Proto:Perfect Dark (Nintendo 64, Xbox 360)/NTSC version 6.4 beta

This is a sub-page of Proto:Perfect Dark (Nintendo 64, Xbox 360).

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An NTSC beta dated March 22nd, 2000 - about two weeks before the final North American build on April 6th. It is called version 6.4 beta on the product information screen, while the release is version 8.7 final. It has a functional debug menu, although there are very few options in it. Surprisingly, despite being so close to the final build, there are a number of differences in the levels too.

Debug Menu

Press C-Up and C-Down to enable the debug menu. The menu is divided into eight columns which span two rows, but there are only eleven options in the menu, and three of them don't seem to do anything. The currently selected option is displayed in red. Press left or right on the control pad to move between columns and up or down to select options. The A button or Start will activate the selected option. Start also closes the menu. Note that many emulator plugins do not render the black backgrounds behind the text, making it very difficult to read. The angrylion software rendering plugin, however, can display it correctly.

• All Levels - Unlocks all solo missions with the exception of The Duel. Missions are completed on all three normal difficulties and Perfect Dark is available. Even The Duel is completed, despite not being unlocked. Each difficulty's best time will be set to 0:07, and all cheats unlocked by completing missions under a certain time will be available, likely as a result of this low time. This will also effectively set the game as being completed, unlocking the alternate title screen, bios, and story and background options in the Carrington Institute.
• All Training - Unlocks all training courses and gives all medals on the firing range. This will unlock The Duel and the classic weapon cheats.
• props - Toggles prop and character models on and off.
• pads - Does not appear to do anything and its value is not tested. Probably showed pad information at some point in development.
• tiles - Does not appear to do anything, but its value is tested. Probably showed collision information at some point in development.
• chr stats - Toggles an orange text display to the right of every character object, which lists their number, combat behavior, current action, and whether or not they're using or waiting for a lift.
• all challenges - Unlocks all challenges in the Combat Simulator and their rewards. Note that the challenges are not marked as being completed.
• VM Stats - Does not appear to do anything.
• Mem Info - Toggles a memory display near the top center of the screen. Does not work on certain plugins.
• all buddies - Enables playing cooperative games with up to four simulants.
• testing man pos - Toggles a bar at the top of the screen listing your current room, coordinates, and the direction you're facing.

(pads, tiles options info: SubDrag)

Cutscene Viewer

The menu visible in-game

The menu is equipped with a fully functional top-tiered-menu that allows the player to view cutscenes. More often than not, the actors will not be present in the shot but the camera will still move. How many scenes listed in the menu corresponds with how many scenes there are in the level - for instance, Carrington Villa has three, so the menu will show up to three. Pressing 'Main' will take you back to the large menu with all the options.

800786DF 0001

Activate this while the MCM menu is enabled and visible on screen.

(Source: Acceptable67)

Inaccessible Options

There are additional options which are still present in the code but are not available in the menu. They can be activated with the following GameShark codes; the names are taken from the debug menu in GoldenEye:

Line Mode

Option Title	Activator	Description
fast	80078737 0001	Turbo Mode from GoldenEye - you move faster.
objectives	8007873B 0001	Completes all of the current mission's objectives.
background	800786FF 0000	Disables the level background (geometry).
line mode	80078720 0001	Highlights black lines wireframe-style over objects and environment.
removed	800786EB 0000	Does nothing, but is checked.
stan view	800786E8 0000	Broken code, will crash on console. On emulator, does something very strange with the geometry.
move view	800786EC 0000	Either the code listed above or this one in particular would have been the third person camera. Freezes at the last spot actors head was positioned, and is unable to move.
removed	800787A4 0000	Does nothing, but is checked.
slow motion	80078764 0001	Makes the character run slow.
slow motion effect	80078784 0001	This is essentially the 'combat boost' effect. 0x0 for no effect, 0x1 for slight effect, 0x2 for heavy effect.

(GameShark codes: Acceptable67, SubDrag)

Crash Handler

If a bad value is received by the TLB it will present a large debug screen similar to the one found in Ocarina of Time, displaying all the ASM registers and their corresponding values being held.

(Source: Acceptable67)

Differences

To do: SubDrag got this version's files dumping now too. Lots of differences.

Silly logo, that's not how you're supposed to rotate!

• The ROM's internal name is Perfect Dark DBGNTSC instead of simply Perfect Dark.
• When playing without an Expansion Pak, the Pd logo in the title sequence flips over.
• "Ready!" text is displayed when starting a single player Combat Simulator game. This text is only shown in multiplayer games in the final version.

01..01..POCKETCAMERA....GAMEBOYCAMERA...PerfDark....GAMEBOYCAMERA...............

