what gets me is none of the available dev hardware having actually been **more** powerful than the retail dreamcast. there may never have been a time where this stage ran ideal, but perhaps it was one of those "we'll fix it later" things until they really had no choice but to redo it. their options seem to have come down to fixing the stage lag, modifying where the stage expects older physics, and doing something about the object layout being too big for the newer object limit... or redoing it all to be smaller with the expected physics and object limit in mind. this with at least casinopolis to finish, hot shelter to design, twinkle park having been recently redesigned... nice to finally see it as close to its last days as we can!
@@protocetidat least in terms of the gpu, the protos of the powervr line had worse specs until the chip was finalised as powervr2 in early 1998. the earlier katana dev hardware would have had less power.
There are screenshots of this level from 1997 on TCRF likely indicating it was made before they even redesigned Sonic or unveiled the Dreamcast to the public.
It was only by Shadow the Hedgehog that they actually succeeded at that, top examples being Central City, Mad Matrix, Space Gadget, Circus Park (sort of), Cryptic Castle & Lava Shelter. SA2’s treasure hunting levels as well if you count them: other than the downgraded radar and the terrible Mad Space & Security Hall, they felt purpose built for exploring rather than SA1’s method of haphazardly recycling Sonic’s stages.
Tbh I think they still managed to do that with SA1. There are so many open sections in Sonic’s story that can be explored if you know how to use the spin dash. Twinkle Park, Speed Highway and especially Red Mountain have shortcuts and alternate routes all over the place.
"Act 2 is generated by unconventional means - it doesn't have a landtable because all of the geometry is animated, so the main stage function does it - they're all task objects." I remember speculating on Retro back in 2014 or so that the reason the landtable for Act 2 was missing was because they had some sort of concept in mind where the stage would interact with the tornado, though I suggested that the stage would break apart and fall away over time instead. VINDICATION All joking aside, this is awesome to see in action. Great work from all involved!
This early version of Windy Valley has always fascinated me since, on top of being entirely different from the level used in the final build, it has level design unlike ANY level in the final game. It's way more open and more based on Sonic's momentum and stuff. It's also interesting how much early stuff is left in the Autodemo considering how close it was to the release date. I know SA1's development was a bit rushed, but it's still crazy how much was changed even in the final weeks and months of development
This version is not any more momentum based than any other level in the game, it just has more opportunities to use it to your advantage, for unintentional shortcuts
Many unused stuff is kept even in versions near the release of the game, at least that's the case with pac man world (if my Memory serves right) and of course sonic the hedgehog
@@joechristo2its designed around classic momentum that doesnt really work with Sonic Adventure's physics. But Sonic Adventure's physics are not really classic so alot of design decisions in Windy Valley beta doesnt work
However unfinished Act 3 is, I really dig how it looks. All this place to actually run around and explore, compared to release version where for like 99% of time you just run around the straight and narrow paths. At any rate, big thanks to you and all people in the credits!
As massive, bloated and chaotic as this level is, I kinda love it. They crammed so many ideas into it, and the way it's so spread out almost feels like it started as an original hub world in an alpha build before reducing it to a stage. The tornado is legit eerie.
According the Sonic Team devs, this early version of Windy Valley was scrapped due to memory issues. I think it was just too large and complex for the Dreamcast to handle at acceptable framerate. Given how SA1's development began on the Saturn, it is possible Sonic Team made this game with unfinished hardware and had to cut things along the line as the Dreamcast's specs were finalized. The lighting system of the original release was even more impressive in pre-release footage, but had to be scaled down due to hardware limitations. Two companies worked on the Dreamcast's chip design, Nvidia and NEC. Aparently Nvidia's chip was more powerful, but Sega of Japan wanted NEC's design, which was used for the retail Dreamcast.
I feel like I'm going crazy trying to find this, but wasn't there a magazine screencap of Red Mountain Act 2 with a complex SA2-like stencil shadow system? Or maybe it was some really old & short prerelease footage.
They probably made the stage thinking it would be cool if they had a large open level, but realize by the end of development that it was too demanding and the console wasn't strong enough to handle their overly ambitious design choice. I honestly wouldn't be surprise if this stage was made first, became too much of a headache to work on, so future levels like Emerald Coast, Lost World, Speed Highway, etc., didn't have that overly complicated design like Windy Valley did. And if it's true the hardware wasn't finished by the time of this stage's development, they were basically working with a handicap.
@@cameronabshire1195 th-cam.com/video/68S3GswZ06U/w-d-xo.html This footage of the game's unveiling has a version of Red Mountain Act 2 with better lighting so maybe this is what you're talking about.
@@Clownacy She literally just said she had to edit the stage so it wouldn't lag so much. If she had left it like it was, this stage would be unplayable. Don't know if you were just not paying attention to what she said, or your just trying to sound smarter than you actually are.
People talk a lot of shit about Iizuka, but between this and the back third of Sonic Heroes, his proficiency at creating detailed stages under a time crunch at the end of development is truly something to behold.
The restoration mod of this level is definitely my favourite level to play in Sonic Adventure, specifically act 3 despite being able to totally break it, and some of the physics not working in a satisfying way (I really want to roll through those curved paths at 5:27 while actually sticking to the floor). It's just so fun and creative, with so many paths and ways through it. I particularly LOVE where the paths split at 6:15, either taking the floating platforms above, spin dashing up the path to the right, or wall running along the left. The level is definitely a playground compared to most other levels.
Really looks like they tried to bring classic 2D Sonics multiple pathway level design directly to 3D, before shifting to a more linear level design. Also some parts of the level seem really small like they would work better for gameplay if they were scaled up 2x ~ 5x or so. Especially the inside the tornado part!
This level is a huge window into what they tried first during development, putting lots of resources into trying to recapture the classic Sonic "all roads lead to the goal" myriad of routes in 3D. I'm glad they didn't stick with it, especially since act 3 would be incredibly easy to get turned around in, and that's a lot more dev time than the more linear series of movement puzzles with a handful of alternate routes we got. It's just a shame all Sega heard during Sonic 06's development was "linear good" and they lost track of the fun mini side routes, goodie hunts, and skipping routes that made SA1/2 so fun despite being more linear.
