Editing Halo: Combat Evolved Beta 1749

{{Title|''Halo: Combat Evolved'' Beta 1749}}
{{Status|RealWorld}}
{{Series/Cut/HCE}}
'''Beta 1749''' was a beta build of the [[Xbox]] edition of ''[[Halo: Combat Evolved]]''. The build originates from around [[2001#August|August 15, 2001]]. It was succeeded by [[Halo: Combat Evolved Beta 2247|Beta 2247]].{{Ref/Site|D=01|M=6|Y=2020|URL=https://www.obscuregamers.com/threads/halo-combat-evolved-beta-1749.2513/post-15872|Site=Obscure Gamers|Page=Halo: Combat Evolved Beta 1749}}

==Beta content==
===Main menu===
[[File:Halo 1749 TitleScreen.png|thumb|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===
====Campaign general====
*[[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====
These changes can be observed in the level [[CE:The Pillar of Autumn|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:
<pre>
ATTN: Playtest Participants
If you would like to change your controller settings, ask a playtest staff member for assistance.
</pre>
*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 [[Type-33 needler|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.
*[[Jacob Keyes|Captain Keyes]] doesn't give you a [[M6D Magnum|pistol]], instead a crewman with one is gunned down by [[Unggoy|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 [[Chips Dubbo|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.
*[[Brhi Xur-pattern Leech|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====
The following differences can be observed on the level [[CE:Halo|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 retail. Cortana's voice lacks the radio effect that is usually applied to it when speaking to characters other than the Chief. This conversation was probably meant to foreshadow the existence of [[Stealth Elites]], but as they do not appear in this level the conversation was likely deemed perfunctory and so left out. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lt5JsuMzg8I Video]
<pre>
Marine: "Keep your voice down. They're out there..."
Cortana: "Who's out there? I can't detect any Covenant forces in the vicinity.”
Marine: "I don't know. They're... monsters, or something. Invisible monsters!"
</pre>
*There is a maze-like set of tunnels within the underground Forerunner structure just after passing the energy bridge. They are unfinished and are sealed off in the final game.
*Using the medusa cheat, or if the player somehow gains access to a Banshee, the Banshee can be piloted. In the final game, a script was implemented that made Banshees inaccessible to players on this level, even if the medusa cheat was used or they spawned one in. 
*The ending cutscenes are unfinished.
*Depending on what survivor area you leave till last, Echo 419 will take off without you. The ending cutscene still triggers after a few seconds anyway.

