Skreeny Member I have a custom title. Level: 54 Posts: 539/636 EXP: 1172614 For next: 61256 Since: 09-15-07 Since last post: 9.3 years Last activity: 1.2 years

Posted on 08-05-10 10:46:52 PM Link | Quote

Those two files are stored in... StarDat.mpq, I believe, along with all the other campaign missions. I'd forgotten about them; Operation Silent Scream was changed into one of the missions in the Enslavers campaign, if I remember right. Worth noting, Terran mission 3 (the one where you have to survive Zerg attacks for however long) has a disabled trigger chain that would let you win the mission by destroying the Zerg or fighting your way to dropships or something like that. On a side note, the data files include an unused building graphic (Starbase), extra data for other ones (Independent buildings), and various other odd things like that, including a portrait for the Mercenary Biker. The beta has actual graphics for Mercenary Gunships (redesigned to become Valkyries in Brood War), Cargo Ships, and a few other deleted units.

Glisp Member Level: 14 Posts: 13/32 EXP: 11883 For next: 1188 Since: 07-16-10 From: Bloomington, Indiana, USA Since last post: 11.4 years Last activity: 8.9 years	Posted on 08-05-10 11:38:44 PM Link | Quote
	Thanks for the info. How do I view it though? I mean, how do I extract the files from the mpq. Also, I was aware of the Valkyrie Frigates being in the Starcraft beta as well as the Desert Tilesets. ____________________ SOR II Beta Title Screen found by me unused in the Bare Knuckle II Beta ROM dump and pieced together by me as well.

Glisp Member Level: 14 Posts: 16/32 EXP: 11883 For next: 1188 Since: 07-16-10 From: Bloomington, Indiana, USA Since last post: 11.4 years Last activity: 8.9 years	Posted on 08-11-10 06:03:47 AM (last edited by Glisp at 08-11-10 03:04 AM) Link | Quote
	Hey guys, look what I got a viewer to view: Its that Terran Starbase talked about earlier in the thread. I know I've saw this before on the internet but I'm not sure where. ____________________ SOR II Beta Title Screen found by me unused in the Bare Knuckle II Beta ROM dump and pieced together by me as well.

Skreeny Member I have a custom title. Level: 54 Posts: 540/636 EXP: 1172614 For next: 61256 Since: 09-15-07 Since last post: 9.3 years Last activity: 1.2 years

Posted on 08-11-10 07:40:12 PM (last edited by Skreeny at 08-11-10 06:54 PM) Link | Quote

I believe that's the only actual unused sprite in SC. However: Cargo ship, mercenary gunship, raider, repair bay, and that one doodad on the jungle tileset (you can't select it). Worth noting, Arcturus Mengsk is a Battlecruiser unique unit (1000 HP, 250 MP, cannot use Yamato Gun). I'll have to look through my copy of the beta again. It has actual sprites for the cargo ship and merc gunship, don't remember if it has one for the raider, cantina, etc. EDIT: Unused portrait (nbiker): It does not animate. EDIT: Unused unit names (from the beta): Merc Biker<0>*<0>Independent Units<0>Normal<0> Badlands Critter<0>*<0>Critters<0>Normal<0> Space Critter<0>*<0>Critters<0>Normal<0> Cargo Ship<0>*<0>Independent Units<0>Normal<0> Merc Gunship<0>*<0>Independent Units<0>Normal<0> Raider<0>*<0>Independent Units<0>Normal<0> Grom<0>Biker<0>Independent Heroes<0>Normal<0> Spot<0>Badlands Critter<0>Critters<0>Normal<0> V'ger<0>Space Critter<0>Critters<0>Normal<0> Sally<0>Cargo Ship<0>Independent Heroes<0>Normal<0> Greedo<0>Gunship<0>Independent Heroes<0>Normal<0> Boskk<0>Raider<0>Independent Heroes<0>Normal<0> Peter<0>Raider<0>Independent Heroes<0>Normal<0> In SC (vanilla), Badlands Critter is replaced with Rhynadon (Badlands Critter), Space Critter was replaced with Bengalaas (Jungle Critter), Spot was replaced with Ragnasaur (Ashworld Critter), and V'ger was replaced with Critter (Space Critter) (still unused). Brood War used most of those unit slots for some of its units, so they are not present anymore in that version. Cave<0>*<0>Neutral<0>Unused<0> Cave-in<0>*<0>Neutral<0>Unused<0> Cantina<0>*<0>Neutral<0>Unused<0> Mining Platform<0>*<0>Neutral<0>Unused<0> Independent Command Center<0>*<0>Independent<0>Unused<0> Independent Starport<0>*<0>Independent<0>Unused<0> Jump Gate<0>*<0>Neutral<0>Unused<0> Ruins<0>*<0>Neutral<0>Unused<0> Kyadarin Crystal Formation<0>*<0>Neutral<0>Unused<0> Neutral buildings. There is a Zerg ability called "Infest Mine", presumably for use with the Mining Platforms. Lost unit graphics: Cantina, Raider ("gunship.grp"), Merc Gunship ("raider.grp"), and Cargo Ship. There are also damaged versions of Terran buildings (too many to post right now), so the weirdest one: This is... a bunker. I don't get it.

