbox Series S by default despite promises of 60fps. Sega says switch TV settings from 4K to 1080p for unlocked 60fps

Before launch, Xbox Series S owners were guaranteed that Sonic Frontiers would run at 60fps, although they discovered upon launch that the game runs at 30fps with no performance mode options to be seen. This problem has affected a fairly large number of Series S owners, who have been voicing their complaints on social media sites such as Twitter and Reddit. Most of them say the same thing - that they're disappointed about the game running at 30fps and were unable to find a performance mode. Thankfully, there is a solution, and it might just be a case of going into your Xbox Series S settings and switching some things around.


  • PS5: Performance Mode = 1080p at up to 60 fps/Resolution Mode = Up to 4K dynamic resolution at 30 fps
  • PS4: Dynamic resolution up to 1080p at 30 fps
  • Xbox Series X/S: Performance Mode = 1080p at up to 60 fps/Resolution Mode = Up to 4K dynamic resolution at 30 fps
  • Xbox One: Dynamic resolution up to 1080p at 30 fps
  • Nintendo Switch: Dynamic resolution up to 720p at 30 fps (both handheld and docked)
  • Steam: Dynamic resolution up to 4K at 60 fps (depending on individual PC specs)

TheGamer reached out to Sega for comment regarding Sonic Frontiers' performance issues on Series S, and it explained that players can go into their console's settings to improve the game's quality. If your TV allows a 4K UHD display, then this may be the reason Sonic Frontier's is running at 30fps. All you need to do is go into your settings and find the TV & Display Options, find the 1080p option and switch it on. Sega states that doing this should allow Sonic Frontiers to hit 60fps on Series S consoles.

Oh Sonic Team, what are you doing.

S doesn't even have an option to change performance, which I supposed makes sense given that 1080p 60fps is only really needed as an option for the X, but the fact Sega markets the game 60fps and it runs at 30fps and people are complaining about it in multiple places, doesn't help the games word of mouth.
 

01011001

Banned
uhhhhhhmmmm. didn't Microsoft explicitly forbid developers from tying graphics settings to the output resolution of the console when the One X released, and mandated that every graphics mode needs to be a toggleable option in-game?
 
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feynoob

Banned
PS5: Performance Mode = 1080p at up to 60 fps/Resolution Mode = Up to 4K dynamic resolution at 30 fps
I'm sorry, what? lmfao yeah no thanks.
You can refresh the TV, to have 60 fps at 4k. Just like xss.
Ha Ha Reaction GIF
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Isn't this the game they said would run like a maxed out PC on Switch ?
 

nial

Gold Member
LOL, 1080p/60fps for PS5/Xbox Series X, what the fuck? It barely looks better than Sonic Forces (which ran at the same settings in PS4)...
 
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fatmarco

Member


Look at Sonic Generations with Resolution Boost and FPS Boost. Obviously it's not an open world game but just in terms of art design/ aesthetic/ the general vibe of the game.

This game is 11 years old.
 

Reallink

Member
Now I'm usually first in line to call the next-gen consoles underpowered, but 1080p/60 on PS5/SX is comical for the visuals on display here. This is literal student project levels of abject fail. A 'entire team fired tomorrow and don't list us as a reference' grade fuck up, astounding levels of incompetence.
 
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01011001

Banned
Me too on Series X, not a pixel counting expert but I’m willing to avatar bet that the 60 FPS mode is higher than 1080p.

pixel counting is pretty easy just take a screenshot that has a straight line of geometry in it that's slightly angled (like a 10° angle), and by then counting the steps and doing simple math you get the resolution.

if the Antialiasing is too blurry it can get harder but usually it's pretty easy
 
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01011001

Banned
Me too on Series X, not a pixel counting expert but I’m willing to avatar bet that the 60 FPS mode is higher than 1080p.

pixel counting is pretty easy just take a screenshot that has a straight line of geometry in it that's slightly angled (like a 10° angle), and by then counting the steps and doing simple math you get the resolution.

if the Antialiasing is too blurry it can get harder but usually it's pretty easy

just an example I did here really quick with Forza Horizon 4 on PC.
for ease of counting I turned off Antialiasing completely, which makes it super easy.

so what you do is you get a screenshot like this one

pixelcountefftb.png


notice the red square and the slightly angled roof of that building.
if you look closer in that image you will see I marked things there, and that's where I counted the pixels.

here is a zoomed version of that area

pixelcount2hncfj.png


so we make a line that is 30 pixels high, and then draw a horizontal line to the left/right until we hit a stairstep it perfectly lands on.
then you count the number of stairsteps that go from the vertical line to where the horizontal line hits the stairstep.

for me here that are 30 stairsteps (the small red markers show where I counted each step)

now we do the math:

Number of steps ÷ Number of pixels our ruler is high × Vertical Output Resolution

so in my example that would be 30 ÷ 30 = 1 if you get 1 it is the same resolution as your output,
so for me 1440p... that was easy because I ran at native res...

now here's another example running at a lower res

pixelcount35qe4q.png


let's zoom into the same area and count the stairsteps

pixelcount4s6e1y.png


19 steps with a 30 pixel ruler at an output resolution of 1440p

so again, staristeps (19) divided by ruler height (30) times vertical output resolution (1440)

19 ÷ 30 = 0.63333
0,63333 × 1440 = 912

so my resolution here should be 912p. spoiler, it isn't! it's 1600x900 so 900p
using different ruler sizes can help getting rid of small discrepancies like these.

let's do the same shot but now with a ruler that is 48 pixels high, the biggest amount I get with that particular line of geometry

pixelcount51eip0.png


and with that 48 pixel high ruler I got 30 stairsteps in this image

30 ÷ 48 = 0.625
0.625 × 1440 = 900

so with a bigger ruler we eventually got there. 900p exactly what I used
 
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RoadHazard

Gold Member
And here lies the crux of the problem. When your primary console is a potato, of course the higher end stuff is going to suffer

Not really, that should mean the PS5 and XSX should breeze through this game at 4K60.

