GoldenEye 007 Nintendo 64 Community, GoldenEye X, Nintendo 64 Games Discussion

[Dragonsbrethren]

SubDrag just stumbled onto a goldmine, something that's been sitting right under our noses in Perfect Dark for years without us ever knowing about it.

First off, some explanation. There are seven types of text files in PD, which are present for every level slot:

LxxxxE: NTSC (American English)
LxxxxP: PAL (English English)
LxxxxJ: NTSC-J (Japanese)
Lxxxx_str_g: PAL (German)
Lxxxx_str_f: PAL (French)
Lxxxx_str_s: PAL (Spanish)
Lxxxx_str_i: PAL (Italian)

Now, these might not seem like anything special. They aren't, in the PAL and NTSC-J versions, but the North American release holds a little secret: The NTSC-J and PAL files contain NTSC version text from beta builds of the game! They are versions 4.4 and 5.3 to be precise. The final NTSC version is 8.7, for comparison.

The text is very rough, there are numerous capitalization, punctuation, grammar, and spelling errors. The text is, for the most part, very similar to the final version. It's just in a rough state. There's very little new to discover here that we didn't already know, but I still enjoyed going through version 4.4 and digging out all of the little differences.

For the time being, I'm going to post extracted final NTSC and the 4.4 beta NTSC text files. These are in .txt format; you don't need the editor to view them. I've already gone through and dug up everything interesting, but I don't have time to get it all formatted nicely and posted.

http://dragonsbrethren.slickproductions.org/files/goldeneye/pd/beta/4_4text.zip

[Dragonsbrethren]

I'm going to start posting some of the more interesting changes. Here is a quick overview of the format I'll use before I get started:

Mission Name: Stage Title

Mission changes commentary.

8.7 final string
4.4 beta string
Text change comments.

I'll just be doing a few of these at a time, while they are interesting (especially the ones I'll post towards the end), it does take a bit of time to get everything formatted, and I'd rather be working on something more productive.

---

dataDyne: Defection

Outside of the use of Eye Spy instead of CamSpy, Defection is pretty much identical to its final incarnation if you overlook the roughness. The more interesting text is present in both versions--this is true for a lot of the text files; they rarely removed unused text, and they even bothered cleaning it up for the final version.

Right, I'm in...

I...I'm logging on now.
These two strings are not present in the beta.

---

dataDyne: Investigation

Investigation, too, is pretty much finalized. The CamSpy is again called Eye Spy (or EyeSpy in the briefing), and the Night Vision is Night Sight.

And don't forget your Data Uplink, Jo - it may come in handy.
This was added to Carrington's portion of the briefing for the final version.

Enemy detected - weapon cache locked.
Access Denied - Weapons Compartment Locked.
This was slightly rewritten.

---

dataDyne: Extraction

Like Defection and Investigation, the CamSpy is called the Eye Spy and the Night Vision Night Sight.

Elevator door is inactive on this floor.
This line was added in the final version.

[fantsu]

nice!

[Dragonsbrethren]

Carrington Villa: Hostage One

Villa doesn't have all that much in the way of changes, either.

Unfortunately, they will also be open to the hit squad.
A rarity--this sentence was removed from the objective two briefing text.

Remember not to kill them - knock them unconscious if you can, as this will ensure against them escaping.
Remember not to kill them - knock them unconscious if possible, or if you're really good get them to give up.
Part of objective four's text was rewritten slightly.

Operation denied - windmill is active.
Mission unsuccessful - enemy guard not captured.
Two strings were added for the final version.

---

Chicago: Stealth

Chicago has a lot of unused text in the final version (including a scrapped objective), but not many changes were made to it since the beta.

Mission failed - unacceptable civilian casualties.
Unnacceptable Civilian Casualties
"Mission failed" was added to this string, incase it wasn't obvious enough.

Remote Mine has been wasted.
Strings like these seem to have been an afterthought.

---

G5 Building: Reconnaissance

This one had a few things rewritten, either for clarity or to simply sound better.

A device in the car garage section of the building is preventing the transmission of any information recorded by the CamSpy. Once shut down, the CamSpy can relay any captured recordings back to HQ.
A device in the car garage section of the building is preventing the operation of any recording equipment. Locate it and shut it down.
Objective one's text was almost completely rewritten.

