Info about Resident Evil 1.5

It gets a bit confusing reading through all this.
The word "recreating" often comes up ... so what are they recreating exactly?
The whole RE1.5 game with the info we know, or do they actually have a real build which they are recreating for a release to keep the real build unique?

It's hard to keep track of all this info for a non-hardcore fan of the series

 

Isn't the plan to release the "real" build along with their restored version? Also, surely any remaining Biohazard/Resident Evil fans should be considered hardcore? I can't imagine many here caring about the latest official efforts from Capcom - especially not when the chance of finally playing 1.5 is closer than ever!

 

With hardcore I meant knowing every single bit of the franchise, especially knowing everything about the unreleased games, like this "40% Build", "80%" Build", "Beta 1", "Beta 2", Trial version here, trial version there ... those who can keep track of that and can tell which build is which by just seeing one screenshot is pretty hardcore to me

 

According to one copy of the Curator's uploaded footage, that particular build is dubbed Beta 3 (of 5 known eras). On top of these, we have at least three known beta stages of development from after production being restarted, plus I'm guessing that at some point - maybe even before the game ever went public - there must have been Alpha versions, too! Confused? I'm sure it makes the most hardcore enthusiast suffer a headache or two as well... clearly I'm not quite an expert on this subject yet, though I've never claimed to be such a thing!

 

Well, it appears the team have the real 40% build of the game and are hacking it to include all the resources we have available to make the game as complete and near to a full game as possible. We have a lot of backgrounds from the Biohazard 2 Trial Edition which they can use to expand on the 40% of the build they possess, however they are having to do a lot of this work from scratch as of course these assets were never originally part of that build. Essentially the game is a hybrid of real 1.5 code/material and custom code/material to make it a complete experience, they are essentially "recreating" what the game could have been if it was actually finished and released using the 40% build as a base.

 

We know alot more about the story than what is in the 40% build and we will have alot of nice subtitle cutscenes and gameplay, too! I am so pumped about this, I cannot wait until Christmas! Amen!

 

My biggest hope is that the 40% or 80% versions have files in them which can be translated at last. I'd like to know more about the official story rather than have it some what 'finished' and 'made up' just to complete this build for us.

Guess we'll have to wait and see

 

Files would be awesome if they are there, but I think most of the story is left out on this build, so the story is existent.

 

All of this talk of the sewer section reminds me of a particular segment from the existing 1.5 footage, wherein Leon approaches a door and water rushes out. From what I saw, it looked like interacting with the door activated the scene. Should we be expecting that section to appear and be fully functional in the 40% build?

 

I'm not sure if the PlaystationMuseum build can be qualified as Beta 3. Here's a brief explanation of why.

Beta 1 was shown in July 1996, at V-Jump Festival. Not a lot was shown from this build. Leon's model was textured from Chris', and it was completely different from what it would become in the later stages of production and retail product. The only areas shown in this build were the lobby precinct and the chief's room. There's also footage of Leon using the handgun, single-shot and burst fire (three-shot) and the shotgun.



Beta 2 was shown in September 1996, at Tokyo Game Show (if I'm not mistaken). Leon's new model that would be basis for the later stages of production and retail product is created, featuring civilian clothes from a concept artwork. New areas were shown (including small segments from the sewers and the laboratory) and the previously seen lobby precinct and chief's room were remodeled.



Beta 3 was shown in October 1996, in Famitsu and The Playstation Magazines. This is the first time that Leon's model has the police uniform that would be used in the later stages of production and retail product. However, it still contains some significant changes such as lack of gloves. This beta also introduces Elza's gameplay footage. Besides that, new areas of the RPD, such as the reception section and the desk offices in the 1st Floor and the arms storage and firing range in the B1 Floor have been added. This beta contains different camera angles from the ones that would be used in subsequent betas.



Beta 4 was shown in November 1996, and it become popularly known from the PlaystationMuseum footage released in 2007. This beta was near 40% completion. Leon and Elza's models have new weapon holding animations. Character models can be stained with blood after sustaining damage from enemies. The box to storage items makes its first appearance. New areas have been included, such as parking garage from B1 Floor, the morgue and jail from the B2 Floor, the entrance to the sewer area, many portions of the factory, the warehouse and some parts of the laboratory.



Beta 5. The Final Build. Only official footage of it shown in BioHazard's Complete Disc. Inflames from bioflames.com came into contact with this beta more than 10 years ago and managed to get some camera footage of it. It's 80% complete, according to several sources. Some noticeable changes was the developers choice to abandon the weapon holding animations.



There's probably a few intel missing that I'm not remembering at the moment. But I think this should give the community a good idea of the different stages of development of BioHazard 1.5. I've heard there's a "4.5" beta designation from the community to refer to the footage of Hyper Playstation Re-Mix Vol.4, but considering that no changes seem to be exist in that build (except the lack of soundtrack in the later areas), I decided not to create an exclusive section for it.

Also, the footage of Elza fighting the spiders coming off the ventilation shafts in the sewers does not come from Beta 4 (or the PlaystationMuseum Build). She doesn't have any weapon holding animation. EDIT: I believe that footage comes from a build that succeeds the PSM build. It was released with Hyper Playstation Re-Mix Vol.3 (1996), which also included footage of Leon's death scene. There's no weapon holding animation in that video, and Leon's uniform contains the gloves and knife holder (the significant change from Beta 3 to Beta 4).

