Created by Suko | Updated 2025.07.24 Project Contents: - ZiV DDR Legacy Accurate Simfile Collection Upgrade (DDR 1st Mix thru SN2) - Upgraded/Upscaled Max-Extreme RandomMovies collection. - Optional DDR Extreme BG Scripts [ WHAT IS THIS PACK TRYING TO ACCOMPLISH? ] I wanted a collection of "official" legacy DDR charts that were as true as possible to the original DDR experience from the DDR Max through SuperNOVA era as it was "back in the day". I had been using the DDR UK simfile collection for years, but when Groovestats started tracking charts universally, I found that many of those DDR UK charts had little or no other player participation. Conversely, the ZiV (Zenius-I-Vanisher) packs are much more popular with players and have better tracking on Groovestats. So, I downloaded these for use and quickly ran into an issue; modern ZiV DDR simpacks are an inconsistent mess. Also, almost none of the simfiles have BGScript callouts to support the legacy background videos. While those are annoying, the biggest issue is that they mix legacy and modern rating scales in the same packs. For example; DDR 3rd Mix has almost 1/3 of the charts saved in the modern (20 rating) scale, but the other simfiles are the legacy (10 rating) scale. This is just...bad. There are tools out there that can "de-convert" the modern 20 scale back to the 10 scale. But it's irritating for an legacy player like me to see a song rated a "7" by the converter tool, when it's true legacy rating was an "8" on DDR Extreme and SuperNOVA. This is just one example, but it applied to hundreds of legacy charts in the ZiV simefile packs. The "original" difficulty rating has been lost because of the upgrades to the modern 20 scale, so I invested a huge amount of time manually setting the difficulties for the ZiV simfiles to give the charts their proper legacy ratings, defaulting to what it was in DDR Extreme or SuperNOVA era. I won't claim it is 100% correct, but it is close and will make old-school players happy to see the correct ratings for some of their favorite charts. Another issue is that the current ZiV packs have relocated songs to different groups based on how they have been categorized in modern DDR arcade mixes. Example: Songs like PARANOiA Evolution and Hysteria are placed in the 4th Mix packs because that is what DDR A20 says they're from, but in reality, they debuted in DDR SOLO. Or, if a song came out on a console release and then later came out in arcades, the ZiV database pulled it from the console pack and put it in the arcade pack instead, because this is what modern arcade DDR mixes (like A20) classify the songs under. I don't disagree with ZiVs method on this, because there is no ideal solution to this issue. However, I also don't like re-writing history so that a song that "debuted" in one mix shows up as part of some other mix. What I did in this pack is this; If a song came out on an arcade mix, then then I placed it in the arcade pack where it actually debuted. So, in the example above for Pranoia Evolution and Hysteria, you can find those in the SOLO song group. However, for songs that debuted on a console release (like The Shining Polaris), I decided to duplicate it and have a copy in both the SuperNOVA AC and the DDR Max CS (console) folders. Why did I do this? Because, I suspect most people will be grabbing the DDR AC (arcade) collections for use on their setups, but not everyone will be grabbing the CS release packs. This is why I decided to duplicate the CS songs in both folders. Note: this only applies to songs that first appeared on a CS release before an AC release. So, something like Max 300 isn't going to show up in DDR Max CS, because it debuted on DDR Max AC. But (as referenced earlier), The Shining Polaris debuted on DDR Max CS (PS2) years before it showed up on DDR SuperNOVA AC. So that song can be found in both the DDR SuperNOVA (AC) pack and the DDR Max CS (PS2) console pack. If you're confused by all of this, then here is a simple answer; The group I placed a song in is based on whatever release that song debuted on in the arcade. Modern DDR has tried to rewrite history by saying "Song X" was released in "Group Y", when in reality this is not true. My corrections mostly apply to songs that debuted in the PLUS and SOLO arcade releases. If you don't like these changes...sorry. But, I am making this pack for myself and my goal is to make a legacy-accurate build of the DDR collection based on the DDR Extreme and SuperNOVA era of the game and that's how it was back then. I suspect if you're interested in this pack, you'll agree with my logic. If not, then you're probably not the target audience for this pack and don't really care about any of the changes I am making here anyway. Here is a list of things I have completed so far: - Corrected the difficulties to match legacy rating based on their DDR Extreme-SuperNova era ranks. Verified using RemyWiki. - Relocated most songs to their proper original arcade releases (example: Songs like PARANOiA Evolution and Hysteria, which were previously placed in 4th Mix are now placed in the DDR SOLO collection). - Added "corrected" BGScript timings for the charts that have included AVI files, but where not correctly synced to the song. Example; Songs like Butterfly have "baked in videos", but were not timed to start at the correct marker. I have added the correct timing to these charts so the background videos play correctly at the right time. - Added BG Scripts to all applicable stepcharts from the BGSCripts thread, here: https://zenius-i-vanisher.com/v5.2/thread?threadid=4519 (I have made hundreds of corrections to the scripts so that they work properly on modern Stepmania platforms (ITG Mania, Outfox). I am not claiming it is 100% "fixed", but I did go through a LOT of charts to see if there were any glaring BG Script issues. If you discover any that need correcting, please feel free to contact me.) - I upscaled all song related graphics for the banners, bg backgrounds, etc. The results are good, but could use improvement. The original files are so small and low-rez, that it's hard to upscale with good results. However, maybe in a few years AI tech will make it possible to upscale with better results. For now though, it's the best I can do. - I have upscaled the graphics and videos in the MAX-EXTREME background videos pack, as well as adding graphic files that are called out in certain songs that were previously missing (example; some of the ninjaXX.pngs for Tsugaru). This "upscale" project was a massive undertaking and could have been considered an entire project endeavor in its own right. I highly recommend you download and install the background package into the Random Movies folder for the true "legacy" gameplay experience. Note: It seems that ITGMania is really bad at processing video files, so it really doesn't handle RandomMovies well and these enhanced video files may introduce arrow stutter in older computers. If your PC is powerful, it won't be an issue. But if you have a more bare-bones setup, you may need to stick with the original, low-rez files. - Added fan-submitted banners to 5th Mix songs that did not have them. - Added new high-rez group banners that replaced the stock ZiV banners. - I created a DDR Extreme era BG Script mod pack, which can be installed over the existing ZiV Legacy pack. This will overwrite some SM files with versions that have BG video scripts seen in DDR Extreme. This is an optional pack for those who want the DDR Extreme era background videos to play instead of the baked in videos or DDR Max era videos. - Despite these changes, this Legacy Collection is still compatible with Groovestats and will track like the standard ZiV stepcharts. Things I still want to do: - Finish the Console Pack updates. - Need to add jacket PNGs for console packs. - Do all of the stuff above for the ITG 1 and 2 packs. Contact methods: Zenius-I-Vanisher: https://zenius-i-vanisher.com/v5.2/user?userid=1509 Email: Sukotto88@gmail.com