That must be the meeting room up ahead. Time to use the CamSpy.
I can't go any further, but the Eye-Spy can.
Joanna's hint to use the CamSpy was rewritten.

The safe's heavily encrypted.
The decoder's gonna take a little longer.
A safe that big will be heavily encrypted. The decoder will take longer than usual.
Rewritten, the new one sounds...lazier?

---

Area 51: Infiltration

We know Area 51 was a bit different during development, but you can't really tell from this file.

If your escape is to be successful, you must destroy the radar control unit with the explosives, and it will likely be hidden underground surrounded by lots of mainframes.
If your escape is to be successful you must destroy the radar control unit with the explosives. This might activate a backup system, so be careful.
Objective one's text now contains more of a hint at where to place the explosives. I personally think the older one was better, they could've always had Joanna muse to herself about placing the explosives around the mainframes. They do that in other missions, it wouldn't have seemed out of place.

Intruder detected - security system online.
Foreign object detected - security fields activated
This line was rewritten...

Foreign object detected - security alerted.
...and this one was added. Sounds a bit familiar, doesn't it?

---

Area 51: Rescue

Rescue had a few changes, but honestly, the best lost text in this stage can still be found in the final version:

Director Easton will hear about this,
young lady.

Of course he's going to hear of it, you
moron. I've just got into his top secret
base, and now I'm stealing his alien.

Objective One: - Destroy Computer Research Records
Objective One: - Obtain Lab Technician Disguise
Objective Two: - Locate Conspiracy Evidence
Objective Two: - Destroy Computer Research Records
Objective Three: - Obtain and Use Lab Technician Disguise
Objective Three: - Locate Conspiracy Evidence
The order of the first three objectives in the briefing was changed. The 4.4 beta order makes more sense, really. The disguise objective was reworded to make it clear you actually had to put the thing on after collecting it.

Rescue the crash Survivor
Rescue Elvis
"Crash Survivor" was already being used in the briefing, but the actual objective text called Elvis by name.

Alternative entrance to medlabs created.
Missing from the beta file. As I said above these types of strings were probably just late additions, but I can't help but think there was actually a version of this setup where you had to use that damn floating explosive crate. Even after learning you could "pick it up" by activating it, it's still a pain to get up there. I used to use a proxy dragon to take out the wall, before finding out about the phoenix.

You can't take that! It's government property! This is intolerable! It's... it's... unprofessional!!
Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Several lines from Escape can be found in Rescue's text file, but this one was actually removed after the beta.

---

Area 51: Escape

It seems likely that every part of Escape's intro, up until the gas is released, was originally supposed to be shown in Rescue's outro. I think it works better the way it was done in the final.

Johnathan
Jonathan
For whatever reason, they decided to change the spelling of Jonathan's name in the briefing...but nowhere else in the entire game! It's even more amusing when you realize the beta had it spelled the way they do everywhere else.

Revive Maian Bodyguard
Revive Elvis Using Medpack
Elvis is being called by name again, before it would be possible to know his name.

Console is not active.
Added for the final.

What the hell do you think you're doing?
This is supposed to be a sealed room!
Don't you know anything about autopsy
procedures?

Director Easton will hear about this,
young lady.

You can't take that! It's government property!
This is intolerable! It's... it's...
unprofessional!!

All of these were copied over from Rescue for the final version. There are some unused surgeon lines in both files, which must've been the originals intended for this stage.

I don't care much for procedures!
This is actually a new string, written to go along with the ones from Rescue.

[TimEh]

i love all the beta stuff you can find digging throughsome games. When digging through the picture files of Resident Evil 2 i found an entirely alternate intro i beileved would have been used for one of the two characters. It starts on the opposite side of the crash and ends up leading to the room with the one door in the game that when you open it zombies come through during the door load sequence. Its funny how lazy people are, instead of redesigning the room they just whipped up a quick, but interesting, way to keep the player from entering the door. Also there were many alternate cam angles and lots of pitcures of rooms redered with flat shaded texures. Ive searched over the internet and have not seen any of these pics anywhere. Probably only a couple people other than the developers that have seen these. But this topic is about PD not RE so ill stop this.