Okay but this is so cool though??? After so many years, we can finally look at these stages in all their messy unfinished glory! Edit: oh wow, I could accept the other stages without the music, but Windy Valley without music is somehow uncanny...
Seeing this level in modern mods I always think "this level is so cool, they shoulda kept it." But seeing it here running (or rather, _attempting_ to run) on actual Dreamcast specs... yeah, I see why it was cut. Is this 20fps?
So much work was put into this level and yet they decided to redo the whole thing. The retail Windy Valley definitely fits the finished game more, this version would stand out way too much. But it just looks so fun and thought out, so many different paths and ways to play around with momentum. They should've kept it in some way as a secret level. Maybe a tutorial level? Thank you for documenting more info about this level. It does seem to be a mess in it's original form which makes it clear why they would want to start over, besides the fact that the level design itself stands out too much compared to the other stages.
Now that i know how bad it plays on a DC emulator, let alone actual hardware, i can see why every official clip that existed had the characters walking in slow motion XD It's a shame they had to redo it from scratch, this would have been my favorite level of all time as a kid because of how fun and open it is. I always noticed how Windy Valley was kind of a short level and wished it was longer and less "on-rails", and this level would have been exactly what i was looking for. Glad there's a replacement mod for PC
Wow I can definitely see and understand why they got rid of this lol. I wonder if they'd wanna bring it back in some future port/remake of this game as bonus content, similar to getting all the emblems in Sonic Adventure 2 unlocking that one stage? That would be really cool... Also I appreciate this having the original resolution and aspect ratio, I always prefer playing retro games in native res cause models and hud looks off in HD lol
Been loving to see the Autodemo stages being converted to be playable within this, and now, Windy Valley finally, my god, this stage has so much on it... That Sonic Adventure DX conversion looks very empty now that we have this. Would be cool if the dude who made it updates it, but also leaves the old version archived.
Is this the first time this version of the stage has been runnable and playable? Very cool in any case! I definitely agree with whomever down below said that this version has the Sega Saturn aesthetic.
Some genuine validity to how this stage would've ran like absolute dog water on real hardware. Every piece of footage we have of this stage has Sonic animated like he's running in slow motion, which is a sign of the game's framerate falling below the then-targeted 60FPS.
@@cay7809 *Then targeted 60.*** Very early footage of Sonic Adventure (builds dated way before even the autodemo) show the game targeted 60FPS. Emerald Coast, Speed Highway, and bits of Twinkle Park are the only parts of the game that really played nice with it though. Stages like Red Mountain, Sky Deck, and ESPECIALLY Windy Valley beat the Dreamcast's ass. th-cam.com/video/fh5hhrq5oIo/w-d-xo.html (This video even shows footage of Gamma in the beta Windy Valley, with the game slowing to a crawl) th-cam.com/video/Qmqel04NPBE/w-d-xo.html
There's something really eerie about this stage, to me. It might be since I'm so familiar with Sonic Adventure, and this is... so different. Maybe not; I've seen many modded levels before and never really got this feeling. Only other time I got this feeling was when I learned of an unused song in one of the gen-1 Pokémon games, like "this was almost a part of someone's childhood", except now it's *my* childhood.
I think it stems from many things; namely the fact that this is a lost-to-time, ancient version of a level we all know, one we all know a certain way. We may have heard of the original vision before, maybe even seen it in clips and screenshots, but never seen it so clearly and had it be playable. The ability to use it yourself makes it feel like you reached back in time and pulled it to present day, where it's not supposed to be. Simply put, it feels "forbidden" in a sense. Also the difference in aesthetic design, it feels more Saturn-y than Dreamcast-y, so it's like it can came from another universe. Coupled with the glitchiness of it, as well as another commenter's point that it has no music, you've definitely got an eerie vibe created.
I feel like they made this map with hardware that was more powerful than the dreamcast turned out to be, considering this game was a launch title I wouldnt be surprised and this map heavily suggest this. Its a shame it was completely scrapped though, because i remember being like 7 years old and always wondering what this map was because you are given a glimpse of it here and there in the intro and in the instructions, considering you can unlock green hill in SA2 it wouldve been a perfect unlockable map in sadx on the gc, hardware that could handle it, it really reminds me of hidden palace zone which went through a similar thing, long read my bad but lol i used to be obsessed with this stuff when i was younger
Playing the mod on the PC version, one thing always stuck out to me and that was the art style/direction and the overall layout of the level (feels a lot like a test level in places) and how it clashes with the other levels in Sonic Adventure. Seeing this and the information you've given it makes me wonder if this was the first level they built, and that's why it looks closer so a Sonic World aesthetic while seeming to lack any kind of coordination in it's layout. It feels like a first attempt where they tried a lot of effects and gimmicks which strained the hardware, before they found there limitations and decided on a final art direction and style of level layout.
I don't get why people call this a test level-like, the reason it's designed the way it is is because it's based on classic sonic, that's it, nevermind that we DO have the actual test levels and they're structured completely differently with minimal object layouts and no textures. I have a feeling the people who say this stuff have no idea how games like these are actually made lol
As cool as this is, I wonder if the general public was ready for it. I got lost enough in the original game already as a kid, I wonder if my little kid mind would've been able to wrap his head around navigating that
This reminds me a bit of Green Hill Zone in SA2, like they built a 2D level then tried to make it 3D but with no sense of what 3D Sonic gameplay required.
At least with GHZ they had the benefit of hindsight, but it still plays poorly due to the camera that tries to emulate the flatness of the original stage (LET ME LOOK WHERE I'M GOING HOLY SHIT). The layout is pretty cool otherwise.
Honestly even after reading the description I still think its a shame this got cut. It's clearly the best sonic level with how open it is and the somewhat momentum based platforming. I can imagine in an alternate timeline kids going back to this level everytime because it would be their favorite level. Damn shame they couldn't optimize it in time because this really does put the rest of the game to shame with it's level design..