====The Truth and Reconciliation====
The following differences can be observed on the level [[CE:The Truth and Reconciliation|The Truth and Reconciliation]].
*The player spawns next to the Pelican when leaving it.
*The dialogue at the start of the level does not play until the player has left the Pelican. The dialogue sequence is also much longer, with much of the detail being cut down in the final version.
<pre>
Cortana: "The enemy has captured Captain Keyes, and are holding him aboard one of their cruisers, the Truth and Reconciliation. The ship is currently holding position approximately three hundred meters above the other end of this plateau."
Foehammer: "Touchdown in 10 seconds people, we're in Covenant territory now!".
Cortana: "All ground troops are clear of the ramps, pilot. we'll radio for resupply when we're inside the Covenant ship.”
Foehammer: "Roger that, moving to observation distance."
Cortana: "Sergeant, let's not go in guns blazing. You and your men hang back while the chief and I scout up ahead."
Sergeant Johnson: "Yes ma'am."
Cortana: "According to the topographic surveys I've obtained from the Covenant Battle Network, we should be able to access the Covenant battlecruiser Truth and Reconciliation on foot. Head through the series of plateaus and foot trails up ahead."
</pre>
*The dialogue that plays out as you scout the first area is also expanded from the shorter final version.
<pre>
Cortana: "Stick to the higher ground on the right. We should be able to recon the Covenant position without being spotted. Warning: I'm detecting Covenant Stationary Guns near the next pass. I recommend using your Sniper Rifle to take out the gunners while I call for Marine support. Cortana to Fireteam Charlie. This is Cortana, do you read?"
Sergeant Johnson: "Fireteam Charlie, read you five-by-five. Go ahead."
Cortana: "Get ready to move in to support us, Sergeant. The Master Chief is going to covertly take out as many of the Covenant as he can. Don't open fire until you hear the enemy return fire on us. That should let us keep the element of surprise."
</pre>
*According to debug text, the Hunters dropping onto the [[Gravity lift]] platform was supposed to be a cutscene.
*In the ship's gravity lift lobby, some [[Covenant supply case]]s are lopsided, floating, clipping in ground, etc.
*During the encounter in the lobby of the ''Truth and Reconciliation'', no sword-wielding Elites spawn.
*After fighting through the ship's hangar, the game will throw up a massive amount of lighting errors that will cause the game's performance to tank.
*The cutscene in which you rescue Keyes is mostly complete, but the game fails to make the player model invisible during it, resulting in a scene with two Master Chiefs.
*After that cutscene, Captain Keyes will fail to spawn in, which results in an infinite loop of game overs as the game assumes he is dead. Using cheats to spawn a Captain Keyes model and give him AI allows the remainder of the level to be played.
*None of the Marines who were imprisoned alongside Keyes will carry any weapons after the cutscene.
*Upon returning to the ship's bridge, the Stealth Elites occupying it will be accompanied by a pair of Grunts on the lower level.
*No dialogue will play upon clearing the bridge, and Covenant enemies will swarm into the room as soon as you do so. The dialogue that was supposed to play on the bridge will instead play once you return to the hangar, and is slightly longer. The extended line about the dropship's docking clamp controls being on the second floor may have been cut to avoid confusion for international audiences, as while the claim is true in British English, audiences used to the American English format would instead think of the controls as being on the third floor.
<pre>
Cortana: "Yes, Captain. There's a Covenant dropship still docked, and the docking clamp controls are on the second floor. We need to get down there and deactivate them.”
</pre>
*The docking clamp controls do not function, making it impossible to finish this level normally.
*The final cutscene more humorous in nature, with Keyes crashing into a wall as he struggles to figure out the ship's controls instead of him intentionally ramming a pair of Hunters. The dialogue in this scene is also very different.
<pre>
Cortana: "That's it. The dropship is loose."
Keyes: "Everybody, mount up! Let's get onboard."
Cortana: "Captain, you haven't flown a small craft since the academy.”
Keyes: "Do I look like a cadet fresh out the academy? Okay, let's see... Pitch and yaw controls should be here... No, that's not it. Ah! Here we go. Hold on to yer butts people!”
</pre>

====The Silent Cartographer====
The following differences can be observed on the level [[CE:The Silent Cartographer|The Silent Cartographer]].
*Doors lights don't glow red when locked.
*The door hiding the [[Sangheili Zealot|Elite Zealot]] locks as soon as you enter the hallway instead of there being a delay.
*The window in this hallway has no invisible barrier, you can jump through it.
*[[Bravo 022]], the Pelican that crashes after you open the door, drops several Marines in addition to weapons. It does not have a Warthog.
*Aside from the one dropped off by Echo 419, there are no Warthogs in the level.
*[[Karo'etba-pattern Ghost|Ghosts]] spawn on the level, and in excess. Possessing one can easily break the level, especially during cutscenes, and this is likely why no Ghosts are present on the level in the final game.
*There are no overshields, ammo piles, or health packs where you first encounter Hunters.
*There's no overshield just outside the map room.
*The Zealot is dead when you arrive at the previously locked door.
*No cutscene exists when accessing the cartographer, and the hologram of Halo is slightly smaller, higher up and slightly off center.
*Not killing the Jackals in the area where Foehammer begins to lower her Pelican during the ending cutscene will cause the Jackals to be present in the cutscene and shoot at the Pelican as its descending. This is rectified in the final game, with a script implemented to instantly delete all NPCs the moment the cutscene starts.
*Due to the ability to pause during cutscenes in this build, it is possible to break the AI across the entire level by restarting the mission in the middle of a cutscene. This will disable all AI across the level, leaving enemies frozen in a T-pose. It also breaks numerous mission scripts, and may have contributed to Bungie removing the ability to pause during cutscenes.

