Biohazard 2 Beta 2 Unlocked Debug Menu?

[Guest]

It's very possible they could of turned the debug info on for those pictures/videos... It seems weird that they would do that but it's still very possible.

[Ridley W. Hayes]

I don't understand what's the issue here. IGN didn't manipulate any kind of media to make it look like they had a build with some debug features. The thing seems pretty legit to me. The reason why would they turn the thing on/off before they get the pictures and the video is beyond me, as well as any of us.

The build is also a very close to the final game, and it's not the first time they got one of those. On the video provided by Biohazard_1995 (which actually dates from Jan 02, '98) you can notice that the big stuffed Bear that was on the Torture room on previous builds is no longer there. Although I'm aware it's not proof enough to say it's a later build, ANDYARKLAY pretty much have a accurate timeline on the build dates.

On the other matter, the one of the Claire full menu debug build, I haven't seen or heard it was actually legit. A lot of people think it is for the solely reason that there's a Leon one, so there should be a Claire one. Which is not actually a good enough reason. I could have missed some kind of proof posted in whatever forums in the past, so can anyone provide said proofs about its existence? For all I know there's only two more betas out there of RE2, one before and one after the one we all have. At least, as far as I know.

[ANDYARKLAY]

but displaying random memory addresses and the like on the screen during gameplay is distracting more than it helps.

There are many press builds with useless "WIP only" features - its strange but it is a fact.

Or at least it should have been turned off by default.

Who said that it was not turned off by default?

[Borman]

Nearly half of the disks with debug options that I have has debug text displayed by default. And thats a lot of disks.

[Guest]

Nearly half of the disks with debug options that I have has debug text displayed by default. And thats a lot of disks.

Sorry what?

[Guest]

Nearly half of the disks with debug options that I have has debug text displayed by default. And thats a lot of disks.

[Alzaire]

Before you guys jump on him and to clear up the confusion, I believe Borman collects other protos besides RE ones. He's probably talking about those.

[Upaluppa]

Before you guys jump on him and to clear up the confusion, I believe Borman collects other protos besides RE ones. He's probably talking about those.

Thought so too...
Haha, every time people smell Resident Evil protos they go all crazy.

[ANDYARKLAY]

Borman, it will sounds a little bit crazy but why some preview/review builds are having so many of debug options (which are mostly useless for review), some builds having no debug or debug options and some got some reviwer-useful features like "infinity health" "room jump"? Is it depends on how much lazy devs were? I mean that it takes a time to delete folders unfinished rooms&delete some stages,fix bugs(like with bh 1 alphas).
And what do you think - bh 2 beta 2 was confedential "testers only" WIP or review build?

[Upaluppa]

Borman, it will sounds a little bit crazy but why some preview/review builds are having so many of debug options (which are mostly useless for review), some builds having no debug or debug options and some got some reviwer-useful features like "infinity health" "room jump"? Is it depends on how much lazy devs were? I mean that it takes a time to delete folders unfinished rooms&delete some stages,fix bugs(like with bh 1 alphas).
And what do you think - bh 2 beta 2 was confedential "testers only" WIP or review build?

How should Borman be able to answer questions only the developers themselves could be able to give an answer to?
It's not like every single prototype in videogame history came with a documentation telling you what exactly made the devs do what they did with that build.

Same goes for the purpose the Beta 2 build.
We really have no way of knowing for sure what it was used for.
I have heard stories about a journalist for the game press being responsible for the leak but you can't believe anything you hear on the internet these days...

Edit:
Sorry if this was a little rude of me...
I really just think that nobody here can answer these questions for sure because we don't know much about this behind the scenes stuff either.

Professional game developers are never revealing much about their work, let alone even acknowledging leaked in-house builds.
You can't simply shoot an e-mail to Capcom, asking them what the BH2 Beta 2 build was created for, if you know what I mean.

A leak of their property shines bad light on the company's image. They always try to cover such events without much of a public drama.

[Borman]

For Preview versions, it can simply be that they dont have time to test the game without the debug options. Removing them can cause unintended bugs. While they are normally tested out for retail, obviously no one wants to spend time removing stuff and having to test it over and over again. Plus, press people generally are not allowed to mention those things, and sign confidentiality agreements against leaks and other information.

For reviews, it depends on who is reviewing it. Unless you are a big name, the likelihood of you getting anything but a final, retail copy (even with a different label) is quite low. Ive reviewed a few games sent to me by companies, and they've all been retail versions, because Im just some no name guy.

[Guest]

For Preview versions, it can simply be that they dont have time to test the game without the debug options. Removing them can cause unintended bugs. While they are normally tested out for retail, obviously no one wants to spend time removing stuff and having to test it over and over again. Plus, press people generally are not allowed to mention those things, and sign confidentiality agreements against leaks and other information.

For reviews, it depends on who is reviewing it. Unless you are a big name, the likelihood of you getting anything but a final, retail copy (even with a different label) is quite low. Ive reviewed a few games sent to me by companies, and they've all been retail versions, because Im just some no name guy.

Exactly, which is why I think IGN getting given a build of anything other than the retail build at the time of one month before the games release is not likely to happen. Imo the Claire build would probably have been lying around the IGN office long before January 2nd 1998, and quite some time before the shared beta was compiled. I still believe the Claire build is earlier based on what I've been told and seen.

[Guest]

[Ridley W. Hayes]

Exactly, which is why I think IGN getting given a build of anything other than the retail build at the time of one month before the games release is not likely to happen. Imo the Claire build would probably have been lying around the IGN office long before January 2nd 1998, and quite some time before the shared beta was compiled. I still believe the Claire build is earlier based on what I've been told and seen.

You know reviewers have a certain time to review the thing? The disc could not have been lying around for whatever time they wanted before doing the actual review. They have to send it back before certain date. It's also highly unlikely they making the review just to publish it months later. RE2 was a very hyped game and any info about it was generally published right away.

@ drunkdog: What about that mag?

[Guest]

You know reviewers have a certain time to review the thing? The disc could not have been lying around for whatever time they wanted before doing the actual review. They have to send it back before certain date. It's also highly unlikely they making the review just to publish it months later. RE2 was a very hyped game and any info about it was generally published right away.

@ drunkdog: What about that mag?

What about when these discs end up in the hands of collectors? I didn't really mean to say that they got it and kept it, that's not what I was getting at, what I meant was they got the build and did whatever they needed to do with it, i.e. capture footage and take pictures, and had that lying around the office somewhere... Most games are already completed a month before release, this is the point where the games get pressed and sent out to retailers in preperation for sale to the public. By the time January 1998 rolls around the game only had twenty or so more days till release, at this point I really can't see a company getting anything other than a retail (or near to retail) copy for reviewing purposes. I think it would be safe to assume that IGN had access to earlier builds throughout it's development, but I really doubt they'd be given a debug build that late in development when the game is practically on the shelves.

We'll never know though, untill the day comes when we can look at the exe and see for our selves exactly when it was compiled...