Proto:Unreal/Build 0.864v

Build 0.864v is an Unreal prototype compiled in 1997. It is a barebones build leaked a few months before the game was released, and the only objects in this prototype are enemies. However, what is in there is different when compared to the final game. There are even a few leftovers from 1995-era builds of Unreal hidden in the texture files!

The .exe compile date is 5/23/97, which means it was made about 11 months before the final game came out.

General
Stuff that doesn't fit into anywhere else.

Editor
0.864v has a prototype version of UnrealEd in it. It's surprisingly close to the final, but has an error regarding the file “unreal.ucx”, which contains all of the Unreal Script in the game. With some hackery, a valid unreal.ucx can be made out of one of the levels, which lets the editor work properly.

Structural Differences
0.864v is structured very differently when compared to the other prototypes. All Unreal Script is compiled into a level, the graphics may be in a file called "unreal.gph", and there are multiple .exes for the game. The first .exe is called "Unreal.exe" and will not work unless it is put in the prototype's root directory, while the second one, UnServer.exe, actually starts the game when it is booted up. There is a Hardware 3d option as the chronologically first avaiable of the leaks. This works either on 3dfx cards or on a wrapper like nGlide. Many effects will stop working, but true colored lighting as opposed to zone lighting, will work.

Logo
When the game is started, it will display an early picture that has the Skaarj logo with “Unreal” in front of it. It seems that the Skaarj logo was going to be Unreal's at one point.

Another logo is hidden in UnServer.exe. The logo is used when the user sets up a server via unused options in the game's .dll files. It uses an "inverted" version of the Unreal 1995 Tech Demo's font.

Enemies
The meat of this prototype consists of the enemies and other characters, as they’re the only things that this prototype actually has. All but three enemies have no AI.

Skaarj
The Skaarj Warrior is present in the tech demo. While it behaves exactly like the final's, it has a much different skin. Instead of being a dark green, it is a light green and appears to be wearing ripped blue pants. The projectiles fired by the Skaarj are different as well; instead of firing orbs, it fires large crystal shards at the player.

Of note is that only its ranged attack and jump melee attack will harm the player. The jump attack will only harm the player if the player jumps and collides into the Skaarj while it's doing its jump melee attack.

Brute
The Brute has a much different skin and size compared to the finals. It is a large, brown, nude creature with red eyes, while the final's is an average-sized creature with armor and some sort of hair on it's top. Its guns are also shaped differently.

This enemy has AI, which lets it pursue the player and fire its guns at them. However, its attacks do no damage.

Slith
The 0.864v version of the Slith has green eyes, light skin and nothing on its tail, while the final's has dark blue eyes, dark skin and fins on its tail.

Warlord
The Warlord has various differences when compared to the final. The most notable of them is his gun; the 1997 tech demo's is much more round and has a stretched-out texture. There are other, more subtle changes as well; the 1997's versions eyes are darker, the back of the 1997's head isn't textured, and the lighter parts on the 1997 skin are darker when compared to the final's skin. The skin seems to be actually identical, the difference is in the way the engine makes it look like.

Queen
The Skaarj Queen's model is in the game, but she has only a placeholder texture. Her model seems identical to the final's.

Krall
The Krall has a vastly different skin in the 1997 tech demo, but the actual model appears to be the same, minus the 1997's large staff, which is caused by the "BMeshCurvy" variable being set to "true" when the level was complied. Some of the most notable changes include: no armor, no jewelery, a different-looking face texture, and a different staff blade texture. A modified version of this skin appeared in the 1998 prototype.

This creature has AI, but it is very broken. It can pursue the player, but tends to get stuck between models. If it does reach the player, it will rarely attack. In addition, its walk animation is broken (but works fine in the editor); when it is moving around, it will only play a few frames from its “run” animation, making it look like it's sliding across the floor.

Mercenary
The Mercenary's body texture is very similar to the final's, but its face is vastly different. It looks like a hockey mask. A slightly modified version of this skin appeared in the 1998 prototype as well.

Manta
The Manta has seemingly a vastly different skin, with darker wing and tail membranes, when compared to the final version's ingame skin appearance. The model is the same, though.

Nali
The Nali is almost completely different in the prototype. He looks a lot like a stereotypical African native. It was probably changed to the final's to make them look more alien and unique instead of looking like a four armed version of a Jim Crow-era stereotype of blacks.

Two similar skins appear in the 1998 prototype. Interestingly enough, if imported in the retail Unreal, the skins work with the final Nali model without a problem.