Glisp Member Level: 14 Posts: 19/32 EXP: 11883 For next: 1188 Since: 07-16-10 From: Bloomington, Indiana, USA Since last post: 11.4 years Last activity: 8.9 years

Posted on 08-12-10 04:37:39 AM (last edited by Glisp at 08-12-10 01:43 AM) Link | Quote

Awesome man. I didn't even know there WAS a beta released publicly. A most interesting development indeed. Who's going to add this to the wiki? Should you, should I, or should we both? edit: Also, the Valkyrie (aka gunship) had an ability known as Afterburner at one time but it was unbalanced so it was removed. This image can be seen in a very commonly seen screenshot. In the same screenshot, the Valkyrie pilot's portrait is slightly different from the final. ____________________ SOR II Beta Title Screen found by me unused in the Bare Knuckle II Beta ROM dump and pieced together by me as well.

Skreeny Member I have a custom title. Level: 54 Posts: 541/636 EXP: 1172614 For next: 61256 Since: 09-15-07 Since last post: 9.3 years Last activity: 1.2 years

Posted on 08-12-10 06:45:55 AM Link | Quote

It was a Battle.net test of some sort, so no campaign missions or anything. Apparently someone made a server for it, but I don't remember where (or how to get a CD key to install the game at all, assuming release ones don't work). I'll probably make a wiki article in the next couple of days. On the Afterburner thing, gotta try to keep the SC (vanilla) stuff distinct from BW. While Merc Gunships apparently developed into Valkyries, and Valkyries had the ability "Afterburner" at some point, there seems to be no real evidence that Merc Gunships ever did. Then again, none of the modding tools (excluding the GRP/TBL/MPQ ones) for the final work on the beta anyway, so I can't really guarantee anything about the unavailable units.

Glisp Member Level: 14 Posts: 20/32 EXP: 11883 For next: 1188 Since: 07-16-10 From: Bloomington, Indiana, USA Since last post: 11.4 years Last activity: 8.9 years

Posted on 08-12-10 01:15:17 PM (last edited by Glisp at 08-12-10 10:17 AM) Link | Quote

