What exactly are the differences between Vanilla, Dreamcast Experience, and Enhanced Director's Cut Experience?

[Cyber Akuma]

I was reading this guide:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=299808681

The problem is, it is kinda lacking in details.

So, seems that the Steam port of Sonic Adventure 1 is quite a mess. People have worked pretty diligently to restore it to a better version. However, there are multiple paths one can take... and the problem is that there is a glaring lack of details of what each path entails.

BetterSADX itself is simply a collection of mods that one can install to the Steam version, and it comes in two flavors, a Dreamcast and a Director's Cut version... but it doesn't really go into detail on what any of those are.

They mention that it contains the "Dreamcast models and stages"... but it's not clear why these would be preferred. Are these actually even lower quality models than the Dreamcast version just to make it closer to the DC version? Or are they better than the PC version in some way?

It doesn't even mention what the Director's Cut version of the mod does over the Dreamcast version.

And of course, since this is just a collection of mods, you can apparently install most if not all of these from the mod manager anyway..... but it doesn't tell you what set are installed for each version of BetterSADX.

So I am just trying to get some better information before I decide if I go the BetterSADX Dreamcast route, the Director's Cut route, or just the manual Mod Manager route, since it's really not clear at all WHAT the actual changes are. I tried Googling it and looking up youtube videos, but almost all of them were how to install it and just claimed "It's better" without going into much detail what other than that the lighting is better.

Is there a list of WHAT mods the Dreamcast and Director's Cut versions install? And/or all the changes they do? Specifically any changes to textures, models, and levels? I wouldn't want to install a mod that actually replaces the game with lower-fidelity models, textures, or levels with added elements removed just to make it closer to the Dreamcast version if that's what they mean, but I would want to install a mod that fixes missing elements and adds back stuff that was actually removed from the Steam version.

[CheatFreak]

TL;DR, Most people generally prefer the look of the original Dreamcast version if given the choice because it has a much better and more cohesive general art direction with fewer major design errors, so we recommend Complete Dreamcast Experience, or using SADX Mod Installer instead of BetterSADX for a customizable installation.

Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut was a rushed port of SA1 to the GameCube and it shows. There are loads of errors in porting that caused DX to be oftentimes worse and uglier than it's original Dreamcast version.

All the specific details and information on how SADX is different from Sonic Adventure is available here, authored by PkR (the developer of the Dreamcast Conversion mod) and his associates.
https://dreamcastify.unreliable.network/

Most of the mods included in BetterSADX's Dreamcast Experience option strive to restore SADX to be as close as possible to its original Dreamcast look.

BetterSADX's Enhanced Director's Cut option is for people who, in spite of its problems, enjoy the changes in SADX over the Dreamcast version. It includes many of the improvements that the Dreamcast option does without any of the Dreamcast Conversion.

Alternatively, you can use PkR's SADX Mod Installer, which is generally what people have been using instead of BetterSADX since it is simply a massive improvement over the simple mod pack that BetterSADX is. https://sadxmodinstaller.unreliable.network/

Lastly, you can't go with the "Manual Install" option with the Steam port without running some sort of conversion software first. Both BetterSADX and SADXMI downgrade the Steam version to the PC 2004 build, as that is the version that is moddable. The vanilla steam port is such hot garbage that nobody that makes mods have any interest in trying to fix it properly.

[Everybody do the flop]

SA1 also has different Chao World mechanics, such as:
Animals speed up evolution
Chao are a lot smaller
Different emotion balls
Much higher water levels
Animals can't swim
Chao are a different colour, plus some Jewel Chao are different colours.
Different sound effects and Chao noises
Chao behave differently
The Black Market is locked to online only use, with event items
No Hero or Dark Chao

None of these have been added to BetterSADX though.

[Cyber Akuma]

Originally posted by CheatFreak:

TL;DR, Most people generally prefer the look of the original Dreamcast version if given the choice because it has a much better and more cohesive general art direction with fewer major design errors, so we recommend Complete Dreamcast Experience, or using SADX Mod Installer instead of BetterSADX for a customizable installation.

Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut was a rushed port of SA1 to the GameCube and it shows. There are loads of errors in porting that caused DX to be oftentimes worse and uglier than it's original Dreamcast version.