Imagine the other stages of the game getting this much geometric detail. Emerald Coast wouldn't look so weird and flat if they had the extra overhead to flesh out the shoreline (having less of the weird endless voids between islands). Most stages look better than Emerald Coast but would also benefit, and SA1 overall (and SA2 for that matter) would EXTREMELY benefit from having more finely-detailed level collision. At 3x-4x the final game's polygon budget they could have smoothed out the slopes walls so that the camera wouldn't do its infamous twitching, and characters wouldn't be so prone to falling off of slopes/curved walls either.
A question: We know that Sonic World on the saturn had a level and objects that look very similar to Windy Valley's, in particular, the wind-flappy stands (not sure what the actual name is, but they're by the lake on that map). Is there any technical evidence to suggest Windy Valley was one of, if not *the*, first Sonic Adventure Stage ever worked on?
It is indeed confirmed to have been the first made for Sonic Adventure. Developers confirmed it in an interview. It was the first to be made, and last to be re-made.
I'm actually blown away to see this in the actual Autodemo. I honestly thought It'sEasyActually's and SuperCoolSonic's restoration mod back in 2018 was going to be the final end all be all for this version of Windy Valley.
It's such a shame to see such unique level design to be completely scrapped and remade from scratch. I understand the hardware limitations are at play here but if this had a little bit more polish this would've been one of the best levels in Sonic history, I'm really glad we actually get to see it in its full glory
You can't help but praise the developers for trying to go above and beyond how they design stages in the older games, but looking at Windy Valley in it's original form, no modding, it's very clear why this level got scrapped. No way in hell this game would've function well on the Dreamcast, especially in 1998. And with all the objects and animation going on at the same time, the game would've suffer from lag so bad it makes the lag in early Mega Man games look optimizes.
looking at it, I get why they had to rework it completely and I think they made the right decision but I can't help but wonder what things would be like if they kept it in this direction
Every bit of SA development history uncovered just makes me yearn for more. 😅 Every aspect of it is so intriguing. That egoism aside... wow, that's some really amazing work restoring all of this and making it functional. Reading further, a lot of it sounds like a major headache and I can see why a redesign was necessary...
This stage is bizarre because Act 2 has such tiny platforms and a weirdly small old spring object, and Act 3 has parts that seem to have been made with a different set of physics in mind. The series of bumpy slopes at the start of Act 3 can be so easily bypassed and aren't at all fun to traverse, for example - you can't make any characters stick to those slopes no matter how hard you try. It'd be fun to run on it if you could actually stick to those bumpy slopes, right? I think Act 2 and Act 3 both would greatly benefit from being enlarged to 2x their current size. I really believe that Act 2's scale is supposed to be larger, the platforming & camera are miserable and would only make sense at a larger scale. Act 3's platforming is similar though not as bad, but it's extremely easy to clear in unintended ways which makes me think it was not intended to have everything so bunched up and close together, hence why a larger scale would help (though that would bloat an already long level to be even longer). As far as I know there's no evidence that Act 2 or 3 were intended to have a large scale, but I'm considering picking up modding the game just to see what it would be like. ...Actually, there might be some evidence. The texture scale is weirdly very small in Act 2 & 3. Like VERY small. It causes textures to look extremely noisy and miniscule and causes mipmapping to be ineffective at addressing this. I always thought it might have been a texture scale error, but having the same texture scale for the entirety of both Act 2 and 3 is suspicious, especially because Act 1 doesn't have this problem at all!
I think part of why this stage captured so much mystique for so long was that it's just aesthetically so striking and appealing. Even if the final Windy Valley is a coherent level that flows well, the bright colors as opposed to all the greys and darker grass of the final level draw you right in. Great work getting this monster to work. Surprised they ever got this to run...
Come to think of it, it's really ironic that Dreamcast was too underpowered for the launch title to come to full potential. They should've optimized the hardware, similar to Epic requesting Microsoft to add more RAM to X360 and Capcom requesting Nintendo to also add more RAM to Switch.
@@Outta-hz1ejYeah, the Dreamcast we ended up getting was probably the best deal we were ever going to get. Extremely affordable and powerful, but clearly not as powerful as Sonic Team were hoping (seems like they were banking on the NVIDIA proposed design for the Dreamcast). NVIDIA's design would likely have been too expensive to entice consumers for what they were getting due to Sega's middling reputation coming away from the Saturn.
Thank you so much for doing this and preserving this important piece of Sonic history! I know this level was a nightmare for developers, I've heard the guy who made the restoration talk about it. And I get this level probably was made before they had a clear understanding the the final hardware for the DreamCast, but if this level had been in the game it'd be my fave 3d Sonic level. The amount of freedom, movement, and platforming available makes this stage a wonderful toybox. What emulator do I need to play it on and what plug-ins, please can you help me Speeps?
@@heart3460Oh! There is something extra you can do. Grab the Sonic Adventure DC-HD patcher for widescreen + 60 FPS on Flycast (you can disable widescreen if you don't want it ofc). You'll need a specific GDI of SA1: US 1.005, which is the one with the animated title screen. In order to patch, the game needs to be in GDI format, not CDI and not CHD! If you have the correct version of the game you'll see that it consists of 3 different files (if i recall correctly that's .gdi, .raw, and .bin?) To make sure you get the correct version, look for: Dreamcast Redump Archive Org To get the patcher, just search for Sonic Adventure DC-HD I'd post links but I don't wanna get filtered by TH-cam. :B There is one caveat. You will need a pretty beefy CPU to run SA1 at full speed 60 FPS on Flycast. If your computer isn't strong enough, the game will slow down because its renderer doesn't skip frames! Instead it will just play in slow motion. If you notice the game is playing in slow motion, drop back down to the original 30 FPS (you can still use the other functions of the DC-HD patcher if you want).
What happened to that goofy egg pod from the restoration project, was it not in the object list for this stage? Also the platforms in stage 2 trying to follow Sonic's center, dear god, I'm glad they changed that
It's in the build, but it's unused, and doesn't function very well. We fixed it up and used it in the 2018 mod knowing that it was a bit broken originally.