I think the sound effects for the Afterburner ability is still in the Broodat.mpq file. They are listed as "After On" and "After Off" I believe unless these are actually the thrusters from it. Also, the Desert Tileset in Broodwar was originally planned for Starcraft much like the Valkyrie was. While digging through the Starcraft files in both mpq files of the original game, I came across the beta title screen (Brood War has one too interestingly) There are also portraits for the Vespene container portraits for each race. Originally, gathering units would drop the minerals and Gas they were carrying but it was removed due to clutter. I'm assuming these portraits were used for the dropped containers since there are portraits of the canisters of each race and they are fully animated. The Merc Biker portrait made it there and the Science Vessel portrait is under another name. Also, many units' filenames are listed under different names than what they are in the final. A few of them I've heard such as the Reaver being called the "Trilobyte" and the Observer being called the Witness. In addition, the Wraith was called "Pheonix", Infested Terran being called "BugGuy", and the Scourge being called the "Avenger". The Scourge was originally named the Avenger because it was spawned in a different was than the final. In the final, the Scourge is spawned from the hatchery/Lair/Hive and pops out of an egg by twos just like a Zergling. However, it was planned to act different according to this description: http://home.planet.nl/~aggel005/alphabeta/beta/beta58.jpg Apparently, it would spawn when a Guardian was killed and attack the killer of the Guardian in the same way as the final. Might as well show you these too: http://home.planet.nl/~aggel005/alphabeta/beta/beta48.jpg This page has a bunch of unused unit icons and portraits: http://home.planet.nl/~aggel005/alphabeta/misc.html Turns out the thing you identified as a Bunker is labeled as a Pillbox in one of the images above. ____________________ SOR II Beta Title Screen found by me unused in the Bare Knuckle II Beta ROM dump and pieced together by me as well.

Skreeny Member I have a custom title. Level: 54 Posts: 542/636 EXP: 1172614 For next: 61256 Since: 09-15-07 Since last post: 9.3 years Last activity: 1.2 years

Posted on 08-12-10 07:15:40 PM Link | Quote

Yes, it appears that "pillbox" was the old name for bunkers (the current graphic is still in pillbox.grp). The containers and mineral chunks still exist for placement, but staredit has them disabled; use SCXE or SCMdraft or... pretty much any other modified version to be able to place them, along with a variety of other units that may or may not crash the game (Merc Gunship and Raider still work if I remember right, but they look like Scouts and cannot move or act). A couple of the other icons in that last link are used (notice the Infested Kerrigan graphic used in the graphical unit selector in staredit?). The extra science vessel portrait (nadvisor) is presumably for the Neutral race (mercenary units, a few other miscellaneous things), given the other building portraits are tadvisor, padvisor, zadvisor. On the Avenger thing, the beta has an animation for them coming out of a cocoon (like the ones for Mutalisk->Guardian). Presumably they had already given up on making them out of Overlords/Guardians long before anything related to that. Do you have an actual source on the desert being in SC (vanilla)?

Glisp Member Level: 14 Posts: 22/32 EXP: 11883 For next: 1188 Since: 07-16-10 From: Bloomington, Indiana, USA Since last post: 11.4 years Last activity: 8.9 years

Posted on 08-13-10 01:38:50 AM (last edited by Glisp at 08-12-10 10:48 PM) Link | Quote

I'm not sure if it exists in the final but numerous late beta screenshots from sites have an image of it: As for the Wiki article, I'll help you with it in any way I can. This image is also worth noting as it shows what the Afterburner icon looked like in Brood war. Also, you'll notice the Valkyrie is called "Valkyrie Frigate" instead of just "Valkyrie". Also, if you look, you'll notice the portrait is slightly different too: You can find these and many images that come from an official Blizzard source, here: http://home.planet.nl/~aggel005/alphabeta/ealpha.html The site isn't actually owned by Blizzard but the images come from Blizzard themselves. use the side bar to look at the others. I'm sure you've saw some of these before, if not all of them, if not this will be a real treat. ____________________ SOR II Beta Title Screen found by me unused in the Bare Knuckle II Beta ROM dump and pieced together by me as well.

