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Talk:Perfect Dark (Nintendo 64, Xbox 360)

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Why does this article say this?

"It can also be considered an excellent example of what happens if you play a resource-intensive game on a less-than-capable console. It's a shame, because the game is critically appraised in all other aspects. "

I don't understand this line. There's no "shame" anywhere, PD runs great on a very capable console. It got a 9.8 on IGN. If you want to change these lines to "XBLA version runs this at 60 fps fine", but this line is really a turn-off for people viewing an article, who obviously come to this page for beta stuff. Should only be facts, not opinions.

Please sign your posts and please post under the menu, not above it. To sign, just type ~~~~ after you're done writing. ReyVGM (talk) 21:19, 3 January 2016 (EST)

Tons of unused stuff here too.

I know that a great number of things exist in the game's data that are unused and what-not. There's an unused head (which I plan on yoinking at some point soon), things related to the face mapper feature that the game was supposed to have, but was scrapped, many things of unused text, and I'm quite certain there's other random goodies still to be found in there, such as unused faces and stuff.

Unfortunately, I don't think there's a site like the Beta Goldeneye site to help us with this one, so looks like it'll have to be peered into the old-fashioned way. -- Rick 15:30, 13 May 2010 (EDT)

At least there's a level editor for PD. It makes finding stuff quite a bit easier. -- Prince Kassad 16:26, 13 May 2010 (EDT)
Gameboy camera mode info is here http://web.archive.org/web/20091027113813/http://geocities.com/subdrag1/facemap.htm and here http://www.therwp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1672 Jaytheham 16:32, 9 February 2011 (EST)

If anyone reads this, I have the unused music pieces, just need to know what bitrate/size to aim for. Shinisuryu 10:14, 31 July 2011 (EDT)

Unused Carrington Speech in article

has dead links. I suppose this is an issue! Just pointing it out as they've been dead for a little while I think, but no one's seemed to have noticed, or at least done anything 'bout them.--Celice 02:54, 18 February 2012 (EST)

Oversight in The Duel

I recently read about an oversight in the bonus mission "The Duel." Basically, in the round where Jonathan is your opponent, he'll never be able to hit you since he's still being treated as an ally by the game. It made me curious as to whether any of the revisions fixed it or if all versions treat him that way. Wxbryant

sounds wrong to me because I've been killed by him many times (v1.0 most likely; I don't think I have v1.1) --Freem inc 22:16, 6 February 2013 (EST) (edit: I just turned on Perfect Dark, did The Duel™ on Perfect Agent, and Jonathan killed me without any remorse.)
Hm, weird. I tried it when I first read about it a few weeks ago and he couldn't hurt me. That was on Special Agent, though, so I tried it again on Perfect Agent just now and he still couldn't hurt me. The targeting reticule even turned blue as it does for allies. I'm sure mine is a v1.0 as well since it exhibits the bug with Trent in Crash Site's outro. So, basically, it sounds like some versions did fix that oversight. Wxbryant
I'm pretty sure Jonathan is flagged as an ally in both NA versions and can only kill you with melee attacks. I have a 1.1 cart and I'm almost certain I had the bug; pretty sure he's even like that in the XBLA port. I'll try the mission out on every version when I get a chance, since it's something I hadn't thought to test before. --Dragonsbrethren 23:38, 6 February 2013 (EST)

I tested all four N64 versions and all of them exhibited this behavior. I added it to the article under the oddities section. One version difference did exist, though: The Japanese version's objective two just lists his name as Jonathan, as in the rest of the game, instead of Jonathan Dark. --Dragonsbrethren 15:51, 7 February 2013 (EST)

