BetterSADX is a mod for Sonic Adventure DX, created by The BetterSADX Group (see the bottom of this page for detailed credits).
- Dreamcaster Models
- Sadx Dreamcast Models Mod List
- Sonic Adventure Dx Dreamcast Models Mod
- Sadx Dreamcast Models Model
- Sadx Dreamcast Models Mods
Description (in authors’ own words):
The definitive way to play Sonic Adventure.
SADX Dreamcast Conversion mod by PkR. Dreamcast Conversion is a mod for Sonic Adventure DX PC that brings back Dreamcast levels, textures, object models, special effects and branding. Sonic Adventure DX Sonic Adventure Dreamcast Run to the left of the stairs leading up to Tails’ house in the main area of the Mystic Ruins to find a small cave. Jump into the mine cart at the back of the cave and you’ll ride through the gates into the garden on the other side.
BetterSADX is an easy to install / automated patch that transforms the Steam version of Sonic Adventure DX into an enhanced version with many more features added by the community over the last several years.
This is a sub-page of Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut (GameCube). Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut is a port of Sonic Adventure for the Sega Dreamcast. In addition to the extra content, there are actually tons of changes from the original version, ranging anywhere from tiny to huge. Nov 07, 2017 Morph’s Lighting Mod for Sonic Adventure DX Restores Dreamcast Lighting Effects. SA1 models have a distinct look, they were the first “modern” character models in a 3D Sonic game. SADX models look more like SA2. I’m not a big fan of SA2 and I feel like those models don’t belong in this game. Also, the updated models look awkward. 3DS Arcade Dreamcast DS / DSi GameCube Mobile Nintendo 64 Nintendo Switch PC / Computer PlayStation PlayStation 2 PlayStation 3 Playstation 4 PlayStation Vita PSP Wii Wii U Xbox Xbox 360 Genres Action Action RPG Action-Adventure Action-Platformer Adventure Beat 'em Up Board / Card Game Educational Fighting Horror Platformer Puzzle Racing Shoot.
Get updates, help and discuss - join the BetterSADX Steam Group.
During install, you will be given 3 options:
BetterSADX + Dreamcast Conversion - Full experience with improved DC textures and lighting
BetterSADX (Standard) - For those who prefer the DX look
Minimal / Speedruns - Basic setup with only a handful of mods suitable for speedrunning
Updates
Please join the Steam group and/or sign up for email updates (feedburner.google.com) to be notified when BetterSADX is updated.
FEATURES:
Dreamcast Conversion
An incredible Dreamcast Conversion mod by PkR, TheArcadeStriker, and SonicFreak94. This project aims to return the PC version of Sonic Adventure DX to it's appearance on the original Sega Dreamcast. This includes the restoration of the palette lighting engine, as well as ports of the Dreamcast land tables, level models, and textures.
Use any custom resolution. With “Windowed Fullscreen” and “Stretch Fullscreen” (enabled by default), you can specify resolutions larger than your native which will downsample.
Texture filtering, Mipmapping, better sound and an extensive range of layout and bug fixes, created by the community.
BetterSADX includes and relies on the latest version of SADX Mod Manager, which provides a clean entry point and effective way to manage mods for the game! All of BetterSADX is fully modular, meaning, you can configure and tweak it here to your heart's content.
Resolution Options
Improved Graphics, Sound and Fixes
Mod Support
Full Controller Support
Super Sonic in Action Stages
To activate:
Includes the latest version of the Input Mod (By SonicFreak94). This provides improved support with use of the right stick and trigger buttons. It also includes Smooth Cam to give you a smoother first person camera.
Once you’ve completed the 7 main story modes, you can play as Super Sonic who is faster, invincible and can run along most water. He loses 1 ring per second and will lose the power once his ring count hits 0.
Make sure you've completed the Super Sonic story at least once.
Play as Sonic.
Collect 50 rings.
Jump and press the B button to transform into Super Sonic (or to transform back).
Please Note: Some stages and items/set-pieces (which force you to spindash) will auto-transform Sonic back to his normal form to stop the game from crashing. If you are unable to transform for this reason, Sonic will say:
'Huh?'.
In the past, this feature was restricted to Super Sonic Adventure mode, however, it is now usable on any save file that has the Super Sonic story completed. It's possible this will change in the future, however.