Skreeny Member I have a custom title. Level: 54 Posts: 543/636 EXP: 1172614 For next: 61256 Since: 09-15-07 Since last post: 9.3 years Last activity: 1.2 years

Posted on 08-13-10 03:16:59 AM Link | Quote

I was afraid you were looking at something like that. The desert image is not from SC (vanilla), it's from BW with the Starcraft Pre-Beta Total Conversion applied (it was an attempt to bring the final game back to being similar to early versions, although it hit some problems due to the lack of FireGraft at the time, and an eventual lack of interest killed it). Among other things, notice that the player color is white, which was only available in Brood War (in vanilla, it was purple, if I remember right), and also that the building graphics are the old version (and improperly linked to their addons, especially the Starport) despite that the Wraith's rank lacks the icon (compare here). The Valkyrie files in BW are listed under /frigate/. It's been a while since I saw those odd twilight archons (for lack of a better term; the Dark Archons with blue cores). Suspect images on that page: http://home.planet.nl/~aggel005/alphabeta/beta/beta17.jpg - taken from Brood War Terran campaign, includes Valkyries (BW final design), improper portrait for mineral cluster (used for mineral chunk), final version of everything except the spire and eggs http://home.planet.nl/~aggel005/alphabeta/beta/beta21.jpg - ...okay, this one may be legit, but I find it somewhat untrustworthy because of the final version buttons (and rank indicator) being mixed with the beta weapon icons http://home.planet.nl/~aggel005/alphabeta/beta/beta33.jpg - Final version Creep (could still be legitimate, considering that unlike all the other obviously-from-a-mod images, the colors on the buildings all seem to match) http://home.planet.nl/~aggel005/alphabeta/beta/beta34.jpg - Nydus pit appears to be directly ripped from this image, final version of everything else Zerg (screenshots with the Nydus Pit primarily have all of the Zerg buildings with a more muted brown color, rather than the final's orange). Also, the Zerg player is teal, but the Nydus Pit appears to belong to the black player. http://home.planet.nl/~aggel005/alphabeta/beta/beta36.jpg - Another one with the mineral field portrait, and the Engineering Bay does not match the Command Center/Refinery http://home.planet.nl/~aggel005/alphabeta/beta/beta37.jpg, http://home.planet.nl/~aggel005/alphabeta/beta/beta38.jpg, http://home.planet.nl/~aggel005/alphabeta/beta/beta39.jpg, http://home.planet.nl/~aggel005/alphabeta/beta/beta41.jpg - appear to be from the same mission as 34/36 (check minimap) http://home.planet.nl/~aggel005/alphabeta/beta/beta46.jpg - static map (appears to just be every unit placed in a row; never used in Blizzard screenshots), low-quality Starbase/Repair Bay, no buttons on repair bay http://home.planet.nl/~aggel005/alphabeta/beta/beta47.jpg - final version Refinery with early version factory/machine shop http://home.planet.nl/~aggel005/alphabeta/beta/beta59.jpg - From expansion Terran campaign again (that mission where you're trying to capture Mengsk/Raynor); using the cerebrate image for the Zerg advisor, more final version/early version mismatches (early: evolution chamber; mid: mutation chamber, queen's nest; final: everything else), grainy buildings compared to everything else Not complaining about the source as a whole, it has quite a few that I know are legitimate (seen on other sources, such as... the back of the box) and even a few I hadn't seen before, but there is a lot of noise on the internet, so it's very easy to pick up a bad screenshot and pass it along. For my whole point about the creep, compare: to The early build creep is exclusively isometric, while the final version also includes horizontal/vertical segments.

Glisp Member Level: 14 Posts: 23/32 EXP: 11883 For next: 1188 Since: 07-16-10 From: Bloomington, Indiana, USA Since last post: 11.4 years Last activity: 8.9 years

Posted on 08-13-10 10:48:26 AM (last edited by Glisp at 08-13-10 10:14 AM) Link | Quote

What are you talking about? White Terran are General Edmond Duke's Alpha Squadron in the original Starcraft. In Brood War they are the UED yes, but in the original version they are Duke's troops. Also, in the campaign editor, you could change your color to white also for play in custom levels. But yeah, I see your point. I have a feeling many of the peculiar ones are mock ups. However, it is possible that the desert tileset was planned but never put in to the Vanilla version of Starcraft. It's also possible that it took a while for some buildings to get changed over to their new and final designs. I mean, they probably had some trouble with other things that needed to be tended to first before they could change the art.\ This image does look like a poor photoshop job: http://home.planet.nl/~aggel005/alphabeta/beta/beta59.jpg Look how tiny the evolution chamber is compared to everything else. Also, the "Twilight Archons" are actually just hallucinations. For some reason Hallucinated Dark Archons only have a blue center. Probably to differentiate them from regular Archons. ____________________ SOR II Beta Title Screen found by me unused in the Bare Knuckle II Beta ROM dump and pieced together by me as well.