Upon further review, you are correct. I was thinking of Trent Easton for some reason earlier. --Freem inc 12:59, 8 February 2013 (EST)
The really interesting thing is why Jonathan behaves the way he does. It seems like characters with his head are hardcoded to target/be targeted like an ally. The Jonathan character object used in The Duel does not have the ally bit set, and in fact is identical to the guard and Trent. If you replace his head with a different one on the same body, he can kill Joanna with ease, and if you stick his head on one of the other characters, he can't. It's strange that Jon's head is set up like this, and makes me wonder if any other friendlies are, because the game has a bit for ally targeting, so there's no reason to hardcode it to a head model like this. --Dragonsbrethren 17:38, 8 February 2013 (EST)
I haven't played the game in a while, but doesn't Jonathan don disguises in one of the game's missions? Perhaps early in development, he had more disguises than he does in the final version. I posit this because perhaps it would've been easier forcing an ally-flag without having to configure an entire NPC, so they went with making the head that forced-flag? Actually, perhaps his disguises would've been a bit more... dynamic? Perhaps changing multiple times in a level, or on a more theoretical aspect, perhaps he could've taken out enemies, either in gameplay or during a cutscene, and rather than loading new NPC's, they just replace the head and let the game continue on?
It may seem a strange choice now, but perhaps it was regarded as a more efficient one earlier in development. It'd be cool to find out, or also to see what else flags as a forced-ally in the game! --Celice 04:42, 9 February 2013 (EST)

The 1999 beta footage

A while ago, a 34 minute video clip of a 1999 beta version of Perfect Dark appeared on the internet. It shows the first 3 missions, and there are some significant differences between the beta and the final game. There is stuff like simplistic names, lack of capitalisation with weapon names, different weapon sounds, different voice acting, missing Data Uplink model, placeholder shield tech item, and what sounds like different musical arrangements on Datadyne: Defection. One of the most interesting differences, in my opinion, is that fact that masked enemies have a 'muffled' voice in the beta, and their barks are unique. In the final game, all the guards sound the same. I assume this was a memory saving measure, but it's very interesting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MR5Jcf6oIoA

Does this sort of stuff belong on this wiki? Should it be perhaps placed on its own 1999 beta page?--Ambient Malice 01:15, 13 March 2013 (EDT)

Cheese

I thought it was fairly well known, even stated by one of the developers, that you were meant to collect all the cheese to unlock something, which ended up being cut? Or is that just a myth? 04:41, 13 June 2013 (EDT)

Just a myth. The only official explanation for the cheese I know of is that it was something one of the artists slipped into parts of the levels they thought looked cheesy. --Dragonsbrethren 14:53, 13 June 2013 (EDT)
Oh, and I suppose this also qualifies as an official answer:
"Alternatively, you could think of it as being for the big mouse who lives in your cartridge."
--Dragonsbrethren 17:24, 13 June 2013 (EDT)

Rooftop and level oddities

The page currently lists three unused levels: Retaking the Institute, Skedar and Rooftop. I am interested if the Rooftop arena can be found within the game as for Cradle, Statue and Citadel on GoldenEye 007. The Perfect Dark page says a text string found alongside those used for the other Combat Simulator arenas is all that remains of Rooftop. However, GoldenEye's Citadel was also long thought to have been removed from the game because the only remnants were two text strings found alongside those of the other multiplayer levels. Thus I still think there is a possibility of being able to play the Rooftop arena.

Also, the page seems to be missing information about oddities found while playing missions. For example, in Air Base - Espionage there is a fourth useless elevator room with a window that overlooks Air Force One. There is no use of this fourth level in the final game; a beta leftover? Also, if you play Air Base - Espionage and go to the area after where you put the Briefcase there is a locked door on the left that can only can be opened by a guard. Once you get past the locked door there is a man sitting on a chair in a room near the safe that talks to you. But after you shut down the security monitoring system to complete an objective the door is unlocked and you will find this man killed. The weird thing about this is that he was obviously programmed to talk to you but you never get to see him alive while playing the level normally. I am guessing at one point during beta this door was never locked.

Another similar oddity is a small empty room in Pelagic II past the end scene. It can be found on the opposite side of the pool by climbing stairs. I suppose this was the original starting point? Also, if you use your x-ray scanner at the bottom of these stairs looking towards the wall you will see a door that appears to be blocked off. Maybe you were meant to take this door instead of the other door on the other side of the pool before Rare extended the hallway filled with enemies? PD (talk) 23:26, 4 May 2014 (EDT)