@@supercoolsonic Ah, so in here it's like, unused content of unused content, which is really funny I don't remember the pod being that broken in the Restoration Project, maybe just walking through the thin mesh wire like a ghost at most
Fantastic work on this restoration. It's so cool to see it in its full glory ! That said, it's a fucking mess. I love it 💞💞💞💞 thanks for showing us ! And thanks to the rest of the team for their contributions to help bring this to fruition. Congrats !!
I feel this level is really overrated but it's so cool to see it in it's rawest form possible (after fixes, anyway) and not via a fan restoration on PC, but those are cool too ofc.
...Holy shit, we finally have a way to access it without fanmade mods. Excellent work as always, Speeps! The work you've put in to restore these unfinished versions of levels is more than admirable.
@@Clownacy The textures are, but the level itself is not. Although I suppose if you were to classify the tweaks made to allow the level to run properly as mods, then you'd be technically right. What I meant was that we're able to see what the original level would have looked like without fan reimaginings.
I think this version of Windy Valley is more charming and beautiful. Sometimes safe and predictable is boring. The final Windy Valley is definitely more playable and less frustrating, but lacks that sense of wonder which fuels your imagination and inspires you. The 3rd act of the final is just like 5 corridors. The 1st act is redeemable if you start it from Gammas section though. Can you please show off Amy, Gamma and perhaps Big's set pieces? Really curious about those since we never saw them.
So is TSpring just the normal red spring with patched in code to support the movement of the platforms in Act2, hence why it's missing its model data in the Autodemo?
@@Freezorgium The slopes are too jagged to make Sonic stick to them, they're so low poly that the game treats those harsh edges as ramps instead. So no matter if you're in ball form or not, Sonic will constantly fling off of them. Maybe intentional? Maybe not.
@@ABlob yeah I could see that as an upper faster route if you know how to spindash jump you will reach the other side faster than the other path or you get stuck because you didn't know how to do it
@@ABlobI think that segment was made with a different set of physics in mind, I can only guess that at some point Sonic was programmed to stay firmly planted on the ground instead of flying off every hill like a ramp.
@@cameronabshire1195 I could imagine it might've been that one way is slower with the big slopes but easier/faster to reach, while the other is a bit harder to reach quickly and has bumpier slopes, but you can use a spindash to fly across it far quicker than the one on the right. That's how it works with the restoration mod at least.
One of the authors of the 2018 mod, here. Um, probably not. That would involve overhauling a large part of the mod and modifying a ton of code. We're in the talks to just do a complete re-write of the whole mod and re-release a new version with it, but we're unsure if that's actually gonna happen.
@@onthedre im aware, i literally have the mod installed, but it hasnt been playable on the *DREAMCAST* until now!! how do you not see how revolutionary this is?
How do you place the files in the description into the game? Do i just extract the game through a software and then re-compress it? Or is there something else needed to make this work?
Feels like a lifeless Sonic Jam version of Red Mountain but at least they kept some of the assets in the game including the ramp at 1:05 which is like the one used on Pleasure Castle.
hey it's my level
It's you again?
@@romalapin8648 probably
@@WindiiGitlord are you really female?
@@romalapin8648 I'll leave that to your imagination 😊
@@romalapin8648silly goober, nobody is real on the internet! theres no need to ask questions about anyone, especially ones that dumb
what gets me is none of the available dev hardware having actually been **more** powerful than the retail dreamcast. there may never have been a time where this stage ran ideal, but perhaps it was one of those "we'll fix it later" things until they really had no choice but to redo it.
their options seem to have come down to fixing the stage lag, modifying where the stage expects older physics, and doing something about the object layout being too big for the newer object limit... or redoing it all to be smaller with the expected physics and object limit in mind.
this with at least casinopolis to finish, hot shelter to design, twinkle park having been recently redesigned...
nice to finally see it as close to its last days as we can!
Could the prototype devkits have been stronger than their final counterparts?
@@protocetidat least in terms of the gpu, the protos of the powervr line had worse specs until the chip was finalised as powervr2 in early 1998. the earlier katana dev hardware would have had less power.
@@woofmute interesting
Definitely feels like this has the most of the Sega Saturn aesthetic intact.
There are screenshots of this level from 1997 on TCRF likely indicating it was made before they even redesigned Sonic or unveiled the Dreamcast to the public.
For better or worse, it looks like they tried to translate the exploration / depth of a S3&K level into 3D.
It was only by Shadow the Hedgehog that they actually succeeded at that, top examples being Central City, Mad Matrix, Space Gadget, Circus Park (sort of), Cryptic Castle & Lava Shelter.
SA2’s treasure hunting levels as well if you count them: other than the downgraded radar and the terrible Mad Space & Security Hall, they felt purpose built for exploring rather than SA1’s method of haphazardly recycling Sonic’s stages.
Tbh I think they still managed to do that with SA1. There are so many open sections in Sonic’s story that can be explored if you know how to use the spin dash. Twinkle Park, Speed Highway and especially Red Mountain have shortcuts and alternate routes all over the place.
@@MysticClaws100 exactly
"Act 2 is generated by unconventional means - it doesn't have a landtable because all of the geometry is animated, so the main stage function does it - they're all task objects."
I remember speculating on Retro back in 2014 or so that the reason the landtable for Act 2 was missing was because they had some sort of concept in mind where the stage would interact with the tornado, though I suggested that the stage would break apart and fall away over time instead. VINDICATION
All joking aside, this is awesome to see in action. Great work from all involved!
This early version of Windy Valley has always fascinated me since, on top of being entirely different from the level used in the final build, it has level design unlike ANY level in the final game. It's way more open and more based on Sonic's momentum and stuff.
It's also interesting how much early stuff is left in the Autodemo considering how close it was to the release date. I know SA1's development was a bit rushed, but it's still crazy how much was changed even in the final weeks and months of development
This version is not any more momentum based than any other level in the game, it just has more opportunities to use it to your advantage, for unintentional shortcuts
Many unused stuff is kept even in versions near the release of the game, at least that's the case with pac man world (if my Memory serves right) and of course sonic the hedgehog
@@joechristo2its designed around classic momentum that doesnt really work with Sonic Adventure's physics.
