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Sonic Adventure DX: Fixed Edition

Discussion in 'Engineering & Reverse Engineering' started by SF94, May 19, 2011.

  1. SF94

    SF94

    Tech Member
    Sonic Adventure DX: Fixed Edition is a bug fix/minor enhancement suite for the original release of SADX PC. This version has been remade from scratch for use with the SADX Mod Loader. It has most of the old changes, new changes, and better implementations of old changes.
    Or if you prefer, Sonic Adventure Deluxe Edition Director's Cut Fixed Edition Mod Edition Version 1.0.1

    This time around, I'm being a little more strict about my changes. Allow me to describe my thought process here:

    For item layouts (SET), I've decided it's best to avoid removing objects outright. They were likely placed there for a reason, so at most they should be adjusted if they've become problematic. This mostly applies to invisible collision objects and other such things.

    Enhancements are a general no-go. This is fixed edition after all, not enhanced edition. Take my stance on textures, for example: unless the texture to hypothetically be replaced with a high resolution alternative has an equivalent version elsewhere in the game (or in other versions of the game), it's going to stay exactly the way it is. As for other enhancements, I'll consider them if they're present in other versions of the game. Case in point: mipmaps. The game looks atrocious without them, even with 16xAF that I play every game with. This is also my justification for enabling texture filtering on the GUI.

    As such, item capsules are now rotatable! You might be thinking, "but none of those reasons cover this", and you're right. Normally I wouldn't include an enhancement like this, but I didn't just do it on a whim. Many stages already have proper rotation values for capsules on slopes (although some had totally wonky values resulting in sideways or upside-down capsules) - this is the sort of thing I would consider hidden or disabled functionality, so "restoring" this feature seemed perfectly reasonable. It may have never been part of the ingame engine, but it functions perfectly fine. This feature is also present in SA2, and it could open up some possibilities for level design - I'm all for encouraging level development for SADX!

    Another example of restored functionality would be a change I made to an object in Red Mountain (Red Mountain again? Coincidence?). Knuckles's version of the stage has little grass objects strewn throughout. They have a very aggressive clipping distance, but they're there. They even animate when close enough. Sonic has a TON of these placed throughout his stage, but they won't display unless you're playing as Knuckles, so I simply disabled that check for Knuckles, and now Sonic's stage has a bit more scenery. You can see some comparison shots below.

    Feature overview:
    • Looping ADX BGM [optional]
    • Item capsules are now rotatable
    • Item layout fixes
    • Stage geometry fixes
    • Game logic bug fixes

    Planned:
    • Texture quality improvements. The PC version has the worst texture fidelity of all versions of Sonic Adventure.

    Known regressions:
    • Some mesh changes haven't been ported (e.g model fix in Casinopolis; material and vcolor mishaps)
    • Station Square sidewalk texture inconsistency fixes haven't been ported - better implementation planned.
    • "Modernized" capsule icons (speed shoes etc) have deliberately not been ported.
    • Fixed random ring capsule icon fixes have not been ported - code-based implementation planned (which is the only real way to fix it).

    Requirements:

    Download:

    Changes:
    • Latest (v1.1) (Let me know if you have any recommendations on the formatting for the changelog. I don't like the way it looks, but it's functional.)

    Installation:
    • Install the SADX Mod Loader. Instructions are available on the wiki page linked above.
    • Extract the mod(s) linked above to the root of the "mods" folder.
    • In the SADX Mod Manager, you should see "SADX:FE UPDATE ME". Right click the mod and click "Check for updates" to download the latest version.

    NOTE: If you have any other mods that modify stages, item layouts, textures, music, or sounds, it is recommended you place those after the SADX:FE mod components (with the exception of the mipmaps mod). SADX:FE has the potential to modify a wide range of data in the game, and if it's loaded after other mods, it will likely nullify their changes.

    Comparisons:
    In the following examples, the left is the original, and the right is Fixed Edition.

    Texture Filtering
    [​IMG][​IMG]
    More comparisons can be found here.


    Masks
    [​IMG]
    The Dreamcast has higher quality textures and better masks, so I used it as a reference to create new ones from scratch for Fixed Edition.

    Mipmaps
    [​IMG][​IMG]
    Notice how distant textures are smooth instead of pixelated. This is what mipmapping does.

    Restored Functionality
    Rotatable Capsules
    [​IMG][​IMG]

    Hidden Scenery
    [​IMG][​IMG]

    You can also see all of the old screenshots in this terribly named directory. Most of them are still applicable, but not all (e.g capsule icons).
     
  2. Lanzer

    Lanzer

    The saber calls for its master... Member
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    Wow, neat. thanks much for this! some of those things bugged me as well.
     
  3. JcFerggy

    JcFerggy

    Do you want to taco 'bout it? Member
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    Just a quick question, but do you have any screens comparing the visual changes that you have made? I don't want to install the game again to check.
     
  4. Dude

    Dude

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    Did you fix the mis-rotated rock piece in emerald coast part 1 - you know, that giant rock tower that goes up to the lighthouse? One of the branches to that tower is mis-aligned. It's a simple fix really but most people don't notice it.
     
  5. SF94

    SF94

    Tech Member
    Left = before, right = after
    [​IMG]

    And this one makes it obvious which one is my fixed one:
    [​IMG]

    I don't think I did. I'll take a look.
    Edit: OK, I see what you mean. I remember seeing this before actually; I totally forgot about it. I'll go try to fix it now.
     