Dreamcast DLC Fl studio asio driver.
The wonderful DLC mods by PkR! These mods allow you to experience the original Dreamcast DLC at any time by toggling them from the Mod Manager! Simply open the game and choose configure to bring up the mod manager.
Playable Game Gear titles
The Game Gear games from previous SADX releases are back.
Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic Drift
Sonic Chaos
Sonic Spinball
Sonic Labyrinth
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine
Sonic Triple Trouple
Sonic Drift 2
Tails' Skypatrol
Sonic Blast
Dreamcaster Models
Tails Adventure Alcatel lucent 4059 usb keyboard drivers for mac.
You can unlock them by collecting emblems and beating missions in Mission mode. It is recommended you run the game in 640 x 480 if you plan on playing these.
Seamless Integration
You can enjoy all the features just from running the game via Steam and choosing Play or Configure, and in addition, this also supports Steam Achievements.
Discord Rich Presence
Show what you're doing in-game to your Discord friends and servers.
Configure
When you launch the game from Steam, you can still choose “Play” or “Configure” to change settings. Other than the resolution, we recommend you leave the settings as their defaults.
Configure Mods
Configure opens the SADX Mod Manager, where you can manage and tweak what we've provided to you in any way you'd like. We've included the mods in the optimal order by default as well, but for future reference, mods have a priority system. The lower on the list the mod is, the higher the priority for that mod is, meaning if multiple mods replace the same thing, only the lowest one on the list will show it's changes.
Set your resolution
By default, the installer will set your desktop resolution.
To set your own resolution:
Start the game from Steam and choose the Configure option.
Sadx Dreamcast Models Mod List
Canon imageclass d300 driver. Click the “Options” tab.
Next to “Use Custom Resolution” you can specify your own or click the “Native Resolution” button to use what your Desktop is currently set to.
Click “Save” and close the window or click “Save and Play”.
Converting your Steam saves
This is now done automatically during the install.
If a 'savedata' folder already exists in your game folder from a prior install of BetterSADX, then no saves will be copied (to prevent overwriting and save loss)
Speedruns
When installing, there is a 'Minimal / Speedruns' option.
Choosing this will perform only a basic install consisting of the SADX Mod Manager and the following mods.
Camera Code Error Fix
XInput Mod
Frame Limiter (disabled but turn it on if the game runs >60FPS)
Credits
CheatFreak - HD GUI 2 Button Prompts, Planning & Design
Carlmundo - Mod Conversion, Patcher, Planning & Design
Danhanado - Original Guide and BetterSADX Logo
SonicFreak94 - Mod Manager and Loader, SADX Fixed Edition, Input-Mod, Pause Hide, Smooth Camera, Super Sonic Mod, HUD Scaling, Camera Code Error Fix, Idle Chatter, SADX-DC-Lighting
MainMemory - Mod Manager and Loader, Modding Tools, Achievements, Save Tool, Egg Carrier Ocean Music, Misc Help
PkR - Dreamcast Conversion, Dreamcast DLCs, Work on SADX:FE, Sound Overhaul 2, Time of Day, SA1 Style EXE Icon (4.2+), HD GUI 2, Feedback on HD GUI 2 Button Prompts, Feedback and Help in general
SuperCoolSonic - SET Fixes Mod (now bundled in Dreamcast Conversion)
Dark Sonic - Work on HD GUI 2 Mod
Sonikko - Work on HD GUI 2 Mod, Feedback on HD GUI 2 Button Prompts.
Speeps - Work on HD GUI 2 Mod Nba 2k13 crack pc.
SteG - Work on HD GUI 2 Mod
SuperSonic16 - DiscordSADX Mod
Free bluegriffon templates download. ZorakaroZ - Updates to MimicDCTextures
Spoonm - App Launcher Clone
VeritasDL - Camera Code Error Fix
Shanekilz - Help with figuring out Speedrun Stuff
IndyTheGreat - Water texture fixes
Jeff - Past work on stuff
TheArcadeStriker - Dreamcast Conversion (past work)
RonnChyran - App Launcher based on BOIL (past work)
Yoyoyoshio - xBRZ Textures (past work), Feedback and Testing
Endri - Super Sonic in Action Stages (Past Work)
OldClassicGamer - Inspiration that got this project kicked off
Sonic Retro - Resource for SADX Modding
Disclaimer
This patch is designed to only work for the Steam version and will not install unless you have a legitimate Steam version installed.