Skreeny Member I have a custom title. Level: 54 Posts: 544/636 EXP: 1172614 For next: 61256 Since: 09-15-07 Since last post: 9.3 years Last activity: 1.2 years

Posted on 08-13-10 09:52:18 PM (last edited by Skreeny at 08-13-10 11:00 PM) Link | Quote

Odd, looks like that particular mod has ceased to exist online (Infoceptor, the site that was hosting it, went down some time ago, and they blocked the WayBack Machine). I can still say with 90% certainty that those screenshots are from that mod, though. The main thing to look out for in screenshots is for odd mixes of other versions. If there is a screenshot showing the old rank display (with the emblem) with the final Command Center and an old refinery, and then another screenshot with the final version ranks, an old Command Center and the final Refinery, one is not a legitimate screenshot; in this case, the desert one is the obvious choice, particularly given its other issues with connected add-ons (and wrong unwalkable area). Other things include buildings with the wrong player color (black + teal Zerg), or things that are just otherwise horribly wrong in a nonsensical way (like the Repair Bay with no buttons). Compare your desert screenshot to this: Among other things, this screenshot has the modern Supply Depot, old Academy (it is connected to the Barracks), Drydock (connected to the Starport in the old style), old context-sensitive cursor (with the triangle), and old rank image. The desert image has pretty much the exact opposite of all of that, pretty much guaranteeing it was not a screenshot of a prerelease version. It's still technically possible they planned to include the desert, but at this point, there's actually more evidence that they planned to include the WC2 races (finale.tbl in the bnet beta includes the ending text from WC2 and rank.tbl includes all the human ranks from WC2; in contrast, nothing mentions the desert, as it only includes ashworld, install, jungle, platform, and badlands). I did see this when searching for the TC. Of note is the section about placing the deleted units in 1.00. I haven't done it myself, but I can try later; presumably they were totally erased in the BW compatibility patch (1.04). The dark archons do look like they have hallucinated cores, but there are perfectly normal hallucinated ones at the top right, so it would have to be a bug involving enemy hallucinations. EDIT: Oh, hey. power.grp in the b.net beta: So the team colors on it in the desert image look a bit wrong, too. Still using the normal Supply Depot shadow also; there IS a proper one for the power generators, tpgshad.grp: Also includes a damaged graphic, so this building predates the bunker change (but not necessarily the refinery, as there is a final-styled damaged refinery). EDIT again: Youtube video (ugh, worst way to show how to do something) on extracting the unused missions here. Requires you to have the launch copy of the game (which, fortunately, I do); I had forgotten, there are 4 unused missions. Those two Terran ones, then a Zerg "tutorial", which is just a big empty-ish map with a Hatchery and 2 Drones (not even any triggers besides the useful one), and a Protoss "tutorial", which is an earlier version of their first campaign mission. Unfortunately, it appears that you nevertheless cannot use that version of the editor to open the maps from the BNet beta.

Glisp Member Level: 14 Posts: 24/32 EXP: 11883 For next: 1188 Since: 07-16-10 From: Bloomington, Indiana, USA Since last post: 11.4 years Last activity: 8.9 years	Posted on 08-14-10 04:55:50 AM Link | Quote
	Okay, where the hell does my post keep going? I'm trying to say that I can't get the stupid thing to load, even with version 1.0 Star Edit and I have a copy of the version 1.0 disk. Do you think you can try it? ____________________ SOR II Beta Title Screen found by me unused in the Bare Knuckle II Beta ROM dump and pieced together by me as well.

