Halo: Combat Evolved Beta 1749

Beta 1749 was a beta build of the Xbox edition of Halo: Combat Evolved. The build originates from around August 15, 2001. It was succeeded by Beta 2247.^[1]

Beta content[edit]

Main menu[edit]

Halo: CE Beta 1749 Main Menu

No Bungie/Microsoft startup videos.
Instead of the menu's background featuring a predetermined flyby of Installation 04, the menu features a still camera looking at the ring, with the camera moving to different perspectives depending on which sub-menu you are on.
"Campaign" is split into "New Campaign" and "Load Campaign"
The menu has no sound.
The difficulty selector has different icons from the final game.
The main menu has random diagram text.
The locked level picture is a placeholder white question mark on a black background.

Campaign[edit]

Campaign general[edit]

Easy difficulty does not exist.
Green subtitles (Dialogue spoken often differs from the subtitles, with too many differences to list).
Cutscenes seem to have random delays.
Shield recharge sound is different.
Jump is floatier.
Health packs are green boxes with a white circle and red cross on them. This health pack design is notably still featured in the game manual.
Major performance issues in larger areas.
Loading screens are just a black screen with a dark red bar to show progress.
Many cutscenes have missing sound.
Music beyond the bridge cutscene in "The Pillar of Autumn" has not been implemented.
Currently playing sounds don't stop when the game pauses.
The game cannot save in the middle of a mission. If you crash/turn off the game/exit the level, it's back to the beginning of that mission.
Difficulty is higher, especially in Flood levels. There's also a lot more Covenant in the later levels.
Control panels have missing string entry.
Master Chief armor is somewhat lower poly on some parts of the armor (Such as forearms).
Chief's armor is lighter in color, and the baked-in shadows on his visor are less overt.
First person arms seem to be different behind the forearm, possibly leftover from an earlier armor design.

The Pillar of Autumn[edit]

These changes can be observed in the level The Pillar of Autumn, as compared to the final game release.

Alternate x20 Bridge Cinematic.
No intro cinematic.
Sky is jet black with stars, no blue layers to help make things in the cutscene stand out, like the Longswords.
The aim-inversion tutorial works as normal, but the game does not automatically switch your aiming preference during it. The gameplay tip about changing your controller settings instead features a message for playtesters:

ATTN: Playtest Participants
If you would like to change your controller settings, ask a playtest staff member for assistance.

Game soft locks after lifepods are destroyed, player must use cheats to make it through the small doors to the next area.
The Elite who kills crewman Samuel Marcus uses a Needler instead of a Plasma Rifle. In the final game, the Needler is completely absent from this level's files.
No health packs or ammo drops on map.
Some scenery objects like the gun racks are included in the maps, but are not placed.
Captain Keyes doesn't give you a pistol, instead a crewman with one is gunned down by grunts where you would normally receive the pistol.
Killing Captain Keyes will cause him to freeze into a T-pose, and does not cause a squad of Marines to storm into the bridge to kill the player. Killing the crewmen in the bridge also has no consequences.
Area where lifepod launches has older geometry, including an unused hallway.
- In the lifepod launch area, there are doors placed outside the level from earlier revisions of the level which had a much larger play space.
- References in this area show that there were going to be marines (area needs further researching).
Intro cutscene and Chief exiting cryopod cutscenes are gone.
Heroic/ Legendary difficulties start you in the cryopod.
Master Chief's armor is white if you look down while in the Crypod.
When you exit the cryopod, you spawn to the right of it instead of in front of it.
After the targeting sequence (Look at the lights so they turn green), the gameplay tip is instead a message to playtesters telling them to ask a staff member for assistance changing the controls.
The crewman who opens your cryopod says "Come on, this way!" instead of "This way!" when leading you out of the cryo room.
A crewman plays a "noticed player" dialogue and then dies is in the room where you have to crouch under the blast door.
The chunk of the map that's loaded for the armory/bridge/mess hall seems to have a lighting bug, possibly missing all lighting.
The marine who escorts you to the bridge has a different voice actor, despite the Australian marines having lines in the game.
Bridge cutscene triggers earlier, when you're halfway into the room instead of when you're near keyes.
Cortana states that the main cannon is offline, instead of the crew member at the front of the bridge. This crew member instead yells "Hull breach! Hull breach on decks 11 and 12!".
Cortana's "hologram appearing" effect is missing.
When Captain Keyes asks for a report from Cortana, she says "Fire control for the main cannon cannon is offline, nothing of consequence apart from the detonation." before mentioning the boarding party and antimatter charge.
At the end of the bridge cutscene, Keyes says "See you on the surface" instead of "Good luck, Master Chief."
A group of crewmen seem to sort of follow you on the bridge.
Cortana dialogue is different when she's plugged into Chief's armor: "Funny, I remember more empty space."
Keyes moves to a different spot on the bridge after the cutscene.
The Halo ring is not visible from the bridge windows.
No post board in the bridge.
You can get frag grenades from some dead marines, instead of having to wait until the last part of the level.
Airlocks do not have numbers on the walls.
Boarding craft do not have overshields in the back.
Keyes has a more somber tone of voice when telling everyone to abandon ship over the intercom.
The section where two crewmen are chased by Covenant instead has two deployable cover and no crewmen, just covenant.
Lifepods don't launch where you would normally see them launch.
There is an extra room directly in front of you after the sequence where you normally watch the lifepods launch and get shot in the final game.
When you're about to enter the maintenance tunnels, after "Follow the maintenance accessways", Cortana says "Head near" instead of telling you to follow the nav point.
Maintenance tunnels softlock you, as the 3 doors near the group of covenant do not open. On heroic, the doors don't open at all. On normal, the game opens the "safe" door... by one inch before stopping.
Crewmen t-pose sometimes.
Some (But not all) of the drink dispensers have a different texture, possibly a plate meant to close off the drink dispensers?
Cryo 2 control room has green gas in it.
Level ends when the covenant are killed near the lifeboats, instead of triggering when you get near the lifeboat after they're killed.
No grenade stockpile nor human shields in the area close to the lifeboats.
Ending cinematic is missing.

Halo[edit]

The following differences can be observed on the level Halo.

When loading the level normally, the intro cutscene does not play, which also breaks a few additional triggers early in the level. Using cheats to force the intro cutscene to play will fix this issue; the cutscene has no audio but is otherwise similar to retail.
No dead marines or pilot still strapped in the lifepod.
Exiting the lifepod and picking up a grenade will trigger the grenade tutorial; in retail, the grenade tutorial is instead triggered by picking up the grenade stockpile at the end of "The Pillar of Autumn".
The Spirit dropship that deploys troops at the crash site has dynamic behaviour. If the player leaves the area, the Spirit will instead move to intercept the player, deploying troops in front of them.
Tall grass (Not the ground texture, but the kind that stand up) has a different texture.
No ammo pile on the forerunner structure.
The Marines encountered can wield Shotguns.
The two Banshees that are meant to attack the player in the initial starting area have broken AI, causing them to fall to the ground aimlessly upon spawning, leading to these Banshees instead being present at the Forerunner structure with the first set of survivors.
Instead of "Damn, they're trying to flank us!", a marine says "Damn it! Another covenant landing craft to the rear!"
Cortana doesn't say anything about the lifepods flying overhead, nor asks for the warthog and men.
After clearing the quarry crash site, there is an additional conversation between a Marine and Cortana about "invisible monsters", that does not play in retai

[1]

Halo: Combat Evolved Beta 1749

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