Help
Need More Mods?
Here's a few noteworthy places! Note that some of the mods on the below pages are actually included.
Mushroom Zone by CorvidDude[shc.sonicresearch.org]
AutoDemo Levels by X-Hax[shc.sonicresearch.org]
MainMemory's SADX Hacks[mm.reimuhakurei.net]
SonicFreak94's SADX Hacks[sf94.reimuhakurei.net]
GameBanana Modding Hub[gamebanana.com]
- Last update: Sunday, May 31, 2020
- Genre: Arcade
- File size: 1186.5 MB
Report problems with download to [email protected]
Name | Type | Size | Date | Total | 7 days |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sonic Adventure DX - BetterSADX v.4.4.6 | mod | 1186.5 MB | 5/31/2020 | 8.2K | 67 |
Sonic Adventure DX - ENG | demo | 106.2 MB | 2/9/2004 | 7.3K | 18 |
Sonic Adventure DX - Dreamcast Conversion v.10 | mod | 574.2 MB | 4/6/2020 | 1.6K | 12 |
Sonic Adventure DX - Sonic Adventure Generations DX v.8.5 | mod | 410.4 MB | 4/6/2020 | 1.4K | 7 |
Character models in SADX are the cornerstone of the SA1 vs SADX debate. They’re one of the few aspects of SADX that can be considered an improvement over the original game as they have more polygons resulting in a more detailed look. It’s particularly noticeable if you look at characters’ hands. Dreamcast character models have “mittens” like many other games at the time, while SADX models feature hands with clearly separate fingers.
From a purely technical standpoint there’s no argument about it: more polygons = more detail = better. But the SADX models aren’t just improved SA1 models with a better polygon count. They are also different in proportions, they use different textures and are missing several effects from the original. But first, let’s have a look at the following comparison just to see how they differ on a basic level. This comparison was done using Dreamcast and PC versions with several hacks, where we set up a test environment to ensure the models are placed in the exact same spot and have the same lighting:
SonicTails
Knuckles
Amy
Big
E-102 Gamma*
Super Sonic
*Apart from some material flags, E-102 Gamma’s model is identical to its Dreamcast counterpart, but there’s a transparency issue with his chest, which will be discussed separately.
Some people prefer the higher poly SADX models, while others say they prefer the original models aesthetically. Some people argue that the SA1 models for Sonic, Tails and Knuckles have proportions resembling those characters in the classic Sonic games, while the SADX models look closer to more recent Sonic games, especially Sonic Adventure 2. This makes sense because SADX came out on the Gamecube after SA2B, and perhaps this prompted the developers to redesign the models so that the newer release wouldn’t look so different from the sequel that came out first on the Gamecube.
I’d also like to mention the redesign of Sky Chase models, which replaced the low-poly “Saturn” style models with more detailed models. This is also an improvement over the original game.
Higher polygon counts and separate fingers are objective improvements, and the rest is a matter of personal preference. However, in many aspects the updated character models are poorly implemented in SADX. Here’s a list of problems with the SADX models that didn’t exist or were less noticeable with the Dreamcast models:
- The “fur” textures for all characters were replaced with simple colors or gradients. Some people may not like the “grainy” textures on the Dreamcast models, but replacing the “grain” with a solid color seems like loss of detail. It would’ve probably looked better if the original texture was remade in higher resolution.
Here’s a comparison of the “grain” texture between versions: - The updates are inconsistent as only the main characters were updated:
a) Tikal and Eggman only received the higher-poly hands, and not all their models were updated – e.g. Eggman’s low-poly models in Egg Hornet and Egg Viper were not updated at all.
b) Amy’s model in the cutscene where she is captured by Zero is still using her Dreamcast model with mitten hands. Same problem with Tails in the cutscene where Sonic sees him crash. Gamma’s flashback with Amy also wasn’t updated. Sonic’s Light Speed Dash aura also wasn’t updated.
c) The jumping/rolling models for characters were not updated. They use the SA1 hand models with SADX hand textures, which doesn’t look too great together with broken vertex welding and lower quality textures. To be fair, vertex welding is broken on the Dreamcast too, but at least it has the correct textures. Lack of updates to anything besides the most visible things is jarring and illustrates the lack of effort put into the model upgrades. - The screenshots seen in the endgame credits were updated to feature new models and environments, but character tutorials and final credit screens still feature the old levels and old models with mitten hands.