Skreeny Member I have a custom title. Level: 54 Posts: 545/636 EXP: 1172614 For next: 61256 Since: 09-15-07 Since last post: 9.3 years Last activity: 1.2 years

Posted on 08-14-10 08:06:19 AM Link | Quote

Here you go. All 4 unused maps converted to a form readable by the later editor and game, voiceovers included. I haven't played all the way through all of them (in fact, you can't even start the Zerg tutorial because it only has human players), but they load fine, and Biting the Bullet works from beginning to end (except that there's a bad trigger somewhere, leading to the Zerg attack dialogue playing twice). Will look through the other campaign missions later. I remember seeing the disabled triggers in Terran 3, not sure about anywhere else.

Glisp Member Level: 14 Posts: 25/32 EXP: 11883 For next: 1188 Since: 07-16-10 From: Bloomington, Indiana, USA Since last post: 11.4 years Last activity: 8.9 years	Posted on 08-14-10 12:11:19 PM Link | Quote
	Thanks man. I have a feeling this is the start of a beautiful friendship. Yeah, well I'll keep in touch with you man. In the mean time I'm going to try out these maps. Peace. ____________________ SOR II Beta Title Screen found by me unused in the Bare Knuckle II Beta ROM dump and pieced together by me as well.

Lazengann Random nobody Level: 3 Posts: 1/1 EXP: 57 For next: 71 Since: 04-20-13 Since last post: 9.0 years Last activity: 9.0 years

Posted on 04-20-13 02:24:36 PM Link | Quote

You're telling me you have .grp files of some of the beta buildings? I must have these! =/ Where would I be able to obtain these files if you will not fork em over, Skreeny? I've been doing a lot of looking around and analyzing the beta stuff of StarCraft recently and I have come to the conclusion not only was the game missing quite a bit (that, for a long time, has been pretty obvious) but I think that the reason the Science Vessel's portrait is duplicated into NAdvisor was cause Independent Mercenaries were supposed to be a fourth race, and not just some extra Terran units. Which puzzles me considering the game seemed to always be focused just around the 3 primary races, and it may be possible they planned to have 4 campaigns instead of 3. Oh and there is a lot more to the Campaign they sneakily kept from us. The two Terran missions missing from the game literally coincide with the actual dialog that *wasn't* cut from the game, and terran10's dialog with Duke setting up the Psi Emitters is exactly the same as in the actual campaign, which leads me to believe terran9, the one where you're actually playing *as* Duke in Norad II either had no dialog at the end of the mission originally, or had dialog that was cut out and replaced with what should have been in terran10. This makes me think there may be more hidden in the Campaign map files, that may be connected to this. It's funny that even though Blizzard cut out terran7 and terran10, terran10 has Mengsk talking about setting up his base is "Augustgrad" or whatever he calls it, and that's *exactly* where Mengsk's primary base is in StarCraft II. I could go on and on about this stuff but really, it sounds like Blizzard hasn't really forgotten about what they hid so long ago. I just wish they had left most, if not all, of the beta stuff in the files. Instead all we got is a buncha beta units/buildings turned into Scouts, a Broken Mengsk BC, Broken Razagal corsair (which was f***ing stupid to begin with considering all they need to do was give her the DT model =/), broken Aldaris (With not even a wireframe on him), broken Alexei, broken Dugall BC, practically non-existant Independent units, with no graphics or anything to use to make use of them without them looking like what already *exists* in the game. And don't forget the still image of the Mercenary Biker! The one and only beta portrait we get and it's nothing but a still image. =/ To be honest I woulda rather them have completely removed every trace of these things instead of leaving them in the files as scouts or just completely useless data, because unless I search far and wide for unit/building .grps or create them myself, I can't really do much (that I want to do) with all these beta units through modding... (Fenix has cut dialog too, just gotta point this out cause I Fenix. =P)