Dino Crisis (PlayStation)

Dino Crisis
Developer: Capcom Production Studio 4 Publisher: Capcom Platform: PlayStation Released in JP: July 1, 1999 Released in US: August 31, 1999 Released in EU: October 29, 1999 This game has unused areas. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused items. This game has unused sounds. This game has unused text. This game has regional differences. This game has revisional differences. This game has anti-piracy features. This game has a prerelease article

To do: Check the unused sound files in console versions (there are a lot). Prerelease material Revisional Differences between Dino Crisis (USA) and Dino Crisis (USA) (Rev1)

It's Resident Evil... but with dinosaurs!

Dino Crisis is a Survival Horror game directed and produced by Shinji Mikami, the creator of Resident Evil. The game has a lot in common with its predecessor but pushes the survival mechanics to their extreme.

Released for PlayStation on July 1st, 1999, and ported to Dreamcast and Windows in 2000.

A 5th Anniversary edition was released on July 1st, 2004 only in Japan. This edition contains the first two games for PlayStation and a bonus DVD. The game is identical to the original release, but the bonus DVD contains the FMVs of both games in high resolution and a video quality better than in any version of the games. It also contains video storyboards of some of the FMVs and video interviews of two of the developers.

A second Windows version was released only in Japan in 2006, it is known as the Sourcenext version, by the name of the developers of that version. The Windows ports offer the possibility to play both the Original Japanese version of the game and the Arrange international version, as well as exclusive Hard and Very Hard difficulty settings. Among other things: on Hard the player starts with the Shotgun, and on Very Hard the player starts with all three weapons and can find a lot more ammunition for them, however enemy respawns are more numerous. The Windows versions also offer an extra game mode for the Operation Wipe Out battle mini-game called Operation Wipe Out Internet.

Sub-Pages

Prerelease Info

Unused Items

There is a GameShark code that gives you every item in the game, including some that otherwise go unused. Enter the following code for the US version, then play as Regina.

800C15A4 FFFF
800C15A6 FFFF
800C15AC FFFF
800C15AE FFFF
800C15B0 FFFF
800C15B2 FFFF
800C15B4 FFFF
800C15B6 FFFF
800C15B8 FFFF
800C15BA FFFF
800C15BC FFFF

Locker Room Key

A key for the Locker Room door. Goes unused as the door is already unlocked.

Rather than opening the room itself, possibly the key was meant for a locker inside the room. Indeed, upon completion of the game, both screens which indicate to the player that he is awarded new costumes show Regina changing clothes in the locker room, with the lockers opened. This would be similar to the first Resident Evil which awards the Special Key for costumes while showing a picture of the room in which to use it. Instead, Dino Crisis opted for a sub-menu in which costumes can be selected when starting or loading a game, hence why the key would be unused.

There is a third background image showing Regina in the locker room with one of the lockers opened, it was used for the score table of the Operation Wipe Out mini-game.

Unknown Item

Has no name or image. The icon in the menu is the same as the keys. Likely intended as a placeholder.

Key Card Lv. D

At some point, there was supposed to be another Key Card for the Security doors in the S3/S2 levels.

Unknown Battery

A green battery, purpose unknown.

Uncharged Red Battery

You already pick up a charged red battery in the room "Backup Generator Room B1", so this item goes completely unused.

The uncharged Startup Battery R. can be used and charged in either the 1F or B1 Backup Generator Room. When charging it, a small animation with a sound plays, which does not occur when attempting to charge an already charged battery. Once the battery is charged, it can be picked-up and turns into the charged Startup Battery R.

When charging the battery in the 1F Backup Generator Room, a message appears once the battery is fully charged. Oddly, this message does not appear when doing the same thing in the B1 Backup Generator Room.

Alternate Red Battery

Another red battery. It shares the same description as the white battery item.

