The Beginner's Guide/Unused Graphics

This is a sub-page of The Beginner's Guide.

There are quite a large number of unused textures in the game's files, ranging from textures that were directly replaced with others to completely unused textures to a relatively large number of textures from The Stanley Parable and other Source games.

To do: I've probably missed quite a number of miscellaneous textures which aren't used in-game. There are some texture files with '.pwl' added before the file extension; possibly unused. One which might be of particular interest is materials/models/trainstation/ts_centerclock_d.pwl.vtf. There are black and white versions of every chapter icon (in materials/vgui); are they used? Compare one of the old loading screens with the corresponding in-game one.

Replaced Textures

There are a few textures which were directly replaced with updated versions in the final game. Some of these are fairly obviously placeholders which were never supposed to be used.

Backwards

Unused	Used

Within materials/author/backward are older versions of the text on the walls in Backwards. The final versions are found in materials/aa_backward.

Entering/Exiting

Unused
Used

Unused
Used

Earlier, less realistic signs.

Notes

Unused	Used

Lecture

Unused	Used

The head of the lecturer NPC.

Mobius

Unused
Used

An earlier version of the name of the SS Whisper seen at the back of the bridge.

Tower

The textures used for Coda's letter at the end of this level contain unused text and older versions of the text used in-game. Specifically, none of the yellow text is used, and some of the white text isn't, either.

Miscellaneous

Placeholder Listen/Speak Head

Unused	Used

Hole Test

holetest	hole

Old Loading Screens

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  find_mom

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  find_mom_widescreen

Within materials/maps are older versions of the in-game loading screens. In addition to the 16 loading screens for chapters which are present in the final game, there is also a loading screen for the cut chapter Mom, named "find_mom". They are identical to the older versions of the loading screen for Puzzle, located in the same directory, with the same date.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Unused Textures

Down

A version of the café sign in Down with the entire name of the café on one line is present in materials/author/signage.

Lecture

An unused layer of the black hole.

Theater

Engage

A texture ominously named "gunfire".

Backgrounds

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  conflict

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  court

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  street

Tower

warningsigns	warnings2	warnings3

It would seem that at some point, there were warnings in the level that claimed that finishing the level would reformat the player's hard drive. There is no arch at the end of the level, red, green, or otherwise. Note also the 'secret message' in these textures, likely placed here to use up remaining space in the texture, and which would likely not have been visible in-game even if this texture had been used: "SECRET MESSAGE: BUTTS BUTTS BUTTS BUTTS BUTTS BUTTS BUTTS BUTTS BUTTS FARTS".

Mom

A texture located in both materials/author/signage and materials/signage.

Rotation

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  builder_head_build

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  builder_head_solve

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  builder_head_special

Head textures which would have been used for the 'builder' NPCs in Rotation.

Miscellaneous

Jack Parsons

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  museum/sign_sortie

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  author/city/graffiti_website_new

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  author/city/nitro_book

Jack Parsons, the Lead Artist on The Beginner's Guide, seems to have left quite a few textures from their earlier projects in the files of The Beginner's Guide, perhaps most notably the entirity of the folder author/city; only a handful of the textures contained within are used in The Beginner's Guide. The files pictured above are only a very small selection of all of the unused ones.

Mr Tippy

Located in materials/models/characters. The areas with the hearts do not appear on the model. Furthermore, neither the model nor texture appear in-game.

Half-Life 2 NPC

Within materials/models/humans/Female are the textures of a female NPC from Half-Life 2. A model and corresponding animations can also be found in models/humans, as can the above image; a heavily-JPEG-artifacted preview image. The reason for the NPC's presence in The Beginner's Guide's files isn't apparent, though it's worth noting that the NPC isn't present in the files of The Stanley Parable.

portal2_product

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  portal2_product_1

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  portal2_product_1_widescreen

Present in materials/console are these textures. There are also textures in the same folder called portal2_product_2 and portal2_product_2_widescreen, which are identical to the first two.

Loading

Also in materials/console is this texture.

Davey Making Maps

A photo of a distressed Davey Wreden apparently making maps. Located in materials/vgui. This was used as a placeholder chapter preview image.

"REMOVE THIS" and "TAKE IT AWAY"

These two files are located in materials/signage.

Test Cubemap

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The file test.vtf within materials/cubemap consists of, unsurprisingly, a cubemap used for testing.

Temporary Skybox

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  left

• 

  front

• 

  right

• 

  back

• 

  up

A skybox named "sky_temp01".

(Source: Original TCRF research)

The Stanley Parable Textures

To do: Also: The contents of materials/dev; only a couple of them are used in this game (in Tower). materials/effects materials/particles

There are quite a few textures leftover from The Stanley Parable, and which are not used in this game.

Mariella

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• 
• 

The textures used for Mariella in her ending of The Stanley Parable. Located in materials/models/characters/woman. All three textures have the text "Copyright aXYZ design 2006 - Metropoly 2 - MeAp0001" in them.

Circle

A texture used in The Stanley Parable's Confusion Ending.

Construction Markings

Used in various places in The Stanley Parable.

Start

Half-Life 2 Combine Interface

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• 
• 
• 

Within materials/models/props_combine are most of the textures for a Combine interface. Whilst this is originally from Half-Life 2, it is present in the game files due to its use in The Stanley Parable.

1980's Computer

This texture of a dated computer can be found in materials/models/props_office.

Splash Screens

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  "THIS VIDEO GAME WAS MADE BY"

• 

  "CREATION OF THIS VIDEO GAME IS ATTRIBUTED TO"

• 

  "CREATORS OF THE STANLEY PARABLE"

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  "WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW WHO MADE THIS VIDEO GAME"

• 

  "THIS IS THE PART WHERE YOU LEARN WHO MADE THIS VIDEO GAME"

• 

  "HERE IS WHAT WE CALL THE SPLASH SCREEN IT HAS THE NAME OF THE DEV STUDIO ON IT"

• 

  "WE WORKED HARD ON THIS GAME AND WE HOPE YOU SUPER DUPER LIKE IT"

• 

  "MADE THIS GAME"

Present in materials/splashtext are the eight Galactic Cafe splash screens used in The Stanley Parable.

Main Menu Background

The background of The Stanley Parable's main menu. It would be stretched in-game to fit the screen resolution.

No Saved Game

This texture is present in materials/vgui as both new_save_game.vtf and no_save_game.vtf; the files are identical.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Half-Life 2, Portal, and Portal 2 Textures

To do: Also: materials/decals and its subdirectories materials/effects materials/particles Verify that the tile debris is actually from Portal 2. Which specific games are the HUD icons from?

HEV Suit Hand

The textures for the hand of the HEV suit from Half-Life 2 can be found in materials/models/Weapons/V_hand.

SMG Crosshairs

These crosshair textures can be found in materials/models/Weapons/V_smg1 and materials/models/Weapons/W_smg1 respectively.

Portals

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• 
• 

Present in materials/models/portals are the textures used for the portals in Portal 2, including the above three 'dummy' images. The models are also present in the respective location.

Tile Debris

Portal 2 Loading Screen Elements

Found within materials/vgui.

HUD Icons

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• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Located in materials/vgui/hud.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Sad Girl

The texture used for the girl at the end of Island, located in materials/models/characters. Whilst this texture is used, it is impossible to get close enough to the girl to see her clearly.

(Source: Original TCRF research)