But yes, it does mean the high-end versions probably aren't going to be very impressive.
 
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BlackTron

Member
uhhhhhhmmmm. didn't Microsoft explicitly forbid developers from tying graphics settings to the output resolution of the console when the One X released, and mandated that every graphics mode needs to be a toggleable option in-game?

The only way to get Halo Infinite running at the correct FPS/res for my monitor is to go into the video settings of the Xbox and set it there. If I was playing this Sonic game it's exactly where I would have gone to look for it. But it happens to be the first game I played on an Xbox console since 360 so maybe they established some convention that I totally missed.
 

Three

Member
S doesn't even have an option to change performance, which I supposed makes sense given that 1080p 60fps is only really needed as an option for the X, but the fact Sega markets the game 60fps and it runs at 30fps and people are complaining about it in multiple places, doesn't help the games word of mouth.
The image from the tweet seems to show info for Series X|S together. Doesn't seem to market Series S at 60fps but maybe they did this somewhere else?
 

SomeGit

Member
Just to confirm, changing the settings to 1080p 60hz (or 120hz for that matter) on the system settings doesn’t enable 60 fps on Series S.

The game is always at 30 fps on Series S, bravo Sega.
 
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I am playing this game on Xbox Series X where I initially played at 30 fps because I was unable to access the Graphics settings in Options because, of course, you cannot just use the D-pad to get to the option, you have to first press A to access the tabs and then you can use the D-pad to change it from 4K to 60 fps. That is poor user interface design, right there, but the game as a whole, while reasonably fun, is a bit of mess from lousy PS3/Xbox 360 era textures to atrocious pop in of scenery to bland open world level design to dull ambient music that played for most of my 2 hour playtime yesterday. The open world part looked so bad that I actually thought I was playing the base Xbox version or even the Switch version by mistake! Add in the usual wonky camera (and inevitable clipping) plus twitchy controls and it can make for a frustrating time. The only time the game looks good in my opinion is when you do the cyberspace (or whatever it's called) speed stages. Those are colourful, generally mask most of the pop in and have reasonable texture work, not that you get much chance to see them at the speed Sonic moves!

Overall, this game is a very mixed bag. I kind of like the open world design; it is fun to explore but just looks boring and empty as it is. It could have been great if the developers had used a more capable engine because it seems clear to me that the current Hedgehog one is not really up to the task. Visually this should be a stunning game on the current consoles and capable PCs but instead it just looks like something from 10 years ago...

*EDIT*
So the Xbox Series X version is just 1080p when playing at 60 fps??? Wow, shocker. Seriously, Team Sonic need to ditch their archaic engine if that is the best that it can do on the current consoles.
 
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Razvedka

Banned







Oh Sonic Team, what are you doing.

S doesn't even have an option to change performance, which I supposed makes sense given that 1080p 60fps is only really needed as an option for the X, but the fact Sega markets the game 60fps and it runs at 30fps and people are complaining about it in multiple places, doesn't help the games word of mouth.

This isn't the story. The story is that the PS5 and XSX versions are also 30fps at 4k and 60fps at 1080p.

Edit: or apparently not?
 
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TLZ

Banned
just an example I did here really quick with Forza Horizon 4 on PC.
for ease of counting I turned off Antialiasing completely, which makes it super easy.

so what you do is you get a screenshot like this one

pixelcountefftb.png


notice the red square and the slightly angled roof of that building.
if you look closer in that image you will see I marked things there, and that's where I counted the pixels.

here is a zoomed version of that area

pixelcount2hncfj.png


so we make a line that is 30 pixels high, and then draw a horizontal line to the left/right until we hit a stairstep it perfectly lands on.
then you count the number of stairsteps that go from the vertical line to where the horizontal line hits the stairstep.

for me here that are 30 stairsteps (the small red markers show where I counted each step)

now we do the math:

Number of steps ÷ Number of pixels our ruler is high × Vertical Output Resolution

so in my example that would be 30 ÷ 30 = 0 if you get 0 it is the same resolution as your output,
so for me 1440p... that was easy because I ran at native res...

now here's another example running at a lower res

pixelcount35qe4q.png


let's zoom into the same area and count the stairsteps

pixelcount4s6e1y.png


19 steps with a 30 pixel ruler at an output resolution of 1440p

so again, staristeps (19) divided by ruler height (30) times vertical output resolution (1440)

19 ÷ 30 = 0.63333
0,63333 × 1440 = 912

so my resolution here should be 912p. spoiler, it isn't! it's 1600x900 so 900p
using different ruler sizes can help getting rid of small discrepancies like these.

let's do the same shot but now with a ruler that is 48 pixels high, the biggest amount I get with that particular line of geometry

pixelcount51eip0.png


and with that 48 pixel high ruler I got 30 stairsteps in this image

30 ÷ 48 = 0.625
0.625 × 1440 = 900

so with a bigger ruler we eventually got there. 900p exactly what I used
Thanks for this. Learnt something new today.

Just a little clarification, 30÷30=1 ;)
 
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