All the specific details and information on how SADX is different from Sonic Adventure is available here, authored by PkR (the developer of the Dreamcast Conversion mod) and his associates.
https://dreamcastify.unreliable.network/

Most of the mods included in BetterSADX's Dreamcast Experience option strive to restore SADX to be as close as possible to its original Dreamcast look.

I see. That isn't really what I want to be honest. I wanted basically what was the best of all options combined if I could do that, not to just totally convert the game from one version to another, taking both the good and bad (Like lower quality textures/models) of that version.

BetterSADX's Enhanced Director's Cut option is for people who, in spite of its problems, enjoy the changes in SADX over the Dreamcast version. It includes many of the improvements that the Dreamcast option does without any of the Dreamcast Conversion.

So is that the "best of both worlds" option?

You said "in spite of it's problems", does that mean the Enhanced Director's Cut option still leaves some issues/missing assets or features of the game?

Alternatively, you can use PkR's SADX Mod Installer, which is generally what people have been using instead of BetterSADX since it is simply a massive improvement over the simple mod pack that BetterSADX is. https://sadxmodinstaller.unreliable.network/

Yeah, I used a similar mod installer to get Sonic R running on modern PCs, as well as give it some improvements.

I would prefer to go that route, just that I don't know which mods to choose, and is why I was wondering if there is a list of what mods both the Dreamcast and Director's Cut options install.

The guide claimed that the Mod Manager had MOST.... but not all of the mods that the BetterSADX mod installs. So are there some that I can't get from the Mod Manager no matter what?

And does the BetterSADX mod, whether I choose Dreamcast or Director's Cut mode still install the mod manager so I can then see what it did /did not install and change them?

Is there a list anywhere so I can just install the Mod Manager and then myself chose which mods from each to install?

I mainly want basically the best of all options combined if I can, not to completely turn it into a different version of the game if that version had some aspects that were worse and others better.

Lastly, you can't go with the "Manual Install" option with the Steam port without running some sort of conversion software first. Both BetterSADX and SADXMI downgrade the Steam version to the PC 2004 build, as that is the version that is moddable. The vanilla steam port is such hot garbage that nobody that makes mods have any interest in trying to fix it properly.

I kinda worded that wrong, sorry.

What I meant by manual is installing the Mod Manager and using that to manually chose what mods to install/not install instead of just choosing a set from BetterSADX. I didn't mean manually patching in the files directly.

[Cyber Akuma]

So, I think I have the mods configured how I want:

https://i.imgur.com/ypV6ZlF.png

This is basically the best I can do to try to have all the improvements (especially models and textures) from the Gamecube and DX/PC versions that were added while also putting back any better textures, lighting, and features the Dreamcast version had right?

Two things that I don't get though.

1: The BetterSADX mod says that it also adds back in some GameGear games that were included originally but removed from the Steam version.... but I don't see that listed anywhere in the mod manager. Did these not get installed somehow? Or do they get installed in a different way?

and

2: I noticed that the water ripple effect seems to be missing? Did I just mis-remember, or was there a mod to add that ripple effect back into the Steam version?

[TiagoJMonteiro]

Originally posted by Cyber Akuma:

The BetterSADX mod says that it also adds back in some GameGear games that were included originally but removed from the Steam version.... but I don't see that listed anywhere in the mod manager. Did these not get installed somehow? Or do they get installed in a different way?

I think it's a matter of unlocking them when you have enough emblems.

[Everybody do the flop]

Originally posted by TiagoJMonteiro:

Originally posted by Cyber Akuma:

The BetterSADX mod says that it also adds back in some GameGear games that were included originally but removed from the Steam version.... but I don't see that listed anywhere in the mod manager. Did these not get installed somehow? Or do they get installed in a different way?

I think it's a matter of unlocking them when you have enough emblems.

No, they were added in with Better SADX I think, probably a default mod you get for downloading the manager.

[Cyber Akuma]

I think he meant that while the mod adds them back in, you still need to unlock them in-game.

[TiagoJMonteiro]

Originally posted by Cyber Akuma:

I think he meant that while the mod adds them back in, you still need to unlock them in-game.

Yes, that's what I meant.

[jlfrye63]

i asked for the dreamcast gif not the rushed gamecube port gif.