But Sonic Adventure's physics are not really classic so alot of design decisions in Windy Valley beta doesnt work
However unfinished Act 3 is, I really dig how it looks. All this place to actually run around and explore, compared to release version where for like 99% of time you just run around the straight and narrow paths.
At any rate, big thanks to you and all people in the credits!
As massive, bloated and chaotic as this level is, I kinda love it. They crammed so many ideas into it, and the way it's so spread out almost feels like it started as an original hub world in an alpha build before reducing it to a stage. The tornado is legit eerie.
I hope we can get things like this in a future Sonic game.
According the Sonic Team devs, this early version of Windy Valley was scrapped due to memory issues. I think it was just too large and complex for the Dreamcast to handle at acceptable framerate.
Given how SA1's development began on the Saturn, it is possible Sonic Team made this game with unfinished hardware and had to cut things along the line as the Dreamcast's specs were finalized. The lighting system of the original release was even more impressive in pre-release footage, but had to be scaled down due to hardware limitations. Two companies worked on the Dreamcast's chip design, Nvidia and NEC. Aparently Nvidia's chip was more powerful, but Sega of Japan wanted NEC's design, which was used for the retail Dreamcast.
I feel like I'm going crazy trying to find this, but wasn't there a magazine screencap of Red Mountain Act 2 with a complex SA2-like stencil shadow system? Or maybe it was some really old & short prerelease footage.
They probably made the stage thinking it would be cool if they had a large open level, but realize by the end of development that it was too demanding and the console wasn't strong enough to handle their overly ambitious design choice. I honestly wouldn't be surprise if this stage was made first, became too much of a headache to work on, so future levels like Emerald Coast, Lost World, Speed Highway, etc., didn't have that overly complicated design like Windy Valley did. And if it's true the hardware wasn't finished by the time of this stage's development, they were basically working with a handicap.
@@cameronabshire1195 th-cam.com/video/68S3GswZ06U/w-d-xo.html This footage of the game's unveiling has a version of Red Mountain Act 2 with better lighting so maybe this is what you're talking about.
>"scrapped due to memory issues"
>Video shows it running just fine without memory issues
Cite your sources or gtfo
@@Clownacy She literally just said she had to edit the stage so it wouldn't lag so much. If she had left it like it was, this stage would be unplayable. Don't know if you were just not paying attention to what she said, or your just trying to sound smarter than you actually are.
People talk a lot of shit about Iizuka, but between this and the back third of Sonic Heroes, his proficiency at creating detailed stages under a time crunch at the end of development is truly something to behold.
Just don’t let him do anything without a brigade of wranglers keeping him in line or you’ll get abysmal dogshit.
Jesus man, it sounded like they went through HELL, creating this stage
The restoration mod of this level is definitely my favourite level to play in Sonic Adventure, specifically act 3 despite being able to totally break it, and some of the physics not working in a satisfying way (I really want to roll through those curved paths at 5:27 while actually sticking to the floor).
It's just so fun and creative, with so many paths and ways through it. I particularly LOVE where the paths split at 6:15, either taking the floating platforms above, spin dashing up the path to the right, or wall running along the left. The level is definitely a playground compared to most other levels.
No wonder they dropped this version of the level. I can imagine the Dreamcast might've had a meltdown trying to run all of this in 1998/1999.
It apparently crashes trying to load Acts 1 and 3, and Act 2 loads but is very laggy.
On actual hardware, I should clarify.
In this form it feels more like an expanded version of Sonic World from Sonic Jam than a level of the final game
Really looks like they tried to bring classic 2D Sonics multiple pathway level design directly to 3D, before shifting to a more linear level design.
Also some parts of the level seem really small like they would work better for gameplay if they were scaled up 2x ~ 5x or so. Especially the inside the tornado part!
YES that's what I'm saying! The scale for Act 2 & 3 both seem wrong.
This level is a huge window into what they tried first during development, putting lots of resources into trying to recapture the classic Sonic "all roads lead to the goal" myriad of routes in 3D. I'm glad they didn't stick with it, especially since act 3 would be incredibly easy to get turned around in, and that's a lot more dev time than the more linear series of movement puzzles with a handful of alternate routes we got. It's just a shame all Sega heard during Sonic 06's development was "linear good" and they lost track of the fun mini side routes, goodie hunts, and skipping routes that made SA1/2 so fun despite being more linear.
Okay but this is so cool though??? After so many years, we can finally look at these stages in all their messy unfinished glory!
Edit: oh wow, I could accept the other stages without the music, but Windy Valley without music is somehow uncanny...
We've already had access to these for years
@@JulianR2JG Wasn't this one infamous for crashing on entry?
@@JulianR2JG Including the object layout?
Windy Valley's looking more like Uncanny Valley
Seeing this level in modern mods I always think "this level is so cool, they shoulda kept it." But seeing it here running (or rather, _attempting_ to run) on actual Dreamcast specs... yeah, I see why it was cut. Is this 20fps?
So much work was put into this level and yet they decided to redo the whole thing. The retail Windy Valley definitely fits the finished game more, this version would stand out way too much. But it just looks so fun and thought out, so many different paths and ways to play around with momentum. They should've kept it in some way as a secret level. Maybe a tutorial level?
Thank you for documenting more info about this level. It does seem to be a mess in it's original form which makes it clear why they would want to start over, besides the fact that the level design itself stands out too much compared to the other stages.
yuji naka: "y'all got any fun levels"
iizuka: "we got abysmal dogshit"
1:30 "Ah hell nah i'm not dying today!"
Seeing this running in such a complete state in the autodemo is unreal!