Unused Rooms

Room	Video
Elevator Secret room named "Elevator".. Seems like it is an early version of "Port" with no collisions, no footstep sounds, and a different door.
Hidden Room #2 It looks like an early version of "Control Room B3". Not much can be explored since if you get too close to the two doors the game will load again the map, in an infinite loop.

(Source: source needed)

Unused Textures

An unused emergency shutter exists in the "Hallway S1" room texture file.

An unused door (bottom-left) exists in the "Lecture Room Hallway" room texture file.

(Source: SuperFrizzio)

Unused Sounds

Unused Speech in Control Room Hall

Cut conversation between Regina and Rick in the Control Room Hall. It was probably meant to be triggered after the cutscene with Gail in the Training Room.

Unused Speech in Experiment Simulation Room

Another cut conversation, this time between Regina and Gail. Seems like Gail would have entered the room after Regina and then immediately return back to the Computer Room.

Unused Speech in Researcher Rest Room

Small cut speech, involving Regina and Gail. Judging by the conversation, Regina was supposed to catch Gail taking a nap/relaxing in one of the beds of the room.

Unused Speech in Port

No such speech is played in this room. An almost identical version of this speech is played in the "Computer Room".

Unused Door Animations

There are a few hidden door animations hidden in the game, all included in the several releases of Dino Crisis.

Info	Image
ID 32 Quite similar to the door used in the 1F Facility Backyard but with two doors instead of one.
ID 74 Not much is known about this unused door animation. No footstep sounds are played and no textures/3D model are present.
ID 89 As you can't go back to the Liaison Elevator No.2, this door animation goes unused.
ID 102 While it shares the same texture as the doors of the B1 laboratories, the sound is different.

Hidden Text

Room	Text	Explanation
Management Office	I don't need to check here anymore...	Supposedly meant to be scripted after you pick up the Card next to the dead body. With some scripts it's possible to restore the message.
Lecture Room Hallway	Rest Area Ahead: Training Room Most of the body has been devoured.	The first hidden script was meant to be triggered if you check the black sign next to the vending machines. Due to a programming error, the script played is the same as the other black sign to the other side of the room. The second script was meant to be triggered if you check the dead body, but it goes unused.
Backyard of the Facility	You have handed Gail the key to the Backup	This line wasn't even properly finished. Most likely meant to be scripted after the second cutscene with Gail.
Elevator Hall	An elevator that descends into the Laboratory Area. It seems that you cannot operate this elevator without the correct ID Card data.	While similar text exists (An elevator that descends into the Laboratory Area. A researcher's ID Card is required to operate this elevator.), this one goes unused.
Communication Room	It seems to be a communications panel. Will you operate the panel?	No such script is played during normal gameplay. It's possible that you had to activate the communication panel by yourself, instead of a cutscene.
Medical Room	Charts and files of patients are neatly filed. A file full of notes written by doctors. Will you read the file?	Both scripts are unused. The second line is quite different compared to the one used during normal gameplay.
Liaison Elevator No.1	Will you press the switch?	Originally, you could use this elevator again. It is fully functional but you can't normally access it as the door leading to is closed. One of the very first trailers for this game shows Regina using this elevator alone.
Backup Generator Room B1	A battery charger. Unfortunately, it is broken and cannot be used. The battery charging has been completed.	Both lines are unused as you already pick up a fully charged battery in this room.
Stabilizer Experiment Room	You have used the Key Card.	Most likely meant to be played when you open the door in the other side of the room.
Power Freq. Room	Machines that regulate the energy control devices.	Another hidden text, probably due to a programming mistake.
General Weapons Storage	It's a container that holds weapons and other parts produced at this facility.	Supposedly meant to be triggered if you check the big container next to the door.
Central Stairway	An ID Card is necessary.	None of the doors in this room require an ID Card.
Large Size Elevator	There is something behind the body.	Probably unused because the two key items in this room next to the corpses are fully visible.

Regional Differences

Inventory Menu

Japanese NTSC-J	International

Regina's avatar looks different in the Japanese version.

Room "Hangar"

Japanese NTSC-J	International

In the Hangar before the Heliport, three boxes were added in the international version, two of which the player has to move.