====Assault on the Control Room====
The following differences can be observed on the level [[CE:Assault on the Control Room|Assault on the Control Room]].
*Notably, this level is called "Fortress World" in this release.
*Intro cutscene is fairly unfinished, Grunt doesn't sniff the air, yelp, or panic. The group of grunts, however, still flee into the door.
*Top of the roof seems to have a different color for the water.
*There are two Banshees at the starting platform.
*No Pelican at the bottom of the shaft. Many more dead grunts though.
*Many more grunts on the starting platform.
*No sleeping grunts at the first bridge.
*Hunter in the pathway to the first elevator.
*No Wraith attacking the group of marines with a warthog.
*The Banshee at the first bridge is present on all difficulties, instead of just Heroic and Legendary.
*It seems to be impossible to slide down the canyon early at the first bridge. The fall timer kicks in before you even get to the ledge. In the final game, the fall timer won't kick in until after you've bounced off the ledge.
*The area with the small, cut out ledge under the bridge that you jump to before the attempting the slide is darker.

====343 Guilty Spark====
The following differences can be observed on the level [[CE:343 Guilty Spark|343 Guilty Spark]].
*No Covenant near entrance, nor Marines firing at the from the entrance. Marines instead fire from various doors inside the facility.
*Fog starts further from the player, map isn't as dark.
*SOS transmission from crashed Pelican doesn't cut out as much.
*[[Victor 933|Crashed Pelican]] is deeper into the ground.
*Intro dialogue is different.
*Elevator floor is more of a grate than a window.
*Control panels seem to be tagged right instead of displaying "need string.”
*Lighting in facility is unfinished.
*Somewhat different layout in the facility.
*[[Paranoid Marine]] is armored, doesn't talk, is in a different location, and is very easy to miss.
*The dead [[Wallace Jenkins|Jenkins]] corpse in the flood reveal cutscene is invisible.
*"Postmortem sensory record" instead of normal helmet recording intro text.
*The helmet recording cutscene has "Get stabbed" error, but continues anyway.
*The helmet recording cutscene has no borders, text is slightly below the center of the screen.
*The floating assault rifles normally seen at the entrance to the facility in final are now visible in the helmet recording cutscene instead, shooting the marines.
*The dead elite in the helmet recording cutscene is instead a dead Marine.
*Covenant enemies left alive in the cutscene room where the marines examine the dead marine will kill the marines and Captain Keyes the moment they spawn in during the cutscene, although dialogue will continue to be spoken and the cutscene will progress as if nothing happened, although with the camera aimed at the floor.
*Keyes is in his [[UNSC Navy Service Uniform|bridge uniform]]; curiously, in ''[[Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary]]'' version of the scene, it features Keyes with his bridge uniform.
*One of the Marines t-poses randomly in the cutscene.
*Debug text spams "YOU SHOULDNT DO THIS!!!" during the transition from the dead marine scene to the Flood ambush scene.
*The cutscene room where the marines examine the dead marine can still be reaccessed, and contains Flood enemies. Oddly enough, while inaccessible in the final game, using no-clip, one can discover that Bungie did not delete the Flood enemies that spawn in there.
*There is an unused elevator room with the elevator itself missing. In the final game, this room is still present but inaccessible. Strangely enough, in the final game, fire effects were added to the damaged controls which weren't present in 1749.
*Upon taking the final elevator when escaping the containment facility, you encounter a small group of Marines fleeing a swarm of [[Flood Infection Forms]]. In the final game, you instead meet a much larger group of Marines taking shelter.
*[[Foehammer]] has one additional line of dialogue after the Chief escapes the containment facility, plus an extension to a line that was shortened in the final game. Most interestingly, the way Foehammer appears to address the Chief directly appears to indicate that he was intended to have voiced dialogue during gameplay, something that doesn't happen until ''[[Halo 4]]''.
<pre>
Foehammer: "Negative, Master Chief. I have no visual on you, and the swamp's canopy is too thick. I can't see anyway through, wait one...".
Foehammer: "Okay Chief, there's a large tower a few hundred meters from your current position. Find a way above the fog and foliage canopy and I can move in and pick you up."
</pre>
*343 Guilty Spark introduces themselves as '342 Guilty Spark', and continues to be called this throughout all dialogue. In [https://youtu.be/9ndZbg8Mr-Q?t=2156 a video] released by IGN, [[Martin O'Donnell]] explains that this was the result of an error made in the game's script which caused [[Tim Dadabo]] to record all of his lines as '342'. Prior to the final version, O'Donnell corrected all of the relevant lines by repeating the first '3' in the place of the '2'.