Now that i know how bad it plays on a DC emulator, let alone actual hardware, i can see why every official clip that existed had the characters walking in slow motion XD
It's a shame they had to redo it from scratch, this would have been my favorite level of all time as a kid because of how fun and open it is. I always noticed how Windy Valley was kind of a short level and wished it was longer and less "on-rails", and this level would have been exactly what i was looking for. Glad there's a replacement mod for PC
One of the Chao Gardens was part of this beta Windy Valley
Wow I can definitely see and understand why they got rid of this lol. I wonder if they'd wanna bring it back in some future port/remake of this game as bonus content, similar to getting all the emblems in Sonic Adventure 2 unlocking that one stage? That would be really cool... Also I appreciate this having the original resolution and aspect ratio, I always prefer playing retro games in native res cause models and hud looks off in HD lol
He restored it. HE RESTORED IT!!!
The lack of music makes this level so eerie... I think this would've given me nightmares if I saw this as a kid.
Been loving to see the Autodemo stages being converted to be playable within this, and now, Windy Valley finally, my god, this stage has so much on it... That Sonic Adventure DX conversion looks very empty now that we have this. Would be cool if the dude who made it updates it, but also leaves the old version archived.
Is this the first time this version of the stage has been runnable and playable?
Very cool in any case! I definitely agree with whomever down below said that this version has the Sega Saturn aesthetic.
Some genuine validity to how this stage would've ran like absolute dog water on real hardware.
Every piece of footage we have of this stage has Sonic animated like he's running in slow motion, which is a sign of the game's framerate falling below the then-targeted 60FPS.
*then targeted 30FPS
Sonic adventure in dreamcast runs at 30 fps, the only instance where it ran at 60 was in a tech demo of speed highway.
The DX's releases run at 60 tho
@@gilbert64 it's pretty clear from pre release footage that they were originally targeting 60 fps before locking to 30 for the final release
@@cay7809 *Then targeted 60.***
Very early footage of Sonic Adventure (builds dated way before even the autodemo) show the game targeted 60FPS. Emerald Coast, Speed Highway, and bits of Twinkle Park are the only parts of the game that really played nice with it though. Stages like Red Mountain, Sky Deck, and ESPECIALLY Windy Valley beat the Dreamcast's ass.
th-cam.com/video/fh5hhrq5oIo/w-d-xo.html (This video even shows footage of Gamma in the beta Windy Valley, with the game slowing to a crawl)
th-cam.com/video/Qmqel04NPBE/w-d-xo.html
@@Essu_ a
The robot that flies at you right at the beginning 😭
There's something really eerie about this stage, to me. It might be since I'm so familiar with Sonic Adventure, and this is... so different. Maybe not; I've seen many modded levels before and never really got this feeling.
Only other time I got this feeling was when I learned of an unused song in one of the gen-1 Pokémon games, like "this was almost a part of someone's childhood", except now it's *my* childhood.
It's the lack of music.
I think it stems from many things; namely the fact that this is a lost-to-time, ancient version of a level we all know, one we all know a certain way. We may have heard of the original vision before, maybe even seen it in clips and screenshots, but never seen it so clearly and had it be playable. The ability to use it yourself makes it feel like you reached back in time and pulled it to present day, where it's not supposed to be. Simply put, it feels "forbidden" in a sense. Also the difference in aesthetic design, it feels more Saturn-y than Dreamcast-y, so it's like it can came from another universe. Coupled with the glitchiness of it, as well as another commenter's point that it has no music, you've definitely got an eerie vibe created.
I honestly thought this stage was impossible to actually load in the autodemo.
great job getting this stage to now work!
I feel like they made this map with hardware that was more powerful than the dreamcast turned out to be, considering this game was a launch title I wouldnt be surprised and this map heavily suggest this. Its a shame it was completely scrapped though, because i remember being like 7 years old and always wondering what this map was because you are given a glimpse of it here and there in the intro and in the instructions, considering you can unlock green hill in SA2 it wouldve been a perfect unlockable map in sadx on the gc, hardware that could handle it, it really reminds me of hidden palace zone which went through a similar thing, long read my bad but lol i used to be obsessed with this stuff when i was younger
Playing the mod on the PC version, one thing always stuck out to me and that was the art style/direction and the overall layout of the level (feels a lot like a test level in places) and how it clashes with the other levels in Sonic Adventure.
Seeing this and the information you've given it makes me wonder if this was the first level they built, and that's why it looks closer so a Sonic World aesthetic while seeming to lack any kind of coordination in it's layout. It feels like a first attempt where they tried a lot of effects and gimmicks which strained the hardware, before they found there limitations and decided on a final art direction and style of level layout.
I don't get why people call this a test level-like, the reason it's designed the way it is is because it's based on classic sonic, that's it, nevermind that we DO have the actual test levels and they're structured completely differently with minimal object layouts and no textures. I have a feeling the people who say this stuff have no idea how games like these are actually made lol
As cool as this is, I wonder if the general public was ready for it. I got lost enough in the original game already as a kid, I wonder if my little kid mind would've been able to wrap his head around navigating that
This reminds me a bit of Green Hill Zone in SA2, like they built a 2D level then tried to make it 3D but with no sense of what 3D Sonic gameplay required.
At least with GHZ they had the benefit of hindsight, but it still plays poorly due to the camera that tries to emulate the flatness of the original stage (LET ME LOOK WHERE I'M GOING HOLY SHIT). The layout is pretty cool otherwise.
Honestly even after reading the description I still think its a shame this got cut.
It's clearly the best sonic level with how open it is and the somewhat momentum based platforming.
I can imagine in an alternate timeline kids going back to this level everytime because it would be their favorite level.
Damn shame they couldn't optimize it in time because this really does put the rest of the game to shame with it's level design..
Imagine the other stages of the game getting this much geometric detail. Emerald Coast wouldn't look so weird and flat if they had the extra overhead to flesh out the shoreline (having less of the weird endless voids between islands). Most stages look better than Emerald Coast but would also benefit, and SA1 overall (and SA2 for that matter) would EXTREMELY benefit from having more finely-detailed level collision. At 3x-4x the final game's polygon budget they could have smoothed out the slopes walls so that the camera wouldn't do its infamous twitching, and characters wouldn't be so prone to falling off of slopes/curved walls either.