Text related to the Game Boy Camera can be found at offset 0x1C8F0 in the compressed data block at ROM offset 0x30850.

(Source: SubDrag)

In the same area, debug text pointers for testing the Controller Pak can be found located at 800780FC in RAM. This area may have been used to load PerfectHead data from the Controller Pak upon entering the 'Choose Your Reality' screen.

Carrington Institute

• Carrington sometimes gets confused and takes a different path through the Institute while giving his tour and can occasionally get stuck.
• Collision tiles are missing from two of the walls on the ramp leading to the helipad with the hoverbike. It is possible to fall out of the level in these places. When dying in training, the results screen will list the mission as dataDyne Defection. After closing the results screen, the title sequence will play again, then drop you into the Institute without having to select an agent.
• CI Defense is completed as soon as the Skedar shuttle finishes exploding and the outro is never played. The outro is available in the Cinema menu and appears to be the same as the final version.

dataDyne Investigation

• The shield tech item in this version, seen at the end of the level, appears to be a much larger and boxy version of the shield that we see in the final game. This would seem to indicate that this was a prototype of the shield items used in the game; this would make sense, since Shield items are rare to nonexistent on the "full game" Perfect Agent and Perfect Dark difficulties.

dataDyne Extraction

The top of the ventilation shaft can be blown open in the beta, meaning this shortcut can actually be used without cheats. It's pretty evident why it was sealed in the final version, though. While you can get the drop on Cassandra's bodyguards through here, they're invincible and won't react to your presence until the scene with Cassandra plays out. Said scene will play as soon as you enter the main room in this area, it works the same as when entering the normal way - it'll grab you, move you in front of the door, and swing you around to face Cassandra. This makes the shortcut entirely pointless.

Carrington Villa

Intro 2 - Life on the Line is available in the Cinema menu. This is the intro with Joanna as the negotiator that is played on Perfect Agent. While the action block that would play it and its text string are present in the final version, it is no longer defined with the rest of the cinemas. Joanna is in her combat outfit when it is viewed through the menu instead of the negotiator outfit she actually wears when this plays in the mission.

It is not possible to fail the capture dataDyne guard objective in the beta and the text string displayed when failing in the final version is not present.

(Source: acceptable67)

Chicago

Grimshaw will happily spiel on about reprogramming the taxi even when it has already been destroyed. A check was added in the final version to prevent this from happening.

While it is possible to create an alternate diversion with the BombSpy in the beta, doing so will not unset the failure condition for the objective if it has already been set. Thankfully this was changed in the final version, so the BombSpy can be used to complete the objective if the taxi gets destroyed.

The briefcase containing the BombSpy is flagged to appear on the radar when using the R-Tracker. Since this briefcase is embedded in a dumpster, it will not be displayed until that dumpster has been destroyed, making the R-Tracker pretty useless for finding it. The final version flags the dumpster instead, and adds check to unflag it if the dumpster has been destroyed.

Air Force One

The dumbwaiter doesn't have a door on the middle level of the plane. The doors on the upper and lower level are in place, and the upper level is locked like it is in the final version.

Crash Site

To do: Investigate dark room number changes.

A check has been added to stop Joanna's line about the jamming coming from the Skedar shuttle from playing on difficulties below Perfect Agent. It also won't play if you manage to destroy the shuttle before the line plays.

Attack Ship

The necklace Cassandra drops on death is the same one she drops in dataDyne Defection, not the replacement necklace with the useless username and password in its description that she drops in the final version.

The Duel

In one of the most obvious oversights in the final game, Jonathan's head is hardcoded to use ally targeting and any character using it cannot hit you with gunfire, so the only possible way to lose to him in this mission is to get into melee range. This is not the case in the beta, and he'll happily gun you down in spite of your crosshair turning blue when aiming at him.

Felicity

A huge number of details were stripped from this Combat Simulator arena for the final version.

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There are paintings on the walls of the back hall of the level. Two of the paintings are in the same locations as corkboards were in GoldenEye.

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There are signs outside the rooms with the tanks and in the security room. These signs are actually leftover from GoldenEye, although the electrocution warning sign was originally another biohazard warning.

Prototype	Final

There are sinks and toilet seats in the bathroom, again leftovers from GoldenEye. Annoyingly, the sinks have collision, which may be why they ended up getting the axe. The texture seen on the upper walls was also swapped for a similar one without seams in the final version - this applies to every instance of this texture in the level.

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Broken grating textures are used in the ducts, while the final version just leaves these areas open. There is also a question mark Easter Egg cut out of one grating, like the one still found in Warehouse in the final version.

Prototype	Final

So much lost detail...

The ceiling of the security room is stone in the beta and there is a huge crack in it open to the sky. This was replaced with a flat gray ceiling in the final version.