PS2 proto discs (FAKE DISCS WARNING!)

An Iso would be great if at all possible. I'd like to give it a shot as well.

 

Ok. I'll see if I can activate that bug. But what do you mean by if the bug isn't there we've got something to work with?
Alright. I don't need the other preview, but it seemed like you owned it. But is it also in full Japanese? Just let me know if you know of other Preview specific details to look for.
Thanks for the input btw.

I'm not used to making backups, let alone releasing them tho. I'm going to try tho, so I don't have to play the actual disc.

 

Some of the Colossus battles are not winnable in the other Preview disc because the game crashes as soon as the camera goes underwater, so you can't finish the game by just playing it normally.
There's a warp menu available by holding R1 and pressing select allowing you to go directly to any Colossus though.
Also if you plug a controller in port 2, you can hold R2 and press X to make Agro appear and rise up in the air by repeatedly pressing X again, effectively turning it into an elevator!
And some other stuff, like an extra item, and a solid Shrine you can stand at the top of and on every of its walls and ledges.
You can see screenshots and videos of all that on Nomad's blog:
http://nomads-sotc-blog.blogspot.fr/2013/01/pre-release-preview-version.html

Yes the August preview version is in Japanese.
Also, it's up to you to release your version or not, it would be a nice gift to the SotC explorers if you would do it, but ultimately, it's your choice.

 

I think I went for a dive in the north cave without any problems. Does the error occur if you dive and face the camera upwards you think?
I'll try those cheats, and see if there's a location indicator on Select, as in the other preview disc. Sadly I'm just a bit too hung over to explore today...
Yeah, I've grown fond of the SotC community after seeing how dedicated they are, so I'd like to help. But at the same time, personally I want the disc to be special and hold its value. And all the counterfeit betas etc I've come across the past two years I'm more skeptical to releasing than before.

 

Update:
The game has not yet crashed from moving the camera under water, and it doesn't seem like the game reacts to interactions with water in any way.

 

Cool!
Did you try any of the key combos?

 

I did, but I haven't gotten anything to work yet. I only have one Dual Shock controller left, that has been malfunctioning slowly from too little use (it's a known occurrence), and I haven't yet had the time to test if the buttons don't work or if the cheats don't work. But I'm trying to get my hands on new controllers atm.
Do you know if you still need a controller plugged into port one if you're gonna activate cheats with the second controller port?

 

@unclejun It looks like the camera can go under water. Example: .
Maybe the camera crashes the game only in certain areas? Or have I misunderstood an important point here...

Btw. I haven't really focused on this preview disc lately, most because I'd like to get a couple good PS2 controllers (which has been hard, actually), so I can do button combination testing properly etc.
Maybe if I get some time to sit down and do some more focused testing, I can get some help. Do you have a lot of experience playing around with the other preview version?

 

The game definitely crashes when the camera goes underwater at the third colossus.
Nomad played it way more than me, I just fired it from time to time to try some things.

 

Ok. Since last I replied I've been testing a little, and it seems this build doesn't have any of the special features the other build has. They must be linked to the additional files in the other build.
And I haven't played to reach the third colossus, but I so far I haven't found any water that crashes the game.

I sent Nomad a message on YouTube but I haven't heard back..

 

Start here and make your way to the water area where you're swimming (timestamp 7:39)


For fun I noticed this single frame before the crash handler showed up

 

I'm sorry for being so lazy, not finding a real way to upload and link to this video...
But at least here's a link to my Dropbox where you can download a video of me swimming in SotC and moving the camera under water in the pond at E3 on map.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xonhqixt5dugsmf/MOV_1834.mp4?dl=0

 

So a couple new theories to why the other preview disc crashes when camera moves under water:
- Played on a PS3? I use a PS2 Slim debugger.
- The additional "debug and etc" files affect how the game behaves.
- A change made from my disc's version to the other one simply has a faulty underwater feature. Even though it's strange why the disc was shipped without it being noticed. Unless this was a prominent problem, and could be why a colossus skip option was added...

Could it be possible to extract only the additional debug files from the other preview disc and add them to an ISO rip on my preview disc to see what effect it has?

 

Possible, but I cant honestly help with making that happen.

My understanding is it happens on emulators too (I can be wrong, and I hope I am) but even Nomad mentioned this happened too so I'd take his word for it on it just being a bug

 

Alright. If it was possible to just somehow take the debug files and add them to the files in an ISO of my preview disc I that would help cement the eventual cause, and of course help exploring my version.
I still haven't heard back from Nomad, but I guess he's too busy playing the PS4 remake!
.... So I've contacted Hard4Games regarding a couple items, and I'm thinking letting them take a look can help, and maybe they eventually have better luck getting in touch with Nomad. I don't feel like making tons of accounts to send Nomad one message, and Hard4Games have a better reputation than me.

 

Hey there, I thought I did answer your email to me? I'm sorry if you thought I was ignoring you as I wasn't ; ) The version you have is what I call the 'PSU Preview' version as it came out only a few days before the PSU demo. It only let's you play the first three colossi but the entire map is explorable. I'm working on a blog post about it as we speak since there are a lot of features that don't appear in any other builds. I was very excited when I heard about this as I've been trying to track down this elusive demo since 2011 or so! From the code it appears all the other colossi are still there (or at least parts of them are) but so far we have been unable to get any of them to load.

Even so, it's worth it for me just to be able to explore an earlier version (7th July 2005). When I got back from visiting Bluepoint Studios I actually spent the first week delving into this demo rather than play the new PS4 version xD. Older versions mean so much more to me as I love seeing how the game developed over time. So it was a lucky find and I'm grateful I was able to get a copy of it to explore.

 

Greatness awaits. Thanks for the update on this Nomad

 

Hi. No, I'm afraid I never got the reply... But it doesn't matter now.
So you're saying you have this version already? And it's indifferent from the PSU demo?

 

Essentially it's the same version as the PSU magazine demo except the full map is explorable - in the demo only 9 squares of the map were explorable, the rest were low poly. My blog should be finished soon, there you will be able to read about all the cool stuff I have found ; )

 

That’s a creepy frame right before the game crashes ._. I’ve played Shadow of the colossus but I don’t remember anything that looked like that. Anyone know what that thing is?