RETAIL. Not debug. That disc runs on retail systems and connects to Xbox Live. If will not run on a debug by default. When Bungie was stress testing Halo 2 Multiplayer Microsoft did a run of those discs and basically anyone who was a full time employee of the company and owned an Xbox of their own could get one, free of charge. The goal was to get as many people as possible online and given Microsoft's size as a company this was a way to keep the beta under NDA and still get a good stress test. Now back then the employees kept the discs under wraps, but over time plenty of them got out to collector hands. -hl718
Okay, is there an image of the disk that was the debug one and not as easy to get as this one? Would love to see it!
As far as I know, that disk in the picture is the only somewhat widespread pre-retail Halo 2 build to get into peoples hands. If there is any other Pre-retail build out there besides this beta, maybe only two or three people have one at best. Also, the H2B shouldn't have an XEX... I hope that was a spelling mistake :X -Doom
Would you be able to tell by a screen shot of the menu which version it was or did that not really distinguish them?
I believe when hl718 said "debug", he meant in general for any game in development, not that there was specifically a Halo 2 Beta RETAIL and Halo 2 Beta DEBUG version floating around. So no, there's nothing for us to really distinguish for you ;p. When it comes to the Halo 2 Beta that everyone seemingly has, in reality, it's just mini version of Halo 2 retail with 4 Maps(6 if you include Shared and Mainmenu) that had some unfinished content and pre-retail bugs/differences. It was pressed for retail, and made for LIVE. It wasn't intended to be played on a Debug, Devkits, or on PartnerNet... not this MP beta atleast. -Doom
Yeah, I was referring to the signing of the XBE and the console type (debug vs retail) that it was meant for. Not the specific status of the code, version or debug symbols being enabled/disabled. -hl718
It's still neat to look at if you've never seen it, but if you paid someone money to get it and only got a copy (rather than an original) of the disc then you got ripped off. An original of the Halo 2 Multiplayer Beta is a pretty cool collectible simply because it runs on a retail and it is an authentic Halo 2 disc. Disc images of the Halo 2 Multiplayer Beta are relatively easy to find if you poke around a bit. Multiple people have dumped their copies and since it was a pressed disc, all the dumps are the same. Hell, there's probably a torrent. Despite all that you shouldn't get discouraged, especially if Halo 2 interests you. Think of it as a learning experience. Start poking around with the profiles. Take a look at a retail profile. Take a look at the profiles on your debug kit. See what is different. Try to figure out why the game reacts the way it does. This is how people get started tearing apart games. Find something that interests you and go dig. So what if someone has done it before? That just means you can get some help if you get stuck. Digging through it all is going to teach you a lot more than just ignoring it and moving on. -hl718
I agree fully, and no I didn't pay for the beta.. I had no clue it was on the net tho hehe.. only reason I was a little :/ im kinda a Halo/Bungie fan boy The halo 1 debug is neat but I wish i could access the debug menu, only thing I've been able to do was change the camera FOV lol :dance: I was a bit confused b/c I was told that the beta needed PN accounts and such and that's why I was getting annoyed nothing was showing up.
So the one floating about is for debug only? Not the retail green disc? Never knew that, mind you I don't follow xbox at all...
About 2 years ago i searched, every torrent was seemingly dead, atleast the one with that cut campaign level, i always wanted to play this, and my only friend who has it doesn't want to upload it :/ I hate asking for things, but if anyone can point me in a direction of where to find this, The video of it on youtube just said hey tyler dont you wanna play me, well you cant fagget. Its a shame the level was cut since IMO it looks alot cooler than what they replaced it with.
Don't feel too bad I wasnt able to find it either. But what makes it worse is i have the mp beta and wanted to try it out and I can't even do that. I read some older posts and I see there was a "fixed" xbe and I can't find that either.:shrug:
you could get a modded retail? or couldent you just play it offline? or maybe try and connect to xlink kai via xbmc, as that i think runs like regular xbl.
I've yet to try it would need to make a live account and recover to my box I give up trying to get it run on my debug i guess.. Maybe i'll try some stuff tomorrow it's just been pissing me off :rambo:
Lol I may dig around and try and find this. Shame I fragged 2 of my 3 xboxes. Stupid tsop's all got flashed wrong by slayers disc and then when I was able to 3 wire trick they still didn't flash right for me . To top it all off when I went to go reconnect the 3 wire trick on the one I pulled the points right of the board and well no more 3 wire trick for me. But I still do have my softmod box. Totally off topic rant. That's pretty cool how you got that. I for one have not had one before and it would be cool to find it on the web and snoop around in it a bit. This site has inspired me to pick up a debug box as well. Just waiting till I secure the funds.
Lol good luck to you. I doubt I will find it but I am good at finding stuff on the web and I can't remember if I had a copy of this or not. May have gotten thrown into my junk dvd pile as I had no idea what it was.