Map

Japanese NTSC-J	International

In the Japanese version of the game, room names are displayed along with the floor number on the map.

D.D.K

Japanese NTSC-J	International

• The Japanese version a very stylized font. It was changed in favour of a bolder and easier to read font for the international version. Note also the brighter colour scheme.
• CODE Disk was changed to CODE Disc. As a consequence the blue overlay was made slightly larger.

Codes & Passwords

	Japanese	International
Management Office Safe	0375	0426
Lounge Safe	7687	8159
Computer Room Lock Code	5037	7248
Mark Doyle's ID Number	47812	57036
Paul Baker's ID Number	46907	58104
Doctor Kirk's ID Number	78814	31415

Several codes and passwords were changed for the international version of the game.

Difficulty

The game went through a series of balance changes for the international release:

• While damage dealt by enemies is semi-randomized, the damage values can be higher in the international version.
• There is more ammunition in the international version.
• In the Japanese version, Resuscitation is an extremely rare item that the player can only find once or twice in the entire game. In the international version, there is about 15 of them total, most of them are found in item boxes though a few are pick-up items in the wild. This makes up for the difference in number of continues between two versions (5 versus 30), but can also give an advantage to players of the international version considering the other use that can be made out of the Resuscitation item.
• Although it may not be obvious at first due to the semi-random nature of some of the pick-up item placements and their content, but some of them do differ between the two versions.

Number of Continues

Japanese NTSC-J	International

The number of continues is drastically higher in the Japanese version of the game.

Item Boxes

The content of item boxes can vary in the international version of the game compared to the Japanese version.

• A total of 11 Resuscitation can be found in the boxes of the international version while there are none in the Japanese version.
• Item boxes also have a bit more ammo in the international version.

Green Boxes

All five green item boxes contain Resuscitation items in the international version, while there are none in the Japanese version.

• Control Room Hall: +2x Resuscitation
• Research Area Hall: +2x Resuscitation
• Experiment Room Hall: +1x Resuscitation
• Power Freq. Room: +1x Resuscitation
• Central Stairway: +1x Resuscitation

Red Boxes

In the international version, compared to the Japanese version:

• Elevator Hall: +17x 9mm Parabellum, +5x SG Bullets
• Communication Room: +5x SG Bullets
• Main Hallway B1: +5x SG Bullets
• Experiment Room Hall: +5x Slag Bullets
• Control Room B3: +3x Heat Bullets

Yellow Boxes

In the international version, compared to the Japanese version:

• Strategy Room: +1x Resuscitation, +3x An. Dart M, -1x Hemostat
• Control Room B3: +1x Resuscitation
• Underground Heliport: +1x Resuscitation
• Hovercraft: +1x Resuscitation

Text in the Wipeout Mode

Italian Version	Other Versions

For some inexplicable reason, checking the evacuation point in Wipeout Mode before killing every dinosaur in the level displays random numbers in the Italian version, as opposed to the proper script in other versions.

Revisional Differences

There are two NTSC-U versions:

• In v1.1 the incorrect piracy warning is fixed.

D.D.K

American NTSC-U 1.0	American NTSC-U 1.1

A small visual glitch on the top left of the D.D.K screen was introduced in v1.1.

Room Hall B1

Japanese NTSC-J & American NTSC-U 1.0	American NTSC-U 1.1

In the 1.1 version, some details were added in the Main Hall B1. Also, one of the lights is glitched.

Cutscene Version

Japanese NTSC-J & American NTSC-U 1.0	American NTSC-U 1.1 & PAL

If the player chooses to follow Gail, he can reach the Hall B1 room a bit earlier and a cutscene is triggered. The version of the room used in this case is a different version than the one that is accessed later on by using the elevator. It is an earlier version of the room which is made evident by the lack of the floor map on the wall, as seen in prerelease material.