[Dragonsbrethren]

Yeah, I just find all of this unused stuff fascinating. Feel free to make another topic about the RE2 stuff, it's been years since I played through that game (my copy was stolen), but I'm interested in it anyway.

I've always heard that this kind of stuff gets left behind on the odd chance that removing it would break something, but that doesn't make much sense. They could easily replace any unused stuff with a dummy file; that would prevent any errors caused files not being present, and save space in the finished build. I think it's more likely that no one really knows whether or not something is actually unused, it's easy to lose track of stuff like that.

I'm not covering all of them in this topic, but, if you haven't already, download the text files and just look at how many strings there are in the final copies that aren't used. Those could have easily been blanked out without affecting the rest of the text. I'm glad they didn't, of course, but still, it doesn't seem very efficient.

[Dragonsbrethren]

Air Base: Espionage

I'm going to break my standard format for a second and mention that, while it has nothing to do with the 4.4 beta text, Air Base has an alternate intro cutscene which does not feature Trent Easton or the NSA lackeys in an unused action block. There is no dialogue, and the values used for the camera and character animations are completely different than the ones used in the final intro. This must be from a beta even earlier than 4.4, possibly even an alpha, since all of the intro dialogue is present in the 4.4 text file. So far SubDrag and I have had no success getting Air Base's setup to load after extracted, however, so we can't watch this intro yet (if it's even functional).

Onto the actual beta text...

Objective Four: - Obtain Flight Plans From Safe
Objective Four: - Obtain Item From Safe

Obtain flight plans from safe
Obtain Item From Safe

Flight Plans
Safe Item
Flight Plans
Safe Item
Picked up the flight plans.
Picked up a safe item
Despite the objective four text, the briefing does mention that the item is the flight plans. I actually find this very interesting compared to a lot of the other changes I've posted so far; it gives insight into how the original missions were made. I'm guessing getting something from the safe was planned early on, but they added an actual justification for it later.

Lift inoperative - security system is active.
Critical mission personnel disabled.
Critical mission object destroyed.
Entrance to base secured.
We're taking over!!
Hover trolley has been shut down.
Equipment cannot be checked in.
None of these exist in the 4.4 text file.

---

Air Force One: Antiterrorism

Not much to say about this one...

Remember thatPresidential security are neutral and are not to beharmed.
Remember thatpresidential security are neutral and are not to beharmed.
I suppose I'm breaking format again, since I haven't been mentioning capitalization or spacing errors, but this one is special: Both missing spaces made it into the final version. The game uses a separate briefing for each difficulty; these errors are only found in the special agent briefing. The best part is that they capitalized "Presidential" but missed the other errors.

The pilots have stablised Air Force One.
Added to the final text file, but you might notice that it doesn't use the American spelling of "stabilized." The beta files use English spelling everywhere, which was replaced with American spelling in the final version. This line evaded detection, much like the spacing issues above.

---

Crash Site: Confrontation

This is quite possibly the most boring of all the text files. There were no additions or removals. The Night Vision is called Night Sight.

[Dragonsbrethren]

Pelagic II: Exploration

First off, the Pelagic II is written as Pelagic 2 just about everywhere. I'm only going to note it here rather than posting every string in every file that mentions it. This stage only had some text added.

Use the x-ray scanner to find the active switches on the power core.
A little hint was added to the objective one briefing.

Do not harm any innocent civilians you come across.
Added to the objective three briefing. I guess it wasn't really obvious that you weren't supposed to kill all three pilots, rather than just the one who pulls the magnum.

Pull the plug on that now.
Switch this thing off.
I'll shut it down.
Please don't hurt me.
Die, you traitors.
Lines for Jo and the pilots were added. Kode-Z noticed that these are taken from dD Investigation.

---

Deep Sea: Nullify Threat

Mostly just added lines, but a few things were rewritten.

It's up to you - destroy the power nodes throughout the ship, and the weapon will be inoperable. Some may be beyond the reach of normal weapons.
Added to the objective two text.

It looks like this could benefit from
a little bit of sabotage.
Cover Me Jo, I'll Unlock Those Doors.
Elvis's line was completely rewritten.