====The Library====
The following differences can be observed on the level [[CE:The Library|The Library]].
*Lighting seems unfinished.
*Guilty Spark's flare is much bigger, obscuring him if you're not near him.
*Guilty spark has some dialogue missing.
*Guilty spark does not react to you shooting him.

====Two Betrayals====
The following differences can be observed on the level [[CE:Two Betrayals|Two Betrayals]].
*No intro cutscene.
*You start this level with an Assault Rifle and a Shotgun, instead of a Plasma Pistol and Shotgun like in retail. This helps to explain the discrepancy in retail, where the Chief uses an Assault Rifle in the intro cutscene but lacks it in gameplay.
*The Sentinels at the start of the level do not spawn until you walk forward slightly. The number of Sentinels you encounter also vary based on difficulty, with 4 appearing on Normal, 6 on Heroic and 9 on Legendary. In retail, this number is fixed at 4.
*From this level onwards, there is far less implemented voice dialogue, with placeholder debug text often taking its place. This debug text generally follows the final script, but is far more casual and comedic in tone. For example, Cortana explains that the Rocket Launchers you find next to some dead [[Flood Combat Forms]] belonged to a heavy weapons squad led by "Major Whacker".
*Big doors leading to the control room have glass in them.
*On the canyon bridge within the first canyon containing the control room, there are a pair of Elite majors with needlers fending off wave after wave of Flood carrier forms.
*The second and third pulse generator rooms have entirely different layouts to them. The second pulse generator room consists of two rooms with a dark corridor connecting them, while the third consists of two rooms with a short elevator ride connecting them. 
*A secret, unused pulse generator room using an identical layout to the 1749 version of the second pulse generator room is located directly across from it. This is present in the final game, although the door is locked: the door is unlocked in 1749. 
*The Sentinel encounter outside of the third pulse generator room is absent.

====Keyes====
The following differences can be observed on the level [[CE:Keyes|Keyes]].
*The level's menu description is different:
<pre>
Bring back the head of the Captain.
</pre>
*No intro cutscene.
*The starting loadout is the Assault Rifle and Pistol. In the final game, it is the Assault Rifle and Plasma Pistol.
*[[Captain Keyes]] has no lines of dialogue in this mission. Cortana's lines at the start of the level are also very different, and is much more direct about Keyes' death. Combined with the level\s menu description, this indicates that the decision to make Keyes barely clinging on to life throughout the mission was a very late one.
<pre>
Cortana: I can read the Captain's CNI transponder; he's in the control room. But I'm not detecting any human life signs...
</pre>
*The cutscenes in which the Chief escapes and reenters the ship are simply placeholders, displaying an image of the main menu's background along with a funny line of debug text.
<pre>
[Falling out the ship] I can see my house from here! *splash*
[Entering the ship] See? See? There's my house!
</pre>
*The lighting underneath the ship is very unfinished, with the environment being very bright.
*Cortana's line after falling out of the ship contains a typo which was corrected and re-recorded before release.
<pre>
Cortana: Let's get out of here and find another back [sic] aboard the ship.
</pre>
*AI Banshees near the grav lift swoop by in a sortie against Flood forces on the ground in what appears to be a scripted event. In the final game, this event seems to have been replaced with the unique crashed Banshee instead.
*Upon re-entering the ship, Cortana's line uses a calmer take and also features additional detail in the middle that was excised from the final version of the line:
<pre>
Cortana: We should be able to get into the ship's control room from here. Wait a moment... We went through the doors on the right the last we were here. This is a different route.