Do I Need Eden Core?
tldr: No.
in fact, keeping it installed is more likely to cause conflicts with other mods. if you want to know more, feel free to keep reading.
Don't I need Eden Core for the Eden Project song packs?
Nope! Eden Project song packs will work just fine without Eden Core.
Though, Eden Project charts are not currently supported on DIVAScores.NET, as the Eden Project team refuses to adopt the community-standard DIVAModArchive PV Registry, which DIVAScores.NET uses to get crucial chart information for leaderboards and calculating PP. If they do ever adopt the DIVAModArchive PV Registry, previously submitted scores for Eden Project songs will be available for viewing, though will not be eligible for retroactive PP calculation.
What the heck is Eden Core even supposed to do?
- Eden Project Leaderboards: It redirected your end-of-song scores away from SEGA's vanilla Steam servers and sent them to the Eden Project's private leaderboards.
- Separate Save File: It created a new save file so modded progress wouldn't mix with your vanilla save data.
- We're not really sure what else! Due to the closed-source nature of Eden Core, we cant really tell what it does besides that :(
Why you shouldn't use it anymore
Simply put, Eden Core is abandoned, and modern mods have made it rendered it practically obsolete. And heres more reasons.
The backend is dead
The Eden Project leaderboards went offline sometime last year. Because Eden Core is closed-source, its score submission code is hardcoded to talk to a server doesnt exist. Leaving it enabled just means your game is sending scores to literally nowhere.
Mod conflicts
Because Eden Core hooks into a good portion of lower-level game functions, it frequently clashes with modern mods, such as DIVAScores.NET Uploader, Future Tone UI, and many others. If your game is crashing on startup or your scores aren't submitting to newer leaderboards, Eden Core is usually the prime suspect if it's installed.
Modern mods do it better
Everything Eden Core used to do is now handled way better by standalone, typically open-source mods. ID limit patches, UI tweaks, and score tracking are available now separate mods, meaning now you can just pick and choose what you want without locking your game into a single closed ecosystem.