Commencing countermeasures. Commenc..... *** ooOOoh!! *** eeEEe!! *** aaAhh!! *** oOOoh!! *** aAArRrgghh!! *** YEEeeooOOOOOOowWWwlll!! ***
Commencing countermeasures. Commenc....***(gibberish.. squalk.. squalk.. etc..)*** I don't believe it, those vandals have been rearranging my circuitry. I feel cheapened... used! I'm a tart!
No comment.

Cetan megaweapon has been disabled.
Ammo wasted - unable to disable megaweapon.
These were added.

---

Carrington Institute: Defense

This one had quite a few changes made to it. I'd like to see what the original objective five was like; chances are it didn't involve a Skedar craft at all.

Objective Two: - Release Hostages
Objective Two: - Minimise Hostage Casualties
This one was rewritten to make it clear you had to save the hostages, not just not shoot them.

Use the laser to cut a way through the door.
They could use it to wreak havoc on our allies.
Objective four is another one where story-related text was replaced with a hint.

Our sensors indicate there is a bomb in the Skedar craft on the landing pad! The only thing that can help you is the Data Uplink - get close to the ship, and use it to install a virus. The ship should then float clear of the Institute, and the bomb will detonate without harming anyone.
Our sensors indicate there is a bomb somewhere in the building! It is unlikely to be a subtle device, so merely getting it out of the Institute won't help. It needs to be deactivated.
Objective five's briefing makes it sound like the bomb was much different originally.

You have been given a Devastator.
You Have Been Given A Grenade Launcher
This line makes it seem likely that the Devastator was simply called grenade launcher early on, like the rocket launcher in the final, or the grenade launcher in GE for that matter.

You need the Data Uplink.
Connection has been made.
Bypassing security systems.
Virus has been downloaded successfully.
Ship's engines have been activated.
Connection to ship has been broken.
Obtain Data Uplink.

Data Uplink
A Data Uplink
Picked up a Data Uplink.
A whole bunch of lines related to the bomb and data uplink rename strings were added. It seems like you wouldn't have used the uplink to disable the bomb in the beta.

---

Attack Ship: Covert Assault

Not too much here, just some changed lines and additions. It seems that getting Cassandra's necklace again was a later addition.

We're outside Joanna. Get the shields down and
we can help you.
Outside, Joanna. Get the shields down and
we can help you.
This one must've been rewritten after the voices had been recorded; Elvis doesn't say "We're" in the final.

You go on ahead, Jo. I'll secure the perimeter.
We'll meet up later.
Okay Jo, you head upwards. I'll stop any pursuit.
This line was replaced with an existing one from Pelagic II.

We have to get out of here!
Hangar doors locked - shields still active.
Critical mission object destroyed.
Ammo depleted - consoles can't be destroyed.
Obtain De Vries' necklace.
Cassandra De Vries'
Necklace
De Vries' necklace
Picked up De Vries' necklace.
All of these were added.

---

Skedar Ruins: Battle Shrine

The final stage had a lot of clarification added to it.

He is sure to have powerful shielding capable of withstanding gunfire, so you may need to destroy part of the shrine itself to deal the final blow.
They gave Elvis an extra line here to help players realize how to kill the Skedar king, and it still didn't work.

Use the R-Tracker to identify the correct ones.
A hint about using the R-tracker was added to objective one...

You may have to blow a hole in the outer wall just to gain access to the shrine interior - your IR scanner should help find a weak spot in the structure. Once inside the perimeter, there's another problem.
...and one about the IR scanner in objective two.

Generator has been reactivated.
Generator De-activated
These are completely the opposite.

The power's more constant in this area.
The Inner Sanctum can't be far away.
The power's more constant round here. This must
be the inner sanctum.
Minor rewriting.

Joanna! Joanna!
Joanna! Joanna! Where are you? Are you hurt?
The second part of Elvis's line was cut, and given its own string.

No, quick! Give me your gun!
No, quick! Give me a gun!
Joanna's a bit more specific in the final.

Make your sacrifice to the God of War.

Grenade ammo used up - can't enter Shrine.

Alternative entrance to Shrine created.

Where are you? Are you hurt?
A few additions.