  6. SF94

    SF94

    Tech Member
    Sorry for the double post, but I just fixed what Dude mentioned. If you already downloaded the previous version for SADX PC 2004, simply download this patch: http://sf94.reimuhakurei.net/SA/DX/FE/SADXFE%20B1%20Patch.7z
    EDIT: Oh look, the permissions for this link here were f'd. Fixed; you can actually download it now.
    The SADX PC 2010 version remains unchanged, since we haven't hax'd into that one enough to modify level models in it.

    I aligned it the best I could, and I think I got it just right so you can't see through it. (as seen <a href="http://puu.sh/27iA" target="_blank">>here<</a>, you could see through it originally. And teamviewer was running, so it stole my aero =P)
     
  7. Mr Lange

    Mr Lange

    A wise guy eh. I know how to DEAL with wise guys. Member
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    I'm loving this idea and the project. I bet this could get really elaborate. In fact, let me know when you fix the cutscene animations so they don't horrifically suck, I may have to send you money.
    Actually joking aside, if that's something that can be worked on, please let me know, I'd love to do the animation.
     
  8. Dude

    Dude

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    It's possible, yes. I don't see it being very easy though. The mouth movements are all vertex animations, and the locations of each morph target are well known.

    Also, might I suggest making all of the buildings in speed highway solid? In fact, making alot of the background models solid would make the game alot more believable.
     
  9. SF94

    SF94

    Tech Member
    As Dude said, it is possible to do, but it'll most likely be pretty hard to pull off.

    Hm... I may do that.

    By the way, it turns out that the fixed random ring capsule icon things don't work 100% the same in SADX PC 2010, so I may make a separate version of them specifically for it at some point.
     
  10. Dark Sonic

    Dark Sonic

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    Well even beyond mouth movements, is it possible to make it so the characters don't run in place in like half the cutscenes? That always looked cheesy to me. This project is a great idea though, unleash this games full potential by fixing all the crap in it.
     
  11. How about the bug where you can hear the player hit the floor at the beginning of each cutscene? It's a nostalgic bug, but still a bug.
     
  12. E-122-Psi

    E-122-Psi

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    Or adding in some of the sounds or special effects missing from the original game (a few unused sounds such as Tails retro flying sound is in the games memory too) or maybe add the tracks intended to play in certain areas (eg. Calm After The Storm on the crash landed variant of the Egg Carrier, the Hedgehog Hammer theme not activated in the Adventure Field version) don't know how possible it is to implement them but they'd make a nice touch.
     
  13. MainMemory

    MainMemory

    Kate the Wolf Tech Member
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    I don't know how the cutscene script works, but it's probably hardcoded, which makes it difficult (not impossible) to edit.

    The first seems simple enough, find the place where it says to play the music, and add code to check for the character and the "Egg Carrier sunk" event flag, except that we only know where that is for Sonic right now. The second I'm not so sure about, it's probably simple, but I don't know.
    Of course, this requires coding in x86 asm.
     
  14. E-122-Psi

    E-122-Psi

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    Shame it's not Gamma, he's about the only one who really needs it for his Adventure mode.

    Is there a flag that activates for when the Hedgehog Hammer game activates after Amy stands on it? If there is a way round it there may be a convinience in that the Egg Carrier music resets straight after the minigame is over (suggesting it was meant to be put in the Adventure mode variant at some point).
     
  15. Mr Lange

    Mr Lange

    A wise guy eh. I know how to DEAL with wise guys. Member
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    I'd enjoy helping make that possible. Contact me if you decide to work more on it.

    Also someone suggested improving sound effects. That too is a department I'd like to help with.
     
  16. MainMemory

    MainMemory

    Kate the Wolf Tech Member
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    Actually, it would probably be easier to insert a music change in the code that starts the game (as soon as somebody finds out where that is).
     
  17. E-122-Psi

    E-122-Psi

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    Perhaps also see if anyone knows locations or flags for:

    * When Big's lure breaks ('BIG: Miss')

    * When ZERO turns invincible after too many hits ('AMY: Hurry Up')

    Perhaps the extended versions of tracks used in the OST could also be used in place of the truncated ones (eg. the full versions of Tikal's theme or Azure Blue World).

    I do have two other ideas, but they seem FAR more ambitious and complex:

    * Add options or extra menus to play the other variants of Twinkle Circuit (though it may be easiest to add extra icons on the Sub-Games menu).

    * Is it possible to combine the areas for Adventure Fields so they stream properly (like that data remaints in Station Square suggests they planned to do)? I take this would likely take a LOT of programming effort as well as item replacement and such but it would be interesting to pull off, especially since all those segmented areas slowed down the gameplay.

    Sorry if I'm getting carried away, SA1 was always one of those games I thought would have been a work of art if they had done it up properly.
     
  18. Espyo

    Espyo

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    I approve this mod. There are a lot of problems with Sonic Adventure DX. Too many to list really. But it's not hard to find lists of glitches. Keep up the good work!
     
  19. That song is used in the cutscene before Tails' Speed Highway. Don't you think it would be annoying to hear that little jingle over and over and over in the level instead of normal music?

    At least in Tikal's case, I'm pretty sure the cuts were made to allow the song to get to the melody faster, because it's only played in cutscenes.

    Everything else is good in theory.

    It is possible to change the subtitle font back to the DC/GC one? I hate the PC one. :(

    While we're on unlikely suggestions, how about support for the original ADX and SFD formats?
     
  20. Bareirito

    Bareirito

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    Not only that, but also restore the original HUD. For some reason I prefer the original more than the PC version one. And any ideas for the unused 'EXTEND' music?