A question: We know that Sonic World on the saturn had a level and objects that look very similar to Windy Valley's, in particular, the wind-flappy stands (not sure what the actual name is, but they're by the lake on that map). Is there any technical evidence to suggest Windy Valley was one of, if not *the*, first Sonic Adventure Stage ever worked on?
It is indeed confirmed to have been the first made for Sonic Adventure. Developers confirmed it in an interview. It was the first to be made, and last to be re-made.
@@supercoolsonic Awesome! Do we have a link to that interview?
I'm actually blown away to see this in the actual Autodemo. I honestly thought It'sEasyActually's and SuperCoolSonic's restoration mod back in 2018 was going to be the final end all be all for this version of Windy Valley.
When I see this, I get tears in my eyes. Very beautiful.
It's such a shame to see such unique level design to be completely scrapped and remade from scratch. I understand the hardware limitations are at play here but if this had a little bit more polish this would've been one of the best levels in Sonic history, I'm really glad we actually get to see it in its full glory
You can't help but praise the developers for trying to go above and beyond how they design stages in the older games, but looking at Windy Valley in it's original form, no modding, it's very clear why this level got scrapped. No way in hell this game would've function well on the Dreamcast, especially in 1998. And with all the objects and animation going on at the same time, the game would've suffer from lag so bad it makes the lag in early Mega Man games look optimizes.
i don’t even think it’s optimization as much as it is the level in this form is extremely unfocused
looking at it, I get why they had to rework it completely and I think they made the right decision but I can't help but wonder what things would be like if they kept it in this direction
i remember ranting in some server because noone had restored this level in the actual autodemo. that might've been in 2021
Every bit of SA development history uncovered just makes me yearn for more. 😅 Every aspect of it is so intriguing.
That egoism aside...
wow, that's some really amazing work restoring all of this and making it functional. Reading further, a lot of it sounds like a major headache and I can see why a redesign was necessary...
This stage is bizarre because Act 2 has such tiny platforms and a weirdly small old spring object, and Act 3 has parts that seem to have been made with a different set of physics in mind. The series of bumpy slopes at the start of Act 3 can be so easily bypassed and aren't at all fun to traverse, for example - you can't make any characters stick to those slopes no matter how hard you try. It'd be fun to run on it if you could actually stick to those bumpy slopes, right?
I think Act 2 and Act 3 both would greatly benefit from being enlarged to 2x their current size. I really believe that Act 2's scale is supposed to be larger, the platforming & camera are miserable and would only make sense at a larger scale. Act 3's platforming is similar though not as bad, but it's extremely easy to clear in unintended ways which makes me think it was not intended to have everything so bunched up and close together, hence why a larger scale would help (though that would bloat an already long level to be even longer).
As far as I know there's no evidence that Act 2 or 3 were intended to have a large scale, but I'm considering picking up modding the game just to see what it would be like.
...Actually, there might be some evidence. The texture scale is weirdly very small in Act 2 & 3. Like VERY small. It causes textures to look extremely noisy and miniscule and causes mipmapping to be ineffective at addressing this. I always thought it might have been a texture scale error, but having the same texture scale for the entirety of both Act 2 and 3 is suspicious, especially because Act 1 doesn't have this problem at all!
I think part of why this stage captured so much mystique for so long was that it's just aesthetically so striking and appealing. Even if the final Windy Valley is a coherent level that flows well, the bright colors as opposed to all the greys and darker grass of the final level draw you right in.
Great work getting this monster to work. Surprised they ever got this to run...
Come to think of it, it's really ironic that Dreamcast was too underpowered for the launch title to come to full potential. They should've optimized the hardware, similar to Epic requesting Microsoft to add more RAM to X360 and Capcom requesting Nintendo to also add more RAM to Switch.
This was 1999 man, that's probably the best they could do considering the price tag
Technically it was the end of 1998
@@Outta-hz1ejYeah, the Dreamcast we ended up getting was probably the best deal we were ever going to get. Extremely affordable and powerful, but clearly not as powerful as Sonic Team were hoping (seems like they were banking on the NVIDIA proposed design for the Dreamcast). NVIDIA's design would likely have been too expensive to entice consumers for what they were getting due to Sega's middling reputation coming away from the Saturn.
Thank you so much for doing this and preserving this important piece of Sonic history! I know this level was a nightmare for developers, I've heard the guy who made the restoration talk about it. And I get this level probably was made before they had a clear understanding the the final hardware for the DreamCast, but if this level had been in the game it'd be my fave 3d Sonic level. The amount of freedom, movement, and platforming available makes this stage a wonderful toybox. What emulator do I need to play it on and what plug-ins, please can you help me Speeps?
Flycast is a good emulator. But you should play the restoration on PC instead.
@@WindiiGitlord Thank you, anything special I have to do for Flycast outside of a BIOS?
@@heart3460 no
@@heart3460Oh! There is something extra you can do. Grab the Sonic Adventure DC-HD patcher for widescreen + 60 FPS on Flycast (you can disable widescreen if you don't want it ofc). You'll need a specific GDI of SA1: US 1.005, which is the one with the animated title screen. In order to patch, the game needs to be in GDI format, not CDI and not CHD! If you have the correct version of the game you'll see that it consists of 3 different files (if i recall correctly that's .gdi, .raw, and .bin?)
To make sure you get the correct version, look for: Dreamcast Redump Archive Org
To get the patcher, just search for Sonic Adventure DC-HD
I'd post links but I don't wanna get filtered by TH-cam. :B
There is one caveat. You will need a pretty beefy CPU to run SA1 at full speed 60 FPS on Flycast. If your computer isn't strong enough, the game will slow down because its renderer doesn't skip frames! Instead it will just play in slow motion. If you notice the game is playing in slow motion, drop back down to the original 30 FPS (you can still use the other functions of the DC-HD patcher if you want).
This level is so huge. I don't even know which way the "right" way is, looking at it!
What happened to that goofy egg pod from the restoration project, was it not in the object list for this stage?
Also the platforms in stage 2 trying to follow Sonic's center, dear god, I'm glad they changed that
It's in the build, but it's unused, and doesn't function very well. We fixed it up and used it in the 2018 mod knowing that it was a bit broken originally.