---

Well, that wraps up the normal missions. The special assignments are very rough, and two even contain text strings from GoldenEye. I'll post those next, then the files that are always loaded, which seem to be closer to the final than these, but still have a lot of interesting changes.

[Dragonsbrethren]

Before I begin, I'd like to point out that these don't use the same string orders for their briefings that any of the other files do, including the betas. All of the other text files are laid out like this:

Perfect Agent Briefing
LOCATION
Special Agent Briefing
Agent Briefing

These list all of their briefings together, and either have a GE leftover or a stage title in the other string. The location strings, which aren't even shown in the final (they're set alongside the objectives), are not present.

---

Mr. Blonde's Revenge

As I said in my last post, the special assignments are very incomplete. This is the one that seems the closest to being finished.

You are Mr Blonde. Stop mincing around and capture cassandra.
This is used in place of all three briefings. Objectives are not listed as a part of the briefing, just these strings which are akin to the "Background" portion in the final.

Underground in Siberia, James? Some of us don't get further than the Northern Line.
Moneypenny's line from Bunker i in GoldenEye. I guess it's clear which text file they based this on.

Plant explosive device in lab lift
Plant Nuclear Device In Laboratory Lift
The beta objective has much more devastating consequences for the surrounding city...

Eliminate dataDyne Captain
Assasinate Datadyne Head Of Security
"Eliminate" makes more sense given the circumstances, but I don't know why they changed her title from Head of Security to Captain. She's called the security chief in both versions when you kill her.

---

Maian SOS

Mainframe destroyed!
Data cannot be downloaded.
Another string from Bunker i...

Get Elvis to warn the institute.
The briefings.

Distress signal has been sent.
Critical mission object has been destroyed.
Mission failed - cannot escape from medlab.
Alternative escape route found.
These were added. The last two are never actually used though; it would've been nice to know there was another way out other than wasting the psychosis gun ammo (turns out you can destroy the hoverbed to break the glass).

---

WAR!

WAR! seems to be very early in development, but nothing was added to it for the final version. We're probably lucky that we got this mission at all.

Mopping Up The Skedar Homeworld
The original stage title?

Kill all the skedar .
Another set of minimalist briefings.

Kill Skedar Captain
Kill Skedar King.
Kill Skedar Captain 2
Kill Skedar King 2.
Kill Skedar Captain 3
Kill Skedar King 3.
Skedar Captains instead of Kings. This is the only mission where the final objective strings end with a period, by the way.

Maian leader has been killed.
Elvii Leader Has Been Killed.
It's not used anywhere else in the beta, but it's interesting to think that the Maians could've been called the Elvii at some point in development.

Skedar King has been killed.
Skedar Captain Has Been Killed.
Captain instead of King again.

---

The Duel

The Duel seems to be in the early planning stages; the opponents are never named. I mentioned above that none of the special assignments have location strings in the beta, but it's worth noting that the final version's text file lists it as LUCERNE TOWER for whatever reason.

Joanna's Graduation Test - The Duel
This makes it clear the The Duel is supposed to be taking place before the events of the main game

Defeat Your Opponent In A Duel.
The briefing.

Defeat dataDyne guard
Defeat Your Opponent.
Defeat Jonathan Dark
Defeat Your Opponent.
Defeat Trent Easton
Defeat Your Opponent.
All three objectives have their own strings, but use the same text.

Defeat your opponent.
Defeat Your Opponent.
Found in both versions after the THE DUEL string displayed at the top of the screen. Were there originally going to be four opponents? Or was this just a common sense hint message?

Well done! You were too quick for him!
Well Done! You Were Too Quick For Him!.
Another one that hasn't really changed, but it's worth noting they have three copies of this text, one string for each opponent.

---

Retaking the Institute

This text file was not changed between the beta and final. I'll analyze it here anyway, for anyone who hasn't seen it before:

Retaking the Institute.
This is where a perfect agent briefing would go in the final version. WAR!, The Duel, and this use this string as a stage title.

Lead the team and clean out the building.
Repeated three times, these are the briefings. Once again there is no location string.

Kill All Enemy Agents
Do Something Else
And Something Else
Your objectives. I have to admit to using "do something else" as a placeholder in my own GE missions...