 

I've just checked the September '96 trailer, and quite a lot of the sewer area is featured in this footage. PlayStation Museum's build definitely seems to be from the Beta 4 era as it has many details consistent with not only the November '96 teaser, but also the PlayStation Underground "Sneak Peek" video (which is more an edited version of the same clips). Unfortunately, there's absolutely no sign of the sequence where spiders emerge from vents, though I did find it in a compilation that's a little earlier than the Complete Disc - probably late Beta 3, if my understanding of the development timeline is correct. So, it's possible this scene could still be realistic to expect, or if it's not finished then perhaps the necessary elements were just yet to be fully implemented and may prove simple enough for Team Sandwich* to restore. Either way, it's a case of "never say never" until we find out for certain...

*Do we have a confirmation of this name yet? Whatever they're called, I'm stunned by the overall quality of their work so far.

P.S. Hasn't the Bioflames source been dated as slightly earlier than Beta 5 already? I guess you could think of this as Beta 4.5, just to confuse matters further. Also, did anyone stop to consider the "holiday season" announcement could be a reference to Thanksgiving as opposed to Christmas? I can only hope that we're being drip-fed more from 1.5 sooner rather than later!

 

^^Good post kegluneq! Thanks for pointing that out, never realised that sewer section with the spiders was as late as the PSM build, I couldn't find the video to look. Perhaps then that's the build it came from, we know that build was used for a lot of media content. Can we use the SLPM code of the Hyper Playstation Re-Mix Vol.3 disc to pinpoint its release date and make an estimate on what build was used? Presumably if it was between around Oct-Nov then chances are that's the build it came from (of course really the footage could have came from any random build they had lying around the office).

 

Doesn't the "GoroMacida" video show grenades being used as well? I reckon the only real mystery we've got left is whether or not a few minor sequences (including the spider event mentioned earlier) are present, though I suspect they could be easily implemented considering the team's apparent level of expertise. After all, we know from earlier build footage that at least some portions of the sewer were featured in pre-Beta 4 material, plus virtually every background will be represented to some extent... just how much of this will end up being either recreated or heavily restored based on untextured areas remains to be seen, though I have absolute faith in the end results. Besides, aren't we also getting the unaltered source disc as a bonus for those who may not like certain decisions made to complete the game?

 

There's not a lot of area from the sewerage disposal in the September 1996 trailer. It shows three different camera angles that amount, at best, to two different halls in the sewerage disposal. However, and as it was extensively discussed a few weeks ago on THIA, those halls seem to be close to the area where the spiders come off the ventilation shafts. If you take a close look at the wall texture of the footage, you can see the resemblance. It's possible that they were the early parts that the developers started to work on when they created the sewers, and if that's the case, they could exist in the PlaystationMuseum build.

What do you mean by the "bioflames source being dated earlier than Beta 5"? From what I understand, Inflames' contact had the last available build of BH 1.5 (the same used by Capcom to make the BioHazard Complete Disc movies) when took those screenshots.

I've tried to track down the month that Hyper Playstation Re-Mix Vol.3 was released, but I had no luck. What I do know is that Hyper Playstation Re-Mix Vol.2 was released in October 1996 and Hyper Playstation Re-Mix Vol.4 was released in February 1997. If the beta build used for the videos of these issues is virtually the same, then it's past the PlaystationMuseum build, and merging towards Beta 5 (the "infamous" Beta 4.5). However, the only way to confirm is to have the date of Hyper Playstation Re-Mix Vol.3 and the only person that could help us out is long gone by now (Inflames). How does the SLPM code work? That might be a possibility.

And yes, the team will release an unaltered source disc, according to the latest news.

 

The SLPM (SCUS, SLUS, etc) code is a cataloging code given to Playstation discs. Some times it can be a bit random, but usually codes follow some sort of numerical order, if the release date of a game with a code close to that of this disc is known you might be able to use it as a reference.

Alternatively if someone has the ISO you can probably find out the date the disc was compiled by analysing the contents of the disc. It's probably the best way of learning exactly when the disc is from, something far more accurate for our purposes than finding out the street date the disc was released to the public.

 

There's so much work that's gone into this. So much beta info on this thread too!



This shit just got real!

 

The Hyper Re-Mix Volume 3 was dated the 27th November 1996. I've got volumes 1, 2, 3, 4, 8 and 9.

The movies (showing BH1.5 footage, among others) is dated 27th, while some other stuff on the disc/playable demos is dated 14-15th November 96.

 

This is just awesome. Love this kind of stuff.

 

I always thought the Bioflames build was (ever so) slightly earlier than the Complete Disc version, but was still from the "Beta 5" era of development. If that's not the case then I'd be happy to relearn my understanding of the 1.5 production timeline from scratch. Also, is there any difference between what is seen on the Complete Disc and the backgrounds still hidden away on the Trial Disc? I assumed this would have been the absolute final stage of work done before the entire sequel went back to the drawing board, though again I'm open to correction if this isn't correct, either. On the other hand, didn't Inflames once say his source for all of those exclusive screenshots was a copy still in the possession of a Capcom employee? Perhaps this was a backup of the last-known code made before work ended up being restarted, after all?