@@supercoolsonic Ah, so in here it's like, unused content of unused content, which is really funny
I don't remember the pod being that broken in the Restoration Project, maybe just walking through the thin mesh wire like a ghost at most
Fantastic work on this restoration. It's so cool to see it in its full glory ! That said, it's a fucking mess. I love it 💞💞💞💞 thanks for showing us ! And thanks to the rest of the team for their contributions to help bring this to fruition. Congrats !!
Do you think the level wouldn't lag so much if it had backface culling activated?
I feel this level is really overrated but it's so cool to see it in it's rawest form possible (after fixes, anyway) and not via a fan restoration on PC, but those are cool too ofc.
...Holy shit, we finally have a way to access it without fanmade mods.
Excellent work as always, Speeps! The work you've put in to restore these unfinished versions of levels is more than admirable.
This is literally a fanmade mod.
@@Clownacy The textures are, but the level itself is not. Although I suppose if you were to classify the tweaks made to allow the level to run properly as mods, then you'd be technically right.
What I meant was that we're able to see what the original level would have looked like without fan reimaginings.
I know this level's a mess, but its an astheticaclly pleasant mess ♥️
One thing i'll always respect sonic adventure 1 for is it's level of ambition.
This stage is ridiculous
I wonder if it would be possible to make that cut Egg Hydra mini-boss somewhat interactable.
Man, this level design actually looks hella fun
I think this version of Windy Valley is more charming and beautiful. Sometimes safe and predictable is boring. The final Windy Valley is definitely more playable and less frustrating, but lacks that sense of wonder which fuels your imagination and inspires you. The 3rd act of the final is just like 5 corridors. The 1st act is redeemable if you start it from Gammas section though.
Can you please show off Amy, Gamma and perhaps Big's set pieces? Really curious about those since we never saw them.
So is TSpring just the normal red spring with patched in code to support the movement of the platforms in Act2, hence why it's missing its model data in the Autodemo?
Yeah, it uses the common object texture list and the model pointers it uses go to the regular spring data when corrected.
@SPEEPSHighway great, another mystery solved, thank you so much for continuing evilhamwizard's restoration 🙏🙏🙏
5:27 I don't understand that route would work running it because you get stuck between those. the other path makes sense
If you don't spin dash and go into ball mode I reckon Sonic would stick to the surface.
@@Freezorgium The slopes are too jagged to make Sonic stick to them, they're so low poly that the game treats those harsh edges as ramps instead. So no matter if you're in ball form or not, Sonic will constantly fling off of them.
Maybe intentional? Maybe not.
@@ABlob yeah I could see that as an upper faster route if you know how to spindash jump you will reach the other side faster than the other path or you get stuck because you didn't know how to do it
@@ABlobI think that segment was made with a different set of physics in mind, I can only guess that at some point Sonic was programmed to stay firmly planted on the ground instead of flying off every hill like a ramp.
@@cameronabshire1195 I could imagine it might've been that one way is slower with the big slopes but easier/faster to reach, while the other is a bit harder to reach quickly and has bumpier slopes, but you can use a spindash to fly across it far quicker than the one on the right. That's how it works with the restoration mod at least.
There it issss! I've been waiting with baited breath for this one and chao garden/fountain.
5:24 "what have you done to me?"
This is incredible to see
Can you please tell us how we implement these stage patches into the game so we can run them?
"SET0200S because I forgot it in the zip"
Feel that, I've done that 7 times
Big level, big dream. It must've worked fine on pc at least.
hey that lag makes the game play like the e3 footage with the incredible lighting and 60 fps
Now this is what should have been an extra or something in the Deluxe version of the game.
It's finally here!!!!
The best level mod now played on a Dreamcast
This level must have been used when Sonic Adventure was called "Sonic RPG".
Aside from some unused Sonic animations in Sonic Jam's Sonic World, I doubt the RPG went as far as some kind of proof of concept
Act 1 feels like Red Mountain IMO.
will the pc mod be updated with the new act 2?
One of the authors of the 2018 mod, here. Um, probably not. That would involve overhauling a large part of the mod and modifying a ton of code. We're in the talks to just do a complete re-write of the whole mod and re-release a new version with it, but we're unsure if that's actually gonna happen.
It's too bad this more classic Sonic style level design didn't make it into the final.
beautiful
I swear to god I saw this level in Sonic Battle R.
OH MY GOD NO WAY THIS IS ACTUALLY INSANE
IM ACTUALLY FREAKING OUT RN I DIDNT KNOW THIS WOULD BE POSSIBLE
The Stage is playable on PC friend
@@onthedre im aware, i literally have the mod installed, but it hasnt been playable on the *DREAMCAST* until now!! how do you not see how revolutionary this is?
I wanna try this windy valley level so bad
Finally we can play this one a PS vita
i get why release act 3 looks like it does now. I wish they could have made this work
Love the music
Very nice, played it on demul and it is incredible! Unfortunately, tried on real hardware and couldnt get it to load :/
i want to live here
Massive Sega Saturn vibes here. I do agree though, it looks horrible at rhe same time. At least in terms of design and layout. Glad it was redone.
Wow I’m this version when you pickup an animal it will plays a ring sound
how do you install the files into the autodemo? Do i have to decompile it or smth?
I wonder what act 2 would look like....
how to install the patch??
How do you place the files in the description into the game? Do i just extract the game through a software and then re-compress it? Or is there something else needed to make this work?
You need the SA1 image patcher. It's like a mod loader for the Dreamcast version, but it also has Autodemo support.
is act 1 using the CAM file mentioned to be incredibly busted or is this just default cam
Default cam
I used EHW's edited one. The original one will fix the camera near the start due to the camera mode IDs desyncing.
How can you even patch it?
How i do this in Android?
YOOOO
Holy crap.
oh.
Someone please make a mod readding this
Feels like a lifeless Sonic Jam version of Red Mountain but at least they kept some of the assets in the game including the ramp at 1:05 which is like the one used on Pleasure Castle.