Nali Cow
The Nali Cow has a lighter skin in Biuld 0.864v.

Tentacle
The Tentacle has a much darker skin compared to the final's. In addition, the inner parts of its tentacles look more detailed when compared to the final version's.

Titan
The 1997 tech demo Titan has lighter skin and much smaller nostrils.

Fly
The Fly enemy is in the game, but it is the same as the final's.

Gasbag
Like the Fly, the Gasbag is in the game, but it's the same as the final model. Unlike most of the models in this prototype, it has its real animations instead of a placeholder animation.

Squid
The unused Squid appears in this tech demo.

Razorfish (Devilfish)
The Razorfish (alternate name for the final's Devilfish) appear as an entity in the game's log file when the player starts up FRED.UNR, but it has no model.

Hawk


The scrapped Hawk creature that appears in the 1998 prototype's files can be found in this tech demo. There are no differences between the 0.864v and 1998 prototype versions.

Unseen Enemies
This prototype also has a few enemies that never made it into either the 1998 prototype or the final game.

Blob


A weird-looking creature whose model is named Blob, with eyes on its side and a tentacle sprouting from its top. This enemy is not seen in either the final game nor any of the other prototypes. Unfortunately, the only animation for it in the prototype is it standing still, so it's impossible to see how it would've behaved or attacked.

Dragon


A neat-looking dragon. Unlike most of the models, it has animations, which show that it would be an air-based enemy. This creature appeared in a pre-release screenshot.

Interestingly enough, this enemy was one of the first enemies designed for Unreal. It can be seen in the earliest screenshot of the game, and is listed as an entity (as Red Dragon) in the 1995 tech demo's .dlls. Textures for this creature can be found on one of the skin textures used by the strange female model, as seen below.

Turret


A turret that never appears in the final game. The model has a temporary granite texture placed over it.

Firefly


This unused enemy has a model, but it's so small that you'd get a better view of it by looking at its texture. It probably would've been used as a harmless creature to build a level's atmosphere.

Characters
Build 0.864v has three player models in it.

Woman
A strange-looking female model can be found. It appears to be a strange-looking prototype version of the final's Gina model. However, what's interesting is that it appears to be a reskinned version of the Woman model that appeared in early 1995-1996-era screenshots. It seems that Epic reworked the woman from wearing tribal-looking gear to using her as an early version of the final Gina model before she was scrapped. This model is also used by the player, confirming that it is indeed the Woman model.

A small, real-life photo of a lady can be found on the Woman's first texture sheet. She was probably there to be used as a reference for whoever was designing the Woman's face.

A leftover texture from the original 1995 model can be found on one of the Dragon's texture sheets.

Gina
The final's Gina model appears in one of the levels, but it is the same as the final's.

Male
The final's Male1 player model is in the game, but his face texture is slightly different. The 0.864v version's eyes are more open and he appears to have a slight smirk on his face, while the final model's eyes are smaller and he isn't smirking at all. His belt is also less detailed on the 0.864v tech demo model.

Levels
The prototype has three levels, but one (Autorun.Unr), is a copy of another level, Unreal.unr.

Unreal.unr
Unreal.unr is a sandstone textured cube with a Skaarj in the middle. That's it.

FRED.UNR
FRED.UNR is notable only because it contains all of the enemies included in the tech demo. Otherwise, it is just a very large cube with strange-looking textures on it that aren't seen in the final game.

Weapons
There are no weapons usable in 0.864v, but there is a small Unreal Script entry for a flamethrower hidden in FRED.UNR. There is no flamethrower weapon in the final game.

Graphics


Outside of the enemies, the only graphic changed between the 0.864v and the final game is the status bar. The status bar is much less detailed compared to the final version's and no aspects of it can be moved by pressing the – or + keys.

This HUD appeared in 1996-1997 era screenshots.

Unused Effects
The engine has a few unused level effects that can be accessed via the editor.

Sky
Hidden in the game are two ways for it to render a sky. The first one shows a solid wall of clouds moving around, while the second one shows the clouds under the player's view and a black sky above the player. The first one was probably for most of the levels, while the second was probably for an area floating high in the sky (such as the final's Na Pali Heaven or the scrapped Sky City).

Controlling Other Enemies
With some messing around with scripts, you can take control of any enemy in the tech demo. This is quite buggy, but it does work. This is probably a leftover from when Unreal was going to allow you to transform into enemies in order to move around levels.