- The updated models are inconsistent with other models in the game. The higher-poly models of Sonic and other characters look strange when they are standing next to NPCs because the NPCs use much more basic models. This was already noticeable in the Dreamcast version, but SADX made the contrast even more jarring. The best example of this inconsistency is Knuckles standing next to an NPC in the Echidna City. His original model looks a lot more consistent with the echidnas than his SA2-inspired model used in the ports.
- The updated models don’t follow the design guidelines from the Sonic Adventure Stylebook (scroll down a bit or search for “stylebook”). They use wrong shapes and proportions, whereas the original models follow them quite closely. Considering that SADX is supposed to be a better version of Sonic Adventure, the updated characters don’t represent the original game’s artistic vision.
- The Dreamcast models had some gloss on them, but the SADX models have much more gloss, which makes them look like plastic. Many people find the excessive gloss unappealing, especially in the PC version, where you can install a NoGloss mod to fix it, or use the Lantern Engine mod to tone it down. The gloss difference is the side effect of the inferior lighting system in SADX. Check out the section on character gloss in the Lighting post to find out more.
- The new hands are good to have, but Amy has got monster hands with very long fingers and it looks a bit freaky.
- The updated Sonic model has an animation error causing Sonic’s eyes to disappear during his “hanging” animation.
- The more rounded shoes are good, but the textures used on them were squeezed into one texture, and that texture isn’t very detailed. For example, Amy’s shoes look “dirty” because of the noise that comes from upscaling a low-resolution shoe texture.
- There is a visible seam between the upper and lower halves of Big’s body in SADX. Big’s model in particular is a great illustration of how a higher poly count improves almost nothing. Did you know that the SADX model has a higher poly count for Big’s body? I didn’t because it looks exactly the same to me.
- Super Sonic has lost the reflection effect (environment mapping) on his body and is now using a simple yellow texture.
- Super Sonic’s foot sticks out of his aura (lol).
Some people say the SADX models have better textures. Other than the “grain” mentioned in point 1 above (which is still debatable), this isn’t entirely true. Here’s a comparison of SA1 textures with SADX textures for Sonic:
You can see that the textures used for Sonic’s face and body (stx_hoho and stx_hara), Crystal Ring (stx_itemring) and the shoe buckle (stx_kanagu) are higher resolution in SADX*, but the textures for Sonic’s jump ball, eyes, nose, teeth etc. are the same resolution. Hp elitebook 6930p cam driver for mac. You can also notice that the SADX model uses less textures. This is because most of the shoe textures have been squeezed into one. Normally this wouldn’t cause any issues, but in some cases the combined texture in SADX is less detailed than the individual textures used in the Dreamcast version (see the Amy’s shoe example above).
*Interestingly the “Autodemo” prototype of the Dreamcast version has higher quality character textures that are mostly on par with SADX resolution wise.
*Interestingly the “Autodemo” prototype of the Dreamcast version has higher quality character textures that are mostly on par with SADX resolution wise.
I’d like to go back to the “grain” issue again here. The texture in question is stx_btest1, which looks like this:
As you can see, the SADX texture is split into four pieces, which are applied to different parts of Sonic’s body. If we color code the parts, it looks like this. This is obviously an improvement over just one texture in the Dreamcast version, but it also means the resulting texture that gets applied to Sonic’s body is half the resolution of the Dreamcast texture in addition to the loss of “grain” discussed earlier.
The textures that weren’t redesigned in SADX suffer from quality degradation. A common misconception is that the texture quality downgrade happened only in the PC version, but the Gamecube version’s loss of texture quality is also quite significant. For example, look at what happened to the texture you see on Sonic’s jumpball:
Note that all textures in the game have suffered from quality reduction, not just the character textures. More on it in the Textures section.