There's nothing left of Rooftop – unlike before Citadel had been discovered, Perfect Dark has been ripped apart pretty good now, there's only one unused bg file and it's definitely not Rooftop. I did intend to add it to the article at some point, but it barely warrants mention: It's a giant square made of two tris textured with one of the CI hangar floor textures. Even around the time Citadel was discovered, this unused background was known, so Rooftop likely would have already been found if it existed, long before SubDrag made the editor.
As for the level oddities, feel free to add them (keep in mind there's a subpage for things by mission), but we don't speculate here. Unless there's actual evidence that something was used in such a way (screenshots/videos, info from a developer, leftover behavior in the action blocks, unused pads, etc.), it's best to just document it and don't try to come up with an explanation. One mystery I never got around to solving in Air Base is the CIA Agent. He's there clear as day in the setup file, but gets removed by something and I never got around to figuring out what. --Dragonsbrethren (talk) 15:06, 5 May 2014 (EDT)
I failed on finding a subpage for level oddities. There is this but that is for unused content rather than oddities. PD (talk) 02:57, 6 May 2014 (EDT)
That's the subpage I was referring to. What you're describing are unused sections of levels and things that are normally inaccessible. The subpage you already covers plenty of things like that. I made the subpage for organization purposes, so that everything related to a specific level/mission could be grouped together. There's nothing wrong with mentioning oddities there, even if they're not technically unused content. --Dragonsbrethren (talk) 04:57, 6 May 2014 (EDT)
Are there any pads for the empty rooms in Air Base and Pelagic II? Just wondering if there was ever something in them. PD (talk) 05:54, 6 May 2014 (EDT)

Xbox 360 version

Is the Xbox 360 version content-for-content identical? - Andlabs (talk) 18:20, 25 February 2015 (EST)

As far as we know, yes. Someone dumped the file table for the port, and it's identical to the N64 version, including the unused models. I don't believe there's been any other progress in actually modifying the 360 version, though (for instance to see if the unused models have been updated). --Dragonsbrethren (talk) 18:41, 25 February 2015 (EST)

Web Secrets

Is it at all possible to hack passed the username and password screens on the datadyne and curringtoninstitute sites, and if so will there even be anything there as it is archived and not the original site,(would any data beyond the login screen be cached in the wayback) --Shadowninja938 12:50, 8 December 2017

Unused map? (or just something stupid)

In Goldeneye Setup editor, if you open file pdbgfilesfull/platform_bgcomp.bin and open visual editor, you will find something strange. It looks like something from Area52/Skedar? Is it unused (i haven't played all missions in PD)???. Unfortunately moving controls in visual editor are so stupid, i can't almost move around --Commonassetfileformat (talk) 14:52, 8 June 2018 (EDT)

Which file is it exactly? I don’t see a file with that name anywhere —ho-tee (talk) 21:20, 22 August 2022 (UTC)

Elvis Oddity?

Some other website mentioned that on a mission with Elvis, obtaining the farsight (through cheating, I assume) you can track him throughout the level, at some point he then runs up to and gets killed by a clone of himself, who then resumes doing Elvisy things. Killing either results in a "Mission Failed". From a programming standpoint, I assume this is a hack for limited pathfinding / coding, or a cheap way to "heal" Elvis for the next leg of the mission, but still, very odd. --PlNG (talk) 23:02, 25 August 2019 (EDT)

dataDyne and Surrounding City

You can actually explore the city from the opening cutscene to dataDyne Central Defection. You need to enable the moonjump Gameshark cheat, and jump straight off the helipad. Continue straight towards the edge of the map, and eventually the city behind you will unload, and the cutscene city will load! You are able to get closeup looks at the signage including the infamous "Anal Land" sign, as well as turn the lights off to the whole city by shooting the light on the taxi pad. There is only one area with collisions, and that is the narrow red tunnel which the CI dropship flys through in the cutscene. The player can stand on the steel floor, but will otherwise fall to their death if they don't keep jumping. --Circumscription (talk) 10:28, 26 July 2022 (EDT)

A question on unused music

The GoldenEye page has a song that can only be heard in multiplayer, which is Jungle’s original music. Could we do this for songs in Perfect Dark? For example, Crash Site X isn’t used in Crash Site, but can be heard in Combat Simulator. Same goes with Pelagic II X. —-ho-tee (talk) 17:33, 25 August 2022 (UTC)

And dataDyne Research X. Let's not forget about that, OK? --Morrigan Aensland-Hill (talk) 17:52, 25 August 2022 (UTC)
True. Where are Skedar Mystery and dataDyne Action used, anyway? --ho-tee (talk) 20:30, 26 August 2022 (UTC)