Sonic Retro user Morph and several others have gone through Sonic Adventure DX and created a mod that restores the lighting effects that were previously seen in the original Sonic Adventure into the PC version. The difference gives off more vibrant colors in the environment that also reacts to objects and characters. You can download the mod from the discussion thread in Sonic Retro’s forums.
Some mods in rar (one of them is somekind of supershadow as sonic)- modchars.rar Yellow Sonic- SONICAMARELO.rar Metal harbor as emarled coast- Metal harbor rename metal harbor 1 has beach01.pvm, rebame metal harbor 2 has- beach02.pvm, rename bg harbor has bgbeach.pvm. These models are actually separated into segments because the model exporter doesn't support stitching together the deformable portions of the mesh. It is not how they are in the game. And yes the models ARE significantly different in the Dreamcast version than the later versions. (In my opinion the DC ones look better).
Lighting can be used to set a specific tone or mood in an environment. But why is it such a difficult thing to remain consistent when converting this to other game platforms? The game featured an artistic shift that occurred when the game was converted to other platforms. A combination of technical hurdles and creative liberties can dampen the original artistic intent, and Sonic Adventure is no exception. The original Dreamcast version featured a “Lantern” engine which provided impressive looking lighting effects using palettes on SEGA’s then cutting edge game console. However the dozens of ports of the game left out these lighting effects in favor of using drop shadows instead, until now. Check out additional videos, comparison screenshots and an interview with Morph on the mod after the jump!
Sadx Mod Loader
After the original Dreamcast version, the lighting effect was replaced with drop shadows on the GameCube. The GameCube port ran at 60 frames per second, but with some random bursts of slowdown and frame stuttering. The developers also chose to remodel characters and change the textures that feature muted colors and shinier characters. Later PC ports retained the same graphical changes at the expense of changing the nuance throughout the scenery. In this screenshot you can see in the rock alcove above and you’ll notice the lantern lighting effects in the Dreamcast version give more definition to the structure. With the palette mod, it’s now possible to combine both drop shadows and lantern light sources at the same time.
The lantern engine also affected how characters are rendered. Aside from the texture and model changes, without it, characters give off a more rubbery, shiny look to them while other colors appear more flat. With the lantern lighting system, the vaseline effect appears reduced as seen in the character select screen. Notice the lantern light source across Sonic’s eyes on both Dreamcast and in the mod.
A more obvious example comes in Red Mountain Part 2. Here the lantern light sources give a lighting ambiance with the flames inside the skulls decorated in the caverns. In comparison the DX version doesn’t really bother with any kind of ambient lighting effects hiding the detail of the skull due to the texture used and looks rather primitive as a result. The palette mod comes pretty close to the Dreamcast version with the ability to render at a higher video resolution.
Finally lets take a look at Final Egg Part 2. Aside from the texture changes, the DX version faces a change of tone in the environment and on Sonic (and Tails!) as light seems to not exist on the GameCube version, and just pumps up the shine in the Steam version having light pointed at Sonic coming from seemingly nowhere. In the palette mod, the restored lantern engine matches and in some cases even surpasses the detail seen in the Dreamcast version thanks to Sonic’s higher polygonal count showing light bouncing off of his quills and hands.
If you’re tempted to try the mod out yourself, you can obtain it from the discussion thread on Sonic Retro. This will work on the PC version released in 2004 or by installing the Better SADX mod designed for the Steam release. You can also check out the dedicated Dreamcast hacking and conversion thread for Sonic Adventure DX which allows you to restore the Dreamcast experience even further by restoring the original textures and UI, or you can go hog wild in the general hacking thread and go for the even crazier changes including the addition of Super Sonic to normal gameplay among other features made possible by the talented hacking community. I also fired off some technical questions over at Morph to give a more detailed look on the conversion process of the lighting mod which you can read over in the Sonic Retro version of the article.
If you want more help installing the mods or want to look at more comparisons, BlazeHedgehog has also created a handy video that also provides a tutorial on his YouTube channel. If you want to see levels compared in further detail, check out YouTube user ZoядkдяoZ’s channel, who I totally didn’t just copy and paste into this article, in his dedicated playlist.