Version 1.1 uses an updated version of the room, though oddly it still doesn't match with the version of the room visited during later gameplay. Some details were updated like the lighting on and above the board, or on the floor.

Japanese NTSC-J & American NTSC-U 1.0	American NTSC-U 1.1 & PAL

In v1.1 a blue file can be seen on the counter, while there is none in the other versions. Note that it can only be seen briefly during the cutscene, the area being unaccessible for gameplay at that moment, the second screenshot comparison was provided to have a clearer view on the file.

In the version of the room the player can access later on by using the elevator, there is indeed a file on the counter but it is yellow.

Anti-Piracy

Some PlayStation games released after 1998 contain some form of copy protection/anti-piracy measures, in order to curb the use of modchips and illegal copies that were instrumental in the spread of piracy on the system. Sony developed two systems for protecting games. The first one is Anti-Modchip, and the other is LibCrypt.

Anti-Modchip protection works on the hardware level and pretty straight-forwardly. As earlier modchips were active by default through constant injection of region data during bootup, all that it needs for the game to detect one is for the game to return data from a modchip when requested. If it returns data, the game shows an error message screen telling the user that the console may have been modified (i.e. has a modchip). The moment it shows the screen varies from title to title, but it usually happens shortly after booting a game. Early versions of this protection only had a sign with a red hand, hence the Japanese naming for this copy protection: "Red Hand Protect" (レッドハンドプロテクト, reddo hando purotekuto) or RHP for short. Later versions have a "No go" sign with a message in either Japanese or English.

LibCrypt functions on the software level in two ways: by detecting a modchip upon bootup of the game and by detecting an illegal copy through a 16-bit key located in the subchannel data of the disc. The first check is to see whether or not a modchip is installed on the system. As earlier modchips are active by default, all that is necessary to detect one is for the program to return data from a modchip. If it detects it, the game crashes immediately. This was mitigated by pirates with so-called "stealth" modchips, which turn off immediately when loading disc region data during bootup. However, the second check now comes into play. The second part functions as a part of the game. It decrypts the 16-bit LibCrypt data key stored in the subchannel of the disc and stores it in the coprocessor of the system. If the data is incorrect, the game implements its anti-piracy measures. As most CD burners cannot properly replicate subchannel data on the disc, a pirated copy, whether burned directly to another disc or as a disc image, trips the anti-piracy measure by default.

A modded system allows for a backup, a pirated copy, or a legitimate copy of the game from a region different than the console, to start normally. However, immediately after that, the game can crash, freeze or perform tricks to stall pirates, depending on the game.

There are two versions of Dino Crisis with different anti-piracy measures built in. The first one is the Japanese (NTSC-J) and North American (NTSC-U/C) NTSC versions, armed with Anti-Modchip protection. The other is the PAL version of the game, armed with LibCrypt. In the Japanese and North American NTSC versions, if the game detects that it is being played on a system with an active modchip installed, it ends with this following error message on the warning screen about violent content and freezes:

Japanese NTSC-J & American NTSC-U 1.0	American NTSC-U 1.1

On the other hand, the PAL version ends the game by hanging indefinitely on the warning screen about violent content.

Interestingly, while Dino Crisis had an international release, it shows the Anti-Modchip message in the North American NTSC (NTSC-U/C) version in Japanese, despite later games having a proper error message in English, in a very similar case as the PAL version of Um Jammer Lammy. This was fixed in the North American version 1.1 , where it displays an error message in English.

(Source: Copy Protected PlayStation games list, MVG's video about copy protection schemes on PS, Original TCRF Research)

Resident Evil 2 Doors

Many doors were taken from Resident Evil 2 and edited.

Resident Evil 2	Dino Crisis	Notes
		Room ST40B
		Room ST401. Variant of the above.
		Room ST603. Resident Evil 2: rising door. Dino Crisis: sliding door, often used as double door.
		Room ST60B. Variant of the above.
		Room ST303
		Room ST303. Unused, replaced by the above door in the final version.
		Room ST405. Several variants exist.
		Room ST502