Even Gamma’s model, which wasn’t redesigned, is suffering from some problems in SADX. There’s a part of his body that looks like this:
Sonic Adventure Dx Dreamcast Models Mod
This is what it looks like in different versions of the game:
As you can see, the only version of the game where it renders correctly is the Dreamcast version. The front shield texture is supposed to be semi-transparent so that you can see the light behind it. The texture is still transparent on the Gamecube, but the light part is invisible and you see other parts of Gamma’s body through it. In the PC version the front texture is simply opaque. The same problem affects other robot characters, which also have body parts like that.
Some time ago we found out what was causing this. Gamma’s chest uses a mesh type that is not supported in SADX. However, that mesh type is exactly the same as another mesh type (trimesh), which is supported in SADX, so making it work would’ve been extremely trivial, and even if they didn’t want to support it they could just change a few bytes in Gamma’s model to make his chest use the trimesh type. In the PC version and later ports transparency is disabled entirely by using a constant material with no transparency on the whole model. This also would’ve been trivial to fix, although it may have been intentional.
Also Gamma’s eyes, parts of his feet and head base are supposed to be lit up at all times. The “ignore lighting” material flags for those body parts were removed in SADX for some reason, so Gamma’s eyes are no longer lit up. Same with Big’s eyes that no longer glow in the dark.
Now let’s talk about missing effects. Beamng drive mac free beamng.drive for mac. When Sonic rolls around, the blue trail he leaves behind has an interesting “rainbow” effect in the Dreamcast version. The trail is always purple in SADX, and the “rainbow” effect is missing:
This happens because SADX never sets the correct texture for the effect. It’s supposed to cycle between the first and second texture in SON_EFF.PVM, but SADX sets one of the textures meant for the longer dash trail, which is always purple.
Sadx Dreamcast Models Model
Sonic’s Light Speed Dash aura is also different. It looks more jagged in SADX and its glow is a lot brighter. It’s quite likely that the developers couldn’t get additive blending to work properly with the glow model (which uses many transparent layers), so they decreased the transparency to make the problem less noticeable. However, that resulted in more “jagginess” and a worse look of the aura overall:
The original Japanese release of Sonic Adventure had an interesting “motion blur” effect when Sonic was running at high speed. It involved real-time replacement of Sonic’s shoes with stretched models to produce an effect akin to what you see in classic Sonic games. In addition to the stretchy feet, the game rendered Sonic’s model multiple times with various levels of transparency to imitate motion blur. In later releases on the Dreamcast the effect was toned down – the transparency was removed, but you could still see the stretchy feet sometimes. In SADX the effect was removed entirely:
Sonic’s model looks glitchy in the SADX screenshot – the shoe buckle is missing and the bottom of the shoes use a strange looking yellow texture. Those are the leftovers of the stretchy shoe effect. In SADX, the code for the stretchy shoes is still active, and when Sonic is running fast the shoes switch to an old model that wasn’t updated to use the final SADX textures. This is why the bottom of the shoes is using the buckle texture, and the buckle itself is missing. This bug has always been visible in official promotional materials, such as the Steam page.
A somewhat similar effect was removed on Tails’ tails. If you go back to the model comparisons near the top of this page, you can see that Tails had more than two tails in the Dreamcast version. Those semi-transparent tails showed up when he was running or flying, creating another variation of the “motion blur” effect. He still retains those extra tails in SADX, but the transparency on them is deactivated, which looks a bit strange:
Knuckles has also had several effect downgrades. The Shovel Claw has lost the environment mapping effect that gave it a shiny metallic surface:
Sadx Dreamcast Models Mods
Knuckles’ Maximum Heat attack aura is also different in SADX. It looks noticeably worse in the PC version, although the Gamecube version also looks somewhat broken:
Even with all the problems mentioned above there’s a lot of subjectivity when it comes to saying which models are better. However, in a supposedly enhanced port we shouldn’t have to choose between higher polygon counts for some character models on one side and worse texture quality, removed effects and broken character lighting on the other side. Most of the downgrades discussed here have been fixed in my Dreamcast Conversion mod, where I restored or recreated the missing effects. SonicFreak94‘s Lantern Engine mod takes care of level and character lighting, and ItsEasyActually‘s Dreamcast Characters mod is for those who prefer the original Dreamcast models in the PC version. Learn more about the mods here!